Quite a few people have been asking me about how I got the V lines below my abs in my Facebook profile picture. Apparently these lines of definition are pretty popular. I'll be covering that, the routine is actually remarkably simple.
Currently I'm on a 3 day weight training schedule of Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I do back and bi's on Monday, chest and tri's on Wednesday, shoulders and legs on Friday. Ab work is every day of weight training. Currently badminton is my only form of cardio, but I'll be discussing other techniques and theories on cardio (and doing less of it while achieving great results).
Weights listed below are what I'm starting at. I'll be gradually adding on weight to improve musculature. It should be fun to see where I'm at by the end of this period.
Monday: Preacher curls optional...
Yates bent rows 3 x 8 reps, 90lbs
Drag curls 3 x 8 reps, 55lbs
Preacher curls 3 x 8 reps 60lbs
Lat pulldowns 3 x 8 reps, 120lbs
Seated rows 3 x 8 reps, 120lbs
Wednesday: pick 2 of the following exercises
Dumbbell bench press 3 x 8 reps, 65lbs
Bench press 3 x 8 reps, 135lbs
Incline dumbbell Flies 3 x 8 reps, 30lbs
Cable Crossovers 3x10 reps, 25lbs each side
Then
Dips 2 x 8 reps
Tricep pushdown 3 x 8 reps, 55lbs
Friday:
Pick one of the following:
Squat 3 x 8 reps, 135lbs
Deadlift 3 x 8 reps, 135lbs
Then:
Hamstring curls 3 x 8 reps (no idea of weight yet)
Dumbbell military press 3 x 8 reps, 40 lbs
Upright Rows 3 x 8 reps, 65lbs
Side Lateral Raises (side or bent depending on anterior, medial, posterior) 3 x 8 reps, 25lbs
Abs (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)
Weighted Myotatic Crunch 30 reps, 10lbs
Cat vomit 10 reps, 10 second hold each (go to 1:31 of video)
Note: there's no video of this motion posted online, but it's basically just sucking in your abs as hard as you can for 10 seconds.
Mason twists 50 reps side to side, 10lbs
Roman chair leg lift: 3 x 10 reps
Note to the guys: this is the one movement that gets you that V! So easy!
Cardio:
I play badminton for 2 hours a day about 2-3 times a week. Of course, I know not many people play badminton, so I'd like to take this opportunity to give my thoughts on cardio:
First of all, I hate cardio with a passion. I can't stand running, I can't stand the treadmill, and frankly I think the majority of cardio that people do is a waste of time. Why you might ask? Because the amount of calories that you burn during the period of time you're running like a hamster on a treadmill is more or less negated with something like a twinkie. The problem with low intensity cardio exercise is that it's too much effort for too little pay off. Your body returns to its original basal metabolic rate shortly after stopping.
The trick to rapid fat loss is to raise your overall basal metabolic rate (BMR) for the other 23 hours of the day you're sitting around doing nothing. Why waste an hour on a treadmill to burn a few hundred calories when you can increase your resting metabolism to burn those few hundred calories doing NOTHING? Weight training does exactly this. Studies have shown that your body's metabolic rate is permanently increased for the next 48-72 hours after a weight training session. I've found personally that my body fat seems to strip off when doing nothing but weight training four times a week. Of course, any cardio or sports activities you do on top of this is just icing on the cake. For reference and more details on the concept of manipulating BMR, click here.
With that said, if you're in disagreement and absolutely must do cardio to feel right, or if you don't really want to do weight training, the bread and butter method for fat loss these days is (with an overwhelming consensus from fitness gurus) high intensity interval training (or HIIT for short). What is HIIT? It's simply running, cycling or swimming or doing whatever cardio exercise you're doing the fastest you can do it for a short period of time. So if you were running on a track, you'd sprint for a short distance (maybe the length of the it) and then walk for 30 seconds to recover and do it over again for about 7 reps. I can personally tell you this is absolutely exhausting, but the benefits are that 1. you have an afterburn effect similar to weight training where your metabolism remains elevated several hours afterwards, and 2. you spend a total of 15 minutes doing cardio for a much more efficient routine than traditional means.
For greatest results, the best time to do HIIT training is right when you wake up before breakfast. The theory is that your body is in a fasted state and the energy you burn comes straight from your body fat. The reality is more complicated than this, as certain fat burning hormones are most active during this period of time while insulin (a main fat-storing hormone) is at an epic low.
As you go on reading this blog, you'll probably realize as I have that fat loss at its core isn't really anything about working out or eating, but about natural methods of hormone manipulation.
HIIT on a track:
Sprint as hard as you can for the straight distance of the track
Walk the curved portion to recover.
Repeat for 7 sets total. Time: 15 minutes if you're diligent.
Increase 1 set each session until you can hit 10 sets
HIIT swimming:
Sprint freestyle 2x the distance of the pool (25m)
Rest 30 seconds - 1minute
Repeat for 7 sets total.
Increase 1 set each session until you can hit 10 sets for 500 meters
HIIT cycling
Sprint on the cycle as hard as you can for 30 seconds
Rest 30 seconds
Repeat for 7 sets total.
Increase 1 set each session until you can hit 10 sets
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