The Motor Unit

I may sound like a broken record when I say I’m a fan of full-body workout sessions but I’ve been experimenting a little with a different workout routine where the sessions are split by upper-body and lower-body sessions. These are a bit higher on the volume side when compared to full-body sessions and is best suited for someone who is looking to build a good amount of lean muscle tissue and strength.

One could work this in a week in one of three ways in a 6 day a week workout schedule -

I either work option 1 or 2 depending on how I am placed throughout the week. If I need to train zone 2 more or if I’m a bit more stressed throughout the week then I’d go for Option 2. If things are a bit laid back in a particular week, then I’d go for option 1. Option 3 is usually reserved for someone who is looking to put on a lot of lean muscle tissue and it can be coupled with a little bit of zone 2 training paired with upper-body sessions.

Now, the focus of this post is going to build a template for an upper-body session and give you an idea on how to build your own. The number of exercises is 6 to 7 and split by movement patterns - push and pull. Here’s what I worked on during my last upper-body session -

Warm up - use resistance bands or light dumbbell exercises that train the push and pull muscles. Examples - presses, rows, curls, triceps extension, and resistance band pull-aparts to train the rotator cuff muscles (muscles located deeper behind the rear shoulder and help support your shoulder joint).

1. Bench press - build to a 3 rep max in 6 to 8 sets. Goal - build upper-body pressing strength. 3 minutes rest between sets.

2. Neutral grip weighted pull-ups - 5 sets * 5 to 6 reps. Goal - build upper-body pulling strength. 3 minutes rest between sets.

3. a. Seated dumbbell shoulder presses (other accessory movements - 3 sets * 8 to 10 reps. Goal - hypertrophy

   b. Dumbbell rows - 3 sets * 8 to 10 reps. Goal - hypertrophy. Movements a and b are done in a superset with 60 seconds rest between supersets.

4. a. Dumbbell alternating floor presses - 3 sets * 8 to 10 reps. Goal - hypertrophy

   b. Resistance band face-pulls - 3 sets * 20 reps. Goal - joint health/hypertrophy. Movements a and b are done in a superset with 60 seconds rest between supersets.

5. Dumbbell farmers walk - 3 sets * 45 secs, 45 seconds rest between sets. Goal - forearm grip and core strength.

While these are the exercises I trained, the template looks like this -

1. Compound upper-body pushing/pressing movement focusing on strength. Exercise options include military press variations and bench press variations. Build to a heavy 5 RM, 3 RM, or 1 RM, 3 minutes rest between sets.

2. Compound rowing or pulling movement focusing on strength. Exercise options include barbell rowing variations and weighted pull-up variations. Build to a heavy 5 RM, 2 to 3 minutes rest between sets.

3. and 4. Supersets with 60 seconds rest between supersets.

   a. Pressing accessory exercise options - dumbbell shoulder presses, dumbbell bench presses, floor presses, flyes, lateral raises. Done for 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps.

   b. Pulling accessory exercise options - dumbbell rows, seal rows, chest supported rows, face pulls, chin-ups. Done for 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps.

5. Loaded carries to target core and forearms trained for 3 to 4 sets of 30 to 60 seconds with the same rest duration as the work duration.

I was training option 2 over the week so, the exercises were limited to a maximum of 7. If it were option 1, I would’ve kept the number of exercises to a maximum of 5 with the 5th movement being a loaded carry variation.

For the lower-body session, I follow a similar logic but I’ll go through it over the next post regardless to give you a fair idea. For the full-body session, I’d be training 5 exercises focused on the foundational movement patterns - Squat or lunge, hip hinge, push, pull, and carry.

As always, I trust this has proved to be useful to you, and if you’re interested in working with me personally, reach out to me at [email protected].

Until next time!