Hardcore weightlifting workouts are short, intense exercise sessions centered around compound movements. Utilizing compound movements recruits stabilizing muscles, putting a greater stress on your body and promoting significant increases in muscle strength and size. Minimizing your time in the gym by resting less between sets keeps your muscles pumped. Consult your physician before starting a hardcore weightlifting regimen.
HIT
High Intensity Training, or HIT, focuses on short duration but extremely intense resistance training sessions. Each set is to be performed until failure sets in, meaning you can no longer move the weight. By training to failure you put a maximum amount of stress on a muscle. This causes the trained muscles to become stronger and grow larger during rest periods. Do several warm-up sets with light weights before starting your weight training workout. Perform each exercise for eight to 12 repetitions for upper body movements and up to 20 repetitions for lower body movements. Train quads and glutes on day one with exercises like squats, leg extensions and glute kickbacks. Do one set for each exercise. On day two, train triceps and abs with one set of barbell incline presses and decline bench presses, along with two sets of hanging leg raises. Rest on day three and hit your back and biceps on day four, doing one set of lat pulldowns, barbell rows and machine preacher curls. Do shoulders and hamstrings on day five with one set of machine shoulder presses, dumbbell shrugs and seated leg curls. Rest on days six and seven.
Heavy Negatives
Using heavy negatives can help shock your muscles, overloading your body with a weight it isn't used to. This creates a stimulus which can lead to increased muscle strength. The principle of heavy negatives involves using a weight that is heavier than your one repetition maximum, or 1RM. When lifting such a heavy weight with all your might it becomes easier to lift lighter weights during future workouts. Use compound movements like the bench press, squat and deadlifts to gain maximum strength.
5X5 Program
The 5X5 weightlifting strategy was adopted by bodybuilding legends like Reg Park and Arnold Schwartzeneggar. Doing five sets of five repetitions per exercise with heavy weights puts greater stress on your muscle, leading to gains in size and strength. Take 90 second breaks between each set for a focus on size and 60 second breaks for a focus on strength. Do bench presses, squats and deadlifts on Monday and take Tuesday off. Perform weighted dips, weighted chinups and barbell deadlifts on Wednesday and take Thursday off. Finish the week with incline presses, front squats and glute/hamstring raises on Friday. Take Saturday and Sunday off.
Considerations
When doing heavy negatives with barbells keep three spotters in place. One spotter behind you keeps their hands on the bar throughout the lift and two spotters stand on opposite ends of the bar. As you power the weight up all three spotters may need to help you bring the bar to the lockout position.
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