My strength workout today was super intense. I’m feeling kind of exhausted as I write this blog, but I know it’s the good type of pain, or more precisely, Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). It’s the type of pain that indicates you’ve made some sort of good accomplishment in your workouts. You’ll get this type of pain usually within 8 - 24 hours after you’ve performed a new, intense workout routine.

Earlier today I went to the YMCA while my daughter attended her ballet class. It allowed me a good 40 minutes or so to get my strength workout in. Here’s how it went:

After a 5-minute warm up, I performed Day 1 of a 3-Day Body Split, meaning I just worked out 3 muscle groups (biceps, triceps and shoulders). Later in the week, I’ll have a day targeting the quadriceps, hamstrings and abs and then a third day emphasizing the chest, back and abs.

I incorporated a technique called a “double drop set” to make things more intense. This simply means that after you have performed the target number of repetitions, you drop the weight by approximately 25 to 30 percent and then perform as many additional reps as you can; then, when you are not able to complete any more reps at the reduced weight, you drop the weight again by approximately 25 to 30 percent and rep out for whatever you can get.

After performing double drop sets for my biceps, triceps and shoulders, I cooled down for 5 minutes (light walking on treadmill) and then stretched for a few minutes.

This method will enable you to exhaust a muscle beyond what is otherwise possible, shocking its fibers into further development. You will defintely feel the “burn” in this workout, but you will get maximum results.

My repetition goal on the first set is 12. Anything more than this is not recommended and may cause overtraining.

I would not recommend this workout for beginners because of its intense nature. I’ll do this workout routine for about a week and then progress into something else to change things around.