It passed quite sometime and I don't recall exactly everything and above all the weights (which were pretty heavy for me). My trainer wanted me to do every lift or press or squat, I mean every exercise very slowly.
I had alternate days: Mon, Wen and Fri top part of body, Tue Thu and Sat lower part of body with some more high part. Sunday only aerobic.
Every session started with 30 minutes (later on it became 1 hour) of aerobic that could be trademill, rowing, steps or cyclette followed by Abs done on the floor (no equipment). Every sessione ended with a cool down which usually was a 15-30 minutes cyclette.
As I said I don't recall all the work out exercises, I was given a piece of paper with the complete list, repetitions and resting time so I wouldn't forget them. When I worked the upper part of body it was like 12-14 exercises altogether, when I worked the lower part maybe a couple less.
Hi Charyuop---
I can't tell from what you're saying just what you were doing, because what's critical is not the time involved, nor even the weights involved, but the relation between the time and the weights. If the amount of weight you moved over an essentially constant distance, divided by the time, went consistently up, and if you spent roughly the same amount of time per workout, then you should have seen---over the course of say twelve weeks---a very noticeable improvement in your muscularity.
As a martial artist, your main interest is in functional strength---stuff you can use to improve your MA performance; I understand this. What I was suggesting wasn't intended to turn you into a musclebound pro-bodybuilder type, believe me---you can't do that without a combination of superior genetics and really, really dangerous anabolic chemicals, including steroids, growth hormones and diuretics (some of them imported, for heaven's sake, from veterinary medicine... It was much simpler: very heavy weights, lifted in your strongest range (by means of a power rack with the pins set high) will materially increase your muscularity in the shortest possible time if you lift them in a well-thought-out high intensigy program.
But to be effective, it's important not to overtrain, and to keep it simple. I would recommend something like the following:
Two sets of very heavy benches, done in a power rack, with no more than three inches or so of movement in each rep;
One set of very heavy leg presses---aim high; my maximum load was in excess of half a ton and my current
program will get me back there by this Christmas, if all goes well;
Two or three sets of seated shoulder presses (use a bench with a seat and back at right angles, so you have something to lean agains to give you support, and a lifting belt if your abs aren't really strong), aiming for something in the low 200s or so after about four months;
Three sets of weighted chins, palms in for biceps and palms out for lats, aiming to get to sixty pounds of added weight after about four months or so;
Three sets of weighted dips, aim to rep out to failure with around 300lbs in toto (= your body weight plus what you chain to yourself).
I'd divide these into two groups---I do the chest, leg and biceps exercises in one group and the shoulder and lat exercises in the second group, and do weighted crunches---crunches where you grip 30-40lb dumbells behind your head---pretty much every weight workout. And count on three weeks separating workouts between the two different exercise groups. That means you work the same muscle group every six weeks. After you've been doing this kind of program for a year or so, believe me, that will be as frequent as you can handle!
I didn't say I didn't gain muscle back then coz I would lie, but even tho I had strength in my legs back then I didn't have the same definition lines that I can see now (and I was less fat back then).
Definition, as I say, is partly increase in muscle mass and partly reduction in the fat layer covering the muscles. You need to work on both. But don't do a huge number of different exercises for the former; it's not efficient and sometimes not even effective. Go for very heavy weights (but not all at once, lead up to them) and high intensity---it's the fastes way to increase functional strength, from all accounts.
Above all,
experiment, yes? You won't do any workout program that you find boring. Just find one that challenges you to the point where you get fired up to show the iron who's in charge, and bang, you'll be there. It never fails!
