Health Fitness

The Y44 Training Method

When I was 15 years old, I was introduced to weight training. It transformed my life then, and continues to do so now. I didn’t really know what I was doing then. I just read a lot of magazines and did exercises that made sense. In an era of college football with most weight rooms under a thousand square feet or simply non-existent, I was one of the few players who took weight training seriously. As I write this article today in 2015, I can proudly say that as a college player 50 years ago, my bench was 405, my squat was 505, and my deadlift was 605. I never took steroids and my only vice was protein shakes.

I have a bachelor’s and master’s degree in kinesiology. My master’s thesis was on strength training. I was a high school soccer and swimming coach before becoming a clinical and sports psychologist 30 years ago. I never stopped exercising. In fact, when we expanded our house, my wife allowed me to convert our old master bedroom into a weight room complete with bench, squat rack, weight machine, leg extension and curl machine, sit up board, treadmill, 550 lbs. of free weights and dumbbells from 10-70. Our house was the gathering place for all of our son’s teammates. OK, enough background.

In my ignorant youth, I exercised 3 times a week for about 2 ½ to 3 hours, which included all parts of the body. Of course, we now know that’s overtraining, but no one told me. I just knew that I liked the results. Over the years, I’ve tried high reps, super sets, and all the usual workouts. For the most part, they all work if you are consistent. What I can tell you is that at my current age of 68, I can still hold my own in the weight room with much younger men. By now we all know that sarcopenia (loss of muscle due to aging) is inevitable, but it can most certainly be slowed down and delayed with proper exercise, even in the absence of large amounts of testosterone, as long as the requirements for protein (1,2). -1.5 grams/kilo of body weight for men and slightly less for women). I gave up heavy lifting years ago, but what I lift now is considered heavy by many. Even my teammates from 50 years ago made that comment recently.

High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT, has been shown to be the most effective and efficient means of achieving a good cardiovascular workout. So after almost a year of experimentation, I combined HIIT with weights. Please understand that Y44 is an exercise method. You can still do the exercises you want, split your workouts, etc. The beauty of Y44 is that you only have to do one set of the exercise to get great results. In fact, doing more is overtraining. I can almost hear the skeptics now, but keep an open mind. I have turned many skeptics into believers. People have been very satisfied with the Y44 method.

If you are elderly or seriously out of shape for weight training, consult your doctor and get his or her approval before attempting the Y44 (I always strongly recommend having a complete physical before embarking on any new training regimen). Yes, it is that intense. This is NOT a beginner’s workout. You also need to make sure your kidneys are working properly to be able to handle the protein.

The best results from weight training are when you bring a muscle to complete exhaustion. Be aware of the protein requirements, otherwise this will not work. Again, keep in mind that you can do almost any exercise using the Y44 principle. I say almost because some, like flat bar bench or open bar squats, cannot be done this way. If you want to bench or squat with the Y44 method, a machine is the best option.

For the purpose of explaining the Y44 method, I’ll use a dumbbell bench as an example. Again, this is a method. You can continue any exercises you want in combination, as long as you allow at least 72 hours between working on a specific body part. Okay, let’s do this.

Take whatever weight you can do 8 reps with and cut it in half. As an example, I can comfortably do 8 reps with 100 pounds. dumbbells, so my Y44 set will be with 50’s. I set my timer for 4 minutes. I lie down and do as many reps as I can until I can’t move, usually 21-25, then I sit down. I take exactly 4 breaths, come back down and repeat the process. I can usually do 7-8 reps. I sit down and take another 4 breaths, and come back down, this time doing maybe 3-4 reps. I repeat this process until the timer goes off. 4 minutes, 4 breaths equals Y44. This constitutes a set, and that is all that is needed.

It seems too simple, especially for those who think they need 5-8 series. Keep in mind that this is weight training, not bodybuilding. This is more of the order of body sculpture. Oh yeah, and if you don’t think this involves cardio, follow your pulse during your workout. Y44 is a hybrid HIIT. As with all weight training, make sure your form is excellent to avoid injury.

I’m not a researcher, so no, there are no studies versus a control group to point to, and at this point in my career and personal life, I’m excited to get results and share them. I am happy to let my background speak for itself. I’ll let some graduate assistant or doctoral candidate organize everything, record the results, and do all the statistical analysis. I’d like to help.

Just remember that it will take you about a month to get in shape to really attack the Y44 method. As the old legal disclaimer says, “Results may vary.” Of course, send me an email and tell me I’m crazy. I love hearing all the wonderful results from a crazy fellow.

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