Going Through Phases

Sorry about the delay in posting. I recently landed a new job and I have been very tied up with it.

There are four main phases in the exercise world. And they are:

Foundation:
Nothing can be built if it doesn't have a solid foundation. During this phase which can last anywhere 2 to 10 weeks depending on the person. My personal recommendation, is 4 weeks in the foundation phase to weed out any muscle imbalances or instability. The exercises used during this phase go hand in hand with the 6 primal movements of a human being: Push, Pull, Twist, Lunge, Squat and Bend.

Build:
In this phase you start using weights in order to build muscle. Typically lasts about 6-8 weeks, again that depends on each person. If you are just going for general fitness stick with the 6 primal movements in weighted variations. This is also the time to start introducing isolation exercises such as bicep curls, shoulder press, leg curls, rows and etc. Weights used are typically 60-80% of your one rep max (orm), try to max out the reps at 10. If you can do more than ten, add more weight. The tempo of your lifts are 2 seconds up (explode) and 4 seconds to start position (control going down).

Neat, but how do I know what my one rep max is? Good question, you basically guess.

Burn:
In this phase, which should never last longer than 4 weeks. Because during this phase you lift faster and longer sets and you are burning off more fat reserves in order to uncover all that muscle you built in the build phase. Typical the weights used in this phase is no more than 50% of your ORM. Sets of 15-20 reps and a tempo of 2 seconds up, and 2 seconds down.

Strength:
In this phase you are building your strength through lifting your ORM. Sets are only 1 rep, and the rest is usually 4-5 minutes. Very intense phase, lasts between 4-6 weeks. Movements are typically Olympic style lifts (Clean and Jerk etc) and should be done under the supervision of a qualified trainer.