October 15th, 2007
The Men’s Fitness holiday survival workout: hit the gym only twice a week and lose five pounds this holiday season
WE KNOW IT’S THE HOLIDAYS, SO NOBODY’S EXPECTING YOU TO WORK OUT four days a week as usual or to keep up your low-carb diet in the face of Mom’s stuffing and bowls of figgy pudding (or whatever your abkilling family serves). However, we do expect–no, demand–that you lose five pounds this season anyway. And when you see how simple it is, your holidays (and post-holiday season) are sure to be a lot happier.
Notice I said simple, not easy. Most fitness magazines sell you short around the holidays. They figure you’re not going to have much time to work out between shopping sprees and snow shoveling, so they prescribe wussy workouts designed to help you “maintain” the shape you’re in while stress, traveling, and food take their inevitable toll. But we’re not letting you off that easy, and you’ll thank us for it in the New Year.
Consider this: The average American gains more than 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. As a trainer, I’ve lost track of how many people I’ve seen every January who are struggling to get back into their November shape. Their New Year’s resolution is always to drop 10 pounds–but it’s the same 10 pounds they just gained in the last two months! Now imagine being able to lose five pounds in that same time frame. By my calculations, that will make you 15 pounds leaner than your co-workers when you head back to the office on January 2.
But to take off that weight, you must do more than just maintain–you need to make gains. While our Holiday Survival Workout promises to be one of the most physically taxing regimens you’ve ever tried, it’s also one of the shortest and most flexible timewise. Furthermore, you won’t even have to curb your gluttonous feasting to reap the benefits. So grit your teeth, and give it a try.
THE PLAN
When you do make time to work out over the holidays, it seems like everyone else has, too. This program eliminates the problem of both scheduling conflicts and crowded gyms, freeing up your week and ensuring you get the most out of your workouts when you can make it to the gym. Here’s how it’s done:
Work out two or maybe three times a week. When you’re busy, one of the worst mistakes you can make is trying to stick to your regular routine. Before you know it, you’ve missed a day or two, and–because you figure by then that your momentum is blown–you quit. Instead, switch to our plan. All we’re asking is two days out of your week. Choose any two days to work out–as long as they’re not back-to-back (you’ll need at least a day to recover between sessions).
Pick one weight and stick with it. You’ll be doing what’s called a “barbell complex”–a method used by Eastern European weightlifters to increase their work capacity and strip their bodies of excess fat. It combines the benefits of lifting and cardio, and it works like a circuit. You’ll do five barbell exercises, performing one after the other with no rest in between, using the same weight for all. That’s right–grab one barbell, load it up, and use it for the entire workout. Not only will it be enough to work you like a dog, it will keep you from having to compete for equipment or space. Also remember that the goal here isn’t superheavy lifting–it’s survival. You must choose a weight that lets you keep up the pace and complete all the repetitions for each exercise (see “Pound It Out” at right). Don’t worry if it seems like you’re not “bombing” each muscle group–these exercises work a lot of muscle at once, and the speed with which you’ll have to transition between them will give you plenty of stimulation to stay strong and get you lean. As a result, your whole workout will last, at most, 10 to 12 minutes.
pound it out
See how much you’ll be lifting with a “light” barbell
Picking the right weight is crucial, so err on the lighter side by choosing the greatest load you know you can handle on your weakest exercise. For example, in Workout A, you may not be familiar with the muscle clean. In that case, be conservative and slide 25 pounds on both sides of the barbell. That will still be enough weight to make the other exercises difficult–just wait till you get to the fourth set.
Since you’ll be performing six reps of five exercises, your training volume for just one complex will be 30 total reps. With 25 pounds on each side of an Olympic barbell, the total weight will be 95 pounds. Multiply 95 pounds by the 30 reps–you will have lifted a total of 2,850 pounds with every muscle in your body in about one minute of work. Repeat this three or four times, and you’ll be calling Santa’s sleigh to take you home.
But if for some reason you still have a little fight left in you afterward, you’re more than welcome to do 20 minutes of easy cardio on the machine of your choice. For an even greater challenge, you can do five additional complexes. Do five reps for each exercise on the first, four reps on the second, three on the third, and so on down.