🏥 CNA Strength — lift & turn big patients safely
Built for the job: hip-hinge, pull, squat, carry & core-brace at VASA. 3 days/week (rest day between).
Body mechanics that actually protect your back: brace your core before every lift · hinge at the hips (never round or twist your back) · get close to the patient · raise the bed to waist height · use the draw sheet · and use a mechanical/team lift for heavy patients. Strength backs up good mechanics — it doesn't replace them.
Built for the job: hip-hinge, pull, squat, carry & core-brace at VASA. 3 days/week (rest day between).
Body mechanics that actually protect your back: brace your core before every lift · hinge at the hips (never round or twist your back) · get close to the patient · raise the bed to waist height · use the draw sheet · and use a mechanical/team lift for heavy patients. Strength backs up good mechanics — it doesn't replace them.
🎯 Lean build + 🔺V-taper + face definition · 🏋 VASA + 🎒 EVO Gym (portable bands) · every exercise has a tap-to-expand how-to + form video. Sets × reps · rest · cue. ⚠ Right arm eased on push/pull.
⏱️ 20-MIN DENSE BLOCKS — free weights, clock runs the whole time
Nine self-contained 20-minute sessions in three tiers. Do LEGS first in any tier — it is the one that matters most on a cut. Pick one tier per day; never run two versions of the same muscle back to back.
🦵 TIER 1 · ONE LIFT, 20 MINUTES (EMOM) — literally 20 minutes of squats. Reps at the top of every minute, rest the rest of the minute, ×20.
| 🦵 SQUATS | 3→5 reps every minute · 60–100 total reps · ~60% of your 5-rep weight |
| 💪 PRESSES | 3→5 reps every minute · bench, DB or incline push-up |
| 🔙 PULLS | 4→5 rows / 2–3 pull-ups every minute · deadlift only with the warning |
| 🎯 MENU | All 30 lifts with reps-per-minute already worked out |
| 🧱 STACK | 6 blocks = your 2-hour session · legs / push / pull / full-body templates |
📚 Splitting work into many small sets with short rests holds bar speed and cuts fatigue versus straight sets, and builds the same muscle at matched volume. Only ~7 of the 20 minutes are working time — the rest is what keeps rep 100 as clean as rep 1.
⏱️ TIER 2 · DUMBBELL DENSITY — two moves back to back, no rest inside the pair, one short rest, ×3. You work almost the full 20 min.
| ⏱️ LEGS | Goblet Squat ↔ DB RDL · Reverse Lunge ↔ Glute Bridge · Bulgarian ↔ Calf Raise |
| ⏱️ PUSH | DB Bench ↔ Lateral Raise · Shoulder Press ↔ Incline Press · 2 tricep moves |
| ⏱️ PULL | Pull-Up ↔ One-Arm Row · CS Row ↔ Rear Delt Fly · 2 bicep moves |
🏋️ TIER 3 · BARBELL STRENGTH — heavy anchor lift with full ~2 min rest that gets filled, not shortened. Rack and platform work.
| 🏋️ LEGS | Back Squat 4×5 + Barbell RDL 3×6 · rest filled w/ core + calves |
| 🏋️ PUSH | Bench Press 4×5 + Overhead Press 3×6 · rest filled w/ band pulls |
| 🏋️ PULL | Deadlift 4×4 + Barbell Row 3×6 · rest filled w/ hangs only |
📚 Why two tiers instead of one. Supersets finish a session in ~36% less time with equal strength and size gains (2025 review & meta-analysis) — great for dumbbells. But Schoenfeld et al. (2016) showed 3-min rests beat 1-min rests for both strength and quad growth on squats. So barbell days keep the long rest and fill it with work that costs the main lift nothing. Squat anchors legs day, deadlift anchors pull day — never both heavy in the same session.
📅 Weekly Split (each muscle 2×/week · abs woven into every training day)
| Mon | PUSH heavy + abs |
| Tue | PULL heavy + abs |
| Wed | LEGS (squat-focused) + abs |
| Thu | PUSH light + abs |
| Fri | PULL light + posture + abs |
| Sat | CARDIO + abs burnout · or 🟢 Light / 🔴 Heavy full-body (alt) |
| Sun | REST + 📸 photo + walk |
🔺 V-TAPER FOCUS — the look = wide shoulders + wide back over a tight waist. Most of your sets go to these, in order:
| ① Side delts | shoulder WIDTH — lateral raises every push day ⭐ |
| ② Lats / back | the taper — wide-grip pulldowns + straight-arm ⭐ |
| ③ Upper chest | fills the frame — incline pressing |
| ④ Legs | squats lead heavy day · base + proportion |
⚙ PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD = the engine. Beat last time, every session: hit the TOP of the rep range on all sets → add weight or +1 rep next time. Log it. No progression = no growth — this is what actually builds the physique.