♪♪♪ all right, we're here ataxiom fitness in boise, idaho, for the workout overview video. now, today we're gonna be doingworkout one, which is chest, tri's, and abs. you're gonna be doing workout1 each week of the program. however, the rep ranges aregonna change each week in the microcycles. so we're in week 1.
this is gonna be the9 to 11 rep range. if you don't know what i'mtalking about, make sure you check out the training overviewvideo, where i break down the microcycles in the rep ranges. with each workout, we're gonnabe doing cardio acceleration, which basically means we'regonna be doing about a minute of cardio in betweenevery single set. so with the bench press, i'mgonna do a set of bench press, about a minute of cardio.
so here's the breakdown ofall the exercises that i'll be performing today. now let's get into thefirst one, flat bench press. all right, now we'regonna be doing four sets on the bench press. remember, for most of the largemajor muscle groups, we'll be doing four sets perexercise as the first exercise. other smaller muscle groups,like biceps, abs, calves, we'll be doing just three, but withthe major muscle groups, we'll
be doing four sets onthat first exercise. now, i start each workoutwith cardio acceleration. although i describe it as beingin between every set, we're gonna start the workout withcardio acceleration as just a general warm-up. now, i'm at the bench press,and the real key to cardio acceleration is not runningsomewhere across the gym. you're in a busy gym. you're gonna lose your bench.
so you want to incorporatecardio acceleration moves that keep you moving, keep your heartrate up, but you can do right here. one of the things i love todo with a bench is i just do step-ups, so i'm gonna start theworkout with step-ups with the rising knee, just to addsome more calorie-burning explosiveness to it. now, we're doing 9 to 11reps, so even as i get up to my working weight, that's not gonnabe that much weight in that rep
range, so one warm-upwill suffice for me today. but as you get heavier duringthe microcycles as they proceed, the weights get heavier, thereps go down, you're gonna require more warm-ups, two,maybe even three warm-ups to get up to your working weight. now remember, the point of yourwarm-up is not to fatigue the muscle, so i'm doing 9 to 11 reprange, going up to about 8 reps in quite an easy way. i like to do on the bench pressa bit more explosive movement on
the warm-ups. it helps to warm up thosefast-twitch muscle fibers which are gonna be critical on thebench press for moving heavier weight. now remember, the point of theworkout is to move right into cardio acceleration,then to the next set. so the only reason i'm stoppingright now is to give you these tips, but normally i'd be rightback to doing my bench step-ups. i'll be doing about a minute ofcardio acceleration during this
workout. i like to use a timerright there on my iphone. if you don't have a smart phonethat has a timer on it, use any timer. make sure you're hitting thatfull minute, and then, boom, right into your next set. now, once the set's done, youmove right back into your cardio acceleration. there's no rest.
your rest is thecardio acceleration. now, obviously you want tochange your weight as quickly as possible, but one tip irecommend is that when you do change your weight, do itafter the cardio acceleration. that way, you get a littlebit of a breather before your weight's set where itreally matters most. i always recommend havingan ipod or other personal music players, so you haveyour favorite music going. it's gonna make a big differencein your strength and your
endurance during thesefast-paced workouts. now, you're only worryingabout the number of reps you complete on the firstset of each exercise. you're only resting about aminute between working sets. in that minute you're doingcardio acceleration, so you're not gonna be able to stick withthat rep range as the sets go up. keep the weight the same,regardless of how few reps you get.
all right, that's the fourthand final set of the bench press. we're gonna move on to thesecond exercise, incline dumbbell presses. from here on out, we'll bedoing three sets per exercise for chest. now, i'll be doingcardio acceleration as well. my cardio acceleration, sincei'm right here at the dumbbell rack, is gonna bedumbbell cleans.
i'll get into more detailon that as we get into them. but a quick tip i want to giveyou guys is to make sure that you add the "shortcut to shred"program to your body calendar on your bodyspace account, andthen sync it to your phone. that way, you've got theworkouts right there on your phone. you don't have to check'em on your computer. you can bring it to the gymor check them right before you start your workout.
that accountability will helpyou stay consistent with the program, and that's howyou're gonna get the best gains. you can do both body weightexercises, like step-ups on the bench, as we did on the benchpress, but don't be afraid to incorporate weights intoyour cardio acceleration. when it comes to choosingweight, it's really hit or miss in finding whatworks best for you. my tip is to go as light aspossible at the beginning, because look, you're tryingto do this for a full minute.
even though this is an explosiveexercise, it's gonna help you build power, you're not focusingon the power aspect here in the cardio acceleration. you're focusing on burningcalories, so start extremely light. now remember, this is the firstworkout for chest during the week. we're gonna be doing twoworkouts for each body part. first workout for chest isall multi-joint exercises.
these are yourmajor mass-builders. they allow you to use moreweight, and using more weight places more overload on thepec muscles, the chest, and that helps to stimulatemore muscle growth. all right, we're on to ourthird and final exercise for chest, the declinesmith machine bench press. for my cardio accelerationduring this set, i'm gonna simply run in place. it's probably the easiest formof cardio acceleration that you
can do. it works anywhere, regardless ofhow tight of a spot you're in. now, as you'll notice, i have aflat bench here, because axiom does not have an adjustabledecline bench that we can bring over. so you've got two options ifthis is the same case in your gym. if you have a standard declinebench press setup for a free weight barbell, goahead and use that.
swap that out, or you coulddo what i'm gonna do here, and that's simply using a flatbench, but i'm gonna get in what we call a bridge position,my feet up on the bench. my body's gonna be angled andi'm essentially gonna create my own decline. now, we've already done twochest exercises, so my chest, it's completely warmed up. i don't need to go into awarm-up set, especially with this 9 to 11 rep range.
if you want, as the weight getsheavier during microcycles two and three, you can do a warm-up. just remember, you do a warm-upset, you don't rest between warm-ups. you've got another setof cardio acceleration. now, those of you who arefamiliar with the anatomy of the pecs, you'll recognize the factthat we're hitting all three major areas. we started with aflat bench press.
flat pressing movements, mainlyhit the middle area of the pecs. then we moved on toincline dumbbell press. that helps hit moreof the upper pec area. and now at a decline, the armsare gonna be coming down closer to the sides of body, as opposedto up on the flat and up on the incline. that's gonna hit more of thelower portion of the pecs. so we're hitting allthose muscle fibers. any time we're interested inmaximizing muscle growth, we
want to focus on hitting asmany muscle fibers in a specific muscle as possible. all right, done with chest. now we're gonna head straightover to dips for triceps. we're gonna do four sets ofdips focusing on triceps, and i'll get into the distinctionbetween doing dips to focus on the triceps versus chestwhen we get into that exercise. my cardio acceleration move hereis gonna be kettle bell swings, or in this case,dumbbell swings.
we don't have kettle bells here. if your gym does have a kettlebell, obviously kettle bell swings make a great move. but this little adjustmentshows you how to do it with a dumbbell. now remember, it's importantto track your progress on the "shortcut to shred" program. we're changing up weight everyweek, and we have two different periodization schemes, thelinear periodization, and then
the reverse periodization. so there's a lot of variableshere with your weight and rep ranges. now, to focus on doing dipsfor the triceps, the two key things you want to focus on areyour elbows and your body, your torso. with the elbows, you want tocome in as close, keep them as close to your sides now. this one flips out, so if iwent out, this would be more for
chest. i'm gonna keep it in, so i keepmy elbows close to my body, and then when i dipdown, i keep them close. and then the other thing i'mdoing is i'm keeping my body as upright as possible. instead of holding thedumbbell by the handle, you're gonna hold it just with yourfingertips on the weight plate, and then you're gonnaswing it between your legs. now remember, all the motion iscoming from my hips as i swing
it up. i'm not using my shoulders. i'm not using my arms. i'm just pullingup the dumbbell. that momentum is all from theexplosions that extend at the knees and the hips. now, i recommend, although ihave it listed as the standard barbell close-grip bench press,that if you have access to a smith machine, consider doingthe close-grip bench press on a
smith machine. and the reason is that you'vejust finished your chest and then moved on todips for triceps. all multi-joint exercises allinvolve both the chest and the triceps, so by the time you gethere, your triceps are fried. it's gonna be tough to move anyweight or focus on the triceps. any time you're doing the smithmachine with a bench, you want to make sure that you have thebench set up perfectly in the middle of the smith machine.
now, you can just simply dropthe bench in here and try to eyeball it, but you're neverquite sure how even it is in the middle. you want to make sure thatboth arms are supplying the same force and workingat the same angle. so an easy way to do that isjust drop the bar all the way down to the bench, and then thatgives you a better idea of how close you've gotit in the middle. you can get it right in themiddle and make sure that each
arm is applying thesame amount of force. my cardio acceleration is gonnabe a unique move that is smith machine power cleans, but we'llget into that a little more after my working set. my close grip isshoulder-width apart. there is a study that actuallyshowed that shoulder-width incorporated just as much of thetriceps muscle fibers as if you went closer. the only thing that going closerdid was put more stress on the
wrists. so save your wrists. the other thing i liketo use is an open grip. it's safe on the smith machinebecause the bar's guided, so you don't have to worry about itslipping out of your hand. but when you're using an opengrip, it allows you to press with the palms, and thatcan help you focus more on contracting the triceps versususing chest and shoulders like in a normal bench press.
now, to do the smith machinepower cleans, drop the weight all the way down. gonna take a littlebit of weight off. now, most people, "why would youdo a power clean in the smith machine?" well, it's actually fairlybeneficial for those who aren't really accustomed to doing powercleans, because with the smith machine, the bar is on a track. now, it's gonna keep the barclose to your body, which is
exactly what you want to dowhen you do power cleans. a lot of people end updoing more of a curling motion, curling the barin front of them. that's not what you want to do. you want to pull the barstraight up to your shoulders. using the smith machine allowsyou to sort of practice that movement, because the bar'salready guided, so you can't get out of that range of motion. remember, the power clean isan explosive move, so you want
to do a bit of a jump asyou throw the weight up. this is a full-body exerciseusing your legs and your upper body to throw theweight up there. keep the weight light so thatyou can try to go for a minute. if you only get 30seconds, that's fine. this one's very intense. you really get theheart rate going. all right, we finished upwith chest and triceps, and now we're moving right into abs.
and remember, the only reasoni'm resting is to talk to you and give you some tips. otherwise, we'd be movingright into the next exercise. in this case, it'sgonna be the rope crunch. focuses more on the upper abs. later on, we'll be doing thesmith machine hip thrusts that focus more on the lower abs. so in this workout, we'rehitting upper and then lower. later in the week, we'll alsoinclude exercises that'll hit
the obliques aswell, and even the core. remember, it's important tofocus on all the muscles of the midsection. my cardio acceleration exercisein between for this one is just gonna be a fast step-up. all right, we're back overhere at the smith machine for smith machine hip thrusts. those of you who followed my"shortcut to size" know this exercise well.
it's not a pretty move, but itis the best way to target the lower abs because you're allowedto add resistance, and we know that adding resistance isimportant when even training abs. you want to periodize all musclegroups, including the abs. that's the best way to get themost muscular development, and the lower abs is that tough areato bring up for a lot of people, so this is a great exercise fortargeting the lower abs and help to create better developmentin those lower muscle fibers.
it's also a greatcore exercise as well. now, like the rope crunches,we're gonna do three sets of smith machine hip thrusts,and in between, my cardio acceleration move here isgonna be back to doing the bench step-ups, but here we're doingit on the adjustable bench that i placed here atthe smith machine. now, this is the finalexercise of the workout. we've only get three setsand three sets of cardio acceleration left to go.
being that this is yourfirst workout using cardio acceleration, non-stoppace, you're gonna be winded. trust me, you're not gonna befeeling good at this point, but you're gonna feel real goodwhen the workout's over, and you'll notice, as the days goby--not even the full week, by the end of the week, you'llnotice that the workouts are getting easier as your bodyadapts to this non-stop pace using the cardio acceleration. actually, the cardioacceleration, you'll find that
your recovery afterthe workouts are better. so that's it for the"shortcut to shred" workout overview video. now remember, "shortcut toshred" is not just about getting shredded. yes, that's a critical part ofthis program, but you're also gaining more lean muscle andstrength, so it's critical that you follow up each workoutwith your post-workout shake. you want to get those criticalnutrients into your muscle as
fast as possible. that's gonna aid recovery, boostmuscle growth, and even aid fat loss. if you don't know what i'mtalking about, you need to go back to the "shortcut toshred" landing page and watch my supplement overview video andread the supplement overview page so you're making sureyou're taking the proper supplements at the right times. remember, on the "shortcut toshred" landing page, each day of
the program is broken down intofull detail, the daily workouts, content, and tips fromme, even on your rest days.