SIMPLE BEGINNER WORKOUT FOR LONGEVITY

Simple Beginner workouts are entry-level exercise plans for those of you with no current exercise program or one that’s not working for you now.

My newsletter aims to help subscribers live long enough to take advantage of life-extending technologies. Following a simple resistance exercise program is easy, does not take up a lot of your time, and produces results quickly.

In fact, the exercise program I’m giving you takes less than 20 minutes (including a warm-up) and is done once a week. Yes, you read that right, 20 minutes, once a week.

Although this workout can easily be scaled up for those who want more, what I’m going to give you in this newsletter is sufficient for your needs and will take you a long way. Done correctly, it is not easy. It is hard work meant to coax your muscles into a growth and recovery mode.

Simple beginner workout requirements:

First, before starting a workout plan, get a thumbs up from your PHP (personal healthcare provider). This is a must, as the program I will give you is going to challenge your cardiovascular system. Be safe, don’t be sorry.

The program assumes you are healthy and able to do the exercises. If you are physically compromised, seek out a trainer to assist you with my program.

If possible, find a partner who will follow the program with you and help you with time parameters.

Join a gym. This program will be easier and work better with gym equipment. In addition, the social atmosphere of a gym will help you make friends and entrain your thinking towards gym life and hard workouts. (Find a gym accepting “drop-in” payments because you only come in once weekly. This might save you some money.)

Exercise cadence:

There are three exercises. Each is done only once. They are all done in 20-second cycles: ten seconds out, ten seconds back. Smooth turnarounds with constant tension (no resting). Simply repeat until your muscles will not allow another “rep.” This is commonly referred to as muscle failure, which is a strong muscle growth stimulator.

Here are the exercises:

Before you start:

Always have a timer with you, preferably another person, or a secondhand clock-face timer (most cell phones have these available as apps.) Also, have a small tablet to record your weights and times to failure.

Starting off, you will need to determine your one-rep maximum. On most machines, this is the number of plates where you can do one repetition but not a second one. This might take a little work to measure, but it’s a critical starting point. You will not do your workout on this day.

When you start your actual workout, you will set your machine’s number of plates at 60% of your one-rep maximum. Try to go the same day and time each week, and pick a time when the gym is not very busy. Times between exercises are important. Waiting for a machine to open up is self-defeating.

Always spend five minutes warming up on a treadmill or cycle. This distributes fresh blood throughout your body and prepares your muscles.

Times:

Warmup – 5 minutes

Rest between exercises – 4 minutes

Exercise times – 1 to 2 minutes per exercise, 3 to 6 minutes total.

Treadmill walk-down – 5 minutes

Total exercise session time: 17 to 20 minutes.

(note: to the extent possible, have your machines set up and ready to go. In busy gyms, this might not be possible but do the best you can – there are biochemically important reasons for this timing, but you must also follow gym etiquette and work around others.)

So now we’re ready:

The warmups and walk-downs are self-explanatory, set your treadmill at 2 miles per hour, or 3.2 kilometers per hour, to warm up.

All exercise machines are to be set at 60% of your one-rep maximum.

Let’s get started…

Lat Pulldown (refer to illustration above):

Start with your feet directly below your knees and your thigh and lower legs, forming a 90-degree angle.

As long as it is always the same, the bar grip width should be anywhere from wide (shown above) to shoulder width. For hand positioning, as long as it is always the same, your hands should face out or be facing you.

Have your timer or your partner ready. Grab the bar, pull it down slowly (ten seconds) to your chin level, and let it slowly go up to where your elbows are still slightly bent. This should take another ten seconds, and complete your first rep (20 seconds total).

It is very important to work on a smooth turnaround keeping tension on your muscles don’t stop or rest.

After completing your first rep, do another one in the same fashion. Keep doing these until you can’t perform another, no matter how hard you try – this is muscle failure and the exercise’s goal and end-point.

Record your weight load and number of reps and go to the next machine.

Note: starting out at 60% of your one-rep total will probably allow you to do three complete reps before failure. Some people will do more. Some will do less. The numbers aren’t important. They are just a way to manage your progress (as you will see later).

Chest Press

Set up your legs and butt the same as you did for the lat pulldown.

You can position your hands either parallel or perpendicular to the floor. Just make sure you always do hand positioning the same.

Starting out, your hands should be nipple high and about an inch in front of your chest. This is your starting position.

The timing is the same as for the lat pulldown: ten seconds out and ten seconds back. Do as many as you can and stop when your muscles fail.

Again, pay particular attention to smooth turnarounds and maintaining tension in your muscles. The number of reps you do will be similar to the number of lat pulldowns you performed.

Record your weight and reps and move to the last machine.

Leg Press:

There are many different configurations for leg press machines. The one shown here is a “saddle” type. Whatever machine you use doesn’t matter, but if your gym has more than one variety, always use the same one.

Set your weights and settle into your saddle, firmly gripping the handles.

Place your feet in the middle of the footplate about shoulder-width apart. It is important to always use the same foot placement. Changing foot placement changes your leg’s leverage and will confuse your muscles.

Now, perform your reps ten seconds out and ten seconds back with smooth turnarounds. Work to failure, and go do your treadmill walk-downs.

You’re finished. Return on the same day and time the next week.

Recovery:

As you will see, this is a high-intensity workout that is done only once per week. The following few days, your muscles will be sore, this is natural and is called DOMS – delayed onset muscle soreness.

In simple terms, your muscles are recovering from the damage you have done with your workout. This might sound bad, but your muscles will recover and come back stronger. This is a natural process and should not be rushed.

In my own experience, my muscles will be sore for three to four days – this period is my recovery time, and yours will be similar. This extended recovery time is why you work out only once a week.

Muscles do not get stronger from exercise, they get stronger during recovery. It is good to remember this because it is counter-intuitive, and you need to think of recovery as growth time.

Record Keeping and Progression:

Do not start keeping records for one month (four sessions) because it will take that long to learn the basics and get the timing down. Once you feel that you are ready, start keeping records.

This is simple: record your exercise weight and number of complete reps. Do this every week, and I promise that your number of reps will increase weekly. To convince yourself, add up all your reps from the three exercises and watch the number grow.

As to weight increases, when you get to six reps on any one exercise, it’s time to add 10 to 15 percent more weight. This will likely push you back to three reps.

So number of reps and weight is all you’re tracking.

Yes, it really is this simple and easy to do with minimal time.

Conclusion:

There are many exercise protocols, and everyone thinks theirs is the best. Obviously, they can’t all be the best, and I’m not claiming this for my recommendations. I am claiming that my method works, is simple, and is time efficient.

Try it and keep records. Once you’re in the zone, you will see strength gains each week with minimal time investment.

Others might criticize this simple method of gaining strength, but records don’t lie.

OMY1

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