Those who know me are aware that I like to experiment with different protocols when it comes to my personal life. I attempted a one-year Fast Food Fast, which lasted 4 months before I opted out after not seeing the kind of results I was predicting. I learned that there's nothing miraculous about not eating out and, unless calories are adjusted (and they were not), you will probably lose very little weight from avoiding fast food. Likewise, you can probably eat plenty of fast food and lose weight if you keep the calories low enough. Not great for optimal health, obviously, but that's not what the experiment was testing.
The new protocol is not really an experiment. It's more like a detailed metrics to determine whether or not I'm spending my time efficiently. Those of us looking for more time to exercise (to use one example) might want to look at exactly how we're spending our time each day. What got me thinking about time management was this guy named Tim Ferriss. He wrote a best-selling book called The Four-Hour Work Week, but I just follow his blog. He talks a lot about time management and in reading about his ideas, it made me wonder:
A) Why it takes me so long to complete a project
and
B) Why am I not consistent with my workouts
For this first blog on time management, I'll briefly discuss the workout portion. The reason I'm not consistent with working out is because I'm a chronic procrastinator, and I'm a chronic procrastinator toward things I find unpleasant. For example, I never procrastinate about eating junk food. If I feel like eating Mexican food, I'll go buy some and eat it. But when I feel I should work out, I find a way to delay actually doing it. We don't try to delay things we find pleasurable.
So what's the solution? My brain always tends to gravitate toward simplicity. I like to simplify things - it's like a hobby. I don't know what's so appealing to me about simplicity but it doesn't matter if I know why. I can still use it to my advantage. So my workout plan (which I started earlier today) is very, very simple. However, it's not easy. I don't mind doing things that are taxing, so long as they can be done without a lot of fuss.
I'm doing one compound exercise per day, five sets of five repetitions. So it'll look like this:
Monday - Bench Press 5X5
Tuesday - Squats 5X5
Wednesday - Deadlifts 5X5
Thursday - Overhead Press 5X5
Friday - Pullups - 5X5
I know that adding "5X5" is redundant, but it's a good reminder as to the simplicity of the routine. You're only doing one weight lifting exercise per day. Having a goal like "losing fat" is not motivating to me. Maybe it is to you. But I need something a little more tangible in the short term. So my goal is simply to get crazy strong. You might notice that there's no cardio on my workout routine. I've been told it's not needed, and after just finishing a set of Zercher Squats, I can attest to this. My heart was beating out of my chest, even during the rest periods. When the goal is time efficiency, killing two birds with one stone is the way to go.
One issue I have had in the recent past is dealing with knee pain. I have pretty intense knee pain in my right knee whenever my knee is bent to 90 degrees. So I did some research and found that Box Squats and Zercher Squats should be done in place of regular squats. Today I did the Zercher variation and my knee felt fine while squatting. If you have knee pain, try those two variations and see how they work for you.
I don't know if this is the best workout routine in the world, but the best routine is useless if nobody wants to do it. The only reason I choose this particular workout is because it's very simple, doesn't take much time or thought/planning & because I assume it will help me get stronger overall.
