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2003/03/28, 05:00 PM
Here's a new fat burning workout I just devised. It'll also do a great job getting you in shape. I took elements from Don Alessi's Meltdown and Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence training to put this together. Most of the published fat burning workouts (the previous two, and Phase I of Men's Health's Iron Manual) are superior, but hard to do in a gym because they require you to hold down a bench, a power rack and some dumbbells all at once. I optimized this one for gym training so that would not be an issue. In many cases you can use dumbbells where I prescribe barbells and vice versa and not have to move around at all. Here is the strength training element:
Set/Rep scheme explanation follows workout.
Workout A
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A1) Barbell Deadlift
A2) Barbell Squat
B1) Dips
B2) Lat Pulldowns / Pull-ups
B3) Swiss Ball Crunches / Cable Crunches
Workout B
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A1) Dumbbell Flat Bench Press
A2) Dumbbell Bent Rows (neutral grip - palms facing)
B1) Travelling Dumbbell Lunges
B2) K-Twists (I have a description somewhere in the forum, I'll post it next)
B3) Dumbbell Jump Squats
B4) Low Woodchoppers
The A movements are done as a super set with no rest in between. The B movements are done in a triset with no rest in between. Do the A superset 4 times resting 60 seconds after each superset then rest 2 minutes and do the B triset 3 times with 60 seconds rest between trisets. Do sets of 12-15 reps for the first half of the workout period and 8-10 reps for the last half (if you use the workout for 4 weeks, do 12-15 for the first two and 8-10 for the last two).
Secondly, do the following cardio workouts:
1) 400m Intervals : Run a 400m (quarter mile) at about 75-80% of max effort and then slow down and run another 400m at just faster than a shuffle (a really fast walking pace, but maintain running form). That is one interval. Do 4 intervals until you feel comfortable, then move to 6.
2) HIIT : Sprint at 90%+ of max effort for 30 seconds, then slow to a jog for 90 seconds. Do that 15 times for a total of 30 minutes.
3) Steady state cardio : Run or cycle for 30 minutes at a pace fast enough to tire you by the end, but that doesn't require you to stop and walk mid-run.
Start with workout A, do a cardio workout (your choice) the following day. Do workout B the day after, rest the next, then do another cardio session the following day then repeat. Your schedule might look like this (A = workout A, B = workout B, C = cardio session):
Su M Tu W Th F Sa Su M Tu W Th F Sa
A C B C A C B C A C B ->
And so on. Or, for simplicity, you can do workout alternate doing A twice the first week and B once, then B twice the second week with A once and one cardio session. That would look like this:
Su M Tu W Th F Sa Su M Tu W Th F Sa
A B A C B A B C
And if you really wanted, you could add another cardio session to that last split. There's a little freedom since some folks burn fat well with cardio and others not respond far better to lifting. Make sure to mix up your cardio workouts and not do the same one all the time. Don't do the resistance workouts more than three times a week and try not to do the cardio much more than twice a week. The emphasis here is to build a little muscle, even while you're losing fat, so it might be more well represented as a definition workout rather than a fat burning one. Not overdoing it is key here.
I plan to start this workout next week and I'll make sure to post my results from beginning to end. I'll probably be using the first split, or doing two weight sessions per week with two cardio sessions per week.
You're all welcome to give it a shot as well.
(Just an FYI for everyone - I'll be using a 400 calorie below maintenence diet on a 45/25/30 P-C-F split. I have a relatively fast metabolism, so I might even increase the total calories.)
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"Don't follow leaders and watch your parking meters!"
-- Bob Dylan
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2003/03/28, 05:02 PM
I use a movement that I call a K-twist. I'm not positive that I came up with it, but I've never heard of it anywhere else. It's similar to a leg raise, except you raise, twist your legs and hips to one side (only to about 45 degrees), bring them back up, pause (to eliminate any elastic energy), twist to the other side, bring them back up, and then do a toes-to-the-sky, bringing your hips way up and then lower. That's one rep. This is a pretty comprehensive ab movement and I use it at the beginning of my core (abs/lower back) workout.
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"Don't follow leaders and watch your parking meters!"
-- Bob Dylan
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2003/03/28, 05:05 PM
Okay, the chart showing the days didn't come out right. Here is the first split:
Sunday:
Monday: A
Tuesday: C
Wednesday: B
Thursday: Rest
Friday: C
Saturday: A
Sunday: C
Monday: B
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: C
Thursday: A
Friday: C
Saturday: B
and so on . . .
And the second split was:
Sunday:
Monday: A
Tuesday:
Wednesday: B
Thursday:
Friday: A
Saturday: C
Sunday:
Monday: B
Tuesday:
Wednesday: A
Thursday:
Friday: B
Saturday: C
. . . and so on. Or you could just do a cardio session after each A workout.
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"Don't follow leaders and watch your parking meters!"
-- Bob Dylan
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2003/03/31, 10:06 AM
I also wanted to add - If you haven't done squats or deadlifts in the past, you probably ought to start with another program. Deads and squats will leave you REALLY sore the first couple months that you do them (of course they leave you sore after that, too, but never as bad as the first few times that you do them). That soreness will make it really though to do the cardio with proper form.
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"Don't follow leaders and watch your parking meters!"
-- Bob Dylan
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