It’s been a while since I’ve shared a workout. Since the my last published workout, I’ve done both heavy and hypertrophy regimens, both of which were built around my training and show schedules. For example, when I was only training on Saturday and/or Sunday and doing shows on Friday and Saturday, I could work a muscle group to complete exhaustion Monday through Wednesday and still have time to recover. Although I’ve got back to heavier lifting days, I carried over one particular element from my pervious hypertrophy program: tempo lifts. After 12 weeks of assorted hypertrophy exercises at various tempos, I not only saw muscle growth, but slowing down my lifts also made me more conscious of my range of movement and thus a better lifter.
Now that I’m in Mexico City—the Mecca of lucha libre—I’ve adapted my lifting program to my rather-busy lucha training schedule. To reflect the entirety of my week, I’ve included both lifting and lucha days in my training overview. Below you’ll find said overview, and a preview of the workout. Because this program was written by La Avispa—who is an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer with a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science—it is subject to patronage of her Patreon. If you want full access to this workout, new workout plans, and other cool shit, check out her Patreon for more deets.
Note about neck exercises: I learned this simple, three-way neck exercise regimen from CMLL Profesor Tony Salazar. It’s a means through which to safely strengthen your neck without the potential for spinal compression—a problem that traditional neck bridges can often cause. Essentially, there are three basic movements: nodding “yes,” shaking your head “no”, and a circular motion. The workout is as follows:
- Lay on your back in crunch position, with your knees up, feet tucked near your bum.
- Once you start, do not rest your head on the floor until after you have completed all reps from all three exercises. That means once you start, you will not rest until you’ve done all. Of. The. Reps.
- Lift your neck about 1-2 inches from the floor.
- In a controlled manner, nod your head “yes” 20 times.
- After completing 20 reps, shake your head “no” 20 times. Again, do not touch your head to the floor between reps, nor after you complete all 20 reps.
- After completing 20 reps, move your head in a circular motion to the right. STILL Don’t touch rest head to the floor—you’re almost done.
- After 20 reps, move your head in a circular motion to the left. Once you finish all 20 reps, you can rest your head on the ground.
Depending on your current neck strength, you can add reps as needed. I was advised to perform the exercise at least twice per week, and to add 10 reps to each exercise every two weeks (meaning +10 to “yes,” +10 to “no”, +10 to circles to the right, +10 for circles to the left for a total of 40 additional reps) until you hit 50 of each. Adjust accordingly, but 20 reps of each should be an easy baseline for anyone who fancies them self a pro wrestler.
Now to the workout:
Monday:
- Horizontal push & pull exercises
- Weighted ab exercise
- Neck exercises
Tuesday:
- Lucha libre (~2 hours high-impact, interval-based cardio)
Wednesday:
- Fasted HIIT exercises (10 rounds @ 15 secs, 1 minute rest between intervals)
- Vertical push & pull exercises
- Weighted ab exercises
- Neck exercises
Thursday:
- Lucha libre (~2 hours of high-impact, interval-based cardio)
Friday:
- Squats, deadlift, misc legs
- Weighted ab exercises
- Neck exercises
- Lucha libre (~2 hours low-impact chain wrestling)
Saturday & Sunday: rest and/or perform
As promised, here’s a snippet of the first three exercises for Friday:
What’s your current workout plan? Interested in seeing the whole program? Hit up my comments and let’s chat.
Rex 'n Effect 