I’ve been doing Fat Fast and Meltdown for 4 weeks now and I’d like to switch up the exercises for some variety. Because this is short, but intense I figured I should stick to compound movements.
Can anyone share alternative exercises they’ve used in Meltdown other than what Don suggests (squats, deadlifts, chins, lunges etc)?
My other question deals with how hard you should be pushing yourself during this workout. I have been focussing on adjusting the weight to keep the reps around 10 and keep the lactic acid high.
Should I be focussing more of using more weight even if the reps end up short of 10? Even on 4 waves the sweat is dripping with the weights I’m using now. Any suggestions?
I’ve been on the same protocol for about 5 weeks, with GREAT results. You’ve just GOT to love the overall conditioning and feel that this workout gives you. What I’ve done to mix up the exercises, is incorporate additional renegade or olympic lifts into the protocol, such as powercleans, straight leg deads, renegade squat pulls etc. Read Coach Davies ‘The Top Nine exercises for functional strength’ article and implement them accordingly. With some of these variations, I’ve actually seen an increase in intensity and overall fatigue. In regards to rep ranges and weights, I’ve strived to maintain Alessi’s recommendations as to the 10 rep range, as I’ve experimented with higher weight, lower reps and have either burned out too soon, or have failed to elevate my heart rate adequately, both of which are contingent upon the exercises and weights/actual rep range used. So go ahead and get creative, but make sure that you don’t change the basic format and layout of the workout, and you’ll continue to see the results that you’re looking for, and avoid burnout at the same time.
Keep the reps high as this is the key to creating a lot of lactic acid, not to mention the key to burning a lot of calories. If you wanted to change all of the exercises, a modified version could go something like this:
Day 1: One arm DB Snatch (fast tempo), Incline Press, Turkish Get-up (use one arm for each set, i.e. set 1 - use left, set 2 - use right), Leg Press or Barbell Hack Squat, any two ab exercise you like
Day 2: Close Grip Bench, Good Morning or Stiff Leg Deadlift, Barbell Curls, Front or DB Squats, any ab exercise
I’ve looked through the archives (including the original Alessi article) and pretty much understand the science behind Meltdown. I still have two questions, though. First, he says to train four days per week. Should this be non-consecutive (which would make the following week a three training day week), or is it okay to train on consecutive days (I’m up for it!) Second, if scheduling problems exist, can one do their lactic acid training in the morning and then lift in the afternoon(or on off days during first few weeks as is recommended for later on)? Or, is it possible to use the lactic acid training immediately after lifting? Thanks a lot. Great job to everyone on your individualized modifications to the program. It should definitely keep things interesting.
to Eric: I’m actually doing the program every other day for a total of 12 workouts broken out into three different routines each done four times. I’ll let you know how it goes on an every other day basis.
A lot of guys including myself used a M,T,Th,F split. In regards to the lactic acid interval training, I would not do it after training. If you lift in the AM then do the lactic acid interval training in the PM. An alternate method would be to do the lactic acid interval training on the off days to keep you metabolically active every day.
Anyone notice better results from AM training (weights) v. PM? Also for you AM trainers are u taking anything before lifting? Don’t think I could stomach anything before this type of program.