Ice Cream Fitness
Ice Cream Fitness is a bodybuilding style fitness program based on compound lifts along with accessory lifts. It is an effective weight training program for novice muscle and strength building. The ice cream fitness program works the whole body, but uses accessory lifts to target muscle growth in specific areas. If your goal is to get bigger muscles while gaining strength, this is a good program to use.
The ice cream fitness program actually has nothing to do with ice cream. It was simply the name of the YouTube channel of Jason Blaha, the program’s creator. You can certainly eat some ice cream while on the program. You’ll get a bunch of calories that way, but you’ll probably get a bit too much belly fat from the excess refined sugar. You are better off drinking an ice cream-like smoothie.
The ice cream fitness program uses the compound movements found in many great workout routines. This includes the squat, the bench press, the bent over row, the deadlift and the standing overhead press. These exercises work multiple muscles at once. This helps reduce muscle imbalances and is a more efficient way of training the body than targeting a single muscle per exercise. Compound movements also strain the body the most, releasing higher levels of testosterone and other hormones you need for improved weight training. Compound movements hit muscles which are often otherwise ignored by weight lifters. The core muscles used to keep the spine in proper healthy position are an obvious example of a muscle group which is rarely hit by those who do not do compound lifts.
At the same time, this weight lifting program adds multiple accessory lifts. This is what makes ice cream fitness stand out from some other beginner programs. These accessory lifts bring a higher focus to increasing muscle size and are similar to what bodybuilders do in the gym. The accessory lifts; skullcrushers, curls, cable crunches and hyperextentions focus on more specific parts of the body and making the muscles in that area larger. Because of these accessory lifts many consider ice cream fitness to be more of a bodybuilding program, especially compared to more power-lifting based programs such as starting strength.
The Routine:
Do the program 3 days per week alternating workout A and B on non-consecutive days. For example:
Monday: A
Wednesday: B
Friday: A
Then the following week do:
Monday: B
Wednesday: A
Friday: B
The days of the week you choose do not matter, but make sure there is a rest day between each workout.
Workout A:
* Squats: 5×5
* Bench: 5×5
* Barbell Row: 5×5
* Barbell Shrugs: 3×8
* Tricep Extensions: 3×8
* Curls: 3×8
* Hyperextensions: 2×10
* Cable Crunches: 3×10
Workout B:
* Squats: 5×5
* Press: 5×5
* Deadlift: 1×5
* Barbell Row: 5×5 (about ten percent lighter than workout A)
* Closegrip Bench: 3×8
* Curls: 3×8
* Cable Crunches: 3×10
Add weights in a linear fashion, in the same manner many other beginner workouts recommend. That is, add a bit of weight every workout. If you fail at a lift, drop down 10% in weight the next time you attempt that lift, and work your way back up again.
Pros
- Great for both strength and hypertrophy. Beginners are easily able to develop both at the same time.
- Proven linear program for beginners
- Only 3 days a week
Cons
- All those lifts in a single workout will be too time consuming for some. If that is the case, look for a 5×5 or 3×5 program which focuses only on compound lifts.
- This is neither a pure power-lifting nor bodybuilding workout. If you are specifically interested in one of those sports look for a program specific to that sport.
