system 84 workouts

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Ok now let’s talk about the two key components that makes up your workout program and that is cardiovascular training and weight training. Let’s firstly look at cardiovascular training: Cardio

Cardiovascular exercise does more for the health and appearance of the human body than probably any other form exercise. The only other form of exercise that also does this much for your overall appearance is weight training which we will talk about in a second. But let’s firstly look at what type of cardio workouts are the most effective to burn those stubborn fat cells. Ever heard of HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training as its known? Well High Intensity Interval Training is just a little different than your typical hour long, ineffective and boring cardio sessions on the bike or treadmill or any other equipment that you are currently doing. In fact HIIT can fit into a 30 minute session and burn twice, if not 3 times the amount of calories than an hour’s long low intensity session would. HIIT can be performed with or without cardio machines. It’s a form of exercise where you perform short high burst of intensity, followed by a brief rest period to catch your breath. Not only will HIIT speed up your metabolic rate, but it keeps the metabolism rate increased for hours afterwards. But the secret here is that you have to push yourself with these types of workouts. You can do an hour long, non-exhausting workout if you prefer, but you won’t reap the benefits that a HIIT session can offer you. Let’s quickly take look at a typical HIIT session and how it works. Let’s take the example of a workout on a stationary bike (remember you can use any cardio machines or even no equipment by doing exercises like jumping jacks which are just as effective as anything else) . You should start off with 2-5 minutes of low intensity cycling just to warm the body and muscle up and get all the blood circulating. After you warm up its time to crank up the intensity and push hard for a full minute. After this high intensity burst you slow it down again to catch your breath. A good work to rest ratio is 50/50, meaning you slow down (rest) for the same period of time that went flat out (work). After this rest period you go full throttle again for a minute or 30 seconds. And basically you continue this cycle until 25 to 30 minutes have elapsed and then you cool down for 2-5 minutes again by cycling at 50 or 60% of your maximum heart rate (MHR). If you are a beginner you might only be able to do 10 to 15 minutes in the beginning but that is fine, as long as you pushed yourself and you make sure you do a little more at each session until you can do 30 minutes per workout. Now when we talk about the resting period or low intensity section, we mean you should be training at about 50 to 60% of you maximum heart rate and when you are performing the high intensity intervals you are training at 85 to 90% of your maximum heart rate.


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HIIT Cardio Sample Workout


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Now what is my maximum heart rate (MHR) some of you might ask? Well let’s quickly look at how you can calculate your MHR and also your target heart rate zones. Now there are few ways of arriving at this figure but one of the simplest ways is as follows.

• First you take 220 minus your age. This will be your MHR.

• To determine your target heart rate which is the zone you want to work in most of the time, you simply multiply your MHR by .60 and .85. This will give you the lower and upper end of the target zone you should be working within.

So let’s look at an example of someone who is 40 years old His MHR will be 180 beats per minutes (BPM). 85% of his MHR will be 153 BPM and 60% of his MHR will be a 108 BPM.

So when he is doing his interval session he will work at about 108 BPM during his low intensity interval bouts and at 153 BPM when his doing his high intensity section.

Now let’s just look at a couple of other things when it comes to you cardiovascular workouts. Firstly, when is the best time to work out for maximum results? Without a doubt this will have to be first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. When we talk about an empty stomach we mainly mean the absence of carbohydrates (and fats) as it is still very important to take in some protein, maybe in the form a whey protein shake, 30mins before and after every workout to make sure you don’t lose any of that hard earned muscle. By not taking in any carbohydrates your body has to use your fat stores as an energy source which is exactly what we want. If HIIT cannot be performed first thing in the morning due to scheduling conflicts, make sure that your last carbohydrate meal was at least 90 minutes prior to your exercise session. And then finally, HIIT should not be performed for more than 30 minutes in one session. If your results remain slow after about 6 weeks you can increase the duration of your sessions or drop your carbs slightly lower. The great thing about HIIT is that you can mix it up very easily. Try 3 minutes fast and 1 minute slow or 2 minutes fast and 30 seconds slow or even 30 seconds fast and 30 seconds slow. It does take a little experimentation, so try it out over the course of a few sessions. In weeks 6 to 12 of your workout programme, we discuss the use of light cardiovascular training sessions. These sessions are optional and must be performed a minimum of 4 hours after your high intensity weight training workout. It is important to note that this is a light workout and that your heart rate should fall within 50-60% of your maximum, no more. The reasoning behind this theory is that you can immediately target your fat as an energy source


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at such a low intensity. If you have 45 minutes to dedicate to this practice then it’s a great way to burn a few additional calories.

Weight Training Aerobic exercise takes a back seat to weight training when it comes to controlling the way you go about burning calories and losing weight as well as the amount of weight you lose. The main difference is that while aerobic exercise burns more body fat during the actual exercise session, weight training continues to cause calories and body fat to burn for quite a while after the exercise session is over. Muscle is very active tissue and requires more energy to maintain than fat. Every pound of muscle we gain from weight training increases our resting metabolic rate by fifty calories per day. Weight loss that results from diet alone manifests itself in the form of a loss of lean muscle. However, lean muscle burns calories, even while the body is at rest. A properly executed weight training programme can provide results quickly with an addition of one pound of muscle each month. Over thirty days that one pound of muscle can cause an energy deficit of 1500 calories. For every 3500 calories of energy used up, you will lose one pound of body weight. So, if you want to lose fat or change your body, one of the most important things you can do is lift weights. Diet and cardio are equally important, but when it comes to changing how your body looks, weight training wins hands down. If you've hesitated to start a strength training program because of whatever reason including the perception that it might make you too bulky if you are a female, it may motivate you to know that lifting weights can actually:

• Help raise your metabolism. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you'll burn all day long.

• Strengthen bones, especially important for women

• Make you stronger and increase muscular endurance

• Help you avoid injuries

• Increase your confidence and self-esteem

• Improve coordination and balance Getting started with strength training can be confusing--what exercises should you do? How many sets and reps? How much weight? The routine you choose will be based on your fitness goals as well as the equipment and the time you have available. If you're setting up your own program, you'll need to know some basic strength training principles. These principles will teach you how to make sure you're using enough weight, determine your sets and reps and ensure you're always progressing in your workouts. 1. Overload: If you want to get stronger, you need to use more resistance than your muscles

are used to. This is important because the more you do, the more your body is capable of doing, so you should increase your workload to avoid adaptation. In plain language, this means you should be lifting enough weight that you can ONLY complete the desired number of reps. You should be able to finish your last rep with difficulty but also with good form.


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2. Progression. In order to avoid plateaus (or adaptation), you need to increase your intensity. With strength training, you can do this by increasing the amount of weight lifted, increasing the sets/reps, increasing or changing the exercises you're doing and/or change the rest intervals between sets. You can also change the order of your exercises. This means increasing your intensity every week.

3. Be specific. This principle states that the way your body adapts to exercise depends on the type of exercise you're doing. That means, if you want to increase your strength, your program should be designed around that goal. To gain strength and mass, you want to train with heavier weights closer to your 1 RM (the maximum amount of weight you can lift for only one repetition - 1 rep max). If you want to build strength and endurance, you'll want to stick with lighter weights and a rep range of 8-12.

4. Rest and Recovery. Rest days are just as important as workout days. It is during these rest periods that your muscles grow and change, so make sure you're not working the same muscle groups 2 days in a row.

Remember, Weight training is a great all round body conditioner and should be an integral part of any new body transformation program. And when it comes to changing the shape of your body, nothing is going to help you as much as doing weight training.

The Workouts: Now that we have taught you the exercise and workout power principles we will show you how to incorporate them and create your ultimate workout plan. Below you will find the complete workout programme for 12 weeks. Let’s now look at the programme you perform for the first six weeks: Weeks 1-6: You will be performing your complete upper body on one day and your complete lower body the next day. These upper body and lower body workouts will each be performed twice per week. On a Monday train upper body and on a Tuesday you train your lower body. Wednesday is a cardio day. This is a three day rotation programme. On the Thursday you begin this three day rotation programme again by performing upper body exercises, Friday your lower body exercises and cardio workouts on Saturdays. Sunday is the day of rest. A section on abdominals is provided below to explain the training of this important muscle group. Remember our focus here is to help you get into the best shape in the shortest amount of time possible. This is a high intensity programme and will require much dedication, focus and commitment on your part. However if you feel the intensity is too high in the beginning and is something you need to gradually build up to, you can train your whole upper and whole lower body workouts only once each per week for the first few weeks. The other two days, (originally reserved for weight training), are replaced with cardio sessions.


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Regardless of the workout or day, keep your rest intervals over the first four weeks at a maximum of one minute between each set. After these first four weeks we change the programme a little to increase the intensity. For the last two weeks (namely week 5 and 6) decrease your rest periods between sets from one minute to 30 seconds. This is a great plateau breaker. I want to make it very clear that the weight training programmes performed here are designed to make you lose fat so it is vitally important that you stick to the reps and set structure and the rest periods. If this is too intense rather decrease the weight you are lifting than taking longer breaks. Remember, right now this is a weight loss programme, not a bodybuilding or mass gaining programme. This does not however mean that you shouldn’t push as heavy and as hard as possible, as always. Now let’s look at your complete upper body and lower body workouts. A description of the typical workout scenario is as follows: For each body part you train that day you will perform two different exercises. One primary exercise followed by a secondary exercise. For the primary exercise you will complete four sets starting with twelve repetitions. This is followed by ten repetitions, a set of eight repetitions and a finally a six repetition set. Remember the rest periods between these sets. After the last set of six repetitions you immediately move onto the secondary exercise (do not take your time as the second exercise must start directly after your last set of the first exercise) and complete ten repetitions. Rest your minute (in the case of weeks 1-4) and then perform 12 repetitions followed by a third set of 14 repetitions. Choose a weight that is heavy enough so that you can only just manage to squeeze out your 14 repetitions for that set. To increase your workout intensity make this last set a drop set. A drop set is when you, immediately (without delay after performing those 14 repetitions), take a lighter weight and continue to perform repetitions until you can no longer complete a repetition with good form through a full range of motion. Your muscles should be exhausted. This exercise plan works exactly the same for both upper and lower body weight training workouts, following the same structure of sets, reps and rest for each body part. Ladies please note that your repetition range is slightly higher than that used for males.


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Full Upper Body Workout Program Week 1-6


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Full Lower Body Workout Program Week 1-6


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Weeks 6-12: Now it’s time to crank up the intensity and pace! The structure will completely change for the final six weeks and remember that this was the exact same workout structure I have used to continue losing one percent body fat per week while still maintaining my hard earned muscle mass. This workout will literally put your whole body into overdrive and increase your metabolism to a level never reached before. This will require more focus and attention than the first six weeks programme but the results provide large dividends. The main difference in the final six weeks is that there is now a male and female version. This difference is indicated in the number of reps performed between the sexes. Basically females perform higher reps than their male counterparts. In the description below we will show you how many reps to do as a male and how many reps performed if you are female. Once again your workout programme is a three day split meaning that you workout Monday Tuesday and Wednesday and repeat this again Thursday Friday and Saturday. On your 7th

day (Sunday) you will perform the only one cardio session of the week. Please remember that the weight training workouts you will be performing will have to be done at a very high intensity, to ensure you burn more calories without the additional cardio. However, low intensity cardio (where you heart rate is between 55 and 65% of maximum, no more) can be performed as a second workout on any weight training day as long as it is four hours away from the weight training workout to increase results. Your programme will now look as follows: Monday – back and biceps; Tuesday – chest and triceps; Wednesday – lower body and shoulders. AB workouts will be explained in the section below, but follow the same structure as in the previous six weeks.


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DAY 1: Back and Biceps Workout You will work out your back muscles first. Once this is finished move straight onto a continuous 15 min cardio session of low intensity work (55-65% MHR). This is then followed by the bicep workout. The same structure will be followed in each and every workout.


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DAY 2: Chest and Triceps Workout You will workout your chest muscles first. Once this is finished move straight onto a continuous 15 min cardio session of low intensity work (55-65% MHR). This is then followed by the triceps’ workout. The same structure will be followed in each and every workout.


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DAY 3: Legs and Shoulders Workout You will workout your leg muscles first. Once this is finished move straight onto a continuous 15 min cardio session of low intensity work (55-65% MHR). This is then followed by the shoulder workout. The same structure will be followed in each and every workout.


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Abdominal Workout The abdominals are like any other muscle group in the body and should not be treated any differently, therefore we suggest working one ab group per workout. Ok, let’s first spilt them up into their three sections. The Upper Abs, Lower Abs and Side Obliques.

The reason why we break each area up into its own workout is that just like any other muscle group, the abdominal muscles need rest in order to develop, therefore working one area of the abdominal wall will provide seven full days of recuperation and development time. Abdominal workout structure

• Abdominal exercises are performed 3 days per week, focusing on a different area on each day.

• You will perform 3 different exercises for the same abdominal group.

• You will complete each exercise three times. This means you will do exercise 1 then move straight on to exercise 2 and then straight onto exercise 3. Only then do you rest for 30 seconds before repeating the entire sequence again and again.

• For beginners, in the first two weeks, reps should fall between 10 to 15 for each exercise. After this period trainees should aim for failure on all exercises where possible. With failure you will perform as many repetitions as possible until you find performing one more repetition for that exercise impossible and that is when you will move on to the next exercise. When you do this you will have reached 100% level of intensity. This also means that the ab muscles involved in the exercise have been worked to Momentary Muscular Failure (MMF) and have been stimulated to optimum levels. Should you stop short by a


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few repetitions then you will not reach MMF and you will have lowered the threshold leading to abdominal growth and development.

• Important note: always train your abdominals after you have warmed up, either after cardio or after weight training sessions.

Tips and tricks to make your abdominal workouts even more effective:

• Make sure you contract your abdominals on every repetition. This means, for example, when performing a crunch, you come will come up, hold the position pushing for a second and really contracting your abdominals, before you move back down again with control.

• Do not relax when you go back down to the start position. Once again let’s look at the crunch. After you have contracted the abdominals in the top position, do not go all the way back down and rest your upper body on the floor. Keep it just a few inches off the floor and then immediately lift back up again for your next repetition. This will ensure you keep the intensity high throughout the movement.

• Change your exercise order and selection to more advanced choices every 3 to 4 weeks. You will find these examples in the exercise index at the end of this manual.

• Once again, train to failure. I can not hammer this point in enough. If you do not train to failure you are just wasting your time and will see little or no results and you will not get that sexy six pack you want.

Here is an example of what your abdominal routine will look like. Monday will be Upper Abs, Wednesday will be Lower Abs and Friday will be Side Obliques. Let’s now look at the actual workouts for each muscle group:


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Upper Abs Workout

Lower Abs Workout


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Oblique (side abs) Workout


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system 84 workouts

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