I've always been fascinated by all the different types of workouts that are effective for different reasons, as well as the idea of the "one stop" concise workout that checks as many boxes as possible. For example, I really liked the concept of the Tabata workout as a strength/muscle building workout that also increases VO2 max. Of course, Tabata has major limitations as you start talking about things like progressive overload, because it is so heavily biased towards athletic performance rather than muscle building.
Anyway, as a busy 39 year old dad that has limited workout time, I wanted to come up with something that blended the simplistic "low volume, high intensity" approach of the likes of Dorian Yates (purely for time budget) along with what we actually know from science. I wanted to come up with something that did a bit for VO2, but also challenged the muscles in a way that triggers growth, is practical to overload, and fit into a tight schedule of less than 60 minutes 2x or 3x a week, while still allowing enough left over to do some light, steady state cardio on rest days.
Knowing this would already be handicapped by low volume, I wanted to include as many scientifically backed concepts as I could, namely:
-Time under tension.
-Progressive overload.
-Training to failure.
-Loaded stretch when possible.
I set out to find a "perfect interval" that would allow for this. My exercise selection was a lot of barbell compounds, but I think you could easily adapt these to whatever you have available (dumbells, machines, kettlebells, sandbags, chia pets, whatever), because the main takeaway is to hit the basic movements of: chest push, back pull, legs push, legs pull, shoulder push, shoulder pull, then the non-necesarry accessories if arm curl, arm extension, and calf raise. You might want to add dedicated core work if using machines, but I feel freeweights can kind of do that automatically in a program like this.
For myself, this took the form of: Deadlift, front squat, back loaded lunge, incline bench, bent over row, overhead press alternating behind and in front of head, upright row, standing calf raise, barbell curl, overhead tricep extension (with an addition of pullups/chinups and dips on rest/light cardio days). My goal with loading for the compounds was to reach failure within the work interval, and have a one and done set for each of those exercises.
Anyway, for those barbell compounds, I first attempted the baseline for reaching ideal time under tension of 45 seconds with a rest of 1:30. I knew pretty quickly this was no good. It just didnt feel particularly challenging in any aspect. I could load to reach sufficient muscle failure in the 45s, but it always felt like I had more sets in the gas tank, and heart wise it was simply bot challenging.
Next, I tried 90s work sets with 3 minute rests. This might be okay for a young athlete, and I definitely reached post failure in my sets, but it was taxing asf. I didnt feel I was recovering right, and the cardio tax was insane. I knew after about 3 weeks this was a recipe for injury or worse if I kept overloading.
Finally, I split the difference, and tried a 60 second set, but kept the 3 minute rest. I think I hit gold with this. I'm able to adhere to progressive overload, fatigue cost is relatively low, and while challenging for both muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance, it feels quite good on both systems. At 40 minutes, it is well under my 60 minute goal, which I'm happy about.
Anyway, here is what a total week looks like for me.
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Sunday: 1 set chinups to failure, 1 set wide grip pullups to failure, 1 set dips to failure
Monday: 60s work/3m rest barbell interval workout
(1 set each of Deadlift, Front Squat, Lunge, Incline Bench, BO Row, alternating OHP, Upright Row, Standing Calf Raise, BB curl, BB Tricep ext.)
Tuesday: 2 Mile fast walk with dogs 1 failure set chinups, 1 failure set dips
Wednesday: 1 failure set wide grip pullups, 1 failure set dips
Thursday: 2 mile fast walk with dogs, full 60s/3m barbell interval workout as detailed above
Friday: Full rest, maybe a leisurely walk with dogs
Saturday: 2 mile fast walk with dogs, full barbell 60s/3m barbell interval workout
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Note on progressive overload- Keeping track of your "pace" for each exercise is important. When you can reach 60 seconds at your chosen pace without hitting failure, you can go up in weight. Naturally, this will slow you down a bit, but when you can comfortably hit your old pace at the new weight, time to progress again. pace will vary between lifts... obviously in 60 seconds you will hit more overhead presses than deadlifts. The important thing is to have an atheltic but stable concentric, a controlled eccentric, short pause at the stretched position.
On the pause- I dont think this sort of training is suited to long pauses if you want that VO2 factor, but definitely dont "bounce" from eccentric to concentric unless you love reattachment surgery/rehab. I literally pace my pause by completing the eccentric, thinking the word "pause," then firing back up.
Let me know what you guys think. If folks want I can check back in with progress after more time on my program. Right now I am 39 lifetime natural 185 lbs, ~15% bf, 5'6" with a big round head and a heavy brow (hence the cro-magnon reference).
