The Warrior Sets

 

          Not all warriors are Furyans but every Furyan is a warrior. So let’s keep that in mind as we move forward into the next progressive level. Congratulations on making it through your Tyro rotation. I know the soreness has been terrible and you are still finding your groove. I hope that you have been doing a little more research of your own and experimenting with the available equipment at your gym. 

          But you are probably now wanting to transition to something a little more intensive. Welcome to the Warrior Set. This program is building off of a four day a week rotation and it is an intermediate workout that is going to bridge the gap between the Tyro Sets and the Furyan Sets.
          Listed is a series of three different workouts that have been divided into three different splits: A) Chest & Back, B) Shoulders & Lats, and C) Legs. Reading through the circuits, you will also note some arm work and some ab work. [If you are wondering, the Furyan Sets incorporate arms as the fourth workout but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.]
          Using Wednesday as your day off (or as your cardio day), you are now elevating from three days a week to four. Each day has five circuits for you to perform (4 plus your ab routine) as well as an “Xtra” circuit if you are feeling ambitious. As you will see, the Chest & Back routine is targeting your chest muscles in three different ways so expect to experience more soreness the day after your routine in that specific area.
          If you perform this for three weeks, each week will see a repeat exercise of the various splits. Week 1 targets the chest. Week 2 targets the shoulders. Week 3 is the legs. Then the whole thing starts over again.

 

 

The Routine

 

Warrior Sets: Analysis

           Warrior: Chest & Back is still developed off the Antagonistic Circuit principle. All good chest routines feature the Bench Press at a flat level, an incline, a decline, and some sort of fly. This works the middle, top, bottom, and center of the chest respectively. We offset these pushes with rows. For this I have selected the Seated Cable Row because that one is tried and true. The Bent-Over Two-Arm Long Bar Row is one of my favorites. We finish with a One-Arm Dumbbell Row because it is effective and has a very fast set up time.  Depending on the size of your gym and if you don’t want to monopolize the equipment, you may have to do your Incline Bench Press with dumbbells to be able to perform the rows. You don’t want to have to break down and set up the station every time you switch out to the next level of the circuit.

We are now utilizing an Arm circuit where you work the biceps through Hammer Curls and triceps through a Standing Overhead Dumbbell Triceps Extension.

If you are feeling ambitious, the Butterfly or a Dumbbell fly will work the center of your chest. The Inverted Row is lifting your own body weight so don’t feel bad if you cannot get your full 8 reps right off the bat. Your goal for this should be AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible).

          Warrior: Shoulders & Lats features nice counter movements where you are pushing above your head and then pulling down. 

          The Barbell Military Press is one of the true standards of strength. It is then countered with a Wide-Grip Lat Pull Down. Remember, the wider your grip, the lesser your strength.

          Dumbbell Shoulder Presses encourage independent arm development. During the Close Grip Front Lat Pulldown, you want to be looking at the back of your hands.

          The Single Dumbbell Raise and the Front Plate Raise are similar in motion but the grip is what sets them apart from one another. I lift the dumbbell up to where it clears my straight ahead line of sight. The Underhand Cable Pulldown is the same as Circuit 2 but this time, look at you palms when performing the exercise.

          When performing Dumbbell Concentration Curls, you want to lock your elbow against the inside of your knee to limit your momentum. The Dumbbell Kickbacks will be performed at a very light weight to start as this is tougher than it looks.

          The Standing Dumbbell Straight-Arm Raise takes the weight from the waist to above the head in a sweeping 180-degree arc while keeping your elbows locked and your arms straight the whole time. The perfect counter to this is the Straight-Arm Pulldown, performed at a Lat station. Keep your arms straight the whole time. This circuit complements each other wonderfully. 

          The Warrior: Legs workout is less circuit based just because the animal intensity of leg exercises do no counterbalance each other like shoulders & lats and chest & back. The Deadlift continues to be the mother of all exercises because of how many muscles are worked with a single lift. I prefer the trap bar because of the neutral grip configuration. As your weight on this increases I highly recommend using a good weight belt to give your stomach muscles something to press against.  Pair this with a Dumbbell Seated One-Leg Calf Raise.

           Barbell Squats can be intimidating because poor form and too much weight too early can get you hurt. So be mindful on this one and once the weight increases, wear a belt. Remember, form is critical. The same as the Tyro set, since you already have the weight on your shoulders this is an easy time to transition to Standing Calf Raises.

           Leg Extensions are machine based and are an excellent way to begin building definition in your quads. I like to partner this with a One-Legged Cable Kickback. Ladies will like this too because it specifically targets your butt.

           Standing EZ Curls are a wonderful biceps exercise because of the natural hand position that is gives you and working two-handed lets you lift more weight. Just remember to lift the weight and not to sling it.

           You have already performed a Triceps Pushdown with a bar. Now just use a rope attachment instead. Using the rope gives you a neutral grip and you can extend your hands back farther past your hips than you can with a bar.

           Lying Leg Curls are a nice counter to Leg Extensions and will help you turn those hamstrings into cables. Hyperextensions sound like a horrible football injury but this exercise is like the reverse of an ab exercise that are specifically targeting your lower back. Making your hamstrings and lower back stronger will assist with your Deadlifts and Squats.

 

Warrior Sets: In Conclusion

           The Warrior Sets are a great bridge between the Tyro routine and the Furyan routine. In the Furyan sets, we add more exercises and give arms a day all their own.  I recommend keeping the Warrior track for six weeks so that you get two full rotations where each split gets hit twice in one week.

           At the end of those two weeks, you are going to be able to gauge if you are ready to step up to the next level. People are going to progress at different rates and that is absolutely fine. Remember, it is just you and me here. You are only competing against yourself. I am just asking that you be better than you were yesterday.

“Somewhere along the way, I lost a step. I got sloppy. Dulled my own edge. Maybe I went and did the worst crime of all. I got civilized. So now, we zero the clock. Just me and this no name world. Gotta find that animal side again.” --Riddick