I'm Steve — MiniWorkoutDad!
The Extra Ingredient in My Weekly 75!
The gulf of outcomes between “doing my workout” and making real progress in 75-mins a week comes down to one thing. And, I’ll explain what that is and exactly how I do it right here.
In this article
- I’m no David Goggins
- Back to Mike and his 6 time Mr Olympia
- Aiming to fail
- Make your signal count
- Good for muscles; great for your heart
- How I did today’s workout (real example!)
You’ve possibly got my workout guide. Maybe you’ve bought the workout video too? These show you what I do. But, I know there’s something missing: HOW I do my workouts.
I realise it sounds like I’ve lost the plot, because I already said you’ve got the one and only workout I do!
And, perhaps you’re very familiar with the nine lifts and holds that make-up a cycle. And, you know I aim for 9 cycles in the 25mins I workout. I hope I’ve done a useful job of communicating the fundamentals.
But, it strikes me that, what you don’t get from the workout PDF or Follow Me video, is how to “attack” the workout.
No David Goggins moment
Don’t worry, I’ve not come over all David Goggins. You’ll never read or hear macho nonsense from me about “releasing your inner warrior”. But, I do think “attack” is the best way to describe what I’m talking about. Here’s what I mean…
Imagine Bert and Jean are both doing the workout…
Bert thinks 30lb is the right weight for him. He ploughs through all 9 cycles in 25mins, without a break. He’s pretty out of breath at the end, but so proud he didn’t stop!
Jean decides, “If Steve’s using 60lb, I’m going to aim for at least half that.” But, she feels she’s struggling to sustain the holds right from the start. After 3 cycles, she has to stop for half a minute, because she’s panting so hard and her heart is absolutely pounding. Then she does another 2 and stops again – for a whole minute! After that, she battles through two single cycles (with rests in-between!), until she runs out of time.
Bert and Jean both did my workout, but their workout experiences were very different. Who’s do you think was the most effective ‘attack’?
Back to Mike and his 6-time Mr Olympia
I’ve mentioned before that this workout was inspired by a chance reading of a Mike Mentzer quote. Mike was a bodybuilder from the Schwarzeneggerera who went on to train 6 time My Olympia, Dorian Yates. (You can read the full story about how the workout came to be here)
We are not bodybuilders, but we are trying to build muscle (which bodybuilders know a thing or two about), so we can learn from them. And, the main thing Dorian learned from Mike and I’ve stolen from both of them is intensity beats volume.
Mike famously taught Dorian to do only 1 (one!) set of each exercise because, if you aim to do any more, you will subconciously pace yourself (Dorian still teaches this as the corner stone of his training method).
Aiming to fail?
But, what’s Bert doing? I think Bert is pacing himself, so he can “complete” the workout.
Our workout is a bit different to gym reps and sets. We do one or two ‘reps’ (holds) of each exercise in each cycle. Our ‘set’ is the 6 to 9 cycles you get done in a workout. So, we too can aim for one all out “set”.
Jean’s workout looks a mess. She’s stopping a lot, blowing hard and very obviously struggling the whole time. It looks like she’s trying to do too much weight, but is she? Or, is she actually doing her one all-out-best-effort set?
Make your signal count
My workouts look more like Jean’s. I’ll push really hard to do 4 cycles without stopping. Then aim for 3 more, but often only make 2, before I’m down to singles to finish.
Sometimes, I do Reverse Cycles at the end, so the penultimate exercise of my whole workout is a big lift – The (usually) Phase 1 Squat to Overhead. That last lift can take two attempts. I fail, reset and try again. It’s then that I truly know I’ve done enough.
“Enough” means you’ve sent a strong signal to your body. A signal that you need these muscles – in fact, you could use a little more – to do this life thing. But, of course, we also workout for fitness and, fortunately, it’s not just muscle and strength that get the message.
Good for muscles; great for your heart
The extra effort you put in, massively increases the cardiovascular load. That drives your heart rate up to much higher levels. Your heart will respond to being pushed just like any other muscle, so you’ll get fitter!
I recently wore a heart rate monitor during one of my workouts. It measured several peaks between 170 and 176 beats per minute. For someone over 50, like me, that’s pushing through my Age-predicted Maximum Heart Rate according to the American Heart Association (AHA).
The AHA recommends 75mins exercise a week vigorous exercise. If you attack the workout like Jean and I do, you can meet that target!
How I did today’s workout (real example!)
I’ve just done my last workout of the week. I took my 7 year old iPad with the two workout videos on it, my 60lb sandbag and a water bottle outside and attacked the workout like this:-
- Queued up my Follow Me workout video on full volume.
- Set a timer to 25minutes.
- Started the timer and tapped play on the video
- Did my first cycle and made it tougher from the get go, by…
- Pushing my hands away in both Phase 2 & 3.
- Doing a quick pump squat between the two isometric ones
- Marching on the spot in Phase 7
- Going on to the balls of my feet in phase 8
- I did 3 forward cycles (to the end of the video) with all the add-ons to make it more difficult.
- I stopped only for a sip of water and to hit play on the next workout video: Reverse Cycles!
- Completed 1 Reverse Cycle and hit pause – I really needed a breather!
- Took 30 seconds rest
- Did the other two reverse phases in the video
- Took 60 seconds rest
- Then back to the first video and a forward cycle
- Took 30 secs break
- Started a forward cycle (the timer went off half-way through, but I finished it anyway)
- Collapsed!
Seems like chaos, right? But, if you charted my effort or heart rate (I’ll remember to wear the monitor next time!), this is what I suspect is happening…
For certain, it’s this pattern that I’m trying to achieve! One where my work rate rises rapidly and then stays high, closing in on my absolute maximum.
Think of that line as your signal. It’s unambiguous!
So, that’s how I attack my workouts
Not blindly pushing through pain or any of that nonsense, because you’ve still got to listen to your body and maintain strict technique. But, also not pacing myself, or easing off, when the going get’s tough.
Progress means pushing your body hard enough, so it has to adapt.
Finish your workouts feeling great about the effort you put in—not simply because you completed 9 cycles.
Steve — MiniWorkoutDad