Day 1: On Getting Back In Shape

It was about 1.5 years ago that I stopped going to a gym more or less regularly. Even then it was quite chaotic and I did not follow any specific training plan.

But this time I have an exact plan with a list of exercises with a number of sets and reps (with maximum possible weights to meet the needed amount of total reps). The plan is gonna be adjusted with time.

Currently, it looks very simple and includes only base exercises which involve different types of muscles at the same time.

They are the following:

1. pull-ups: 3*10
2. the squat: 2*12–15
3. the press (military press): 2*12–15
4. the deadlift: 2*12–15
5. the row: 2*12–15
6. the bench press: 2*12–15

I also plan to include:

1. the power clean

As you see, all exercises (except pull-ups which I actually failed to do with the end result of 5–4–3 ) are done in 2 sets of 12–15 reps and require a barbell only. I managed to do them with weights that were close to my peak weights allowing to do this exact amount of reps. It means I still could add more weight but most probably would go under 12 reps. I took those numbers from a Russian article about the first week of training. Fist 2 days go like this but on the third day 1 more set is added to each exercise and reps are cut to 8–10. A general aim, in the end, is to come to a smaller number of reps (4–5) with peak weights. But in the first weeks of training body needs time to get used to this kind of new activity— this is why weights are not absolute maximums but those allowing to make more reps.

Next time I’m going to my gym place tomorrow morning with some of my colleagues — this is why tonight I need to go to bed earlier (also because the body needs to refresh itself from the previous training).

Having a program and writing taken weights during the training is very effective and motivating because I do not need to guess what to do when coming to a gym —I know it in advance and can focus on exercises one by one as doing tasks from a to-do list (it’s bad I did not use this obvious approach before).

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