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Regular exercise that includes cardio and strength training, along with following a nutritious eating plan, may support weight loss.
For many people, losing a little weight and improving health go hand in hand.
Although your health and fitness are measured by far more than your weight, research suggests that the rising rate of obesity correlates with increased rates of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases that can ultimately cause major health problems.
Don’t get me wrong, you should not fixate singularly on weight loss. However, if you do want to lose weight, this 4-week workout program for weight loss will rev up your metabolic engine and kick-start your weight loss journey.
My 4-week workout plan for weight loss is a great way to kick-start your journey toward better health or add more variety to your workouts if you already consistently exercise.
4-Week Weight Loss Program Structure
I build my program around three types of training:
- upper and lower body strength training
- interval training/conditioning
- low intensity cardio
The strength training will help you build muscle and strength that you can apply to your interval training.
Furthermore, the added muscle will increase your metabolism over time, meaning you’ll burn more calories at rest just to sustain yourself, which can contribute to the calorie deficit required for weight loss.
Interval training will provide a massive metabolic boost immediately after your workout. Interval training involves brief periods of high intensity exercise followed by relatively short rest periods.
This method keeps your heart rate elevated throughout the workout, giving you aerobic benefits while maintaining sufficient intensity to stoke your metabolic fire.
Finally, low intensity cardio, such as walking, jogging, swimming, or cycling, gives you a slight bump in your daily calorie burn and allows you to exercise while recovering from the more intense strength and interval training.
You can perform an hour or more of cardio, but even just 20 minutes is sufficient.
Each workout should take roughly 20–22 minutes, allowing you to fit the program into a busy schedule.
Over the course of 4 weeks, this workout structure helps target weight loss on all fronts, through both daily calorie burn and increasing your metabolism over time.
Start with a lighter weight and increase the weight each set until you find the point where the final repetition gets really hard.
Barbell Deadlift
Week 1
Day 1: Lower body strength
Equipment: dumbbells or kettlebells, barbell and plates, leg curl and/or leg extension machines
- 3×12 dumbbell/kettlebell goblet squat
- 3×12 barbell or kettlebell deadlift
- 3×20 walking lunge with dumbbells (10 each side)
- Optional: 3×12 leg curl and extension in the gym
Day 2: Low intensity cardio for at least 20 minutes
Choose walking, light jogging, or your preferred method of cardio — even better if you can do it outside!
Day 3: Upper body strength
Equipment: pull-up bar or lat pulldown machine, dumbbells
- 3×12 pullup or lat pulldown
- 3×12 dumbbell overhead press
- 3×12 dumbbell row
- 3×12 dumbbell bench press
- Optional: 3×12 biceps curl and triceps extension
Day 4: Low intensity cardio for at least 20 minutes
Day 5: Interval conditioning
Equipment: plyometric box, slam ball
Perform the following exercises for 15 seconds at a hard pace, then rest for 15 seconds and move to the next exercise. I’ve included two options you can choose between, depending on your current level.
Exercises focus on lower body movements performed at a moderate to high pace.
The large muscle groups in this area help get your heart pumping much more effectively than exercises using smaller muscle groups.
For Week 1, perform 3 rounds of the following as discussed above:
- Squat or jump squat
- Box step-up or power step-up
- Alternating lunge or jumping lunge
- Lateral box step-up or ice skater
- Burpee
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