Reach your fitness goals with this total body workout

By: Jeff

Use this total body workout to shed the pounds!

Whether you want to shed a few pounds, or to get leaner to show off your six-pack abs, it takes hard work and dedication to get the results you desire. If you read this blog with regularity, you've learned a great deal about your nutrition and how vital it is to reaching your fitness goals and a healthier lifestyle, but sometimes how you train your body can have a big impact on the results you see in the mirror.

There was a time when I followed the typical meat-head gym rat philosophy of training one body part per workout. It left me wondering where all the hard work was going, as well as unbelievably sore on a daily basis. So, I made some changes.

First change I made was to go from lifting 6, or 7, days a week to only lifting 3 days. This allowed my body to recover before training those muscles again. All that jargon of 'muscle confusion' and 'attacking the muscles' is pretty silly when you look at the anatomy of the human body.

When doing resistance training, the muscles experience small tears which then need the proper nutrients and rest to heal and grow larger. If you don't allow your muscles to rest, you are jeopardizing them of possible growth and gains with over training.

With that said, the second factor I changed was going from training one muscle group a session to training my entire body every time I go into the gym. No, my workouts aren't 4 hours long either. I simply focus on multi-joint movements first then isolation lifts next. I do several types of set training. Super-sets, tri-sets and the occasional drop set training. All of that isn't important if you are just starting off.

Try the workout below (I did this workout the other day) and remember it will take time for you to get accustomed to this type of training regimen. Stick with it, and you will see the results sooner than you think.

Back/Triceps
Pull Ups (or weighted pull ups for the advanced) - 3 x 12
Single Arm DB row - 3 x 12, 10, 8
Triceps Press Downs - 3 x 15

Chest/Biceps
Incline Dumbbell bench press - 3 x 12, 10, 8
Medicine Ball Push ups - 3 x 15
Barbell Bicep Curls - 3 x 15

Legs/Calves
Dumbbell walking lunges - 3 x 20, 15, 12
Single-Leg dumbbell squats - 3 x 15, 12, 10
Seated calf raises - 3 x 15

That's it! You should be in and out of the gym in no longer than an hour, and if you do this workout quickly you will surely be exhausted by it's ending. Give it a shot and post how it goes in the comment section below!

Happy lifting!