"I give my heaviest set the most energy and group two muscles together in this workout for best results..."
Rob Van Dam's Best Workout Routine
RVD uses 'Adaptogen N' in his diet and this EXACT workout
Hi, this is RVD. Rob Van Dam. I get a lot of mail from fans asking about my exercise routine and diet. My workouts are designed to fit my needs, lifting heavy and sticking to the basics.
I plan my workout around a few important sets. I warm up before I hit the heavies, and I give my heaviest set the most energy. I group two muscles together for a workout and this gives me my best results. This way I am able to give enough attention to a couple of selected body parts while the other muscles are recuperating. I lift three or four times a week.
From everything I've read, your muscles need 72 hours to recoup after being blasted, but I've found waiting closer to a week before hitting a particular muscle again can be best, especially if you are trying to build mass. You'll hit the same muscles indirectly while working other muscles, too. For example, I love to do dips. Love 'em! Since I can't do them without hitting both chest and triceps, I plan my workouts accordingly. If I am doing chest and triceps on the same day, great! If not, I may do chest on Monday with back (tonight's workout, as a matter of fact) and later in the week, like Wednesday or Thursday, do triceps/biceps. You see, I can't bench press without doing triceps and will be hitting triceps indirectly on chest day and then blasting them a few days later, get it?
Also, my biceps almost always get pumped during a back workout. This is just because of the movements the body makes during the exercises. I may as well go ahead and finish biceps after back, or if I have another routine in mind, I will let bi's rest a couple days and blast them directly later.
I change my workout every time I hit the gym. I change the combo of muscles worked, particular exercise, or number of reps. Most exercises are compound, which means they work more than one muscle. I also change the weight every set and, increasingly, do less reps as I add weight. I find six sets for each muscle is plenty, depending on your goals, divided over two to three exercises. This is usually a basic heavy lift followed by a couple lighter lifts. I do the heavy first (after warming up) because that's when my strength is greatest. My whole workout takes about an hour.
Now we're ready for some examples. After stretching, pick 2-3 different exercises for each body part. The following are some of my favorites to choose from:
CHEST- bench press, incline press, dumbell press, dumbell flyes, pec deck, cable crossovers
SHOULDERS- Behind neck press, military press, dumbell lateral raises, upright rows, shrugs
TRICEPS- dips, nose busters, reverse grip bench press, over head dumbell tricep extension, cable tricep machine, dumbell kick backs
BICEPS- standing alternate dumbell curl, barbell curl, concentration curl, one arm curl with cable
BACK- deadlift, pull up, t-bar row, lat pull down, bent over rows seated pully row
LEGS- squats, leg press, hack squat, leg extension, leg curl, stiff legged dead lift, calf machine
Before I hit the weights, I do some cardio to warm up (after stretching). Usually this will be six minutes on the stair master or running on the treadmill. A little more time is good, too, but this will get my blood flowing. Then I warm up the muscle I will be working. Here's an example of what I do in a week:
On this routine, my triceps get pumped on chest day and again when I hit them directly. It also takes triceps to press weight over head for shoulders. If I were to do triceps, and on the same day or even the day after try to hit the bench, I would be so, so much weaker. I can't do that to my bench. I love the bench press. On chest day, no matter what else I'm doing, it's "bench day". I bench every chest day but I alternate flat bench with incline on different days to get the most out of both.
Changing the routine keeps it interesting. Here's another option:
- Day 1 - Chest, Triceps
- Day 2 - Back, Biceps
- Day 3 - Legs
- Day 4 - Off
- Day 5 - Chest, Shoulders
I do this one a lot. When I do legs, I squat. Always. I change the rest of the mass workout, from heavy/low reps to lighter/higher reps on the squats. This works out well because some days you just feel like going heavier than others.
Besides sticking to the basics, I pick two or sometimes up to four different exercises for each part from a list of many. For chest, I like to do bench, dumbell press, dumbell flys, cable crossovers, hammer strength, single dumbell pullovers and any variations on a decline, incline... whatever! Get the picture? You have to try everything for awhile to decide what you like and don't. And it'll be based mostly on how it feels to you (which is a good thing).
Outside of the above, keep your diet high in protein, take your Adaptogen N before bed, and go get it!
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• How-to primer : Rob Van Dam's 'secret' to EXPLOSIVE workout power...
"I love this stuff! Before, I was often too sore from wrestling to workout. Now, I'm always ready to go heavy. Adaptogen N has helped me reach new, record gains on both the squat and bench press!"
