Fitness is a marathon, not a sprint. It can be difficult to accurately determine if you are making visual progress day-to-day or even week-to-week.

Taking physique progress photos every 4-6 weeks and comparing them side by side is a good way to detect visual differences that you simply wouldn’t notice in the mirror. But ultimately, because of the relationship between strength gain and muscle gain, the main metric I want you to use for tracking your progress is strength & stamina. If you’re getting stronger and performing better at higher capacity, you’re progressing.

Taking body measurements every 4-6 weeks using a measuring tape can also be helpful (arms, thigh, waist, neck…). If you have access to a “Body composition analysis” machine, it would be ideal every 3-4 weeks to check on your Muscle and Fat mass, as well as its distribution in all your body parts.

To apply this program accurately, you need the following equipment: (can be purchased from any sports store, or on amazon)

1- At least 3 pairs of Dumbbells (light, medium and heavy). It is preferred to have a maximum variety of weights as the load differs from exercise to another.
2- 1 Pair of Dip bars (2 pieces). it is also called “Equalizers”
3- 1 Pair of Parallettes bars
4- For beginners, 1 Piece of Suspension kit (the known brand is TRX) is probably needed for some exercise modifications.
5- 1 Set of long Rubber bands (X-Light, Light, Medium and heavy)
6- 1 Set of Mini Bands (X-Light, Light, Medium and heavy).
7- A chair, or Bench and a Floor Mattress.

Muscle soreness is largely attributed to eccentric contractions and long muscle length contractions. Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) isn’t required for progression to occur, but the associated muscle damage might play a role in hypertrophy.

With that being said, the main goal of the program is to get you stronger and reduce Fat mass, not to get you feeling sore.

In fact, reduced soreness over time indicates that your body is adapting and recovering, which is a good thing for continued progress.

You may experience increased soreness when you first begin the program because it is presenting a new stress to your body. Foam rolling can help reduce DOMS and increase ROM, so if you are consistently getting sore week after week, consider adding a short 3-5 minute foam rolling routine at the end of the workouts. Otherwise, training while sore is not problematic for your body unless it puts you at an increased risk of injury.

You can also perform a slightly longer warm up for each exercise.

Avoiding is a top priority, one extra rest day will not set you back very far, but a serious injury will.

If your goal is to gain weight, eating in a slight caloric surplus will yield the best results and best recovery.

However, if your main goal is weight and fat loss, eating in a caloric deficit will be necessary.
As a beginner, you can continue to make strength progress while in a moderate caloric deficit and achieve body re-composition (lose fat and build muscle at the same time) if protein intake is sufficient (Generally 0.8-1g per pound of bodyweight).

As an intermediate-advanced level trainee, the likelihood of achieving substantial body re-composition is smaller, but still possible. So, in all, a caloric surplus is recommended for optimal progress, but some progress can still occur at caloric maintenance and even in a caloric deficit.

Each warmup in this program is tailored to prepare you specifically for the main workout, you still can add some warm-up exercises to the protocol, but your warm-up shouldn’t take any longer than 10-15 minutes. It is important to stay injury-free, so don’t rush into your workout, and DON’T SKIP warm-ups.

The order is adjusted to provide maximum recovery time between the workouts.
With that being said, I DON’T recommend changing the order of the workouts. Make sure that “Day 7” is a complete DAY OFF for your body to rest enough and be ready for the following week.

The main point of cardio is to create or increase a caloric deficit for fat loss. I would recommend prioritizing the deficit from your diet first, rather than relying heavily on cardio immediately for fat loss, because you’ve got lots or High intensity cardiovascular training methods in your main workouts.

If you want to do more cardio to speed up your weight/fat loss goals, try to keep it at LISS (Low intensity Steady State) for around 20-30 minutes after your training sessions. (Example: Brisk walk, light jog, Indoor/outdoor cycling, elliptical machine, Stair master machine…)