Kris Brooks.com

How do I get ripped? How do I lose body fat? How do I lose this extra weight? These are questions that I’m asked regularly once people find out that I’m a personal trainer. Since I’m not one to feed you b.s., I have to tell you it isn’t easy. It requires adopting a new lifestyle, and that means discipline and commitment. If you are willing to do that, use the plan I’ve laid out below and you’ll get some serious results.

1. Heavy muscle recruitment is a must. Here’s a simple definition of muscle recruitment: The amount of muscle recruited during a workout. Burning off a high volume of calories is critical for losing fat, and the more muscle you use the more calories you burn…period. Picking the right exercises is the key to success.

Exercises that utilize big muscle groups and/or multiple muscle groups should be the weapons of choice. For example, ever seen a guy with a gut the size of a beer keg doing bicep curls for half an hour? That fella has definitely made the wrong decision. Biceps are one of the smaller muscle groups so working them by themselves doesn’t require much energy. Instead do more pullups (assisted, modified, or pulldowns if you can’t do pullups). That way you use the large muscles of the back, as well as the biceps. Squats, pushups, dumbbell chest or bench presses, and variations of rows are a few more great choices to add to your routine.

2. Circuit training is your best option. About 18 years ago I trained my first client. Over that time I’ve seen a lot of techniques emerge in the fitness industry. That being said, I still firmly believe that circuit training is the ideal option for losing fat. If you do it right, results can come pretty quickly. Here’s what to do: Put together a sequence of 4-6 exercises. Move from one to another with no more than 15 seconds of rest in between each one. You should notice your heart rate increasing, which will boost the amount of calories and fat you burn over time. Complete the circuit as many times as you can in one hour. If you are not able to maintain that long, work for at least 20 minutes and increase every workout by a few minutes until you can train for an hour.

3. Maintain a workout journal or much of your work is in vain. This is something the majority of folks never do. The consequence is your progress will slow down or stop altogether (this is called plateauing). There’s a simple way to prevent this. Bring a journal with you for each workout. With each exercise, you should be tracking the amount of reps per set, total number of sets, and weight or intensity of every set. Each time you train a muscle group, use this information to make sure you are pushing that group a little harder than the previous time. This will make sure you push your body a little harder each time and don’t plateau.

4. Your Exercises and Applications Should Vary. This is also referred to as muscle confusion. Not only should you mix up your exercises, you should also use different methods (stability balls, free weights, bands, calisthenics, plyometrics). Different techniques put different demands on your muscles, which ensures your body will constantly be challenged. This also helps avoid the plateau effect.

Bottom line… here’s the plan on how to get ripped, lose fat, and shed excess weight. Combine the principles above with a a good nutrition program. Make sure you circuit train three days per week. On days when you are not strength training, power cardio (jumprope, swimming, brisk incline walk) should be on the menu 2 – 3 days per week for 10 – 30 minutes each (based on fitness level). Give it a go and you will not be disappointed.

Vaughn Council shows you how to lose fat quickly. If you want to get results, visit his website to check out the circuit training routines