My Gym Workout: The Big Four

I decided to challenge myself today and do a different workout today. After all, variety is the spice of life, isn’t it? Normally, I would just train one body part and max it out. But today, I decided to do a new gym workout which I term ‘The Big Four’.

As the name suggests, ‘The Big Four’ workout refers to targeting the major muscle groups of the human body in one single hour.

This is what I did today. And trust me, even though I only did 4 sets of 15 reps for each of ‘The Big Four’, I was perspiring not unlike after my cardio run. Woohoo…try it!

My first exercise was the chin-up. There is no secret to doing a good standard chin-up. You basically get onto the chin-up bar and pull yourself up. But that’s where the difference lies between doing it correctly and wrongly. I’ve seen many guys do chin-ups the wrong way. Yes, it’s an IPPT staple item but still, you can get it wrong if you use the wrong muscles. The chin-up targets primarily the lats and to a lesser extent, the biceps as well.

Next up was the bench press. Often regarded as THE exercise to test a man’s strength (if you gym often, you must have heard someone ask you this: “how heavy can you bench?”), the bench press is an excellent way to train your pectoral muscles, or more commonly known as the chest. And surprise, surprise, I could bench heavier without support today. 

Following the bench press, I proceeded to do my deadlifts. Deadlifts target multiple muscle groups and if you do them often enough, you will experience spikes in growth not seen otherwise. My lower back, hamstrings and glutes were the proud recipients after this exercise.

Rounding up, I faithfully did my squats. Squatting heavy and low, I worked my quads and glutes. Always relying on the mirror to check my posture, I have learnt to appreciate the beauty of squats and the benefits they bring to my body. 

After ‘The Big Four’, I was still feeling energetic. And that was when I found myself doing dips for my triceps. 

The finishing exercises for all my workouts remain the abs exercises. Combining various abs exercises, I did a total of 16 sets x 25 reps. Go figure what that number is…haha…mind boggling it seems but I know my abs will be super thankful come tomorrow!