The Body Sculpting Bible for Women (112 page)

PROPER ALIGNMENT

Sit on the Ab Bench with your back on the rounded pad and hold onto the handlebars.

Your feet should be firm on the ground and your torso should be tilted back to stretch the abdominals.

Keep your head steady and your eyes looking straight ahead for the duration of the exercise.

TECHNIQUE AND FORM

Exhale and pull your torso forward and maintain full contact with the back pad. Hold this contraction for a second.

Inhale and slowly return to the starting position.

FINAL POINTERS ON EXERCISE FORM

Remember that without knowing how to perform an exercise correctly, no matter how good your routine is, you will not get the fast results that you want and deserve.

Also keep in mind that before starting any exercise, you should think about or visualize yourself doing the movement. This helps prepare you better for the exercise. When you begin the exercise, mentally focus on the muscle you are trying to stimulate. Use the Zone-Tone technique.

Remember how powerful the mind is and what it can do! By focusing your attention and “putting your mind in the muscle” you will double the intensity of muscle stimulation and therefore double your results. This is opposed to simply allowing any available muscle in the body to move the weight merely by going through the motions. You must learn to be connected as one with the muscle, observant of the connection every moment during the movement. Picture your muscle as toned and as lean as you want it to be. It’s really much easier than you would expect to master the mind-to-muscle connection and you’ll soon see remarkable results from your newfound knowledge and dedication.

Part 4

Workout Charts

Chapter 13

Workout Charts

THE BREAK-IN PROGRAM

In this program you will train with weights three days a week and perform aerobic activity three days a week. In this book, we use Sunday as your day off. You may do Day 1 on Mondays, Day 2 on Wednesdays, Day 3 on Fridays, and Cardio with Abs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Any other combination like Day 1 on Tuesdays, Day 2 on Thursdays, Day 3 on Saturdays, and Cardio with Abs on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays is also valid.

This program is designed to be performed in the comfort of your home with minimum equipment, namely a pair of dumbbells or a pair of dumbbells with an adjustable bench. As you get stronger you may wish to purchase a pair of secure adjustable dumbbells such as Powerblocks.

You will notice that we present two Break-In Routines. The first assumes that the only equipment available is a pair of dumbbells. The second routine assumes that you also have access to an adjustable exercise bench with a leg curl/leg extension attachment. Choose the routine you can do with the equipment you have available.

HOW TO PROGRESS WITH BREAK-IN ROUTINES 1 AND 2

For the first six weeks, follow the routine exactly as it is laid out. If you have never worked out before, it will take your body approximately six weeks to get used to the movements and recruit muscle fibers. It will also give your cardiovascular system a chance to get used to this type of training. By the end of the six weeks, you should have lost a significant amount of weight and begin seeing more muscle tone and definition in your body. You should also be able to reach your target heart rate by the end of this period.

After week 6, add one more set to all of the exercises. You will now be performing three sets instead of two. Increase the weights and perform fewer repetitions (13-15, except for Abs and Calves where the repetition range stays the same). Also, increase your aerobic activity to 20 minutes. Follow this workout for the next 4 weeks.

After week 10, you are ready to go up to 4 sets per exercise and 30 minutes of cardio. Increase the weights and perform fewer repetitions (10-12, except for Abs and Calves where the repetition range stays the same). Also, reduce the rest between sets to 60 seconds. Follow this workout for three more weeks; you should not only look dramatically different, but now you will also be in shape to start the 14-Day Body Sculpting Program.

THE 14-DAY BODY SCULPTING WORKOUT

In this workout you will train with weights three days a week and perform aerobic activity three days a week. Sundays are your days off. You may choose to do Day 1 on Mondays, Day 2 on Wednesdays, and Day 3 on Fridays with Cardio and Abs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Any other combination like Day 1 on Tuesdays, Day 2 on Thursdays, Day 3 on Saturdays, and Cardio with Abs on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays is also valid.

This workout is designed to be performed in the comfort of your home with minimum equipment, namely a pair of dumbbells or a pair of dumbbells with an adjustable bench. As you get stronger you may wish to purchase a pair of secure adjustable dumbbells such as Powerblocks.

You will notice that we present two 14-Day Body Sculpting Workouts. The first routine assumes that the only equipment available to you is a pair of dumbbells. The second two routines assume that you also have access to an adjustable exercise bench with a leg
curl/leg extension attachment. Choose the routine you can do with the equipment you have available.

THE 14-DAY RAPID BODY SCULPTING WORKOUT

This program was created especially for women who do not have a lot of time to work out. The program is very fast paced and will get you the most effective and efficient workout possible in 30 minutes or less!

Use this program either as a means to introduce variety into your workouts after you have gone through the 14-Day Body Sculpting Workouts #1 and #2 or use the 14-Day Rapid Body Sculpting Workout right after the Break-In Routines if 30 minutes is all the time that you can devote to exercise.

The 14-Day Rapid Body Sculpting Workout comes in two workouts. Workout #1 only requires a pair of dumbbells, while workout #2 also requires a weight bench.

THE ADVANCED 14-DAY BODY SCULPTING WORKOUT

In this workout you will train with weights six days a week and perform aerobic activity six days a week. Sundays are your off days. You may do Day 1 on Mondays and Thursdays, Day 2 on Tuesdays and Fridays and Day 3 on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

This workout is designed to be performed at either a commercial gym or a very well equipped home gym. The reason for this is that we will be using a variety of exercises and training different angles and areas of the muscles in order to stimulate all muscle fibers.

Note that these routines provide alternate exercises. Alternate exercises are to be performed the next time that you perform the workout for that specific body part in order to provide varied stimulation. For example, if on Monday of week one you perform reverse curls as your first biceps exercise, on Friday you will perform preacher curls instead. This variation will help to avoid a plateau, keeping your muscle building capabilities in paramount shape.

Cardio and abs are to be performed on a daily basis preferably first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. The weight training workouts are to be performed in the afternoon or at any other convenient time. If your schedule does not allow for two separate sessions, then you may merge both sessions by performing the abs first, and then the weight training followed by the cardiovascular exercise.