The Aftershock Workout

Real physical challenges—the kind that make you question why you got out of bed after doing them—produce real change. And this six-week, four-day, full-body routine will be one of those types of challenges. It was engineered to target your central nervous system, your body’s epicenter, which, when tested with high volume, triggers strength gains and can cause a case of the post-workout shakes. Forget your trophy muscles. Instead, perform compound exercises to recruit more muscle fibers. Plus, the repetition will reinforce proper form. To add extra oomph, implement one of these four finishers—just don’t be shocked if you want to tap out. But if you bust your ass from start to finish, a stronger physique and a case of buckling knees are imminent.

Directions

OVERVIEW: Each training day focuses on compound exercises to recruit more muscle and therefore tax your CNS more thoroughly. Forget biceps curls. Five sets of 10 reps for the main lifts with heavy weight paired with multi-joint accessory exercises will ensure that every muscle, big and small, is trashed. Day 4 is a barbell complex, which has you completing a series of six progressive movements without letting the bar touch the ground.

Then you’ll top it all off with ONE of the FOUR FINISHERS that we provided. The good news? You don’t have to deal with traditional cardio—that’s all you need.

SPLIT: Perform each workout (Day 1, 2, 3, and 4) once per week, resting a day between sessions.

HOW TO DO IT: Perform the paired exercises (marked A and B) as alternating sets. So you’ll do one set of A, rest, then one set of B, rest again, and repeat until all sets are complete. On Day 4, perform the exercises as a circuit—complete one set each of A, B, C, and so on before resting three to four minutes at the end of the round. Repeat for five to six circuits. Choose one conservative load. You’ll use this for every exercise. Do not set the bar down between exercises.