"That'll do," I cracked.
The workout depicts a series ten of exercises intended to help you "reach your physical prime using a blend of unique exercises." It also lists additional conditioning work to be performed at the end of the 'lifting.' Each exercise is paired with another so that the entire workout consists of "supersets." For those new to the lingo, a superset is the combination of two or more exercises performed one after the other (typically without rest in between). The workout is further broken down into 3 sub-workouts, each to be performed once a week. Naturally, I started in order with the first sub-workout (which seemed easier than the others).
As always, I started things out with a total body stretch and warm up (jump rope). Then I slid over to the squat rack aka Wesay's House to begin the workout. The first superset consisted of "Barbell overhead lunge" and "Hyperextension with dumbbell scarecrow and twist." I always love a clever twist! The former required 20 lunges whilst holding a barbell overhead as directed, and the latter required 12 to 20 reps of the lower back exercise you usually see old men and young co-eds doing. The latter also required "bend[ing] your elbows to 90 degrees, rasin[ing] your upper body, and twist[ing] to the right." The next rep would be performed twisting to the left...naturally. Rests period in between sets and exercises were kept to a minimum to enhance the cardiovascular effect. The workout recommends 2 - 3 sets per exercise...you know I did 3.
The next workout superset consisted of "Barbell bus-driver rotation (12 - 20 reps)," "Barbell squat and one-arm press (10 reps each side)," and "Barbell drop squat and row (10 reps each side)." (Please see the link, they are hard to describe). I have to be honest, I didn't realize I was supposed to do the last one. The instructions in the magazine for the workout are a bit confusing, but I will incorporate the drop squat in my next workout to be fair. The barbell bus-driver was tougher than expected and really worked the core. I whole-heartedly recommend this exercise. The squat was also relatively tough since it challenges balance as well strength. Towards the end of this superset is when I began to really sweat. Usually I start sweating early during my own workouts, so I was doubting this workouts' effectiveness. But, the sweat came and I started to feel the work I was putting in. YES.
After finishing the second superset, I left my stuff at Wesay's House (as if I needed to mark my territory) and snagged a sip of water. That's when the Tom Foolery began. Apparently while I was gone, two mini-bench monkeys decided now was the time to screw up my superset action. One entered the curtilage of Wesay's House and proceeded to take cell phone pictures of the other posing like the guy at the right of this picture here. Too bad he's no Jay Cutler. What a couple of marmalukes...I bet they sent the pictures to some Fem-gazis (i.e. female version of the Fugazi...a post for another day). Anyhow, they quickly scurried away to the pecdeck machine upon my triumphant return.
The last superset consisted of "Pushup and row combination" and "Inverted row." This is where the workout really began to test me. The burn was intense, but not as intense as I usually feel in my own workouts....it was the overall fatigue that was testing me. Usually I can do 20 pushup and row combinations no problem, however, my rep progression was a meager 16, 14, and 12. Rep progression for the inverted rows was 21, 20, and 16. I was in full-on hyper sweat mode at the end of this superset...and my breathing was labored. Yep, this workout's legit.
The last bit of this day's particular workout called for conditioning in the form of "Plate pushes," wherein a weight plate is placed on the floor and pushed 10 yards with one's hands while driving with one's legs. I did 5 sets as recommended with little to no rest in between sets. INTENSE QUAD BURN!!!! Honestly, I could have done more, but I was definitely exhausted and people were looking at me funny because I looked like an animal. Also, I want to do the other sub-workouts later this week and don't want to burn out.
In sum, this is was pretty sick workout, but nothing you or I can't handle. One can cheat by resting too much in between sets or using too light of weights. But if you train hard, you will make GAINZ as I did. Try it out for yourself and let us know how you like it.
Train hard, eat right, and make GAINZ!
-Wesay GAINZ
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