Why 10 in 30 works.

The 10 in 30 workout plan is not just a bunch of exercises put together nilly willy. It’s designed to work your major body part groups to maximize gains and results. Similar exercises follow each other so that some muscles are being worked back to back, while other muscles are joining in.

For example, the Back Day starts with Lateral Pulldowns which will give you a wide, muscular back. They are followed by Seated Rows, which also work much of the same muscles of the back, but from a totally different angle. Remember that changing even the slightest angle makes a big difference since the weight is distributed differently while still engaging much of the same muscles. The third back exercise is Bent Over Unilateral Dumbbell Row which seems like the same movement as Rows, but you are working one arm and one side of your back at a time. This will help give you that split down the middle of your back.

After the big exercises are done for Back Day, the 10 in 30 plan goes to two Tricep exercises, and two Bicep exercises. These are more concentrated exercises that focus on much smaller muscles that also performed some of the work during the heavy pulling exercises at the beginning. The triceps got to work a little during the Straight-Arm Cable Pulldowns and are included to balance out the upper arms. (your core and abs also get a good workout during the Straight-Arm Cable Pulldowns!)

The Legs Day starts with the hardest exercises, Barbell Squats and Step-Ups and then gives you a break with two calf exercises, back to back, before hitting the quads again with Lunges. It’s important to do the squats first, while you’re fresh, then take a break from working on the quadriceps. You’ll get back to them at the end with the unilateral Lunges.

Chest Day works the same way, with the star player, Incline Bench Press being first along with the Incline Dumbbell Flies. We hit the inclines first, since most guys have a harder time developing the upper pecs, and the middle pecs get a major workout during the inclines anyway. We go back to Flat Bench Press at the end, though, after taking a break with Cable Crossovers and Pec Dec Flies to really get that ‘cut’ in the center of your chest. The next exercises, Rear Delt Fly and Rotator Cuff Extensions are for balance and strengthening the back and rear deltoids (shoulders) during Chest Day. This is to prevent overworking your chest which will pull on the back muscles and rear delts, causing rotator cuff soarness and injury. This way, your body is pulling on both sides, front and back, giving you a proper straight-up posture with shoulders back, chest out.

It’s good to vary the rest times as well, specially when lifting really heavy or doing Supersets like in Shoulder Day. After the Standing Military Press and Standing Upright Rows Supersets, you go into Seated Arnolds which are some heavy-duty presses for exploding your shoulders. You rest for 2 minutes in between sets of the Seated Arnolds to allow you to lift really heavy, with proper form, and therefore take full advantage of such a great exercise! Here, again, you start with the heavy exercises, and then move on to the more concentrated, smaller muscle work—the Dumbbell Side and Front raises. You’ll do these with much smaller weights, with higher reps. I usually use 15lb dumbbells or less for these.

The Arms portion of Shoulder Day is a bit different since we’re only concentrating on the smaller bicep and tricep muscles for the rest of the workout. So, we superset the hell out of them! This type of workout is made to send huge amounts of blood to the area being worked on, in this case— your upper arms. By working on both front and rear of your arms, right after shoulders, you’ll get a massive pump of blood that will leave your arms looking insane! It’s ok to chuckle with amazement while checking out your arms in the mirror after you’re done.

Abs Day is meant to target lower and upper abs as well as obliques in a fast-moving circuit. Add weight to really make your ab muscles get bigger. Yes, in order to get some truly impressive abs, you must work them out like you do your other muscles. Get them bigger so they stick out! There are no exercises that stretch them out and widen them like crunches on the back extension bench. This is because most of us do not want a big, wide, stomach, regardless of how much your abs show. That’s why we do Box Crunches and other exercises that contract your torso by curling it and do not stretch it out by bending backwards.

Do the 10 in 30 workout plan in order, do not replace exercises, and it’s also best to do the days in order to prevent overworking a muscle group by not letting it rest enough. If you don’t want to do two leg days, you can rest on Thursday and only do abs + cardio, so that your biceps and triceps will be ready for the ~damage~ they will incur during Friday’s workout.

Now work out hard, eat a lot, sleep like a baby, and HAVE A GREAT LIFE!

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