FAST-FORWARD YOUR FAT LOSS

Serious about getting lean sooner

rather than later? This supercharged

program combines lifting

and cardio to melt away pounds of

body fat in just four weeks.

DAY 1 | MONDAY 

The training week will start with a high-volume arm workout and a heavy-duty cardio session, performed in that order. 
The weightlifting will consist of three
exercises each for biceps and triceps.
For biceps, start off with what’s called a buddy curl. First, select a weight with which you’ll reach failure at around 10 reps. Do one rep, then pass the bar to your- training partner.

He’ll do his rep, then hand the bar back to you for two reps. Hand it back to him for two reps, then it’s back to you for three reps, and so on. Do this in one-rep increments until you reach 10 reps on your last set. (If you don’t have a lifting partner, set the bar down on a bench between sets and rest as long as it would take someone else to do the same number of reps.)
This method is great for adding volume and intensity to your workout, which are hallmarks of this program. Perform all the other exercises for biceps and triceps in straight-set fashion.

As you’ll notice, nearly every exercise (one exception being buddy curls) will consist of three to four sets of reps ranging from 6–20. Go heavy on your first set to hit the low end of this range, then progressively lighten the load so you’re doing 20 reps by your third or fourth set. This makes your muscles work with heavy, moderate, and light weights, all in the span of minutes for each exercise,which keeps your body guessing and less likely to adapt to a constant resistance.

Moreover, the heavy sets help you maintain muscle in the midst of the clean dieting and extensive cardio you’ll undertake, both of which can strip away muscle along with the fat if you’re not careful.

The cardio routine planned for Mondays will be repeated on Thursday and Friday each week, and it represents the most intense sessions you’ll do over the course of the program. It consists of three elements: 1) one-minute intervals of jumping rope, 2) 30-second intervals using a heavy rope, and 3) 50 reps of bench jumps, 25 to each side of the bench. Perform this circuit 10 times through for an intense cardio workout that’ll melt away body fat. Each week, increase the volume of each move: Add a minute to each jump rope interval, 30 seconds to each heavy rope bout, and 10 reps to  each set of bench jumps.

DAY 2 | TUESDAY

Your second session of the week is leg day. And we’ll be honest: It’s high-volume, very intense work. The workout consists of basic compound exercises, such as squats and leg presses, and three different supersets to hit the largest muscles of the lower body—the quads, glutes, and hamstrings. A couple of novel exercises, the barbell crawl and jump squat, are thrown in to provide a further shock to the body.

Because your legs will no 
doubt be thoroughly exhausted
after performing 10 total 
movements for the lower body, 
you’ll do  a relatively easy cardio session immediately afterward.

Again, you’ll jump rope, but this time alternate jumping for one minute at an easy pace with resting one minute for 40 minutes. Think of it this way: You’ll actually be jumping rope for only 20 minutes.

DAYS 3 & 6 | WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY

These two days are identical during all four weeks of the program. Each time, perform cardio first, followed by a short ab and calves workout. 

The cardio session (either a walk on a treadmill or stair-stepper) will be low in intensity and long—two hours long, to be exact. This serves as a drastic change of pace from the high-intensity cardio work you do on Monday, Thursday, and Friday

and that’s just the point. Your body will burn more fat by training at both high and low intensities.

The lifting on these days will be minimal, only abs and calves with six sets total for each. Feel free to keep your rest periods short between sets (30–45 seconds) to move the workout along quickly.

DAY 4 | THURSDAY

Chest and shoulders are on tap for Thursdays, followed by the same cardio workout you did on Monday.

The exercises for pecs and delts are mostly basic, compound movements to hit the most muscle fibers possible to maximize calorieburning. The volume is elevated (five exercises for chest, three for shoulders) to burn more calories during the workout and keep your metabolism elevated afterward.

DAY 5 | FRIDAY

Back and traps are the focus on Fridays, followed by the jump rope/bench jump cardio routine from Monday and Thursday. Train your back with high volume (four exercises) and fundamental exercises such as dumbbell deadlifts and T-bar rows.
For traps, in addition to dumbbell shrugs, you’ll do the strongman exercise known as the farmer’s walk.

This is considered a trap exercise because the upper traps will likely be the first muscles to succumb to exhaustion. 
(To ensure that your hands and forearms don’t go first, you may want to use wrist straps.) But make no  mistake, the farmer’s walk involves myriad other muscles, from the upper back to the legs, making it a great calorie burner that’s ideal for this program. 
And there you have it—the perfect combination of no-nonsense lifting and fat-blasting cardio. For the next four weeks, you’ll subject your body to a multitude of training intensities and durations—the best of both worlds. Get ready to get lean in a hurry.

DAY 6 | ABS + CALVES CARDIO