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Workout A:

This workout is the most basic of them all, and if you could do nothing else, and you were simply

looking for raw basic strength all over your body, it would serve you very well.

Workout A

1. Suat !front or back"#. $ush $ress

%ou can choose to do front or back suats depending on what you think you need the most work on !for

most people that will be the front suat". The back suat is a great e&ercise, but it presents some

problems for people lifting without a good coach ' see my article about whether back suats are reallynecessary.

(ither way, suat. )f all e&ercises it has the best cost*benefit ratio of gains to in+ury risk. %ou can liftheavier more often on the suat without worrying about hurting yourself than you can with any other

lift in the gym.

The $ush $ress is the suat of the upper body. really dislike strict pressing for most people. Some

lifters can get away with it, but most will feel pain over time. That pain comes from the fact ma&imalimpingement !ouchy'ness" occurs during the period when the bar is moving from the shoulder to about

the middle of the face, or top of the head. The $ush $ress eliminates this part of the lift completely.

The other benefit of the push press over the strict press is you can use more weight. don-t think need

to tell you that lifting more weight will get you stronger than lifting less weight.

Workout :

/epending upon your definition, the 0lean and erk is either one e&ercise or two. 2or the purposes ofthis article !and because there-s a frelling 3and3 in it4" -m going to treat them each as separate lifts.

/oing so allows us to have a whole workout that is nothing but 0leans and erks. Talk about simple4

Workout

1. 0lean and ...

#. erk

Some days you can clean and +erk every rep. )ther days you can do all your cleans first, then +erk off

blocks or suat stands. )r you can +erk first, clean second. e creative. As long as you lift heavy

weights, you-ll make gains.

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The clean is both a pull A5/ a suat. t is an ama6ing e&ercise in that way. The more efficient you get

at your techniue the more ama6ing the lift becomes. )nce you are able to clean 789 or more of your

best front suat you-re getting somewhere. !nless, of course, you are +ust a really bad front suatter4

ut, that-s a different article."

The erk reuires massive stabili6ation of the upper body and arms. ;any )lympic lifters have arms

and shoulders that look like gymnasts or natural bodybuilders and yet they never do any upper bodywork other than holding heavy +erks over their head. t-s easy at first to think you 5((/ to bench to get

a strong upper body. That is a lie.

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Workout /:

2inally we go back to a suat workout, but -ll have you pair it with the chin up this time.

Workout /

1. Suat#. 0hin p

f the $ush $ress is the suat of the upper body, the chin up is the deadlift ' but without all thenegatives4 That-s a huge win. do think chins will ta& you a bit more than a push press. !2or some

reason, fatiguing the lats really takes a toll on you." ut, the risk of in+ury is rather low if you are

performing them well.

%ou can also load up a chin very heavy. The ability to add load is a serious consideration when picking

your ma+or working e&ercises. /on-t ever make a lift a ma+or part of your arsenal if you can-t add a lot

of weight to it safely.

/on-t worry if you can-t do a full chin up yet. n our modern world there are numerous !cheap4" bands

that can assist you. Seeing as how easy it is to find a way to do a chin up, you have little e&cuse.0onclusion

As said above, you have a lot of options about how to make a program out of these. !A workout doesnot a program make." could get complicated here, as the combinations and variations are endless. ut,

that would defeat the point4

@ere are my three favorite varieties. asic is the word.

1. $ick one workout, do it two or three times a week. o hard for three weeks, then take a week light.

=epeat.#. =otate through the workouts at each session. 2or instance, do workout A on ;onday, workout on

Wednesday, and so on. Still only go hard for three weeks at a time, then take your back'off week. The

order is irrelevant.>. ust like 1., e&cept after the light week, you switch to a different workout.

2or those of you who get bored easily !my 0ross2it friends, -m looking at you4" option two makes themost sense. 2or everyone else, prefer one and three. 0onsistency breeds progress.

What about sets and reps, manB4

Ceep those simple, too. f you only workout two or three times a week, then at each session go up to

)5( heavy set of three reps. f you workout more often, then work up to only one heavy set of one rep.

!This counts for everything e&cept =omanian deadlifts."

f you are someone who sees a large goal ' with all the work reuired to reach it ' and is fro6en stiff by

such a prospect, do yourself a favor and take the simple road. $ick one of the options -ve laid out foryou, stick to it, don-t do anything else until you-ve made some mega'gains. Strength and power training

doesn-t have to be complicated.

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