Strength training routine at 2 weeks: flexible and sustainable

I feel progress like it’s 5 weeks but it’s only two. I’m learning form on many drills, something that will be a common occurrence as I find new ways to exercise with varying levels of equipment available.

I have a three day schedule that repeats, and the first day is the heavy work: squats, handstands and L-sit. The 2nd day is lighter exercises and auxiliary work for injury prevention, generally.

I move exercises between the days as I see fit as long as I keep them in the three day period. I have no problem performing even heavy exercises two days in a row as long as it doesn’t happen frequently. That means I can push back my heavy exercise(s) 2 days, and then have a subsequent day with the same. It is more likely if I did squats 2 days late I’d push back the subsequent squat day 1 day because they are just so intense.

I keep finding exercises that are useful and I add them to my chart, although most of them are on standby, not in the routine. I also prioritize squats first. If things get hectic, which they will some weeks in the future, I can just do squats, even 1 or two sets if it comes down to it, every three days. The idea is a basic, acceptable level of sustainability to maintain consistency. Consistency is a key factor in progress in any endeavor, and it is emphasized by the seasoned and competent strength trainers I watch on Youtube.

Neck Exercises

I watched a few videos on neck exercises. Minimal effort can strengthen the neck. Again consistency will pay off. There are some neck exercises, such as bridge, that are dangerous and damaging to the cervical spine. The best trainers highlight this and specify movements that are allowed, including some weighted exercises.

Here’s an interesting video that’s pretty thorough.

Visual progress from neck training is said to occur quickly. It is one of the most noticeable parts of the body which can be strength trained for improved aesthetics. I find that the drills are quite easy. A big way to show progress is neck circumference. Will I need new shirts? In the future. Jeff Nippard says his neck gained 2 inches in 1 year of training, but I probably trained in a very efficient and consistent manner with increase weight load.

Jeff Cavalier states in a video that progressive overload applies in neck training: adding weight to increase difficulty pays dividends. Weight can get pretty heavy eventually, but to start smaller weights can be used. In a home environment, I plan on using bags of food staples such as pasta or canned beans, held by a rope or towel.

Aesthetics: improvement with specific training

When following strength training videos I came across from useful tidbits of information regarding the most efficient and effective way to improve aesthetics. I’m by no means an expert but several muscles will improve my physique with my current training.

Upper body: The handstand, and eventually handstand pushups, will build tremendous shoulders and trapezoid, the V-shape muscle behind the neck. Both of these are highly visible. The upper chest also will be strengthens with wall walks to handstand. Jeff Cavalier mentioned that the upper chest development can have a big impact on aesthetics, and he has some exercises to do so including the incline dumbbell press and the decline pushup (legs raised and hands on the floor).

The Lats, which are the side of the back, are large muscles that contribute to aesthetics. They are build with the handstand, and especially wall walks, but also are partly used during the L-sit, which I do. These contribute to the V-taper, where the back widens at the top and towards the armpits. The V-taper gives the appearance of a thinner waist, as do larger legs, but key is maintaining a decent waist size. This should not be a problem on a whole food-plant based diet. The glutes are worked very hard with the Bulgarian split squat and progress should be shown within a couple of months.

In the end, aesthetics can be visible with shorts and a T-shirt but most of the time, such as at work, people are in long pants and frequently in long shirts. Only size and not definition is visible in this situation for the most part.