This 40 Day workout program will get you SUPER STRONG.
If working out has become too complicated and you find yourself spending more time thinking and reading about what you need to do in the gym than actually working out in it, the following program might be just what the doctor ordered.
By doctor, I mean Pavel Tsatsouline, one of the top minds in the strength training world and CEO of Strongfirst.
The program first came into prominence when he gave it to strength coach Dan John as written about on T-nation.
Essentially the program involves you doing the same workout for the next 40 days. It’s about low volume on a given day, but doing the workouts very frequently. Added up over the course of the week it equates to fairly significant volume, 10 sets + per exercise for the week.
Because the frequency is high, the intensity needs to be kept fairly low in order to prevent burnout and overtraing.
The rationale of training with this high frequency is that you develop the ‘skill of strength,’ greasing the groove effectively.
By performing an exercise with lower intensity and very frequently, you develop the neural pathways between your mind and muscle for that particular movement, allowing you to get more effective muscle contractions and recruit more muscle fibres.
You could even think of it this way: Right now your body/muscles are a 4 cyclinder engine, but because you haven’t developed the ‘skill of strength,’ being able to effectively recruit a high percentage of muscle fibres, you’re only firing on 2 cylinders.
By ‘greasing the groove’ with high frequency training, you’re learning to fire on all 4 cyclinders and will be much stronger for it.
How to do the 40-day strength program:
1. For the next 40 workouts, do the EXACT same workout.
2. Pick 5 exercises for the workout:
– 1 Squatting movement (Squats, Deadlifts, Overhead squats, Pistol squats etc)
– 1 Pushing movement (Bench Press, Dips, Military Press, Advanced Push-ups, Handstand Push up)
– 1 Pulling Movement (Pull-ups, Heavy Bicep curls, Rows etc)
– 1 Full-body explosive move (Kettlebell swings, Snatches etc)
– 1 Abdominal exercise (Decline sit-ups, Ab walkouts, Straight-leg hanging leg raises)
3. Do only 2 sets of 5 reps for the squatting, pushing and pulling exercises. Do 1 set of 25-75 reps for the Full-body explosive move and 1 set of 5 for the abdominal exercise.
4. Begin light.
Choose a weight that feels ‘too easy’ for the first couple of workouts. When it seems ‘way too easy’ increase it a little, but never so much that you come anywhere near being unable to complete all of your prescribed reps.
It’s about GRADUALLY getting stonger and stronger over your 40 workouts, you want to only increase the weight as you feel yourself getting stronger, but never so much that you miss a rep.
Because you’re doing this workout almost every day (upto 5x per week,) you never want to push too hard, to the extent that you wonder if you’ll be recovered and have enough in the tank tomorrow.
It’s really about showing up and never missing a rep for the next 40 workouts.
If you can do that you’ll be stronger than you’ve ever been.
Most people who’ve done the program and stuck with it, have recorded personal records on most of their lifts at the end of the program.
It’s really that simple, in fact it could be one of the simplest programs you’ll ever follow.
But don’t be fooled by it’s simplicity. It will get boring and you might feel like you need to be doing more – and that’s where a certain level of maturity comes in – being able to let go and trust the program, sometimes less is more.
It’s not a fat-loss program, if fat-loss is your primary objective, a more appropriate program is my 4-week PRISON WORKOUT, which you can get for FREE, here.
But if you aim is to get stronger than you’ve ever been, then give this approach a try for your next 40 workouts.
Leave your comments below and let me know how it works for you.
Article by: Bryan Hamann.
Bryan is a personal trainer, certified bootcamp instructor, Ironman Triathlete and author of THE PRISON WORKOUT.
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If you’d like to learn more about how to get the body of your dreams, in the simplest, cheapest, most efficient way, you’ll also find these articles very useful:
The best dumbbell exercises for conditioning and fat-loss.
3 Things you must know if you want to build muscle.
Push ups – One of the most underrated, yet effective chest exercises.
‘Greasing the Groove’ – An unconventional way to massively increase your strength.
MCT Oil – The most underrated supplement.
Prohormones – Amazing muscle builders, or a complete waste of money?
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for superior fat-loss
