Part 2: Best Workouts to Lose 20 lbs. in 2 Months

Last week I walked you through how I would diet to losel 20 lbs. over the next 2 months. You can view that blog here.

This week I will go into the style of training that I believe to most effective for long term strength and fat loss (based on personal and professional experience.)

First, I want to recap a few points from last weeks blog so that we can have a little more context for this weeks.

Lets remember, rule number 1 of fat loss is that you must be in a caloric deficit. This means your body has slightly less calories than it needs to maintain its weight. Which by default will mean that your body may naturally want to conserve energy. This is important because it will, over time, look to drop energy levels so that it can have better balance (calories in vs calories out) with less calories coming in, it will want to conserve energy.

For this reason, we don't want to combine low calories with a crazy training schedule. We only need to do what's necessary. No more, no less.

For most, 3 training sessions per week is plenty. This is a good starting spot depending on what your current capacity for exercise is but I have found 3 days to be a good minimum.

The focus needs to be to build overall strength and conditioning. 

Full body workouts that hit every major muscle group each session does a couple of unique things.

• Efficient Calorie Burn: Engaging multiple muscle groups in each session boosts your calorie expenditure, both during and after the workout due to the afterburn effect.

• Hormonal Balance: Full-body workouts help optimize hormonal states, contributing to a more favorable environment for fat loss and muscle preservation.

• Time Management: With only three sessions per week, this plan allows for ample recovery time, reducing the risk of overtraining and making it easier to sustain in the long run.

For the first 2-4 weeks I suggest keeping the workouts relatively the same. Many talk about "keeping the muscles guessing" however, you actually want to muscle to acclimate and get used to what you are doing. Keeping them guessing actually does very little. 

Get really good until it becomes ineffective and then change it up. 

The workouts themselves will be made up of compound, secondary and accessory movements.

I wrote a free guide that shows you how to create your very own gym workouts through and easy to follow plug and play template. You can get it for free here.

Compound movements will consist of squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, pullups, chest presses.
These are the core of your workout. They take the most energy (calories) and work the most muscles in the body. (squats=quads, hips, core, back) They are the meat of the meal.

Secondary movements will be exercises like lunges, rows, chest/back flys,etc. These can work multiple muscle groups and can in some cases use as much energy as compound movements. 
These are like the potatoes of the meal.

Accessory movements will be bicep curls, leg extensions, triceps extensions. They focus primary on the smaller muscle groups and work a very specific muscle group and usually just one (bicep curl=biceps)

Workouts
Here is an example of a 3 day split you can use this week and follow for the next month or two.

Day 1. 
squats
pullups
pushups
standing shoulder press.
10 reps of each
5 rounds or AMRAP in a 30 minute time limit.

Day 2
deadlift
lunges
bent over row
bicep curl and press
10 reps each
5 rounds or AMRAP in a 30 minute time limit

Day 3
Chest press
seated row
leg press
Shoulder press
10 reps each
5 rounds or AMRAP in a 30 minute time limit

A few notes: AMRAP=As Many Rounds As Possible
Each workout is done in a circuit style fashion meaning you will do 10 reps of one exercise and then move onto the next one and then the next one.

B's and H's
The most effective workouts use what is called rest based training. You push until you can't and then rest until you can. There is no rest scheduled, rather you will keep going until you need a break. When you feel good to get in good reps you will then jump back into the workout. 

Here are a few queues to look for to judge your workout.

• Breathlessness (B): This indicates the activation of catecholamines like adrenaline which aid fat burning. Achieve it through exercises with short rest intervals. Look to keep HR 75-85% max. To find max HR simply subtract your age from 220. Ex. 220-37=183. 183=max. 75-85% of 183=137-155 BPM. I'd aim to keep my HR there.

• Burning (B): This sensation comes from lactic acid buildup, promoting the release of growth hormones vital for muscle maintenance and fat loss.

• Heavy (H): Lifting heavy weights generates mechanical stress on muscles, spurring muscle growth and fat oxidation.

• Heat (H): Sweating indicates sympathetic nervous system activation and helps detoxify the body.

If you are achieving all four of these doing the combo of exercises from above, you will find it very difficult to not lose fat, build muscle and build body strength.

Hope this was useful.

As always, if you are looking for more customized guidance and support, you can contact me below to apply for coaching or visit the links for coaching options.

Have a great week.