[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f you are a regular reader of this personal training blog, you will remember that last week I had picked up on the lack of dietary fiber in Ross’ food within the previous week.
We addressed this by increasing his cruciferous veg (broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, kale etc.) intake per day. Good news, after implementing this for the past 7 days, Ross’ bowel movements are now regular, the bloated feeling has gone and his weight has reduced dramatically with a loss of 9lbs this week. 8 weeks in, 9lbs is a substantial loss. That now takes Ross’ fat loss to 42lbs (3 stone exactly) in 8 weeks – What an incredible achievement!! Did anyone else increase there green veg last week? let us know how you go on if you did!!
I often get asked as a personal trainer what programs I would use for a beginner for fat loss; my rule of thumb answer is ‘it depends’. Let me expand, what works for a 43-year-old male would not be the same as a 21-year-old male. Likewise for women.
Are you that person that goes to the gym every week randomly jumping on every piece of equipment using random weights and random reps and sets? Chances are, you are the person not seeing the results you would like to achieve too. If you don’t have a set routine in place, and you are not recording what you are doing each session, how do you expect to improve? Its all about progressive overload, week on week. How do you expect to better yourself if you can’t remember what you did during your last session?
Below is a program I designed for Ross at the beginning of his personal training journey; you will see it’s a really basic program. Training does not have to be complicated. In fact, the simpler you can keep it for as long as possible the better. There is only one variable that should stay consistent throughout your training – INTENSITY! There is no replacement for intensity. Feel free to give the program below a go, print it off and start to record what weight you are lifting, how many reps you did, were you feeling tired or were you buzzing for the gym? All of these factors will play a vital part in your progress.
A quick guide on how to complete the session. Perform all exercises in the ‘A’ section in a circuit before taking a break. So you will do barbell squats for 12-15 reps, lat pul downs for 12-15 reps, walking lunges for 12-15 reps and a seated cable press for 12-15 reps BEFORE you take a rest of up to 120 seconds. Then repeat that process another 2 times. The same process is used for the ‘B’ section.
Note the tempo used for the repetitions, we aren’t looking to thrash out the reps as fast as possible, we are looking to create tension on the muscle, for this to happen we have to slow the exercises down. An example of how the 3101 tempo works using the squat as the example exercise.
Starting point of the exercise is at the top
Lower yourself down for 3 seconds
At the bottom of the squat you will hold for 1 second
Drive the bar up quickly
Pause for a second at the top and repeat.
If you have any questions about the program, please comment on our Facebook page.
RG
#TeamIPT
