Posts written by Michael J. Mahony

As you progress through this challenge I have noted there are many of you who have no idea how to train with weights.  With that in mind I felt it was important to teach you a few things about weight training. Obviously you could easily go to Google and look up advice for weight training, but there is a tremendous amount of misinformation available on the web about weight training (and every other fitness topic). Today I will talk to you about body part splits and full body training and discuss which one I think is most appropriate for which circumstances.

What Is Your Goal?

Most of you have the same goal. You want to lose fat and tone up. Well, I am not a fan of the term “tone up”, but will define it the way I see it. Toning up means you want to look leaner and more cut. I will use that definition going forward.

Since your goal is to lose fat and tone up you are going to want to gain muscle and at the same time, have a cardio effect during weight training. Keep that in mind as we continue this discussion.

What is a Body Part Split?

A body part split involves dividing the body up and training each body part on a different day. A typical body part split would be:

Back
Shoulders
Chest
Off Day
Legs
Arms
Off Day

This approach lowers the frequency with which you train each muscle group. This approach has its own benefits though.

Benefits of a Body Part Split

1. The ability to handle greater loads. There is less body fatigue when doing a body part split, which translates into bigger weights being moved.
2. Greater attention on each muscle group. By training each group separately you can focus on different angles and changing up the repetition scheme used. Many times this results in higher quality training.
3. Less chance of over training. Your central nervous system takes a good hit from weight training. A body part split eases the load on your central nervous system.

What is a Full Body Workout?

A full body workout involves alternating workouts that hit every body part each time you workout. This generally means that you train every other day. In many situations you would simply train with weights 3 days a week (usually Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and do cardio on the other days. When I prescribe full body workouts I generally give a Workout A and a Workout B and have the client alternate between the two workouts.

Benefits of a Full Body Workout

1. Greater frequency per muscle group. You will hit every muscle group every workout. This means you will train your arms 3 times a week at a minimum, your back 3 times a week at a minimum, etc.
2. Higher energy expenditure per workout. Because you hit more muscles you will also expend more energy. This means you can eat a higher calorie diet, skip the cardio session after your weight training and gain more mass with less fat gain.
3. Greater depletion and super compensation. A full body workout basically leaves your body saying “WTF?” A ton of microtrauma, protein degradation, and glycogen depletion has just occurred, leaving the body in an extremely primed state for nutrient uptake and anabolism to take place. Provided you give the body what it's asking for nutritionally, a superior supercompensatory effect will result.
4. Greater anabolic hormonal stimulation. A full body workout will stimulate more growth hormone release in your body. While the effect is short lived, it is enough to make a difference in your fat burning efforts.

Which Method is Superior?

Both body part splits and full body workouts have their uses. The honest answer is that both are required for the greatest gains to take place. Since you, my current audience, are looking to burn fat I would recommend starting out with a 12 week full body routine. Keep your rest intervals shorter and push as hard as you can during your sets. This will help you to burn fat and gain muscle at the same time. Eventually you will need to add a 4 week cycle of body part split training to allow your central nervous system time to recover, but then you will be right back to doing a full body workout. My suggestion is to switch between the two as described in the following table:

This covers an entire year of training. This method works very well. Give it a try and let me know how you do. If you need help programming your workouts contact me via the contact form on this site and I will gladly help you out.

Want to see all the messages in this May 2016 Challenge Series? I have them organized for you right here.

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Using weights for cardio is something not many people think about. Today I want to teach you why this is a great way to get the cardio done that you need in order to lose fat. I am going to offer several ways for you to use weights to get cardio done. I am also going to encourage anyone who wants to lose fat fast to follow each of these plans at least 3 times a week. This will give you better and faster results that last.

Defining Terms: High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

In the fitnesss world we hear about HIT and HIIT. What's the difference you might ask? The first one, HIT, stands for High Intensity Training and applies to a style of weight training that can be used by beginners, intermediates and advanced lifters alike. It involves a full body workout that takes your body to its own limits. You can find out more about it by reading these articles.

Monday Madness: Full Body Assault

High Intensity Training for Massive Gains

High Intensity Training

Tabata Uses Weights for Cardio

Tabata training was discovered by Japanese scientist Dr. Izumi Tabata and a team of researchers from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo.

Tabata and his team conducted research on two groups of athletes. The first group trained at a moderate intensity level while the second group trained at a high-intensity level. The moderate intensity group worked out five days a week for a total of six weeks; each workout lasted one hour. The high-intensity group worked out four days a week for six weeks; each workout lasted four minutes and 20 seconds (with 10 seconds of rest in between each set). This is quote a difference between the two groups and their total training time.

The results; Group 1 had increased their aerobic system (cardiovascular), but showed little or no results for their anaerobic system (muscle). Group 2 showed much more increase in their aerobic system than Group 1, and increased their anaerobic system by 28 percent.

In conclusion, high-intensity interval training has more impact on both the aerobic and anaerobic systems.

Doing a Tabata workout will be the longest 4 minutes you've ever endured! The basic protocol is as follows:

• Workout hard for 20 seconds
• Rest for 10 seconds
• Complete 8 rounds

A typical Tabata workout will look similar to this:

1. Walking Lunges (4 minutes)
2. Dumbell Squat Presses (4 minutes)
3. Front Squats (4 minutes)
4. Bulgarian Split Squats (4 minutes)
5. Goblet Squats (4 minutes)

You rest for 1 minute between each of the above exercises. Your heart will be pounding. For those of you with a smart phone who want to use a Tabata timer, I recommend the app called Seconds.  This app lets you set up intervals and then launch the timer. It will beep or give some other signal that you select when it is time to switch intervals. This app is extremely helpful for fitness minded people. They have a free and a paid version.

Complexes Use Weights for Cardio

What is a complex? A complex is where you pick up a barbell, perform several reps of an exercise with it, then move right into another exercise, then another, and another, and maybe one or two more. Then you see black spots, get all ripped ‘n shit, and bang swimsuit models.

Let me present you with two complexes  you can use to get in your cardio training.

Weight Plate Complex

Use a 45 pound olympic weight plate. Perform 5 cycles and rest 90 seconds between each cycle.

Overhead Squat x 6-8
Swings (like kettlebell swings) x 6-8
Bentover Row x 8-10
Reverse Lunge and Twist x 8-10 total
Diagonal Chops x 6-8 each side

Submission Complex

This complex uses dumbbells.

Reverse Lunges 6 reps on each leg
Romanian Deadlift 12 reps
Good Morning 12 reps
Front Squat 6 reps
Military Press 6 reps
Bentover Row 6 reps
Floor Press 12 reps

Rest 60 seconds and repeat 2-4 more times depending on your testicular fortitude.

Weights for Cardio is Fun

Using weights to get your cardio is fun, but it is also extremely efficient. You are still benefiting from the muscle building capabilities of the weights, but you are burning fat as you go. It is a great go to when you don't have a lot of time.

Want to see all the messages in this May 2016 Challenge Series? I have them organized for you right here.

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Mention weight training and most people have the same reaction–I don't want to get huge! Ladies especially make this statement. I want you to begin to understand why weight training is essential for everyone, including you ladies out there!

Most of you reading this post want to lose weight. What you really want to do is recompose your body by lowering your body fat and increasing your lean body mass. Weight training will help you to accomplish this. In fact, there really is no other way to do this without weight training.  There are many other benefits to weight training that you should be aware of as well. Ladies, these all apply to you as well. As for the “I don't want to get huge” statement, I will address that later in the article.

Weight Training Improves Your Everyday Functionality

Having stronger muscles makes you more functionally sound. With stronger muscles you can get into a car easier, you can get a package off the top shelf easier and you can do just about anything else in life easier.

Weight Training Reduces Blood Pressure

Training with weights strengthens the heart and in turn lowers your blood pressure. This is true even if you already have blood pressure issues. By taking better care of your body it will respond by lowering your blood pressure and treating you better as well.

Weight Training Increases the Calorie Burn

Weight training increases the metabolic rate in our body. This causes us to burn more calories, even at rest. By increasing the amount of lean mass we carry on our body we increase how many calories we burn on a daily basis.

Weight Training Decreases Back Pain

By making your back stronger you will decrease the pain you feel in your back. A stronger back means a less sore back.

Weight Training Decreases Your Risk of Osteoperosis

Inactivity and aging leads to a decrease in bone density. Weight training counteracts that problem.

Weight Training Decreases Body Fat

Studies performed by Wayne Westcott, PhD, from the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts, found that the average woman who strength trains two to three times a week for two months will gain nearly two pounds of muscle and will lose 3.5 pounds of fat.

As your lean muscle increases so does your resting metabolism, and you burn more calories all day long. Generally speaking, for each pound of muscle you gain, you burn 35 to 50 more calories each day. That can really add up.

Weight Training (for women) Will Increase Strength and Not Bulk

Researchers also found that unlike men, women typically don't gain size from strength training, because compared to men, women have 10 to 30 times less of the hormones that cause muscle hypertrophy. You will, however, develop muscle tone and definition. This is a bonus.

Weight Training Makes You Physically Stronger

It goes without saying that lifting weights will make you much stronger as a person. Your physical strength will help you throughout each day.

Weight Training Reduces Your Risk of Heart Disease

According to Dr. Barry A. Franklin, of William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, weight training can improve cardiovascular health in several ways, including lowering LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, increasing HDL (“good”) cholesterol and lowering blood pressure.

When cardiovascular exercise is added, these benefits are maximized.

Weight Training Reduces Your Risk of Diabetes

In addition, Dr. Franklin noted that weight training may improve the way the body processes sugar, which may reduce the risk of diabetes. Adult-onset diabetes is a growing problem for women and men. Research indicates that weight training can increase glucose utilization in the body by 23 percent in four months.

Conclusion

By training with weights you will slowly change your body composition. This leads to many health benefits. Weight training is a must for anyone serious about losing weight and body fat.

Want to see all the messages in this May 2016 Challenge Series? I have them organized for you right here.

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