Custom Fat-Loss Workout

Design your own gut-melting routine

Some guys like to do everything by the book. They follow recipes with exacting detail. Then there are those who throw gourmet meals together with whatever is in the kitchen. For the latter, we've created a fat-loss program that allows you to customize your workout to your own taste. We've provided an outline, including the sets and reps for each exercise, so you have the freedom to choose the exercises yourself and create your own unique program.

HOW IT WORKS

Each day you'll be doing a total-body workout, consisting of either upper-body pushing exercises and lower-body pulls or upper-body pulls and lower-body pushes. You'll do one of those pairings in one workout, and then the other in your nextworkout. See the lists of exercise options for each movement pattern below.

Each session should end with two "finisher" exercises. The first will use high reps to flush blood into the muscle groups that work in opposition to the ones that were your main focus that day. For example, if the workout began with upper-body pushing and you did bench presses, you might do face pulls in this first finisher. This will improve flexibility and recovery, help to prevent injury, and bring up weak areas. The second finisher is jumping rope—perhaps the single most effective training tool for burning fat.

DIRECTIONS

Frequency
Perform three workouts per week, resting at least a day between sessions

Time Needed
30 minutes

How To Do It
Perform the paired exercises (marked "a" and "b") back to back, resting as little as possible in between. Use a weight that's about 25% of your max. Do as many sets as you can in 12 minutes, then rest three to five minutes. The following workout is an example of how you could structure your program.

Start with:
1a Upper-body push, 10 reps
1b Lower-body pull, 10 reps

Choose two new exercises
2a Upper-body push, 12 reps
2b Lower-body pull, 12 reps

Finisher 1 
Upper-body pull, two sets of 15

Finisher 2
Jump rope for one to five minutes depending on your ability

EXERCISE OPTIONS

Upper-Body Push Alternating dumbbell bench press Bench press Shoulder press Floor press Incline dumbbell press Pushup Push press	Upper-Body Pull Face pull Chinup Lat pulldown Inverted row Cheat curl One-arm dumbbell row Reverse curl
Lower-Body Push Bulgarian split squat Lunge squat Front squat Box squat Step up	Lower-Body Pull Power clean Single-leg Romanian deadlift Deadlift Good morning Kettlebell or dumbbell swing Romanian deadlift

TWO-WEEK SAMPLE SCHEDULE

Workout I (Days 1, 5, 10)
Upper-body push / Lower-body pull

Workout II (Days 3, 8, 12)
Upper-body pull / Lower-body push

	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT
WEEK 1	WORKOUT I	REST	WORKOUT II	REST	WORKOUT I	REST	REST
WEEK 2	WORKOUT II	REST	WORKOUT I	REST	WORKOUT II	REST	REST

SAMPLE WORKOUTS

Workout 1 - Size (upper-body push/lower-body pull)
1a Upper-body push, 5 sets of 5. Rest 30 seconds, then go to 1b
1b Lower-body pull, 5 sets of 8. Rest 90 seconds, then repeat 1a

2a Upper-body push, 5 sets of 5. Rest 60 seconds, then go to 2b
2b Lower-body pull, 5 sets of 8. Rest 120 seconds, then repeat 2a

3a Upper-body push, 3 sets of 6. Rest 60 seconds, then go to 3b.
3b Lower-body pull, 3 sets of 6. Rest 120 seconds, then repeat 3a

Finisher 1: Upper-body pull, 2 sets of 15

Finisher 2: Russian twist, 3 sets of 12

Workout II - Strength (upper-body pull/lower-body push)
1 Upper-body pull, 8 sets of 2

2 Upper-body pull, 2 sets of 10

3 Lower-body push, 8 sets of 2

4 Lower-body push, 2 sets of 10

Finisher 1: Upper-body push, 2 sets of 15

Finisher 2: Farmer's walk, 2 sets of 100-yard walks

Sample Strength Workout (Workout II)

1 Cheat curl, 8 sets of 2
2 Lat pulldown, 2 sets of 10
3 Box Squat, 8 sets of 2
4 Bulgarian split squat, 2 sets of 10

Finisher 1
Pushup, 2 sets of 15

Finisher 2
Farmer's walk, 2 sets of 100-yard walks