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Copyright: © 2014by Lyle McDonald. All Rights Reserved

This book or any part thereof, may not be reproduced or recorded in any form without
permission in writing from the publisher, except for brief quotations embodied in critical
articles or reviews.

For information contact:

Lyle McDonald Publishing
1200 Hatteras Drive
Austin, Tx 78753
Email: [email protected]

First Edition
First Printing

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Introduction
You received this e-book when you purchased either the hardcopy or e-version of my Rapid Fat Loss
Handbook. In that book, I outlined a beginners home exercise program that can be done with no more
equipment than your own bodyweight and possibly two milk jugs filled with water.

If you want to get more equipment than that, perhaps small dumbbells or some rubber tubing, most of the
exercises in the program can be done with those as well (most commercial tubing you can buy will come
with exercise descriptions). You can be as creative as you want, food cans be used for resistance, you could
even lift rocks, or your children. If you get serious, you can usually find home gym equipment at any yard
sale or in the newspaper want ads.

For each exercise, I’m going to explain what muscles are going to be worked along with how to do the
exercise; each also has pictures to show you exactly what you’re supposed to be doing. Additionally, I’ve
included both a beginning and more advanced version of many of the exercises.

The exercises listed in the order you should do them. I’ve also included a few optional exercises after the
main program, exercises that you can do if you wish but which aren’t required.

What I’d actually recommend you do is print this entire e-book out and put it in a small binder. Then, you
can simply turn the page to the next exercise and read the description/look at the pictures while you’re
resting.

As well, so that you won’t have to keep going back and forth between the books, I’ve also included the
exercise information from the Rapid Fat Loss Handbook in this e-book.

First I want to repeat some information from the main book before presenting the exercises themselves.

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The basics of resistance training
I want to talk a little more generally about the topic of resistance training. First I want to explain some
terms for people who are wholly unfamiliar with resistance training, those appear in the box below.

Basic Weight Training Terminology

Repetition (rep): the raising and lowering of the resistance once is referred to as one rep (or repetition).

Set: A set is a series of repetitions. So if you lifted a weight 8 times and then stopped, you would have
done one set of 8 repetitions.

Rest interval (RI): Between sets of the same exercise, you typically rest (doing nothing), and this rest may
last anywhere from 15-30 seconds up to several minutes, depending on the specifics of the training
program.

Frequency: This is simply how often you exercise, typically individuals will perform resistance training
anywhere from two to seven days per week (some very advanced or simply very obsessed athletes will
lift more than once per day). Within the context of the rapid fat loss plan, two to three days per week of
resistance training is more than enough.

Muscle group: This simply refers to the muscle or muscles that are targeted by a given exercise. A biceps
curl may work only the biceps (the muscle on the front of the arms) while a squat may work the glutes,
hamstrings and quadriceps (muscles of the lower body)

Perhaps the single most important piece of advice I can give to beginners regarding starting an exercise
program is to start slowly and build up gradually. If there’s a single way to ensure that you won’t stick with
an exercise program, it’s to start with far too much and either get so sore or so overwhelmed that you don’t
make it past the first day.

Trust me when I say that this is all too common an occurrence: someone decides to start exercising,
overdoes it the first day, can’t walk for the next week and that’s the beginning and end of the program.
Better to start more slowly and build up more gradually. That way, by the time you’re actually doing a lot
of exercise (or training very intensely), the increase has been so gradual that you never really felt
overwhelmed by the program.

One nice thing about being completely new to exercise is that it doesn’t take very much to generate a
response in terms of getting stronger or gaining or maintaining LBM. In the section above I defined sets;
here I only want to mention that numerous studies find that, for beginners, a single set gives essentially
identical results to doing more than one set. This isn’t to say that increasing the number of sets done over
time can’t be useful or isn’t a good idea, only that, in the beginning, there’s little to no need to do more
than that.

For that reason, in the sample exercise programs below, I strongly suggest that beginners perform only a
single set to begin with. I’ll talk about how to progress the training program (if desired) as well.

Another issue for beginners is lifting speed; this refers to how quickly (or slowly) the reps are done. For
beginners, there’s really little to discuss. For both safety reasons and from the standpoint of learning the

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exercises, I recommend that beginners use fairly slow and controlled movement speeds. Lifting the weight
in two seconds and lowering it in two seconds would be an appropriate speed. This would make each
repetition last four seconds.

Finally is the issue of breathing. Generally speaking, when lifting any type of resistance, beginners are best
served by exhaling as they lift the weight and inhaling as they lower it. However, far more importantly is
that people make sure to breathe in the first place; I’ve often seen beginners hold their breath and end up
gasping for air midway through a set. It’s more important that you breathe than how you breathe.

A beginning weight trainer should be performing the most basic of routines. At most one exercise per
bodypart should be done and the whole body should be worked at each workout with high repetitions (12-
15) and light weights.

As mentioned above, this accomplishes a number of important goals: it burns calories, will decrease the
carbohydrate stored in muscle (which increases how much fat the body burns at rest) and tends to be safer
and more effective in the beginning stages of training.

If you belong to a gym, this type of routine can be done easily and quickly using machines or free weights
(barbells or dumbbells). If you don’t belong to a gym, the accompanying e-book contains some basic
exercises that can be done at home using the minimum amount of equipment. The workout itself would
be done a maximum of two to three times per week (three is the absolute maximum) on alternating days.
If you decided to exercise twice per week, you would want to spread the days out across the week. Monday
and Thursday or Monday and Friday or some similar spacing (e.g. Tuesday/Friday) would be ideal. If you
exercise three times per week, you would exercise Monday/Wednesday/Friday or
Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday.

In the box on the next page, I’ve include two sample routines for beginning exercisers; one is a basic gym
routine if you have access, the other is a basic home routine that can be done. If you need or want more
details than that, you can go purchase one of the dozens of beginning weight training books on the market.
This should get you started.

Beginner Home Exercise Routine

Exercise Sets Reps RI Muscles exercised

Squat or lunge 1-3 12-15 1’ Glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings
Glute bridge* 1-3 12-15 1’ Glutes, hamstrings
Push-up 1-3 12-15 1’ Chest, shoulders, triceps
1-arm row 1-3 12-15 1’ Back, biceps
Lateral raise* 1-2 12-15 1’ Shoulders
Biceps curl* 1-2 12-15 1’ Biceps
Triceps dip* 1-2 12-15 1’ Triceps
Crunch 1-3 12-15 1’ Stomach
Bird dogs 1-3 12-15 1’ Lower back

Although sets are listed as 1-3, I highly recommend that beginners start with only one set of each exercise
on their first day. As mentioned above, an excellent way to completely derail an exercise program is to start
with too much too soon. If the first day is extremely easy, you can always add a second set during your
second workout. If it’s still challenging, stick with the single set.

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Although the repetitions are listed as 12-15, not everyone will get to 15 repetitions, especially on
bodyweight exercises (weight machines at the gym can always be set very light) initially. I recommend that
you stick with the exercise until you can get 15 repetitions fairly comfortably before considering adding a
second set. Once you can do 2 sets of 15 easily, you can consider adding a third set. Or you can add
weight instead of adding sets as discussed two paragraphs below on progression.

RI stands for rest interval, which I have set at one minute across the board. If you’re only doing one set of
each exercise, this means that you would rest one minute between exercises. If you are doing multiple sets
of an exercise, you should rest one minute between sets. So say you are doing 3 sets of 12-15 leg presses.
You do your first set of 15, rest a minute, do a second set of 15, rest a minute, do a third set, rest a minute,
then move on to your next exercise.

One factor I haven’t talked about yet is progression. To get stronger (or build bigger muscles), you have to
overload them by making them work harder. For beginners, this usually means adding more weight to the
exercise to make it more difficult. So once you can do 15 repetitions easily with say, 10 pounds, you would
move to 12 or 15 pounds. This might bring you back down to 12 repetitions, then you’d build back up to
15 repetitions, once that got easy, you’d add weight again. Beginners can generally use this type of
approach for quite some time before needing anything more complicated.

For the home exercise routine, progression can be a bit more difficult. I’ve included some more advanced
movements in the accompanying e-book that you got with this manual but eventually even those may
become too easy. Adding weight by using small dumbbells, plates (both of which can usually be purchased
fairly inexpensively at various sporting goods stores, or found used) can be used.

Exercises marked with a * should be considered optional. They can be performed if you have energy, time
or inclination but are not required. The goal of this routine is to hit the greatest amount of muscle mass
with the least number of exercises. If you only performed the main exercises, you would have covered your
bases.

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 Exercise 1: The Squat
If there were a single exercise that you could do for the lower body, it would be the squat. Almost nothing
works the glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps (the three biggest muscles in your lower body) as well. And
the best part is that everybody knows how to squat. When you sit down in a chair, or sit down to use the
toilet, you’re squatting. Only now we’re going to make it an exercise.

Squat: Beginner
Bodyweight squat

To perform the bodyweight squat, you should stand with your feet roughly shoulder width apart and with
your toes angled out slightly. Most will find that it’s easier to balance with the arms out in front as shown
below. Slowly lower (taking roughly 2 seconds) until the thighs are parallel to the ground, you will need to
lean forwards slightly to avoid falling over. Then return to the standing position. That constitutes on
repetition, continue until you reach the goal of 12-15 repetitions. You should inhale as you lower yourself
and exhale as you stand back up.

Watch Video

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 Squat: Intermediate
Weighted Squat

The squat can be made more difficult by adding resistance. If you have access to dumbbells, they can be
held by the sides during the exercise. If you have rubber tubing, you can stand on top of it to provide
resistance. An easy home solution is to take two empty gallon milk jugs and fill them to the same level
with water. These can be held by the sides to make the exercise more difficult as shown on the next page.
Other than the addition of resistance, the intermediate version of the squat is identical to the beginner
version.

Watch Video

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 Squat: Advanced
Split Squat

To perform the split squat, step out with one leg (the back leg should be on the toe) so that, when you bend
your knees, both end up at a 90 degree angle as shown on the right. Inhale as you lower and exhale as you
stand back up. Perform 12-15 repetitions on one leg, rest one minute, then perform your repetitions on the
other leg. Although the split squat is being demonstrated here with milk jugs, you should perform the
exercise without any weight the first few times that you do it.

Watch Video

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 Exercise 2: The Glute Bridge (optional exercise)
If you didn’t feel like you worked your lower body enough with the squat, you can do a second lower body
exercise that will especially target the glutes and hamstring muscles. That exercise is the glute bridge.

Glute bridge: Beginner

To begin the glute bridge, lie on your back with your feet out away from your butt, arms go by your sides.
From this position, press through your heels to raise your rear-end off the foor. Only raise up until your
body is in a straight line (as shown below) before lowering. That constitutes on repetition, and you should
perform 12-15 repetitions. Exhale as you bridge up and inhale as you lower.

To make the glute bridge more difficult, you can add resistance. If you have dumbbells, you can hold them
in your lap; small weight plates work here as well. Alternately, you could place a heavy book or something
similar in your lap to increase the resistance.

Of course, you can also move to a more advanced version of the exercise, shown on the next page.
Watch Video

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 Glute bridge: Advanced
The 1-Legged Glute Bridge

I want to make it very clear that the 1-legged glute bridge is a very advanced variation on this exercise,
requiring a great deal of not only leg strength but also core stability. I’d strongly suggest finding a way to
add resistance to the normal glute bridge before attempting this one.

Like the normal glute bridge, start by laying on your back; this time you will have one leg extended
straight, the other leg is on the foor in the same position as for the normal glute bridge. Your arms should
be by your side. From this position, first tighten your abdominal (stomach) muscles before raising your
butt off the foor by pushing through the heel of the other leg.

Exhale as you raise up to full extension, don’t but don’t over-extend your low back. Inhale on the way
down and that equals on repetition. Don’t be surprised if you can’t get very many repetitions the first few
times you try this exercise. As with the normal glute bridge, if you get to the point where the single leg
glute bridge is too easy, you can always add weight by placing small dumbbells, weight plates or a heavy
book on your stomach.

Watch Video
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 Exercise 3: Push ups

I imagine most everybody has, at one time or another, done or at least tried to do a pushup. Working the
muscles of the chest, shoulders and triceps, this will be one of your primary exercises to train the muscles of
your upper body.

Push-up: Beginner
Wall Push up
The simple fact is that, even the standard and modified push-up are often too difficult for complete
beginners. For this reason, I’m going to suggest that you start with a wall push-up. If this is too easy (or as
it gets easier) you can move to the intermediate and advanced versions of the exercise.

To perform the wall push up, you should start with your feet several feet from the wall so that you can lean
into it. Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder width, starting with your arms straight. Keeping
your body in a straight line (don’t let your back sag or arch), bend the arms until your face is close to the
wall, inhaling as you do so. Exhale as you straighten your arms. That’s one repetition. As always, try to do
12-15 repetitions before resting.

Watch Video
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 Push-up: Intermediate
Modified Push-up

The intermediate push-up, often derogatorily referred to as a ‘Girl’ push-up is simply a push-up done with
the knees on the ground. While more difficult than the wall push-up, it’s much easier than a standard
push-up.

The modified push-up starts with the feet up and the knees on the foor, the hands should be about
shoulder width to begin. From this position, bend your elbows until your chest is just above the foor,
inhaling as you lower yourself as shown in the picture below. Exhale as you push yourself back to the
starting position. That’s one repetition. Don’t be surprised if you can’t go all the way down without
collapsing or can’t get very many repetitions when you first try this exercise. As you get stronger, you’ll be
able to lower yourself more and do more reps.

Watch Video

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 Push-ups: Advanced
Standard Push-ups
When modified push-ups get too easy, the next progression is to move to normal or “unmodified” push-
ups. As I mentioned above, I imagine that everyone is familiar with the standard push-up, so often the
bane of grade school PE classes. The starting position is shown below, the only difference is that now the
knees are off the foor and the body should be in a completely straight line.

While inhaling, bend the elbows until the chest is just off the foor (as show below), before exhaling and
straightening the elbows and returning to the start position.

Once again, don’t be surprised if you can’t go all the way down or do very many repetitions the first time
you try the standard push-up. Stick with it and you’ll be able to lower yourself further and do more reps as
you get stronger.

Watch Video

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 Exercise 4: One-Arm Row
Possible the most difficult muscle group to exercise at home or without equipment is the upper back, in fact
most of the bodyweight exercise programs I’ve ever seen simply ignored the problem completely.

To perform the one-arm row, you will need something to provide resistance. In the pictures below, the
exercise is being demonstrated with an object I imagine everyone will have in their homes: an empty gallon
milk jug. Filled with water (or sand if you prefer), this can provide resistance during the exercise. You will
also need a chair or low table to stabilize yourself on.

The one-arm row works the muscles in the back along with the biceps (muscles on the front of the arms).

To perform the 1-arm row, first stabilize yourself on the table (or sofa, or bench) with one arm, the other leg
can stay on the foor or also go on the table. You should be holding the resistance in the opposite hand,
with the arm hanging straight down (left picture). Your upper body should be fat to the foor; that is,
don’t turn your shoulders. Pulling with your back muscles, pull the milk jug (or dumbbell) straight up until
your elbow is slightly above your upper body, exhaling as you do so. Inhale as you lower the weight back to
the starting position. That’s one repetition. Perform your set of 12-15 repetitions before resting for a
minute and exercising the other arm.

There isn’t any more advanced version of this exercise, the best way to make it more difficult is to use more
resistance. So you can fill the milk jug up with more water, or put sand in it, or invest in some dumbbells
or rubber tubing if desired.
Watch Video
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 Exercise 5: Lateral Raise (Optional Exercise)
Although you worked your shoulders with the push-ups, some home exercisers may wish to do extra work
for those muscle groups. Like the one-arm row above , there’s no particularly easy way to work the
shoulders without some sort of equipment to provide resistance. Again, you can use two gallon milk jugs
filled with water (make sure to fill them equally) or small food cans, or dumbbells or what have you.

Standing with your two jugs (dumbbells, etc.) at arms length by your sides (left picture), you will simply
raise your hands and arms up and out to the side until they are level with your shoulders (right picture).
Exhale as you raise the weight, inhale while you lower until you have performed all of your repetitions.
You can make this more difficult by adding more water to the milk jugs, or using heavier dumbbells. This
exercise can also be done with rubber tubing by standing on top of it and raise the tubing out to the side.

Watch Video

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 Exercise 6: Biceps Curl (Optional Exercise)
Although the biceps (the muscles on the front of the arm) were worked during the one-arm row exercise,
some home exercisers may wish to do more work for this muscles group. The biceps curl exercise is the way
to do this, like the previous exercise, it will require something to provide resistance. Again, we’ll be using
our handy milk jug.

To perform the biceps curl, start with one jug (dumbbell, etc.) in each hand with your arms straight by your
side. From this position, exhale as you curl the resistance up to shoulder level, your elbows should stay by
your sides. Inhale as you lower the weights, that’s one repetition. As always, try to perform 12-15
repetitions before resting.

As with the lateral raise, there’s no advanced version of this exercise, you can make it more difficult by
using heavier resistance by adding more water (or sand) to the milk carton, using dumbbells or standing on
tubing.

Watch Video

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 Exercise 7: Chair Dips (Optional Exercise)
Although the triceps (on the back of the arm) were hit with push-ups, some home exercisers may wish to
do more work for them. I give you the triceps dip. You’ll need a sturdy chair or table to do this one.

To perform the triceps dip, start with hands on the table or chair and then walk your feet out to the
position shown in the picture on the left. Inhale as you lower yourself by bending your elbows until they
reach a 90-degree angle as shown in the picture on the left. Exhale as you straighten your arms again;
that’s one repetition. Try to perform 12-15 repetitions before resting. To make this one more difficult, you
can put something heavy in your lap, books, small dumbbells or something like that.

Watch Video

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 Exercise 8: Crunch
The crunch works your abdominal muscles, what most call the stomach muscles. Before showing you the
exercise, I want to point out that all of the crunches in the world won’t give you a fat stomach or a six-
pack. Both of those goals is mostly about reducing body fat, which is what the rapid fat loss program is all
about. Doing crunches is more about strengthening your midsection. Just don’t think that by doing
endless crunches, or doing them every day, or anything like that that you’re going to slim your stomach.
Do your 12-15 repetitions like all of the other exercises, rest and move on.

To perform the crunch exercise, lie back on the foor with your knees bent (this helps to keep stress off the
low back). Probably the biggest mistake people make when they do crunches is yanking their head up off
the foor with their hands, giving themselves neck strain. Instead, put your hands beside your head or by
your temples (you can also cross them across your chest to make the exercise a bit easier).

From that position, exhale as you try to curl your shoulders and upper back up off the foor to the position
shown in the second picture. Please note that this is very small range of motion movement, you don’t
have to rise up very far to work the abdominals.

Inhale as you lower back down and that’s one repetition. Perform 12-15 repetitions as always.

There are a number of ways to make this exercise more difficult when doing it as above becomes easier.
One is to put the arms straight out overhead, another is to put a small weight on the chest (e.g. book,
dumbbells).
Watch Video
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 Exercise 9: Bird Dog
The bird dog exercise works the muscles in your upper and lower back that are critical for low-back health.

To start the bird-dog exercise, you will need to get on the foor on all fours. You may wish to put a thick
towel or mat on the foor if this one bothers your knees. Your hands should be directly underneath your
shoulders and your back should be fat as shown above.

From the start position, you are going to lift one arm and the opposite leg up until they are level with the
foor as shown in the picture above. Try to keep your back fat and your head in the same position as where
it started. Exhale as you lift. Inhale as you lower the hand and leg and the repeat with the opposite arm
and leg and then lower. That equals one repetition. Perform 12-15 total repetitions which means 24-30
total liftings and lowering.

Watch Video
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Conclusion
So that’s that. As you can see, it’s more than possible to get a very workable and effective beginner exercise
program training at home. Depending on where you’re starting and how quickly you move through the
various exercises and progressions I’ve laid out (i.e. adding resistance, adding additional sets of each
exercise, moving to more difficult exercises), this program might last you 8 weeks or it might last you many
months.

At some point, assuming you want to continue making progress in your training, odds are you’ll be ready
for something a little bit more involved. Although I discussed it in the introduction to this e-book and in
the Rapid Fat Loss Handbook, I want to finish up this e-book by talking about progression.

The key to improving both fitness and body composition is progression in training. To grow stronger, you
have to challenge your muscles a little bit more. That might mean performing a more difficult exercise, or
adding resistance, or doing additional sets. At a more advanced level, many resistance trainers will split
their muscle groups across different days. They might train the lower body on one day, the upper body on
another, etc. There are many different ways to approach training (this gets a more detailed discussion in
my book The Ketogenic Diet). This allows them to do more exercises and work each muscle more
intensely than with a full body exercise program like the one I’ve laid out in this e-book.

However, such programs usually entail having access to more exercise and equipment and that usually
involves joining a gym. By the time you’ve finished the exercise program in this course, you may be ready
to do exactly that. This program will have given you a reasonable baseline of fitness so that you can move
to a more intensive gym based program fairly easily. I want to emphasize that it’s very easy for relative
beginners to be horribly intimidated in the gym, especially in the weight room (and this is especially true
for women). Please don’t be.

Rather, if you decide to join a gym, realize that you have as much right to be there as anyone else. You
might consider hiring a personal trainer to help design your training program, or get one of the many
books available on resistance training.

Finally, as I mentioned in the Rapid Fat Loss Handbook, while a lot of aerobic/cardiovascular activity
during the diet tends to do more harm than good, it can be very effective in limiting weight loss once the
diet is over. You can start a walking program outside, consider home-exercise equipment, or, as mentioned
above, join a gym and have access to a tremendous number of different exercise options.

In any case, I hope that the information in this e-book helps you to both begin and continue an exercise
program for life. Outside of good nutrition, no other lifestyle choice can have as large of an impact on your
overall health as exercising regularly.

Good luck,
Lyle

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