FREE Fat Loss Program
10 specifically designed workouts to help you shed fat, feel better, and master overall badassery.
Orignally this was going to be an ebook but I changed my mind last minute and decided to copy and paste the entire thing into one blog post to share with everyone! I hope you all enjoy it and actually take the time to dedicate yourself to the madness!
I want to thank you for taking the time to read this thing and make health a priority. I know in our world today we all want everything quick and done. That’s why I’m not going to write out a full story on why this ebook is the best thing you’ll ever get your hands on or why I’m such an awesome trainer to convince you that these workouts are the missing puzzle piece to all your frustration.
No, because you’re different. You can sniff out horrible information and know the difference between a workout that’s beneficial and one that just makes you tired for no reason.
I can easily create a workout that makes you tired. You ready for it? 100 Burpees, go. See? 100 burpees would make anyone tired no matter what fitness level, but its not going to get you any where. These workouts I’ve compiled together I’ve tried and tested with all my clients for the past 6 years and time and time again they work. They make you sweat, build strength, build muscle, and most imporantly make you feel better.
Getting Started
Below are 10 FULL BODY workouts. Your body works in full movements and not one muscle at a time. With “compound” exercises (exercises that work more than one muscle group) you burn more calories a create a “metabolic effect” (burn more calories after your workout) which has been proven by science and works best for torching fat. Check out this reference if you’re really into sciencifitc research!
You’re probably asking yourself “how do I implement these workouts?” Well, when it comes to fat loss training the magic number is 4. Four workouts a week that contain two strength workouts and two high intensity metabolic workouts. The workouts below contain 4 strength workouts and 6 metabolic workouts. The reason why you have more metabolic workouts is you can swap/pick and choose which ones you want to do to have some variety.
See? I’m always thinking about you =)
If you follow the rule of 4 you’ll have enough workouts to make this an 8 week program that could potentially “lose that last 10lbs” as you’ve probably heard everyone say before.
Here is a look on how the workouts should be structured:
Now, this is just a template. You don’t need to follow the exact days. If you rather workout on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, then do it! There are no rules expect the “rule of 4.” Four workouts per week…Actually I lied, there is one more rule. Yes, I’m sorry, but you need to know this!
Your two strength workouts take priority over your metabolic workouts. That means you can’t just do one strength workout and pick 3 metabolic workouts, or four metabolic workouts and no strength workouts. The reason? Building muscle. Strength workouts are meant for building strength and muscle, whereas the metabolic workouts are meant for training at a anaerobic state (think sprinting a 100m dash) with exercises that are not complicated as fatigue will set in during the workout so if the worst case scenario your form started to fall apart you don’t have a high chance of injuring yourself.
For example. In a strength workout I could give a client a barbell deadlift for 3–5 reps at a heavy load, but in a metabolic workout I wouldn’t give the same exercise for 30 seconds as the lift is taxing and will cause fatigue fast and turn you into a melted candle. That’s where injuries happen.
Makes sense? Good!
Now let’s get into the workouts that you’ve been waiting for!
Strength Workout A
Phase One
Week 1–4
Workout A is quite simple to follow. Below I have organized certain exercises and sets together. For example, Set I is Dead bugs and a Front Plank. If you noticed, they are a letter and number in front of them. This means exercise A1 and A2 are done back to back in one set. Then you would move to section B and perform exercises B1 and B2 together.
Reps, sets, weights, and weeks.
Below you’ll notice beside each exercise is a prescribed range of reps or time. For example exercise C1 Dumbbell Reverse Lunges has a rep range of “8–12ea” meaning I want you to perform 8 to 12 reps.
How many sets?
Depending what “week” you’re on will dictate how many sets you’ll be doing.
Week One: Perform two sets of each exercise
Week Two: Perform two to three sets of each exercise
Week Three: Perform three sets of each exercise
Week Four: Perform three sets of each exercise
If you noticed, each week the sets increase. This means your over all volume of exercise increases each week. Think of Week One being an introduction and it should feel like you’re putting in 50–60% amount of effort into it. As the weeks progress you want to work a bit harder than you did in the previous week.
Going back to reps, this idea of “progressive overload” in each week works very well. I tell all my clients that to perform the minimal amount of reps prescribed. For example for week one do just 8 reps instead of 12. As the weeks progress you can either increase the amount of weight or reps. In Phase Two, the reps will switch so be sure to double check those! Got it? Perfect!
How much weight? That depends. You want to choose a weight that the last two reps feel like you’re really working for it. If you get to 12 reps at a certain weight and it doesn’t feel challenging you should move up in weight. For example, you’re doing Dumbbell Reverse Lunges for 12 reps each leg with 15 pound dumbbells and you’re thinking about what show to binge watch next on Netflix, you’re ready to move up to the 20 pound dumbbells. Start with 8 reps and see how it feels. Challenging? Then stay at 8 reps. Still kind of easy? Increase your reps.
Set I:
A1) Dead Bugs — 8ea
A2) Front Plank — 20–30 seconds
B1) Dumbbell Squat to Press 8–12 reps
B2) TRX Rows 8–12 reps
C1) Dumbbell Reverse Lunges: 8–12 reps each
C2) Mountain Climbers 20–30 seconds
C3) Three Point Dumbbell Row 8–12 reps each
D1) Goblet Squats 20 reps
This exercise is by itself for a reason. It’s called a finisher. You’re going to love it. The protocol for this is, set a timer for 3 minutes, perform 20 squats with a light-medium weight and the amount of time it takes to complete it will determine your rest. For example, it takes you 20 seconds to squat 20x you end up with 40 seconds of rest. The faster you go, the more rest you’ll receive. Then, you go again with another set of 20 reps when the next minute comes up.
Here’s another example:
First set of 20 reps takes 20 seconds, you rest for 40 seconds, then the clock/timer should show 1 minute. You perform another 20 reps and it takes you 23 seconds, you rest for 37 seconds, then the clock/timer should show 2 minutes, then repeat one more time for your final round.
Got it? Good! Enjoy =)
Strength Workout B
Phase One
Week 1–4
Just like the description above, the same information applies for this workout and all the strength workouts for Phase One and Two. Refer back if you need help!
A1) Stability Ball Front Plank — 20–30 seconds
A2) Side Plank — 20–30 seconds each side
B1) Dumbbell Step Ups — 8–12 reps each
B2) Body Weight Push Ups — 10–20 reps
C1) Band Assisted Chin Ups — 8–12 reps
C2) Stability Hamstring Curls — 8–12 reps
C3) Tall Kneel Stability Ball Rollout — 8–12 reps
D1) Jump Squats — 20 reps!
This exercise is by itself for a reason, again. It’s called a finisher! Remember from Workout A? You’re going to love it. The protocol for this is, set a timer for 3 minutes, perform 20 jump squats and the amount of time it takes to complete it will determine your rest. For example, it takes you 20 seconds to squat 20x you end up with 40 seconds of rest. The faster you go, the more rest you’ll receive. Then, you go again with another set of 20 reps when the next minute comes up.
Here’s another example:
First set of 20 reps takes 20 seconds, you rest for 40 seconds, then the clock/timer should show 1 minute. You perform another 20 reps and it takes you 23 seconds, you rest for 37 seconds, then the clock/timer should show 2 minutes, then repeat one more time for your final round.
Strength Workout C
Phase Two
Week 5–8
A1) Tall Kneel Stability Ball Rollout — 10 reps
A2) Stability Hamstring Curls — 10 reps
B1) Lumber Jack Squat to Press — 8–12 reps
B2) Dumbbell Renegade Row — 8–12 reps each
C1) Dumbbell Reverse Lunges — 15 each
C2) Dumbbell Shoulder Press — 15 reps
C3) Dumbbell Three Point Row — 15 reps
Strength Workout D
Phase Two
Week 5–8
A1) Bear Crawl — 10 Steps Forward, 10 Steps Back
A2) Standing Cable Chop — 10ea Side
B1) Dumbbell Goblet Squats — 5 Reps
B2) Jump Squats — 5 Reps
C1) Decline Bench Press — 20 Reps
C2) Dumbbell Split Squats — 20ea Side
C3) TRX Rows — 20 Reps
D1) Jump Rope or Jumping Jacks — FINISHER TIME!
In this finisher, I want you to skip or perform jumping jacks if you don’t have a jump rope for 30 seconds then, rest of 1 minute. Then, repeat for 3–5 rounds, and then you’re finally finished! Remember, you’re the CEO of your own body. If you feel wiped out from the week or didn’t have a good night sleep, or your children are driving you crazy, you don’t need to complete the finisher.
The saying “there’s no sense of beating a dead horse” goes hand in hand with this. If you’re knocked down and have no energy theres no point in pushing yourself just to get through it. Regroup, take some time to recover and then do it the follow week!
Metabolic Workout A
Phase One and Two
Week 1–8
You ready for these?!? Of course you are!
How these work is each week you will have a different TIME scheme to follow. For example week one each metabolic workout will be 15 seconds of work and then 15 seconds of rest, then repeated for the prescribed number of rounds.
Still doesn’t make sense? No worries! Here is Metabolic Workout A’s exercises with instructions:
Goblet squats for 15 seconds — rest for 15 seconds — push ups for 15 seconds — rest for 15 seconds — TRX rows for 15 seconds — rest for 15 seconds — mountain climbers for 15 seconds — rest for 15 seconds — repeat round
Makes more sense now right? If not, email me at rafal@empowerhp.ca and I’ll personally email you or even hop on a Skype call =)
Before we get into the workouts here is the schedule of time schemes for the next 8 weeks(this is for both phases of the program):
Week One: 15 seconds of work, 15 seconds of rest, 4–8 rounds
Week Two: 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest, 5–10 rounds
Week Three: 30 seconds of work, 30 seconds of rest, 4–6 rounds
Week Four: 40 seconds of work, 20 seconds of rest, 5–8 rounds
Now that’s all great and fun but what the F is a “metabolic workout”???
A “metabolic workout” or more specifically metabolic conditioning simply refers to structured patterns of work and rest periods to elicit a desired response from the body. This desired response is usually to maximize efficiency of a particular energy system. The body has several different methods of getting energy. Different ratios of work to rest periods call upon different energy systems and cause specific adaptations.
Now that we got all scienctific and fancy let’s get into the workouts shall we?
A1) Goblet Squats
A2) Push Ups
A3) TRX Rows
A4) Mountain Climbers
Metabolic Workout B
Phase One and Two
Week 1–8
A1) Reverse Lunges (done alternating)
A2) Three Point Dumbbell Row Left Arm
A3) Three Point Dumbbell Row Right Arm
A4) Jump Squats
A5) Plank Walk Ups
Metabolic Workout C
Phase One and Two
Week 1–8
A1) Alternating Lateral Lunges
A2) Push Ups
A3) Alternating Forward Lunges
A4) TRX Rows
A5) Front Plank Reach Outs
Metabolic Workout C
Phase One and Two
Week 1–8
A1) TRX Knee Tucks
A2) Split Squats Left
A3) Split Squats Right
A4) Stability Ball Glute Bridge
A5) Split Squat Jumps
Have any questions? Feel free to reach out!
