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Stoke the Fire : Part I
By Tim Ziegenfuss PhD, CSCS
posted on 02-21-2007
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There are tons of workouts that are focused on getting you ready for the summer. How about one to get you through the winter? As we all know, winter is one of the most tempting times of the year. It's a special time of family, frivolity, and feast notorious for adding calories and blowing off workouts. If left unchecked, this festive time of year can easily sabotage your plans of being lean when spring arrives. Stoking the Fire is all about turning up your body's internal furnace to burn more calories and stimulating intracellular myogenic regulatory factors to promote gains in lean mass. If you do it right, the results you get from this workout may well eclipse those of any other program you've tried. That said, be forewarned -- Stoking the Fire is not easy. But then again, nothing worthwhile ever is.
In a nutshell, Stoking the Fire is an advanced hybrid of circuit training that was developed in an attempt to achieve the Holy Grail of body composition: gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. But don't let the phrase "circuit training" fool you. We're not going to ask to you to perform total body circuits of cheesy isolation exercises every time you hit the gym. Instead, Stoking the Fire uses a series of hard core compound exercises performed as mini circuits. Each mini circuit consists of three exercises performed back-to-back with no rest. This approach requires you to work intensely for a brief period of time (1.5 - 2 minutes) so that you can burn as many calories as possible while simultaneously stimulating muscle growth. As we all know, taking two to three minutes rest between sets is essential for developing maximal strength, but not for getting ripped or building muscle.
How to Set Up the Program
You may choose a mini circuit that matches your current type of training, create your own mini circuit with a specific body part you want to focus on, or simply scroll ahead and use one of the sample workouts. The mini circuit examples are set up for the upper body, the lower body, and the entire body. Regardless of which workout you choose, Stoking the Fire requires you to pair antagonistic muscle groups together, that is, muscles that are on opposite sides of the body (biceps and triceps and pectorals and lats, for example), and then finish with an abdominal exercise. By emphasizing antagonistic pairings, Stoking the Fire enhances workout efficiency without overly fatiguing any specific muscle group.
The upper-body mini circuits pair pushing exercises (bench presses, incline presses, shoulder presses, and dips) with pulling exercises (pull-ups, pull-downs and rows), and finishes with an abdominal exercise. Again, this ensures that during pushing exercises the pectorals, anterior and medial deltoids, and triceps are working while the lats, rhomboids, posterior deltoids, trapezius, and biceps are resting, and vice-versa.
The lower-body mini circuits also pair pushes and pulls with an abdominal exercise. Lower body pushes include squats, leg presses and lunge variations while the lower body pulls include good-mornings, Romanian deadlifts and leg curls.
The total-body mini circuit mixes things up a little bit by pairing an upper body push with a lower body push, or an upper body pull with a lower body pull.
As mentioned earlier, Stoking the Fire requires you to bust your tail for about a minute and a half to two minutes during each mini circuit (before taking a rest). This is a considerably longer amount of time than just performing a standard set of one exercise and then taking a rest. As a result, expect your heart rate and breathing to be elevated much more so than during a standard weight training workout. Relative to resting between each mini circuit, a good strategy is to take a two minute rest at the end of every mini circuit during week one, and then cut down the rest period by 10-15 seconds on each successive week. When you can perform each mini circuit three times with a one minute rest interval, you are Stoking the Fire. At this point, continue training for an additional three to four weeks. After that, it's time to change things up with a different workout (which will be provided in a future article).
| UPPER BODY Mini Circuits: |
Variations: |
| I. |
Bench press |
Use dumbbells, vary grip positions |
|
Pull-up |
Vary hand positions |
|
Abs |
|
| II. |
Incline dumbbell press |
Use barbell, vary grip positions |
|
Upright row |
Vary hand positions, use dumbbells |
|
Abs |
|
| III. |
Shoulder press |
Use dumbbells, rotate during press |
|
Dumbbell row |
Pull to armpit, pull to hip |
|
Abs |
|
| IV. |
Weighted Dip |
Vary elbow position |
|
Reverse grip pulldown |
Vary grip positions |
|
Abs |
|
| LOWER BODY Mini Circuits: |
Variations: |
| I. | Squat |
Vary foot position |
| Leg curl (1-leg) |
Point toes vs. pull toes back |
| Abs |
|
| II. | Alternate Forward Lunge |
Split squat |
| Romanian Deadlift |
Conventional deadlift (using variable foot/hand positions) |
| Abs |
|
| III. | Leg Press |
Vary foot positions |
| Good-morning |
Perform seated on bench |
| Abs |
|
| TOTAL BODY Mini Circuits: |
| I. |
Squat |
|
Dumbbell Bench press |
|
Abs |
| II. |
Romanian Deadlift |
|
Lat. Pulldown |
|
Abs |
| III. |
Alternating Lunge |
|
Incline Press |
|
Abs |
| III. |
Single Leg Goodmorning |
|
Upright row |
|
Abs |
SAMPLE WORKOUTS
Upper Body/Lower Body Split (4 days/week)
|
| (Week 1-2) Day 1: Upper Body Mini Circuit |
Week 3 |
Week 4-6 |
| I. |
Bench press |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Pullup or Lat. Pulldown |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Weighted Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| * Perform circuit I, rest 1-2 minutes and repeat 2-3 times. Then move on to circuit II (and so forth). |
| II. |
Dumbbell Shoulder press |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Dumbbell row |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Swiss ball Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| III. |
Triceps pressdown |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Dumbbell row |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Bodyweight Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
|
| (Week 1-2) Day 2: Lower Body Mini Circuit |
Week 3 |
Week 4-6 |
| I. |
Squat |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Leg curl (1-leg) |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Weighted Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| II. |
Leg Extension |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Romanian Deadlift |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Swiss ball Abss |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| III. |
Calf Raise |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Bodyweight Abs |
20-30 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Seated calf raise |
20-30 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
| Day 3: OFF |
| (Week 1-2) Day 4: Upper Body Mini Circuit |
Week 3 |
Week 4-6 |
| I. |
Incline Dumbbell Press |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Barbell or Cable Row |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Weighted Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| II. |
Parallel Bar Dips |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Upright row |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Swiss ball Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| III. |
Lying Triceps extension |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Barbell Curl |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Bodyweight Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| (Week 1-2) Day 5: Lower Body Mini Circuit |
Week 3 |
Week 4-6 |
| I. |
Alternate Forward Lunge |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Good-mornings |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Weighted Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| II. |
Front Squat or Leg Press |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
One-Leg Romanian Deadlift |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Swiss ball Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| III. |
Calf Press |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Bodyweight Abs |
20-30 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Single Leg Calf Raises |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
Day 6 & 7: OFF
|
|
| Total Body Training (3 days/week) |
| (Week 1-2) Day 1: Total Body Mini Circuit |
Week 3 |
Week 4-6 |
| I. |
Alternate dumbbell press |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Squat |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Weighted Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| II. |
Dumbbell Pullover |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Leg Curl |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Swiss ball Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| III. |
Triceps Extension |
8-10 reps each |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Biceps curl |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Bodyweight Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| Day 2: OFF |
| (Week 1-2) Day 3: Total Body Mini Circuit |
Week 3 |
Week 4-6 |
| I. |
Bench press |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Alternate or Walking Lunge |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Weighted Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| II. |
Lat. Pulldown |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Good-morning |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Swiss ball Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| III. |
Dumbbell Shoulder Press |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Biceps Curl |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Bodyweight Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| Day 4: OFF |
| (Week 1-2) Day 5: Total Body Mini Circuit |
Week 3 |
Week 4-6 |
| I. |
Incline Press |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Side (lateral) Lunge |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Weighted Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| II. |
Bent over Row |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Front Squat or Leg Press |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Swiss ball Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| III. |
Triceps Extension |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Upright Row |
8-10 reps |
12-15 reps |
4-6 reps |
|
Bodyweight Abs |
20-30 reps |
|
|
| Day 6 and 7: OFF |
Embrace Stoking the Fire for what it is -- a tool to attack the holiday season with a raging metabolism and ideal stimulation of muscle growth. Toss in a prudent diet and some interval aerobic conditioning on the off days and you're sure to blast through the holidays and be that much closer to showing off a six pack of abs this spring.
Click here to view Stoke the Fire II
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