When losing body fat it is important to try and preserve as much muscle tissue as possible. Muscle tissue itself helps keep your metabolism higher and therefore it is important for a long term lean physique. Here is a cutting routine that you can tailor to suit your individual needs. This plan is best suited for those who have a lot of body fat to lose and their focus is solely on that. This plan is not for females below 20% or for males below 15% as their likelihood of burning muscle is greater and different strategies should be used. This routine can be used for either sex.
For those training three times per week this program can be used in all sessions:
A1) Dumbbell Squat 3 x 12-15
A2) Push Ups 3 x AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible)
B1) Dumbbell Row 3 x 12-15
B2) Dumbbell Lunges 3 x 12-15
C1) Dumbbell Press 3 x 12-15
C2) Lat Pulldown 3 x 12-15
D1) Intervals on the treadmill, using a 30 second high pace with a 2 minute 30 second recovery period. Start with 5 of each and increase them on subsequent workouts as your work capacity improves.
If you are able to train four or five times per week simple changes can be made to make it more suitable.
On Monday, Wednesday and Friday:
A1) Dumbbell Squat 3 x 12-15
A2) Push Ups 3 x AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible)
B1) Dumbbell Row 3 x 12-15
B2) Dumbbell Lunges 3 x 12-15
C1) Dumbbell Press 3 x 12-15
C2) Lat Pulldown 3 x 12-15
D1) Standing Dumbbell Curls 3 x 12-15
D2) Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extensions 3 x 12-15
On your extra workout days follow the interval protocol from the first workout. Using a treadmill, spin bike or your favourite piece of CV equipment (must involve legs, no hand bikes).
30 seconds fast pace/high resistance, 2 minutes 30 recovery time on slow pace/low resistance.
Repeat this cycle as many times as possible. Interval training is designed to be hard work and short. If you can do this for an hour then you are not working at a high enough intensity during your fast pace period. Aim for a maximum of 30 minutes of hard work, rather than extending your total workout duration and sacrificing the quality.
Alternatively, if you are training five or six times per week, you can do this.
On Monday and Thursday:
A1) Dumbbell Squat 3 x 12-15
A2) Push Ups 3 x AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible)
B1) Dumbbell Row 3 x 12-15
B2) Dumbbell Lunges 3 x 12-15
C1) Dumbbell Press 3 x 12-15
C2) Supinated Grip (palms up) Lat Pulldown 3 x 12-15
D1) Standing Dumbbell Curls 3 x 12-15
D2) Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extensions 3 x 12-15
On Tuesday and Friday:
A1) Dumbbell Deadlift (Barbell if available) 3 x 12-15
A2) Standing Overhead Dumbbell Press 3 x 12-15
B1) Cable Rope Rows to Face 3 x 12-15
B2) Dumbbell Step Ups 3 x 15-20 per side
C1) Stability Ball Dumbbell Press 3 x 12-15
C2) Wide Grip Lat Pulldown 3 x 12-15
D1) Lying Reverse Cable Crunches 3 x 15-20
On Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday follow the same interval training protocol:
Using a treadmill, spin bike or your favourite piece of CV equipment (must involve legs, no hand bikes).
30 seconds fast pace/high resistance, 2 minutes 30 recovery time on slow pace/low resistance.
Repeat this cycle as many times as possible. Interval training is designed to be hard work and short. If you can do this for an hour then you are not working at a high enough intensity during your fast pace period. Aim for a maximum of 30 minutes of hard work, rather than extending your total workout duration and sacrificing the quality.
Notes:
- The workout days are not set in stone and only used as guidelines, if you have to train four days in a row and take three days off then that is fine. Ideally keep the workouts as spaced out as possible but the idea is to work this around your schedule.
- Exercises with the same letter e.g. A1) and A2) are to be done in a superset fashion. This means doing one set of the first exercise followed by one set of the second. Repeat this until you have done all sets.
- If you are new to exercise or are training after a long lay-off then keep the weights on exercises low until you are familiar with the programme, then start pushing yourself harder as your work capacity improves.
- The rest between sets is intended to be very short. The programme is designed at raising your metabolism. If you find you frequently have to rest more than one minute between exercises despite using a light weight then eliminate all D exercises and take a longer break between your sets,
- Workouts should be aimed to be completed in one hour or less. Get in, work hard and get out!
- Exercises featured are designed to use minimal equipment. This is to allow flexibility to cater for those who train in a basic home gym set up or in a busy commercial gym. If you have more choice of equipment then you can afford the luxury of using barbells instead of dumbbells. If you are in a gym where this choice means you will have to join a queue and wait around then stick to the basics and don’t interrupt your pace by having to wait for others.
