From all washed up to washboard abs

Today, there are more people than ever in pursuit of a better body, smaller waistline and the ever-elusive washboard stomach. We are constantly inundated with advertisements for pills, potions and powders guaranteed to bring you whatever you desire in terms of better fitness and a better body. Every day I see television advertisements for new scientific breakthroughs for supplements that will help you lose unwanted fat while eating whatever you want. While the promises that these products may appeal to our desire for quick results with little effort, the missing ingredient in the weight loss solution is simple. The best way to achieve washboard abs is to eat smartly and exercise correctly. Now hang in there for a little better description of this never-before-described concept because you may just find this simple concept a bit more complicated than it sounds.

Now I will save any discussion about eating smartly for another time and purely and simply review the basics for a weight loss, body-transforming workout. If you desire to change your physique or transform your body follow this very simple resistance-training workout. But before doing so you will need to temporarily abandon any long duration steady state aerobic activities. This means there is no room in your workout for 45-minute elliptical sessions or 60-minute runs. These aerobic activities performed at a relatively constant level of intensity will confuse your body and slow or prevent the goal of changing your body composition. I will address how certain types of aerobic activity can impede fat loss in another article. So let us move on to the specifics of the workout.

In this workout you will do a few very simple things. They must be done correctly. This workout plan leaves no room for your own ideas or changes. If you do change or alter the workout, do not get upset when you do not see the results. So here we go. The workout is based on the concept of continuously increasing your training volume and weight in a predetermined strictly measured time period. This concept was popularized by Charles Staley, a nationally known strength coach, and he described it as EDT training. You will begin with selecting 3 pairs of exercises to perform with each workout. You will have 3 workouts per week. You will initially utilize single joint movements and the simpler compound joint movements. This means you will use exercises like overhead press, seated row, knee extension, knee flexion, calf raise, bicep curl, bench press and others that fit this description. Do not attempt to use squats or dead lifts with his workout in the beginning. Each pair of exercises will be performed in alternating fashion and in a 15-minute session. Once the exercise is selected you will need to find out the maximum weight you can perform the exercise with for 10 repetitions with (also known as 10 rep max). You will take that 10 rep max weight for each of the exercises in the pair and perform alternating sets (perform 5 reps of one exercise then go to the next exercise in the pair and perform 5 reps) of 5 reps with as little rest as possible in a 15-minute time period. You will record and journal each workout by specifically noting the exercise, weight, reps performed and sets performed. I will give you an example. You may start with a first pair of v-bar seated rows and knee extensions. When you have determined your starting weight take your position at the equipment, set the watch timer for 15 minutes and begin. You will do 5 reps with the seated row at your weight, get up and go to the knee extension machine to perform 5 reps there. Then you will walk right back over to the seated row and start rowing. Continue with this for 15 minutes recording how many repetitions you get with each set. You can rest from 2-5 minutes between each pair of exercises (after the 15 minutes of training is up). After you do this with all 3 pairs and have trained for 45 minutes, you are done.

This workout requires that you increase the number of total repetitions performed for each exercise the next time you do it. You will be resting less between sets and working more. More work and less rest mean you are utilizing resistance training to build muscle that will burn calories. This workout will take on an aerobic element because you are not resting long between exercises. Your ability to increase your training intensity is critical and often a missing part of the average persons workout. When you train with increasing intensity each time, your body will not be able to accommodate or get used to your workout. When you have the body continually fooled you can expect to experience changes in your body composition. The more muscle you have greater your calorie burning capacity. You will notice significant changes in your body composition, as you become a fat burning machine.