Every year, we introduce a new program in late spring designed to get you in the best possible shape in time for Fourth of July barbecues and a summer of beach parties and shirtless pride. The training we’ve prescribed in previous Rock Hard Challenges has run the gamut from all-out bodybuilding programs to athletic boot camps geared toward helping you perform at a high level as well as look like you can.
One thing we haven’t shown, however, is how a busy man can build muscle and burn fat with an absolute minimum investment of time or energy—not because you don’t want to invest it, but because we know you probably can’t. Look, physique transformation isn’t that hard, and in the modern world, with all its traffic jams, long workdays, and distractions on social media, most of us can’t afford to make it complex if we’re going to accomplish anything. Losing fat and gaining muscle takes only a few weeks (we’re giving you eight) and some hard training (but only three lifting days per week), and a very solid nutrition plan (we’ll show you everything you need to eat). Crack of dawn cardio sessions and marathon lifting? Leave those to the professional physique athletes who get paid to do it—or the wackos who just like to suffer.
This year’s Rock Hard Challenge—the first part appears here, and the second four-week installment premieres in our July/August issue—promises to be one of the simplest in terms of what we’ll ask of you, and yet the results won’t be any less spectacular. Take your before pictures now, and in eight weeks you’ll be looking back to say “that wasn’t so bad,” while the changes to your physique will have others saying “that is amazing!”
The Training
We’ve opted fora three-day workout split. Think that’s not enough work to put on muscle? Tell it to Steve Reeves—owner of arguably the most impressive physique of all time, who trained the same way, along with the many other natural bodybuilders of the 1940s and ’50s. The first day of the week is lower-body focused; the second, upper; and the third, a mix of both. Fewer training days means more time for recovery, and you’ll need it.
The exercises are laughably basic but brutally intense, and have their roots in powerlifting and strongman, as well as bodybuilding. They maximize your time in the gym by training as many muscles as possible at once, making you stronger. And greater strength results in more muscle mass. The farmer’s walk, for example—wherein you simply walk holding heavy dumbbells at your sides—trains the legs, core, grip, back, and traps while doubling as a cardio conditioning workout. You won’t find any curls or pushdowns in this program because the biceps and triceps will get plenty of work from lifts like the Zercher carry and push press. Trust us. If you haven’t been basing your workouts around heavy-duty, compound lifts, these exercises will unlock a world of growth potential for you. And if you have, well, there are plenty of isolation lifts too—such as the calf raise, incline flye, and glute bridge—that will give you the targeted attention you want to make muscles achieve their maximum size and shape.
Keeping with the theme of simplicity, we’re going to ask you to memorize only one set and rep scheme per week. It will apply to every exercise you do. The volume starts out low with the weights fairly light, to help build a foundation of work capacity. Each week, you’ll go a little heavier and do a few more total reps until the fourth week, when you’ll back off a bit to recover. Then, in Part II, the work will ramp back up again and we’ll push you to set new personal records on your lifts.
RHC Directions
Perform each workout (Day I, II, and III) once per week, resting a day between each session. You’ll perform the same number of sets and reps for each exercise in each workout the first week—the sets and reps will change each week. So you’ll do two sets of 15 for every move in Week 1, then three sets of 12 for everything in Week 2, and so on. Perform all the exercises as straight sets, resting 45–60 seconds between sets.
On one separate day per week—not a weight-training day—complete 30–60 minutes of light aerobic training. This is done mainly for recovery, so keep your heart rate between 120 and 150 beats per minute. To estimate this, hold your index and middle finger to the pulse in your neck and count the beats for six seconds. Multiply by 10 to get your approximate beats per minute. You can jog, swim, row, cycle, or perform a circuit of light body-weight exercises.
On one separate day per week—not a weight-training day—complete 30–60 minutes of light aerobic training. This is done mainly for recovery, so keep your heart rate between 120 and 150 beats per minute. To estimate this, hold your index and middle finger to the pulse in your neck and count the beats for six seconds. Multiply by 10 to get your approximate beats per minute. You can jog, swim, row, cycle, or perform a circuit of light bodyweight exercises.
On one separate day per week—not a weight-training day—complete 30–60 minutes of light aerobic training. This is done mainly for recovery, so keep your heart rate between 120 and 150 beats per minute. To estimate this, hold your index and middle finger to the pulse in your neck and count the beats for six seconds. Multiply by 10 to get your approximate beats per minute. You can jog, swim, row, cycle, or perform a circuit of light bodyweight exercises.
On one separate day per week—not a weight-training day—complete 30–60 minutes of light aerobic training. This is done mainly for recovery, so keep your heart rate between 120 and 150 beats per minute. To estimate this, hold your index and middle finger to the pulse in your neck and count the beats for six seconds. Multiply by 10 to get your approximate beats per minute. You can jog, swim, row, cycle, or perform a circuit of light bodyweight exercises.
On one separate day per week—not a weight-training day—complete 30–60 minutes of light aerobic training. This is done mainly for recovery, so keep your heart rate between 120 and 150 beats per minute. To estimate this, hold your index and middle finger to the pulse in your neck and count the beats for six seconds. Multiply by 10 to get your approximate beats per minute. You can jog, swim, row, cycle, or perform a circuit of light bodyweight exercises.
