My plan is to only really train forearms, calves and shoulders for all of July.
Well, I will do a full body maintenance day once a week – It’ll be mostly squats and back stuff…maybe a little chest.
But the other 4 workouts? They’re going to be nothing but a ton of forearms, calf raises and a little bit of shoulders.
Now, before you start asking “Is this some crazy new workout that Brad is suggesting?” the answer is “NO”
It’s an experiment.
Remember – I’ve been training for over two dozen years now, and I’m happy with how my body looks, so I have the luxury of messing around in the gym and testing things out. This does not mean I’m advocating this style of training… I’m just sharing my thoughts and results.
My goal is to see if you can cause significant targeted growth in the smaller muscle groups without subjecting them to the supposed ‘whole body stimulus’ of compound lifts (save for the once a week maintenance day)
Now, I’m already a week into training and I have some observations I’d like to share with you:
1. My calves are sore, I mean really sore.
2. It’s hard to justify any need for additional calories.
Point number two is kinda weird, but..as you can imagine…a workout of just forearms, calves and some shoulders isn’t exactly fulfilling. You don’t leave the gym gassed or exhausted like you would after a big legs day. You don’t have a crazy pump like you might after training chest or arms. Sure your calves and forearms will be sore, but it’s really hard to use them to justify overeating… Which is a very important lesson.
I’m not a big post-workout nutrition guy, but I have used ‘muscle building’ as a reason to let myself eat a little more than I should. Now I have learned that for me, the concept of letting yourself use your workout as an excuse to eat seems to be more routed in the exhaustive feeling from the exercise more than what was actually accomplished in the gym.
So some fun observations after only 1 week.
I’ll keep you updated on how it all goes.
BP
