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The No.1 fat-loss workout

Melt your gut with a circuit that strengthens your heart and your muscles.

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Exercises, gym equipment for a ripped six pack
Marius Bugge
Exercises, gym equipment for a ripped six pack
Marius Bugge

Pairing up exercises that work opposite muscle groups (so they don’t compete with one another for recovery) burns more calories than traditional training with straight sets. For example, doing multiple sets of a chest exercise paired with sets of a back exercise shuttles blood back and forth between the working muscles, making your heart work harder. Increased heart rate means more calories burned, and training multiple areas of the body at once also leads to shorter, more intense, and more efficient workouts.

Science backs it up, too. A 2010 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that noncompeting supersets led to greater energy expenditure relative to training time and subjects burned calories at an accelerated rate.

Want to take it up another notch? Pair up exercises that work the upper and lower bodies. Now you’re forcing the heart to pump blood from the legs back up to the torso and down again, intensifying caloric expenditure even more.

Remember to eat right, and watch the pounds fall away.

Directions

The following workout is a circuit routine made up of noncompeting exercises you can do mostly with bodyweight alone.

Perform one set of 8–12 reps for each exercise in sequence (for the battling ropes, perform reps for 15–30 seconds). Afterward, rest 60 seconds—that’s one circuit.

Repeat for three to five circuits. For the legs exercises, perform all reps on one leg and then immediately on the other before moving on to the next move.

Routine

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The Workout

The No.1 fat-loss workout (do 3-5 rounds)

Exercise
Equipment
Sets
Reps
Rest
Exercise 1 of 6

Reverse Lunge

Equipment
Dumbbells
Sets
4
Reps
8-12 each side
Rest
60 sec.
Exercise 2 of 6

Close-Grip Pushup

Equipment
Medicine Ball
Sets
4
Reps
8-12
Rest
60 sec.
Exercise 3 of 6

Barbell Hip Thrust

Equipment
Barbell
Sets
--
Reps
8-12
Rest
--
Exercise 4 of 6

Inverted Row

Equipment
Power Rack
Sets
--
Reps
8-12
Rest
60 sec.
Exercise 5 of 6

Body Saw

Equipment
Sliding Discs
Sets
--
Reps
8-12
Rest
60 sec.
Exercise 6 of 6

Battle ropes

Equipment
Rope Attachment
Sets
--
Reps
15-30 sec.
Rest
60 sec.
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