Things to Know Before Starting the 4-Week Workout Plan
Before jumping into the first workout, I want to be very clear that you may not see any physical changes in four weeks, and that's absolutely OK. Track how you feel first and foremost. Do you feel stronger while carrying your groceries? Is it easier to walk up four flights of stairs? Can you hold a plank 10 seconds longer than you could three months ago? These are all great feats and shouldn't go unnoticed or uncelebrated. If you do see changes, awesome! But remember, unless you were sedentary, you may not see drastic changes, but that shouldn't discourage you.
That being said, it's also important to note that exercise alone won't suddenly help you drop 10 pounds or get down to 15 percent body fat. It can help, but you're also going to need to focus on your nutrition.
As a trainer, I'm not allowed to prescribe diet advice or create meal plans, but I do recommend eating more whole, minimally processed foods and making sure you're staying hydrated. If you're interested in obtaining more nutritional information and advice, please consult a registered dietitian.
Don't underestimate how important sleep, manageing your stress, and recovery work (massages, stretching, preventive exercises, and mobility work) are. One, you'll probably feel a lot better, and two, doing all of these things can help you lose weight, if that's your goal.
You'll notice that I haven't listed the amount of weight you're lifting because this will vary from person to person. I recommend lifting around 75 to 85 percent of your one-rep max. Here's a detailed guide on how to figure out how much weight you should be lifting. Each week, you can go up in weight as your body begins to get acclimated to the load and movement. On the final week, slightly lighten your weights (about 40 percent lighter) to prevent hitting a plateau.
Ahead, you'll see that there are only three strength workouts, two cardio workouts, and two optional days depending on how you're feeling. This is because in order to see progress and build strength, you have to be consistent with your workouts, not just do random workouts every time you hit the gym. You should repeat the following workouts for four to six weeks. This will help you track your progress, master the movements, and build muscle.
This plan features a lot of supersets and trisets, which means you'll be doing a minimum of two exercises back-to-back with little to no rest in between each move. They're listed in lettered groups, for example: A1, A2, and A3. This simply means that all of those movements should be done together for the designated set and rep scheme. Once you've completed a group, you'll take 45 seconds to one minute of rest and progress to the following group.
Now that we've got that out of the way, it's time to get to work.