Grow and Strengthen Your Muscles With This Push-Pull Workout Series By Nik Vasilyev - Part 1
This weeks workout series is by Nik Vasilyev aka Digital Fitness Coach. Nik is a specialist in fitness nutrition and a certified personal trainer. In this weeks workout series Nik provides us with a unique approach to weight and resistance training; the push-pull workout method. These workouts focus on making sure that all muscles work in conjunction with one another and will help to grow, develop and strengthen your muscles!
Firstly a little more about Nik!
My name is Nik Vasilyev, I also go by Digital Fitness Coach online. I am a fitness model, spokesperson, personal trainer and a specialist in fitness nutrition. With the Digital Fitness Coach brand my goal is to motivate, inspire and support people pursuing their fitness goals by offering customized nutrition and training programs for a more affordable rate than traditional personal training.
Why you first get involved in fitness?
After being an athlete for many years and obtaining a shoulder injury from competitive Muay Thai I found the world of bodybuilding and fitness. I started to train for both performance and aesthetics; learning the body’s anatomy and biomechanics. After 3 years of training I decided to do my first physique competition. In the process of training for the competition, I started getting questions from friends and coworkers about my training regimes and diet. That sparked the flame that eventually became my Digital Fitness Coach brand right now. I created it because I saw a need for people to know the possibilities of what is possible naturally. And the need to educate the people interested in knowing how to achieve their dream bodies.
Why you love living a healthy/active lifestyle and the benefits of doing so?
I almost take it for granted at this point since it is simply routine. But when I stop and think about it, the health and fitness lifestyle gives you freedom. I don’t fear going for a run, or taking on a challenge, or playing a sport. My body can support whatever I choose to throw at it and in an optimal way as well. I don’t get headaches or odd pains and aches with the exception of muscle pain. I control my diet and nutrition, still have fun with cheat meals and going out with friends, and keep maintain my six pack.
What is the one piece of advice that you would give to encourage anyone to start/continue a healthy and active lifestyle?
Give yourself one full year. Don’t listen to these articles and programs promising a rock hard body in 30 days. Are you kidding me?! You want a body of a god/ goddess in thirty days??!! Don’t give yourself that much credit. Earn your body. If you put in the investment of one year, you will learn so much about your body. You will fall into routine, you will find new friends and find who the bad seeds in your life are. Lastly, you will get addicted to progress. Health and fitness is a never ending journey of improvement and growth; mentally and physically. After that one year, you will find that you don’t want to go back to your old life, you will want to find one even better than your current one.
Regarding your workout, what is it fundamentally based around and what does it help to achieve/why should a workout of this sort be done and who will benefit from it?
I don’t believe in cutting corners and I don’t believe in mediocre effort. I understand that some people only have time for 3 training days a week and that’s fine. But for those three days you need to pay your due diligence. You need to train all body parts equally because to have a body that looks good and functions well, each muscle needs to work in balance with another. A car can’t run with a strong engine and tires but without a transmission. You can’t have strong legs or upper body without a strong lower back.
These workouts group the muscles into their primary functional behaviours: muscles that push, muscles that pull and a combination of pushing and pulling muscles in your legs. These workouts will help to grow, develop and strengthen the muscle. Of course, these workouts will be high intensity as well so you will burn a ton of calories. You can use this program if you are training to “tone” or “build”, the variable that controls which way you go is diet. In both cases you can also choose a cardiovascular based activity 1-2 times a week for fun; soccer, basketball, swimming, hiking, etc.
Now for the workout
Workout #1 - Monday: Push Day
On the first day you will focus on all the muscles in your upper body involved with pushing movements. These include your chest, your shoulders and your triceps. The workout is designed to flow between the three body parts in that respective order. Keep an eye on the clock and try to improve the weight you lift with each passing week.
Exercise 1
Focus: Upper Chest
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
Sets: 7 (2 warm up)
Rep Ranges: Start with 15 reps and increase the weight accordingly so that you can only do 8 reps for the last two sets.
Sets should consist of repetitions as follows; 15, 15, 12, 10, 10, 8, 8
Rest: 90 seconds between sets
Exercise 2
Focus: Lower Chest
Flat Dumbbell Bench Press
Sets: 5
Rep Ranges: Start with 15 reps and increase the weight accordingly so that you can only do 8 reps for the last two sets.
Sets should consist of repetitions as follows; 15, 12, 10, 8, 8
Rest: 90 seconds between sets
Exercise 3
Focus: Chest & Shoulders
Superset Dumbbell Shoulder Press with Dumbbell Fly’s
Sets: 5
Rep Ranges: Start with 15 reps and increase the weight accordingly so that you can only do 8 reps for the last two sets.
Sets should consist of repetitions as follows; 15, 12, 10, 8, 8
Rest: No rest between the two exercises. 90 seconds between sets.
Exercise 4
Focus: Shoulders (Anterior Deltoid) & Shoulders (Medial Deltoid)
Dumbbell Lateral Raises with Dumbbell Front Raises
Sets: 5
Rep Ranges: Aim for consistent 10-12 reps per exercise.
Rest: 90 seconds between sets. No rest between exercises.
Exercise 5
Focus: Long Head of Tricep & Short Head of Tricep
Superset Overhead Cable Extensions with Cable Tricep Pressdowns
Sets: 5
Rep Ranges: Aim for consistent 10-12 reps per exercise.
Rest: 90 seconds between sets. No rest between exercises.
This workout isn't easy but with consistency you will really begin to see improvement sin both physical strength and appearance. Good luck with this push session and make sure to check out part 2 pull series on Wednesday!
Make sure you check out Nik on social media - let him know how you went with his workout series, he'd love to hear from you!
W: www.digitalfitnesscoach.net
