Many people I talk to who want to lose weight typically tell me that they are using the treadmill, stairmaster or on a walking program on their lunch break. But I was talking with one of my clients yesterday and he was telling me how he went out on Friday night and had a bunch of compliments on how much his body has changed. He has lost 35lbs in the last 4 months. But the great thing about him is that he has not just lost 35lbs of fat– he’s getting more and more buff. People keep asking him what he is doing, so I thought it may be a good idea to share with my readers about one of the things I have been doing with him. I can assure you that we don’t do conventional cardio during his workout sessions.
One of the things we HAVE been doing is what I call the “Summer Body Maker.” We’ll do 9 exercises total in the workout. Some of the exercises work the entire body and some focus on smaller groups of muscles (also referred to as force couples). Some of the equipment we may use: kettlebells, dumbbells, barbells, medicine balls, stability balls, cable pulley machine, TRX suspension trainer and resistance bands, just to name a few. He does the first 3 back to back with about 10 seconds between each of them. With each set, he does continuous repetitions for 45-70 seconds. Once he finishes the last of 3 exercises, he rests for 60 seconds. After the 60 seconds of rest, he goes on to the next 3 exercises. This is repeated until all 9 exercises have been completed. This is one set. The goal is to complete 3 sets. This is like what is popularly called “metabolic training.”
Here is an example of a workout we may do:
- Side Bridge (-left / -right side
- Decline Bench Leg Raise
- Reverse Woodchop w/Cable Pulley
- Reverse Handwalk
- TRX Bicep Curl
- TRX Tricep French Curl
- TRX Back Row
- 1-Arm Dumbbell Chest Press on Stability Ball -Left Arm / -Right Arm
- Weighted Split Stance Forward Lunges -Left Leg / -Right Leg
This is not an easy workout to do and I would not recommend it for a beginner, but it is very effective. He went from looking “doughy” to having a more lean, muscular look. I keep telling him that we will far surpass the goal picture he has for where he want to be. So if this is what you are looking for, give this style of training a shot.
