Now the warm weather is on its way it's time to shed the last of the winter fat. This year I packed on a lot of new muscle but my fat% went from 11% to 14% in the process.During the winter I'd been lifting heavy with lots of rest inbetween sets.
In order to strip the extra fat and retain the muscle I've switched to super-setting exercises and keeping rest between pairs of sets to 60 seconds. I've been pairing opposing muscles for chest & back exercises whilst perfroming 2-3 exercises for the same muscle with no rest for arms, shoulders and legs.
With this protocol, and the right diet, definition starts to imprive very quickly. This is due largely to the increase in growth hormone, which is related to the lactic acid build up from reduced rest. The weights are still high enough to retain muscle (10-15 reps mostly). Heart rate is elevated throughout the workouts, thus ensuring more calories are burned and a significant excess post exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), which keeps you burning fat for some time after the workout (estimates of how long vary from 3-38 hours depending on the intensity of the exercise).
A sample wokout might be:
A1) Bench Press 2x 10-15 reps (no rest)
A2) Cable Row 2x 10-15 reps (60 seconds rest)
B1) Lat Pulldown 2 x 10-15 reps (no rest)
B2) Clean & Press 2x 10-15 reps (60 seconds rest)
C1) Alternating Lunge 2x 10 reps (no rest)
C2) Dead Lift 2 x 10 reps (60-90 seconds rest)
D1) Leg Extension 2 x 10-15 reps (no rest)
D2) Squat 2 x 10-15 reps (60 seconds rest)
E1) Rope triceps pressdown 2 x 10-15 reps (no rest)
E2) Dumbbell Biceps Curl 2x 10-15 reps (60 seconds rest)
For abdominals I generally use giant sets (i.e. ball crunch, side bend, reverse crunch, cable crunch, plank with no rest in between).
