The Workouts in DreamBody
(“You Don’t Need Different Genes, You Just Need a Different Regimen.”)
The DreamBodybuilding Workout Calendar
You’ll use a smartphone fitness app, Trainerize, which hosts and delivers my signature DreamBodybuilding workouts to you. This app interacts with, and supports you during, your workouts. It facilitates messaging between us.
In the app, next to each exercise you’re assigned, I’ve given you videos and/or instructions for every single movement, as well as specific prescriptions regarding sets, repetitions, and rest periods. I’ve used this intuitive app both as a client and as an educator, since 2018. It allows you to easily save all of your workout details, including the exact weight lifted on each exercise, and displays this data at-a-glance the next time you are executing the same workout.
This app also makes it very easy for you to archive and juxtapose well-organized data on your progress, including progress photos and body measurements, not to mention personal bests (meaning, strength/endurance improvements). This information is visible to me, as your educator, and helps both of us keep track of how many pounds of muscle you’re gaining and how many pounds of fat you’re losing. (Remember, your concerns about your body today will be solved by simply adding more muscle, and losing body fat. It isn’t more complicated than that, and upon hearing me say that, I hope you feel a relief and excitement about this upcoming process.)
Your Workout Phases
There are currently 9+ workout phases in DreamBody School (more may be added in the future).
Most phases are six weeks in length.
There is also an optional phase revolving exclusively around home and/or travel workouts..
Immediately below, I provide an overview of the phases, including snapshots of the actual workouts and demos.
I named your phases after the path that I — and probably others — have walked in life.
Additionally, the name of each workout phase encapsulates what you’ll experience physiologically during that period.
I. Home (Optional)
(A robust menu of strength-training regimens for upper body, lower body, and total body, as well as cardio and ab/core workouts. There are workouts that can be done in any space, requiring zero special gym equipment.
Also available are more dynamic workouts that can be done with a combination of bodyweight exercises, dumbbells, small and large resistance bands, etc. – for the aspiring superhero already building a tidy home gym.)
II. Endure
(Heavy emphasis on core engagement. Wipes the slate clean from what you’ve been doing and challenges your body to learn or re-learn how to function as an integrated system, versus a disparate array of muscles. Builds muscular endurance foundation through workouts focusing largely on repetitions above 14 reps, with short breaks between sets.)
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III. Fortify
(Continued focus on core activation. Weightlifting sets develop muscular strength foundation by decreasing repetition and increasing breaks in between sets, allowing for much heavier weight to be lifted.)
IV. Bloom
(Still more emphasis on core utilization. Medium repetition range and one minute breaks help establish muscle growth foundation.)
V. Equality
(Focuses on single-limb exercises to diminish physique asymmetries and reduce muscular imbalances.)
VI. Reclamation
(Maintains the strength and muscle already built, while focusing the first 40% of each workout on reclaiming natural postural and structural alignment. This allows you to avoid injury and grow faster in subsequent work.)
VII. Lust
(Activates testosterone and growth hormone, essential components of furthering your superhero body, courtesy of workouts that incorporate heavy barbell work.)
VIII. Liberation
(Enhances functional strength by freeing you from conventional weightlifting, opting for new exercises utilizing the dynamic “landmine” – a barbell with weight added to just one end [instead of both]. These exercises would have been too complex earlier in the journey.)
IX. Synthesis
(Triggers a fat-loss cascade by tapping into each of your body’s primary three energy systems.)
X. Lineage
(An elevated experience focusing on bodybuilding-centric workouts that blend new-age exercises with classic weightlifting staples. This phase consists of your classic 8-12 rep range and 45-75 second break periods.)
More info on the Workout Calendar:
“So, are certain phases for building muscle, and others for leaning out?”
For the most part, no; each phase can support either muscle gain, or fat loss. Which of those you achieve during any given phase will be determined by your diet. The one exception is the Synthesis phase, which is designed to prioritize fat loss while preserving muscle already gained. That phase can be delayed or skipped if your exclusive goal is muscle gain.
“What happens if I fall behind or travel?”
The prescription laid out on this page details the fastest possible way to make it through the 9+ phases.
If you feel the phases are progressing too quickly or intensely, or if for some reason you wish to pause your engagement with the workouts, it is easy for me to adjust your calendar on my end to accommodate your specific needs. We can adjust your calendar as frequently as we need, so you need not ever miss out, or feel overwhelmed. I will gladly take care of you.
These next two sentences are very important. And since you can’t see my face while I’m saying this, I’d like you to know that I’m saying it with warm earnestness.
There is no such thing as falling behind in DreamBody School. You will complete your curriculum in the exact timeframe you are meant to.
Similarly, if you need to travel while in the midst of phases II-X, you will have access to your workouts from phase I, Home, which can be completed with little-to-no equipment, anywhere in the world.
“What happens once I make it through the final phase?”
When you reach the end of your DreamBodybuilding Workout Calendar, the calendar automatically refreshes. You will now have the option of repeating the same calendar, this time making things more challenging by employing one or more of the following mechanisms:
– Heavier weight
– Slower lifting pace
– Greater range of motion
– More repetitions (while remaining within the prescribed rep range)
all of which will spur more muscle growth and fat loss, when combined with an ideal diet.
In other words, you will proceed to build and develop upon the foundation you built during your first year, much the way a beautiful, prize-winning, multi-tier wedding cake is built up layer by layer.
I will be there to advise you on how to make the most of each subsequent annual calendar.
Summary of the workout app
The smartphone app you’ll use highlights and celebrates personal bests at the end of each workout. It also facilitates the uploading of progress photos and measurements at six week intervals.
As you begin accumulating multiple sets of progress data, each new set of data is easily juxtaposed with the entire catalogue that already exists. This helps facilitate your understanding of your own progress.
The DreamBodybuilding Workout Calendar contains an in-app calendar which spells out the recommended cadence for completing the workouts. You have the option of completing up to five distinct weightlifting workouts, weekly, as well as ab / core, cardio, and warm up activities.