Sarah Connor T2

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by gemtkd, Mar 16, 2011.

  1. gemtkd

    gemtkd Valued Member

    I've always been so inspired by Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2.

    I just found "apparently" her workout that got her in to that fantastoc shape!

    I don't know if this is the right place, or if anyones actually interested, but I'm gonna try it and see how I go!

    The three upper-body workouts code-signed by Cortes and Yee, described in the chart below, draw from the same group of exercises, but differ in terms of results. If you could care less about muscle definition, but would like to do enough weight training for muscle tone and health, do Workout 1. If you've set your sights on a pretty "cut" and some significant gains in strength, do Workout 2. If your goal is to achieve something akin to Linda Hamilton's Terminator 2 physique, Workout 3 is a great start -- it will yield the maximum muscle you can get on your own.
    For all three workouts, you will need weights -- a buildable dumbbell set and a barbell are ideal because they will give you the most weight options -- as well as an incline bench. The amount of weight you use will depend on you: For each exercise, pick the heaviest weight that will allow you to complete eight repetitions while maintaining good exercise form; when your muscles don't feel tired by the last rep or two, increase to ten reps, and then to 12. When 12 reps is easy, increase the amount of weight you use and start over with weight.



    Workout 1:
    Twice a week, with two days of rest between exercise sessions
    3 sets of 8 to 12 reps for each move
    Dumbbell bench press
    One-arm rows
    Lateral raises
    Kickbacks
    Standing curls

    Workout 2
    Three times a week -- i.e., every other day
    3 sets of 8 to 12 reps per move
    Dumbbell bench press
    Inclined flies
    One-arm rows
    Bent-over rows
    Lateral raises
    Front raises
    Standing curls
    Kickbacks

    Workout 3
    Four times a week: Mondays, Thursdays (work chest, shoulders, triceps)
    Tuesdays, Fridays (work back, biceps)
    4 sets of 8 to 12 reps per exercise
    Dumbbell bench press
    Inclined flies
    Lateral raises
    Front raises
    Kickbacks
    One-arm rows
    Bent-over rows
    Standing curls

    Exercises for Muscle - A Little to a Lot
    These upper-body exercises are all you need to put some shape into summer-bared arms -- or go all the way to real sculpted definition.

    1. Dumbbell bench press

    (FOR CHEST)
    A. Lie on bench with knees bent and feet flat on bench. Holding a dumbbell in each hand, straighten arms directly above chest, palms facing feet.
    B. Bend elbows until upper arms are even with chest. Return to starting position.

    2. Inclined dumbbell flies

    (FOR CHEST)
    A. With bench in inclined position, lie on back, legs bent and feet on floor. Grasping a dumbbell in each hand, straighten arms above chest, weights together and palms inward.
    B. Slowly bend arms until elbows drop just below chest level. Return to starting position.

    3. One-arm dumbbell rows

    (FOR BACK)
    A. Place your bent left knee and left hand on a flat bench. Hold a weight in your right hand and straighten your right arm toward the floor until you feel a slight stretch in your upper back.
    B. As if pulling something from the ground, bend your right arm as far as possible, keeping your elbow near your body. Return to starting position. Complete all your sets on one side, then switch to the other.

    4. Bent-over bar row

    (FOR BACK)
    A. Stand at end of inclined bench, holding barbell with hands slightly wider than shoulders. Bend forward so that forehead rests on bench. Feet are shoulder-width apart, knees relaxed and abdominals tight.
    B. Bring barbell as close to chest as possible. Return to start.

    5. Lateral raises

    (FOR SHOULDERS)
    A. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, knees relaxed. Grasp a dumbbell in each hand and position arms at sides, palms facing in and elbows soft.
    B. Raise arms straight out to sides to shoulder level, palms facing floor. Lower arms to starting position.

    6. Front raises

    (FOR SHOULDERS)
    A. Stand with knees soft and feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, palms forward.
    B. Raise arms to shoulder level, keeping shoulders and elows relaxed. Lower arms to starting position.

    7. Standing curls

    (FOR BICEPS)
    A. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, knees relaxed. Hold a bar in front of your body with hands slightly wider than shoulder-distance apart. Palms face forward.
    B. Bring bar toward chest, keeping elbows in and abdominals tight. Don't let wrists bend backward. Lower bar to starting position.

    8. Kickbacks

    (FOR TRICEPS)
    A. Stand with knees bent and left hand on left knee for support. With a dumbbell in right hand, bend elbow, keeping it next to waist.
    B. Straighten arm, elbow close to body; lift straight arm just slightly at the end of the move. Return to starting position. Complete all sets, then switch sides.

    If anyone has any tips; additions or anything you think may improve the workout, please let me know!!
     
  2. righty

    righty Valued Member

    Please, not while I'm eating.

    Seems like the only differences between those 3 workouts is from 1-3 they are
    -increasing the number of (isolation) upper body exercises
    -increasing the number of workouts per week
    -increasing the number of sets per workout

    And considering I could replace most (probably all) of those exercises with a bench press and incline/inverted row - and maybe also the press and pull/chin ups I'd rather take the shorter workout - and probably better strength results by reducing the number of reps.

    It really depends on what your goals are. Are they to look like Sarah Connor? Keep in mind she would have had relatively low body fat as well during shooting. So the diet is also going to be a bit factor, not just in cutting the fat down, but in building the muscle up. Basically those workouts look more like bodybuilding ones, rather than more focused on functional strength.

    And if I do remember correctly, T2 does include a scene where Sarah Connor is indeed doing some chin ups. Now that's not included in any of those workouts. :p
     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2011
  3. seiken steve

    seiken steve golden member

    Was she really in that great shape? i don't want to beat on your insparation or anything

    It's been totally over hyped IMO, i think most women could acheive that look with a basic strength routine and a very good diet. yet now you've go sites like the SCCS (sarah connor charm school) kicking up, there are 1000 IFBB bikini pro's who put her to shame IMHO.

    Then again i was inspired by goku so who the hell am I?

    The workout apears to be for a woman with no legs too?
     
  4. seiken steve

    seiken steve golden member

    Agreed.

    Yeah she up turns her bed and does them of th head board, i think her lats where her strongest feature, which mkes me skeptical of the work out.
     
  5. righty

    righty Valued Member

    And because I got interested I just had a quick look to see if I could find a similar sort of thing, but to show how diet fits into things.

    Taken from the below website it shows the general food plan Hillary Swank was using for Million Dollar Baby.
    http://munfitnessblog.com/how-to-build-female-boxer-body-like-hilary-swank/

    # Hilary Swank ate protein and low carbohydrates diet during the preparation of her role. She consumed about 4,000 calories a day, twice much more than an average woman would eat. While Jennifer Garner and Jessica Biel ate less than 2,000 calories a day, Swank needed that to build more muscles with vigorous gym workouts.
    # She had to eat about 210 grams of protein daily. However, because body can only absorb so much protein in one meal, she was told to eat protein rich meal every 4.5 hours. Egg white and fish were common items in her meal. She even had to wake up in the middle of the night to drink protein shake so that she could meet her caloric goals.
    # As for carbs, she took not more than 50 grams a day.
    # In addition to protein, she drank flax oil which contains high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Flax seed oil provides about 1,000 calories a day, a quarter of her daily intake. According to her personal trainer, two reasons why he asked Swank to do so:

    * As Swank ate little carbohydrates, her body would use stored fat as energy. So, flax oil will stoke the metabolism to help burning the fat and digesting protein she has eaten. In this case, the oil has provided high quality calories for muscle building without affecting the fat burning process. The end goal is to build muscle yet at the same time, reducing body fat percentage.
    * Also, because of long hours spent in boxing and working out, Swank has overtrained. Her trainer mentioned that the flax oil would reduce her joint pain.

    # As for her menu:

    * Breakfast: protein shake blended with egg whites, oils, vitamins and minerals.
    * Lunch and dinner: fish and lots of green vegetables.
    * Similar protein shakes were used as snacks throughout the day
     
  6. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

    If Linda Hamilton inspires you to workout then go for it. Heck, T2 was one of the reasons I started to weight train. Nowadays, her look is a bit too skinny for my liking.

    However, from what I've read in the past, that workout you've posted was only a fraction of what she was doing. She was working out for several hours each day, doing a fair bit of conditioning work as well as weights and on a fairly restrictive diet.

    You'd be better off doing a full body workout using free weights and compound lifts (as others have said) and don't forget you have legs that need to be worked out!
     
  7. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

    Something else to consider (and Righty has touched on it in her post) is that routines designed for actors to get them in specific shape for a film are often unsustainable in the long term. Their aim is to get the best results in the shortest possible time and can lead to over training. If you were to do them consistently for long periods they could lead to muscle imbalances and over-use injuries. They are usually designed for aesthetics, rather than for sport specific performance enhancement, so often have gaps in the muscle groups being targeted.
     
  8. gemtkd

    gemtkd Valued Member

    Thanks guys!

    I'm gonna do a less intense version I think. I'm not very fit so not throwing myself in all crazy like!

    Slightly off topic, but I've started doing a few pull ups! (2 or 3 at a time, pathetic I know, but I really am that unfit). The thing is, my left elbow and bicep has got really sore, elbow is like a bad joint pain and not sure about the bicep, I think it may have something to do with the contraceptive implant I have, it's always caused me a little pain, but after literally a couple of pull ups its really sore! I thought the implant had moved, but as far as I can tell it hasn't!

    Would flaxseed oil help? Or is there something else I can do/take?

    BTW, Sorry, know it's maybe a bit too much info, just don't want to do myself any proper damage:)
     
  9. seiken steve

    seiken steve golden member

    What are your iron, potassium and sodium levels like?

    Are you left or right handed?

    May be worth speaking to your doc about the implant before hitting up the hard training.

    PS we can offer some much better plans than the T2 to get you looking hot and feeling strong.
     
  10. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

    If you're new to pull ups you might have tweaked a tendon in your elbow. Be careful because if you're not, you could end up with tendonitis. Make sure it is fully healed before training again. Tendons take much longer to recover from an injury than muscles. Ease into pull ups rather than trying to do loads initially.

    It is possible the implant is rubbing on some tissue in your arm and causing irritation. You should probably get it checked out by your doctor.
     
  11. gemtkd

    gemtkd Valued Member


    I haven't had my iron etc levels taken for a long time, but I've always had really good levels without supplements!!

    I'd love a better plan?!! I don't have the time for the gym, any working out I do is usually when/if I get the kids down for a nap.

    I will call the doctor on Monday to see if it's a possible issue!

    With the pull ups, I'm honestly hardly doing anything!! Maybe 3 at a time, I wouldn't even count it as exercise yet, if it didn't cause this problem!
     
  12. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

    What equipment do you have access to?

    Would you be prepared to buy stuff?

    How much time and space do you have for a workout and how often do you train martial arts?
     
  13. gemtkd

    gemtkd Valued Member

    At the moment I go to training once a week, I do practice nearly every day though. I don't have anything really in the way of equipment (pull up bar, small dumbells), but would be willing to buy some things!

    if i am lucky, the kids can sleep for up to 2 hours, so would have enough time to do a half decent workout!
     
  14. seiken steve

    seiken steve golden member

    If you've a clean diet then I doubt the levels are an issue, problem lies in what people consider to be a healthy diet, some browsing on here should help that.

    I'd recommend googling bill stars's 5x5 and Mark riptoe's Starting strength. They'll give the base to develop the strength for more advanced training.

    Personally I'd Finnish with a complex after each work out for hypertrophy but then complexes are my new toy so I'm just bias :)
     
  15. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

    How serious are you about training? Because that will affect what you buy.

    Ideally I would suggest a set of weights (barbell and dumbbells) of at least 100kg (but that will depend on how much space you have and where in the house you are likely to be lifting).

    If you don't want to spend a lot of money or don't have the space to keep things/workout, you might be better getting things like kettlebells, sandbags, resistance bands and a weighted vest.

    If you want to start a routine now I would suggest starting with bodyweight exercises such as pull ups, push ups, bodyweight rows (you could do these using your pull up bar and a chair to put your feet on), use your dumbbells for overhead pressing and a leg complex (see link) for your lower body.

    http://www.t-nation.com/testosterone-magazine-628#complex-approach-to-quads-hams

    You can add weight to exercises by using a backpack full of books.
     
  16. seiken steve

    seiken steve golden member

    Didn't read through properly and assumed you where a gym member, sorry.
     

Share This Page