Jul
10
- The four day workout - Tuesday, abs and back
- The four day workout - Wednesday, biceps and triceps
- The four day workout - Thursday, legs
- The four day workout - Friday, chest and shoulders
- The four day workout - Finishing it up with cardio
- The four day workout - Some last tips and tricks
- The fifth day: Why rest counts as part of a workout
- Reader Q&A - Finding the right workout
This week we’re going to go over a relatively basic 4 day workout. This workout has a good general makeup that allows a person to cover all the major muscle groups. It’s not geared towards any specific goal and it uses a minimum of specialized equipment. When I do this workout, I usually do four sets of each exercise with ten reps in each set. That means a single set is ten repetitions of the same exercise without a break for rest. After those ten you rest, do another set and so on for a total of four sets. By the way, even though the article titles are going to have specific days in them, there’s no reason why you can’t change the days around. Feel free to make Tuesday your legs day put some of these workouts on a weekend day. Remember, the best schedule is the one you’re comfortable with. Now let’s take a look at today’s workout.
Abs and Back
Abs and back are your core. This is where much of your strength and stability comes from. Unfortunately, many people don’t pay enough attention to this area. They’ll do a few crunches and move on to more visible areas like arms or legs. Well, your core area holds the majority of your large muscles. These are muscles that contribute to other exercises and they’re also muscles that will burn quite a few calories if you work on them. So whether you’re looking to increase your strength or to lose some weight, core area training is a must.
Workout Basics
I like to alternate my muscle groups as I work out. That means one exercise will work a specific area and then I’ll move on to a different area with the next exercise. For today, that means these exercises will alternate back and forth between back and abs. I like this method because it lets me rest a specific area without halting my workout. That way I maximize the use of my time in the gym.
The Exercises
Leg Raise - A very simple exercise that can be done at home. Does not require any equipment and relies on body weight for resistance. Keep your legs straight and make the movement slow and smooth.
Dead Lift - Now we switch over to lower back. Again, this is a very simple exercise that can be done at home with a simple dumbbell set. The video linked here shows a stiff leg dead lift. I prefer a bent knees one. So make sure to keep your knees bent a bit. Don’t lock them up.
Crunches - Back to the abs with a few standard crunches. By the way, you can add weights to these exercises if you’re looking to add resistance. For example, I usually do crunches with a 10lb plate on my chest. Alternatively, you could simply add reps.
Single Arm Row - Middle and upper back this time. Another simple dumbbell exercise that can be done at home with minimal equipment. Keep your movement a bit slower and smoother than the video shown here. Your arm should be the only thing moving.
Side Sit Ups - Basic sits up with a bit of a twist at the end to get the obliques engaged.
Back Extension - and back to the back to finish it up. This is the only exercise for this workout day that might require some gym equipment. However, there’s an alternative version of it that does not as shown right here.
Summary
There you go, a good workout for your back and abs that can be done at home or the gym. If you’re going to add one more day of workout to your routine, I would recommend just duplicating this day and doing it twice a week instead of once. Just make sure you get at least two or three days between instances to allow your muscles to rest.
EDIT - Thank you to Greg for pointing out my mistake. I wrote chest twice when I should have said back. Error corrected.
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Comments
9 Responses to “The four day workout - Tuesday, abs and back”
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First time visitor the site and really enjoy it. Lots of good stuff. I’ve been working at home for the last 6 months and have gotten completly lazy so I am going to start working out again
Hi Bubs, glad you stopped by and enjoyed my articles.
What kind of workout are you planning to do at home? Weights only or cardio too?
Gal
Right now I am just running every morning. I am completly out of shape and plan on working out with weights very soon. I plan on going to the local gym. I meant that I starting working from home and it made me lazy, I dont plan on working out at home.
Got it. Let us know how you progress, it’s always good to hear success stories.
Gal
Will definately keep you up to date. Here is the progress so far. I started running every morning. Right now the route I run is 1.3 miles and my goal is to run that in under 10 minutes. Then run it twice in under 25 and long term goal is 3 miles in under 30 minutes. The gym will have to wait for a little while.
Sounds like a great plan. Is this a street route or a trail or a treadmill?
Gal
It’s a street route. So far my time has been 14 minutes.
Was wondering if you can give me a specific routine for working out. i want to be cut, want a 6-pac (nice abs), nice arms and triceps, back. Any suggestions on what to do at the gym instead of just what I should work on?
Thanks,
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Just wanted to let you know that I saw your comment and will respond later this week. My apologies, I usually like responding quicker but I’m traveling all of this week and have limited access to a PC.
Gal