Superhero Workout22

Superhero Home-Workout

Homemade Muscle by Anthony Arvanitakis

a few basic legal stuff before we get started...

Disclaimer #1 All information in this workout plan is presented to you with good intentions. As with any exercise/ diet plan, you must first consult your physician. Especially if you have any medical condition or injury that contraindicates physical activity. All forms of exercise pose some inherent risks. You must take full responsibility for your safety and know your limits. Before practicing the exercises in this book, make sure that any kind of equipment or surface you train on is well maintained. Do not take risks beyond your personal level of experience, aptitude, training and fitness. If you experience any acute or chronic pain, consult a physician. This publication is intended for informational use only, and I will not assume any liability or be held responsible for any form of injury by the utilization of this information Disclaimer #2 All characters mentioned in this book (the Superhero Workout), are the sole and exclusive intellectual property of Marvel and/or DC Comics, under their respective lawful trademarks. Any reference, depictions, illustrations or reproductions herein are strictly represented under the doctrine of fair use and educational purpose. This includes, but is not exclusive to, mentions or depictions of ‘Wolverine’, ‘Captain America’, ‘Batman’, ‘Superman’, and ‘The Flash’. The material herein is in no way portrayed or intended in a manner that would likely replace original market roles or value of the respective copyrighted media. By purchasing this book, you understand and agree that all Marvel and DC characters received by reference in the book are owned by Marvel and DC and are protected by the copyright laws of the United States, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. Marvel and DC do not transfer any title, right or interest to or in Marvel Comics or DC Comics to you. You must not copy, redistribute, sell, rent, lease, convey, or sublicense the “Superhero Workout” in any way and you must not edit, modify, translate or create derivative works or adaptations of the book. By purchasing or in any way accessing this book, whether as an individual or body corporate, you declare your unconditional understanding and compliance to the above and agree to hold harmless the author/s of “Superhero Workout” to the fullest degree allowed by law in all of its published and online formats.

Copyright ©2016 by Anthony Arvanitakis http://www.superherohomeworkout.com

2

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Intro Over the past few decades, Superhero stories have dominated our culture. You see them in comics, movies - hell, nowadays we even have real-life ones. You don’t believe me? Go google real life superheroes now! We all grew up loving these stories. We all idolized some Superhero (SH) at some point. Something in these stories speaks to young people on a very primal and spiritual level. As adults, we can pretend that we’ve out-grown this phase… Yet, we still go to the cinema and watch the same SH movies. Admit it! How often do you fantasize about how awesome it would be to be one of Them?! Being as strong as them, running next to them, fighting back-to-back with them, or even being your own version of a vigilante hero. But… reality forces us to wake up, move along with our boring daily routine and focus on more “realistic things”. Still, often times in life we end up feeling lost. We feel that we need a superhero to help us deal with the obstacles we face on our path… yet he or she never shows up. Through this book, I want to show you that the superhero you have been waiting for, is nobody other than YOU! You’ll be amazed by how much your life can change, once you start believing in the Super(hu)man that is dormant inside of you. Once you discover how powerful you really are! So start today! Transform your body and your mind will follow. Train to look like a Superhero and you’ll begin feeling like one as well. It will spread in your life and it will give you the powers you need to deal with all the rest of your problems! Anthony Arvanitakis Author of the Superhero Home-Workout Creator of HomemadeMuscle.com

4

About the Bonus Material

MIND OVER MUSCLE Did you download it yet? A very important part of this book is the "Mind over Muscle" bonus material. If you haven't got it yet, check your email inbox (or spam folder) for an email-subject "Mind Over Muscle - Bonus material". By following the instructions in the email, you'll subscribe to my "Superhero Email-list" and you'll be receiving the bonus material, plus future updates of the book for free! Check your spam folder In case you haven't received the bonus material after confirming your subscription, check your spam folder and make sure you whitelist my address. This way you won't miss out on other stuff I'm planning in the future. Things like ebook-reader-friendly formats and possibly other bonus-materials are some of the things that will be available in the following months. Stay posted! PS: If you still have any problems, feel free to contact me at [email protected]

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

6

Part 1:

Do you have what it takes to become a superhero?

I

f you feel that you don’t have what it takes to become a superhero yet – don’t worry. It’s normal, even if you’ve been feeling like an underdog your whole life. A lot of us walk through a big portion of our life searching for our own identity, while feeling completely lost. And that’s ok… as a matter of fact it’s part of many of Superheroes path. You should realize though, that no matter who you are and what you’ve done, if you’re not afraid to take a deep and honest look inside yourself - you’ll find greatness. After all, most superheroes weren’t born that way. They became who they are while walking on their path of self-discovery. One main thing separates Superheroes (SHs) from average men and women… And that’s the fact that SHs use their life-challenges for growth, instead of letting them take them down. Just as all of us, every SH had a personal traumatic event/life-challenge that forced him to become who he is today.

"The training is nothing; the will is everything. The will to act" ~ Ra's al Ghul

Superheroes reinvent themselves Life is tough and we all carry our own baggage. And even though we all go through adversity, it’s in our hands to use these trials to grow instead of shrink. It’s a choice, and superheroes use their worst

experiences as leverage to grow stronger. Almost every negative situation can be flipped around, into something positive. And I’m not just saying this to BS you. As a matter of fact, I talk from experience, since this is the mind-set that made me the man I am today. Until my early twenties, I always felt like a loser. I felt like the underdog who never caught a break. I didn’t believe in myself and my life felt meaningless. Instead of trying to change into a stronger and better man, I blamed bad luck and other people for all the negative things in my life. But then something great happened to me! I got in a tragic accident and spent the next 5 years pinned in bed. I underwent 13 operations and I ended up losing my left leg. And yes, you read right! I consider my accident and losing a leg as the best thing that happened to me. Having no proper role models growing up, my personal tragedy and all the traumatic events that followed, became my dark teachers and mentors. They became the Ra's al Ghul to my Batman. Even though they lead me to the darkest period of my life, they were also the trigger that led in the biggest positive changes in life. The changes that made me the person I am today. A stronger, better and happier version of myself! Look, bad things will happen to you in

7

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

life - it’s unavoidable. But, finding the will to act, to use bad for good, that is the mind-set that will make all the difference. It’s the Superhero mind-set you need to develop for making any kind of positive change!

Superheroes have a mission Like most vigilantes, Batman used to come back home wounded, bruised and beaten up almost every day. Yet he never complained. Why? Because he had a mission. If you don’t know why you’re doing something, if you don’t have clear goals and motives that you can review on a daily basis, it will be very difficult to succeed at whatever you want to accomplish. Throughout this program, there will be days during which you’re going to have to push hard to gt through. A lot of days your body will be sore, and pretty often you’ll just want to give up… So what is your mission? What are your goals? You have to sit down and write these on a clean piece of paper. Maybe you’re tired of being constantly friend-zoned by the beautiful girl in class who prefers more strong looking alpha-males than you… Maybe you’re tired of being that guy who is always pushed around because of your weak appearance. Maybe you’re tired of being the average, lame overweight father. And instead, you want to be the cool superhero looking dad. The one whose kids can point at and say “my dad can kick your dad’s ass”! (not sure if that’s a healthy mindset for a kid, but you get the picture). My friend George told me that ever since he got in shape with my home workouts, his daughter started bragging about him at school – how cool is that? Did you start figuring out your goals? If you haven’t, START NOW! Don’t just skip this paragraph and say to yourself you’ll do it later on. Find a piece of paper and pen (don’t make a digital note) and start writing. Have it somewhere where you can review it on a daily basis. It’s ok if your goals aren’t crystal clear yet.

Your subconscious will be thinking about them without you even being aware of it. They will gradually start taking a more solid form and shape as you keep on reading this book. Simply review your paper each night before going to sleep, and the answer will come by itself (probably when you least expect it).

Superheroes are ripped If you train your body – your mind will follow. Developing a strong body was one of the most important things that helped me build up my confidence again in life. Succeeding at a remarkable fitness goal, requires you to step out of your comfort zone. It requires virtues and characteristics such as patience, consistency, focus, planning, both physical and mental toughness, and tenacity. Succeed with this strength training workout plan, and you’ll be able to apply these values in any other field of your life. Not only that, but by succeeding at one amazing goal, you can trigger an avalanche of other multiple positive changes in your life. I like to call this – the avalanche effect.

Superheroes are stronger in teams Superheroes are always more powerful in teams. For example, take the X-men and the Avengers. Look, I get it if you’re the loner type. So was I... or at least I thought so. But, having all you awesome guys and gals on my social media support my journey, was something that helped me a lot! Not only with developing this workout plan but also with sticking to it. After all, even Batman (who was a loner) joined the Justice League at some point. This is why I created the Superhero Home-Workout League secret Facebook group! This is a place where you can you ask your questions and get a personal response from me on a daily basis. And most importantly, it’s a place where all you soon-to-be-superheroes, can join forces with like-minded individuals who share the same goal. Trust me, the camaraderie that evolves when people with the same goal unite, is essential for suc-

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

successfully completing any goal. Benefits of joining the Superhero Home-Workout League: 1. Ask questions and get a response from me on a daily basis. 2. Get free updates of the SuperHero Home-Workout. 3. Ask for support from other members 4. Offer support and share personal insights. A superhero after all, always helps those in need when he can. 5. Find people to hold you accountable. Accountability is a crucial element for succeeding with your goals. For example, by sharing your before-photo with the group, you’ll be putting yourself out there. This will motivate you to keep on training, in order to keep on sharing your progress along the way. Developing a sense of obligation towards your fellow trainees, will make you more responsible towards your goals. After all, “with great power comes great responsibility”! You’ll be motivating others! Wait, why would you care about motivating others? I’ve found that motivating others is one of the best ways to also motivate yourself! By putting yourself out there as someone willing to help others, you create a greater sense of responsibility towards your own goals as well. This was my biggest motivation while trying to complete this program – and guess what? It worked! So, if you’re looking for a team of determined and supportive fellow super-men (and women), keep on reading!

How to Join the Superhero HomeWorkout League There is one prerequisite if you want to enter our super-alliance.Everyone has to send me a before-photo prior to being allowed in the group. This is a simple topless photo of you (or a wearing a sports bra if you’re a woman), before getting started with the workout

8

plan. The reason I ask for this is because I only want serious, determined people in our Superhero League. I don’t want people who are just looking for another place on Facebook to procrastinate and waste other people’s time. Don’t worry, I won’t share or place you photo anywhere else without your permission. Another reason I urge you to take such a photo, is because it’s also is an essential part of sticking to your plan. Besides your first photo, taking one of these every month, will help you keep better track of your progress and stay motivated. Step 1: Send me a before-photo at [email protected]

Step 2: Click join the Superhero HomeWorkout League here. So, do you really believe that you’ve got what it takes to become a member of our League? Yeah? Then what are you waiting for? Send me your photo and join us now!

Superheroes have their own style A self-sabotaging mistake people make when they’re looking to change their physique, is not taking their body type into consideration. And I don’t hold them completely responsible for this… You see, a large number of trainers, fitness magazines, websites and YouTube channels, promote the unrealistic/one-size-fits-all physique as well. Physique enhancing illegal substances are either promoted or used to manipulate people. A typical example is that a lot of people out there simply use steroids to get in amazing shape. Once they accomplish that, they pretend that the supplement or workout guide (which they’re selling) is responsible for their results. This is one of the oldest tricks in fitness marketing, and it has been used for over 3 decades now. One thing though I don’t want to promote through this book is a canned, unrealistic superhero-physique that everyone should try to attain (or beat themselves into the ground until they do).

So what the hell did you write this book for?

9

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Good question. Through this book I want to help you, reach YOUR ultimate poten-tial. I want to show you the path towards becoming the strongest version of YOUR-SELF! And the only way to accomplish this, is by aspiring to achieve a superhero physique that is closer to your body-type. So, let’s figure out which matches yours. Following are the three Superhero phy-siques that match most people’s body-type.

An ectomorph (aka the hard-gainer) is the typical skinny guy. Ectos have a light build, with small joints and lean muscle. They usually have long thin limbs with less developed muscles than the average Joe. Shoulders tend to be thin and lacking width. Skinny-fat ectomorph: An ectomorph with a long-term, bad lifestyle (diet and exercise-wise) also ends up trans-forming into the skinny-fat body-type. The skinny fat body-type usually also has Gynecomastia (man-boobs) and extra belly fat around the lower bel-ly-button area.

that, depending on your body type you have to train in some specific way. This is another fitness myth that has no scientific base whatsoever. So which body-type is closest to your body? Following are three superhero physiques that match the three main categories mentioned above. Choosing the ideal one for you and aspiring to achieve it, will provide you with a more realistic goal to aim for. And most important, it will keep you motivated through your journey, until you discover your own ultimate potential.

The Flash (ectomorph): If you’ve been the skinny guy all your life, this is the look you should be aiming for! Getting strong and shredded but not huge.

A mesomorph has a naturally symmet-ric body, which allows them to build a more aesthetic physique. A lot of people think mesomorphs gain muscle more easily, which is usually an optical illu-sion. Muscle is just more obvious on this body type, due to its symmetry. Endomorphs usually gain fat a little bit easier than the rest, and have thick arms and legs. They also tend to be nat-urally stronger from the rest, especially in the leg depart-ment. Carrying more weight through their lifetime, is a factor that is proba-bly what’s responsi-ble for (or what ac-commodates) that. Mixed body-types and body-type myths Keep in mind that the body types above, aren’t set in stone. In fact, a lot of guys have a combination of two body-types. Another notion in the fitness industry is

The Wolverine (mesomorph) has the perfect muscular body (at least from a symmetrical perspective). If you’re nat-

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

urally symmetrical and you appear to gain muscle a little bit faster than the average Joe - this is the physique you should begin aiming for. As with all phy-siques, this is not going to just happen over-night. Having the ideal bodytype (for some people’s standards at least), doesn’t mean you can get ripped without working your ass off!

10

in the mirror and to other people!

Superheroes make no excuses… No matter which body-type you belong to, you can always build a bigger, more ripped and muscular physique. Skinny guys can bulk-up and gain a lot of muscle, if they train hard and eat enough. And chubby guys can get that Captain America muscular look with a decent 4-pack, if they stick to their plan and watch their diet. As I said, the body-types above are not set in stone. This means that after a certain point, a lot of you will have to start aiming for a hybrid superhero physique. For example: When I first started this program, I aimed for the Wolverine physique. Then I realized that my body-type is a hybrid, endo-meso type. The thing is, that I always had good symmetry in my upper body when I used to train in the past. But my legs were always a bit thinner no matter how hard I worked on them. I also don’t gain muscle that fast in general. Even though I was a very passionate athlete growing up, I always was the underdog who trained the hardest, but, never was the strongest. So even though I started aiming for the Wolverine Physique at first, I realized that my ultimate potential is a hybrid of the Flash and the Wolverine.

“A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.” ~ Bruce Lee

As (another real-life Superhero)

Captain America (endomorph) is the bulky-type physique. It’s relatively easy for them to gain mass, but getting completely shredded might not really be in the cards for them. This doesn’t mean that he can’t attain a badass ripped physique – it simply means that getting a six-pack is not something worth stressing over. As a matter of fact, it can even lead to unhealthy eating-behaviours and self-image related mental issues for a lot of people. A powerful superhero-looking 4-pack, on the other hand, is attainable if I hope you don’t think that I’m trying he sticks to this plan and watches his to demotivate you with this part of diet. the book. On the contrary, I’m trying to motivate you and keep you healthy, by Final note for all you soon-to-be-su- showing you how to set proper goals. Reperheroes: Developing superhero-confi- member this: If you want extraordinary dence, besides a superhero body, is an- results in life you have to always aim a other important key factor for changing bit higher than you think possible. As the your body. Yes, putting in the work and other saying goes: ”Aim for the stars and, changing your body might be step one, worst case scenario, you might land on but… being confident about Your super- the moon!” hero body-type, your style, and who you are becoming, will make all the difference What if I said that I’ll never be able to in the world! Confidence expresses itself look like superhero? I’ll tell you what, I through your posture. It can even affect would still look like the guy in the left the image of the person you are projecting picture instead of the one in the right…

11

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

12

Part 2:

Superhero Transformation Basics Intro

Getting ripped is simple... Ok, after reading that you’re probably already frowning a bit, but keep in mind that I said simple – not easy. So here are the two simple, basic principles one needs to apply to build a great physique. 1. Every week, you have to focus on getting stronger. 2. You have to attain a decent amount of body-fat (9-14%) depending on body-type.

Why people fail at building muscle with bodyweight exercises…

Sure, a lot more factors come in to play, if one wants to achieve a superhero physique – especially by training at home with bodyweight exercises. We’ll be covering all these details in the following pages. All you have to do is, study this book carefully, and diligently practice all the guidelines that apply to you. There are a number of reasons people lack results when training with bodyweight/home-workout systems. Although I’ll be covering all these through the book, I want to start with the most important – lack of mind-to-muscle connection. Especially when it comes to bodyweight-based workouts, people look at muscle-growth from a very myopic standpoint. Gaining muscles does not

just depend on doing the right amount of sets and reps. It’s also about applying the right mind-to-muscle techniques. Mind to Muscle connection (MMC) MMC is a tool used a lot in the bodybuilding world. And although research is finally catching up with it, it has also never been more ignored by people. I think one reason responsible for this is, all the digital distractions we are bombarded with nowadays. We spend so much time in digital worlds, attached to our screens (laptops, smartphones, TVs, etc) that we end up detached from our bodies. After writing two quick-read books on this topic (which became best-sellers on amazon), and after receiving such a positive response from my readers, I knew that this was a quality people really missed in their training. I’ll be breaking down all the tricks and tips of MMC in the bonus material of this book called “Mind over Muscle”. I won’t just be talking about theory in this bonus mate-rial. I’ll also give you detailed guidelines on how to apply it to each and every ex-ercise. It is essential that you practice all these tips as you progress through the program – so please do not ignore the bonus material.

13

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Superhero transformation golden rules Transforming your body is not easy. After all, your whole lifestyle affects your body’s composition. This means that you’re going to have to make this your top priority for the next 4 months in order to be successful. Following are the golden rules of the Superhero Home-Workout for transforming your body:

Golden rule:

1

#

The golden rule of transforming your body, getting ripped, but also getting shredded – is to constantly focus on getting stronger. I always knew that gaining strength was the key to building muscle, but, I didn’t know it could make such a difference when it came to losing fat.

Getting Stronger

Golden rule:

3

#

Dedication and hard work

Golden rule:

2

#

80-95% clean calories

It wasn’t until I started getting into month 3 of the superhero home-workout, that I noticed how powerful this can be for fat-loss. When you’re constantly challenging yourself to grow stronger and when you’re constantly pushing your body out of its comfort zone – something “magical” happens. Trust me! Stay focused on getting stronger every week, adding another rep or increasing your mind-to-muscle technique, and you’ll get on the none-stop train to Fat-loss City! I couldn’t believe how much food my body burned, without adding fat, as I kept adding strength and adapting to bigger training volume. As a matter of fact, one of the biggest problems I had with this workout plan, was that I was struggling to gain weight as I approached the final phase. Adding 1.5 pounds every two weeks (which was my goal, since I wanted to add more muscle) became exhausting. I ate and I ate, yet I only got more shredded (ok, I can’t complain too much about that!). As a matter of fact, that was one of my personal mistakes during this plan. I now know that if I’d been eating more, during the last 6 weeks, I would have gained even more muscle. The second rule eating 80-95% “clean” calories. In the previous paragraph I mentioned that I could eat a ton of food and not gain fat. Just to be clear, I didn’t mean that you can eat all the junk in the

world and still expect to be healthy, perform well and lose fat. My diet consisted of 85%-90% clean calories. By clean calories I don’t mean I washed my food very carefully (hilarious, I know). By clean food, I mean: home-cooked and minimally processed foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean meats, rice, potatoes, and dairy. If you’re aiming at losing weight, stick to 95%. If you’re aiming more on gaining weight, 80-90% will do. For a slow bulk, go for 85-90%. For a more aggressive bulk, go for 80%. Eating this way will ensure that you’re getting enough proper nutrition to support your muscle building goals. Unless you’re on steroids, a diet based on junk food won’t support your transformation. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the obsessive clean-eater type. Nor do you have to be. There’s a place and time for most kinds of food. Still, potatoes, rice, oatmeal, beans, lean meats and veggies are the kinds of foods that build a Superhero physique… not Twinkies and potato-chips… More on this later. Superheroes are always dedicated to the mission, no matter what gets in their way. You’re going to have to stick to all the guidelines of this book if you want to become a superhero. Sure, there might be a few days along the journey, that you’ll mess up a bit. But, always avoid extremes and learn from your mistakes. Transforming your body is like a dance. If you stumble a tiny bit every now and then, you can still make it part of the dance. You’re also going to have to push yourself during your workouts. Your body doesn’t grow stronger if you just go through the motions, reps and sets without tenacity. I don’t mean that you should train yourself to death. Health should always be your priority. It simply means that you should give it your best shot. Here are some tips to make sure you remain dedicated and put in the work: Make time for your workouts: As a matter of fact, make sure that you always have 20% extra time, in order to avoid the planning fallacy. The planning fallacy, is a common phenomenon according to which, we always fail to properly estimate the appropriate time needed for

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Golden rule:

4

#

Do you even sleep, bro?

a task (by underestimating it). Always make sure you have a couple of extra minutes instead of rushing through the workout and stressing about it. Be patient:  You will not turn into a Superhero overnight. Stay content if progress is a bit slow in the beginning. Small gains, week after week, can add up to an amazing physique, especially over the period of 4 dedicated months. Don’t depend on others: Friends, family and girl/boyfriends will always care less than you about your goals than you. There will always be times when they’ll be trying to convince you to have an extra drink, piece of cake and/or skip a workout. Do not blame them if they succeed to get you off track. NO! It’s completely your responsibility to remain disciplined with your goals. These are simply things that you should not expect from others. The only person you can depend on in this journey is yourself… oh, and your Superhero Home-workout League buddies

14

of course! Quality sleep is an incredibly important aspect of building muscle! One of the biggest health and muscle-gaining investments you can make. Here are the two most important secrets for good sleep: Lights off: Light emitted by electronic devices (smartphones, tablets, etc) should be avoided two hours prior to going to bed. These have been shown to negatively impact the quantity and quality of the sleep we get. Reading: Besides making you a bit smarter, reading is the best natural sedative I’ve found. After switching off all screens, lie in bed and read a few pages of something you enjoy. I promise you’ll be falling asleep within an hour max! Ps: Read something relaxing ideally. No thrillers or any other kind of stimulating content

Cut or bulk? What do I do first? A lot of people go crazy on bulking in order to build muscle. Yes, a caloric surplus does help in building muscle more efficiently, but that doesn’t mean that you have to go crazy on the weight gain. Besides being unhealthy for you, it can also work counterintuitively if you overdo it. Gaining too much weight can hinder production of anabolic hormones, which are essential for muscle growth.

I

There are usually two basic scenarios that trainees fall in: 1. You have some extra fat you want to get rid of while building muscle 2. You’re the skinny or lean type, so you want to gain weight and muscle Based on the above, you should follow one of the listed approaches below:

Scenario #1 - Getting rid of that extra fat

f you belong to scenario #1, you need to focus on losing weight while gaining muscle. Some like to consider this impossible, but that’s not true. Even advanced trainees can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. However, you can’t maximize hypertrophy while losing fat. And that’s the important distinction here. For you guys, the fastest road to building a superhero body is focusing on getting

stronger while losing weight during the first 3 months. After that, I recommend you begin eating at maintenance levels (enough calories to preserve your current weight), since you’re going to need the energy to get through the last rough weeks of the program. By losing weight while getting stronger (those first 3 months), your muscle to fat ratio will change – giving your body a stronger and more v-like shape. By get-

15

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

ting wider at the top part of your body (building your shoulders & back) and narrower in your waist – you’ll begin to appear bigger, even though you’re actually shrinking down!

Losing weight while getting stronger can make you look bigger!

The most important thing (diet-wise) for you guys, is keeping protein intake high. If your protein is low while restricting calories, it’s going to make gaining muscle a lot more difficult – if not impossible. I recommend at least 0.8 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. So for example, if you’re 200 pounds, you should be consuming 0.8 X 200 = minimum 160 grams of protein per day. You can track this very easily by using food-tracking apps such as fatsecret. If you’re too lazy to track your protein, make sure you have a decent portion of a protein-based food with every meal. What’s a decent portion of protein? A good rule of thumb is, minimum two palmed-size portions of any high-protein food (I’ll be mentioning recommended protein sources later on).

ger is key, when you’re looking to lose weight, in a healthy and sustainable way. Whenever that feeling of tolerable hunger is present, don’t think that you’re hungry – think that fat-cells are protesting because they are slowly dying. If you struggle with this tip, applying the next one combined with this one, will make it a lot easier.

2

After applying hara hachi bu, get off the table and brush your teeth for 3 minutes (minimum). I promise this will make it a lot easier, since the brain gets the message that your meal is over. It also increases your awareness. Having a clean mouth makes you think twice before you go on snacking again. If at some point this tip starts losing it’s effect (might happen after a few weeks), also add teeth-flossing for 3 minutes after brushing your teeth. These tips might sound weird, but trust me - they work!

3

Sequential eating: Eat veggies or fruit at the beginning of each meal. Follow that by your protein-based food and leave your carbs for the end of the meal. This eating-order helps you reach satiety a lot faster and helps you eat more consciously.

4 Here are the best fat-loss tips you should practice on a daily basis:

1

Always eat until 80% full. Japanese call this hara hachi bu (check out the video I made). It simply means to leave the table without getting stuffed. I know it’s a pretty basic tip, but few of us practice it. The moment you feel your “tank” is 80% full, put down your fork/ knife/spoon and leave the table. Learning to live with a balanced amount of hun-

Replace your breakfast with a protein shake. People think that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, something dispelled by modern science nowadays. If like most men, you don’t feel really hungry during your first 3-5 morning hours, you can replace breakfast with a protein shake or simply fast. After that go on with your daily routine by moving your 1st meal of the day 3-5 hours later. This will decrease your eating-window, allowing you to eat a bit more the rest of the day (but less in total). Avoiding to overeat during your first meal is key in this tip (practice tip 1 and tip2 after that meal).

5

Have a regulated cheat meal once a week. Having a completely clean diet usually leads to binge eating after a certain point. By completely renouncing a food, you make it more difficult for yourself not to crave it. Think about it… What if I told you, you

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

can never again eat a food you don’t even care about – i.e. crackers. I promise you that after an hour, the only thing you’ll be craving, will be, guess what…? Yes, that’s right – crackers! If your diet is perfect during the rest of the week, you can have a decent cheat meal/dessert once every 7 days. But! Make sure it doesn’t exceed 30% of your maintenance calories. That’s about 750 calories for average height/size fellows or 800-900 calories for you bigger/taller guys. If you eat 95% clean, you can also spread those calories during the whole week. But, I highly recommend you “cash these” once a week during your special day out (going out with the bros, social situations, etc). Again, use a food-tracking app to do this. Keep track of these meals to make sure you’re not abusing them – don’t just eat stuff randomly. What about alcohol: Alcohol also counts as a cheat meal, so make sure you’re not abusing it. If you want to have some alcohol each week, split your cheat calories in two. 10% for alcohol (i.e. two

I

16

cans of beer) and 20% for a cheat meal/ dessert (i.e. some chocolate or a cheesecake piece).

Hey, I did all that but I’m still not losing any weight…

If you’re still struggling to lose weight, after practicing all this properly, it usually means that you’re not moving enough. Yup, your lifestyle is probably too sedentary. Adding more movement to your daily routine is always better than doing extreme diets. Get a step-tracking app like Pacer and start walking 5,000 extra steps per day (outside your house). Listening to audiobooks while walking can make this very enjoyable. Also watch this video for some more insights on this topic.

Scenario #2 (you’re the skinny/lean dude)

n your case, you need to focus on a gradual weight-gain while (again) getting stronger. A lot of times skinny guys come to me, saying that they eat a lot and fail to gain weight. Nine out of ten times, when I look at their diet, guess what I realize? Yup, they’re not eating enough! Making sure you’re on a slight caloric surplus is easy. Simply download a calorie tracking app (fatsecret is a good free one) and track your calories for 3 days. You’ll be usually surprised by how few calories you’re getting during the day, in comparison with your actual needs. Most importantly, it will give you a perspective on the volume of food you should be consuming. In most cases, eating three big meals and 2-3 snacks per day will do the trick. The most important thing to remember is this – you have to push yourself to eat a little bit more in every meal. Let’s say you’re having lunch, and after a certain

point you feel full. Simply try eating 1020% more on top of that. You shouldn’t be feeling nauseated or anything extreme like that, but you’re going to have to push yourself a bit each time. Here are the best weight-gaining tips you should be applying: Eat 10 -20% more than you regularly eat with every meal. Remember, your body is constantly trying to maintain homeostasis. This means that, even if you focus on eating more calories during breakfast and/or lunch, you may unintentionally reduce your caloric intake during dinner without realizing it.

1

2

Eat healthier fats. Peanut butter, virgin olive oil and high-fat Greek yogurt are great ways to sneak more calories into your daily eating schedule, without stuffing yourself too much. Make sure you stack your fridge with these. Add them to raw foods like salads or in sandwiches and increase the amount of them you use during cooking

17

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

(although you don’t want to overdo this with fried stuff).

3

Have snacks! Nuts, for example, are a healthy, calorie-dense snack that can easily increase your caloric intake. Make sure you have a minimum of two handfuls per day. Peanut butter n’ Jelly sandwiches are another tasty, practical (easy to make and carry around) snack you can add to your daily eating plan as well. Have minimum two snacks per day.

4

Don’t skip/forget meals. Always eat a minimum of three big meals a day: Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Diets like intermittent fasting might work great for maintaining or losing weight, but they’re not ideal for gaining it.

5

Eat protein with every meal. This applies to anyone, either you’re gaining or losing weight. Since you’ll be on a caloric surplus, getting your required protein intake won’t be that difficult, as long as you apply this rule. I’ll be mentioning recommended protein sources further on.

6

Have a badass dessert at the end of the day. Spending most of your day by eating clean calories will ensure that you’ve covered your needs in essential, muscle-building micro (vitamins &

minerals) and macronutrients (protein, fats, carbs). If you’re a hard-gainer, failing to gain weight on a clean diet – I highly recommend having a decent dessert every day. Chocolate, for example, is my favourite choice. Besides being a dessert, it also has a quite some healthy nutrition in it (protein, minerals and vitamins).

Protein sources for both categories Adequate protein intake for muscle-growth is one of the most studied and undisputed topics when it comes to athletic nutrition. There is no doubt that sufficient protein is essential for building muscle tissue (besides all of its other health benefits). The following food categories should be part of your weekly diet, so make sure you stack your kitchen with them:  Lean meats (lean beef, poultry and any quality meat you can get)  High protein dairy such as cottage cheese and this amazing Icelandic yoghurt  Eggs (ideally from grass-fed chickens)  Fish (tuna, salmon etc)  Whey protein (can be handy when losing weight or if your diet is not that rich in protein)

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

18

Part 3:

Building The Superhero Physique Building Superhero Muscles Before moving on to part 3, read the following notes IMPORTANT NOTE 1: Before you proceed to the workout guide, it is necessary to study and practice the “Mind over Muscle” bonus material you received with the Superhero Home Workout. Not taking advantage of the techniques mentioned in that book, will highly affect your results. If you haven’t yet, I urge you to STOP reading the workout guide part right now and begin studying “Mind over Muscle”! NOTE 2: During this part of the book, I might sound like I’m overanalysing things (for some people at least). After spending the last years studying my readers’ and followers’ feedback, I’ve realised that, it’s the basic stuff, that most people either ignore, neglect or simply haven’t understood properly yet. Lack of perfection in the basics, is one of the biggest reasons most people lack results. So, if you feel that way, try to bear with me. You might discover very important basic things, that you’ve been ignoring all along. Things that can be a game changer for your progress!

If you want to look like a superhero, you have to focus on getting stronger in three major muscle groups – Back, Chest and Legs. In other words, pulling, pushing and squatting movement patterns. By now you’re probably wondering “What about arms and abs?” Well, here’s a simple secret a lot of people don’t know or neglect:” A flat shredded stomach and strong, thick, ripped arms are all by-products of building a super strong back and chest. This is why a lot of people in pursuit of arms and abs find it so difficult to develop these areas... they’re doing everything else (bicep curls, crunches, etc), except focusing on the above. They’re always looking for that “secret” arm exercise or ab-crunch variation, while neglecting the real exercises they should be focusing on.

Superhero arms and abs are a by-product of building a superstrong back and chest The secret formula of building a complete superhero body:

If you want the complete superhero physique, focus on constantly getting stronger at the following primal movement patterns: a) Vertical Pull, b) Vertical Push, c) Horizontal Pull, d) Horizontal Push e) Weighted lunges. Notice the underlined sentence above, because that’s the juiciest bit of information in this paragraph. You have to keep on getting stronger! This doesn’t mean just doing more meaningless reps. It’s about 100% focused, high intensity and muscle-specific tension (MST) reps. MST techniques are thoroughly analysed in the bonus material “Mind over Muscle”. In summary: To build a complete Superhero Physique, you have to learn to maximize muscle tension through the right MST techniques, and to keep on getting stronger at the following primal movements: 1. Vertical Pull (Pull-ups) 2. Vertical Push (Handstand Push-ups) 3. Horizontal Pull (Inverted rows) 4.. Horizontal Push (Push-ups, One Arm push-ups) 4. Loaded Squats (Weighted lunges) There are a few more things in the program, such as ab functional training (woodchoppers), dips and grip strength related exercises. But 90% of your results will come by focusing on those five movements above.

19

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Training journals

Summer of 2015

Before we move on, I wanted to mention briefly one of the most important tools for getting stronger - Training journals. If you don’t have a training journal to keep track of your progress, if you just put in some work, “punch the clock” and call it a day… then don’t wonder why you’re not getting any results with this (or with any) program! Keeping a training journal is simple. Just record your sets, reps, resting periods, and next to each exercise also note how much you exerted yourself on a scale of 1 - 100%. I’ve made a more detailed video about this, which you can watch over here: How to keep proper Workout Notes.

By the end of September, I decided it was time to go hard at it again. It was time for something new. I needed a challenge to get me focused... This is when the Superhero home-workout was born. A workout plan that lead me to achieving the best physique I ever had! After 5 months of a slow bulking and a hard-core workout plan, I gained 15 pounds of muscle! Starting at 152 pounds (69kg), I ended up at 167 (75.5) pounds. Stronger, bigger and ripped!

Gaining 15 pounds of muscle in 5 months (my results) During the summer of 2015, I was going through some painful issues with my leg, and I hadn't been training that hard. All that, combined a 10-day meditation retreat (where I had a restricted diet and couldn’t workout), resulted in losing about 4 pounds of muscle mass. My physique had lost its edge.

5 months later

Summer physique

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

20

Reps, sets and MMC application The latest scientific research shows that both low and high reps on the strength/ rep Spectrum (1-20 reps) are beneficial for gaining muscle. When it comes to bodyweight exercise, I’ve found that 5-8 reps are a good starting point. After you can perform 8 reps with good form, start also practicing MST techniques (again, make sure you study the “Mind over Muscle” bonus material). This rep range will ensure that you’ve built a decent strength foundation. After that, start adding more reps until you reach 12-20 reps (depending on the exercise). Once you reach 12-20 reps, move to a more difficult progression starting from 5-8 reps again. This way you’ll be cycling both of the two major factors that lead to muscle growth: Mechanical stress/high intensity (low reps) and metabolic stress (high reps, “the burn”). Here’s an example with push-ups: 1.Work on getting 8 reps with perfect form 2. After that start practicing MST (Muscle specific Tension) before you add more reps. 3. Once you can do 8 reps with perfect MST start adding more reps 4. When you can do 15 reps start working on One-arm Push-up (OAPU) variations 5. Work on these until you can do 8 OAPU’s with perfect form 6. Repeat…

Warming up

I’ve said it a million times in my YouTube videos, previous books and posts on my social media ''If you don't have enough time to warm-up, you don't have enough time to train.'' A proper warm-up has been proven to increase performance and reduce injury probability. Trust me, it re-ally sucks putting in the work for weeks or even months, just to watch it go down the drain because you were too lazy to warm-up for 15 minutes. Always invest your first 15 minutes on warming up properly - even if there will be some days during which you won’t have enough time to complete the whole

workout (keep these to 1-2 per month max). In such cases, always make sure you do the following minimum amount of work: 1. Warm-up (15') 2.Horizontal or Vertical Pull (depending on the day) 3.Horizontal or Vertical Push (depending on the day) 4.Weighted lunges (If you have a few more minutes to spare) Some of you youngsters might get away with a bad warm up, but as you begin transitioning from your 20s to your 30s and beyond, you’ll notice that your body will stop forgiving such behaviours. The best warm up method, especially when it comes to home-workouts, is mobility drills for the upper body, combined with dynamic stretches for the lower body. Mobility drills are awesome because you get to kill two birds with one stone. 1) you get yourself properly warmed up and 2) you also improve your joint health.

Old traditional warming up When it comes to strength training, mobility drills and dynamic stretching are highly superior to “traditional” types of warm-up routines like jogging or static cycling. Traditional types like these don’t really prepare you for the intensity and the specificity of movement that will follow in the workout. I mean, how the hell would static cycling or jogging prepare your shoulders and elbows for upper body exercises, such as Handstand push-ups? Warming up properly is all about specificity. You have to target all connective tissues, joints and muscles that will be used in the basic part of the workout. Yup, I know… its plain logic, yet most people ignore it.

Dynamic stretches

A short definition of dynamic stretching would be - stretching as you are moving. Dynamic stretching is an active move-

21

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

ment of your body that brings forth a stretch, but is not held statically in the end position. Mobility drills cover most of the superhero warm-up, but I’ve also added a dynamic stretch (windmills) at the end. This works as a great a warm-up finisher, in order to cover a few “warmup holes” left from the previous drills…

Mobility drills

In simple words, mobility drills are moving stretches, during which we test how freely our joints can move throughout their natural range of motion (part of which is often lost). Practicing mobility drills on a daily basis isn’t just essential for restoring this range of motion, but it also greases up the joints prior to a workout and can improve their health if practiced continually.   Warm-up drill (watch the video first): 1. Head rotation up and down (always start very gentle with head/neck exercises) 2. Head rotation right and left 3. Finger spreads 4. Thumb stretch 5. Elbow Screws 6. Shoulder screws (candy wrapper) 7. Windmills An efficient warm-up should leave you with the following sensations:  Feeling your muscles energized but not drained.  Enough joint freedom/mobility to perform all the exercises of the program.  A rise in temperature enough to cause a mild perspiration.

Easy sets

A very important part of each workout are easy sets. These are neither part of the basic part of the workout nor are they exactly a part of the warm-up. They’re an essential step in between those two. Their purpose is to prepare your body for peak muscle contractions that will be generated as you gradually improve your mind to muscle connection. Something that cannot be done with light warm-up drills. As you get stronger and improve your mind to muscle connection techniques

during the Superhero Challenge, you’ll notice that you need these sets in order prepare and to be able to push yourself hard. Warming up with low intensities are simply not gonna cut it. These are things that you will start making more sense, as you evolve as a bodyweight exercise athlete during this program. You’ll always perform easy sets for two exercises: The first upper-body exercise and to the lower-body exercise (weighted lunges). In summary: Prior to every workout’s main exercises, make sure you a) perform some easy sets for the first upper body exercise and b) and for the lower body exercise (lunges). Here are a few more basic points regarding Easy sets:  Easy sets are intermediate/preparatory sets that bridge the warm-up with the basic part of the workout.  They are done with medium intensity which is essential to prepare your body for the following high intensities.  They focus on the same movement pattern of the workout’s first exercise for the upper and lower body.  They are great for practising technique, mind to muscle connections and they also add a little bit of strength and muscle.  Last and most important, they are essential for preparing you to push yourself hard enough during the basic part of the warm-up.

How should you feel during Easy sets

During these sets, you are not supposed to be experiencing any great amount of fatigue. A mild ''pump'' and getting some blood flowing in your muscles is what you're aiming for. Also, don’t do these like a zombie. Keep on working on your mind to muscle techniques.

How many

Depending on what time you’re training, and the temperature of the room you are training in, this may differ a little bit. If you train during the first 3 hours after waking up, or if you’re training in low temperatures, your body needs more time to warm up. This is why I recom-

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

mend 3-4 sets in that case. If you train later on in the day, and the temperature of the room you train in is good, 2-3 sets are enough.

Upper-body Easy sets

The workouts in this book are always split into Workout A and Workout B. Depending on how advanced you are, I’ve included easier and more difficult variations for everyone’s easy sets. As you’ll see, a) stands for more advanced/lighter trainees and b) for more beginner/heavy trainees.

Easy sets for Day A Pike push-ups with legs on an elevated surface followed by a few Handstand Push-ups (HSPUs): These are ideal for advanced trainees who can do regular HSPUs. Start with two sets of Pike push-ups, followed by a set of a few (2-5) HSPUs. Alternatively, if you have strength bands, you can do standing vertical presses with bands, followed again by a set of a few HSPUs. Or, you can also can start with vertical band-pushes, followed by a set or two of elevated pikes or HSPUs. Regular pike push-ups: For those who are still working on elevated pike push-ups instead of Handstand push-ups. Again, combining these with

22

some standing vertical presses at first, works best. Alternatively, if you have strength bands, you can start with vertical band-pushes, followed by a set or two of pikes.

Easy sets for Day B:  Chin-ups with limited range of motion(ROM): To do these, don’t lock out and stay below 60 degrees of elbow flexion. Alternatively, if you have strength bands, you can start with vertical band-pulls, followed by a set or two of limited ROM chin-ups  Inverted Rows (beginners/heavier people). If chin-ups feel too heavy to be used as easy sets, and you don’t have bands, use inverted rows instead. Depending on how you feel, you can manipulate the height of your legs to make it easier (lower) or more difficult (more elevated). Again, if you have strength bands, you instead do horizontal pulls, from a standing position.

Lower body easy sets

Legs also need to be properly warmed up. Weighted lunges are an amazing exercise, but if you do them with cold knees and ankles, you’ll be flirting with injury before you know it. Two sets of 10-15 reps of front and side lunges will do the trick (watch video here at 12:40).

23

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

The Workout plan

The Superhero Home-workout plan consists of 4 phases. Each workout Phase (or macrocycle, in more ”sciency” terms) lasts usually 4-6 weeks. Each Phase consists of 1-3 Parts (or micro/mesocycles), which usually last about 2 weeks. In each Phase, training volume and/or intensity will be manipulated through each Part. This is done, in order for your body to avoid adapting to the training stimulus, and therefore to continue building Superhero-Muscle!

through limits you never thought possible. I don’t want to sound like the typical fitness extremists, who say stuff like “there are no limits” and “you can teach your body to handle anything...” Not only is that wrong, it’s also a recipe for injury. People who advocate this, are either the typical fitness enthusiasts who start a workout plan and quit it within weeks, and/or are genetic freaks. Think about it, if that was the case, people would be able to train 12 hours a day and have amazing results.

How to study this part of the book

How hard should you push yourself?

Don’t go reading the whole 4-month workout plan at once. Its ok if you want to skim through all of it once. The important thing is that you carefully read each phase, a day before you get started with it. Make sure you have no questions and if you do, feel free to post them on the Superhero Home-workout group.

A few words on workout programming When it comes to strength training through bodyweight exercises, workout programming is something usually neglected. This is why most bodyweight exercise trainees lack progress after a certain point. You can’t keep on improving with no long-term planning and programming. A lot of people commented on the workout volume during my wolverine challenge. They asked how I could cope with so much training every week, and if they should be starting training in that way as well. The reason I could cope with so much training volume is #1 because I built it up gradually, and #2 because this is something I did for a specific amount of time. This is not how I train all year round (neither should you). It’s something I did very carefully; scheduling deload weeks, having basic guidelines on how hard to push myself, etc.. My point is, overtraining can be beneficial if (and that’s big if) it’s done strategically. Through this program some of you will discover that your body can push

You have to find an intensity that a) allows you to keep your reps balanced in each set and b) go close to or reach failure during the last 1-2 reps of the last set. If you’re wondering when to go close to failure and when to actually fail those reps– that’s a great question. I recommend going close to failure during the first half of the week (first A-workout and first B-workout), and failing during the last rep (try to break a rep plateau) during the second half of the week (2nd A and B-Workout of the week). Since you’ll be resting for two days before next week begins, going harder during the second half of the week is more practical.

Breaking plateaus while working on Mind-to-Muscle techniques During all workout sets, you should always aim for perfect external form. Sure, you might sometimes kip (use momentum) a tiny bit during that last rep, but other than that, external form should remain intact. Here is when things become tricky though… Breaking plateaus while working on Mind-to-Muscle (MMC) techniques can become very complicated. As I’ve said in the “Mind over Muscle” guide, MMC techniques are a skill. This means they are something you can constantly work on and improve.

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

For example, if you can do 10 push-ups while getting started on the Superhero workout, you can keep on getting stronger at that rep range for weeks, just by constantly improving the exercise’s MMC. This is not bad, but it means that you won’t be taking advantage of the entire muscle-building rep range (5-20 reps).

24

Other Plateau-breaking techniques Breaking plateaus is not just about getting stronger. As demonstrated in MMC cycling above, you can also find ways to manipulate MMC etc. Below are the rest of my favourite and most successful plateau-breaking techniques.

Cycling MMC technique and Rep Flow Rep-failure This is my favourite During the first month (Phase A) of this program, focus solely on improving your MMC techniques. It’s ok if your reps remain the same, as long as you’re making the exercise more difficult by improving and refining your MMC skills.

Once you’re passed Phase A, try adding a rep every 1-2 weeks, minimum. If this feels impossible at times it means that you’re working very focused on MMC techniques. This is not bad, as a matter of fact it’s great. It means that you’re taking MMC techniques seriously. But, because we want to work throughout the whole muscle-building rep range, you’re going to have to make adjustments. Fixing this when it occurs, is quite easy. All you have to do is compromise your MMC technique a bit in order to get that extra rep. For instance, according to the previous push-up example: do 9-10 pushups with 100% focused MMC, and after that add another rep by focusing more on external form and neglecting your MMC form a bit. As you keep on doing sets of 11 push-ups the following week/weeks, try to perfect your MMC on that higher rep-range. Cycling this method (compromising MMC then improving it again gradually) is the key to getting stronger while continuing to work on your MMC techniques!

plateau-breaking technique. You can use it to push (or pull) really hard through those last reps, and try to add an extra rep on top of what you’ve been doing till that point. The secret is to override your brain’s natural rep-failing settings, which switch-on automatically once the rep’s speed decreases dramatically. Maintaining a steady flow of movement during that last rep, no matter how slow it becomes, is how you can cheat your body into doing one more rep! I highly recommend you watch this to get a better picture of the technique.

Grinding Grinding is about tapping into those primal-brain setting. It’s about getting into that mind-set that tells your body “this is a matter of life or death – get that rep or we’re screwed”! Learning to utilize these techniques, is something based more on personal experimentation than something you could understand just by reading about it in a book. Give it a try, experiment with different personal scenarios and find what works best for you. I also recommend watching the video I made here.

25

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Phase #1 The workout plans in this book will be based on a weekly schedule starting on Monday. This doesn’t mean that you can’t choose a different layout (i.e. starting

on Sunday), as long as you use the same order, and you rest the same number of days.

Part A (2 weeks) Part A of Phase 1 consists of two workouts formats (A,B) which will be performed twice a week. In total you’ll be training four times per week. This is more

of an adaptation period to the Superhero Home-Workout plan. Still, it’s an important time to get familiar with all the exercises and MMC techniques.

Part A - Weekly Schedule Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Weekend

Workout A

Workout B

Rest/Walk

Workout A

Workout B

Rest/Walk

Workout A Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest (minutes)

Easy sets for exercise 1.

2-4

5-12

1’

1. Handstand Push-ups

3

5-15

2’

2. Inverted rows

3

5-15

2’

2-4

8-15

1’

3. Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

4. Woodchoppers

3

8-20

1’

Lower body easy sets (front and side lunges)

Perform each exercise separately. For example, once you’re done with 3 sets of Handstand Push-ups, move on to inverted rows. This isn’t a circuit, so don’t switch from exercise to exercise, every time you complete a set.

Woodchopper alternative: I highly recommend woodchoppers in this workout plan. But in case you don’t have strength bands, your second best choice would be alternating side planks.

Workout B Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest (minutes)

Easy sets for exercise 1.

2-3

8-15

1’

1. Pull-ups

3

5-15

2’

2. One-Arm Push-ups (Or progression)

3

5-15

2’

Lower body easy sets (front and side lunges)

2

8-15

1’

3. Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

4. Flow Push-ups

2

10-30

2’-3’

26

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Flow Push-ups: Flow push-ups are regular push-ups with perfect MST technique and the fact that you’ll be applying 1-1 tempo (1 second while going down and 1 second while pushing up). Never

pause or go to failure with these (never miss a rep). The moment you feel you’re lacking perfect MMC technique, and your tempo isn’t steady (fluid) or slows down even a tiny bit, just stop.

Part B (2 weeks): In Part B we’ll be changing two things. Number one, we’ll be increasing the training volume by adding an extra set in the first two exercises of each workout. And number two, we’ll be adding two more exercises to our arsenal. Our new exercises will be One-arm Lat-ups and dips. Dips will also be replacing Flow Push-ups, which will not be done anymore. Most of you won’t be familiar with one-arm latups since I coined the exercise’s name after my article on How to do a one-arm pull-up on T-nation.

elevate yourself by depressing your shoulder blade down and retracting it toward the spine. You’re basically doing a SDR on just one side of your back (look for SDR in my ‘Mind over muscle’ guide). Your body should elevate a few inches as the scapular retractors and lats contract. "Put your shoulder blade in your back pocket" is the mental cue to remember. One arm lat-ups are great for lats and grip strength. You might also want to buy a set of gloves since a lot of bars are too slippery for onearm dead hangs. I use $50-cent construction-gloves which do the trick (no need to So what exactly is a one-arm lat-up? go buy extremely expensive stuff if your From a one-arm relaxed/passive dead budget doesn’t allow it). hang, while keeping your elbow straight, Click here to watch how to do One-arm Lat-ups (Tutorial and progressions)

Part B - Weekly Schedule Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Weekend

Workout A

Workout B

Rest/Walk

Workout A

Workout B

Rest/Walk

Workout A Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest (minutes)

Easy sets

2-3

8-15

1’

1. Handstand Push-ups

4

5-15

2’

2. Inverted rows

4

5-15

2’

Lower body easy sets

2

8-15

1’

3. Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

4. Woodchoppers

3

8-20

1’

5. One-arm Lat-ups

3

3-15

1’

Sets

Reps

Rest (minutes)

3-

8-15

1’

1. Pull-ups

4

5-15

2’

2. One-Arm Push-ups (Or progression)

4

5-15

2’

Lower body easy sets

2

8-15

1’

3. Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

4. Dips

3

8-15

2’

Exercise Easy sets

Workout B Workout B

27

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Deload week There’s a lot of diversity of opinion in the strength community when it comes to deload weeks. As it goes with such opinions, they are pretty often diametrically opposed. “DELOAD WEEKS ARE USELLESS” or “YOU SHOULD ALWAYS TAKE DELOAD WEEKS”. Using deload weeks depends on the way you’re training. Sure, you can train in a way that rarely requires them (i.e micro-loading). But, when it comes to programs that aim at getting you out of your comfort zone and producing remarkable results in a relatively short period, I consider deload weeks essential. Pushing yourself hard and building up training volume is required, but… if it’s done without proper resting periods you can end getting injured and/or lacking in performance.

Superhero Deload weeks Usually, a superhero deload week is a lower-volume version of what you were doing the previous weeks. We’ll also be using circuits, so resting periods and exercise order will vary (more on this soon). Training frequency is decreased down to three workouts a week, and your sets are also decreased by about one set.

ing any of my energy from my strength workouts.

Deloading Doesn’t Mean Becoming A Couch Potato

Here are some benefits of walking during a deload period:  Unlike cardio or HIIT, walking adds very little stress to your joints and muscles. Therefore, it’s an ideal way to avoid gaining too much fat and getting lazy from being inactive all day. 2. Walking can aid your recovery since it increases blood flow all over your body. 3.  Walking is medicine for the mind. Many studies have shown how walking can be anti-depressive. The Superhero Home-workout is a big challenge for anyone, and mental balance is essential to get through it.

The week after your deload week, if you notice a small decrease in performance during the first two days, don’t worry – its normal. It is essential not to freak out during these days. You shouldn’t either end up overexerting yourself, trying to replicate your performance from the week before the deload. This is just your body shortly re-readjusting to the workout’s volume. By the end of the week, not only will you get used to it, but you’ll also be breaking a couple of rep-plateaus as a result of rebounding from the deload week! Especially if you’re being careful with your weight and you don’t want to gain any extra fat, you have to remain active during deload weeks. Deloading doesn’t mean you should spend a week in bed. If you have a sedentary lifestyle (i.e. you spend most of the day at a desk), my recommendation for your non-training days is WALKING! Yes, that’s right, simple good-old walking… It’s a habit that has helped me immensely to stay ripped, without affecting my recovery or drain-

(beach walk)

28

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

To learn more about walking health-benefits and how it can help you stay ripped read my article: Get ripped and lower stress levels with walking

Deload week workout plan: Circuits Your deload workouts will be done in a circuit form. There are lots of terms and kinds of Circuit training, but in this book, it simply means doing multiple exercises back-to-back with little rest. Circuits are

great for getting a lot of exercises done in a short time, and also for conditioning (your ability to resist fatigue during anaerobic activity).

Frequency: You’ll be training three times a week, alternating between workout a,b and c.

Deload week Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Weekend

Workout a

Rest/Walk

Workout b

Rest/Walk

Workout c

Rest/Walk

Post-workout Sensation: Superhero deload weeks aim at giving your body a chance to recuperate, while at the same time maintaining your strength. Your deload workouts will be shorter and should leave you feeling fresh and pumped. Yes, you’ll be a little bit tired as well, but you should not feel drained.

week. If your rep number was irrational (5,7,9,11 etc.) always round the difference downwards. For example, if you were doing 7 reps, this week go for 5 (7 - 1,4 = 5,6 = 5).

The workout starts with two circuits of easy sets. During these you’ll be performing a pulling, a pushing and a squatting Reps: You reps will be 20% lower than the movement (weighted lunges). After that, previous week. For example, if you are you continue with two circuits of basic used to doing 10 pull-ups, go for 8 this strength training movements.

Workout a Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest (seconds)

Easy sets: Push

1

8-15

10-15”

Easy sets: Pull

1

8-15

10-15”

Easy sets: Legs

1

8-15

10-15”

Rest one minute and perform the sequence one more time…

Workout Circuit Exercise

Sets

Reps (-20%)

Rest (minutes)

1. Handstand Push-ups

1

5-15

10-15”

2. Inverted Rows

1

5-15

10-15”

3. Weighted Lunges (Less or no weight)

1

8-15

10-15”

Rest two minutes and repeat the sequence once more

29

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Workout b Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest (seconds)

Easy sets: Push

1

8-15

10-15”

Easy sets: Pull

1

8-15

10-15”

Easy sets: Legs

1

8-15

10-15”

Rest one minute and perform the sequence one more time…

Workout Circuit Exercise

Sets

Reps (-20%)

Rest (minutes)

1. Push-ups (place extra focus on MMC)

1

5-15

10-15”

2. Pull-ups

1

5-15

10-15”

3. Weighted Lunges (Less or no weight)

1

8-15

10-15”

Rest two minutes and repeat the sequence once more

Workout c Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest (seconds)

Easy sets: Push

1

8-15

10-15”

Easy sets: Pull

1

8-15

10-15”

Easy sets: Legs

1

8-15

10-15”

Rest one minute and perform the sequence one more time…

Workout Circuit Exercise

Sets

Reps (-20%)

Rest (minutes)

1. Dips

1

5-15

10-15”

2. Woodchoppers

1

5-15

10-15”

3. Weighted Lunges (Less or no weight)

1

8-15

10-15”

Rest two minutes and repeat the sequence once more

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

30

Phase #2 This is where things will gradually become more intense. You’ll begin noticing more muscle gains, and you’ll also start

getting a better feel of Mind to muscle techniques.

Part A (2 weeks) Part A of Phase #2 starts by repeating the final part of the previous Phase (Part B of Phase #1). During these weeks, your goal is to own the program’s training volume and intensity. As you’re finishing week 2 of Part A, you should feel that your body has fully adapted to it. I don’t mean it has to feel easy. You’ll still feel tired after workouts, muscles can be a little bit sore at times, and you’ll have to attack each workout with laser focus. But after resting that last weekend, you should feel recovered and ready for Part B. Reminder: During the transition from a deload week to a regular workout week, it’s normal to have some strength (rep) fluctuations. Some of you might even feel a bit weak during the first half of

the week. Don’t over-push yourself into failure if that’s the case – perform the workouts according to all the guidelines mentioned in How hard should you push yourself. If you do that, during the rest of the week you’ll probably be breaking a couple of plateaus in several exercises. If not, don’t worry, it will definitely happen next week.

In summary The first two weeks of Phase 2 we’ll be working on what you did while ending Phase 1 (Part B), and we’ll be bringing it home! Somewhere around the second half of the second week, you’ll begin feeling comfortable with the training volume. This means you’re ready for Part B!

Part B: Enter Supersets (2 weeks) Supersets produce  more metabolic stress in the muscles (that “burn” you feel when you do a lot of reps), which together with high intensity and workload (reps, sets) are the most important factors for muscle growth!

which has been done repeatedly for a long time. Bodybuilders call this “shocking the muscle”. The truth is that you don’t have to completely change your workouts every month in order to avoid adaptation.

One thing you’ll notice if you’ve been training for a while, is that every decent workout program works at first... but not as much after 2 months. Supersets are a great way to prevent the neuromuscular system from adapting to a workout plan,

But, a little change once every 6-8 weeks can help a lot. Especially if you’re passed the rookie phase (aka the newbie-gains period). Small changes like: increasing training volume or intensity, and pairing the same exercises in supersets, can help you with strength and physique plateaus.  

Supersets are great for creating more metabolic stress in the muscles which is one of the most important factors for muscle growth

How to do a Superset: A superset is pairing two exercises into one exercise superset with very little rest in between (10”-15”). For example, let’s say you want to do a superset with Pull-ups and Pushups. You’ll start with a set of pull-ups, then you’ll rest for 10”-15” and then you’ll do a set of push-ups. This is one superset, after which you take a normal resting period (2’-3’).

31

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Quick Summary: A superset is a combination of two exercises, done back-to-back, with just enough resting time to catch a few breaths and then switch from one exercise to the other.

When and How: Supersets will be done twice a week (A2, B2), on Thursday and Friday, with the first two upper body exercises (not all exercises will be supersetted).

If you’re wondering why other exercises aren’t supersetted, here is why:  The first two exercises of each workout  Weighted lunges and woodchoppers are the most difficult upper-body exerdon’t have to be supersetted, since cise of the program. Supersetting these they’re already a high-stress/metawill leave you with just enough energy bolic exercises. to complete the rest of the exercises.

A2 Workout Supersets: Handstand Push-ups will be supersetted with Inverted rows. This is a deadly combo and trust me... that “burn” (metabolic stress) we’ve been talking about? You’ll be feeling it as you’re gasping for air and feeling your forearms ready to explode after your rows…

Begin the first half of the week (A,B) with the same workouts done in Part A. Add superset workouts to the rest half of the week (A2 and B2 as shown below)…

Weekly Schedule Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Workout A

Workout B

Rest/Walk

Thursday

Friday

Workout A2

Workout B2 Rest/Walk (Supersets)

(Supersets)

Weekend

Workout A2 Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest

Easy sets (Push)

2-4

5-15

1’

4

5-15

2’-3’

Lower body easy sets

2

8-15

1’

Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

Woodchoppers

3

8-20

1’

One-arm Lat-ups

3

3-15

1’

Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest

Easy sets (Push)

2-4

8-15

1’

4

5-15

2’-3’

Lower body easy sets

2

8-15

1’

Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

Dips

3

8-20

2’

Handstand Push-ups Supersets

Rest 10-15” Inverted rows

Workout B2 One-arm Push-ups Supersets

Rest 10” Pull-ups

32

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Phase #3 Part A (2 weeks) Just as in the previ- repeating the final ous phase, Part A of Part of the previPhase #3 starts by ous Phase (Part B

of Phase #2). Your weeks and own it! goal to adapt to this Part within 2

PART B: Rest-pause sets + Supersets (2 weeks)

Before moving on to Phase #3 have a Deload week again

Part B will be a combination of Super-Sets and Rest-pause sets! A Restpause set (RPS) is a normal set, followed by a resting period of 10 seconds, followed by a few more extra reps. For example: Let’s say you normally do 8 pullups in a set. In a rest pause set you’d be doing 8 reps, followed by 10-15 seconds of rest, followed by a few more reps. How many more reps? As many as you can, without messing up your form. This part will sure be tough. I won’t lie to you. Some of you by now, will feel like that was all your body could handle. But trust me… If you place your faith in this program, and if you place faith in your body’s ability to adapt to hardship… you’ll once again come out stronger on the other side.

Put faith in the program and in your body’s ability to adapt to hardship… you’ll once again come out stronger on the other side! What are RPS good for? Well RPSs are a simple way to squeeze a few more reps into a set. They can be helpful when you’ve been doing the same exercises, being stuck at the same reps. By resting 10’ you get the chance to bang out a few more “unexpected” reps and “shock” your neuromuscular system into some new gains! RPS utilize your body’s ability of rapid recovery (by replenishing a part of

your phosphocreatine stores). When and how: We’ll be using RPS twice a week in A1 and B1 workouts, during the last two sets of the first two exercises. So, you’ll start with two normal sets and after that you’ll continue with RPS sets. Just as with supersets, resting time between these two sets will be increased up to 3’. This Phase is the most difficult one of the Superhero program. If you get through this part, you’ve practically made it! So hang in there a bit more and give it all you’ve got!

If you persist – you will persevere. And if you persevere – you will succeed! In summary: RPS are another great advanced training method because they utilize the two most important factors for muscle growth: Mechanical stress (reps/weight lifted) and Metabolic stress. By giving your body that short break, you can squeeze a few more reps, thus increasing your rep volume (more mechanical stress). You also get a good burn (metabolic stress) by expanding the total time under tension. Nutritional Note: Feel free to increase your clean food calories from now on –

your body is going to need them! If you’re still looking to lose fat, don’t go

33

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

crazy, just make sure you’re on a slight bit more than you’ve been already doing. caloric surplus. If you’re the hard-gainer Hard-gainers can even go hardcore on type, try pushing yourself into eating a your dessert of the day.

Weekly Schedule Monday

Workout A1 (Rest-pause sets)

Tuesday

Workout A1 Workout B1 (Rest-Pause sets) (Rest-Pause sets)

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Weekend

Rest/Walk

Workout A2 (Supersets)

Workout B2 (Supersets)

Rest/Walk

Workout B1 (Rest-pause sets) Exercise

Total Sets

Reps

Rest

Easy sets

2-4

8-15

1’

5-15

2’-3’

5-15

2’-3’

1. Handstand Push-ups (2 normal sets + 2 RPS 4 sets) 2. Inverted rows (2 normal sets + 2 RPS sets) 4 Lower body easy sets

2

8-15

1’

3. Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

4. Woodchoppers

3

8-20

1’

5. One-Arm Lat-ups

3

3-12

1’

(Continue the rest of the week with superset workouts from the previous phase)

Workout A2 (Supersets) Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest (minutes)

Easy sets

2-4

8-15

1’

1. Pull-ups (2 normal sets + 2 RPS)

2

5-15

2’-3’

2. One-Arm Push-ups (2 normal sets + 2 RPS) 4

5-15

2’-3’

Lower body easy sets

2

8-15

1’

3. Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

4. Dips

3

8-15

2’

Workout B2 (Supersets) Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest

Easy sets (Push)

2-4

8-15

1’

4

5-15

2’-3’

Lower body easy sets

2

8-15

1’

Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

Handstand Push-ups Supersets

Rest 10” Inverted rows

Woodchoppers

3

8-20

1’

One-arm Lat-ups

3

3-15

1’

34

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest

Easy sets (Push)

2-4

8-15

1’

4

5-15

2’-3’

Lower body easy sets

2

8-15

1’

Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

Dips

3

8-20

1’

One-arm Push-ups Supersets

Rest 10” Pull-ups

Important note: On Thursday and Friday you’ll continue doing A2 and B2 (supersets). Yes I know it’s a lot of training volume and intensity, but superheroes aren’t made with Barbie home-workouts of a few sets for abs and booty exercises... Again, have faith in the program your body…

every time you start warming up and doing easy sets. You’ll feel as if your muscles are telling you “you ain’t going to be getting lots of help from us today...” But if you push through, even though you feel heavy and tired… If you give it all you’ve got… Like a miracle, you’ll start breaking plateaus again!

Funny things happen during this phase. Reviewing my Plateau-breaking methods More than often, you’ll feel quite heavy during this week is essential!

35

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Part C: Superhero Hell Week 2X (2 weeks) At this point your body is expecting a deload week, but guess what? You ain’t having one! (he says hoping that his readers won’t be cursing him for the next two weeks). One of the greatest challenges Navy SEALS face, is hell week. A gruelling week of continuous training which ultimately determines who has the ability and mind-set to endure becoming a SEAL. The superhero hell week version consists of two weeks (you get one hellweek as a bonus – yay!). Oh come on… at least you won’t have to suffer cold, hunger and starvation like the SEALS. This is where the true Superhero shines You might feel like you’ve already given it all you had... You might feel like your superhero powers are wearing off… But this is the crucial point where a true Superhero shines. It’s the final battle, during which he feels that all is lost... yet out of nowhere, a sudden spark in his eyes appears. Fear, fatigue and doubt suddenly vanish, and his mind commands his beaten and tormented body

Superheroes keep on repping when their bodies tell them it’s over

into his final battle to victory! If you push through these last two weeks… if you just decide to switch off that inner voice that is telling you that your body’s strength tank is empty... and if you just keep on going, one rep at a time - you’ll slowly discover that ‘mind over matter’ is not just a phrase. Simply relax your face as you go into the first sets of the workout. If your body says “I can’t”, simply smile and convince yourself that ”Yes you can!” Imagine that the rep is a lot easier than your body thinks it is. You’ll be amazed by how this switch in mind-set will change the difficulty of the set, and in turn, the difficulty of the rest of the workout. During the Superhero hell weeks, you’ll be training two additional days (6 workout days in total). Those two extra days (C1,C2) will only consist of one exercise (feeling a bit relieved now right?). C1 will consist of one Pushing exercise and C2 of one Pulling exercise. During these you’ll be doing three super-focused sets. Pick two exercises that you feel you lack in, and try to break their rep plateaus. Each C workout will consist of: 1. Mobility drills for the upper body followed by 2-3 easy sets 2. 3 normal sets where you should try breaking your plateaus by doing one more rep (at least in the last 2 sets). Take as much rest as you need (4-5 minutes will do).

Weekly Schedule Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Workout B1 Workout A1 Workout C1 (Rest-Pause sets) (Rest-Pause sets)

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Workout A2 (Supersets)

Workout B2 Workout C2 (Supersets)

Sunday

Rest/Walk

36

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Workout A1 Exercise

Total Sets

Reps

Rest

Easy sets

2-4

8-15

1’

5-15

2’-3’

5-15

2’-3’

1. Handstand Push-ups (2 normal sets + 2 4 RPS) 2. Inverted rows (2 normal sets + 2 RPS) 4 Lower body easy sets

2

8-15

1’

3. Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

4. Woodchoppers

3

8-20

1’

5. One-Arm Lat-ups

3

3-12

1’

Workout B1 Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest (minutes)

Easy sets

2-4

8-15

1’

1. Pull-ups (2 normal sets + 2 RPS)

2

5-15

2’-3’

2. One-Arm Push-ups (2 normal sets + 2 RPS) 4

5-15

2’-3’

Lower body easy sets

2

8-15

1’

3. Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

4. Dips

3

8-15

2’

Workout C1 Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest

Easy sets (Pull)

2-4

8-15

1’

3

5-15

2’-5’

Weakest Pulling exercise

Set: Typical reps minus 1 Set 2: Go for Plus 1 rep Set 3: Go for plus 1 reps

(Continue the rest of the week with superset workouts from the previous phase)

Workout A2 Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest

Easy sets (Push)

2-4

8-15

1’

4

5-15

2’-3’

Lower body easy sets

2

8-15

1’

Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

Woodchoppers

3

8-20

1’

One-arm Lat-ups

3

3-15

1’

Handstand Push-ups Supersets

Rest 10” Inverted rows

37

Superhero Home-Workout | Homemade Muscle

Workout B2 Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest

Easy sets (Push)

2-4

8-15

1’

4

5-15

2’-3’

Lower body easy sets

2

8-15

1’

Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

Dips

3

8-20

1’

Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest

Easy sets (Push)

2-4

8-15

1’

3

5-15

2’-5’

One-arm Push-ups Supersets

Rest 10” Pull-ups

Workout C2

Set: Typical reps minus 1 Weakest Pushing exercise Set 2: Go for Plus 1 rep Set 3: Go for plus 1 reps

Superhero Workout | Homemade Muscle

Congratulations – You’re a superhero! If you’ve completed this whole program, progress and insights with us! Was there I would like to congratulate you! Few something you really liked or maybe even people manage to reach this point, so disliked? An insight that the rest of the welcome to the elite Home-workout Su- group could benefit from? Let us know! A perhero alliance! If you haven’t yet joined superhero, after all, always helps those in our Superhero Home-workout League need when he’s able. click here now, and come share your

37

38

Superhero Home-Workout

What now? (Maintenance program)

S

o you’ve put in all this effort for months and you finally have the body. The next logical question would be “What now?”. Because it would be a pity to waste all these results, I’ve included two maintenance workout plans that require as minimum an effort as possible to maintain your superhero physique. I recommend the first one which consists of 6 short weekly workouts. The reason for this is that I’ve found that in the long run, most people are more disciplined when they perform short workouts done in a consecutive fashion – meaning training almost every day. When there are too many days off, its easy not to take into account your workouts in your daily lifestyle. Having a specific time set for working out on a daily basis, usually works best to ingrain a new habit and/or for maintaining it. This way your workout is part of your daily routine, just like brushing your teeth (I hope!). I also believe in

being lazy once a week, which is why I always recommend Sundays off (or one day of your preference). I also recommend a deload week once every two months. Make sure you keep a workout diary, and set a notification in your calendar to remember not to skip it. Note: Before jumping into maintenance mode, take 3 days off and take your first week easy. Do the programs shown below, but stay away from muscle failure in all sets. Don’t worry if your performance is below that average. It’s normal, since your body is taking a well-deserved break. Go through the exercises and reps, but just aim for a small pump and getting some blood to the muscles. A reduction of performance, up 30% of your normal reps is ok. Don’t sweat it. Strength will pick up gradually again during the next weeks.

39

Superhero Home-Workout

Maintenance program 1 The first maintenance program consists of three short workouts (a,b,c) which will be performed twice a week.

Weekly Schedule Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Workout a

Workout b

Workout c

Workout a

Workout b

Workout c

Rest/Walk

Workout a Exercise Easy sets (Push)

Sets

Reps

Rest (minutes)

2-3

8-15

1’

1. Handstand Push-ups

4

5-15

2’

2. Inverted rows

4

5-15

2’

2

8-15

1’

3

8-15

2’

Sets

Reps

Rest (minutes)

2-3

8-15

1’

One-arm Lat-ups

3

3-15

1’

Woodchoppers

3

5-20

1’

Dips

3

5-15

1’

Sets

Reps

Rest (minutes)

2-3

8-15

1’

1. Pull-ups

3

5-15

2’

2. One-Arm Push-ups (Or progression)

3

5-15

2’

2

8-15

1’

3

8-15

2’

Lower body easy sets 3. Weighted Lunges

Workout b Exercise Easy sets (Pull)

Workout c Exercise Easy sets (Pull)

Lower body easy sets 3. Weighted Lunges

Resting periods between sets are short in order to induce a bit of metabolic stress. From exercise to exercise rest 2 minutes.

40

Superhero Home-Workout

Maintenance program 2 Maintenance program 2 is Part B from Phase A.

Weekly Schedule Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Weekend

Workout A

Workout B

Rest/Walk

Workout A

Workout B

Rest/Walk

Workout A Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest (minutes)

Easy sets

2-

8-15

1’

1. Handstand Push-ups

4

5-15

2’

2. Inverted rows

4

5-15

2’

Lower body easy sets

2

8-15

1’

3. Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

4. Woodchoppers

3

8-20

1’

5. One-arm Lat-ups

3

3-15

1’

Workout B Exercise

Sets

Reps

Rest (minutes)

Easy sets

2-

8-15

1’

1. Pull-ups

4

5-15

2’

2. One-Arm Push-ups (Or progression)

4

5-15

2’

Lower body easy sets

2

8-15

1’

3. Weighted Lunges

3

8-15

2’

4. Dips

3

8-15

2’