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You have one hour

  • Thread starter Welsh Iron Lifter
  • Start Date
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Welsh Iron Lifter

Member
Sep 21, 2010
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One hour a day to train 3 days a week. What would you recommend to get the person looking the best (lose fat, burn most calories, and lean and muscular appearance)?

Assume caloric deficit of 500 per day.

20 mins high intensity cardio stairmaster/elliptical, 10 mins abs, 30 min of push/pull/legs rotating each training day?

Skip legs altogether because you get that from cardio?

Remember this is for looks only. Not strength or fitness or "core" or health.

One hour.
 
uphillclimb

uphillclimb

VIP Member
Dec 9, 2011
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Superset everything and keep your heart rate north of 140.

Don't ever skip legs....a leg workout will burn close to twice the cals of a treadmill workout.
 
ChrisLindsay9

ChrisLindsay9

MuscleHead
Jun 17, 2013
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Don't ever skip legs....a leg workout will burn close to twice the cals of a treadmill workout.
Especially squats. Not things like adductor/abductor machines.

DAY 1
Squat - 20 minutes
Bench - 15 minutes
15 minutes of circuit: pull-ups, dips, abs
10 minutes - HIIT cardio

DAY 2
Squat - 20 minutes
Deadlift – 20-25 minutes
OH Press/Front raise – 15-20 minutes

DAY 3
Squat - 20 minutes
Bench - 15 minutes
15 minutes of circuit: rows, tricep kickback or extensions, bicep curls
10 minutes - HIIT cardio
 
macgyver

macgyver

TID Board Of Directors
Nov 24, 2011
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If holding on to lbm is a concern, I would lift as heavy as you can in main compound movements. I would take extra rest between sets to ensure you can train as heavy as possible. I'd skip cardio al ltogether. 3-20 min sessions are not going to add up to much. Eat a deficit and let the weight come off.

Alternating exercises in a superset and keeping heart rate up is an option, but I would not want to sacrifice recovery to stay heavy. Maybe do that once a week and do two others more power based.

That real tension is very important. Muscular failure generated by failure in a rested state is more benificial than fatigue induced failure. (Even though you may not "feel" like you are doing as much.
 
BrotherIron

BrotherIron

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Mar 6, 2011
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You only have an hour then do push, pull, legs. Ditch cardio and peform multi joint compound lifts.
 
JR Ewing

JR Ewing

MuscleHead
Nov 9, 2012
1,329
420
I have been in situations many years ago when I was very pressed for time, and was lucky to get in 3 days a week, and was lucky to have an hour or so. Nowadays, I never go over an hour on the weights (not counting cardio) 4 days a week anyway even with a home gym and more time to train.

What I would do would be to divide the body up into back/bis on one day, chest/delts/tris 2 days later, and legs 2 days after that. Basically either a Mon-Wed-Fri or Tues-Thurs-Sat split, with two whole days off after legs.

I'd do 30-45 minutes on the weights, then immediately use the remaining 15-30 minutes of cardio. Heavy weights, compound exercises, relatively little rest between sets. Squats, Deads, Bench press, bent rows, pullups, dips, leg press, military press, calf raises, etc. 8-15 reps on most sets of most exercises. Try to do at least 12-15 sets on the weights during those 30-45 minutes.

Depending upon how healthy you are (cardiovascular, blood pressure, etc), exactly how big and lean you are now, and whether you'd want to be more "jacked" looking rather than extremely lean and "fit" with just some muscle, you might or might not consider temporarily just focusing on the weights for that hour you have 3 days a week if your shortage of time is only temporary.

I've personally always leaned more towards training for size and strength and using a reasonable diet and a little cardio to maintain a reasonably low bodyfat. I've never been one to have or even shoot for extremely low bodyfat, but everyone is different.

Either way, some weight training with reasonably heavy weights and basic compound movements will go a long way towards maintaining muscle size while dropping bodyfat. Maintaining as much muscle as possible will help keep your body composition where it needs to be - more muscle burns more calories around the clock. A good diet will be key for most people when getting extremely lean.
 
GiantSlayer

GiantSlayer

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Jan 27, 2013
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I agree with BI. Push, pull, legs. Lots can be done here. This can be the big 3. Bench, deadlift, squat. Or it can be chest/tris/shoulders, back/bis, quads/hams/gluts/calves. It can be a mixture of the two. Bottom line, use periodization and limit rest periods.
 
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