Continuing research shows when we perform high-intensity interval training (HIIT) for maximum fat loss and fitness results it’s best to perform exercises in a non-competing circuit fashion.  There are a number of different ways to perform non-competing or alternating sets and each has its own merit:

• Supersets: Alternate between 2 different non-competing exercises (e.g. upper body and lower body such as pushups and lunges)

• Trisets: Alternate between 3 different exercises (e.g. push, pull, and lower body such as pushups, rows, and lunges)

• Circuits: Alternate between four or more different exercises

However, every once in a while it’s fun AND effective to take a different approach – a more old school approach with a new school twist…

I’d like to share one of my new personal favorites; and to my surprise, a program design absolutely loved by my boot camp clients as well.  It is called BODYBUILDING BOOT CAMP!

BODYBUILDING BOOT CAMP (BB) combines classic old-school bodybuilding style training with new-school metabolic training for maximum muscle building and fat melting results.  This program is really gonna burn…

”Oh, it’s a deep burn.  Oh, It’s so deep.

Oh, I can barely lift my right arm ‘cause I did so many.

I don’t know if you heard me counting; I did over 1000.”

BB is a method of intentionally overloading each target muscle group by performing consecutive sets of the same exercise with short rest periods between sets in an effort to stimulate maximum hypertrophy – much like a bodybuilder would.

Hypertrophy is just a fancy word for muscle growth.

Hypertrophy training employs moderate to heavy loads (65 – 85% of your 1-Rep max) and moderate to high volume (3-6 sets of 6-15 reps). Sets must be performed to momentary muscle failure.

Momentary muscle failure is pretty much what it sounds like.  You lift a weight until you simply cannot lift it anymore.  This is beyond the point of muscle fatigue.  Your goal is to select a resistance where your muscles completely fail at a predetermined number of reps or time under tension.  This may sound scary, but it’s really nothing to worry about.  In fact, once you get used to it it’s a lot of fun and it really shows you what you’re made of!

When you train at this level of intensity you send the signal for muscle growth.  Remember, we want muscle growth because lean muscle tissue is highly metabolic.  In other words, the more muscle we have the more calories we burn at rest and the more fat we can melt off over the long-haul. J

In fact, some studies show that for every pound of muscle we add to our bodies we increase our daily caloric burn by about 50 calories. That means if a person gained just 5 pounds of muscle they would burn an extra 250 calories per day or 1750 calories per week.  That’s equivalent to ½ pound of fat loss per week while at rest!! Though many experts disagree over the exact number of calories burned with each additional pound of muscle gain, they all agree that you do burn more calories each day with every pound of muscle you do gain and that’s good enough for me!

I know what you’re thinking…

“Am I going to end up looking like some sort of muscle freak??”

DON’T WORRY!  YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GET BIG AND BULKY!

We’re not talking about massive gains in muscle like professional bodybuilders train for (often under the influence of powerful and illegal performance-enhancing drugs).  One pound of muscle is only about the size of your fist- hardly noticeable when spread across your entire body.

And here’s a quick disclaimer for all the ladies- please know that you have 10-20 times less testosterone (a top muscle-building hormone) than men do, and there are lots of men who struggle to gain size and put on muscle.

In other words, you’re not going to rip through your clothing and start looking like the Hulk (unless you eat like him and experiment with high doses of gamma radiation). Rather, you’re gonna come away with a tighter, more toned physique and a couple more cuts in your arms, legs, and shoulders to boot!

Now, how exactly do we combine the benefits of a traditional bodybuilding workout with the proven efficiency and effectiveness of high-intensity interval training like we perform in our boot camp workouts?

That’s where my BODYBUILDING BOOT CAMP program comes in:

Alternate between 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest for a single exercise for 4 consecutive rounds followed by a 1-minute transition period. Perform 4 total cycles for a 20-minute workout.

Many muscle-building experts believe that 120 seconds of time-under-tension (TUT) for each body part is ideal for maximum hypertrophy and this is accomplished with the 30-30 for 4 rounds protocol.

You also need to select a load or an exercise variation that sufficiently challenges your muscles for about 6-15 reps in each 30-second work period. Intensity is the key to stimulating maximum muscle-growth and you absolutely need to push it to the limit while maintaining perfect form and technique on every set, particular towards the 3^rd and 4^th rounds when it’s starts to really burn.

The short, incomplete 30-second rest periods heavily exhaust your working muscles and stimulate the release of growth hormone (a potent muscle-builder and fat-burner) to shock your body and make it change for the better.

There are 4 total exercises within each workout that work your whole body, though some of the workouts will preferentially work certain areas of the body more than others. Why? Well, that’s just my little secret, he he! Of course, if I’d told you then I’d have to kill you

Below is a sample outline of this month’s program design:

BODYBUILDING BOOTCAMP

Workout A

Workout B

Workout C

It’s critical to note that since we’ll be performing straights sets of a single exercise with maximum intensity and an incomplete rest between sets, these workouts will generate a lot more delayed muscle soreness than usual.

The key to mitigating this soreness is by:

-      Performing body-part specific stretches and flexibility training during the rest and transition periods

-      Performing lots of self-massage both pre and post-workout on any sore and tight muscle groups via foam rollers, softballs, tennis balls, rolling pins, etc.

-      Drinking lots of water and consuming at least 20-30 g of complete protein before and after your workouts and every 2-4 hours throughout the day

One final thought…

I threw in a special 60-second metabolic finisher employing a total body exercise just to make sure we really ramp that heart rate up and cause an additional metabolic disturbance and thus a greatest post-workout afterburn.

Now, I need you to get mentally ready because this programming is EXTREMELY INTENSE.  I recommend it only be used for a short period of time (I like 3-6 weeks) followed by a mandatory active recovery week. In fact, most of the muscle growth will probably occur during the rest week as your muscles finally get to truly regenerate after 3 weeks of pushing them to the max.

OK.  Enough talk.  Let’s build some muscle baby!

Heath Herrera, M.Ed., CSCS, YFS1

HH Fitness, a proud member of the Fitness Revolution nation

If it was easy, everyone would do it!

Bodybuilder Boot Camp Trailer from Workout Muse

To learn more about Workout Muse >>CLICK HERE<<

Stay tuned for the method behind the madness

All this past week I’ve been telling you about this:

7 and 14-Minute Workouts here <---new.page

This is all about how shorter workouts (7-14 minutes) are better for fatloss AND muscle gain than longer workouts.

Naturally this freaks a lot of people out.

When they see me they assume I train for hours a day.

Wrong. I work out about 3 hours a week total in the gym when I’m not preparing for a photoshoot. When I am I increase the cardio… that’s it.

However, I spend HALF the year training about 1.5 hours a week in the gym using my 7 Minute Muscle workouts.

I like training longer, so I mix it up… but the results I get from 7 Minute Muscle are equal OR better than longer workouts so this next year I plan to train using ‘nothing’ but 7MM.

More here:

7 and 14-Minute Workouts here <---new.page

I’ve been getting swamped with questions about one thing in particular:

WHY are shorter workouts better for fatloss?

The secret behind this is a trademarked term (by me… : )

HDT
“Hyper-Density Training”

HDT is the most unique form of density training there is.

Density training is basically more work in less time.

This creates the demand for more energy.

More energy spent = greater fatloss.

More energy demanded = more lean muscle.

All of this in 7-14 minutes per day.

3-5 days per week.

I made a new website about HDT to explain it.

Go here now…

this comes down in a few days:

7 and 14-Minute Workouts here <—about HDT

P.S. HDT works for everyone, even those who workout in their home without weights.

Just by going to the new page you’ll learn how to use the principles behind HDT (freee) to help you with your workouts…

… and you can also get the “last-call” for my System that covers HDT and brevity training in detail…

… for a massive discount…

… here:

7 and 14-Minute Workouts here <—about HDT

Hey… HEY! Keep your mind out of the gutter!

By “dirty” I mean down and dirty… as in taken with my crappy iPhone camera by my friend and guru trainer Roland… while looking into a mirror… with no lighting, tan…

Well, you get the point.

Here’s an example… this was me listening to Nine Inch Nail’s song Vessel so I wasn’t exactly all-smiles… but I like listening to aggressive music when I train. My training partner/trainer Roland took this shot while I was staring in the mirror contemplating the next Smith Machine Press set with only 40 seconds of rest and using 225 pounds… yikers… my aching delts!

Keep reading… I’ll explain.

First, notice the definition in the arms, delts, and chest… (kidding… : )

But I really am in the best shape of my career, or rather heading that way, carrying almost 30 pounds more muscle than my pictures from Fit Over 40 (taken right before my 40th birthday).

So…

What Gives?
A 7-Day Deal, That’s What!

Before I get to the REAL deal, I want you to get this:

I started my peak-cycle training only 3 weeks ago!

I’ve dropped almost 10 pounds of pure fat and added 2.7 pounds of lean mass during that time.

This, without drugs, at the age of almost 47.

I plan to have a ‘real’ photo shoot on my birthday, October 14th. So I’m WAY ahead of the curve.

Here’s a few more shots to let you see my progress…

Crapy, crappy iPhone pics… I know… but hey, give me a tan and a studio and I’d look better, not worse… so why not show you what I see in the mirror? It’s more fun that way. And more honest, although I do enjoy real photo shoots.

Now For The Really Good Part…

After these shots I enjoyed a huge slice of Key Lime Pie (my favorite) and some cheesy bread later in the day.

You see, I practice what I preach in regards to My Every Other Day Diet System of Eating … and that’s not all:

I trained my abs and calves today. Abs: 3 Minutes (using 3 Minute Abs, which comes with 7 Minute Muscle (it’s a whopping 1 page long… but worth the price of the book.)

Calves: 7 minutes (using the 7MM protocol.)

Are you getting the picture folks? This combo of diet and training WORKS.

Just For Bodybuilders?

Hardly. In fact I wrote both books for the masses. I just included advanced sections in each for athletes and bodybuilders like me.

Let’s be blunt: If you want “any” amount of muscle added to your frame (and you should… muscle burns calories around the clock and creates those nice curves you want) then you need to train with resistance. The only difference between the way I train and the way most people (non-bodybuilders) train is the level of intensity and (in my case) I train a bit longer than my 14-minute protocol during a peak. But as you can see, I’m already IN near-peak condition before my longer bouts begin in the gym. Body fat: 6.2% (measured with calipers.) Weight: 214 pounds.

Again, not bad for a (nearly) 47-year-old natural athlete!

But this isn’t about me… well, it kinda is as these shots were so “dirty” I really dig ‘em… I like the raw look better than the studio shots most of the time… : ) No way…

This Is About YOU!

I’ve combined both The Every Other Day Diet and 7 Minute Muscle (also called “7 Minute Body”) for a price that’s less than the original “7 Minute Muscle” … that’s hard to beat, and it won’t last but another week.

That’s right: EODD will no longer feature a discounted version of “7 Minute Muscle” starting NEXT WEEK. Sorry… all good things…

Also… and The Radical Fat Loss Blueprint, which currently comes with EODD for FREE, will be taken off the freebie shelf for good.

So, if you want:

1. The Every Other Day Diet (the EODD Plan I use is included, called “The Extreme Plan”)

2. 7 Minute Body (the workouts I use 50% of the time; the other 50% I like to train longer than 7-14 minutes because I’m a gym rat… but you DON’T HAVE TO… really. : )

3. AND The Radical Fat Loss Blueprint FREE (this is how I dropped so much fat so quickly… and you can shed up to 21 pounds in 21 days if you really work at it and you follow the supplement cycle)

Then go here and watch my video presentation on EODD:

My Every Other Day Diet System of Eating

After you purchase EODD you’ll be taken to a page to get 7 Minute Body at a massive discount… and you will ALSO get The Radical Fat Loss Blueprint FREE.

This ends next week… hop to it.

Your comments are welcome below… I’ll try to answer questions pertaining to training, EODD, 7MM, etc… but bear in mind I’m speaking at a fitness gathering this weekend so I’ll be hit and miss on my laptop.

Now there’s a better way to train (faster) and diet (with your favorite foods used as TOOLS to force more fat-burning)… it’s up to you to take it.

My Every Other Day Diet System of Eating

Can you workout only one day out of three and make gains?

I certainly can… and I bet you can too.

Today I begin my audio series where I address your questions and comments. Today’s question comes from Mike K. in NYC who asks…

“Hi Jon…First, I LOVE your Every Other Day Diet and 7 Minute Muscle books! But I was wondering if you could help me with a problem. I’m having a hard time finding the time to make it to the gym using 7 Minute Muscle. Obviously I’m not referring to the 7 minutes (ha!) but the 5-day-per-week Monday-Friday schedule you recommend for beginners. Is there any alternatives? Thanks!”M

Below you’ll find my response and a workout plan you can put to use today to make faster gains with less overall time in the gym. Just click the “play” button to listen in.

Enjoy!

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