10 Weeks until July 4th, 10 Weeks to a Beach-Ready Body - Week 4

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The weather is warming up in New York City after yesterdays storms, and in seven weeks it’s July 4th Weekend and summer will be in full swing.  Time to move the jackets and sweaters into the bottom drawers and the backs of closets and move the tank tops and box cuts to center stage.  No more hiding under layers of clothes. Time to show some skin and get some sun. And along with all of this comes the immediate desire for dramatic physical change.

At Empower Fitness, we’re busy helping our clients do exactly that – from our fashion models and celebrities, to our “soccer moms” and business executives - everyone’s mindset seems to have shifted to “lets do this NOW”.

I’m here to help.  This is the fourth week of Empowering tips on nutrition and exercise to get you fitting into that tight speedo by the time you’re invited to the first pool party of the summer.  Follow the tips I’ll outline here and you’ll be ready for the beach - whether your “beach” is  the pier at Christopher Street, the pool at the Soho House or the white sands of Fire Island Pines.

If you’ve been following the program from the beginning, your nutrition should be in check.  You’re eating a good mix of foods that support your goals and you’re doing so frequently.  This is really the opposite of a diet - you should never be hungry when eating in a supportive way.  And if you’ve done the first two weeks of the exercise program, you’re feeling stronger and your body is starting to get a tighter, more toned look.  Don’t worry that your weight on the scale hasn’t changed - this just means that you're  adding heavier lean tissue to your body and losing some body fat, so no net change in weight is expected... yet. 
That comes later during the fat loss phase.  

This week we want to change things up a bit, introduce a new exercise concept and start really lifting some heavier weights.  This week, we will be doing the same exercises, we will just be doing them differently.  Instead of doing an exercise and then resting, we will now be completing two exercises back-to-back.  These exercise pairs are called “Supersets”.  You can learn more about this in my Fitness Concepts page - The password is “metabolism”

Here is how you will be pairing your exercises as you move on to Supersets:

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Olympic Bar Squats or Dumbbell Squats

Superset with:

Seated Dumbbell Overhead Presses

Lying Dumbbell Chest Presses

Superset with:

Bent-Over One-Arm Rows on Bench

Dumbbell Biceps Curl

Superset with:

Supine Dumbbell Triceps “French” Presses

We will also change the numbers, and you will be doing 3 Sets of 12 Repetitions of each “Superset” before moving on to the next pair.  Because you are doing fewer Repetitions per Set, you can now also do more weight.  If you were able to complete 15 Repetitions of a given exercise pretty readily in your last workout, move up by one increment for your first set this week.  If you had a very hard time completing 15 Repetitions of a given exercise in your last workout, or could not complete all 15, then stay with that weight and move up by one increment in the second Set.  

Rest 1.5 minutes between each Superset.  A good rule of thumb to know if you can increase the weight by one increment from one Set to the next is this: If you finish the Set and could have definitely completed an addition 2 Repetitions (for a total of 14), then you can increase the weight for your next Set.  

Don’t forget to continue to do your “warm-up” Set with half of the weight you will use for your first “working” Set.  You only need to do this “warm-up” Set for the first pair of exercises.  It is even more important to do the “warm-up” now that you will be lifting even heavier weights.  

The Physioball Crunch will still be done by itself at the end of workout.  And you will still be doing 15 Repetitions, but now you will be doing 3 Sets. 

As we have done in the past two weeks, complete the exercise program three times per week, resting at least one day between workouts.

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As we continue to decrease the number of Repetitions per Set and increase the weights we are lifting, you will get stronger and add more muscle to your body.  You should be seeing a difference in how your body looks in the mirror by the end of this week.  Next week, the workout will take a turn.  You will be given the option to continue with another week of this “Strength and Growth” Phase (for those who are more concerned with adding muscle to your bodies) or to move on to the “Endurance and Toning” Phase (for those of you whose primary concern is fat loss).  

As we go forward, I want you to know this:  Every day that you make a positive change to your nutrition, every day that you work hard on the exercise program, your body is changing for the better.  You may not see the changes in the mirror every day, but know that if you follow both the nutrition recommendations and the exercise program, that you will see dramatic results by the end of the ten weeks.  If you want some motivation, take a look at what clients who have completed my program before you have said about it.  

I will be updating the workout each week for the duration of this ten-week blog on getting in shape for summer.  You will notice that each element builds on the previous one, giving you a complete program, a road-map, for getting from where you are to where you want to be.  I hope you will stay with me.  I am looking forward to hearing about YOUR ten-week success story.  

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Greg Rothman, MS PT, is a fitness professional, author and the owner of Empower Fitness Studios in NYC.  He received his Masters Degree in Physical Therapy from Columbia University and has twenty years of experience in the fitness and rehabilitation fields.  He believes that absolutely anyone can have the body of their dreams once they understand how to eat and exercise in a way that supports their goals.  It is his mission to Empower as many people as possible to do just that.  Greg is happy to hear from you if you have questions about any topic related to fitness or nutrition, and can be found at www.GetEmpoweredFitness.com.

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