Pumping Iron

The correct diet will obviously lay the foundation of the new me. By eating right I'll shift some fat and fuel my workouts, which is what I'm going to touch on today.

Diet alone is not going to get me to where I want to be. I think too many people believe that simply by cutting down on the calories they'll develop a slimmer and more toned physique quickly. And perhaps for one or two people that may work. But the majority of us need to add some exercise to the menu. To take a race car analogy, putting a modern and more efficient fuel in an outdated, heavy old sports car is going to improve it's performance, but it still won't be good enough to beat a new, lighter, more powerful model.

And it's certainly not about jumping on the treadmill for 45 minutes three times a week either. One of the best ways to burn fat is to add muscle. The more lean muscle you have, the more calories you'll burn every second of the day. CV work has it's place, but lifting weights and adding a bit of clean bulk is going to lower my body fat even while I'm relaxing on the sofa!

To start out I'm concentrating on doing endurance sets, so 3 sets of 15 repetitions on each exercise. I'm also doing upper and lower body splits. Upper body one day, lower body the next, then a rest day and repeat. Here's my current workout:

Day One: Barbell Bench Press
Swiss Ball Pec Fly
Bent Over Dumbell Row
Upright Dumbell Row
V Bar & Straight Bar Cable Row
Swiss Ball Dumbell Shoulder Press

Somewhere in there I'll throw in some bicep curls and some tricep pull downs with the rope attachment.

Day Two: Squats
Deadlift
Lunges
High Steps
Calf Raises

Then if I've anything left in the tank, which is not that often, I'll jump on the disc loading leg press and really pound what's left of my legs. Or some extra squats.