Last night I was so tired when I was done training my athletes at The Underground I was ready to just call it a night and drive home.
Certainly, back when I was a teenager or early 20s, training at 9 PM was easy. I had all the energy in the world, granted, I wasn’t a family man or running multiple businesses either.
But at the end of the night, I knew I just couldn’t quit. I had to go hard and dig deep. Times like these reveal and test your character.
It’s been a LONG week with my son, Ethan, being sick all week and waking up all night and my daughter at 6 AM every morning.
But, as a Dad, I have to walk the talk and represent for my family. Gotta Live The Code 365.
So I cranked an old school power-bodybuilding routine out in 25 minutes, and it reminded me of those days in my Dad’s garage when all I owned was a barbell, a set of 50 & 100 lb dumbbells and a gun rack got squatting or racking weights at waist height.
Here’s the Power Bodybuilding Workout from Last Night….
1) run the rack standing dumbbell military press: 15 x 5, 25 x 3, 35 x 3, 45 x 3, 60 x 2, 70 x 2, 85 x 2, 90 x 2 (rest 15 sec. between sets)
2) Barbell High Pull x 3 reps ea. set: 135, 185, 205 for 3 sets : changed the weight and did the next set
3) Barbell Clean & Press x 1 rep ea. set: 135, 185, 205
4) DB side raises drop sets: 35 x 8, 25 x 8
5) Bent Over DB raise drop sets: 40 x 8, 25 x 8
6) DB Hammer Curls drop sets: 85 x 5, 45 x 6, 35 x 7
Quick and brutal. Felt like a million bucks when I was done!
Often times, those days you feel tired and run down, you just need a short warm up and some blood to start flowing. These days often because your best training sessions.
Tell us about your favorite power-bodybuilding workout by posting a comment below.
Looking forward to seeing what you got!
Live The Code 365
–Z–
The Encyclopedia of Underground Strength & Conditioning
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it takes a real man to take care of his family and still take a quick 25 mins to dig deep and crank out a kick a$$ routine
All I need for motivation is to think about my family. A BIG enough WHY will push the difference between what you want to do VS what you NEED to do.
When I can’t hit the gym (kids), I hit something like this in the backyard.
Mine’s a little less bodybuilder-ish though.
4 Rounds of
A1, Sandbag Shoulders, 125lbs x 3-4 reps
A2, Single Arm DB Floor Press, 4-6 reps
4 Rounds of
B1, DB Row, 6-8 reps
B2, Sandbag Clean and Zercher Squat, 125lbs x 6-8 reps
Med Ball Slams for max reps in 1 minute
If I have time left, I toss all the stuff (or the kids) back in my wheelbarrow sled and pull it around the yard a few times for fun.
Love it…. a backyard training session can be simple, brutal and beautiful – ALL at the same time.
funny story…
you said you just picked up a few hundred pounds of weights, Z, well so did I yesterday. I got to the guys house (from CraigsList) and he took me into his garage in the backyard, he had 325# of plates for a $100, old school York’s and other’s, so i grabbed em, not the best deal I’ve made, but not terrible either, and i noticed a bunch of DB’s against the wall and asked what kind of training he did. He pointed at his ridiculous Smith Machine that was taking up way too much space and showed me benches and flys and curls with his arms. He said he was trying to sell his old DB’s because they “didn’t match” and said they looked ugly. I agreed and gave him a few dollars for some of his Db’s and wished him luck on getting a new beautiful set. I got pair of 25’s, 50’s and 55’s for next to nothing! We made the deal and as i was packing my car up to drive off, i pulled out my 2 KB’s i had in my trunk and showed him double KB snatches, clean and presses and swings, i did a few burpees and started snatching the db’s i just acquired a few seconds ago. Dude was impressed, asked what i did for a living and i pulled out my card and put it in his hand and got myself some new toys and a new client. Now he’s going to pay me to train him with his old ugly mismatched DB’s!
Matty I miss your stories and training Vids!!!!
At 51 years young I love training in this manner! I used train body builder style like you did when you were younger. Now I like training for strength, power, speed and function much like you do I also enjoy body weight training and combining it with strongman style training great stuff!. An example follows, more strongman though rather than body building.
For three sets no rest between exercises:
Back Squat 170kg x 5
Sled Pull 280 kg for 30 meters
Farmers walk 170kg for similar distance
Rest till fully recovered after each set, after this I do a quick body weight routine as follows:
Push ups with feet elevated on bench x10
Rows under smith machine bar with feet elevated on bench x 10
Bodyweight tricep extension x0
This is all done with no rest between exercises and a brief rest between sets for three or for sets, Quick, brutal and effective! Oh and buy the way body weight training is the best use for the smith machine as the bar can be quickly adjusted to different heights for different excercises!
I’ve been needing more bodybuilding work to strengthen some of my smaller muscles and break from some injuries and tweaks.
Some people never need to back off, some do…. be smart, do what YOU need, not just what you read about.
A little late but:
Day 1:
Power Cleans (3×5 or some other moderate rep scheme)
Squats (Same rep style as power cleans)
Dumbell Bench: 2 high rep sets, add weight once I get 20 reps on both sets
Day 2: Press (reps like cleans on day 1)
Deadlifts (reps like cleans on day 1)
Pullups: 3 sets, add weight once I get 15 reps on each set
Do this twice a week and some cardio or mobility on off days