Congratulations in finishing the past three-to-four week period of training. You should feel stronger and able to perform your exercises with greater ease and confidence. What you might have noticed from the training phase that you have just completed, is the lower intensity of the exercises were performed. The programme for the guys, especially, had the longer rest periods in order for the muscles to recover significantly to lift an even heavier weight. The ladies should feel an increase in their muscular strength and muscle tone.

The next phase we are entering will focus on converting the “slow” strength into strength endurance. This means the strength that you have gained from the past training phase will now become strength endurance – strength applied over a longer period and more repetitive manner. The ladies are following in very much the same direction with only some exercises different. You will experience a definite increase in the intensity of the training programme. You will feel you are sweating a bit more, your heart rate will be much higher during the training and you will breathe a bit faster during your training. Most of these reactions will be due the reduced recovery period between exercises and the higher number of repetitions of the exercises – so hold on tight for two weeks, while your body adapts to some changes!

The way the exercises are arranged in the programme is referred to as “super-setting”. Once you have performed one set of one exercise, you immediately follow it up with the first set of the next exercise. You then go back to the first exercise and repeat this three times before you move to your next “grouped” exercises. The design used for the following two weeks is an upper-body lower-body design. This means that you will superset an upper body exercise with a lower body exercise. This design is often used in the initial stages of higher intensity training, giving the upper body a chance to recover, while you train the lower body and visa versa.

At the end of your programme is a 20-30 minute interval-training programme on any cardio-respiratory equipment. Make sure you read through the instructions carefully and that you know how to determine your best training heart rate.

Frequency: three times per week
Duration: two-to-three weeks, 60 minutes
Recovery: 30-60 seconds between sets, two minutes between groups of exercises

Click here for the Cardio-Respiratory Training Programme.

Bench Press		Squat
Seated Row		Hamstring Curls
Dumbbell Shoulder Press		Standing Calf Raise
Standing Barbell Biceps Curl		Leg Press
Triceps Extensions Overhead		Abdominal Crunch