Since I can now see the end of the tunnel, and I know my V-Diet will one day be over, I’ve started thinking about the future. I have a lot of weight to lose, and the V-Diet can only do so much. So, I’d like to continue losing weight, and also preserve and/or gain some muscle mass. Obviously, an important piece of this is my diet, which I will cover in another post. But, there are also some tricks with exercising that I would like to address here.

I found a great article over on T-Muscle. Christian Thibaudeau explains exactly why such a complex workout plan is necessary for both fat burning, and for muscle protection. In a nutshell, Christian’s plan looks like this:

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p style=”padding-left: 30px;”>Day 1: Heavy lifting (chest / back) in the AM, Sprints in the PM Day 2: Circuit Training 1 + 30 mins aerobic (not cardio) Day 3: Rest Day 4: Heavy lifting (legs) in the AM Day 5: Rest Day 6: Circuit Training 2 + 30 mins aerobic Day 7: Rest

So, exercising 4 days a week. Only real downside is that at least one weekend day will be an exercise day, but, I think I can get over that. He goes on further to define the heavy lifting, circuits, sprints, and aerobics. But, for my diet, I’ll just specify exactly what I’ll be doing on each workout. (Keep in mind, these may change slightly over time, as muscles get used to the particular exercises).

I am basic this with some exercises found in this Men’s Fitness article.

Heavy Lifting (Chest & Back)

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p style=”padding-left: 30px;”>Do 4-6 Reps of dumbbell bench press, rest for 60-90 secs (optional), followed by 6-8 reps of pullups. Rest for 2 minutes. Do 4-6 flys, rest for 60-90 secs (optional), followed by 6-8 repos of v grip lat pulldowns. Rest for 2 minutes Repeat all of this 5 times.

Heavy Lifting (Legs)

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p style=”padding-left: 30px;”>Do 4-6 Reps of Front Squats, rest for 60-90 secs, then 6-8 reps of Romanian DL Rest for 2 minutes Do 4-6 Reps of leg extensions rest for 60-90 secs, then 6-8 reps of leg curls. Rest for 2 minutes Repeat all of this 5 times.

Circuit 1

1a: Do 12-15 reps of:

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p style=”padding-left: 60px;”>DB Bench DB Step-ups DB Bent Row DB Lunge Crunches Repeat three times.

1b: Do 15-20 Reps of:

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p style=”padding-left: 60px;”>DB Shoulder Press DB Reverse Lunge DB Raise DB RDL Jackknifes Repeat 3 times.

Circuit 2

2a: Do 12-15 reps per set of:

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p style=”padding-left: 60px;”>Incline DB Bench Press Dumbell Lunge Bentover Dumbell Row Stiff Legged Dead Lift Jackknifes Repeat three times.

2b: Do 15-20 reps of:

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p style=”padding-left: 60px;”>Dumbell Shoulder Press Dumbbell Squat Wide Grip Pulldown Back Extensions Repeat three times.

Sprints

As par for Mr. Thibaudeau, his sprint regimen is guaranteed to kill you.

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p style=”padding-left: 30px;”>4 x 30m sprints 3 x 60m sprints

Rest one minute between sprints (or less — just until rested).  We can mix and match the 30 vs 60m sprints to see what works out best.  (i.e. 30m then 60m, then 30m, etc)