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Ok now let’s talk about the two key components that makes up your workout program and
that is cardiovascular training and weight training.
Let’s firstly look at cardiovascular training:
Cardio
Cardiovascular exercise does more for the health and appearance of the human body than
probably any other form exercise. The only other form of exercise that also does this much for
your overall appearance is weight training which we will talk about in a second.
But let’s firstly look at what type of cardio workouts are the most effective to burn those
stubborn fat cells.
Ever heard of HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training as its known? Well High Intensity
Interval Training is just a little different than your typical hour long, ineffective and boring
cardio sessions on the bike or treadmill or any other equipment that you are currently doing.
In fact HIIT can fit into a 30 minute session and burn twice, if not 3 times the amount of
calories than an hour’s long low intensity session would. HIIT can be performed with or
without cardio machines. It’s a form of exercise where you perform short high burst of
intensity, followed by a brief rest period to catch your breath. Not only will HIIT speed up your
metabolic rate, but it keeps the metabolism rate increased for hours afterwards. But the secret
here is that you have to push yourself with these types of workouts. You can do an hour long,
non-exhausting workout if you prefer, but you won’t reap the benefits that a HIIT session can
offer you.
Let’s quickly take look at a typical HIIT session and how it works.
Let’s take the example of a workout on a stationary bike (remember you can use any cardio
machines or even no equipment by doing exercises like jumping jacks which are just as
effective as anything else) . You should start off with 2-5 minutes of low intensity cycling just
to warm the body and muscle up and get all the blood circulating. After you warm up its time
to crank up the intensity and push hard for a full minute. After this high intensity burst you
slow it down again to catch your breath. A good work to rest ratio is 50/50, meaning you slow
down (rest) for the same period of time that went flat out (work). After this rest period you go
full throttle again for a minute or 30 seconds. And basically you continue this cycle until 25 to
30 minutes have elapsed and then you cool down for 2-5 minutes again by cycling at 50 or
60% of your maximum heart rate (MHR). If you are a beginner you might only be able to do
10 to 15 minutes in the beginning but that is fine, as long as you pushed yourself and you
make sure you do a little more at each session until you can do 30 minutes per workout. Now
when we talk about the resting period or low intensity section, we mean you should be
training at about 50 to 60% of you maximum heart rate and when you are performing the high
intensity intervals you are training at 85 to 90% of your maximum heart rate.
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HIIT Cardio Sample Workout
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Now what is my maximum heart rate (MHR) some of you might ask?
Well let’s quickly look at how you can calculate your MHR and also your target heart rate
zones. Now there are few ways of arriving at this figure but one of the simplest ways is as
follows.
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First you take 220 minus your age. This will be your MHR.
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To determine your target heart rate which is the zone you want to work in most of the time,
you simply multiply your MHR by .60 and .85. This will give you the lower and upper end
of the target zone you should be working within.
So let’s look at an example of someone who is 40 years old
His MHR will be 180 beats per minutes (BPM).
85% of his MHR will be 153 BPM and
60% of his MHR will be a 108 BPM.
So when he is doing his interval session he will work at about 108 BPM during his low
intensity interval bouts and at 153 BPM when his doing his high intensity section.
Now let’s just look at a couple of other things when it comes to you cardiovascular workouts.
Firstly, when is the best time to work out for maximum results?
Without a doubt this will have to be first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. When we
talk about an empty stomach we mainly mean the absence of carbohydrates (and fats) as it is
still very important to take in some protein, maybe in the form a whey protein shake, 30mins
before and after every workout to make sure you don’t lose any of that hard earned muscle.
By not taking in any carbohydrates your body has to use your fat stores as an energy source
which is exactly what we want.
If HIIT cannot be performed first thing in the morning due to scheduling conflicts, make sure
that your last carbohydrate meal was at least 90 minutes prior to your exercise session.
And then finally, HIIT should not be performed for more than 30 minutes in one session. If
your results remain slow after about 6 weeks you can increase the duration of your sessions
or drop your carbs slightly lower. The great thing about HIIT is that you can mix it up very
easily. Try 3 minutes fast and 1 minute slow or 2 minutes fast and 30 seconds slow or even
30 seconds fast and 30 seconds slow. It does take a little experimentation, so try it out over
the course of a few sessions.
In weeks 6 to 12 of your workout programme, we discuss the use of light cardiovascular
training sessions. These sessions are optional and must be performed a minimum of 4 hours
after your high intensity weight training workout. It is important to note that this is a light
workout and that your heart rate should fall within 50-60% of your maximum, no more. The
reasoning behind this theory is that you can immediately target your fat as an energy source
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at such a low intensity. If you have 45 minutes to dedicate to this practice then it’s a great
way to burn a few additional calories.
Weight Training
Aerobic exercise takes a back seat to weight training when it comes to controlling the way you
go about burning calories and losing weight as well as the amount of weight you lose. The
main difference is that while aerobic exercise burns more body fat during the actual exercise
session, weight training continues to cause calories and body fat to burn for quite a while after
the exercise session is over. Muscle is very active tissue and requires more energy to
maintain than fat. Every pound of muscle we gain from weight training increases our resting
metabolic rate by fifty calories per day. Weight loss that results from diet alone manifests
itself in the form of a loss of lean muscle. However, lean muscle burns calories, even while
the body is at rest. A properly executed weight training programme can provide results
quickly with an addition of one pound of muscle each month. Over thirty days that one pound
of muscle can cause an energy deficit of 1500 calories. For every 3500 calories of energy
used up, you will lose one pound of body weight.
So, if you want to lose fat or change your body, one of the most important things you can do
is lift weights. Diet and cardio are equally important, but when it comes to changing how your
body looks, weight training wins hands down. If you've hesitated to start a strength training
program because of whatever reason including the perception that it might make you too
bulky if you are a female, it may motivate you to know that lifting weights can actually:
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Help raise your metabolism. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so the more muscle you
have, the more calories you'll burn all day long.
Strengthen bones, especially important for women
Make you stronger and increase muscular endurance
Help you avoid injuries
Increase your confidence and self-esteem
Improve coordination and balance
Getting started with strength training can be confusing--what exercises should you do? How
many sets and reps? How much weight? The routine you choose will be based on your
fitness goals as well as the equipment and the time you have available. If you're setting up
your own program, you'll need to know some basic strength training principles. These
principles will teach you how to make sure you're using enough weight, determine your sets
and reps and ensure you're always progressing in your workouts.
1. Overload: If you want to get stronger, you need to use more resistance than your muscles
are used to. This is important because the more you do, the more your body is capable of
doing, so you should increase your workload to avoid adaptation. In plain language, this
means you should be lifting enough weight that you can ONLY complete the desired
number of reps. You should be able to finish your last rep with difficulty but also with good
form.
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2. Progression. In order to avoid plateaus (or adaptation), you need to increase your
intensity. With strength training, you can do this by increasing the amount of weight lifted,
increasing the sets/reps, increasing or changing the exercises you're doing and/or change
the rest intervals between sets. You can also change the order of your exercises. This
means increasing your intensity every week.
3. Be specific. This principle states that the way your body adapts to exercise depends on
the type of exercise you're doing. That means, if you want to increase your strength, your
program should be designed around that goal. To gain strength and mass, you want to
train with heavier weights closer to your 1 RM (the maximum amount of weight you can lift
for only one repetition - 1 rep max). If you want to build strength and endurance, you'll
want to stick with lighter weights and a rep range of 8-12.
4. Rest and Recovery. Rest days are just as important as workout days. It is during these
rest periods that your muscles grow and change, so make sure you're not working the
same muscle groups 2 days in a row.
Remember, Weight training is a great all round body conditioner and should be an integral
part of any new body transformation program. And when it comes to changing the shape of
your body, nothing is going to help you as much as doing weight training.
The Workouts:
Now that we have taught you the exercise and workout power principles we will show you
how to incorporate them and create your ultimate workout plan. Below you will find the
complete workout programme for 12 weeks.
Let’s now look at the programme you perform for the first six weeks:
Weeks 1-6:
You will be performing your complete upper body on one day and your complete lower body
the next day. These upper body and lower body workouts will each be performed twice per
week. On a Monday train upper body and on a Tuesday you train your lower body.
Wednesday is a cardio day. This is a three day rotation programme. On the Thursday you
begin this three day rotation programme again by performing upper body exercises, Friday
your lower body exercises and cardio workouts on Saturdays. Sunday is the day of rest. A
section on abdominals is provided below to explain the training of this important muscle
group.
Remember our focus here is to help you get into the best shape in the shortest amount of
time possible. This is a high intensity programme and will require much dedication, focus and
commitment on your part. However if you feel the intensity is too high in the beginning and is
something you need to gradually build up to, you can train your whole upper and whole lower
body workouts only once each per week for the first few weeks. The other two days,
(originally reserved for weight training), are replaced with cardio sessions.
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Regardless of the workout or day, keep your rest intervals over the first four weeks at a
maximum of one minute between each set.
After these first four weeks we change the programme a little to increase the intensity. For
the last two weeks (namely week 5 and 6) decrease your rest periods between sets from one
minute to 30 seconds. This is a great plateau breaker. I want to make it very clear that the
weight training programmes performed here are designed to make you lose fat so it is vitally
important that you stick to the reps and set structure and the rest periods. If this is too intense
rather decrease the weight you are lifting than taking longer breaks. Remember, right now
this is a weight loss programme, not a bodybuilding or mass gaining programme. This does
not however mean that you shouldn’t push as heavy and as hard as possible, as always.
Now let’s look at your complete upper body and lower body workouts. A description of the
typical workout scenario is as follows:
For each body part you train that day you will perform two different exercises. One primary
exercise followed by a secondary exercise. For the primary exercise you will complete four
sets starting with twelve repetitions. This is followed by ten repetitions, a set of eight
repetitions and a finally a six repetition set. Remember the rest periods between these sets.
After the last set of six repetitions you immediately move onto the secondary exercise (do not
take your time as the second exercise must start directly after your last set of the first
exercise) and complete ten repetitions. Rest your minute (in the case of weeks 1-4) and then
perform 12 repetitions followed by a third set of 14 repetitions. Choose a weight that is heavy
enough so that you can only just manage to squeeze out your 14 repetitions for that set. To
increase your workout intensity make this last set a drop set. A drop set is when you,
immediately (without delay after performing those 14 repetitions), take a lighter weight and
continue to perform repetitions until you can no longer complete a repetition with good form
through a full range of motion. Your muscles should be exhausted.
This exercise plan works exactly the same for both upper and lower body weight training
workouts, following the same structure of sets, reps and rest for each body part. Ladies
please note that your repetition range is slightly higher than that used for males.
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Full Upper Body Workout Program Week 1-6
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Full Lower Body Workout Program Week 1-6
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Weeks 6-12:
Now it’s time to crank up the intensity and pace!
The structure will completely change for the final six weeks and remember that this was the
exact same workout structure I have used to continue losing one percent body fat per week
while still maintaining my hard earned muscle mass.
This workout will literally put your whole body into overdrive and increase your metabolism to
a level never reached before. This will require more focus and attention than the first six
weeks programme but the results provide large dividends.
The main difference in the final six weeks is that there is now a male and female version.
This difference is indicated in the number of reps performed between the sexes. Basically
females perform higher reps than their male counterparts. In the description below we will
show you how many reps to do as a male and how many reps performed if you are female.
Once again your workout programme is a three day split meaning that you workout Monday
Tuesday and Wednesday and repeat this again Thursday Friday and Saturday. On your 7th
day (Sunday) you will perform the only one cardio session of the week. Please remember
that the weight training workouts you will be performing will have to be done at a very high
intensity, to ensure you burn more calories without the additional cardio. However, low
intensity cardio (where you heart rate is between 55 and 65% of maximum, no more) can be
performed as a second workout on any weight training day as long as it is four hours away
from the weight training workout to increase results.
Your programme will now look as follows:
Monday – back and biceps; Tuesday – chest and triceps; Wednesday – lower body and
shoulders. AB workouts will be explained in the section below, but follow the same structure
as in the previous six weeks.
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DAY 1: Back and Biceps Workout
You will work out your back muscles first. Once this is finished move straight onto a
continuous 15 min cardio session of low intensity work (55-65% MHR). This is then followed
by the bicep workout. The same structure will be followed in each and every workout.
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DAY 2: Chest and Triceps Workout
You will workout your chest muscles first. Once this is finished move straight onto a
continuous 15 min cardio session of low intensity work (55-65% MHR). This is then followed
by the triceps’ workout. The same structure will be followed in each and every workout.
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DAY 3: Legs and Shoulders Workout
You will workout your leg muscles first. Once this is finished move straight onto a continuous
15 min cardio session of low intensity work (55-65% MHR). This is then followed by the
shoulder workout. The same structure will be followed in each and every workout.
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Abdominal Workout
The abdominals are like any other muscle group in the body and should not be treated any
differently, therefore we suggest working one ab group per workout. Ok, let’s first spilt them
up into their three sections. The Upper Abs, Lower Abs and Side Obliques.
The reason why we break each area up into its own workout is that just like any other muscle
group, the abdominal muscles need rest in order to develop, therefore working one area of
the abdominal wall will provide seven full days of recuperation and development time.
Abdominal workout structure
• Abdominal exercises are performed 3 days per week, focusing on a different area on each
day.
• You will perform 3 different exercises for the same abdominal group.
• You will complete each exercise three times. This means you will do exercise 1 then move
straight on to exercise 2 and then straight onto exercise 3. Only then do you rest for 30
seconds before repeating the entire sequence again and again.
• For beginners, in the first two weeks, reps should fall between 10 to 15 for each exercise.
After this period trainees should aim for failure on all exercises where possible. With
failure you will perform as many repetitions as possible until you find performing one more
repetition for that exercise impossible and that is when you will move on to the next
exercise. When you do this you will have reached 100% level of intensity. This also means
that the ab muscles involved in the exercise have been worked to Momentary Muscular
Failure (MMF) and have been stimulated to optimum levels. Should you stop short by a
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few repetitions then you will not reach MMF and you will have lowered the threshold
leading to abdominal growth and development.
Important note: always train your abdominals after you have warmed up, either after cardio
or after weight training sessions.
Tips and tricks to make your abdominal workouts even more effective:
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Make sure you contract your abdominals on every repetition. This means, for example,
when performing a crunch, you come will come up, hold the position pushing for a second
and really contracting your abdominals, before you move back down again with control.
Do not relax when you go back down to the start position. Once again let’s look at the
crunch. After you have contracted the abdominals in the top position, do not go all the way
back down and rest your upper body on the floor. Keep it just a few inches off the floor and
then immediately lift back up again for your next repetition. This will ensure you keep the
intensity high throughout the movement.
Change your exercise order and selection to more advanced choices every 3 to 4 weeks.
You will find these examples in the exercise index at the end of this manual.
Once again, train to failure. I can not hammer this point in enough. If you do not train to
failure you are just wasting your time and will see little or no results and you will not get
that sexy six pack you want.
Here is an example of what your abdominal routine will look like.
Monday will be Upper Abs, Wednesday will be Lower Abs and Friday will be Side Obliques.
Let’s now look at the actual workouts for each muscle group:
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Upper Abs Workout
Lower Abs Workout
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Oblique (side abs) Workout
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