The Physique 57 Solution (6 page)

Isometrics are certainly at the heart of our workouts, and you’ll even find that the names of the moves themselves—Power Plié, Skier, Curtsy, Clam, and so on—are specifically designed to cue these all-important starting positions and remind you of where you need to be before beginning your reps. But it’s the reps themselves that give each of these moves their “movement.” So let’s take a closer look at what makes up our interval sets: a sequence of moves
within
each move called the variations.

When it comes to exercise, we believe that variety is the secret to keeping people motivated and engaged during a workout. Luckily, it’s also one of the very best ways to tone and strengthen muscles. Whereas most interval training sets involve performing the same activity again and again, our interval sets are built around a sequence of
different
movements, or what we call variations. You’re still working the same muscle or muscle group, and the isometric hold, or starting position, remains unchanged. But when it comes to the actual reps, we vary the choreography so that in most instances, you’ll never perform the same kind of movement or rep more than sixteen times in a row.

The variations are what give each move that all-important
range of motion
that stimulates muscle change and leads to Interval Overload. For example, from our Small V starting position, we go on to perform five different variations: Pulses, Hip Tucks, Hip Shakes, Hip Circles, and Deep Pliés, or knee bends that lower your seat toward the floor. Together these variations encompass a greater range of movement and work the thigh and seat muscles more thoroughly than any single
one could on its own—even if you performed it a hundred times. And that’s the best part: When we string them together, we only need to perform each variation for thirty to sixty seconds at a time to get the maximum benefit—and thirty to sixty seconds is nothing! But make no mistake, the effect is cumulative: By the time you reach the end of a set, your muscles WILL be burning and shaking. You’ve achieved overload, but you’ve done it in a way that
feels
far easier than doing three straight minutes of Hip Circles.

Variations are a large part of what enables us to target all of your muscles and give them the maximum stimulus possible in such a short amount of time. With each new variation, we change the height of your leg, the position of your feet, or the direction of the movement in order to stimulate and sculpt the muscles in different ways. Sometimes just shifting by a matter of inches enables you to target a whole new set of muscle fibers. As a result, Physique 57 involves more planes and ranges of motion than any other workout, even Pilates, making it comparable only to dance. Changing the angles and movement patterns also helps to prevent the kind of stress injuries that can result from working the same muscles and joints again and again in the same way. We also include a good number of standing, or weight-bearing, variations because these help to improve bone density—especially important for women as we get older.

These variations are also another major reason that our clients rarely, if ever, plateau. People often reach exercise plateaus because they become bored with what they’re doing and stop challenging themselves. But our workouts move so quickly and contain such a variety of activity that our clients remain excited to take them on. There are literally hundreds of ways to put together a Physique 57 workout, two of which are featured in this book. Plus, facing a new challenge every thirty to sixty seconds will inspire you to perfect every one of the variations, to do them better and more fluidly as you keep up with the tempo. And if you get tired or find one of the variations especially challenging, you needn’t worry—there’s a new one right around the corner, and you can dive back in and attack the next set of reps with renewed vigor. As a bonus, this rapid-fire pacing gives our workout a healthy dose of cardio: Performing ten Push-Ups in thirty seconds and then moving on definitely gets your heart rate up, as will the variations that involve multiple muscle groups.

Our interval sets generally comprise two to three moves, each of which includes anywhere from two to ten variations. If that sounds like a lot, remember that each variation only takes thirty to sixty seconds to perform—so a single Thigh section may only take three to four minutes. Still, we pack A LOT of effort into those four minutes! And with your muscles getting such an incredible amount of stimulus from all these variations, isometrics, and Interval Overload, the rate of body transformation can be rapid and dramatic. That is why throughout our interval sets, we don’t stop simply to rest, but to
stretch
and lengthen your muscles at every turn.

Anytime you stimulate a muscle through exercise, you’re doing so in order to provoke change. By stimulating the muscle again and again, you’re attempting to rewire its neural pathways to keep it in a moderate state of contraction, or activation—to achieve that baseline of neural activity that we previously discussed—rather than simply letting it hang there, limp and flaccid.

It is at this point that stretching, the third key element that defines a Physique 57 workout, comes into play. Stretching between our interval sets allows us to reclaim the full length of our muscles while still maintaining the new baseline of activation that we’ve achieved. We believe that stretching throughout your workout rather than waiting until the end is one of the secrets to producing a long, lean shape; stretching your thighs immediately after performing a vigorous Thigh series, for example, not only provides a welcome release for those muscles, but also trains them to always take their full length. In addition, your muscles respond best to stretching when they’re warm, so stretching immediately after the series, right after you’ve generated all that heat, allows you to go as deep as possible into the stretch, lengthening and smoothing the muscles without risking an injury or tear. We don’t spend a lot of time on these stretches as a rule—just twenty to thirty seconds apiece—because we don’t want to derail the momentum of your workout. We want to keep you in the calorie-burning zone and keep your heart rate up, so we move through them quickly, and then get right back to the next section.

Some of our clients initially wonder if doing these brief stretches interspersed
throughout the workout is as effective or advantageous as stretching for longer periods of time. After all, in the past, most workout DVDs and fitness classes have started and ended with five to ten minutes of stretching. But in recent years, several major studies have shown that a lengthy stretching period isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. These studies concluded that the maximum benefit you can get from any stretch is achieved somewhere in the range of fifteen to thirty seconds. Holding a stretch for two minutes or more won’t get you any further than stretching for twenty seconds. Similarly, they found that repeating a stretch ten times in one workout gives you no greater benefit than simply doing it once. Physique 57 strives for optimum benefits and efficiency, so we do each stretch once, for twenty to thirty seconds, when each particular muscle group is warmed and most receptive. In this way, our toned and firm muscles become long, supple, and flexible as well, and we get that all-important recovery part of the interval process. Many of our clients tell us that if they
don’t
stretch between sets, they feel less limber throughout the workout and can’t give each section their all as a result.

Stretching also has real orthopedic benefits, helping to protect you from strain and injury. Tighter muscles that cannot easily take their full length may put pressure on joints and tear more readily, whether you’re hiking in the mountains, carrying heavy packages, or just moving about in the course of your everyday life. So if you’re tempted to skip the stretches in our workouts, remember that you’re not just stretching to achieve lithe, gorgeous muscles—you’re also stretching to maintain a healthy body.

In
chapter 1
, we explored the structure of a Physique 57 workout and saw how the six different series fit together: Warm-Up, Thighs, Seat, Abs, Back, and Cool Down. But within each of these series, the moves themselves follow a deliberate and precise sequence that is designed to engage every single one of your muscles, prevent injury, and help you achieve Interval Overload as quickly as possible. The order of the moves and the timing in each section work together for maximum efficiency—we give you exactly what you need, no more and no less, to achieve
your optimum results. Everything you need to get a great body is contained in our 57-minute workout. It’s going to be challenging, but as our clients like to say, “It’s the hardest hour you’ll ever love!”

And you’re not going to have to do it alone—we’ll be with you every step of the way. We’ll help you find the rhythm by counting the reps and giving you upbeat music that makes you want to move. You’ll be surprised at how natural the movements will start to feel after just a few sessions, and before long you’ll be amazed at what your body can actually do. The isometric holds will become second nature, you’ll breeze through the variations with confidence, and you’ll love the feeling you get when you realize you CAN go the distance and fight through the burn to finish the sets. Even from one workout to the next, you are going to feel your muscles getting stronger and see changes in tone and definition that let you know, THIS IS WORKING! And there’s no motivator like success.

So now that you know how the program works, let’s get right to part 2 and start learning the moves. It’s time to create some long, lean muscles! Let the transformation begin.

PART TWO

AT LAST, IT’S TIME TO START LEARNING THE MOVES THAT
will appear in your workouts for the next two weeks. In this section of the book, we provide step-by-step instructions for each of our exercises—the starting positions, the variations, and the accompanying stretches—and give you everything you need to take on your first Physique 57 workout, including modifications for beginners, advanced variations for the more adventurous, and plenty of coaching and motivational tips to keep you inspired and fired up.

As we said in
chapter 1
, we highly recommend that you practice and familiarize yourself with these moves before attempting to do the workouts. While some of them—such as Push-Ups, Biceps Curls, or Triceps Dips—may initially seem familiar, we’ve put a unique, Physique 57 spin on every exercise, so taking the time to read through and practice the steps will give you a huge advantage going forward. In general, the descriptions are broken into two parts: the Setup, which provides instructions for the starting position, or isometric hold; and the Variations, which outlines the steps for performing each of the variations along with notes
about form, pacing, and flow to help you put it all together and get the most out of every move. Each exercise also includes photographs to help you find the proper positioning and range of movement. Remember, with Physique 57, the magic is in the details, so a matter of only a few inches in your positioning can make a big difference in how many inches you lose overall.

We also recommend that you wear comfortable, formfitting clothes to do your workouts. You want to be able to see the muscles you are working and accurately assess your posture and alignment, and you can’t do either of these things if you’re wearing sweats and a baggy T-shirt. Yoga pants—either full-length or capri—are an ideal choice because keeping your legs covered will also help you keep the heat in your thighs and hamstrings. Similarly, we recommend that your shirt or tank top cover your waist so that you can maintain as much heat in your abs as possible. And most important, no shoes! Doing our workouts barefoot gives you better stability and allows you to be more precise with your foot positions. You will also engage more ancillary leg muscles, especially in the calves and lower leg—another bonus.

When it comes to practicing the variations, there are a few that you will spot again and again throughout the six different series of the workout: pulses, tucks, circles, and microbends. These are small and simple, yet highly effective movements that can be used to sculpt a variety of muscle groups with a laser-like precision. We love these variations because their smaller range of movement is like a chisel that allows you to get deeper into the muscle. Plus, they provide a nice interlude between the larger, cardio-inducing movements that can leave you momentarily winded. But make no mistake—these moves prove that it’s not the size but the intensity that counts. You WILL feel all of these “micromovements,” even if at first glance they seem fairly basic:

Pulses
. A pulse is a small, controlled movement in which we either lift or lower a given part of the body over a very short range of motion—only
about two or three inches. We do pulses for thighs, the seat, and even the back, and we like them because they provide a kind of middle ground between isometrics and some of the larger, more sweeping isotonic movements. We’ll often use them to start off a new series of moves, as pulsing is a good way to get settled in a new starting position and get the burn going without diving into a full range of movement right away. We also return to pulses in between sets of more challenging reps because they give you a bit of a break and a chance to recheck your alignment, but keep the energy and caloric burn going since you’re not coming to a complete stop. In fact, we’ll often tell our clients that if they ever need to take a break from one of the larger movements, they can pulse for thirty seconds and then jump back in.