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I know I briefly covered this in one of my fitness columns, I figured (since someone asked me again) that I might go over it again in this column.
A lot of women want to lose the “flab” on the underside of their arms, specifically: around the triceps. Contrary to popular belief, doing endless sets of triceps kickbacks is NOT the answer. Why? Because there’s no such thing as spot training; you can’t lose fat in a specific region of your body. You lose fat in layers (over your entire body), and you’re more likely to achieve your fitness goals by following a strict nutritional plan and an accompanying weight and cardiovascular workout.
But what about that stubborn fat beneath your arms? If you eat right and perform regular cardio (3-4 times a week, eventually building up to 5-6 times a week during a high-intensity fat loss phase), it should improve dramatically. Not only that, but you should see a dramatic improvement in your muscle definition–and that’s not just underneath your arms, but everywhere. Of course, a person’s specific results will be affected by his/her individual fitness level and training intensity.
1. Am I making improvements? Can I see a difference in my physique and/or are my numbers (weight/reps) increasing? If not, revamp your workout. If you feel you’ve plateaued, try changing one or more of the following: exercises, repetition range, workout split (what muscles you work on each day and how many days a week you workout), or incorporate an intensity booster like forced reps, drop sets, pump sets, or rest-pause training (I’ll discuss these in either the next post, or the one after that).
2. Do I feel this exercise working the muscle it’s supposed to work? For the record, everybody’s different. You must remember that, because it implies something extraordinary: an exercise that one person truly feels is effective, you may hate. So don’t perform any exercise just because you “heard” it was effective; listen to your body, and see how it feels during the exercise itself (assuming you’re using correct form, of course). If you don’t feel it working the targeted muscle group, then don’t do the exercise. To this day, I rarely do dumbbell curls. I prefer barbell curls; it’s that simple.
3. Am I using correct form? Never underestimate the importance of good form. If you have to choose between lifting more weight with sloppy form and less weight with strict form, always choose the latter. I’m ignoring cheat reps (that’s an entirely different discussion).
4. Could I have trained harder? Don’t misunderstand me; there are many instances when you’re unable to train harder (when you’re rehabilitating an injury, for example). In general, however, this is an important question to ask–were you focused during your workout? Did you try to squeeze out an extra repetition, or did you simply let the weights drop when you were tired? If you want to see serious gains, you need to train seriously.
5. Did I remember my pre- and post-workout nutrition? These are (arguably) two of the most important meals of your lifting days. If you’re trying to gain muscle mass, make sure to consume whey protein powder before you lift (about 25 grams) and a large fruit. After you lift, make sure you drink a shake with about 30 grams of whey protein and 20 grams of casein protein, along with about 40 grams of a fast-digesting carbohydrate (like a bagel with jam, for example). For fat loss diets, keep pre-workout recommendations listed above, but consume about 30 grams of whey protein and a 32 oz. Gatorade directly after your workouts.
A lot of people know about supersets, but never use them. Maybe you’re unsure what muscle groups to superset, or what exercises to superset. So consider this a fast tutorial, with a few sample supersets based on your fitness goals. So go ahead–pick and choose.
If you’re still unsure what superset is, here’s a quick reminder: it’s two sets performed back-to-back, without any rest in between. So if one set consists of a barbell curl for 10-12 repetitions, and another set consists of a triceps pushdown for 10-12 repetitions, a superset may combine both of these exercises, back-to-back (preferably triceps before biceps, but feel free to mix it up) into one…super set (hence, superset). Then you’d rest for 1-2 minutes, and then repeat for another superset, etc.
Supersets often target opposing muscle groups like chest and back, biceps and triceps, quadriceps and hamstrings, etc. Doing so keeps the area flushed with nutrient-rich blood, allowing you to create an optimal environment for muscle repair even while you’re training the opposing muscle group (in fact, it’s the training of the opposing muscle group that keeps the area flushed with blood).
But by no means do you have to train opposing muscle groups with supersets; you could train the same muscle group with two different exercises, or simply two, non-opposing muscle groups. Ultimately, supersets are meant to increase both the efficiency and intensity of your workouts. So experiment with different types of supersets and find out what best works for you.
With that said, here are some suggestions:
Supersets for Mass
Leg Press superset Barbell Lunge
Leg Press superset Dumbbell Lunge
Leg Extensions superset Leg Curl
Bench Press superset Barbell Row
Bench Press superset Incline Pushup
Dumbbell Bench Press superset Dumbbell Pullovers
Dumbbell Bench superset One-Arm Dumbbell Row
Incline Barbell Bench superset (Weighted) Pull-ups
Military Press superset Lateral Raises
Close-Grip Bench superset Barbell Curls
Supersets for Strength
When you’re using supersets with strength-training, you have to be careful. Since you’re primary objective is to lift more, you don’t want to exhaust the muscle prematurely, preventing you from lifting your maximal weight for a prescribed number of repetitions. So try to stay away from supersetting same-muscle groups for strength; following barbell curls with preacher curls, for example, may hinder your strength-training goals by exhausting your biceps prematurely. So while you may have been able to do 4 sets of 6-8 reps with an 80 pound barbell for example, you’ll probably be curling a 65 pound barbell by the fourth set of a superset like the one lifted above. In other words, it’s not the most efficient or targeted means of gaining strength.
But you can still use supersets to increase strength. Consider supersetting compound moves like the barbell squat or bench press with explosive bodyweight moves, like the bodyweight jump squat or clap-pushup, respectively (which well help generate power, allowing you to push through sticking points). Or, consider supersetting opposing muscle groups like biceps and triceps, in a superset like barbell curls and close-grip bench, for example.
Supersetting for Fat Loss
Of course, every fat loss routine should be complemented by a cardiovascular routine. With that said, supersets can make a valuable addition to your training routine. Consider supersetting compound movements like the leg press and barbell lunge, bench press and pull up or bent-over barbell row, and the barbell curl and close-grip bench for low repetitions in the 6-8 range. Consider alternating weeks of strength-training with high-repetitions weeks, in the 15-20 range, with similar supersets. In general, compound movements will help you burn more calories then isolation-exercises like cable crossovers, for example. This is especially true for low-repetition, strength training.
But that doesn’t mean you have to totally eliminate machine exercises. Just consider including more compound exercises, on average, then isolation exercises.
So superset your way to your fitness goals. It’s a valuable training tool; don’t forget about it.
A little tweak can make all the difference, especially when it comes to targeting a muscle group. Maybe you don’t feel the muscle working when it should, or maybe you never knew how to do a certain exercise. While I won’t spend time specifying exactly how to do each of these exercises, adding these tweaks should turn something good into something great.
Dumbbell Curls Tweak #1: When you curl the weight up, try rotating your pinkie outwards and squeezing your biceps at the top of the motion. By outwards, I mean rotating your pinkie towards your shoulder and your thumb away from your body (so your entire forearm should pivot a little bit). You should feel your biceps contract harder than it does in normal biceps curls. If you don’t like this tweak, just don’t use it.
Tweak #2: A different and perhaps simpler tweak you can use for dumbbell biceps curls is this: don’t twist your wrists as you curl the weight up. This motion is called “supinating;” it’s when you start with the dumbbells at your sides (palms in) and your literally curl and twist (or supinate) your palm as you lift the weight, so the dumbbell faces your shoulder at the top of the movement. With the tweak, you won’t supinate; so you’ll start with your palms facing away from your body (facing forward) at the bottom of the movement. It may feel a little awkward at first, but try to keep your palms facing away from your body throughout the entire movement; simply curl the weights up (keeping your elbows pinned to your sides) and squeeze your biceps at the top of the movement.
If you typically dislike dumbbell curls, I would recommend trying Tweak #2; I feel like this method helps a lot of people (including me) feel dumbbell curls in the biceps muscle itself, rather than the shoulder.
Bench Press: Try slowing your descent on the bench press for a different feel, and actually pausing at the bottom for a count of one. This is called changing the “tempo” of your lift, and different tempos can target different goals. Shoot for a 3 second descent and a 1 second hold at the bottom; this should help eliminate any weaknesses you have in the lift, and should help you focus on form in general. You’ll find you can’t use as much weight with this method. In my opinion, that’s a good thing–you’re actually focusing on the lift itself, and not bouncing the weight off of your sternum or letting it float left and right as you lift it up. This Tweak works with Dumbbell Presses as well, both Flat or Incline.
Chin-Ups: To make chin-ups a killer finisher for your biceps workout, keep your legs lifted in front of your body as you perform the chin-up. A nice side-effect of this Tweak, besides allowing the chin-up to target your biceps more effectively, is that you simultaneously train your abdominal muscles (and hip flexors). Shoot for 3 sets of as many reps as you can get, with no weight, at the end of your next biceps workout.
If you’re a man or woman training for fat loss, the chin up (with your legs lifted in front of you) also makes a fantastic addition to a circuit program. Always look for exercises that can target multiple muscle groups simultaneously; it can help increase both the intensity and efficiency of your circuits. Another, off-topic suggestion may be the curl and press, or overhead barbell squat, or push-up to squat jump to pull-up combination (where you do a push up, scramble to a crouched position and then leap for the pull-up handle and do a pull-up), etc.
Bent-Over Barbell Row: Flip your grip to better target your lower lats. So instead of pulling with an overhand grip, pull the bar with an underhand grip, and try pulling it to a lower point in your abdomen (near your belly button) then you did with normal Bent-Over Barbell Rows.
This is an important tip to keep in mind–when you’re doing Bent-Over Barbell Rows, you can actually change which area of your back you’re targeting by pulling the barbell higher up on your abdomen or lower down on your abdomen. The higher up you row it, the more middle back / trapezius you’ll target, while the lower you pull it, the more lower lats you’ll employ. So keep that in mind. And of course, this to a certain degree (ie; you don’t want to be pulling it to your upper chest, etc.).
Lying Triceps Extensions: A recent study showed triceps extensions to be more effective (in terms of targeting the triceps muscle) when performed on a decline bench. So next time you do triceps extensions, whether it’s with a dumbbell or a barbell, try performing them on a decline bench. Also, experiment with where you extend your arms; oftentimes, extending your arms directly above your head (the traditional way) may not feel as “effective” at targeting the triceps then if you extend your arms slightly backwards (say, if you extend an invisible line straight up from your face, about 30 degrees from this line–away from your torso–at the top of the movement). So you’ll be, in effect, extending your arms slightly behind you instead of directly above you.
Whatever you do, make sure you keep your elbows STATIONARY during the entire extension, to the best of your ability.
Weighted Decline Crunch: To make this exercise substantially harder, try holding a relatively light plate behind your head. When you curl your body up, try keep your chin up (not to an exaggerated degree; your head should still be straight). Just don’t curl your head in as you perform the crunch; try to keep your head straight, chin slightly elevated (like you’re snobby), and hands resting softly behind your head. The plate should really be a second-thought, at first; once you feel comfortable performing the decline crunch this way (or if you do), and you want increased resistance, consider holding a light plate (10 pounds, perhaps) behind your head.
A quick note: these tweaks are just suggestions, and some are harder than others. In no way do you have to incorporate every single one of these, or any of these, for that matter. Hopefully, you’ll find something in here that you like, and your workouts will be that much better as a result.
…in no particular order!
1. Train Big Muscles before Little Muscles: this works on two levels–in your workouts and within your week. So within your week, you should generally train legs within the first two or three days, as well as chest and back, before training your smaller muscle groups like biceps, triceps, and shoulders. Of course, this tip can’t apply to everyone’s routine–what if you follow a circuit training program, or a full-body program, or a superset program? In any case, if you’re training a big muscle group and a little muscle group on the same day (for whatever reason), you should perform your large-muscle group exercises before your smaller-muscle group exercises. So if you’re training chest and triceps, do chest before triceps.
2. Keep your Workouts at an Hour or Less: This is the optimal window for your workouts, whatever your fitness goals. After an hour, your cortisol levels increase, which actually hinder your attempt to build muscle. Think of cortisol as the weightlifter’s kryptonite; the higher your cortisol levels, the less effective your workout will be (that’s why post-workout nutrition is so important, because it helps blunt the effect of the increased cortisol levels that intense training creates). So try to keep your workouts under an hour.
3. Keep a Journal: If you’re training and you don’t keep a journal, well…are you really training? So much of exercising has to do with progress, and the only way to check progress from workout to workout is with a journal. Keeping a journal revolutionizes your workouts; suddenly, you can change specific aspects of your routine if you’ve plateaued, or you can try (and should try) to beat your numbers in every subsequent workout–that means either trying to squeeze out one more repetition, or finish 20 reps (for example) on the last exercise in your circuit for the first time. When you look over your training logs, you can say, “wow, I’ve come a long way;” and if not, you at least have an example of something that did NOT work, and you can adapt your workout from there.
4. Don’t Forget your Core: We are all guilty of this, at some point. The workout draws to an end, and…your ab routine is suddenly postponed until next time. But your abs aren’t the only thing that you should be training–you should make it a habit to train your lower back at least once a week via a weighted exercise (or unweighted, given your individual fitness level) like Hyperextensions (if you don’t know what this is, just Google it ). Shoot for 3 sets of 15 reps, or try out a timed set (like 45 seconds or a1 minute) for a different feel.
5. Low Volume for Strength, High Volume for Mass: Generally, if you’re trying to gain strength, you’re workouts should be much shorter that your typical mass-building workout. While you may rest longer between sets, you should be doing fewer sets (usually around 3 or 4) per exercise, and your exercises should consist primarily of compound moves like the bench press, deadlift, and squat. Of course, many variations to this rule exist and you should pursue whatever fitness program works best for you. But in general, a mass-building workout consist more exercises, more sets, and higher repetitions per set (and many more isolation exercises, like dumbbell flyes, cable curls, etc.) than strength-building workouts do.
6. Prioritize your Weaknesses: If you have a small chest, for example, consider training chest twice a week, or earlier on in the week, or on its own day. That’s what it means to prioritize your weaknesses. Not only will you be (presumably) better rested when you train the muscle, but you’ll also be more focused. And never underestimate your mental preparedness for a workout.
7. Focus, Focus, Focus: I want to cry whenever I see someone talking on the phone in the middle of an exercise. So much of training has to do with focus, and that means visualizing the muscle contracting during each set, preparing yourself for the subsequent set in-between sets, and visualizing yourself completing the set successfully before you perform the set. So bring music, block out extraneous sound, focus on your lift–whatever your fitness goal is, devote your time to the gym to exercising. Not only will your workout take less time (hopefully), but it will be much more effective.
8. Periodize to Achieve Any Fitness Goal: Whether it’s preparing for a marathon or gaining 10 lbs. of muscle, or even getting lean before your wedding, periodization is one of the only scientifically proven methods of achieving your fitness goals (within reason, of course). For sample programs, look at some of my previous posts (”From Weight Loss to Definition: Training Specifically” and “Get Huge with Periodization”; keep in mind that individual workout programs may differ based on individual fitness levels and preferences).
9. Rest Less for Muscle Size: The International Sports Science Association suggests that rest periods between 30 seconds and 1 minute are optimal for gaining muscle size. This rest period goes by faster then you think, so you might want to bring a stopwatch or just watch the clock.
10. Cardio AFTER you Lift: Perform cardio after you lift, particularly if you’re trying to decrease body fat. If you’re not lifting on a given day and still performing cardio, do it in the morning after consuming about 25 grams of whey protein and (if you want) a cup of coffee.
In the effort to achieve one fitness goal or another, a lot of folks forget about unilateral training, which involves training only one side at the time. If you’ve ever done alternating biceps curls, you’ve done unilateral training–by curling each weight up, squeezing the muscle, and then returning it to the bottom before curling the other one up.
The benefits of unilateral training are pretty straightforward: since you’re training each side individually, you can focus more so on the muscle itself, you can (hopefully) eliminate any swinging or momentum, and you can target any weaknesses. So if you’re left pectoral (chest muscle) is much stronger then your right pectoral, for example, you may incorporate alternating dumbbell chest presses into your workout.
Here’s a quick tip–unilateral exercises can be a fantastic addition to any workout, and you should generally include at least one unilateral exercise in your leg routine to prevent any muscle imbalances that may (eventually) result in an injury. That may be as simple as including a dumbbell or barbell lunge into your workout.
Unilateral exercises can also make a great addition to sports-specific training. I mentioned earlier that your routines should have some overarching plan, and I suggested a linear periodization method–so your workouts will progress linearly towards a single goal, whether that means starting in a foundational period of strength and gradually increasing your repetition range and total number of sets every 3-4 weeks until you reach a final, muscle-building phase, or if it means progressing towards a period where you incorporate lots of moves that mimic the sport you’re trying to improve on, like golf (so lots of rotational work, abdominal work, lower-back and rotator cuff exercises, forearm work, etc.).
That’s where unilateral exercises can be a key addition: in these final, sports-specific cycles.
But don’t forget about them if you’re NOT training to improve in a single sport. Try a few of these workout suggestions and see if you like any of them. To give you an idea, you can generally lift less weight with a unilateral exercise then you can with a non-unilateral exercise. So if you usually lift 75 pounds for 8 to 10 repetitions for the dumbbell bench press, you may have to knock it down to 55 or even 50 pounds to achieve the same number of repetitions.
Unilateral Exercises (to name a few)
One-Arm Dumbbell Bench Press (Flat or Incline)
One-Arm Dumbbell Shrug
Alternating Dumbbell Shoulder Press
Leaning Dumbbell Lateral Raise (grab onto a stable vertical bar, keeping your feet wedged against the side, and lean away from the bar, holding a dumbbell; perform a lateral raise).
One-Arm Dumbbell Triceps Extension
One-Leg Leg Extensions
One-Leg Leg Press*
One-Leg Leg Curl
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*A brutal addition to your leg workout may include supersetting the traditional leg press with a one-legged leg press. After you perform 8 repetitions on the leg press, take off a few plates and perform another 8 with each individual leg. Try holding the bottom position for a count of 5 to increase the intensity even further.
The same thing goes for the one-leg leg extension. Try beginning with a normal, two-leg leg extension, and then dropping the weight and performing the same number of repetitions with each individual leg.
Additionally, you may try supersetting a unilateral chest press like the one-arm dumbbell chest press with an isolation movement (non-unilateral) like the dumbbell flye during your next chest workout. This is a tough superset (trust me).
So I guess the moral of the story is this: you’ve got two sides. Try using each one, on it’s own, once in a while–particularly if you normally do compound movements or usually shy away from unilateral movements. You’ll find them much more difficult (since you’re not used to them, for one thing). So get excited. There’s still new stuff out there, after all.
So I’m trying to put together a list of any fitness question anyone wants answered, and I plan on addressing it both in this blog and via my fitness column.
So is there anything you want to know about fitness? A good exercise to target —? What happens if you do —-? How can you prevent, train, work towards, etc.?
If you have more than one question, go for it. I’ll try to answer every single one. And just so you don’t think I’m some random guy writing a fitness blog, I’m actually a certified personal trainer, and I’ll make sure to double-check any advice I’m unsure about. So…ask away!
By the way, you can e-mail me your questions at danhan@uga.edu OR you can post them as a comment to this blog entry. Thanks!
When training shoulders, a lot of folks overlook a great training technique: isometric holds, particularly with lateral raises.
The next time you perform lateral raises, hold the dumbbells at the top portion of the rep (so your body makes a T) for X seconds, instead of lifting the weights up and down. Determine how long you’re going to hold the weight before you actually start holding it. That way, you won’t sell yourself short by quitting early.
Make sure you have a slight bend in your elbows, to alleviate the stress on the joints.
The great thing about iso-holds (in my personal opinion) is that they create a phenomenal burn in the shoulder muscle, particularly when supersetted with compound exercise like dumbbell shoulder presses or military presses.
So if you’re looking to define your shoulders, a fantastic (and grueling) addition to your workout might look like this (you can substitute 6-8 for 12-15, depending on what phase of your workout cycle you’re in):
Dumbbell Shoulder Press 4 x 12-15
superset
Lateral Iso-Holds: 4 x 45 seconds
To round out the above workout, you may want to do an Arnold Press (or another exercise that targets your front deltoid head) and a Rear-Delt exercise.
So try this exercise out. Who knows? It may be your new favorite.
A lot of people like training with stability balls, wobble boards, and all of those so-called “functional” training devices. But the problem is, most folks incorporate them haphazardly into their workouts and never really know when to use them. So when DO you use them?
Your training routine should look like a time line, beginning with foundational training and then progressing to sports-specific training, which usually incorporates functional moves.
So whether your a man or a woman, athlete or non-athlete, the foundational-period shouldn’t consist primarily of wobble-board and functional exercises. Instead, you should be focusing on heavier, compound movements like the squat and bench press.
This is especially true if you’re trying to improve your golf game (or tennis game, let’s say). Both of these sports involve lots of rotational movements. Even so, the initial weeks of your workouts should include little (if any) rotational movements.
But after four weeks (or longer, depending on your goals and initial fitness level), you can start incorporating basic functional movements–but not the stability ball or wobble board (not yet).
By basic functional movements, I mean one or two exercises that mimic a sports-specific movement. So for our tennis or golf example, that might be a lunge with a loaded trunk rotation, a one-armed bench press (which involves more core stabilizer muscles), or Russian twists.
When you finally reach the sports-specific cycle, that’s the time to pull out the stops and bring in the wobble-board and stability balls. That way, you’re body has developed a foundation of strength, has been introduced to various functional moves (which may be later adapted in some way or another, like performing Russian twists ON a stability ball after you master the regular version), and then finally has progressed to very sports-specific movements.
Even if you’re not training for a specific sport, the same general principle applies. You want to start with compound movements and then progress by manipulating sets and reps towards a final phase that fully targets your fitness goal, whether it’s fat loss via circuit training and intense cardio or muscle mass via 8-12 repetitions per set.
So what happens after you finish? Well-earned rest. Take a week or two off. You’ve earned it.
So I know I mentioned training specifically in the last column, which seems a bit easier for women then men. I mean, how does a woman goal-orient her workouts? Because to be honest, the average woman’s training regiment looks something like this:
- running four to six times per week
- crunches / sit-ups
In the effort to lose weight or keep weight off, and gain muscle definition, a lot of women shy away from weight training–because few women want big muscles.
But here’s the catch. The Use/Disuse Principle–one of the fundamental fitness principles–is fairly simple: use it or lose it. So if you’re not specifically training muscles via resistance training, you won’t build any muscle. But if you’re not supplementing your cardiovascular exercise with resistance training, you’re actually NOT efficiently targeting your fat-loss or “toning” goals. Why not? Because your resting metabolic rate has to do with your lean body mass; in layman’s terms, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. So to really become lean and defined, you need to hit the gym.
So here’s how you do it. Training in the 6-8 repetition range will give you strength and boost your metabolic rate, with minimal increases in muscle size. Then, moving to a high-repetition (12-15 and 15-20) circuit phase will promote fat loss, increasing your muscle definition with little increases in muscle size. In this circuit phase, you’ll progress from one exercise to the next without rest.
After a three or four weeks, either add another exercise to the circuit or decrease your rest-periods between circuits. Make sure to take a light week in-between your phases (so, circuit train for 4 weeks, take a light week of recovery, then add another exercise and circuit train for another 4 weeks, etc.) for your body to recover.
The in-between week doesn’t have to be complicated. It could simply be the circuit itself, but with each exercise performed individually for 3 sets of 15-20 reps, for example (so you won’t go from one exercise to the next without rest in this week).
Keep in mind that the program outlined below is meant for someone who wants to decrease body fat and increase muscular definition. If you’re content with your current body weight, I wouldn’t recommend you do the circuit-training portion of this program. Instead, you could just substitute it with occasional supersets and high-repetition free weight exercises, which become more specific with each additional phase (more on this below).
So the breakdown of the overall cycle may look like this:
4 weeks: strength phase (6-8 reps; failing within this repetition range); train 3 days per week
1 week: recovery week (light weight, ~15-20 reps); train 3 days per week
4 weeks: strength phase (same as #1; change some exercises)
1 week: recovery week
4 weeks: Circuit Training ~ depending on your fitness level, choose 4-5 exercises (preferably free weight moves) to perform back-to-back without rest. Also, depending on your fitness level, rest 1.5-2.5 minutes between circuits. Train 3-4 times per week.
1 week: recovery week
4 weeks: Circuit Training ~ either add an exercise to the previous circuit, or cut the rest period by 30 seconds. Train 4 times per week.
Also, as your body becomes acclimated to the circuit training, you can begin to incorporate more functional moves into your circuit–like stability ball training or one-arm dumbbell squats. Don’t be afraid to squat, by the way (with dumbbells or a barbell). When done correctly, it’s a fantastic move for shaping the lower body.
Finally, make sure you supplement your routine with regular cardiovascular exercise 3-4 times per week.
Also, try to increase either the # of times you perform cardio or the intensity level as you get into the circuit portions of your workouts. You can alter the intensity level by running faster, increasing the resistance (if it’s a treadmill or an elliptical), increasing the incline, running for longer periods, or incorporating a high-intensity method like HIIT.
In other words, mimic the cycle above with your cardio routines; during the strength phase, perform less-intense cardio fewer times per week (~ 3 times per week for 25 minutes, let’s say). During the recovery weeks as well, decrease the intensity. As you get into the circuit-training, however, increase it (for example) to 4 times per week for 30 minutes per session, and then decrease it during the interim recovery week, and then back up to 4 (or 5) times per week for 35 minutes (or longer, depending on your individual fitness level and training goals).
A quick tip: for optimal fat loss, perform your cardiovascular routine either first thing in the morning on an empty stomach (or after downing about 20 grams of whey protein mixed in water), or directly after your workouts.
Keep monitoring your body weight and be realistic with you’re training program–it’s all about baby steps. Don’t try to run for 45 minutes 5 times per week after not doing any cardiovascular exercise. Instead, make steady (and slight) changes to your routine during each phase. These little changes, over time, mean big results.
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