Halfway there!
So we’re now well past the halfway point in trying to help our six ‘jeans challengers’ into that pair of jeans, and so far the omens are good. Although it must be said that most of the guys are starting to feel the effects of three and a half weeks of focused nutrition and training.
Week four sees a continuation of us trying to expose the guys to some lower rep, heavier weights, strength training. You’ll never develop all out strength in two weeks of course, but the idea here is to get both the muscles capable of, and the mind comfortable with, lifting heavier loads – which is the essence of strength training. It’s an essential part of any program, often overlooked in females because women are wary of ‘bulking’ and also because most personal trainers are wary of confronting the issue – it’s easier not to right? Maybe so, but it’s worth remembering though that a) women will not ‘bulk up’ with a well designed strength program, and b) physically weak and unstable creatures will always struggle to get lean and toned!
Next week the program shifts again and the final two weeks of the program will see a shift into more high rep, low weight, limited rest, metabolic type training – otherwise referred to as cardio with weights or circuits. This type of cardio-strength training is perhaps the best form of training for fat loss. The problem with it is that most people are not strong enough to do it. Strength and structural integrity almost always become the limiting factor, and worse still, lead to injury. This is why, even given our short timescales, we have moved through a phase of structural balance and a strength phase before we move into two weeks of all out fat loss cardio-strength training. (We might have had much quicker fat loss had we skipped the previous two phases, but we want to help people get sustainable results, not create physiotherapy clients!)
Let’s see if over six weeks we can not only help ours challengers get into their jeans, but also banish the chronic back and knee issues that have been niggling them. So far, so good – pain has been significantly reduced (eliminated completely in one case) and body fat has tumbled – let’s see what the next two and a half weeks brings……
Follow the Jeans Challenge
- W10 Jeans Challenge
- Jeans Challenge Week 2
- Jeans Challenge Week 3
- Jeans Challenge Week 5
- Jeans Challenge Week 6
- Jeans Challenge Week 7
- Jeans Challenge Week 8
- Jeans Challenge: The Results