2018 New Year's Challenge Program Overview

Whether you slacked off with your workouts the past couple months or finished the year strong, I want to help you start 2018 the right way with my 3rd annual New Year's Challenge. The first two installments (2016, 2017) were huge successes, providing some extra motivation and producing great results for countless JimStoppani.com members.

This time around, I expect the same types of results (maybe better), only with a slightly different method than the past two years: full-body workouts utilizing programs from my Train With Jim series. For the next month and a half, you'll be doing a different full-body plan every week for 6 weeks. This approach will help you maximize fat loss while also promoting gains in size and strength.

For full details on the rules of the challenge and the prizes that will be awarded to the winners, visit the New Year's Challenge landing page.

2018 New Year's Challenge Workouts

If you've been a JimStoppani.com member for the past several months and/or follow me on Facebook and Instagram, you're probably familar with my Train With Jim series. The whole premise is full-body training (all major muscle groups hit in every workout) combined with high frequency (training nearly every day, typically 5-6 days per week). These aren't just workouts I design for others to follow – these are the exact workouts I do myself.

For the New Year's Challenge, I've made a 6-week program out of six different Train With Jim routines. The weekly workouts will be as follows:

Week 1: 5x5 Full-Blown

Week 2: Full-Body Superset System

Week 3: Whole-Body Speed Set Training

Week 4: High-Frequency GVT

Week 5: Whole-Body Oxford Drop Sets

Week 6: Small Angles Full-Body

Full details on each program can be found by clicking on the above links, but here's a CliffNotes explanation of each one:

Week 1: 5x5 Full-Blown

This routine consists of five workouts. You’ll be doing 10 exercises in each session – one move per bodypart (chest, back, legs, shoulders, traps, biceps, triceps, forearms, calves, abs).

The one major difference between this program and just about all of my other Train With Jim routines is that you’ll do the SAME EXERCISES in all five workouts. And you’ll use the same weight on each of those 10 moves as well. That said, every workout your goal will be to complete the 5 sets of 5 reps for each exercise in less time. If and when you’re able to accomplish this, it means your training intensity will be increasing from workout to workout. The same amount of work performed (same sets and reps, same amount of weight) in less time equals a more intense workout... and better results.

Week 2: Full-Body Superset System

There are six workouts to be completed here. Every exercise in every workout will be supersetted with another move. But the workouts will all be quite a bit different. You'll be utilizing three different types of supersets during this week – opposing muscle group supersets, compound sets, and extended sets. Each different type will be done for two days. Aside from that, you'll also be incorporating the technique of pre-exhaustion to further boost intensity and spark new gains in size and strength.

Week 3: Whole-Body Speed Set Training

You'll be training five days this week. In all workouts, you’ll do one exercise for each of the 10 muscle groups, doing two sets of 15 reps per exercise in Speed Set fashion. Each set will break down like this:

Reps 1-5: As fast and explosive as possible on the positive (concentric) portion of each rep, while still controlling the negative.

Reps 6-10: Super slow reps – five seconds up, five seconds down. About 10 seconds per rep, 50 seconds total for these five reps.

Reps 11-15: Normal pace reps. If you choose the correct weight, you should hit failure right around rep #15.

That's one set. You'll rest 1-2 minutes, then complete one more set in the same manner before moving onto the next muscle group.

Week 4: High-Frequency GVT (German Volume Training)

Technically, this week won't entail all full-body workouts, but it will be pretty close. Instead of hitting 10 muscle groups per day, you'll train five with one exercise each; the next day, you'll train the other five to complete the two-day split. You'll do six workouts, hitting each muscle group three times.

Why the decreased frequency? Because you'll be doing 10 SETS OF 10 REPS FOR EACH EXERCISE (aka German Volume Training). You'll use 60%-70% of your one-rep max (1RM) on each exercise and rest 60 seconds between all sets. Five exercises per workout may not sound like much, but trust me, this week will be as tough (if not tougher) than any.

Week 5: Whole-Body Oxford Drop Sets

You'll do five workouts this week, 20 exercises per workout (two per muscle group), all following my Oxford Drop Set protocol. Each exercise will be performed for 3 sets of 10 reps, with no rest. The 3x10 scheme will be quick and intense – thanks to two drop sets after reaching initial failure, and possibly some rest-pause to finish off.

Here's the protocol for each exercise following the Oxford Drop Set method: Start with your 10-rep max (10RM) and go to failure; without resting, immediately drop the weight significantly and do 10 more reps (drop set #1); drop the weight again with no rest and do 10 more reps (drop set #2). If on either (or both) of the drop sets you aren't able to reach 10 reps initially, rest-pause until you reach 10. Make sure you reach 30 total reps on each exercise.

Week 6: Small Angles Full-Body

My 5-day Small Angles program is a combination of tri-sets and extended set training, albeit in a slightly different manner than you’ve done the techniques before. For the most part, each workout will hit all 10 muscle groups, but instead of doing one exercise per bodypart (like usual), you’ll do three, with only one set per.

Each of the three exercises for a given muscle group will be basically the same movement, just at a slightly different angle (hence, "Small Angles"). For example, incline flyes followed by flat-bench flyes followed by decline flyes for chest. Sometimes, the angle changes simply by tweaking your grip – ie, barbell rows for back using a wide grip, narrow grip, and reverse grip. By the end of each workout, you’ll have hit your muscles with 30 different angles over the course of 30 total sets.

Download the Entire New Year's Challenge Program Here

If you're signed up for the New Year's Challenge here on JimStoppani.com, good luck! But even if you aren't, I highly recommend doing this 6-week program. It's a great way to start the year off with a bang, but it will work any other time during the year, too.

Happy New Year, everyone! Make this your best one yet!

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