CHOOSE A BLEND OF MOVEMENTS FOR TOTAL-BODY FITNESS AND OPTIMUM FAT BURNING
Now that you’re primed and ready, it’s time to take your workout routines to the next, more challenging level.
Push, Pull, Swing is ultimately a collection of more than 100 great dumbbell, kettlebell, and sandbag exercises—all in one convenient place. If you already know a fair amount about exercise, you can take the moves from the last few chapters and integrate them into your own routines as a way to mix things up, try something new, and make your workouts less boring—for your mind and your muscles. If you simply want to follow a pretested plan or you have a specific goal in mind, you can jump to the next chapter to find all sorts of workout programs for dumbbells, kettlebells, and sandbags. If you want to try building your own workout from the vault of exercises in this book, you’re in the right spot. In this chapter, you’ll find templates for different general workout programs that you can use to achieve your goals. Simply plug the Push, Pull, or Swing exercise you want to do in the appropriate spot in the charts, and you’ll automatically ensure that you’re getting a solid metabolic workout that attacks your body from all angles.
There are many different ways you can integrate the Push, Pull, Swing method into a workout, depending on what type of routine works best for you. Just remember this simple rule for building routines: The workouts in each week should always incorporate a blend of upper body push and pull exercises, lower body push and pull exercises, and swing or core movements.
If you take a look at all three 1-week test drive workouts in Chapter 9, no matter which of the Push, Pull, Swing tools you choose, you’ll notice that each routine is made up of all five types of moves.
One upper body push exercise
One upper body pull exercise
One lower body push exercise
One lower body pull exercise
One swing (rotational) or core exercise
Building your own Push, Pull, Swing routine isn’t difficult. Think of it as a checklist—one that helps you quickly determine whether or not your workout is balanced. Here are some templates for various standard workouts to get you started.
WARM UP OR DON’T LIFT!
Before each and every workout in this chapter and this book, you need to warm up your muscles.
Doing some type of 5-minute, low-intensity activity prior to each workout will help increase bloodflow to your working muscles and increase the elasticity of connective tissues, allowing your muscles to contract more fluidly. Not only will you minimize your risk of injury and improve your performance while exercising, but you’ll also recover from your workouts much faster—especially if you perform the same low-intensity activity at the end of each workout as a cooldown.
A few smart, equipment-free choices: Try jogging in place, skipping rope (even without a rope is fine), or jumping jacks.
REMEMBER THE 1-REP RULE
Always go 1 rep short of failure. Pushing, pulling, or swinging a weight to the point where you can’t complete a solid repetition will burn your muscles out before the workout is over. It’s critical that your body’s central nervous system is able to recover after each workout to prevent overtraining. By leaving 1 rep “on the table” in every set, you’ll still stimulate all of your muscle fibers without risking having to cut your workouts short—or worse, suffering an injury—due to overtraining.
This follows a classic strength training format of three workouts a week with rest days in between workouts. Be sure to choose different push, pull, and swing exercises for each day (labeled A, B, and C exercises below).
| DAY 1 |
| Upper body push exercise A |
| Lower body push exercise A |
| Upper body pull exercise A |
| Lower body pull exercise A |
| Swing (rotational) or core exercise A |
| DAY 2 |
| Upper body push exercise B |
| Lower body push exercise B |
| Upper body pull exercise B |
| Lower body pull exercise B |
| Swing (rotational) or core exercise B |
| DAY 3 |
| Upper body push exercise C |
| Lower body push exercise C |
| Upper body pull exercise C |
| Lower body pull exercise C |
| Swing (rotational) or core exercise C |
Intermediate 3-Day Workout
This workout separates the pushing and pulling upper body exercises and combines pushing and pulling for your lower body on the third day for the more advanced lifter who needs more work on his upper body muscles. This routine could be performed three times a week with a day of rest in between each workout or by lifting 3 days straight, resting 1 day, and then lifting another 3 days straight because you are working opposing muscle groups on Days 1 and 2 . On Day 3, you can either repeat the swing or core exercises from Day 1 or choose two new ones.
| DAY 1 |
| Upper body push exercise A |
| Upper body push exercise B |
| Upper body push exercise C |
| Upper body push exercise D |
| Swing (rotational) or core exercise A |
| Swing (rotational) or core exercise B |
| DAY 2 |
| Upper body pull exercise A |
| Upper body pull exercise B |
| Upper body pull exercise C |
| Upper body pull exercise D |
| Swing (rotational) or core exercise C |
| Swing (rotational) or core exercise D |
| DAY 3 |
| Lower body push exercise A |
| Lower body pull exercise A |
| Lower body push exercise B |
| Lower body pull exercise B |
| Swing (rotational) or core exercise A |
| Swing (rotational) or core exercise B |
In this plan, you exercise 4 days a week with a day of rest in the middle. In each workout, you hit every muscle group, utilizing all pull moves for upper and lower body one day, all push moves for upper and lower body another, and incorporating swing moves into both days. For the second pair of days, you can repeat the same first two workouts or select different exercises.
| DAY 1 |
| Upper body push exercise A |
| Lower body push exercise A |
| Upper body push exercise B |
| Lower body push exercise B |
| Upper body push exercise C |
| Lower body push exercise C |
| Swing (rotational) or core exercise A |
| DAY 2 |
| Upper body pull exercise A |
| Lower body pull exercise A |
| Upper body pull exercise B |
| Lower body pull exercise B |
| Upper body pull exercise C |
| Lower body pull exercise C |
| Swing (rotational) or core exercise B |
| REST DAY |
| DAY 3 |
| Upper body push exercise A |
| Lower body push exercise A |
| Upper body push exercise B |
| Lower body push exercise B |
| Upper body push exercise C |
| Lower body push exercise C |
| Swing (rotational) or core exercise C |
| DAY 4 |
| Upper body pull exercise A |
| Lower body pull exercise A |
| Upper body pull exercise B |
| Lower body pull exercise B |
| Upper body pull exercise C |
| Lower body pull exercise C |
| Swing (rotational) or core exercise D |
Is that a push, pull, or swing? To use the previous workout charts, it’s helpful to have a list that organizes exercises by type (push, pull, swing) and tool, starting with dumbbells below. Here and on the next two pages are such lists to help you create balanced routines.
DUMBBELLS
| LOWER BODY PUSH EXERCISES |
| FRONT SQUAT |
| LUNGE |
| Walking Lunge |
| Side Lunge |
| SQUAT |
| Jump Squat |
| Bulgarian Isometric Squat |
| STEPUP |
| Crossover Stepup |
| SINGLE-LEG STANDING CALF RAISE |
| SWING (AND CORE) EXERCISES |
| CRUNCH |
| Long-Arm Crunch |
| REVERSE CRUNCH |
| Double Crunch |
| KNEELING TWIST |
| Russian Twist |
| SIDE PLANK |
| STANDING TWIST |
| WOODCHOP |
| Single-Leg Woodchop |
| Reverse Woodchop |
Refer to the list on this page for additional exercises that can also be performed using a dumbbell.
| UPPER BODY PULL EXERCISES |
| BENT-OVER ROW |
| 45-Degree Two-Arm Row |
| Yates Row |
| Single-Leg Row |
| IRON CROSS |
| RENEGADE ROW |
| Renegade Row and Burpee |
| SWING (AND CORE) EXERCISES |
| AROUND-THE-BODY PASS |
| Around-the-Legs Pass |
| HALO |
| BENT PRESS |
| FIGURE-EIGHT |
| WINDMILL |
| Double Windmill |
Refer to the chart on this page for additional exercises that can also be performed using a kettlebell.
| UPPER BODY PULL EXERCISES |
| LATERAL DRAG |
| SINGLE-LEG ROW |
| Vertical Single-Leg Row |
| Neutral-Grip Bent-Over Row |
| Staggered Stance Bent-Over Row |
| SHOULDERING |
| One-Arm Shouldering |
| Side Lunge Shouldering |
| SWING (AND CORE) EXERCISES |
| LONG-ARM CRUNCH |
| Standard Crunch |
| Overhead Raise Long-Arm Crunch |
| AROUND-THE-WORLD |
| WIPER |
| SIDE-TO-SIDE PICKUP |
Refer to the lists on this page for additional exercises that can be performed using a sandbag.
As simple as getting fit by pushing, pulling, and swinging is, it is not an exact science. These principles will help you avoid confusion.
1 NOT ALL EXERCISES ARE CREATED EQUAL. Although each exercise is grouped by type (pushing, pulling, or swinging), some exercises—because of tweaks, such as adding a lunging, pressing, or twisting motion—actually fit into several categories.
For example, you’ll find the Rotating Clean Lunge Press—a variation of a Rotating Clean—on the lower body pulling exercise. However, having to lunge as well as press the sandbag overhead adds a pushing element to the exercise. What’s more, you also rotate and swing the sandbag. So, in reality, this exercise is a push, pull, and swing exercise. Don’t sweat it. Just go with the flow. We categorize the exercises according to the majority of the muscles used in the movement.
2 A FEW EXERCISES ARE LISTED IN SEVERAL CATEGORIES. Certain moves are such a complete body effort that it would be unfair to have to flip a coin to decide which category they belong in.
For example, the Clean and Press is an effective lower body pulling exercise, but it is equally impressive as an upper body pushing exercise. With movements that are a 50-50 split in terms of effort, you’ll find them listed twice in separate categories.
3WHEN IN DOUBT, TRUST YOUR BODY. As you experiment with the moves in this book, you’ll notice which exercises can be considered more than just one type of movement. For instance, you may get a great core workout from an exercise that you thought was merely a pulling exercise.
So if some exercises can be considered more than one type of exercise, how exactly are you supposed to create a balanced workout? That’s easy. As you create your workouts, try this trick: First, write down these five categories.
Upper body push exercise
Upper body pull exercise
Lower body push exercise
Lower body pull exercise
Swing (rotational) or core exercise
Next, run through every exercise in your routine, then check off which category (or categories) each exercise seems to fulfill. Once you’ve run through all the exercises, count them up and see what type of ratio you’re dealing with, and yes, count an exercise twice (or more) if it falls into multiple categories to get an accurate sense of your routine.
Do the math—but please don't hang yourself by it. This is not an exact science, as I mentioned before. It’s intended to be a second set of eyes to make sure you’re training your body the way it was meant to be trained—head to toe, back to front, and everything in between. It’s a smarter, simpler solution to give you peace of mind that the hours you spend exercising each week are getting maximum results for you. You can use it, or you can use each exercise in this book in any way that you choose, in any type of routine that you choose. But don’t feel as if you have to create a workout that is the perfect balance every single time.
1 Work large body parts before small body parts. That means you should select exercises that primarily work your big muscle groups first. If you have time during your workouts, you may add in exercises that target smaller muscles (such as your triceps, biceps, calves, and abs).
Another way to organize workouts if you want more bang for your buck: Choose compound exercises over single-joint exercises. For example, pick exercises like Squats over Calf Raises, Chest Presses over Chest Flies, Clean and Presses over Lateral Raises, and Bent-Over Rows over Biceps Curls.
Most experts agree that the first exercise in each workout should be the one that requires the most effort. That way, you’re performing the hardest exercises while your muscles are fresh and your energy levels are at their highest.
2 Know the right numbers. How many exercises you should put into a routine, how many sets you should perform of each exercise, how many reps you should perform of each exercise, and how long you should rest between sets—all of these depend on your fitness goals. The following chart is a guideline that makes it a little easier to figure out what to do. These aren’t magic numbers, mind you, but they are a good benchmark for most men, most of the time.
Basically, your set count should be inversely related to your number of reps per set. That means that if you’re performing a high number of reps (such as 12 to 15), 1 or 2 sets should be enough. For 10 to 12 reps, try 2 or 3 sets. For 8 reps, 3 or 4 sets would work well. And if you’re doing 3 to 5 reps per set, you probably want to do 4 to 6 sets.
3 Keep it under four workouts per week and 60 minutes per workout. Any more than 4 days is too much, unless you’re an elite athlete with several years’ experience behind you. Otherwise, your muscles will never have enough time to recover—and you won’t see as many, if any, gains. After that threshold, results dwindle and injury risk increases.
That also goes for how long you exercise. Your body reduces its production of muscle-building hormones and elevates its production of muscle-wasting hormones at about the 60-minute mark. Keeping your workouts intense but brief will yield much better results than shooting for a marathon workout.
4 Say good-bye to your workout after 4 to 6 weeks. Your workouts will turn boring—even counterproductive—if you don’t revise them after that time. In order to keep your muscles interested and evolving, come up with something new, even if it’s just a change in reps, sets, or rest intervals. Or try switching your usual fitness tool for one of the other two.
