New Workout Challenge: The Strength Test Project

Ever been curious as to how people gain muscles for movie roles?  

Me too.

Recently I was on a feature film with a lead role, during which time I looked at my character and decided he needed to be a bit bigger.  Not fatter, but a bit more muscular.  I told the director this and he said "if you can do it, then go for it."  I decided to give it a shot, by gaining 10 pounds of muscle before filming began, and maintain it throughout the shoot.

We started filming in a month.

So I threw myself into my training like never before.  I was putting up weight after weight, pushing myself beyond my self-imposed limits.  So what did I do?

I gained 10 pounds of muscle in 3 weeks.

Now this may not seem like much to many, but for someone who works out as frequently as I do, and as someone who has an accelerated metabolism, putting on weight is quite a task.  I would like to tell y'all how I did it, and especially how I maintained it (I had a shirtless scene about halfway through the shoot), but the truth is that I never wrote it down.

Well, I kind of liked that challenge.  So I thought to myself "what if I try to gain functional, real strength, while at the same time putting a bit of size on myself?"

Welcome to what I'm dubbing "The Strength Test Project."

Note that I'm not calling it "the size project" or something.  I want to put muscle on me that not only looks good on camera, but is muscle that I can use for various races and activities I'm doing this summer, including my first ever Triathlon.  As I tell people: don't train for show, but train for go.  But first, down to the stats, because I have to know what I'm working with in order to gain strength and know where I'm going to begin.  

• Resting Heart Rate: 60 Beats Per Minute
• Weight: 169 lbs 
• Body Fat: 6.3%
• Neck Measurement: 16”
• Shoulders at their widest point (halfway between your nipples and your clavicle): 48”
• Chest (measuring tape right across your nipples and under your arms): 40”
• Waist 3 inches above your bellybutton: 32.5”
• Waist at your belly button: 32”
• Waist 3 inches below your belly button: 35”
• Hips at their widest point: 39”
• Thigh 9 inches above the top of your kneecap: 23”/23.5”
• Thigh 6 inches above the top of your kneecap: 21”/21”
• Thigh 3 inches above the top of your kneecap: 18”/18”
• Calf at its widest point: 16”/15.75”
• Bicep (flexed) measure the widest point: 15”/15”
• Forearm at its widest point: 13”/13” 

Ab Vanity Shot, With Free Action Glasses!

...And Here's a Bicep Flex

So the basic plan is to do four days of hardcore working out, starting with moderate weights to not completely shock my body.  This will also be complimented with a wide variety of cardio, including swimming (shocker I know) and biking (which I'm personally not looking forward to).  Along the way I'm going to be modifying the exercises and intensity of the workouts as needed, so it's going to constantly challenge my body.

The program itself is going to last eight weeks, during which time, if anyone has any questions regarding this, I will be posting a weekly video to highlight my progress, and will hopefully answer any and all questions, comments, concerns, and reasons as to why I'm putting myself through this awful process (or if any questions are asked at all).

Let's get started!  Today I focused mainly on a few compound exercises, followed by complimenting exercises designed to exhaust the body parts.  If anyone wants me to, I can film myself demonstrating the exercises that I'm doing, as I'm trying to keep these postings kind of short...I said kinda didn't I?

Here was the exercise regiment that I did today; a few of these exercises (specifically the high pull and the straight leg deadlift) were brand new to me, so I didn't want to start with very heavy weights.  Most of these exercises I started with moderately heavy weights, to get my body used to the load (didn't want to kill it on the first day, I've got 8 weeks to last!).

Here we go: 

• Main Workout:
• Handstand Pushups and Repetition Jerks (all at 95 pounds): 3 sets of 5; 2 sets of 3
• Weighted Chin Ups (27.5 pounds) and High Pulls (85 pounds): 3 sets of 5; 2 sets of 3
• Power Shrug (55 pound dumbbells) and Thrusters (35 pounds): 3 sets of 5
• Lat Pulldown (100 pounds) and Single Arm Dumbbell Row (55 pounds): 3 sets of 5
• Deadlift (185 pounds) and Straight Leg Deadlift (115 pounds): 3 sets of 5
• Split Jump: 2 sets of 30 seconds
• Gunther Hops: 2 sets of 30 seconds

In addition, I did a little upper body routine, which I will be doing 4-5 days a week, slowly increasing the repetitions as time goes on:

• Chin Ups: 5 sets: 9/8/9/8/9
• Incline Pushups with Handles: 25/25/25/25/25
• Handstand Pushups: 2/2/2/2/2

And of course, I did some abdominal work:

• Hanging Leg Raise x 7, Hanging Knee Raise x 5
• Hanging Leg Raise x 1, Clockwork Leg Raise x 4, Hanging Leg Raise x 1, Hanging Knee Raise x 5
• Hanging Leg Raise x 7, Hanging Knee Raise x 5
• Twisting Knee Raise x 4, Hanging Knee Raise x 5
• Twisting Knee Raise x 4, Hanging Knee Raise x 5

Oh yes, and let's not forget; I ran about 50 minutes today.  Not a fast pace, but a comfortable cruising pace that allowed me to listen to my music and just forget about everything.  

Well, that's all for now; tomorrow I hit day 2, and I have a feeling I'm gonna be sore...