Wednesday, April 8, 2009

The ONE Change I Made In My Workouts To Lose An Inch Around My Belly in 10 Days


I've been on a muscle-building quest for the past 3 weeks.

I've been recording my workouts and have been getting better and lifting heavier EACH AND EVERY TIME!

It's been great and I feel like I have more energy, I feel better about myself and, from an esthetic standpoint, I look a lot better and I've gained 3lbs.

The biggest surprise is that in 10 days, I've dropped an inch off my waist...without doing ANY cardio at all and not really watching what I eat.

My current muscle building program is based on Jason Ferruggia's Muscle Gaining Secrets Program (with a few tweaks).

The major tweak that I made was to try to be even more efficient and to add a small metabolic element to my workout. Truthfully, I thought the grip-work aspect was boring and didn't want to do wrist curls, so instead, I substituted heavy kettlebell swings.

The truth is, swings with a 72lb kettlebell is really tough on my grip AND it gives me the added metabolic effect that was probably responsible for me losing that inch of fat around my waist.

I finished each lower body workout (either a squat or a deadlift was the main movement) with 100KB swings. The goal was to do 100 in as little sets as possible. Once I reached the goal of doing 100 in a row without stopping, I upped the rep goal by 25.

Well guess what? In addition to working my grip (because it's damn hard holding on to a 72lb KB when you're swinging it 100 times), I was also out of breath and sweating like I had been running hills.

A double whammy. Fat loss & muscle building. Who said that it couldn't be done simultaneously?

I love Jason's approach to building muscle and his philosophy towards training is similar to mine - low volume, using only bang-for-your-buck exercises, break records, work hard, eat clean and get enough rest & recovery.

Plain. Simple. Uncomplicated.

In fact, the 2 Big Daddy Muscle Building Programs that I've written were based on those principles above. You can get those workouts HERE.

=>Get Big Daddy v1.0 & v2.0

So I've got 3 more weeks on this muscle building quest. Hopefully by then this last hit of winter in Toronto would have cleared up and I can start taking my kettlebells & sled outside for some workouts!

Have a great day guys!

Chris
The FitAndBusyDad

P.S. For more information on the muscle building programs that I've been using, check out Jason Ferruggia's Muscle Gaining Secrets program at www.MuscleGainingSecrets.com.

4 comments:

Mocha Dad said...

I'll have to try these kettle ball swings.

Unknown said...

Great results Chris!

Scott said...

I notice that I'm hitting a point in my deadlifts where I'm limited by my forearm strength. Would I get the same forearm benefits from DB swings (since I have no KB's)? If not, am I forced to do forearm curls to get the most out of my deadlifts?

FitAndBusyDad said...

Mocha Dad, definitely! KB swings are my "go-to" exercise!

Rob, thanks. How's the muscle building diet going btw?

Fireballs, you're right, DB swings won't give you the same kind of grip workout that KB swings would. If you're really trying to work your grip, I'd suggest doing some deadlifts with a towel wrapped around the bar (or just use a thick bar), or try a mixed grip (where one hand supinated and the other is pronated). let me know how that works out for you please.

Chris