By Steven Stiefel & Steve Zim

We understand: You’re a busy guy who’s always on the go, but the good news is, every guy can find time to do the Reps! 30-minute workout four times a week for 10 weeks. It may not sound like a lot of training time, but we’re willing to bet that you’ll get better results from our program than from your current workout. Keep in mind that you’ll continue to burn fat for hours after you’ve finished the workout!

For each half-hour workout, you’ll alternate between two minutes of cardiovascular activity and one minute of weight training. During the course of a workout, you’ll perform 10 sets of resistance training in just 20 minutes. While this may sound like a lot less training volume than a more traditional workout, you’ll be surprised at how much harder and more effective this version can be, especially for the time-pressed man. It will keep you in constant motion and elevate your heart rate. You’ll burn body fat while forcing your target muscles to go to their limits during the one-minute weight sets that you’ve selected for each body part. In effect, cardio will make the resistance-training stimulate more muscle growth, while the resistance sets will allow you to burn more calories during the cardio sets. It’s a classic win-win if you ask us! (Note: If you can’t get to a piece of equipment, the chart provides options so that you can keep plowing ahead with the circuit.)

Reps! Fat Loss/Muscle Up Circuit

Leg Press

Sit in a leg press machine, maintaining the natural curve in your lower back throughout the set. Place your feet on the platform, extend the legs (don’t lock out) and release the safety. Lower the legs as much as possible without altering your lower-back position (often, this is a fairly small range of motion). Press the weights back to the starting position, but avoid locking your knee joints at the top of the rep.

Leg Curl

Lie on a leg curl machine with the back of your lower legs, generally in the area of the Achiles, in contact with the roller pads (as shown). Pull the weights up toward your glutes, maintaining a natural curve in your lower back and using the power of your hamstrings. To avoid injuring your lower back, do not jerk the weight upward or use momentum. Lower the weights deliberately, feeling the stretch in your hamstrings.

Hack Squat

Position yourself in a hack squat machine with your shoulders in contact with the pads. Place your feet on the foot plate so that your knees won’t drift past the front of your toes when you drop into the bottom position. Release the safety catch, then lower your body in a smooth, controlled motion until your thighs and lower legs form an angle of 90-degrees, or slightly more. Press back up, feeling the contraction in your quads.

Incline Barbell Press

Lie on a bench and hold a barbell with your hands a little wider than shoulder width apart. Keeping the upper arms perpendicular to your torso, lower the bar until you reach a point just short of touching your pecs. Keeping your shoulders back, press the weight up. Maintain the natural curve in your lower back and keep your head, shoulders and butt in contact with the bench throughout the set.

Seated Row

Sit on the rowing bench with your knees slightly bent and feet spaced comfortably on the foot plate. Using an overhand grip, grasp a narrow-grip rowing bar with both hands. Keep your upper body upright throughout the set, maintaining the natural curve in your lower back. Pull the bar into your midsection using the power of your lats. Contract your back muscles, before returning to the starting position. Allow the weight to stretch your lats.

Machine Dip

Sit in a dip machine, after selecting a weight that will allow you to push the dipping handles for one full minute. Keep your upper body upright and your arms at your sides to ensure that you hit the triceps correctly. At the bottom, squeeze the triceps hard, then control the handles back to the starting position.

Preacher Curl

Holding an EZ bar, position your upper arms so that they rest against the pads of the preacher bench and extend your arms to reach the starting position (do not hyperextend your elbow joints). Curl the weight up until your arms are vertical. Squeeze the biceps briefly, then feel the stretch as you lower the bar until your arms are nearly straight again.

Machine Shoulder Press

Adjust the seat so that, as you grasp the handles, your hands are at shoulder level in the starting position. Using the power of your delts, press the weight up until the arms are nearly straight and overhead. Lower the weight slowly, feeling the stretch in your shoulder muscles.

Standing Machine Calf Raise

Press your shoulders into the pads and lift the weight off its stack by standing upright. Rise up onto the balls of your feet, using the power of your calf muscles. Note that the weight stack will travel mere inches. Lower the heels, taking the below the plane of the foot plate. Feel the stretch in the calves. This exercise will give you a solid burn.

Ab Machine Crunch

Use an upright or lying ab machine. On the upright machine, place your feet firmly on the floor and press your chest into the pad, initiating the movement from your core. Bring your head toward your knees and contract your abs at the midpoint. Control the weight as you return to the starting position, feeling the stretch in your abs.

Facing down the obstacles at the Tough Mudder.

By Michal Kapral

Will Dean thought he had a brilliant idea. As part of his MBA at Harvard Business School, the 29-year-old former U.K. counterterrorism officer created a business plan for a series of obstacle-course events inspired by the SAS (special air service) training camps in Britain. He saw a market for something more fun than your average running race or triathlon and excitedly pitched it to his profs.

“Pretty much all the Harvard professors told me this would be a terrible idea,” Dean says cheerfully in a phone interview from his office in New York. “But I’m a stubborn Brit, so I went ahead with it anyway.” He quickly proved his Ivy League instructors wrong. With the help of just $8,300 in Facebook ads, the first Tough Mudder at a resort near Allentown, PA, on May 2, 2010 sold out its 4,500 entry slots in five weeks. Last year, 150,000 people forked out entry fees at about $100 per person to take part in 14 Tough Mudders across the U.S. In 2012, Dean expects that number to jump to half a million participants in 31 planned events in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Japan and Australia.

If you want to consider participating in a Tough Mudder, you’ve got to be a seriously strong, muscled, fearless competitor. Tough Mudder participants face up to 20 military-style obstacles along a 7–12 mile course that’s often bogged down with mud. Some classic Mudder obstacles include rope climbs over high barriers, monkey bars over a freezing-cold pond, mud crawls, underwater tunnels and electroshock therapy (no waterboarding, yet). Events aren’t timed and participants must take a pledge before the start that it’s not a race, but a challenge.

The allure, says Dean, is the sense of camaraderie. “When you finish a Tough Mudder, you get a free beer, not some isotonic banana,” he says. “And you’re probably going to get beaten by a man in a Borat mankini.” But despite the non-competitive nature of the events, they still live up to their name. “I’ve seen big, strong guys trembling at the edge of the ‘Walk the Plank’ obstacle, unable to bring themselves to jump into the freezing-cold water below,” Dean says.

Carlos Almendárez, a project manager in San Francisco, completed the 2011 Tough Mudder in Squaw Valley, CA, describing it in his blog as being “like some sick psychological experiment. Like the guy from the movie Saw just messing with you and letting you think you had a hope of living and then crushing you.”

But, according to Dean, there are always some people who say it isn’t tough. “You could shoot these people at the finish line and they’d still say it wasn’t tough,” he says.

World’s Toughest Mudder

For those who want an extra challenge, Tough Mudder CEO Will Dean created the World’s Toughest Mudder, a non-stop, 24-hour championship event that takes place in mid-December in New Jersey.

• To qualify for one of the 1,000 entry slots, you need to place among the top 5% of those who submit their finish times at one of the Tough Mudder events between May 1 and Dec. 1.
• The 10-mile loop course features obstacles like the regular Mudder “on steroids,” says Tough Mudder CEO Will Dean.
• The person who completes the most laps in 24 hours will be crowned “World’s Toughest Mudder.”

Where: Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ

When: Dec. 15–16, 2012

Entry fee: $450, plus $45 insurance fee ($100 discount coupons available for early registration)

By Rehan Jalali

Quick Boost:

For a quick energy boost, try a cup of Java Fit Energy Extreme coffee from Javalution. This pumped up special coffee contains added caffeine, niacin and green tea extract for a major pick-me-up. Plus, it’s in liquid form for quick and maximum absorption.

Before a Workout:

The key goals here are to maximize exercise performance, boost energy, help mental focus and enhance hydration.
Try: Emergen-C from Alacer for key minerals and vitamin C to fight free radicals that are secondary to training. Also, a thermogenic energy boosting supplement like Hydroxycut or Redline may help. Be sure to drink lots of water.

After Workout:

You want to maximize exercise recovery at this time. Take one or two scoops of Whey protein drink, along with simple carbs and creatine. Taking alpha lipoic acid after the workout may help get nutrients into muscle tissue for optimal recovery.
Try: 100% Gold Standard Whey from Optimum or Nectar from Syntrax.

Before Lunch:

A blood sugar regulation product will keep insulin levels in check. You can also take alpha lipoic acid before lunch. Your lunch should include a high-quality protein and complex carbohydrates.
Try: Quaker Oatmeal or Elite Oats from Dymatize.

After Lunch:

Another dose of a good thermogenic, energy-boosting product can be useful at this time to get you through the rest of the day.
Try: Lipo-6 and Redline

Rehan Jalali is President of the Supplement Research Foundation (www.tsrf.com). He is a sports nutritionist and published scientific writer, columnist and author of The Six-Pack Diet Plan, available at Amazon.com.

By Reps! Staff

If gaining muscle isn’t your number one priority right now and your midsection is the growing problem you’d like to tackle, consider adding whey to your fat-loss regimen to shrink your belly faster. A scoop of whey protein mixed with water delivers about 25 grams of protein and just over 100 calories—assuming that your product isn’t loaded with fat, carbs or both.

“Whey protein has a number of beneficial effects for those who are active,” says registered dietitian Brian Zehetner. “In studies, subjects who consume whey protein generally lose more body fat and retain more muscle than those who don’t—and it’s likely that there are several mechanisms involved.”

One of these may be that whey significantly reduces hunger. A study from the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom found that participants who consumed a whey protein shake 90 minutes before being unleashed on a big buffet meal ate significantly less food. According to the researchers, the results may have something to do with whey’s ability to trigger the release of hunger-blunting hormones cholecystokinin (CCK) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1).

• Reps! Tip: You should always have a whey shake before and after training to optimize your workout efforts. And we suggest that you consider drinking a shake an hour or so before heading out for a big meal when fat loss is more important than an all-you-can-eat mindset.

By Linda Formichelli

You know you need to drink water during your workout. You know you need to take a daily vitamin. So it seems natural to combine the two. Maximum Fitness goes to the experts to find out if the latest hydration trend—vitamin-enhanced water, or “fitness water”—is worth your money.

What’s In It

Water is typically calorie-free. But a serving of H2ydro Pomegranate has 20 calories and 5 grams of sugar, and Glaceau VitaminWater Multi-V packs 50 calories and 13 grams of sugar per serving. Not much, but a bottle of fitness water can contain anywhere from two to four servings, and the calories and sugar add up.

These drinks can counteract what you’re doing in the gym in other ways, too. “Drinking sugar will activate the appetite center and likely lead to an increase in calories consumed,” says David L. Katz, MD, MPH, associate professor of public health practice at Yale University School of Medicine and author of The Flavor Point Diet. Sweetened vitamin water can be the slippery slide that lands you in a bag of Doritos after your workout.

To B or Not to B

Many fitness waters contain B vitamins, components that, as the label for Gatorade’s Propel Fitness Water states, “[aid] in energy metabolism.” The perfect formula to ensure a kick-ass workout, right? Not quite.

Getting that extra dose of B vitamins will make a difference in your energy levels only if you’re B-deficient. “A lack of B12 is associated with a type of anemia which is associated with energy, but anyone who eats animal products is unlikely to be deficient,” says sports nutritionist and author Nancy Clark, MS, RD. And your body stores enough B12 to last for years, so getting vitamins in your water during your workout doesn’t make a difference, says Clark.

Bottle Vs. Pill

“A vitamin [in pill form] has a higher concentration of nutrients [than fitness waters], so it’s a far more reliable way to make sure you get the amount you need,” says Katz. “It’s also far more comprehensive.” For instance, a serving of VitaZest contains only 2 to 25 per cent of the daily value of the vitamins it offers. And each kind of fitness water contains its own unique profile—some contain A, some don’t, some have calcium, others don’t—making it harder to get everything you need.

The pill form is easier on the wallet, too. A bottle of H2ydro costs $1.50, so at two servings per bottle, that’s 75 cents each. You can get a bottle of 100 CVS Multivitamin and Mineral tablets for $6.50—less than seven cents per serving.

By Henry Summers

Everyone is going green these days: It’s good for the environment and it’s good for you. It’s also a common suggestion when it comes to what kind of tea you should drink. While we’ve all heard that we should be drinking green tea for everything from healthier teeth to rapid fat loss to better overall health, we would humbly like to suggest that you include black tea, particularly if you want to reduce aches and pains—and for a guy like you who’s working out, this can be huge.

Researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey found that when you take about 1,800 milligrams of black tea extract, you’ll notice a significant decline in muscle soreness following a hard workout. Shawn Adrent, PhD, author of the study, believes that while antioxidants in tea reduce inflammation after a workout, they also “blunt muscular strain while you’re training.” Simply by drinking a couple cups of black tea each day you can obtain the same benefits. And if you’re not much of a tea drinker, try adding a cup of the stuff to your pre-workout shake or your morning oats instead of water. “Adding tea to your oatmeal instead of boiled water will add flavor and give you the benefit of the vital nutrients within the brew,” says John Stein, a nutritionist based in Texas.

By Dan Bernardot, PHD, LD, FACSM

Before you changed your outlook on fitness, you might have had no problems consuming a large bag of potato chips or super-sizing your combo at McDonald’s or Burger King—but what you don’t see can actually hurt you. What Reps! is referring to is cholesterol. Cholesterol—both good and bad—is talked about a lot, but few people really understand what it does, where it comes from and what they should be concerned about. Let’s try to clarify some of these issues by taking a closer look at the facts on cholesterol.

What is it?

Cholesterol is made by most body cells, part of all cell membranes and 50 percent of bile, and is transported in the blood by carriers known as lipoproteins. Too many of these cholesterol-containing blood lipoproteins can result in hardening of the arteries, which can lead to heart attack, stroke and poor circulation in the eyes, fingers and feet. Some cholesterol-containing blood lipoproteins are worse at creating these problems than others: Low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or “bad” cholesterol, can lead to heart disease faster than high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good” cholesterol, which is more benign. It’s good to have low total cholesterol (<200 mg/dl), but it’s also good to have low LDL (<100 mg/dl) and a high HDL-to-LDL ratio. So, the question is this: How do you get there?

E-Z Eating Strategy #1: Eat Less

One strategy is to eat less cholesterol, which requires a dramatic reduction in foods of animal origin.

E-Z Eating Strategy #2: Consume Less Fat

A more effective strategy is to cause the body to make less cholesterol by lowering your total fat intake. This strategy is much more useful because when you eat less saturated fat, your body doesn’t have to make as much bile to emulsify the consumed fat. Bile is 50 percent cholesterol, and it shows up in the blood with the fat you eat. If you eat less fat, you don’t need as much bile and your total body pool of cholesterol drops.

E-Z Ways to Reduce Your Fat Intake

The basic rules for reducing your total fat intake are as follows.

• Eat less visible fat.
• Eat low(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection fat dairy products.
• Eat fewer processed meats, such as salami, bologna and bacon.
• Eat less animal protein.
• Eat fewer fried foods.

Making these five changes to your diet is guaranteed to improve your blood cholesterol levels—unless your genetic makeup mandates a higher level. Surprisingly enough, low-fat, high-cholesterol foods aren’t as bad for you as high-fat, high-cholesterol foods, which are heart disease in the making. Your goal of having less than 300 milligrams of cholesterol each day may be difficult to achieve, but your goal of consuming foods that don’t significantly raise your blood cholesterol is much easier to accomplish by following these five basic rules.

Crunching Cholesterol’s Numbers:

Food / Cholesterol content (mg) per serving / Total fat content (g) per serving / Saturated fat content (g) per serving / Likely heart disease potential

Chicken breast (1/2 breast), broiled / 72 / 3 / 0.8 / Neutral
Chicken breast (1/2 breast), fried / 78 / 4/ 1.1 / High
Cottage cheese (1 cup), low-fat / 31 / 2 / 1.5 / Neutral
Cottage cheese (1 cup), regular / 166 / 10 / 6 / Very high
Shrimp (3 oz), boiled / 125 / 1 / 0.2 / Neutral
Shrimp (3 oz), breaded or fried / 165 / 13 / 2.8 / Very high
Salad dressing (1 tbsp), lemon juice / 0 / 0 / 0 / Low
Salad dressing (1 tbsp), French / 9 / 6.5 / 1.5 / High
Egg (1 whole), hard-boiled / 210 / 5.3 / 1.5 / Neutral
Egg (1 whole), fried / 212 / 7.0 / 1.9 / High
Egg white (2 oz), cooked / 0 / 0.1 / 0 / Low

Note: The goal of consuming an average of less than 300 milligrams of cholesterol each day remains important, but reducing your fat intake—especially saturated fat—is even more important.

By Jimmy Smith, MS, CSCS

Arguably, the most impressive part of the male body is the chest. Think back to the old Charles Atlas ads: He puffed his chest out. What about Arnold? He was known for his chest development. While you may not be looking for a chest of similar size, if you’re like most guys, you want to make an impression.

But wait: You’re no bodybuilder. You’re pressed for time. Well, we have you covered. This chest workout has been designed to get you in and out of the gym in just 20 minutes while giving your chest a workout that even Atlas and Schwarzenegger could appreciate.

How It Works:

This program is designed to manipulate repetitions for each exercise. You’ll do three sets per exercise, decreasing the weight while increasing the reps on each successive set. For the first set, do six to eight reps, then go to eight to 12 reps for the second set, and finish with 12 to 15 reps on the final set. This reverse-pyramid progression allows you to nail the strength, muscle-growth and capillarization components of each movement, ensuring complete development in an elegant time-saving workout. Remember that the first set of each exercise is always the heaviest, so make sure to warm up thoroughly before moving on to your first working set. When performing dips, do as many reps as you can per set. Rest for only 45 seconds after each set.

Flat Dumbbell Chest Press

Setup: Lie down on a flat bench, extending a pair of dumbbells above your pecs, palms facing your feet. Plant your feet flat on the floor and keep your back slightly arched.

Action: Lower the dumbbells toward your chest, keeping your upper arms perpendicular to your torso. When the dumbbells reach the plane of your pecs, press your arms back up to the starting position explosively. Make sure that you lock your elbows out each time. Hold for a second, contract your pecs and repeat.

Incline Barbell

Setup: Lie on an incline bench with your feet flat on the floor and your back slightly arched. Reach up to the bar and grab it with your arms shoulder width apart. Use a palms-around grip.

Action: Slowly lower the bar to the top of your chest and explosively press it up toward the ceiling. Hold for a second, squeezing the muscle, and repeat.

Dip

Setup: Position yourself between two parallel dip bars, with one hand on each bar. Lock out your elbows.

Action: Bend your knees and allow your body to lean forward to ensure that you perform your reps at an angle (repping vertically will engage more triceps muscle—an action you’ll want to avoid when you’re training your chest).

Cable Crossover

Setup: Position cable-crossover pulleys midway on the posts and attach D-ring handles to the ends of the cables. Grasp a handle with each hand, thumbs pointing toward the ceiling, and stand between the posts, extending your arms to the sides at chest level. To maintain a stable exercise position, stagger your stance.

Action: Bend your elbows slightly and pull your arms together in an arc (as if you were hugging a tree). Bring your knuckles together as close as possible. Squeeze the chest in the contracted position, slowly return the handles to the starting position and repeat.

Rest 45 seconds after each rep.

By Glen Peterson

Your body burns fat on its own. Go ahead and celebrate for a moment, but before you figure that that’s it’s your ticket to doubling up on the cheese on your next voyage down pizza-slice purgatory, you should know that your metabolism isn’t going to solve your fat-gaining problems—especially as you age.

In fact, studies have found that your metabolism slows by four percent per decade after the age of 20. Of course, eating right and strength training can help slow this decline substantially, but if you feel like your fat-burning ability is on an accelerated decline, there are ways to find out without starving yourself. Here’s how to see where you stand on the metabolism front.

1. Rule Out Any Medical Reasons

“Get your thyroid checked by your doctor,” says Brian Zehetner, health director for Anytime Fitness. Your thyroid is the number one medical reason for a sluggish metabolism.

2.  Measure Your Metabolism

An indirect calorimetry test measures your metabolic rate with a simple breath test. How? “There’s a direct relationship between calories burned and oxygen consumed,” says Zehetner. It can be done by almost any health professional—just call a registered dietitian or local fitness facility to see if they dorequest a test.

3. Calculate Your Body Fat

“The easiest way to calculate body fat is via skin-fold calipers,” says Zehetner. Skin-fold measurements are taken at various body sites and plugged into an equation. One word of warning: All testers were not created equal. “Find a trainer that has literally done thousands of these tests because experience will greatly improve the accuracy of the measurement,” he says.

Half-pipe freestyle skier Sarah Burke has died after undergoing surgery on Wednesday following a ski crash in Park City, Utah, that left her in a coma. Burke, who had been training for the X Games and appears in the latest issue of Reps! where she shared her energy snacks, was a trailblazer in the sport of women’s half-pipe skiing, A native of Squamish, B.C., Canada, the charismatic 29-year-old was a four-time Winter X Games champion in skiing superpipe and was a key lobbyist who succeeded in getting skiing half-pipe included in the Sochi Games in 2014. We feel the loss of this great athlete and our thoughts go out to Sarah’s family.