Strength is the foundation of any physical fitness program. Now, lest there be any confusion, strength and size are not synonymous. So, if you’re saying, “I’m a 78-year-old man; I’m not trying to win Mr. Olympia!” — don’t worry, I’m a 33-year-old man, and neither am I. And if you’re concerned that as you increase strength, you’ll suddenly wake up looking like the Incredible Hulk, don’t worry, that’s not how this kind of training works.
The bodybuilding-focused question of size is not one we’ll be treating here, and (to my mind, at least) it doesn’t seem to be integral to our lives as humans. However, whether we realize it or not, strength does play an indispensable role in our lives on this earth, and we need to nurture it. Allow me to illustrate.
Strength does play an indispensable role in our lives.
Genesis tells us that in the beginning, God made us in his own image, to share in the act of creation, to have dominion over the earth and subdue it (see Genesis 1:26-28). Apparently, creation and dominion are a source of hard enough labor that even God himself takes the seventh day to rest!
God doesn’t give us any capacity or gift to be left unused, as Jesus reveals in the parable of the talents (see Matthew 25:14-30). This parable further demonstrates that every repetition of good action builds our ability to repeat good action in the future, which happens to be the definition of virtue. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines virtue as a “habitual and firm disposition to do the good” (1803).
As the master said to the steward to whom he gave five talents: “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy” (Matthew 25:21).
Just as our desire and ability to do the good becomes stronger by the repetition of good action, by putting into service the gifts God has given us, so do our bodies respond to difficult work and stress by growing stronger, as well. Are you noticing a pattern?
Our bodies respond to difficult work and stress by growing stronger.
Since God made us a unity of body and spirit (see Faith & Fitness in the October 2019 issue of Catholic Digest), there are cognates in the physical life that directly mirror the spiritual life. Performing virtuous action grows our strength of virtue, and performing strenuous physical labor increases our physical strength.
God doesn’t give us any capability to be left unused. Strength makes us better able to fulfill the duties of our state in life, whatever they may be. Whether sitting in a desk all day, standing behind a counter, doing housework or home improvement projects, wrangling children or grandchildren and running errands, enjoying leisure indoors or outdoors, or lending a hand to our neighbors, we use our muscles every single minute of every single day. If our muscles are stronger, our physical lives will be easier, more relaxing, and more enjoyable.
Perhaps most importantly (and often most overlooked), strong muscles actually help to prevent injuries that take us away from the lives we want to live. When you build and maintain strength, you can hold a baby and carry groceries without throwing out your back, you can help your 95-year-old neighbor shovel her walk without tweaking a shoulder, and you can wake up in the morning without feeling like a truck ran over you the night before.
Most of us won’t be called to martyrdom or the strength of virtue that it takes to assent to that. But if we don’t develop and train our virtue, then we are left weak in sin, vulnerable to temptation, and unable to even assent to the small white martyrdoms of our lives: upholding honesty and integrity when it would be so much easier to fudge the truth, living out purity and fidelity in our daily life, and meeting God, friend, family, neighbor, and enemy alike in love.
So, as we look at the following workout, while it’s true that you may never need to bench press your weight, you might need to push a car out of a ditch. Your life may not depend on your ability to lift 200 pounds. But you might be able to show your child that they are safe and loved when you lift them up and hold them close when they’re afraid. When we are strong in body and soul, we simply increase our capability to do … and by God’s grace, to do good.
The workout:
Many times, I’m not a huge proponent of trying to pray and work out at the same time. If I’m counting reps and trying to say a Hail Mary, I tend to feel that I’m not giving either my reps or my Hail Mary my full attention. However, this workout gets very difficult, no matter what your fitness level, so it actually provides a great opportunity to offer your suffering to God. That’s our prayer portion.
Before you begin the workout, take a few minutes in your own words (or you can use the prayer I’ve included below) to thank God for the gift of your body, your capacity to serve him and neighbor; offer him the suffering you’ll experience in this workout and promise to push through it rather than avoid it. During the workout, when things get hard, simply pray, “God, I offer this to you,” and keep going. You might offer that prayer once in a workout or sometimes 10 times, but offer it and keep going.
Optional prayer: Lord, you created man and woman in your own image to have dominion over all the earth and subdue it. Grant me the strength first to have dominion over myself. I offer you all my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, with all my heart, mind, and strength. Amen.
What is this workout? It’s a very simple and effective form of strength-building around the classic lifts of powerlifting: bench press, squats, and deadlifts. With just three exercises, you can give your body a great workout and rapidly increase your strength. It’s not easy, but it is good.
To start every workout, be sure to perform an easy warmup for 3–5 minutes. If it’s bench day, do some push-ups (or knee push-ups or wall push-ups, depending on your strength level) and very light shoulder work to get everything moving.
If it’s squat day, do air squats or light weight squats. Get low and sit in the bottom of the squat to work your hip mobility before starting. If it’s deadlift day, perform some easy movements to stretch out your back and work your form a little. If you don’t have a gym membership, day zero is buying one. Then jump in day one.
Note: If you’re unfamiliar with any of these exercises, be sure to watch and understand a video on how to complete them properly before attempting. Since we’ll be dealing with fairly heavy weight, form becomes extremely important.
One final note for the workout, and this will take a little math: We are doing percentages of our one-rep max (ORM). This refers to what you believe is the most weight you could successfully complete one rep with. Begin by erring on the side of lighter rather than heavier. For example, if you think it’s somewhere between 100 and 150, go with 100. If that is too easy, go heavier next time.
As far as the sets where you are performing a percentage of ORM, calculate that ahead of time so you don’t have to do it all at the gym! For example, if your ORM is 110 pounds, 70 percent of that would be 77 pounds; you won’t be able to find that at the gym, so do 75. Round up or down where necessary, approximate where you have to, and don’t stress about it.
The workout
Day 1: Squat day
Squats are one of the best overall exercises you can do for your body, but they are challenging, so people find a million excuses for avoiding them. Don’t. Be sure you’re doing them correctly (see note above), then start your week with them!
Beginner workout:
Squats: 70 percent ORM x 1 rep, 80 percent ORM x 1, 85 percent ORM x 1, 90 percent ORM x 1, 100 percent ORM x 1, 100 percent ORM x 1 (again), 75 percent ORM x 7–9 reps, 50 percent ORM x 15–20 reps.
Rest 2½ minutes between each set.
If your gym has a bike, hop on there for 3 minutes for a low-resistance ride, keeping your RPM above 80. This should be easy and helps to flush any lactic acid out of your legs so they won’t be as sore the next couple of days. Stretch, get your post-workout nutrition, drink some water, and take a rest.
Intermediate workout:
Same as above, but after you’ve completed the squats and the bike, perform an uphill farmer’s carry on a treadmill, 15 percent incline at 2–2.5 mph for 5 minutes, carrying 20 percent to 30 percent of your bodyweight. For example, if you weigh 160 pounds, carry a 15–25-pound dumbbell in each hand, totaling 30–50 pounds.
Stretch, get your post-workout nutrition, drink some water, and take a rest.
Expert workout:
Same as intermediate, but in the farmer’s carry, hold 40 percent to 50 percent of your bodyweight between your two hands.
Stretch, get your post-workout nutrition, drink some water, and take a rest.
Day 2: Active recovery
No workout, but walk, stretch, and move at every opportunity today! Or if you’re intermediate or expert, feel free to do an easy bike, hike, or a slightly more strenuous activity.
Day 3: Bench Day
Beginner workout:
Bench press: 70 percent ORM x 1 rep, 80 percent ORM x 1, 85 percent ORM x 1, 90 percent ORM x 1, 100 percent ORM x 1, 100 percent ORM x 1 (again), 70 percent ORM x 7–9 reps, 50 percent ORM x 15–20 reps.
Rest 2 ½ minutes between each set.
Stretch, get your post-workout nutrition, drink some water, and rest.
Intermediate workout:
Same as beginner to start. After you’ve completed bench, perform the following tri-set:
Dumbbell pullover: 3×8–10
Crunches (or your favorite abdominal exercise): 3×20–50
Overhead dumbbell triceps extension: 3×8–10
Rest 1 minute between each tri-set.
Stretch, get your post-workout nutrition, drink some water, and rest.
Expert workout:
Same as intermediate to start. After you’ve completed bench and the tri-set, perform the following shoulder exercises back-to-back as one giant set. You can use a slightly heavier weight for the rear flies and shoulder press, but unless you are changing weights, perform all exercises without stopping.
Rear flies into dumbbell shoulder press into front flies into lateral flies: 3×6–8
Stretch, get your post-workout nutrition, drink some water, and rest.
Day 4: Active recovery
Same as active recovery above.
Day 5: Deadlift day
Beginner workout:
Deadlifts: 70 percent ORM x 1 rep, 80 percent ORM x 1, 85 percent ORM x 1, 90 percent ORM x 1, 100 percent ORM x 1, 100 percent ORM x 1 (again), 75 percent ORM x 7–9 reps, 50 percent ORM x 15–20 reps.
Rest 2½ minutes between each set.
Stretch, get your post-workout nutrition, drink some water, and rest.
Intermediate workout:
Same as beginner to start. Once you’ve finished deadlifts, move on to pull-ups:
Pull-ups: 50 reps. I like to perform 5 sets of 10, but you can also just go to failure, rest 90 seconds, and go to failure again until you complete them.
Stretch, get your post-workout nutrition, drink some water, and rest.
Expert workout:
Same as intermediate to start. Once you’ve finished deadlifts and pull-ups (and if you can complete 50 pull-ups in fewer than 5 sets, do weighted pull-ups), move on to bicep curls.
Rotating dumbbell curls (from hammer grip at the bottom to underhand at the top): 3×8–10
At the end of the set, feel free to do a flexed hold slightly out to your sides at the bottom of the rep, for up to 30 seconds. Rest 60–90 seconds and repeat for all three sets.
Stretch, get your post-workout nutrition, drink some water, and rest.