Welcome to my training overview for my 8-week Fat-loss Figure Trainer. I designed this program for people who want to get into the best shape of their lives. It’s going to require a total commitment to your training from you, and you’re also going to have to keep your nutrition in check to get the results you’re seeking from your weight-training workouts.
First and foremost, let me stress that this is not a weight-loss program. It’s a fat-loss program where your goal is to add sculpted muscle mass at the expense of body fat. In effect, you’ll be burning stored fat to fuel gains in lean muscle tissue to reshape and sculpt your body.
On my program, you’ll be training with weights 5 days a week, and you’ll be performing cardio and abs 5 days a week. Overall, these workouts will be split over 6 days. I’ll give you details on each of these in their respective sections.
I hope you’re ready to put in the effort it takes to get the results you’re seeking. If so, then here’s more about what you need to do during my 8-week Fat-loss Figure Trainer.
YOUR WORKOUT SCHEDULE
You’ll weight train 5 days in a row, and then you’ll take two rest days. I’ve set up the schedule so that you’ll weight train on Monday through Friday, and then you’ll take a break from weight training on Saturdays and Sundays.
One thing you’ll quickly notice is that my training split is quite a bit different from those you normally see from those designed for bodybuilders or for men. Keep in mind that I’ve put together a program that will help you reshape your figure—after all I am Ms Figure Olympia.
With that in mind, you’ll train a large muscle group on every training day. Of particular note: You’ll train your lower body 3 days a week. Yes, you read that right. You’re going to train your lower body on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of every week while you’re following my fat-loss figure Trainer. Here’s your weight-training workout split.
YOUR WEIGHT-TRAINING SPLIT
Monday Legs (quads emphasis)
Tuesday Triceps, shoulders and chest
Wednesday Legs (glutes and hams emphasis)
Thursday Back and biceps
Friday Legs (all groups)
Saturday Active rest—no weight training
Sunday Rest and reevaluate—no weight training
MY TRAINING PHILOSOPHY
You’ll notice that I don’t train some body parts with as much volume as others. That’s because I’m focusing on bringing up my key areas, and I want to keep my figure in balance. For instance, my biceps grow very readily, and they get out of balance with the rest of my physique if I train them with as much volume as I use for other upper-body muscle groups.
But you may need to put more (or less) effort into specific muscle groups than I do. Feel free to make some adjustments to the amount of sets, reps, exercises and weights that I recommend to help you achieve the balanced physique you’re seeking.
I already mentioned that I train my legs intensely 3 days a week. So let’s go into why I do that: Your legs muscles are among the largest muscles in your body. And when you train large muscle groups you burn more calories than when you work smaller muscle groups. Because we’re emphasizing sculpting on this Figure Trainer, the goal is not to add muscle mass—it’s to improve the quality and detail in lean muscle tissue. Working large muscles and problem areas is the best way to do that.
This also allows you to consume a moderate amount of calories to re-feed your muscles after workouts. You won’t need to starve yourself on my 8-week Fat-loss Figure Trainer. As I’ll mention several times throughout this program, cutting calories too low burns muscle mass and encourages your body to hoard body fat—two things you want to avoid in general, but especially when you’re putting in all of this effort to burn body fat.
YOUR SETS, REPS AND WEIGHTS
In general, I recommend performing 4 sets of most exercises for 15 reps. This is a ballpark that I want you to aim for. I don’t care that much about how much weight I’m using for individual sets—you’ll see me use some pretty light weights at times.
There are two reasons for this:
1) The goal is not to add as much muscle as possible; it’s to shape and tone your muscles as you burn body fat.
2) You can dramatically increase the intensity in your target muscles by other means than using heavy weights. One of these techniques is slow-paced negatives, which I provide examples of in the daily workouts.
So, don’t think you’re going to sail through these workouts because we’re not always maximizing weight. We’re going to emphasize intensity so that you’ll know you made the most of every set, rep and workout.
MY WORKOUT VIDEOS
You’ll watch a training video for every weight-training day. You’ll get to see my workout style, and you’ll get to hear my thoughts on how you should perform each exercise. You’ll also be reminded of several of the points I’m making in this Training Overview. It’s important to keep checking in with me on these videos. You can contact me at: [INFO if this is okay with Cydney].
YOUR CARDIO REGIMEN
When I’m on a fat-loss regimen, I believe it’s crucial to perform cardio 5 days a week. Yet, I don’t follow the same training split as I do with my weight. That’s because I like to create an “active rest” day where I don’t weight train, but I perform a 6th day of exercise. I’ve set that up Saturdays for this on my program. On that day, you’ll perform cardio and abs.
For cardio, I perform 20 minutes of steady-state cardio 5 days a week. I feel that this is the right amount to support lean muscle, fat-loss and recovery, without spilling over to burning muscle tissue. The pace should be moderate—where you’re comfortable talking. The goals are to help manage calories and to get your blood flowing to help work out the lactic acid you’ve built up from your weight-training workouts.
You can perform cardio at the time of day you prefer. This includes upon waking, before your weight-training workouts, after your weight-training workouts, or later in the evening. I have a slight preference for separating my cardio and weight-training workouts because it provides two separate boosts to your metabolism, further supporting fat loss.
Here’s your cardio schedule:
MONDAY: 20 minutes of steady-state cardio
TUESDAY: 20 minutes of steady-state cardio
WEDNESDAY: 20 minutes of steady-state cardio
THURSDAY: Rest
FRIDAY: 20 minutes of steady-state cardio
SATURDAY: 20 minutes of steady-state cardio
SUNDAY: Rest
YOUR ABS TRAINING
You should perform as much or as little abs training as you need. Abs tend to be an obvious strength or weakness of your physique. I’ve built this program so that you’ll train abs 5 days a week, including on your Active Rest day.
The abs training recommendations I’ve included are for 2 moves for 3 sets each on all abs training days. You can perform more or less volume based on your needs.
My favorite abs moves include crunches, leg lifts and rollouts. The key thing to remember is that you want to work your abs in different ways. For instance: crunches work your abs from the top because you activate from the upper body; leg lifts work the lower abs because you activate from the lower body; and, roll-outs work your abs from both directions.
In my workouts I’ve made specific recommendations for moves that train abs from the top, the bottom and the full abs. I’ve also included twisting moves to work your obliques—the muscles that lie just outside your rectus abdominis (your six-pack muscle). You can follow the moves I recommend, or you can choose moves that work best for you.
Here’s your abs-training schedule
MONDAY: Abs training
TUESDAY: Abs training
WEDNESDAY: Rest
THURSDAY: Abs training
FRIDAY: Abs training
SATURDAY: Abs training
SUNDAY: Rest
GET IT TOGETHER
Here’s my full workout chart for a full week of weight training, cardio, abs training, and rest and recovery. This is to provide you with a full overview of each week’s training—this won’t change throughout my 8-week Fat-loss Figure Trainer. You’ll follow this same schematic each week. However, I will be making changes to the exercises, especially from one phase to the next. You’ll also want to check each day’s workout chart and video to see what you should be doing each day.
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DAY
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WEIGHT-TRAINING WORKOUT
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CARDIO WORKOUT
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ABS WORKOUT
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MONDAY
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Legs (quads emphasis)
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20-minutes steady-state
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2 moves for 3 sets each
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TUESDAY
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Triceps, shoulders and chest
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20-minutes steady-state
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2 moves for 3 sets each
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WEDNESDAY
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Legs (glutes and hams emphasis)
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20-minutes steady-state
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REST
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THURSDAY
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Back and biceps
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REST
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2 moves for 3 sets each
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FRIDAY
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Legs (all groups)
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20-minutes steady-state
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2 moves for 3 sets each
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SATURDAY
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Active recovery (no weights)
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20-minutes steady-state
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2 moves for 3 sets each
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SUNDAY
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Rest and reevaluate (no weights)
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REST
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REST
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PREP TIME
Before you begin my 8-week Fat-loss Figure Trainer, you should do several things so you can monitor your progress. Here are my suggestions:
1) Take photos of yourself
Shoot them from the front, back and both sides. You should be relaxed when you take the photos. You’ll take photos of yourself on every Rest-and-Reevaluate day to keep a record of your progress. Try to keep variables such as lighting, posture, and outfits consistent so you can see objective changes in your physique.
2) Weigh yourself
In my Openers, I’m going to emphasize that the goal is not to lose body weight but to drop body fat. Still, it’s important to keep track of how much you weigh. You’ll use that as a partial bench mark for how you’re responding to my nutrition and training recommendations.
3) Record your progress in a journal
This is a really valuable tool while you’re following my 8-week Fat-loss Figure Trainer, and it’s also a great record for your next program. I think you should record all of your sets, reps and exercises every day—even if they’re exactly what I recommend. You should also record all of the foods and supplements you take in each day. This will help you make adjustments as you move forward in the process.
4) Get a body composition test
I recommend that you get a body composition test to really know where you are before you begin my program. You can re-test this throughout the program to see if you’re truly losing body-fat as you add muscle mass. The cheapest effective method is to go with a calipers test, but you really need to have the same person perform this test for an accurate comparison. You can also choose more expensive methods such as immersion.
NEXT: Check out my Nutrition Opener to see what foods you should consume each day to reach your goal on my 8-week Fat-loss Figure Trainer.
