Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I plan to do the following exercise regime:

- one big exercise per day (squats, deadlifts, benchpress), 3x10 reps
3 days of that and then 1 day break

- 5km walking each day (from and to work)

is there some essential exercise I should also include ?

Chinups or some sort of row. They are the squat of the upper body. As good as deadlifts are, they don't really counter the pressing muscles as well as chins and rows.

Frosti85 wrote: ↑

Mon May 22, 2017 10:48 am

I plan to do the following exercise regime:

- one big exercise per day (squats, deadlifts, benchpress), 3x10 reps
3 days of that and then 1 day break

- 5km walking each day (from and to work)

is there some essential exercise I should also include ?

Squat, bench, Deadlift, then rest.
That way your legs get rest without back to back exercise days.

An essential program contains: Push, Pull, Squat, Hinge and Carries. So military press/bench press, pullups, front squat, deadlift and well... carries.

I don't think you're nearly at enough volume to make anything but noob gains though. Also what is the progression plan? Why sets of 10?

Or let me put that in other words: What is you actual goal with that training program?

I have more questions than answers right about now.

2nd on the questions > answers, but 3x10 on a 3 on / 1 off schedule actually doesn't sound like bad volume. programs like Starting Strength or SL 5x5 are doing 3x5/5x5, but only 5x per week. if load is high enough, it should work.

by the way, brute recommends toning down the deadz compared to squats/presses. SS recommends doing 1x5 DL, whereas squatz and other stuff are 3x5. deadz just tax the CNS way harder, and require more recovery.

More questions:
How are you deciding the weight you are lifting for these exercises? And do you have a methodology for increases? What are your goals in doing this?

For general fitness it sounds good but I would also add some sort of pull up type exercise. Anything else would depend on your goals and interests as well as addressing areas of weakness in your body or injury.

I would also try and do something that lets you incorporate the strength you're building into a more a complex activity. Eg. Dance, martial arts, climbing, sports, whatever.

Thanks for the recommendations so far.

I dont have a specific goal in mind, I just want to stay / become fit.

I will add pull-ups as an exercise.

My plan is to increase the weights whenever I can do the 3x10 set without a problem.


The reason I want to go for the 1 exercise / day plan is, to become more consistent.
When I'm tired after work I struggle a lot to get the motivation for a workout, and it's easier for me psychologically if I know I just have to do one exercise.

And for the deadlifts I will do 3x5 instead of 3x10 but with more weight

Frosti85 wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2017 6:40 am

Thanks for the recommendations so far.

I dont have a specific goal in mind, I just want to stay / become fit.

I will add pull-ups as an exercise.

My plan is to increase the weights whenever I can do the 3x10 set without a problem.


The reason I want to go for the 1 exercise / day plan is, to become more consistent.
When I'm tired after work I struggle a lot to get the motivation for a workout, and it's easier for me psychologically if I know I just have to do one exercise.

No specific goal means you can do whatever you feel like, which is fine if that is exactly what you want. The question is whether you will stay motivated to continue working out if you're not seeing the results you're expecting.

The best exercise program is always the one that the trainee is actually willing to do! I don't care if you're training to pump your biceps or to complete an ironman, it's just important that you know why the hell you're exercising to begin with, or you will be missing the most crucial component of developing a habit in the first place. Not because I want to knock your chosen program, but because I question whether your attitude will actually develop a beneficial habit for you. You definitely don't want to put in a lot of work and willpower in order to fail because the fundamentals haven't been covered.

Your one and only measure of success is therefore going to be whether you work out every day as planned or not. You can't flex your quads at the mirror and wonder why they're not growing at all (they might, but that is going to be a random side effect of doing something rather nothing for your health) but you can look in your training log and see if you've got something noted down for the day.

I assume you're going to be working out from home since going all the way to the gym in order to do a single exercise is going to take a tremendous bite of time out of your daily schedule. If you've got your barbell right at hand at home, you can add a Grease The Groove kind of exercise during your morning/evening/weekend.

No specific goal means that you're trying to learn how to adopt a habit rather than become fit. You might as well do kettlebell swings for 10 minutes every day and not worry about anything else. You must have chosen barbell exercises for a particular reason. Haven't you? What other habits/time wasters are you trying to get rid of in order to make room for your exercise? Make sure you're not telling yourself you have to do 'more things than you have time for' because you'll be tempted to get rid of the newest addition to your schedule if that is the case.

@frosti85 I think you have a good plan to start with. Consistency and dedication is the biggest part of establishing a healthy habit like exercise.

Keeping it short and simple can remove the psychological barrier that you will no doubt have to overcome on those days that you come home fried and not motivated. If you can get through the initial phase it gets better.

You will remember feeling recharged from the exercise and good hormones feedback rather than more tired and pathetic. But it is paramount that it is something that you stick to. There's plenty of time for modifying and improving after that.

Definitely add in some rows or chins.

That said:
Consistency > Perfect Plan

@Frosti85 - sounds like you have a solid plan. Keeping it quick and simple as you are doing is a great way to build up a habit.
Let us know how it goes!
Accountability to others can also be another motivator. =)

Farm_or wrote: ↑

Tue May 23, 2017 8:36 am

There's plenty of time for modifying and improving after that.

Agreed with this. Do the workout you know you will do for a couple months. Once you have established a habit then start adding to it or subtracting from it. There are tons of ways to get results if you don't have very specific goals.