Quick and Dirty Get Lean Formula for Women: Workout Edition

I”m putting the food on the shelf for a minute and am going to talk only about exercise here.

I know that food is 80% of your results, but the concept of eating fruits, vegetables, proteins, and healthy fats won’t fill a blog post.  See, I just covered the nutrition in that sentence.  Now, moving on…

Let’s talk building muscle and losing fat.  A concept that just a few years ago, was thought to be impossible.  It is now known that is not the case.  It is possible, but there are a few rules you should know before jumping into any workout program to achieve these results.  You will see me refer to metabolic training a lot.  Metabolic training is performing weight training at a moderate weight with higher intensity, such as circuits, complexes, ladders, etc.  Those of you in bootcamp, think of it as a bootcamp class. Oh and by the way, when I’m referring to building muscle, I’m talking about the muscle tone of an olympic middle distance sprinter, not one of Conan the Barbarian

Your first requirement is to have a blend of heavy strength training with metabolic training.  If you train twice in the same day, make every effort to do your heavy training first then your metabolic training after.  Heavy strength training takes experience to lift heavy so make sure you have proper instruction and is always best to train with a partner when lifting heavy for safety purposes.  Movements like Deadlift, Squats, Floor Presses, Rows, and Olympic/Powerlifting Movements work best in this department.  Two to three movements of true heavy lifting will be all your body can handle for one day, so you can add in some secondary movements with high weight and low reps to round out the workout.

Your second requirement is to have a metabolic training in your program.  Metabolic training can take the place for the bulk of your cardiovascular exercise due to its very high calorie burn capability.  Tabatas, complexes, circuits, ladders, and many more methods are great ways to test your body and burn major fat at the same time.  Plus, often times they are fun.  One thing to be sure of is that the metabolic training has balance to it especially if you are training heavy and metabolic in the same day.  If you have been performing deadlifts and metabolic in the same day, for example, and the metabolic workout is leg intensive, maybe back off the weight for the hips in the metabolic portion a little, and turn it up on the other body parts.  However, the metabolic is so variable and whole body, that often doesn’t need to happen, but for balance purposes I needed to mention it

Your third requirement is frequency; how often should you work out.  That can vary and where you are in your training, how much experience you have with exercise, and where you are in your goals.  My clients have had the best results with training 5-6 times a week, with at least one full day off from exercise.  Getting 2-3 days of heavy lifting and 3-4 days of metabolic training (to equal 6 max), is a good rule of thumb.  So, if you are currently training 3 times a week, you don’t need to necessarily jump up to 6 right away.  Add a day now, and in a few weeks add another.  If you are already training 6 days a week, perhaps change the ratio at which you are training heavy versus metabolic.  If you are training 6 days a week and not reaching your goals one of two, or both can be going on: you are not truly training heavy and/or metabolically, or your nutrition needs work.

Three requirements that are quick and dirty to get you to losing fat fast and building muscle at the same time.  Great rules to know now as you plan for your New Year’s Resolutions

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