Slow & Heavy

LEVEL: Advanced LENGTH: Approximately 67 minutes for LEGS & SHOULDERS, approximately 59 minutes for CHEST & BACK, and approximately 57 minutes for TRICEPS & BICEPS EQUIPMENT USED: These workouts require a step, 4' to 5' barbell and moderate to heavy dumbbells. Ankle and hand weights are optional.

LEGS & SHOULDERS: You will need an adjustable barbell and various weighted dumbbells. Maximum strength gains will be achieved by going through a series of exercises, performed in a uniquely slow and concentrated manner to eliminate momentum and thereby allow for maximum muscle fiber recruitment. For the leg portion of this workout, you will first set out to pre-fatigue the legs before going into the slow and focused sets. This is simply done to keep your home workouts safe. Because your legs can usually handle much more weight than can many times be safely hoisted up over the head, we have incorporated pre-exhaust sets so that you will not need as heavy of a weight to put over your head to challenge them during your slow sets. You will begin the Leg and Shoulder work out with a warm up, and then pre-exhaust your legs with front lunges, immediately followed by SLOW barbell squats. Then you will pre-exhaust with reverse lunges and go right into SLOW barbell static lunges. You will then shift your focus to your inner and outer thigh area with a pre-exhaust set of side lunges and go right into SLOW dumbbell plie squats to continue exhausting the inner outer thigh area. You'll conclude the leg workout with dumbbell calf raises. Next you will immediately go into your shoulder work. The effectiveness of these shoulder exercises is not only due to the slow manner of repetitions but also to the slight angle changes of the body as you perform the exercise. You will do dumbbell front and side raises with a 10 degree anterior tilt, a posterior delt raise with a flat back to engage and strengthen the lumbar region, a seated overhead press with your arms at a 45 degree angle for comfort and safety, and conclude with an external lying rotation to strengthen the rotator cuff. The workout then concludes with a soothing stretch. Remember the overall effectiveness of the Slow and Heavy Series is not so much WHAT exercises you select but rather HOW you perform them. Get ready to get FOCUSED!!!

Legs & Shoulders Format: warm - up 3 1/2 min, legs/buttocks 30 min., Shoulders 31 min., stretch 2 min.

CHEST & BACK: You will need various weighted dumbbells. Maximum strength gains will be achieved by going through a series of exercises, performed in a uniquely slow and concentrated manner to eliminate momentum and thereby allow for maximum muscle fiber recruitment. The workout begins with a warm up and then immediately starts off with chest work. You will do classic exercises starting off with slow sets of dumbbell bench press and then move right into slow sets of dumbbell chest flys. After you have completed the flat sets, you will repeat the same exercises in an incline position to recruit chest muscle fibers from a different angle. Then you will have an optional slow set of push ups to perform. Note: While these exercises may not seem like anything new or different, just wait and see how the heat builds up in the chest region at this slow and focused speed. Next you will continue with Back work. You will do slow sets of two arm dumbbell rows in a table top position to engage the lumbar region as well as the upper back and you will also maintain a retracted scapular region to engage the postural muscles. Next up are pullovers and deadlifts. These two exercises will also maintain a scapular retraction to encourage good posture. This portion of the workout concludes with lower back. You will do the superman exercise to strengthen the lower back and continue with prone, supine, and reverse planks to strengthen the entire core region. You will complete the workout with a soothing stretch. Remember the overall effectiveness of the Slow and Heavy Series is not so much WHAT exercises you select but rather HOW you perform them. Get ready to get FOCUSED!!!

Chest & Back Format: warm - up 3 min, chest 26 1/2 min., Back 18 min., Superman 3 min., Planks 6 min., stretch 2 min.

TRICEPS & BICEPS: You will need an adjustable barbell and various weighted dumbbells. Maximum strength gains will be achieved by going through a series of exercises, performed in a uniquely slow and concentrated manner to eliminate momentum and thereby allow for maximum muscle fiber recruitment. The workout begins with a warm up and then immediately moves onto to triceps work. You will do classic exercises starting off with slow sets of dumbbell overhead extensions and then move right into slow sets of two arm lying dumbbell extensions. You will maintain a scapular retraction as you do your lying extensions to encourage good technique and thorough muscle recruitment. Next you will do flat back two arm kickbacks with a scapular retraction to involve the postural muscles as well as isolate the lumbar region. The triceps workout concludes with slow dips. Next you will move onto Biceps. You will start with traditional dumbbell curls and hammer curls followed by barbell curls. A 10 degree anterior tilt is included to increase the intensity and effectiveness of these exercises Then you will shift your focus to forearm exercises such as barbell wrist curls and reverse curls. You will complete the workout with a soothing stretch. Remember the overall effectiveness of the Slow and Heavy Series is not so much WHAT exercises you select but rather HOW you perform them. Get ready to get FOCUSED!!!

Triceps & Biceps Format: warm - up 2 1/2 min, triceps 23 min., Biceps 24 min., Abs 7 min., Stretch