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2 Disclaimer The information presented herein is in no way intended as medical advice or to serve as a substitute for medical counseling. The information should be used in conjunction with the guidance and care of your physician. Consult your physician before beginning this program as you would with any exercise and nutrition program. If you choose not to obtain the consent of your physician and/or work with your physician throughout the course of the Physiqonomics coaching, you are agreeing to accept full responsibility for your actions. By beginning this program you recognise that despite all precautions on the part of Aadam Ali and Physiqonomics, there are risks of injury or illness that can occur because of your use of the aforementioned information, and you expressly assume such risks and waive, relinquish and release any claim that you may have against Aadam Ali and Physiqonomics, or its respective affiliates as a result of any future physical injury or illness incurred in connection with, or as a result of, the use or misuse of this program. TL;DR: I m not a doctor or nutritionist I am an educated trainer and coach. You joined this program with an understanding you d be exercising and monitoring your diet. Just don t be silly and you ll be fine. PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 1

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Understanding and interpreting your training plan Other words and terms The Purpose of your training The Key Training Principles 1. Progressive overload 2. Good form 3. Rest and recovery 4. Frequency and volume 5. Intensity Progressing your training Picking a starting weight How do you know when you should increase the weight? How much should you increase the weight by? Common training questions 1. Why am I sore? 2. Why do I need to Strength Train? 3. How fast can I gain muscle? 4. Cardio before or after strength training? 5. How should I warm up? 6. My strength is dropping why? 7. I m ill should I lift? PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 2

4 This training guide will help you understand your training program and my philosophies to training. How to use this guide Take your time and read this at your own leisure and use it to refer back to whenever the need arises. You can read this straight through, or, simply use the table of contents to read the bits that interest you. Understanding and interpreting your training plan I want to quickly explain the training sheet and what each section means. You may already know all this, so feel free to skip this section but I ve included it for the sake of completeness. The above image shows one training day. PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 3

5 Red arrow These are the exercises I want you to perform in the exact order I want you to perform them. All exercises will be linked to a demonstration video. Blue arrow Rep(s): A rep (repetition) is one complete motion of an exercise. Green arrow Set(s): A set is a group of repetitions. Example. If you see this: This means you ll perform 3 sets of the squat variation for 4-6 reps. Orange arrow - Rest: This is how long I expect you to rest between each set. Example: In this example, you ll rest 3 minutes between each set of the squat variation. PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 4

6 Other words and terms Superset: a superset is when you perform two movements back to back with no rest between, resting only after both exercises have been completed. Example: In the above you re supersetting flat DB press with one arm DB rows. So it would look like this: SET 1: Flat DB press for reps *no rest* One arm DB rows for reps *rest 2 minutes* SET 2: Flat DB press for reps *no rest* One arm DB rows for reps *rest 2 minutes* SET 3 : Flat DB press for reps PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 5

7 *no rest* One arm DB rows for reps *rest 2 minutes* Drop sets: Perform an exercise and then reduce the weight (the drop) and continue for more reps until you reach failure. When I include drop sets in a program I ll outline how I want you to do them (how much to reduce the weight by and how many drop sets) in the program. The Purpose of your training Before we get into the guide, I want to stop here for a second and make this point clear: The purpose of your (strength) training is to build and maintain your muscle mass, NOT to burn calories. As I ve pointed out before, you can t outtrain your diet (open in new tab and read later). This applies to everyone man, woman, dog, cat, alien. Ok, not everyone, but it applies to you reading this. Ok, now that s out of the way let s resume. The Key Training Principles When it comes to training and building muscle, the first thing you need to learn and understand are the key principles. These are: PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 6

8 1. Progressive overload If calories are the key factor to your nutrition, then progressive overload is the key factor to your training. In order for muscles to grow and get stronger the stress placed on the body has to gradually increase. This stress has to be above and beyond what your body is currently use to so that it sees a reason to adapt in our case, build muscle and strength. This means, if you keep lifting the same amount of weight for the same number of sets and reps for the next year your body will not change. While there are a plethora of ways to progressively overload the muscle, the simplest way is to either increase the weight you re lifting or lifting the same amount of weight for more reps. (I discuss how to do this in the next section.) 2. Good form Every exercise should be executed with good form. This means: - Lifting the weight through a full range of motion. All exercises (unless I state otherwise in the program) should be performed with a full range of motion. No half-reps, cheat-reps, or quarter-reps. If you can t lift a weight with the full range of motion -- lower the weight. There s no room for ego; leave that for people who wish to get injured and/or make no progress. PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 7

9 - No swinging or jerking. You should be controlling the weight through the full range of motion. No swinging or jerking the weight up or down. Not only will this reduce the effectiveness of the exercise (and your results) but it also leaves you open to injury. 3. Rest and recovery Your muscles don t grow when you re training, they grow outside the gym when you re resting and recovering. This means: - Get enough sleep. - Reduce stress (if you re going through a particularly stressful moment in your life, exams, work, whatever please let me know so I can change your plan to accommodate) - Eat well. Yes, calories are the most important, but food quality matters. Eating plenty of whole foods like fruits and vegetables will ensure you re providing the body with all it needs to recover and rebuild. 4. Frequency and volume You ll note that your program has you training each body part at a minimum frequency of 2x per week. This is based on current research that shows a 2x per week frequency provides sufficient volume for growth. PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 8

10 5. Intensity Intensity can refer to a few things, but in my programming I m using it as a way to indicate your proximity to failure. You shouldn t be training to failure unless I state otherwise. Stop 1-2 reps shy of failure. This may seem counter intuitive but it will help you maintain greater overall power and volume during the workout. Allow me to illustrate: Let s assume we have two lifters: Person A and Person B. Person A lifts 100 lbs and takes every set to failure. Set 1: 10 reps failure Set 2: 6 reps failure Set 3: 3 reps failure That's a total volume of: 1900 lbs Now, Person B lifts 100 lbs and stops 1-2 reps shy of failure: Set 1: 8 reps Stops 1-2 reps before failing Set 2: 8 reps Stops 1-2 reps before failing Set 3: 8 reps Stops 1-2 reps before failing That's a total volume of: 2400 lbs. Person B has done more total "work" / volume than person A, even though they were both lifting the same amount of weight. PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 9

11 If you're going all out in your first set, you're zapping energy from your latter sets. Which means you'll either do fewer reps and/or have to reduce the weight, which means you ll be lifting a lower amount of total volume. Constantly training to failure also increases your injury risk: The more fatigued you are because you went to failure on your first set, the more chances of you getting sloppy on your latter sets and risking bad form which could lead to injury. There s this notion that any set not taken to failure is a wasted set, but that s complete nonsense that has been perpetuated over the years by people who have not read the research. Research has shown that sets taken near, but not to failure are almost, if not as effective as sets taken to failure on inducing growth and there is the added benefit that they do not overtax your nervous system to the point where it reduces your strength, power, and volume output. Progressing your training Ok. So you ve understood the key principles of training. Now let s take the theory and understand how to apply this. Picking a starting weight A common question I m asked by clients is how can they determine what weight they should start lifting with? It s a great question, let s answer it. Take a look at the image below: PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 10

12 The image represents the RPE scale. The Rate of Perceived Exertion scale is a numbered scale from 1-10 that you can use to gauge how hard a set felt. 1 being not hard at all and you could probably do this all day long; and 10 being I THINK I'M DEAD. Generally, you want to stay between ~ on the scale meaning, the weight was heavy enough for you to complete the desired reps and stress the muscle enough for it to grow, but not so heavy you went to complete failure. Or, not so light that there wasn't enough of a stimulus for the muscle to grow. Here's an example of how to use the RPE scale to pick a weight: Let's say your program calls for you to do 3 sets of 10 reps on the DB chest press. You pick the 20kg DB and perform the movement. You manage to only get 4 reps. That's 6 short of the 10 you were aiming for. You don't need the RPE scale to know that the weight was too heavy. So on the second set you'll need to decrease the weight. On the second set, you decide to be conservative and pick the 14kg DB. This time you manage to complete 10 reps but the weight felt too light. You gauge that this was an RPE of 6. This weight was a bit too light and you could go heavier. PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 11

13 On the last set, you pick the 16kg DB and manage to get exactly 10 reps. You gauge that this was an 8 on the RPE scale. Perfect. This would be the weight you would use going forward. How do you know when you should increase the weight? Sticking with the previous example of the DB chest press if your plan calls for you to for 3 sets by 10 reps. This is how you would approach progression. You aim to do the total number of sets and reps for that exercise with a given weight. So, in this case you ll aim to complete the entire 3 sets for the 10 reps. Once you can do all the sets and reps at a given weight, increase the weight you're lifting and then aim to hit the same number of sets and reps prescribed in your program Rinse and repeat Here's an example: Your program calls for 3 sets x 10 reps on DB chest press. Week 1: 16 kg DB Set 1 10 reps Set 2 8 reps Set 3 7 reps Week 2: 16 kg DB PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 12

14 Set 1 10 reps Set 2 10 reps Set 3 9 reps Week 3: 16 kg DB Set 1 10 reps Set 2 10 reps Set 3 10 reps At this point you've hit the top end of all three sets, so next week you'll be increasing the weight. Week 4: 18 kg DB (+2kg increase) Set 1 10 reps Set 2 8 reps Set 3 8 reps And you'll simply continue doing this. How much should you increase the weight by? You want to increase the weight by the smallest increment possible: ~1-2 kg on upper body lifts and ~2-5 kg on lower body lifts. Of course, you can increase the weight by more if you find that the RPE is too low, but I've found the above guidelines to work well as a general rule. A few notes: PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 13

15 There will be occasions when you fall short of hitting the target rep range and lowering the weight makes the exercise too easy. In this case, just stick with that weight until you can hit the top end rep range. So, If your plan calls for you to hit 10 reps but you only manage to hit 7 reps with whatever weight you picked just stick with that weight until you can hit 10 reps on all three sets before increasing the weight. You won't always be able to add more reps or weight. This is totally normal, especially the more advanced you become. Just do the best you can and over time you'll see yourself getting stronger. Remember: Building the body you want takes time. Common training questions 1. Why am I sore? Most people know what DOMS feels like you know, the excruciating soreness felt after an intense leg day but fewer people understand what DOMS actually are and why they re not really a good sign of an effective workout. What is DOMS? DOMS is the acronym for Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness, and, as the name implies, is the muscle soreness you feel hours after working out. While the term has the word muscle in it, it isn t actually the muscles that become sore, rather, DOMS is the inflammation that occurs due to PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 14

16 tiny tears in connective tissue that sensitise the pain receptors in the body leading to heightened sensitivity to pain. Why DOMS are not a good gauge of muscle growth and/or an effective workout. While DOMS are a good sign that you worked a certain muscle group, trying to chase soreness, as many people seemingly do you know the type, they ll post about squatting until they puked, or how they can now barely move because they trained so hard is not a good way to measure progress. In fact, it may even set you back. Firstly, muscle damage may be one of the tenets of muscle growth, but it s the least important out of the three (muscle tension and metabolic stress being two of the major contributing factors to growth). Secondly, if you re training so hard that you can barely move which results in you not being able to train as frequently, you re going to hinder progress. DOMS are simply an adaptive process, your body will be sore when you initially start to train but the more you train, the less sore you will be in fact, increasing training frequency can help reduce and even mitigate muscle soreness. The goal with your training should be to progressively progress session to session, whether this be doing more reps or sets or lifting more weight if you do happen to be a bit sore, this is a byproduct of progressive training and not the cause. Chase progress, not soreness. PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 15

17 2. Why do I need to Strength Train? When people think of fat loss there s a propensity to think of cardio. And this wouldn t be too far wrong compared to an hour of weight training you will, in fact, burn more calories doing cardio, the problem however is weight loss does not mean fat loss. When the goal is to lose fat, we re looking to build or maintain muscle mass while reducing body fat. In order to do so we need to provide the body with a sufficient stimulus, in our case weight training. With weight training comes a plethora of health, wellbeing, and of course vanity benefits. 1. Increased Muscle and strength Not that I really need to justify why both muscle and strength are awesome, but strength training is quite possibly the closest thing we have to an elixir of life. More muscle and strength will help prevent osteoporosis, help you live not only a longer but healthier life. It will also make you more resilient to injuries. 2. Boost Metabolism Lifting weights can also help increase your resting metabolic rate. While the increase isn t as big as some people will claim, it still adds up. Also bear in mind that as you age your metabolism begins to slow down [due to a reduction in muscle mass, mainly] which is a big contributor to fat gain later in life; lifting weights from early on will help offset this to quite a degree. 3. Cognitive benefits Strength training can help fight depression, elevate mood and even increase cognitive function. It s also a great way to bust stress after a hard day at work and has even been shown to reduce anxiety. PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 16

18 4. Sleep better There is research to indicate that physically active people tend to have healthier sleep patterns and are at a much lower risk of sleep apnea than non active individuals. 5. Better sex life This goes without saying, the fitter you are the better you will perform. 6. Improved body composition - If you want to tone up, lean down, get ripped you need to build muscle while losing fat. And strength training is the best way to change your body composition. 7. Improved Posture one of the common causes of poor posture is due to weak muscles. By strengthening these muscles [like the upper back] your posture will also improve. This can prevent muscle imbalances and stave off injuries while also improving the overall aesthetic of your physique. 8. Improved health Strength training can help Increase High Density Lipoprotein (the good cholesterol) and decrease Low Density Lipoprotein (the bad cholesterol), help reduce risk of diabetes and even cancer. 3. How fast can I gain muscle? There are quite a few rate of growth models out there that provide us with a good guideline, however the two that I often refer to due to simplicity are the Lyle Mcdonald Model and the Aragon Model. PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 17

19 Bear in mind that these are just guidelines and will vary from person to person. You won t always gain this amount of weight per month, there will be months where you may not gain any weight and then the following months pack on pounds. This is just the nature of the body. Simply use the chart above as a guideline. Factors That Determine Muscle Growth Genetics: Genetics will play a major role in how much muscle a person can gain. There isn t much we can do about this, but don t let this become a self-defeating prophecy. Training Age: The longer you ve been training, the less muscle you will build. Mindset: Yep. Mindset. As mentioned in the first point on genetics, people will assume that they have bad genetics and half-heart their workouts and eventually just give up. The truth is, until you spend a year or two training hard, eating well and managing the other factors like sleep and recovery you don t truly know what your genetics are capable of. PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 18

20 4. Cardio before or after strength training? If I ve prescribed additional cardio on top of the daily steps, then always do cardio on days you re not lifting. If this isn t feasible, then do your cardio after your strength training. 5. How should I warm up? The purpose of the warm up is to simply get the blood flowing and get you ready for your workout. You do not need to spend hours warming up do enough so you re ready for the workout but not so much that you re tired before starting. Suggestions: mins light walking on the treadmill. - Foam roll any places that feel really tight - Then 1-2 warm up sets of the first exercise before going into your main working set. For the warm up sets, pick a weight that is 40-50% of your main working set and aim to do reps. 6. My strength is dropping why? A lot of the time this is due to the mechanical disadvantage of being leaner. As you lose fat, the distance the bar has to travel increases, so there will be a slight reduction in strength. However, strength loss doesn t always equate to muscle loss. PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 19

21 Read the section titled, Strength loss? Absolute Versus Relative Strength in this article for an in-depth explanation as to why. 7. I m ill should I lift? Depends. If you only have a slight sore throat, runny or congested nose, you can go in and lift. However, if you re really feeling rundown and have joint/muscle ache, temperature, headache, etc., then don t exercise and just focus on recovery. As always If you have any questions I haven t covered or are confused about anything me or post in the Facebook group and ask. PHYSIQONOMICS.COM 20