You’ve made it to the home stretch.  If you’re reading this, hopefully you’ve made it through the first two parts of this Total Body Blitz workout without too many troubles.  Hope you’re ready for a serious challenge because we’re about to close things out with a bang.  Part III incorporates a healthy mix of compound lifts interspersed with bouts of high-intensity cardio.  This format departs from the standard weightlifting one day, cardio the next, that made up parts I and II.  We’ll still separate things here and there to give you a break, but for the most part, be ready to do your weightlifting and cardio in one intense workout.

We’ve successfully mixed things up over the past 2 months to keep your body guessing what’s coming next.  If you’ve been maintaining a good diet, you should have easily dropped significant body fat, as well as added muscle to your frame.  Part III really maximizes your fat burning potential, both during AND after the workout.  You probably have a good idea about how we’ll zap calories DURING the workout, but have you considered this type of workout can help you maximize caloric burn AFTER your workout?  Meet EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption).  EPOC is your new best friend.  It represents how many additional calories your body burns after your workout has ended.

Your body wants to return to its pre-exercise state as soon as a period of exercise end.  After a boring, 30 minute jog, or simple weight lifting session, returning to this state isn’t very hard.  After completing a workout that combines the right intensity and exercises, your body is going to struggle to return to its pre-exericse state.  This is a good thing.  EPOC means, your body is using more energy, and burning more calories, as it tries to adjust itself to your resting state.  To maximize EPOC, and the calories you burn throughout the day, you will want to focus on lifting heavy weights (this elevates heart rate, which is great for increasing EPOC), limiting rest periods (I’ll let you know when to rest and for how long), and doing short but intense bursts of cardio.

If all of this sounds confusing, relax.  Part III of this workout plan is very easy to plan and everything is laid out for you.  Just follow along with the exercises and rest times, and you’ll be fine.  So what those nuggets of knowledge safely tucked away in your brain…on to the workout…

Week 1/2

Tips: Whenever you you see a combo with a slash (/) between exercises like this: 3 x 8 lat pulldowns/ 3 x 12 burpees/45 second rest… you will want to do 1 set of 8 lat pulldowns, immediately followed by 1 set of 12 burpees, followed by 45 seconds rest.  You will then repeat for the additional two sets in the combo.  Make sure to use heavy weight so the 8th repetition is very difficult on sets 1 and 2, and near impossible on set 3.

Monday

• 3 x 8 Lat pulldowns/3 x 12 burpees/45 second rest
• 4 x 10 reverse pushups/4 x 20 mountain climbers/30 second rest
• 3 x 8 barbell curls/3 x 15 side squat jumps (squat, jump as far as you can to one side, repeat)/45 seconds rest
• 4 x 8 bentover barbell rows/4 x 30 twist jumps (squat, jump and do a 180 degree twist, repeat)/45 second rest
• 3 x 10 close grip rows/3 x 20 box jumps/30 second rest
• 3 x 25 crunches, 3 x 25 bicycle crunches, 3 x 25 dumbbell crunches (hold dumbbell over head with straight arms and crunch up).

Tuesday

• 3 x 10 bench press/3 x 30 flutter kicks/45 second rest
• 4 x 8 barbell skullcrushers/4 x 50 jumping jacks/30 second rest
• 3 x 10 dumbbell military press/3 x 30 med ball woodchoppers (15 to each side)/45 second rest
• 4 x 15 bench dips/4 x 15 dumbbell bench step ups/30 second rest
• 3 x 10 barbell clean and press/3 x 10 burpees/60 seconds rest
• 4 x 10 incline bench press/4 x 30 mountain climbers/45 second rest

• 3 x 10 barbell or smith machine squats/3 x 45 second jump rope/45 second rest
• 4 x 10 deadlifts/4 x 20 horizontal jacks (In plank position, jump your feet off the ground and spread feet wide, jump feet off the body and bring your feet together so you’ve returned to plank position, repeat)/60 second rest
• 3 x 10 dumbbell lunges/3 x 25 lunge jumps (lunge, jump up, and switch legs in mid-air and land on other foot forward)/45 second rest
• 4 x 10 reverse dumbbell lunges/4 x 45 second jump rope/45 second rest
• 3 x 12 box or bench jumps/30 second jump rope/3 x 20 mountain climbers/30 second plank/60 second rest

Thursday

• 3 x 10 dumbbell bench press/3 x 30 flutter kicks/45 second rest.
• 3 x 8 barbell skullcrushers/3 x 50 jumping jacks/30 second rest.
• 4 x 10 barbell upright row/4 x 30 med ball woodchoppers (15 to each side)/45 second rest
• 3 x 10 overhead dumbbell tricep press/3 x 15 dumbbell bench step ups/30 second rest
• 4 x 10 barbell clean and press/4 x 10 burpees/60 second rest
• 3 x 10 incline dumbbell flys/3 x 35 mountain climbers/45 second rest

• 4 x 10 squats/4 x 20 box jumps/rest 60 seconds
• 3 x 10 deadlifts/3 x 20 lateral bench hops (keep one foot on bench, hop side to side with foot on ground. switch at 10)/rest 60 seconds
• 3 x 10 quad extensions/3 x 10 hamstring curls/3 x 25 bodyweight squats
• 3 x 10 bulgarian squat/3 x 10 reverse dumbbell side squats (step at a 45 degree angle instead of directly behind you)/30 second rest
• 3 x 20 knee tuck jumps/3 x 10 burpees/45 second rest
• 5 x 1 minute jump rope/5 x 30 second plank/5 x 25 bicycle crunches/75 second rest

Thursday

Hopefully if you guys are reading this, you’ve already made it through the first part of this workout series.  If not, refer back to this post and give it a read.  It’s always best to start from the beginning of a plan, rather than jump right in at another point.  Things have been designed to build upon one another which taxes your body in a specific way.  The order in which you follow this, in my humble opinion, is very important.  Order and structure will lead to gains.  So fight the urge to jump right in if this is the first time you’ve seen this workout and start with Part I.

From all the feedback we’ve been getting it seems like this workout is absolutely KILLER and, more importantly, helping you guys make progress.  It has been so great to hear about all your successes in the first month.  Keep it up, stick to the plan, and good things are sure to follow.

As I mentioned in the previous post, part II begins increasing the TUT (time under tension) your muscles will endure.  This is an advanced technique which requires you to lift and lower the weight slooowlly.  I’ll get to just how slowly in a few minutes.  To accomplish this, we’re going to completely switch things up and lower the weight you’re lifting.  This is a great way to ensure your gains continue as your body isn’t going to know what to do.  When your body doesn’t know what to do, it can’t adapt to the stimulus, thereby leading towards consistent gains.  There is nothing worse than putting the time and energy into doing the same routine day in, day out, for months on end, only to realize minimized gains at best.  If you’re going to put the effort in, might as well follow a plan that makes it worthwhile.  Part II makes things extremely worthwhile…

Now, when you see (+TUT) next to a workout day, it means every exercise should be performed using the technique described below.  This technique will be increasing the total time under tension your muscle experiences.  To do this properly, I want you to do two things: 1) On the lift (concentric) portion of a lift, count to 4 in your head.  When you reach 4, you should have completely lifted the weight.  2)On the lower (eccentric) portion of a lift give it a full 2 count in your head.  When you reach 2, you should have completely lowered the weight.

Working out in this format will result in a 6 second TUT for each repetition.  Studies have shown that for each exercise, TUT between 40-70 seconds is most effective.  I believe the higher end of this scale is best.  That being said, most TUT exercises will be done for 8-12 reps.  The exact number of repetitions isn’t as important; you want to be feeling the burn and enducing failure on your last rep.  Whether that is rep 8 or rep 12 is less of a difference.  You be the judge of where you are at, and if you need to increase/decrease the weight used, go for it.  Biggest thing to make sure of, is you are doing full 4/2 counts (lift/lower), for a total of 6 seconds per repetition.

In addition, we’re going to be introducing you to a variety of cardio elements on cardio days.  By cross-training, we’re going to continue to push the body and get you to burn off those stubborn LBs of body fat.

Week 1

• Monday – 3 sets of 8-12 using TUT format: Dumbbell bench press, incline dumbbell bench press, skullcrushers, dumbbell military press, barbell upright row, barbell preacher curls.  100 crunches/100 bicycle crunches (perform crunches as you normally would, not with the TUT technique)
• Tuesday -  30 min HIIT cycling (20 seconds 100% intensity/40seconds 60% intensity, repeat for 30 minutes).  30 minutes jogging at a steady pace.
• Wednesday – 3 sets of 8-12 using TUT format: Squats, deadlifts, leg press machine, calve raises, hamstring curls.
• Thursday – 100 squat jumps/100 bodyweight squats/100 russian lunges/200 line jumps/50 burpees
• Friday – 3 sets of 8-12 using TUT format: Dumbbell bench press, incline dumbbell bench press, skullcrushers, dumbbell military press, barbell upright row, barbell preacher curls.  100 crunches/100 bicycle crunches (perform crunches as you normally would, not with the TUT technique)

Tips: On Thursday, perform each set of exercises in as few sets as possible.  For weight days, you will want to lower the weight used so you can perform 8-12 reps with the TUT technique.  You will want to completely fatigue by the last rep or two on your 2nd/3rd sets.

Week 2

• Monday – 5 minutes of weighted speedskaters/rest 90 seconds/5 minutes high knees/rest 90 seconds/5 minutes jump rope.  Repeat 3 more times.
• Tuesday – 3 sets of 8-12 using TUT format: Squats, bulgarian squats, reverse dumbbell lunges, calve raises, quad extension, hamstring curls. 100 box jumps.
• Wednesday – 20 minutes HIIT row machine (:20/1:00 format), 20 minutes HIIT sprinting (jog for .1, sprint for .1, repeat)
• Thursday – 3 sets of 8-12 using TUT format: Lat pulldowns, close grip rows, hammer curls, military press, dumbbell flys, incline dumbbell flys, dips, front dumbbell raises, dumbbell shrugs.
• Friday – 60 minutes HIIT jump roping (:45 jumping/45 seconds resting)

Tips: Continue to focus on counting slowly in your head.  If you feel you are able to bump the weight up and still maintain the 4/2 lift/lower technique, feel free.

Week 3

• Monday – 3 sets of 8-12 using TUT format: Bent over barbell rows, bench press, incline bench press, lateral dumbbell raises, incline bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, tricep rope pushdown, barbell upright rows. 100 leg raises/100 flutter kicks.
• Tuesday – Jump rope 30 minutes (2 minutes jumping/30 seconds rest.  Repeat 15 times.) 20 minutes HIIT cycling (:30/1:30 format)
• Wednesday – 3 sets of 8-12 using TUT format: Leg press, deadlifts, squats, side barbell squats, sumo squats
• Thursday – Share It Fitness Challenge Workout Challenge: Black Diamond
• Friday – 3 sets of 8-12 using TUT format: Wide grip seated rows, lying dumbbell curls, barbell shrugs, arnold press, rear delt dumbbel flys, face pulls, cable rope curls, single arm dumbbell rows on bench

Tips: This week, we’ve included a Share It Fitness workout challenge.  Give this a try to see how you stack up.  These are very strenuous workouts, so don’t feel bad if you can’t make it all the way through.  It’s a good way to gauge your progress.

Week 4

• Monday – Share It Fitness Workout Challenge: Cross Eyes
• Tuesday – 3 sets of 8-12 using TUT format: Narrow stance leg press, wide stance leg press, dumbbell squats. In as few sets as possible: 150 box jumps, 50 step ups (Per leg.  Hold dumbbells in each hand), 50 reverse step ups (ditto).
• Wednesday: 30 minutes HIIT row machine (:30/1 minute format), 30 minutes HIIT cycling (:40/1:20 format)
• Thursday – 3 sets of 8-12 using TUT format: Dumbbell bench press, skull crushers, incline dumbbell flys, lateral dumbbell raise, dumbbell pullovers, close grip bench press, dumbbell military press
• Friday - 45 minutes HIIT sprinting (:30/1:15 format), 15 minutes walking backwards at ~2.5 mph pace.

So there you have part II of this Total Body Blitz workout plan.  Things have definitely increased in intensity from part 1, but you guys should easily be able to handle it, especially if you stuck with every workout in part I.  As always, any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to leave a note and I’ll get back to you ASAP!

Part III of the Total Body Blitz Workout Series found here.

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