The goals of SwoleFIT:

1. Pure Strength (in bench, deadlift, cleans, snatches, squats)
2. Balanced training of all muscle groups
3. Upper Body Hypertrophy
4. Minimal Body Fat
5. Integration of cardiovascular conditioning into weight training
6. Long term muscle/joint health via adequate rest periods and targeted intensity
7. Feeling fucking awesome

The methodologies behind SwoleFit are a combination of workout philosophies from:

• Crossfit (high intensity circuit workouts, constant variation)
• General bodybuilding (balanced, bodypart splits)
• Westside Barbell for Skinny Bastards (max effort strength offset with dynamic/repetition days)
• Wendler 5/3/1 Powerlifting (focus on strength lifts as primary lifts)

Each day’s workout consists of two portions:

1. A strength or dynamic movement with 3-5 minutes rest between sets for maximum recovery
2. A conditioning circuit ( i.e. doing multiple exercises in a row with minimal rest.) that targets cardiovascular conditioning and hypertrophy

A dynamic 5-10 minute warmup should always be performed beforehand. Here’s a good one from the Crossfit library. And here’s a video of an example of a dynamic warmup.

I’ll provide daily entries on my SWOD, but here’s a high level glance at the routine:

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The SwoleFIT formula:

Day 1 (Shoulders, Traps, Legs, Abs)- Max Effort + Circuit

• Strength movement(s)– work up to a 5,3, or 1 rep max in one of the following lifts: (Push press, strict press, thruster, power clean, hang clean, power snatch, snatch, back squat, front squat, overhead squat, Pendlay rows)
• Circuit workout- 1 weighted shoulder/trap/leg movement (5-10 reps), 1 ab movement (10-20 reps), 1 weighted shoulder/leg/trap movement (5-10 reps), 1 conditioning movement (20-30 reps)

Day 2 (Chest, back, biceps, triceps)- Dynamic Effort + Light Circuit

• Dynamic Movement– do 5-8 sets of 1-3 EXPLOSIVE reps (lower bar slowly and controlled, then explode) in one of the following exercises: (Bench press, Incline bench press, close grip bench press, board press, bench press w/ chains, bench press w/ bands)
• Circuit workout- 1 bodyweight chest movement (5-10 reps), pull-up variation (5-10 reps), 1 conditioning movement (20-30 reps), 1 bicep or tricep isolation movement (8-12 reps)

Day 3 (Active recovery- light conditioning, foam rolling, yoga)

• Run, bike, swim for 20-30 minutes at low-moderate intensity (optional)
• 15-20 minutes of foam rolling to break up lactic acid in muscles (gets rid of soreness)
• 20-40 minutes of yoga

Day 4 (Shoulders, Traps, Legs, Abs)- Dynamic Effort + Light Circuit

• Dynamic movement- do 5-8 sets of 1-3 EXPLOSIVE REPS (50-60% of 1 rep max, 45 seconds b/t sets) in one of the following exercises (Box jumps, vertical jumps, broad jumps, hurdle hops, box squat into box jump)
• Circuit workout– 1 weighted shoulder/trap/leg movement (5-10 reps), 1 ab movement (10-20 reps), 1 weighted shoulder/leg/trap movement (5-10 reps), 1 conditioning movement (20-30 reps)

Day 5 (Chest, back, biceps, triceps)- Max Effort + Circuit

• Strength movement– work up to a 5,3, or 1 rep max in one of the following lifts: (Bench press, Incline bench press, close grip bench press, weighted pull-ups)
• Circuit workout- 1 bodyweight chest movement (10-15 reps), pull-up variation (5-10 reps), 1 conditioning movement (20-30 reps), 1 bicep or tricep isolation movement

Day 6 (Active Recovery- light conditioning, foam rolling, yoga)

• Run, bike, swim for 20-30 minutes at low-moderate intensity (optional)
• 15-20 minutes of foam rolling
• 20-40 minutes of yoga
• Foam rolling is a great way to break up lactic acid buildup in the muscles and get rid of soreness. It’s essentially the equivalent of a deep tissue massage except it’s free and you can do it yourself.

Day 7 (Rest)

• This physical rest day is a great opportunity to develop that other muscle sitting on top of our necks: our brains.
• I’ll post an article or informative video once every week.

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Other Important items:

• During workouts, I always include a prescribed rest period between circuit supersets (30-90 seconds). This allows your heart rate to drop slightly and your intensity levels to remain relatively high over the duration of the workout. More importantly, it allows you to preserve proper lifting form throughout the entire workout.
• In the middle of the circuit, try to minimize the rest between exercises.
• The circuit workouts on chest days should be considerably easier than the ones during shoulders/traps/back/abs days, and consequently you shouldn’t feel completely drained afterwards.
• Choose a strength movement, stick to it for 3-4 weeks, then change it up. Training consistency is good if you want to see measurable progress. However, when done for extended periods of time, you can start to get bored and you might dig yourself into a psychological hole if you stop making progress for a couple weeks.
• The layouts for the workouts above are just rough guidelines. Feel free to come up with your own; just make sure they work all the body parts for the day. I’ll definitely stray from the template above occasionally completely omitting the conditioning portion in favor of a few strength movements.
• The most important thing to note: if you are too tired/sore from a previous day, then take a rest day. Even though you’ll be missing that sweet, succulent endorphin high, your body will thank you later.
• Finally, this workout template is not the end all, be all of workouts. Definitely try new routines and vary it up as much as you like!