Walking to quiznos ain’t no thing but a chicken wing, running to the gas station to get a snickers isn’t sprinting, and shuffling around behind your desired guy/girl at da club isn’t resistance training. Get pumped, now that your diet should be a bit improved from part 1 of the series(if not remember, abs are made in the kitchen not the weight room), now comes the next part: working out. “I’m on a diet” doesn’t cut it as your plan for looking good for the summer. Your plan of attack should consist of exercising three-six days a week. “Oh noez! I don’t have time for that between video games, reading cosmo, and taking out the trash!” well suck it up, you gotta put the work in. Sucka.

Cardio

Yayyy cardio! Everyone loves cardio, especially girls who go 2 mph backwards on ellipticals and bring their purse to the gym and fat dudes who swing one leg to cheat by using momentum(also ellipitcal). You will need to start a more serious cardio regimen, consisting of at least three days a week of cardio, and if time/fitness permits up to four to five times a week. Cardio should be at minimum 20 minutes and can be running, biking, basketball, soccer, hiking, swimming, or rowing. It must be at moderate to high intensity to actually burn a substantial amount of calories. Try to start out at moderate intensity and gradually increase your speed so that by the last thirty seconds to minute of your workout your doing a sprint. If you are in good cardio shape, move on to HIIT(High Intensity Interval Training).

HIIT is the king of cardio/weight loss workouts. It not only burns a tremendous amount of calories, it helps keep muscle on by hitting fast-twitch muscles and having the same calorie burning effect as lifting(the calories keep burning after your done). A warning: unless your on some kind of energy supplement(fat burner/Nitric Oxide - Caffeine product/etc.) you probably want to do HIIT at another point in the day to your weight lifting or on another day.

Weight Lifting:

The simple fact is that while isolation exercises may hit specifically targeted muscles they just aren’t as efficient as compound lifts.  Compound lifts hit more muscles with heavier weights and burn more calories. For all of the above reasons each lifting day should consist of more compound exercises. Below is a sample three(or six day workout) for the week. You can switch when you do Part 1 and 2 or do them on different days(e.g. Day 1-Part 1 on Mon, Day 1-Part 2 on Tues, etc.)

Day 1:

Part 1(or day 1):

Cardio 20 minutes, increasing intensity (e.g. casual jog, steadily increasing speed, to a full blown sprint for last 30 seconds to 2.5 minutes [depending on cardiovascular ability). For the more experienced or more motivated, check out High Intensity Interval Training.

Part 2(or day 2):

Barbell Squat 8 x 4, Deadlift 8 x 3, Lunges 8 x 2, Bent over row 8 x 4, Seated Row 8 x 3, Pull ups 8 x 3

Day 2:

Part 1(or day 3): Cardio (see above)

Part 2(or day 4): Arnold Press(or military press + front and side shoulder raises) 8 x 3, Upright Row 8 x 3, Shrugs 8 x 3, Chin Ups 8 x 3, Cable Bicep Curls 8 x 3, Hammer Curls 8 x 3

Day 3:

Part 1(or day 5): Cardio (see above)

Part 2(or day 6): Barbell(or dumbbell) Bench Press 8 x 3, Barbell (or dumbbell) Incline Press 8 x 3, Decline Bench 8 x 2, Cable Cross-Overs 8 x 3, Dips 12 x 3, Tricep rope pulldowns 8 x 3

These are just recommended workouts, you can obviously switch it up based on your comfort levels.