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Quick Strength Program: Get Back in the Game
Laid off your training for a while? Welcome yourself back with this program — guaranteed to get you strong fast.
Quick strength to get back quick is in your reach. Laid off your training for a while? Welcome yourself back with this program — guaranteed to get you strong fast.
By Joe Kenn. Photographs by Matthew Salacuse
Life happens. Whether you’re a student with exams on, a family man with more important things to focus on than your bench press, or winter has frozen your arse to the couch, circumstances are always conspiring to keep you from your workouts. If you’re ready to head back into the gym, we’ll meet you halfway with this program, which will help you add muscle and strength fast while focusing only on the most essential exercises.
QUICK STRENGTH PROGRAM: HOW IT WORKS
We’re not going to overwhelm you with a complicated program when you’re just getting back into the swing of things. Instead, we want you to focus on just four lifts — the deadlift, front squat, chin-up and overhead press — and get good at them. These exercises will be all you need to see muscle and strength gains for a long time to come. You’ll manipulate the intensity of each lift within each session. For example, one day you’ll train the deadlift heavy, the front squat with moderate weight, and the press and chin-up light. The next workout, the front squat will be heavy, the deadlift light, and so on.
This will help you avoid getting too tired your first time back in the gym, and will allow you to prioritise one lift at a time to master good technique.
DIRECTIONS
FREQUENCY:
Perform the workout three times a week, resting for at least a day between each session.
TIME NEEDED:
40 minutes.
HOW TO DO IT:
Each exercise has a specific percentage of your one-rep max (the heaviest load you can use for one perfect rep) assigned to it. For instance, if your best deadlift is 110 kilos, and 85 percent is called for, you’ll use 93 kilos for each set (round the number up or down as needed). The percentages change each time you repeat the workout, so pay attention to when you’re lifting heavy, moderate, or light. Note that the sets and reps remain constant — five sets of five. See the table opposite for the percentages and the order of exercises, which also rotates, each session. Complete all the sets of one exercise before moving to the next.
For the chin-up, estimate how much additional weight you can add (witha weighted belt or a dumbbell between your feet) that will allow you a one-rep max and base your percentages on that.
