The purpose of this program is to build muscle, strength and burn maximal body fat with high intensity workouts. The key is to choose a weight that you are going to struggle with while completing the set number of repetitions with good form. Avoid choosing a weight that is too heavy to the point where it affects your form as this can increase risk of injury. The idea is to lift the heaviest amount of weight for the desired repetitions with strict form, this will correlate to how quickly you will see results from this program.
In this program we are training each muscle once per week. This program is a great training method if you are new to strength training and wish to give your muscles sufficient rest before beginning a more intense program that trains your muscles twice per week; and is a great way to build your strength foundation.
After 2 weeks we are slightly changing some exercises to hit the muscles from a different angle. Remember, during your workouts the negative portion of the rep should ideally take 2-3 seconds to complete, and the positive portion should take 1. The biggest amount of muscle damage occurs during the negative portion of the rep; therefore it is important to try and emphasise this technique.
Strength training is the most effective method when it comes to burning calories, I strongly encourage everyone who is looking to build strength and reduce body fat to give this program a try as it is a great way to get stronger, look more trimmed and toned and get you ready for summer. The number 1 rule with this program to remember is to train as heavy as possible while maintaining good form!
An example of how you might lay out this program incorporating the Function Well Yin and Yang classes across the week can be seen below.
MONDAY – Day 1 Lower Body
TUESDAY – Day 2 Chest
WEDNESDAY – Day 3 Back
THURSDAY – Yoga or Pilates Class
FRIDAY – Day 4 Shoulders and Abs
SATURDAY – Day 5 Arms
SUNDAY – Contrast Therapy in the Restoration Zone
Before each exercise ensure you perform a warmup set of 8 reps choosing a weight that’s 40% of your 1rep max. Do this set slowly to feel the tension on the muscle, this will reduce risk of injury and will make the working sets feel smoother. Furthermore, ensure you complete at least 10,000 steps per day; this will keep the body in a state of burning fat while not affecting your strength gains!
