Pro Athlete Body

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Tymor Bootcamp - Lose weight, build & tone muscle with my new bootcamp fitness program. This is a local area group personal training program. Coverage area: Dutchess County New York.

Straight Line Fitness - “The shortest distance between you and your dream body!” Get into and stay in great shape with my new personal training programs. Includes both on site and distance training programs i.e. Online personal training.

Posted by: Bob

I recently received the following question from a 14 year old boy via YouTube, nickname Volim23:

“Hi Bob, I’m 14 and i really want to get my arms and abs ripped is there a way to get this quickly?”

My Answer:

Hi Volim23,

Thank you for your kind comments. I appreciate your interest. Since you are 14 years old you still have a lot of growing to do! I didn’t start weight training until about 15 or 16 years old. Someone your age should NOT push too hard or be too concerned with getting big or ultra ripped for example. Are you involved with school sports? If so, using basic weight training to help you perform better during sports will help you get thicker and defined.

Unless your metabolism is unusually low for a 14 year old, the cuts and definition should come from your increased exercise activity.

Whatever your activity level, if you are not well defined at this point don’t worry! At 14, you’re body is approaching the heights of its development. Hormones are coursing through your body like a runaway freight train. Pushing too hard as a teenager could be counter-productive at this point.

For anyone, the quickest way to get ripped is to do INTERVAL Training combined with good eating. Wind sprints are a great example — I used to do them each season when getting ready for wrestling, track and baseball.

Do interval training 2-3 times per week max for 20 minutes each session. Why? Because sprinting burns fat better and longer than moderate or low intensity traditional cardio like jogging.

Regarding my abs training I spend about 30-45 minutes per week on them. I like to do superset circuits with rest for abs. For example:

Example Circuit:

Lying Bent Knee Leg Lifts - Lying on back, hands and arms out resting on floor, raise your knees & thighs perpendicular to the floor with calfs/shins parallel . Do a set of 15-20 reps of lowering your legs and raising them slowly (count of 3 up and count of 3 down). Rest 45-60 seconds…. and then immediately do…

Reaching Situps - Lay on your back with feet planted firmly in front of you and knees bent pointing up toward the ceiling. That’s the starting position. Next do a slow, deliberate situp with your arms and hands reaching 45 degrees towards the ceiling. Sit up so your torso is perpendicular to floor. Then immediately go back down to starting position. 3 count on the way up. 3 count on the way down. The reaching part of this exercise places extra resistance on your upper abs. Rest for 45-60 seconds. Then do…

Bicycle Kick Situps - Lay on your back, body flat on the ground. Tuck your hands just behind your ears. Pull your knees and legs up so your thighs are perpendicular and lower legs are parallel to the floor. Raise your shoulder blades off the floor a little and begin by touching your right elbow to your left knee while extending your right leg out, followed by touching your left elbow to your right knee while extending your left leg out.
When doing this exercise correctly, you will look like you are riding a bike flat on the floor and at the same time twisting your torso up to touch your opposite elbow to your knee. do 15 Reps and Rest 1 Minute before doing a second and final circuit.

Do this circuit TWICE each session, 2-3 times per week and your abs will “pop” I assure you!

Posted by: Bob Thomson

Wow..I must admit, I’m very impressed with the statistics of my first video post on YouTube. In less than 3 weeks with just ONE video posting about building ab muscles and firming up your core, I have 850 views, 13 subscribers, 5 comments and 4 ratings.

To be honest I didn’t expect such a great response. I am thrilled to say the least.

More muscle building and fat loss videos to come…

- Bob Thomson

I’m happy to report I’ve added about 5 lbs of muscle mass over the last few months by upping my caloric intake combined with good hard fitness training. I think I’m also more balanced than ever before in terms of proportion. My calves are responding and legs too.

I’ve been doing an interesting split routine I came up with to better fit my schedule and to push through a plateau I was experiencing:

Monday Morning: 30 Minutes Total (time goes by surprisingly quickly!)

15 Minutes Legs & 15 Minutes Abs:

For legs, use the same weight (dumbbells) for all exercises. The heaviest dumbbells you can handle while maintaining good form. Perform 2 sets of 8-10 Reps of each exercise with 60 seconds rest between sets. For calf raise farmers walk, stand and walk about on your tiptoes with heavy dumbbells for 60-90 seconds.

Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift, 2 Sets, 60 seconds rest followed by…
45 Degree Lunge 2 Sets, 60 seconds rest followed by…
Single Leg Split Squat 2 Sets,  60 seconds rest followed by…
Calf Raise Farmer’s Walk (great calf exercise!!) 2 Sets

Next…

Abs/Core Training - 15 Minutes

Do each set in a circuit (one exercise after the other) with 30 seconds rest after each exercise. Do two circuits total.

Reverse Crunch - Lay on back, pull your knees & thighs up perpendicular to floor, lower legs up and parallel to floor. Do 15 reps slowly, both up and down.

Reaching Situps - Lay on your back with your elbows out to your sides and palms down. Do a slow and deliberate situp and as you rise up, reach for the ceiling. Squeeze your abs at the top position. Do 15 reps slowly both up and down.

Bicycle Kick Crunches - Lay on your back with your hands at your ears, elbows forward. Raise your knees perpendicular to the floor. Slowly kick your legs like your pedaling a bicycle and crunch up at the same time. For example, when you kick your right leg, raise your shoulders off the mat and move your your right elbow and shoulder towards your left knee. Do a total of 30 kick-crunches, 15 on each side.

Monday Night: 60 - 75 Minutes

Full Body Routine - This routine is performed by doing exercise “pairings” i.e. one exercise followed by 60-90 seconds rest than performing the next exercise in the pair. Repeat each pair of exercises for a total of 3 times. Do 10 reps for each exercise.

(3 “pair sets”) Barbell Hang Clean (95-115 lbs) - 90 seconds rest- followed by - Dumbbell Bench Presses. Rest 60 seconds. Repeat this pairing two more times.

(3 “pair sets”) Barbell Squats (145 lbs) - 90 seconds rest- followed by - Close Grip Pull Ups - Rest 60 seconds. Repeat this pairing two more times.

(3 “pair sets”) Standing Dumbbell “Arnold Presses” (45 lb dumbbells) - 90 seconds rest- followed by - “Simulated Hay Bail Toss” - Rest 60 seconds. Repeat this pairing two more times.

Note: Barbell Hang Clean is performed by pulling a barbell up quickly and “cleanoing” it to just below your chin. (Click for a picture of this exercise)

*Note: Standing Arnold Dumbbell Press is performed by curling dumbbells simultaneously and then pressing them over head to work your shoulders. Return to starting position by lowering the weights slowly. Repeat.

**Note: To do the Simulated Hay Bail Toss, use a 35 lb or 45 lb plate. Grab the plate like a steering wheel and bend forward at the waist until your upper body is 45 degrees to the floor. This is the start position. Then, lift the weight up to your left side “as if” you are going to throw the plate on a platform which is at shoulder level. Bring the plate slowly back to start position and then repeat to your right side. Do a total of 10 simulated “tosses” on each side. Be sure to hold the plate tightly. This exercise simulates throwing a heavy hay bails onto a wagon.

Tuesday: OFF

Wednesday: Repeat same routines from Monday

Thursday: OFF

Friday: Repeat same routines from Monday

My Friday morning legs & abs routine…approximately 30-40 minutes

Ab circuit: Tempo = slow & controlled (3-4 seconds up, 3-4 seconds down)

• Bent knee leg lifts lying on back; 15 reps, 30 seconds rest followed by…
• 15 reaching sit ups (arms reaching to ceiling as you curl up); 15 reps, 30 seconds rest followed by…
• Alternating oblique crunches (side abs); 15 reps per side alternating each side, 60 seconds rest.

Repeat the above circuit one more time for a total of 2 circuits.

Leg routine: Tempo = 1 second up, 3 seconds down

2 sets dumbbell Romanian dead lift 12 reps, 60 seconds rest followed by…

2 sets of squats, 12 reps, 60 seconds rest followed by…

2 sets Romanian single-leg squats

2 sets “farmers walk” for calves (walking on tip toes for 75 seconds) 60 seconds rest

DONE!

Note: this is the a.m. portion of a new split routine I’m doing to mix things up. Tonight, I will work the legs a little more (active rest) and work my upper body hard for about 45 minutes. Breaking up a 90 minute workout into 2 smaller workouts, one in the morning and one at night, allows you to work with more intensity and triggering more growth hormone release and added recovery ability.

-Bob