What's the best way to have a fat burning machine of a body? Build Muscle! It doesn't matter if you want to look lean and sexy or big and hard, muscle is the anabolic furnace that keeps the body burning more calories around the clock--even while you sleep or rest.
I love building muscle. In fact, the gym is where I thrive and my soul and spirit soar. Sound a bit too romantic? Good. Because it is. I have a love affair with the weights that literally takes me to another place. While I'm training, my heart and mind feel at home...truly at home. Some fear muscle. They worry about looking too bulky. This can be the case for many of my female clients. I put them at ease and help them to understand that muscle is the fountain of youth and it gives you the ability to shape and mold your body into the beautiful sculpture you desire. You should NOT fear getting too muscular since it just doesn't work that way unless you are a genetic oddity. Muscle creates incredible visual illusion depending on distance and angle.
For instance, in the picture of me above, I'm probably more than 10 pounds heavier than I am right now. However, from a distance you would think I was bigger and harder now, than in that picture. As you draw closer, however, you would see the opposite and see me yet leaner. In reality, although I'm lighter and tighter now than in the picture above, my muscles are actually bigger than ever. I don't care of you're 17 or 70 years old, muscle will enable you to achieve your dream body. Okay, so are you ready to implement one of my favorite techniques?
Here it is. It's called Reverse Pyramid Overload. In a workout routine, a standard pyramid would look like this:
15 reps
12 reps
6 reps etc.
4 reps etc.
However, in a REVERSE pyramid, you would do the heaviest sets first (after a warm up or two). So a reverse pyramid would look like this:
20 reps (light weight-warm up)
6 reps
5 reps
4 reps etc.
Then, after the heavy finishing sets, go back to the light weight for 2 sets. After that you will finish with 2 HEAVY sets of ONLY 4 reps. While doing the Overload sets, you must use strict form and you MUST max out at 4 reps ( no more or less than 4). Then, after the 2 overload sets, you finish with a flush set or Afterburn as we call it in the DreamBodies system, which is a very high rep set of 20-25 reps. This will TORCH your muscle! The afterburn set can be done quickly and using a pause if need be to regroup.
So, the Reverse Pyramid Overload sets look like this:
20 reps-WARM UP
6 reps - HEAVY
5 reps -HEAVY
4 reps -HEAVY
12 reps
15 reps
4 reps -OVERLOAD SET (Strict form)
4 reps -OVERLOAD SET (Strict form)
25 reps- AFTERBURN
After only 9 total sets, your body will be toast :) It works well on the Smith machine where you can really isolate the muscle group without engaging the stabilizers. Try it next time you do a Chest or Shoulder workout.
Let me know how it goes!
Do you work to stimulate muscle growth no matter what your specific body goals? Do you train hard enough? Do you train in the right rep schemes? Does heavy weight scare you?
Don't wait any longer. Even if your goal is just to have a lean, sexy beach body you need to make the muscle to optimally burn the fat.
