James it's Day One!!!

So James in New York has agreed to be my test subject. Currently James is around 280lbs and would like to drop about 50lbs for the summer. James hasn’t workout in some time, but is ready to make a commitment to do at least 3 days a week for the first few weeks to get himself on track. (James feel free to interject anything in these discussions about you) James’ past experiences in the gym mostly center around lifting heavy with the goal of building muscle and strength. Although this is a very common practice in the gym for a lot of guys, lifting heavy is not going to give James the results he’s looking for the summer.

So my plan to get James to trim down is to create a circuit training workout with very little rest between sets as well as a mandatory 30 minutes of cardio per day. He will also have to stretch before and after workouts to decrease his risk of injury. Today is day one so we will be taking it very slow and having James do very familiar workouts. As we move forward I will always be introducing new workouts to the sessions.

Let’s get started…
Day One Workout: WARM-UP

STRETCHES
1. Hamstring– from standing cross one leg in front of the other and hang over. 20 seconds each leg
2. Calves– from standing with hands pressing against the wall in front of you, lean forward, lunge forward with one leg and stretch back calve for 20 seconds. (Always making sure hips are square with wall and toes are pointing forward) **James if this isn’t making sense call me.

3. Lower Back Twist– Laying on your back, bring one knee up and place foot on the floor next to knee of opposite leg. Let bent leg fall over straight leg and twist to stretch. Hold and switch. (Take your time. You’re probably pretty tight here)

CORE
We’re going to work for toward doing 100 crunches every warmup. 1 set of 20 for each exercise, but if that’s too much in the beginning, start with 10 to 15 of each.
1. Crunches with hands on thighs. Lay on back with knee up, feet on floor. Push hands from thighs to top of knee.
2. Crunch with twist. Same position, but reaching both hands together to outside of knee. (I’ll post a video soon to make more sense of these)
3. Bicycles. I think you probably know these.
4. Toe Touches. On back with feet as straight up to sky as you can handle. Reach for toes and repeat.
5. Reverse Crunches. Bend both knee and bring them to your chest. Engage abs so to bring knees to chin and lift butt off the floor (slightly).

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg_ygFlWKaU&eurl=https://openskyfitness.com/2009/01/james-its-day-one/&feature=player_embedded

GLUT WARM UP
Floor Bridges–Laying on your back with feet near butt, press your hips to the sky and hold 3 seconds. Repeat for 20 reps (I know you are going to think this is the gayest thing ever, but trust me. Sit for a good portion of your day at the computer. You need this.

CARDIO
Now you can choose to do your 30 minutes of cardio right now or do 5 minutes of cardio to finish your warmup. If you do 5 minutes now then jump into your circuit training and then finish up on 25 minutes of cardio after circuit training. Either way you are still getting the same amount of work done. The only reason I give you the option is because some people like to lift after a good cardio workout, but others feel like they are too wiped out after cardio to do anything. So they’d rather save that for last. Test it out and see what works best for you.
Treadmill-If you haven’t done cardio in a while you should start with a walk to a light jog. I want you to set your intensity based on whether or not you can hold a conversation. If you can talk and talk and don’t feel winded then increase the speed or incline. I’m guessing you are probably going to be good around a speed of 5 to 5.5 on the treadmill. That should be a light jog. But adjust it if you need to.

CIRCUIT TRAINING #1
1. Lunge to curl, press and balance–Holding 15lb weights in each hand(adjust if needed). From standing step forward with right leg into lunge with arm down at sides. Push off right leg to single leg balance on left leg. While pushing off curl weight and finish in shoulder press. (Finish position should be standing on one leg with weights over head in shoulder press) 10-12 each leg. Stay on same leg for real burn or alternate if it’s to difficult.
2. Shoulder flyes with balance-Standing on one leg do standard shoulder flyes. Make sure your knees stay soft. Using light enough weight to accomplish 20 reps but not much more. **I also want you to pause at the top of each rep for 2 seconds. After ten reps switch legs. Watch your posture on these. Only using your shoulders.
3. Push ups– Here’s the real test. Drop and give me 20. Even if you can do 20 push ups no problem, I’ve got a little twist to make life a little more difficult. You have to do the push ups on a 4/2/1 count. That means you lower yourself down in 4 seconds, hold at bottom for 2 seconds and push up in second. These may honestly be too difficult. Do these off a bench or anything where you can decrease the difficulty. I want you to get to 20. Remember it’s about high reps to burn as many calories as possible.
4. 20 Bicycles.
REST 1 MINUTE AND REPEAT 1 TO 2 MORE TIMES

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RAUj6T0P34

CIRCUIT TRAINING #2
1. Standing Single Arm, Singe Leg Back Rows– Do these on one of the cable towers. If the pulleys are adjustable set it to about knee height. If not just use the lower placed cable. Use a single hand grip attachment. You are going to do standing rows. Stand on right leg and hold cable with left hand. Make sure standing leg is soft, abs are engaged and draw arm back. Also make sure your body stays square with the machine. Pause at full flex for 2 seconds and slowly release. Note-you won’t be able to do a lot of weight because you’ll be standing on one foot. That’s OK, this workout is all about balance. You’re feet and knees will probably start feeling the brunt of this exercise. You will do 20 on each side.
2. Wide Grip Cable Lat Pull downs– These are standard cable pull downs. You will be doing 20 at a 4/2/1 count. Pull down on 1, hold 2 seconds and release back out for 4 second. Do enough weight that you are fatigued by the time you get to 20.
3. EZ Bar Cable Curls– Again, standard Curl. Use EZ Bar attachment on cable from same position as Rows or lower. Do curls in the 4/2/1 count. Make sure to keep knees slightly bend. Also keep elbows back so not to use shoulders in this workout.
4. Plank–Lay on stomach, post up on elbows. I’m sure you know the position for plank. Most people hold plank for 1 minute, but you will be doing 5 seconds at a time for 20 reps. From the stomach on ground position flex abs and squeeze gluts(butt) and hold 5 seconds, then release. Repeat 20 reps. You will not only feel this in your core but your shoulders will be aching as well.
REST 1 MINUTE. REPEAT 1 TO 2 MORE TIMES

FINISH CARDIO & STRETCH