Your Simple College Workout Plan

College Workout Plan | How to Gain Muscle in College | Easy College Meals | Dorm Room Supplements | Ripped Undergrads

Reasons for hitting the gym over the books vary. Some people want to dominate on the intramural field. Others want to burn off the extra party calories.

To do that, we're guessing you need some help—so we enlisted Marc Megna, a performance coach who played high school, college, and NFL football before embarking on a career as a sought-after trainer and fitness model.

Here are his lessons in college lifting to help get you started.

Lesson 1: Get Your Daily Calories Squared Away

What you eat may be more important than how you train. Unfortunately, college life is too often fueled by crappy dorm food and pizza deliveries.

No more excuses, though. You may have to do a little extra work to plan meals on a college budget, but here's a look at a sample college meal plan designed to help you build major mass and burn fat in between class and studying.

Meal 1

Banana

Protein Powder

1 scoop

Meal 2

Tuna

1 can

Carrots

1 cup

Meal 3

Lettuce

2 cups

Ham (diced)

1/2 lb.

Cheese (shredded)

1 oz.

Tomato

1 slice

Bell Pepper

1/2

Meal 4

Chicken (cooked)

8 oz.

Quinoa (cooked)

1 cup

Broccoli (steamed)

1 1/2 cups

Lesson 2: Supplement Your Gains the Smart Way

The smart college kid supplements his or her diet with protein canisters rather than beer cans. Make sure your dorm room is stocked with supps that will help you build lean muscle while you hit the books.

Top-quality supplements give you that extra edge in the gym and help you recover faster afterward. Invest in the body you want now, and it will pay off for years to come.

Lesson 3: Learn How to Lift Like a Pro

You have to push your body and train hard to build muscle that earns admiration on campus. If you want exceptional results, you need to put in exceptional effort.

As explained in the comprehensive college workout plan, Big Man on Campus, what you learn in the gym each day is something you can transfer to your school studies and the rest of your life. Discipline and focus help you push your limits—and succeed well past graduation day.

Here's a sample workout to help get you started:

Day 1: Chest, Triceps, and Abs

Treadmill running

Perform at a brisk but sustainable pace for 5 min. as a warm-up. Alternately, perform another moderate-intensity cardio exercise of your choice.

1 set, 5 mins

INCLINE BARBELL BENCH PRESS (WARM-UP SETS)

Use a light weight and stop each set short of failure.

Barbell Incline Press

2 sets, 5-10 reps (rest 1 min. )

Barbell Incline Press

After the final set, perform an optional mixed-grip dropset with light weight: 7 reps close grip, 7 reps medium grip, 7 reps wide grip. If this is too difficult, perform the workout without the dropsets.

3 sets, 8-12 reps (rest 90 sec. )

Incline Dumbbell Fly

After the final set, perform a single dropset. See Training Guidelines for details.

3 sets, 8-12 reps (rest 1 min.)