I have had some e-mails from some of ya'll who asked about a cutting routine a while back and I have recently with the help of some other trainers developed one that is working miracles for ourselves and some of our clients. I will post it here in case anyone wants to try it. It is fairly intense and contains no low-intensity cardio. It is based on two four day splits, one after the other, and each one focusing on different muscle fibers with the same exercises. The way the different muscle fibers are targeted are by hitting the split hard and heavy (ie low reps, heavy weight) on the first go round and then lowering the weight by about 30% and upping the reps on the following go round. You should be increasing the weight slightly on each new Heavy turn of the split. The four day split is as follows: Day 1: 1- Deadlifts - 4 sets 2- Powercleans - 3 sets 3- Superset of - 3 sets Arnold Presses (type of shoulder press with dumbells) and Dumbell Upright Rows. Use the same dumbells. 4- Leg Presses - 3 sets This day one routine is a real burner and will leave you sore all over if you aren't accustomed to lifting. Please start slowly if you haven't lifted in a while or you won't be able to walk the next day. This day will get your hormones flowing and put you in Anabolic. Day 2: 1- Flat Bench Dumbell Presses - 3 sets 2- Incline Dumbell Presses - 3 sets 3- Pull Ups - 3 sets to failure 4- Dips - 3 sets to failure 5- Bent One Armed Dumbell Rows - 3 sets 6- Preacher Curls with EZ Bar - 3 sets This day targets the core of your upper body, your chest and back, and also hits your arms nice and strong through secondary stress. You do not want to focus too much on small muscle groups though when trying to lose fat because small muscle groups are going to burn less calories and have less of an anabolic impact hormonally. Day 3: There is a reason we have left out squats so far. This day is for high intensity cardio. 1- 40 yard sprints - 10 sets Be sure to warm up and stretch, as always. And go only about 80% on your first and last two sprints. Use the middle ones as your true masochistic punishment. You may want to start off with 6 to seven sprints and work your way up. 2- Plyometric Jumps - 7 sets You want to do 7 plyometric jumps in a row(jumping straight up as high as you can, preferably on soft ground or a mat and then as you come down jump immediately up again). seven sets of seven jumps. Day 4: Rest Then you do it over again. The first time around you use as heavy a weight as you can work up to at about five reps. Then the second go round of the split you will lower the weight about 30% and up the reps to between 12 and 20 reps. Of course the sprints and jumps will be the same for both go rounds. As far as diet goes, this is something that will have to be calculated per individual. As for myself I like to have a Met-rx with Peanut Butter in the Morning, I let myself have a high protein non fast food lunch such as a Quiznos or a chicken ceasar salad. Then I have a MuscleMilk by Cytosport before my workout and then a smoothie I make with orange juice, Designer Whey, and a Yoplait yogurt right after my workout. I only drink water for the rest of the evening. I take a zinc supplement, a multivitamin, a C&E vitamin, and an Omega-3 supplement called Coromega. And get 8-9 hours of sleep. I have lost 2 inches off my waist in 16 days and increased my Deadlift by about 50 lbs. It feels good to shrink my waist and up my lifts at the same time. And I would like to say you should give yourself about five days off everytime you complete the eight day split three times in a row. Rest is important to being healthy and overtraining will only hurt your ability to gain muscle and lose fat.
I've been looking for a good workout routine. Here is my only problem...I'm not sure what a few of these exercises are ?? The ones I'm not sure about are the Deadlifts, Powercleans, Dumbell Upright Rows, and the Bent One Armed Dumbell Rows.
Buy a book that shows with pictures how to perform each lift. You can find a book like this in any decent book store in the sports section. Joe Weider makes a good one, so does Arnold, so does Gold's Gym to name some notables. It is hard to describe these lifts without pictures so please consult a guide.
These were all the excercises I was doing yesterday with a beer in my hand watching football......and I still havent lost inches on my waiste
Thanks, LG. Per your advice in my "supplement' thread a few weeks ago, I've decided to scrap the Atkins plan all together and go with a more balanced whole food diet. I switched my MRP of choice to GNC's Mega. Also, I'm taking that "Kleiner shake" you suggested after my workout (instant breakfast, banana, peanut butter) and I'm already feeling a difference even though it's only been a couple of weeks. As far as diet goes, you mentioned Quiznos. What do you get when you eat there? On the rare occasions when I crave "fast food" I usually do the Subway Club (less than 7 grams of fat) with mustard instead of mayo. Is this a good thing? Also, what other meals would you suggest that are easy to cook?
I once knew a dude who worked out drunk and stoned and the dude could actually lift pretty good. It was wierd, kind of like Brad Pitt in Snatch boxing hungover. That dude was hard. I wonder what he could have done sober....
My idea is a bit controversial to losing weight. What exactly are we doing? Losing weight, by gaining weight? If you want to lose weight, this is my plan. Don't eat.
Never take a pro-hormone, period. They not only have no proven anabolic advantage, they have a proven estrogen effect. I would never promote steroids but I would say that if you would spend so much money on something that doesn't work, why not just go ahead and get the stuff that does.... It is my opinion that pro hormones may have a small impact on testosterone levels, but it is countered by estrogen level increases and either way is not worth the money they ask for the product. What generally happens is when someone pays so much for those pills they feel more motivated to work out, and get better results, and think it was the pills that helped. Placebo effect. If you want to buy something that will help your workout, Creatine is good and proven. And good quality MRPs such as Met-RX, Myoplex, and Cytomax's Muscle Milk are good investments. If you have never used Muscle Milk I highly recommend it. It is something that I was exposed to by reading articles about Adam Archuleta and I love it. I take it before my Workout and After sometimes and it really gives me an energy boost. I suggest Cookies and Cream.
The thread title is burning fat. If you increase your lean muscle, your metabolism goes up too, increasing fat burning. Also lifting weights increases testosterone and growth hormone which both promote fat burning, which is the reason why sprinters and body builders are all cut to hell. I think most people like to be muscular and not just plain skinny.
Also Kam, something to bear in mind is that if you stop eating suddenly your body will go into starvation mode and your metabolism will drastically lower, and your body will actually start to catabolise muscle first instead of fat because it knows that reducing muscle will help to lower natural metabolism. This is a process of evolution designed to help humans survive. This is also why many fat people have a real hard time losing weight because they will not eat for three days, their metabolism lowers, they feel like crap, then they will start eating again and now that their metabolism is lowered they put on even more fat than before. To acheive lasting weight loss you must increase your metabolism, eat a reasonable and quality diet, and increase your fat burning hormones through resistance training.
That was actually a sarcastic post, but that is some interesting stuff though. I don't have a lot of fat to burn, but I could use a lot more muscle.
It worked great, but I'm pretty close to my ideal weight now. Now I'm looking to build muscle instead of drop pounds. I'm also looking for more of a life plan instead of a "diet". From what I understand, building muscle is impossible without good carbs. Atkins is great if all you want to do is lose weight. If I ever start gaining weight again (fat, not muscle), I'll go back on it.
Can you translate that type workout into something you can do at home with dumb bells and a slant bench or do you need the super heavy weights to have that kind of effect?
I could translate that into a BowFlex workout but LeGrouper would probably hang me by my balls because he hates that piece of junk.
Understood. That was my plan also, except I will strive to decrease my sugar and white flour intake permanently. They're bad for the system. How much did you lose on Atkins?
Sorry Drummer I didn't see your reply at cause I was responding. Yes the Kliener shake will really help your lifts and put on muscle but I have temporarily halted its use because I have gone on a cutting plan to make weight for a fight. Hence the reason I had to change my lifting plan. That is funny because I have decided I can't stomach the GNC MRP's anymore although they are a good product, I just don't like the taste. Myoplex is delicious. Red Glare - I am a certified personal trainer and I currently only have five clients that I help in North Houston gyms. I used to work at Gold's Gym in College Station. Mario - I use the dumbells for two reasons. One is I have a bad left shoulder and the bar restricts my shoulders movement and can aggrevate that injury. The other reason is that my right hand is quite a bit stronger than my left and I don't want to overcompensate with one hand on a barbell. Timing - You will need heavier weights if the weights you have you can do more than 10 reps with in a set. I suggest joining a gym. You simply can't get very serious about fitness unless you have all the equipment. If joining a gym isn't an option I suggest you go with a push up, pull up, sprints every other day. Surfguy - if you already have a bowflex, it will get you by... just don't buy one if you don't have one yet... I actually met a chick recently who sculpted quite a bod on her bowflex and we had that classic debate again. Cohen, yes I definitely have to watch my simple sugar intake because it will cause my blood sugar to crash and then I go on a binge. I am looking for the article, I will post it later here, but there are some doctors that believe that parasitic fungi have evolved that live in our body and eat when our blood sugar jumps from simple sugars. Freaked me out. I will try to find that article.
