Many men who are reasonably fit (around 15% body fat) want six pack abs. To get ripped abs, you must have at least 10% body fat. Unless you have the right genetics and a fast metabolism, dropping 15% to 10% body fat is a very difficult goal to achieve. It’s possible to achieve this goal in 2 months by following a high-intensity exercise program, having the right diet, and the discipline to do both consistently. I have seen many guys with an advanced training status train hard for a period of 3-4 months and still not achieve this goal (their lower set of abs was still hidden under a layer of abdominal fat). In fact, I was there myself recently and that is how I discovered a training method that I would like to call Condensed Circuit Training (CCT) and what prompted me to write this article.
To achieve this goal you not only have to work hard but you also have to work smart. I have gotten carried away in the last year and gained weight as fat. I’m 5’11” and went from 175lbs at 7% body fat to 190lbs at 15% in about 6 months. I finally got tired of not being able to see my abs, so I started working out again to reduce my body fat and get my abs back I did full body resistance training in a circuit format 3 times a week which I felt was pretty intense but in 3 months I only managed to lose 1% of body fat and my lower set of abs was gone. in sight. Increasingly frustrated, I vowed to achieve my goal in the next 2 months. I changed my diet and started eating according to John Berardi’s precision nutrition system again (followed it a few years ago but fell off the bandwagon a lot of discipline to eat well and many people fail in this area but if you want to achieve this goal you have to put as much effort into your diet and eating habits as you do into your workouts 50% of the results. s 3 months where I only managed to lose 1% I trained hard but I didn’t watch what I ate and how I ate because I got lazy and thought that the exercise itself would be enough. Let this be a lesson to all of you that taking shortcuts and doing this halfway will only result in painfully slow progress and frustration.
In addition to completely changing my diet, I also changed my training program. In the past, I’ve found that a program that incorporates full-body circuit resistance training and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) works best for reducing body fat %. This is how I got down to 7% body fat a few years ago. However, he had to train at least 6 times per week (3 resistance training sessions and 3 HIIT sessions). I am lazy by nature and absolutely hate running (on a treadmill or otherwise) and there was no way I was going to train 6 times a week again. So I came up with a training method that killed these two birds with one stone and allowed me to accomplish the same amount of work in just 3 workouts and less time. I would like to call this training method condensed circuit training (CCT).
My workout consisted of 3 massive compound exercises done in a circuit format as many times as I could in 30 minutes, keeping rest periods between exercises to a minimum. Each of the first two exercises combined two exercises into one to work many muscle groups in one movement. Taking this training approach accomplished several things: 1) it kept my heart rate at 90% of its maximum for the entire 30 minutes, resulting in a great EPOC effect; 2) gave me a full body workout; 3) it allowed me to get a lot of work done and therefore a lot of volume in the 30 minutes because the exercise selection was limited and the rest periods were short and 4) it provided a sufficient stimulus for size and strength because the volume followed. increasing in each subsequent training thus ensuring a progressive overload. In terms of oxygen uptake and volume, a single 30-minute CCT workout is roughly equivalent to doing 30 minutes of HIIT and the volume of a typical 45-minute full-body resistance training workout. Therefore, 75 minutes of work are condensed into 30 minutes. Doing a CCT workout 3 times a week is like doing 3 resistance workouts and 3 HIIT workouts. Every CCT workout left me drenched in sweat and gasping for air like a fish out of water. Further adoption of Charles Staley’s scaled density training (EDT) approach provided a progressive overload stimulus for size and strength gains.
Here is a description of the exercises I used in my CCT training.
Incline Lying Leg Raise with Dumbbell Chest Press
This exercise combines the lying leg raise and dumbbell chest press in one movement. This exercise works your chest, arms, shoulders, abs, and hip flexors. To do this, place a 12-16″ step under a bench, grab a set of dumbbells, and lie down so that your head and upper body are tilted and your lower body is in decline. Then do a chest press and a straight leg raise at the same time (this is the concentric phase) and then lower it back to the starting position at the same time (this is the eccentric phase).You can adjust the intensity and which muscles are worked by flexing or extending the arms. knees and changing the position of the arms. To work primarily the chest, move the dumbbells in a quicker or more arched motion while limiting flexion and extension at the elbows. To work primarily the shoulders, increase torque at the shoulder joints keeping the elbows close to the sides of the body and hold the dumbbells in a neutral grip while limiting the flexion and extension of the elbows.This is similar to a lateral front raise with dumbbells, but the elbows are bent and there is still some degree of movement in the elbow joint. You can get creative with this exercise and find what ranges of motion and limb positions work best.
Good Morning Back Squat
This exercise combines the good morning and the back squat in one movement. It incorporates knee and hip flexion and extension and works the quads, hamstrings, glutes, lower back, and midsection musculature. Place the bar in the lower back position. Squat down by flexing your knees and hips until your knees are at 90 degrees and your hips are flexed as far as possible (this is the eccentric phase). Next, extend your hips and knees to return to the starting position (this is the concentric phase). The knees should extend slightly before the hips to ensure that the lower back is engaged.
Front lever pull-ups
This exercise works all the muscles of the upper back, forearms and biceps. For a description of this exercise, see Coach Sommer’s article on bodyweight conditioning: http://www.dragondoor.com/articles/building-an-olympic-body-through-bodyweight-conditioning/default.aspx
The choice of exercises for a CCT workout is up to you. You can even invent your own or modify existing ones. However, there are two important factors in exercise selection: 1) exercises should engage as many muscle groups as possible in the given movement, and 2) exercises should be chosen so that the major agonist/antagonist pairs are worked to produce a whole body. exercise. If you feel adventurous enough and really want to push yourself to the limit, you can try doing CCT 5 times a week for 2 months and see where it takes you. I would certainly appreciate any before and after photos to post on my blog.