Strength Foundation 12-Week Workout

The Strength Foundation 12-Week Workout found at RealJock.com and created by UC Berkeley fitness director and premier strength coach Devin Wicks.

For more information, go to http://www.realjock.com/workout/1054

RealJock.com's Strength Foundation 12-Week workout program is broken into three months, each with distinct goals.

Month 1 (Base): Primary Goals

1. Identify large muscle groups.
2. Develop understanding of correct form—keep all movements slow, controlled, and stable.
3. Break down and rebuild muscle and connective tissue (expect some soreness).
4. Learn your limits—and how to appropriately challenge them.
5. Practice pushing through resistance—both physical and psychological.
6. Improve cardiac efficiency by maintaining an elevated heart rate for a sustained period.

Month 2 (Skill): Primary Goals

1. Build on the foundation laid in Month 1 using greater intensity and heavier weights.
2. Improve strength base by training smaller stabilizing muscles in addition to large muscle groups targeted in Month 1. This is key to moving on to heavier lifting in Month 3.
3. Create a platform for greater strength development through functional training – teaching the body to work as a unit rather than a series of individual muscle groups. This involves closed kinetic chain and balance exercises, which make lifting, holding, and stabilizing your own weight a significant part of your workout. For example, lunges replace the leg machine exercises.
4. Develop understanding of correct form—keep all movements slow, controlled, and stable.
5. Train nervous system to fire more efficiently by using exercises that target muscles in new ways.
6. Improve cardiac efficiency by developing threshold and sprint training, and integrating more challenging cardio equipment (i.e. the treadmill).

Month 3 (Strength): Primary Goals

1. Use the strength gains of Months 1 and 2 to safely build greater muscle mass through additional exercises, heavier weight, fewer repetitions, and additional sets.
2. Begin using multiple exercises to target a single muscle group, thus changing the stimulus presented to the muscle. This creates more muscle teardown (which you need to build muscle) and requires the nervous system to operate at a higher degree of efficiency.
3. Move to lifting in splits in order to work muscles harder while maintaining a manageable gym schedule and appropriate recoveries.
4. Maintain correct form—keep all movements slow, controlled, and stable.
5. Continue to improve cardiac efficiency by combining threshold and sprint training on the treadmill.

Note: I am not affiliated with the RealJock.com site in any way, nor did I come up with this program. I created this workout program on Gyminee only to assist me in recording my own personal progress. Direct all questions to RealJock.com and do not undertake this program without first consulting a physician.