The Transformation Workout by Muscle and Fitness

For my second Workout Wednesday, I’m highlighting the program that I first used when I really got into fitness and meal prepping when I lived in Miami.  It includes a ton of supersets, which means that you do multiple exercises (usually 2) in succession without a break, then you take a short break and repeat for a certain number of sets.  I had success with the program when I did it because at that point, I needed the specific guidance in the gym (plus I was eating extremely healthy and tracking my macros closely).  I’ve been lifting since I was 16-ish, but this was the first program that I really followed (aside from rugby workouts/lifting in college).

I can’t say that I would be interested in revisiting this program at this point, simply because I’m more interested in big lifts and more complex programming now.  However, I do think it can still have value for a lot of people and I even still incorporate some of the supersets from this workout into my gym routine 5 years later.

The Good:

• This program is good for beginner-intermediate lifters who maybe have some experience at the gym, but aren’t sure about doing the big barbell lifts yet.
• Supersets are almost like combining weightlifting with cardio – by not giving your body a break between exercises, you really get your heart rate going.

The Bad:

• This workout specifies daily cardio.  If you’re lifting hard, you don’t really need to do daily cardio and could risk losing your “gains.”  I heavily modified this part of the program (and by modify, I mean I skipped almost all of the cardio or opted for some kind of HIIT instead).
• The rep counts on these supersets are pretty high, which means two things: 1) it takes a while to get through them all, and 2) it requires a lot of endurance, so it will be hard to use enough weight to really trigger muscle growth.
• This program doesn’t include complex, full body lifts like deadlifts and barbell squats.  If you’re really looking to build muscle and gain strength, this probably isn’t the program for you.
• There are some obscure movements that are not explained in the program itself.  You may find yourself having to look up some exercises, including “the butt machine” and “stiff legs” – which btw, I’m still not even sure if they meant stiff leg deadlifts or something else.

Sample Workout:

TUESDAY: SHOULDERS/TRICEPS (plus daily cardio)

Superset:

4 x 12 side lateral raise

4 x 12 seated barbell press

4 x 12 high rope pull for rear delts

Superset:

4 x 15 pushdowns

4 x 15 overhead press

4 x 12 bench dips

Here’s the cardio prescribed for a Tuesday (I never once did this cardio routine, FYI):

TUESDAY/THURSDAY AM

Warm-up: 5-minute stationary bike or treadmill walk

Bike Intervals: Complete the rotation below six times for a total of 45-50 minutes.

• 1 minute: Level 5, rpm of 110
• 1 minute: Level 7, rpm of 90
• 1 minute: Level 9, rpm of 80
• 2 minutes: Level 11, rpm of 70

15 wide high jumps

15 pop squats

15 switch lunges on each leg

20 high knee runs on each leg