Week five new training program

It is week four of my new training program to get myself out of a bit of a funk and regain some of the fitness and strength I’ve lost over the last few months. 

The aim of my new training program is to enable me to:

1. Exercise every single day.
2. Rebuild my base fitness level.
3. Rebuild strength and muscle mass.
4. Set regular goals to show progress.

This is my fifth week of training and the start of my second cycle in this program. While I would love to report that I have been powering through the week and smashing my goals, I can’t. Unfortunately, my busy few weeks, including flying around the country, caught up with me. 

A lovely cold and sore throat took me down hard, forcing me to drop my weights and add more rest between sets so I could make it through my workouts. While I would enjoy the lively debate about whether you should work out when you are sick, I know myself well enough to know that if I stop working out, it would take weeks to ramp myself back up to sticking with the programme again. Whenever I’m sick, I try to keep exercising and adjust my activity based on how I’m feeling, how much sleep I’ve had and my fueling (food and hydration) that day. Some days I may have to drop the weights completely or just do the cardio part of the workout so I don’t flatline myself for the rest of the week. I know that being sick means needing more recovery time, and I see a massive increase in muscle soreness, so I work with what I have.

What have I been doing?

Each week, I will share one of the workouts I’ve done here so you can see the program and exercise details.

This week I’ll be sharing the lower body focused strength training session, along with my warm-up and cool-down.

Day 6 – Lower body focus strength training 

Activations and warm-up

Banded standing clams	10 each side, foot forward and foot backward
Banded lateral walks	10 each side
Banded monster walks	10 each side forward and backward
Band pull-aparts	10

2 rounds

• 10 push ups
• 10 mountain climbers
• 10 walking lunges
• 10 sit-ups
• 10 pull ups

Workout

Barbell back squat	3 sets 8 reps 50%
Reverse lunge	3 sets 8 reps each leg 50%
Glute bridge	3 sets 12 reps 50%
Calf raise	3 sets 12 reps 50%
Treadmill	10 rounds 20 second sprint, 20 second rest

Cool down

Standing quad stretch	2 sets, 30 seconds each leg
Straight leg calf stretch	2 sets, 30 seconds each leg
Kneeling hip flexor stretch	2 sets, 30 seconds each leg
Hamstring stretch	2 sets, 30 seconds each leg
Figure 4 stretch	2 sets, 30 seconds each leg
Pigeon pose	2 sets, 30 seconds each side

Workout disclaimer

I share my workouts to show what I do, not to tell you what to do.  

I post my workouts using percentages of my max lifting capacity rather than stating the weights or speeds I use. Everyone is different and has different levels of fitness and capability. Your body is yours alone. If you want to start working out, I recommend spending some time with a personal trainer to get you on the right path.  

When working out with weights, remember your one-rep max is yours alone; finding the weights that are right for you is important. If you decide to try a workout, find out which weights you should use first.