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Introduction:
By "Gunter Schlierkamp" This is my workout schedule. My workouts during the offseason are really not much different from the workouts when I prepare for a competition. The only thing I change is the exercise intensity: I train a little bit lighter in offseason to recover from my strenuous competition preparation. But the exercises, sets and reps stay the same year-round.
I divide my workouts according to a double-split program, meaning that I do two workouts each day. That keeps the time for each workout below 60 minutes. This is important because after one hour of intensive exercise, testosterone levels have decreased to a point that diminishes the effectiveness of the workout. It is possible to boost your testosterone level with androstenedione, but I still recommend keep your training duration to less than 60 minutes per workout.
I train two days on, one day off, although I do cardio every day. This rhythm has proven to be the most effective for me: It allows my body to recover and gain maximum muscle mass. Recovery is just as important as training, because that is when your body repairs torn muscle fibers and builds new ones as an adaptation to the stimulus provided by the workout.
Because the body constantly adapts to new levels of resistance, I try to challenge my muscles constantly in new ways to avoid getting stuck on plateaus. Of course, nobody can gain endless amounts of muscle mass; everyone has genetic limitations. But I haven't stopped improving yet, and I believe that constant changing my exercises workout to workout is a big part of my success. I always try to work out on different machines and apparatus; only the basics stay the same. I also experiment with different angles and variations on particular exercises. For example, I can find a lot of different machines for lat pull-downs, and I can also vary my grips and angle on each. When you read my workout schedule, remember that I give you only a basic idea what sort of exercises I prefer. I do many variations of those basic exercises.
Warm up
I take my warm up very seriously, because I am financially dependent on the health of my body. The people who have followed my career know that I have never had an injury and have never missed a competition. This is not just a coincidence. I've never had an injury because I warm up properly and make sure I do the exercises with correct form and sensible body feeling.
My warm-up program consists of 5-10 minutes of cycling. Afterwards, I stretch the muscle group I am about to train. For the first exercise, I start with light weights and slowly increase the weight until I reach my regular workout weight. This way I give my muscles a chance to adapt to the resistance.
Sets and Repetitions
After two or three warm-up sets, I start to train, performing three sets per exercise. I adjust the weight to the desired amount of reps.
First set: 15 reps
Second set: 10-12 reps
Third set: 6-8 reps
As you see, I train my muscle fibers with high and low repetitions to maximize muscle size, rather than strength or speed. Abs, legs and calves are the exception. I try to stimulate those muscle groups with high repetitions only. They are designed to have better endurance than other muscle groups because off their primary function: to carry and stabilize the body.
Abs: 20-30 reps (four sets per exercise)
Legs: 15-20 reps (three sets per exercise)
Calves: 20-30 reps (four sets per exercise
Proper form
Proper form is very important, not just to prevent injuries but also to maximize the stimulus for your muscles. If you cheat -- that is, help an underdeveloped muscle group by swinging or using a stronger muscle group to help -- you actually keep the weak muscle group weak and make the stronger helping muscle group stronger. To train with proper form, you have to do the motion slowly and under control. You also have to try to isolate the muscle group as much as possible. Isolation can be enhanced by concentration as well.
Cardio or Fat-burning Exercise
I call this workout "cardio" even though, strictly speaking, it is more of a fat-burning exercise. Cardiovascular training is performed by elevating your heart rate up to 80% of the maximum heart rate (220 beats per minute, minus your age) and with interval. Fat-burning is at a maximum when you train at 60-70% of your max heart rate.
But even at 60-70% of max heart rate, the benefits go beyond just fat-burning. Your body will build new capillaries (fine small blood vessels that transport oxygen and nutrients to the muscle fibers) and your heart and lungs will work more efficiently. Those benefits are important to optimize muscle growth. Your body will not build up more muscles if your cardiovascular system is unable to supply those muscles with oxygen and nutrients. I don't do cardio only precontest; I do it year-round. Every morning, I do power walking on the treadmill for one hour on an empty stomach. I am proud to say that I have a resting heartrate from 40 beats per minute, which is the resting heart rate a marathon runner would have.
The fact that I do the cardio on an empty stomach is advantageous because my blood-sugar level is very low, which forces my body to use more fat to satisfy its energy needs. But your body needs about 15-20 minutes before it can mobilize stored body fat. During this time, your body needs carbohydrates and BCAA's. Smaller athletes will probably be able to cover this time period with stored muscle glycogen, but tall and/or massive athletes like me should consume a small amount of simple crabohydrates before they do cardio. I like to take a Metaform Heat shake before I go on the treadmill. It provides 21g of protein with BCAA's, 16g of carbohydrates and only 1g of fat. Those nutrients provide my body with energy until the stored body fat is mobilized. This shake also contains some thermogenic substances, which wake me up in the morning and increase my metabolism.
As I draw closer to the competition, I sometimes do as much as two hours of cardio a day. I do the second cardio workout right after the second split-training session. After a weightlifting workout, the body has used up most of the glycogen it had stored, so it has no other choice than to burn stored body fat.
Gnther's Workout schedule
Day 1 7:00 AM Cardio -one hour treadmill
12:00 PM first split workout Abs:
-crunches
-leg lifts
Hamstrings:
-lying curls
-standing curls
-stiff leg deadlifts
18:00 PM second split-workout Quadriceps:
-legextentions
-leg press standing
-leg press lying
Day 2 7:00 AM Cardio -one hour treadmill
12:00 PM first split workout Chest:
-incline dumbbell press
-incline cable flyes
-bench press with dumbbells
-upright press
-butterflyes
18:00 PM second split-workout Triceps:
-cable press down T-bar
-cable press down rope
-over head extention dumbbell
-over head extention barbell
Day 3 7:00 AM Cardio -one hour treadmill
Day 4 7:00 AM Cardio -one hour treadmill
12:00 PM first split workout Calves:
-front foot raises for Anterior Tibialis
-seated Calve raises
-standing Calve raises
Rear Delts:
-reverse Flatbench flys
-reverse Butterfly
-shrugs
18:00 PM second split-workout Front Delts:
-seated dumbbell press
-Rope front raises
Side Delts:
-lateral raises
-upright rows
Day 5 7:00 AM Cardio -one hour treadmill
12:00 PM first split workout Back:
-pull downs wide grip (neck or front)
-pull downs close grip
-seated rows close grip
-seated rows medium grip
-seated rows wide grip
18:00 PM second split-workout Biceps:
-scott curls
-hammer curls
-concentration curls
Day 6 7:00 AM Cardio -one hour treadmill
On the seventh day I repeat this schedule!
By "Gunter Schlierkamp" This is my workout schedule. My workouts during the offseason are really not much different from the workouts when I prepare for a competition. The only thing I change is the exercise intensity: I train a little bit lighter in offseason to recover from my strenuous competition preparation. But the exercises, sets and reps stay the same year-round.
I divide my workouts according to a double-split program, meaning that I do two workouts each day. That keeps the time for each workout below 60 minutes. This is important because after one hour of intensive exercise, testosterone levels have decreased to a point that diminishes the effectiveness of the workout. It is possible to boost your testosterone level with androstenedione, but I still recommend keep your training duration to less than 60 minutes per workout.
I train two days on, one day off, although I do cardio every day. This rhythm has proven to be the most effective for me: It allows my body to recover and gain maximum muscle mass. Recovery is just as important as training, because that is when your body repairs torn muscle fibers and builds new ones as an adaptation to the stimulus provided by the workout.
Because the body constantly adapts to new levels of resistance, I try to challenge my muscles constantly in new ways to avoid getting stuck on plateaus. Of course, nobody can gain endless amounts of muscle mass; everyone has genetic limitations. But I haven't stopped improving yet, and I believe that constant changing my exercises workout to workout is a big part of my success. I always try to work out on different machines and apparatus; only the basics stay the same. I also experiment with different angles and variations on particular exercises. For example, I can find a lot of different machines for lat pull-downs, and I can also vary my grips and angle on each. When you read my workout schedule, remember that I give you only a basic idea what sort of exercises I prefer. I do many variations of those basic exercises.
Warm up
I take my warm up very seriously, because I am financially dependent on the health of my body. The people who have followed my career know that I have never had an injury and have never missed a competition. This is not just a coincidence. I've never had an injury because I warm up properly and make sure I do the exercises with correct form and sensible body feeling.
My warm-up program consists of 5-10 minutes of cycling. Afterwards, I stretch the muscle group I am about to train. For the first exercise, I start with light weights and slowly increase the weight until I reach my regular workout weight. This way I give my muscles a chance to adapt to the resistance.
Sets and Repetitions
After two or three warm-up sets, I start to train, performing three sets per exercise. I adjust the weight to the desired amount of reps.
First set: 15 reps
Second set: 10-12 reps
Third set: 6-8 reps
As you see, I train my muscle fibers with high and low repetitions to maximize muscle size, rather than strength or speed. Abs, legs and calves are the exception. I try to stimulate those muscle groups with high repetitions only. They are designed to have better endurance than other muscle groups because off their primary function: to carry and stabilize the body.
Abs: 20-30 reps (four sets per exercise)
Legs: 15-20 reps (three sets per exercise)
Calves: 20-30 reps (four sets per exercise
Proper form
Proper form is very important, not just to prevent injuries but also to maximize the stimulus for your muscles. If you cheat -- that is, help an underdeveloped muscle group by swinging or using a stronger muscle group to help -- you actually keep the weak muscle group weak and make the stronger helping muscle group stronger. To train with proper form, you have to do the motion slowly and under control. You also have to try to isolate the muscle group as much as possible. Isolation can be enhanced by concentration as well.
Cardio or Fat-burning Exercise
I call this workout "cardio" even though, strictly speaking, it is more of a fat-burning exercise. Cardiovascular training is performed by elevating your heart rate up to 80% of the maximum heart rate (220 beats per minute, minus your age) and with interval. Fat-burning is at a maximum when you train at 60-70% of your max heart rate.
But even at 60-70% of max heart rate, the benefits go beyond just fat-burning. Your body will build new capillaries (fine small blood vessels that transport oxygen and nutrients to the muscle fibers) and your heart and lungs will work more efficiently. Those benefits are important to optimize muscle growth. Your body will not build up more muscles if your cardiovascular system is unable to supply those muscles with oxygen and nutrients. I don't do cardio only precontest; I do it year-round. Every morning, I do power walking on the treadmill for one hour on an empty stomach. I am proud to say that I have a resting heartrate from 40 beats per minute, which is the resting heart rate a marathon runner would have.
The fact that I do the cardio on an empty stomach is advantageous because my blood-sugar level is very low, which forces my body to use more fat to satisfy its energy needs. But your body needs about 15-20 minutes before it can mobilize stored body fat. During this time, your body needs carbohydrates and BCAA's. Smaller athletes will probably be able to cover this time period with stored muscle glycogen, but tall and/or massive athletes like me should consume a small amount of simple crabohydrates before they do cardio. I like to take a Metaform Heat shake before I go on the treadmill. It provides 21g of protein with BCAA's, 16g of carbohydrates and only 1g of fat. Those nutrients provide my body with energy until the stored body fat is mobilized. This shake also contains some thermogenic substances, which wake me up in the morning and increase my metabolism.
As I draw closer to the competition, I sometimes do as much as two hours of cardio a day. I do the second cardio workout right after the second split-training session. After a weightlifting workout, the body has used up most of the glycogen it had stored, so it has no other choice than to burn stored body fat.
Gnther's Workout schedule
Day 1 7:00 AM Cardio -one hour treadmill
12:00 PM first split workout Abs:
-crunches
-leg lifts
Hamstrings:
-lying curls
-standing curls
-stiff leg deadlifts
18:00 PM second split-workout Quadriceps:
-legextentions
-leg press standing
-leg press lying
Day 2 7:00 AM Cardio -one hour treadmill
12:00 PM first split workout Chest:
-incline dumbbell press
-incline cable flyes
-bench press with dumbbells
-upright press
-butterflyes
18:00 PM second split-workout Triceps:
-cable press down T-bar
-cable press down rope
-over head extention dumbbell
-over head extention barbell
Day 3 7:00 AM Cardio -one hour treadmill
Day 4 7:00 AM Cardio -one hour treadmill
12:00 PM first split workout Calves:
-front foot raises for Anterior Tibialis
-seated Calve raises
-standing Calve raises
Rear Delts:
-reverse Flatbench flys
-reverse Butterfly
-shrugs
18:00 PM second split-workout Front Delts:
-seated dumbbell press
-Rope front raises
Side Delts:
-lateral raises
-upright rows
Day 5 7:00 AM Cardio -one hour treadmill
12:00 PM first split workout Back:
-pull downs wide grip (neck or front)
-pull downs close grip
-seated rows close grip
-seated rows medium grip
-seated rows wide grip
18:00 PM second split-workout Biceps:
-scott curls
-hammer curls
-concentration curls
Day 6 7:00 AM Cardio -one hour treadmill
On the seventh day I repeat this schedule!
