Q4 2018 Workout Review: EMOM

What is an “EMOM” Workout?

Back in September I started a workout block that was built on an upper-body / lower-body EMOM split (you can see the full workout here). The base of the workout was 3 reps of fairly heavy deadlifts, every minute, on the minute, for 10 minutes. After four minutes of rest, I then launched into 10 more minutes of heavy bench presses, 3-5 reps. I did this routine twice a week, Monday and Friday. Around this were several auxiliary movements, depending on the day. Tuesday / Thursday were aerobic or sprint days, Wednesday was a general pickup day to hit missing muscle  groups, with Saturday and Sunday allotted for rest and recovery.

Why EMOM?

I’m always trying to mix up my workout routines. Your body gets in a rut when you perform the same workout day after day, week after week. Your body doesn’t need to adapt to the stress once the “routine” sets in, so mixing it up every couple of months keeps your body guessing.

I also have many different goals for my body, and different workouts target those different goals. Some workout blocks are for strength. Some are for hypertrophy (muscle size). Some are for flexibility. Some for stamina. I try to design workouts that will address my goals.

The EMOM workout was designed primarily for stamina and strength. Moving quickly, repeatedly, through a series of fairly heavy lifts elevated my heart rate and challenged me to recover in time to attack the next set each minute. Moving up in weight every week or two ensured that my body was challenged to adapt to new loads in both strength and endurance / recovery.

What Were The Results?

I kept this routine up for 8 weeks.

At the beginning of the cycle, I was energized. I felt great at the end of each workout. I’m defining “great” here as winded, tired, and “pumped”. My numbers were increasing, and in addition to my goals of strength and endurance, I could tell I was gaining some size, especially across my chest, hips and thighs.

By the end of the first month, however, I was slowing down. I wasn’t terribly motivated to get to the gym. My body was so very fatigued. Obviously I had blown my central nervous system. I dropped my Wednesday workout and used it for recovery, which helped, but there were days where I could only make it through the core workout with no auxiliary work. Increases in weight on the bar were harder to come by. By the end of 8 weeks I was done: tired, restless, fatigued. I took a full week off of lifting (but not running) to recover at the end of the cycle.

So it was a failure, right? Wrong.

How To Use This Workout

The EMOM block has earned a spot in my workout rotation. I know that it’s a block that works as a short-term program. In fact, for variation, I threw it into my workout last week. I walked away feeling absolutely invigorated (but was sore for four days).

Most likely I’ll throw this workout into my rotation at the end of a couple of other cycles, with these changes:

• A maximum of 4 weeks in the block
• Wednesdays off for recovery
• A possible variation that doesn’t include an increase in weight through the cycle
• An occasional EMOM workout in the midst of other less demanding workout cycles.

I encourage you to give it a try for a couple of weeks with the tweaks listed above. See how it works for you, then add your observations, below.