It's nearly that time again. You know, that time when you’re at the beach and the other guys are taking their shirts off. You start wishing that you had put more effort in at the gym over the winter, or even gone to the gym at all over the winter.

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But standing there on the sand its too late now. Even though you’re making promises to yourself about next year and the six pack that you will definitely show off, right now it’s time to peel the shirt off and reveal the fruits of your winter lifestyle.

But wait, theres still time!

If you’re reading this and still have a few weeks until doomsday, you can get going now and make a real change.

Now is the time to get in the gym and get serious. You can make the next 2-4 weeks really count if you knuckle down. So take you’re eyes off the chicks in lycra and set them firmly on confidently whipping your shirt off and busting out a leaner, more athletic looking body.

Training ‘bang-for-your-buck’ style

This is no time to be doing silly little exercises to isolate smaller muscles. No, its time to work maximum musculature, with high intensity, to burn maximum calories. This will mean doing leg exercises, sorry guys (you know who you are), and it will mean puffing, panting, and generally working hard.

You will be doing compound exercises. These are multi-joint movements using multiple muscles in a coordinated fashion.

Why? More big muscles worked = more calories burned.

You will be doing these compound exercises in ‘super-sets’. This is one exercise followed immediately by the next.

Why? To achieve a higher intensity, another tactic to maximize the calorie burn.

The exercises are ‘non-competing’. Each super-set exercise uses different muscles than the last.

Why? This allows rest in one set of muscles whilst another movement is performed to  maintain intensity.

But why not just do cardio to burn calories?

Good question, as this obviously does burn calories. However, the bonus with challenging your muscles with resistance (weights), is that you will raise your metabolic rate for longer after your workouts. Whereas with cardio, the calories burned is limited to the duration of the activity. Thats why.

If you love your cardio that's great, doing it on rest days is great ‘active recovery’ and hey, calories burned is calories burned right?

The workout...

Notes:

You can do this workout 3 times per week. Allow at least 1 day between sessions. As previously mentioned, cardio on rest days is great for ‘active recovery’.

Train hard, challenge yourself, but never sacrifice technique.

Warm up thoroughly - 5 minutes progressive cardio work will do this. Try to use a cross trainer (or similar) as this will also get the upper body muscles working.

Rest for 1-2 minutes between super-sets.

Barbell Squat x 8 straight into...

Seated row x 8 x 4 super-sets

Alt. leg Barbell Lunge x 12 (total) straight into...           

Dumbbell chest press x 8 x 4 super-sets

Dumbbell Step-Up x 8 (each leg) straight into...

Lat pull-down x 8 x 4 super-sets

Barbell Deadlift x 8 straight into...

Dumbbell shoulder press x 8 x 4 super-sets

Finish by stretching out all of the major muscles used in the workout.

So there you have it, get going with this and you will soon be feeling and looking leaner and more athletic ...and maybe even the first to take his shirt off!

A little background on the author:

Adrian Woodall is a Personal Trainer and fitness author from the UK with 10 years experience in helping people to realize their health, fitness and physique goals. Specializing in body transformations, Adrian has a true passion for giving people the advice and tools they need to change their bodies and lives. You can find more at www.boostmymetabolicrate.com

In his teens,  Adrian started training himself in the gym (among playing many other sports). This lead to falling in love with the whole environment and started working in the fitness industry in his early 20s. On top of training hundreds of clients to improve the way they look and feel, other client achievements include running marathons, climbing mountains, and competing in triathlons and ironman events.

With a goal of sharing all the things he has learned, and continues to learn, from working with people first hand, Adrian knows what tactics and techniques actually get results, what doesn’t work, and what could be simply wasting time and effort. Adrian has authored The Metabolic Rate Acceleration Programme, a proven 12 week exercise and nutrition plan for achieving a leaner, more athletic physique.

For more information on the Training, Nutrition, and Mindset needed to transform your body visit Adrian’s website, www.boostmymetabolicrate.com