Recently, I have been getting into Dr. Brett Osborn’s book Get Serious on improving overall health and fitness. I am only about a quarter of the way into the book, but I have reached a section that has peaked my interest. This section is focused on structuring an exercise routine. It includes both the type of exercises to perform, how to perform them, and how many repetitions and sets to perform.

Have you ever wondered, “Does my workout have the intensity that I need to reach my fitness goals?” Then there are other issues such as overtraining, type of exercises, and form that complicate things even more. These issues have caused me to abandon my workout for several weeks or even months at a time. Dr. Brett Osborn’s outlined exercise plan has eliminated many of these issues for me.

Without giving away too much, his plan consists of a core 5 of exercises to get in every week. These include bench press, squat, dead lift, overhead press, and pull-ups. Two of these exercises are done on the same day; one is done for increasing strength, and one is done for stimulating muscle growth (hypertrophy). There are also some additional workouts used to supplement the hypertrophy exercise. For example, here was the workout I just performed yesterday:

• Bench Press: 5 sets x 5 reps
• Dead Lift: 3 sets x 8 reps
  • Seated Row: 3 sets x 8 reps
  • Leg Curl: 3 sets x 8 reps
• Leg raises (abs): 3 sets x 12 reps

This style of weight lifting is much different than the ones I followed in the past. The most obvious way was in how much shorter the workout was. It lasted just over 30 minutes which was a nice change from my past workouts that have lasted over an hour. Also, I have not done workouts where I train for both strength and muscle growth. I thought growth was a product of increasing strength, but Dr. Osborn explains the factors that distinguish strength gains from size gains. The number of reps per set is one you probably noticed above!

If anyone is interested in learning more about the specifics of this workout plan, leave a comment!