By taroGlycogen Assassination Program
Home Workout For Definition
To get really defined, adopt a training program which targets glycogen as opposed to fat! A metabolism that uses fat will want to store fat. A metabolism that uses glycogen will want to store glycogen. Fat is stored on your belly and hips. Glycogen is stored in your muscles and liver. Divert (as well as burn) calories with high intensity, glycogen assassinating, strength training!
When you drain muscles of their glycogen they behave like dry sponges – they pull calories away from fat cells and suck them up. To maximize this effect, you want to drain as much glycogen from your body as possible. However, overtrain a muscle and its ability to suck calories becomes impaired. The best approach is to optimally drain as many muscles of glycogen as possible as opposed to over-draining a few. This is the objective of The Glycogen Assassination Program.
Motor unit selectivity means the hallmark of the Glycogen Assassination Program is diversity (both in regards to exercises and load/repetitions)!
This rendition of the GAP has been designed to accommodate the intermediate to advanced home workout warrior. You will out-progress those with access to a full arsenal of commercial fitnessequipment! All the exercises can be easily modified to increase or decrease load and intensity. Bands, dumbbells, backpacks and bags of rice can be integrated to make things progressively more challenging. Using a reduced range or motion or exchanging unilateral exercises for bilateral exercises can help make things easier.
This program features three distinct workouts each dedicated to different muscle fibres. The average weekly plan looks like this:
OFF Days:
Yoke and Go: My type of “Off Day” is focused on metabolic power and scapular/neck training. A future article will cover these endeavours. In a nutshell, use progressive, cyclical, high-intensity interval training in conjunction with work for the rotator cuff, trapezius and cervical flexors/extensors. On average, I prescribe routines which vary between six minutes and one hour in total duration – performed two to three times a week.
The Big Three
For the following three workouts, alternate the exercises within each block (if possible). Note that rest intervals between sets of each exercise diminish as repetitions diminish.
Workout One
Workout Two
Workout Three
Training for maximal muscle development and definition is not simply a matter of adding tension to muscles and struggling to the end of each set. It is a deliberate attempt to fatigue muscle fibres by draining them of their fuel. Every rep should be a conscious attempt to create fatigue (not avoid it!). Fuel starved muscle cells will compete with fat cells for calories. This is the most powerful path to changing your appearance.
This rendition of the GAP clearly demonstrates the power of home workouts – totally free of commercial fitness equipment. With a little struggle comes a little ingenuity.