The workout program:
All moves are done in a 3x10 set/rep scheme, with each set ascending by 10 pounds. The workout is done roughly every other day. When a given move becomes overly easy at the current weight, I do a fourth set of 5 reps of 10 pounds more than I used for the third set. If I can also do that very easily, I add 5 pounds to the original 3 sets and just keep doing that for a while until after several workouts it gets easy again. This set/rep scheme makes me bigger, stronger, leaner, faster and more enduring. I like it a lot.
Here are the moves I do, in order, with notes as to why I felt the need to include them in my program.
Overhead press - obvious useful movement
Deadlift - again, obvious useful movement
Bench press - upper body strength for martial arts and carrying packs (you have to flex your pecs)
Dumbbell row - obvious useful movement. Drawing a bow, chainsaw, pullups...
Barbell curl - while at first I didn't think these were useful, I learned otherwise when many chores in hunting camp required essentially a bicep curl.
Weighted dip - assistance exercise for pressing strength, these also add tricep strength to balance out the bicep curls. Moving quartered game, logs, luggage and food items come to mind.
Full contact twist - both martial arts and hunting require being able to create a lot of torque around your trunk.
Upright row - this one again seemed at first like a useless bodybuilding movement, but hunting camp chores and the demands of hunting itself seemed to require fairly often that I do things resembling an upright row. I'm mostly thinking of moving and pouring water jugs.
Barbell shrug - big traps look cool.
Lateral raise - I often found my shoulders getting tired when dealing with the mules.
Dumbbell fly - Grabbing and lifting oddly shaped objects, such as rocks or people or large logs, requires strength of the traps that strongly resembles how a dumbbell fly feels.
Standing barbell French press - This is just more assistance work for the triceps. I am notoriously deficient in the triceps and notoriously overgrown in the biceps. I'd like to even that out someday.
You'll probably notice in a hurry that there is absolutely no squatting in my program, no is there anything even resembling a squat. That's because my kung fu already conditions the hell out of my legs to the point that I don't feel I need any extra leg strength. I had actually abandoned my kung fu leg conditioning in favor of squatting for several months prior to hunting, and I found in navigating deadfall that squatting didn't do half of what kung fu did for my mobility, speed and endurance. So, I resumed their leg conditioning practices.
Those practices are as follows:
Horse stance static hold, 45 minutes.
image linkBow and arrow stance static hold, 45 minutes each side.
image link250 front kicks, each leg.
250 side kicks, each leg.
I don't do nearly that much anymore, but that's the background of my leg conditioning. I do anywhere from a quarter of that to half of that on a regular basis, just to maintain myself. In addition, I will occasionally put an arm against a wall and raise one leg, then do 100 calf raises continually on just the one side, then repeat on the other side. This is to keep my calves springy and quick, so I can run and jump well. That's why I don't feel the need to squat anymore. Usually I will work my legs on the days I don't lift weights.
I do a whole bunch of other general conditioning and exercise. I stretch often to maintain my flexibility, something else I feel squatting interfered with. I also practice iron palm regularly.
