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Answers from Danny M O'Dell:

Q. My two sons surprised me with a HOME JYM (weight & Pulley type) but no Training chart. I have tried to obtain a chart via the Internet, all I get is sales of  the same JYM, no charts. Can you help?

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Answer:

Hi there,

Your sons obviously love you a great deal to spend their money on exercise equipment for their Dad. You must be very proud of each of them and for good reason.

While I am not familiar with the specific machine you have, if it is like the others on the market with a similar set up I can certainly give you some good exercises to do with it.

To begin with make certain all the pulleys, cables and handles are securely fastened to there respective attachment points. Keep a log book of your training days. Write it all down; sets, reps, weight, easy, medium or hard, start and ending times.

Next warm up with a skip rope-my favourite dynamic warm up. Do this for up to five minutes and then decide if this will be an upper, middle or lower torso training day.

If you have chosen the upper torso begin with a shoulder warm up and do the following prior to using your machine:

Start with bodyweight only and work up from there. Some advanced elite athletes use up to twenty kilograms for these exercises.

• Wide clockwise circles with outstretched arms.
• Wide counter clockwise circles with outstretched arms
• Arms straight to the sides with palms facing the body moving out front and back over head without bending them
• Arms bent at 90° and then extended rapidly to the front and back to the 90° starting position

Now that your shoulders are warmed up start your exercise program with the following sequence.

Alternate your exercise days by taking a break in between each session, unless you are planning on doing three days in a row with one day off and then repeating the series again. Do each exercise for eight repetitions for up to five sets with a moderate work to rest ratio of 1:3-4.

The three day on one day off schedule follows.

Upper torso training

• Shoulders
  • Military presses
  • Pull downs or chin ups
  • Low cable attachment side and rear raises
• Chest
  • Bench presses
  • Pec dec
• Upper back - Pick two of the following:
  • Cable rows-similar to the barbell rows
  • Upright rows
  • Low cable rows
  • One arm cable rows
• Arms - Pick one of the following from the biceps and triceps group
  • Triceps push downs
    
  • Low cable attachment triceps extensions
  • Cable bicep curls
  • One arm cable bicep curls

Middle torso training

• Sit ups
  
• Reverse sit ups with low cable attachment
• Cable crunches
• Side bends
• Good mornings with high cable attachment
• Reverse good mornings with low cable attachment

Lower torso training

• Squats with low cable attachment
• Calf raises with low cable attachment
• Leg curls with low cable attachment
• Leg extension I am not fond of the leg extensions because in my opinion it tends to separate the knee joint.
• Abductor with low attachment
• Seated soleus calf exercise again with the low attachment and the handle resting on your knees as you sit.
• Dead lifts
• Stiff leg dead lifts

Take a day off and then repeat the series again for the next three days. Remember to change exercises on the next three days.

Full body every other day schedule

Warm up as in the preceding workout program. Do each exercise for eight  to ten repetitions for up to four sets with a work to rest ratio of 1:2-3. Begin with an upper or lower exercise and alternate between them as you progress through your session. Work quickly but correctly, by that I mean don’t become sloppy with your form as it will surely lead to an injury.

1. Squats
2. Military presses
3. Calf raises
4. Stiff leg dead lifts
5. Pull downs or chin ups
6. Sit ups
7. Side bends
8. Bench presses

• Triceps extensions
• Low cable rows
• Biceps curls
• Side and rear raises

There you have two very solid programs to assist in getting you stronger and more powerful.