Nebraska Weightlifting Program
For those who just want the PDF or Spreadsheet:
The Nebraska Weightlifting Program (PDF ~ 106 KB)
The Nebraska Weightlifting Program (XLS ~ 129 KB)
When I was in high-school I lifted weights for two years religiously. I reaped the benefits of the Nebraska Weightlifting Program. My body was still developing and I put on 30 pounds of muscle—a noticeable 2 inches on each bicep and 1 1/2 inches on each forearm. I gained strength everywhere, but an athletic teenage guy is mostly interested in his arms.
That was then…
Now I spend my days staring at a computer. Mostly I design in photoshop and illustrator, code markup in CODA, create wireframes in OmniGraffle, edit Django templates, and correspond with co-workers world wide via internet tools like Basecamp.
I still weigh what I did at my high school graduation, but the strength and physique I once took pride in have faded much over the past decade. My sedentary work has led me to begin looking for a familiar work out regime. I want to keep my slowly aging butt in shape. With that in mind I’ve begun planning my weeks to include a healthy dose of physical activity. I thought it would be easy to find the ol’ Nebraska Weightlifting Program online. An hour of google searching and scanning yielded 1 result with the barebones of the program. Being a designer I couldn’t stand for such poor results. I did a little planning and labored in OmniGraffle for a couple hours. A little designer wizardry produced this PDF:
The Nebraska Weightlifting Program (PDF ~ 106 KB)
I realized shortly after producing the PDF that there were better ways to go about managing this data. So I created an excel spreadsheet to do all the math for me. Here’s the download link.
The Nebraska Weightlifting Program (XLS ~ 129 KB)
I must admit I added a lot more stations to the spreadsheet than the PDF, so it’s a much more intense workout. I’ve seen great results building on this program. It’s now August 5, 2010 (about 8 months of working out). I’ve gained 25 pounds but have reduced my body fat from 34% to 17% (I use one of those fancy scales that sends electric current through your bare feet to measure that). If I were more disciplined to eating the right foods I’m sure my results would be even better.
Enough about me :-). Please share any positive results you’ve noticed following this program in the comments below, or make improvement suggestions.
3. December 2009 um 21:57
Hi Heath,
Good stuff. Do you have descriptions of some of the excercises? (like Tri-pushdowns, tri-overheads, etc?)
6. December 2009 um 17:00
Thank you for the questions. Anytime you read “Tri” it’s referring to your “Triceps”, “Bi” refers to your “Biceps”. Those are the muscle groups being targeted by the exercise. Tri-pushdows are an exercise that focuses on strengthening the triceps by fixing your arms in front of you on a platform or at your sides at 90° at the elbow then pushing weight downward until your arms are fully extended (180°).
The tri-overheads are accomplished by holding a dumb bell (DB) behind your back and extending it straight-up over your head. You can also do this with a cable based machine, like in this video: http://is.gd/5ekHX
Let me know if you’ve any other questions. :-)
6. December 2009 um 17:11
Another great video worth watching is this one: http://is.gd/5elGM It really focuses on the proper technique for doing curls. :-)
5. August 2010 um 17:03
I have a question. Looking at this chart lets say week one, you do cycle 2 for all exercises (3×10) but those marked with * (cycle 1 2×10), you don’t do 5 sets?
5. August 2010 um 17:42
Mike, sorry for the confusion. You understand the spreadsheet correctly. Basically rather than doing both cycles (5 sets) you only do the cycle marked with the asterisk (2 sets). I’ve actually gone a lot further than this PDF too. I now have a spreadsheet that does all the calculations for you. I’ll add it to the post with a download link. :-) Hope you find it helpful.
6. August 2010 um 02:50
So for those without asterisk you need to do both cycles for that week?
6. August 2010 um 02:51
That spreadsheet helps a lot with calculation. Thanks.
6. August 2010 um 12:39
That’s correct. Do them consecutively, and rest as little as possible between reps—at most 30-45 seconds. For every station/lift without an asterisk you need to do both cycles for that week. :-) Also, as a word of encouragement, don’t get hung up on the weight amounts, focus instead on completing the workouts… even if that means reducing the weight. Just adjust the spreadsheet as necessary for the next week. Lastly, take an energy drink or bar with you to the gym. This program was designed for semi-professional to professional football players—for a 7000-9000 calorie per day diet. It’s intense and it will zap the life clean out of you if you’re not intaking enough calories.