You have 19 days to get as toned as possible in that amount of time (especially your abs!) What kind of workout do you do every day for the maximum results. Assume you’re already eating healthy. Thanks
Weight-bearing exercises (low-to-mid weight, high reps), lots of road cardio, a ton of crunches and an Atkins induction cycle.
And of course, someone to stand over me and make me do it! 
Obviously, 19 days is not a reasonable amount of time to see healthy results, but there you go.
Having a time frame like that is just ridiculous. It is what they are always putting on the front of women’s magazines.
It must be a long term commitment to see the benefits
If all you need to do is lose 3-4lbs you could probably do it with some weight lifting (mid to high weight and low to mid reps- i.e a set of 8 reps and on the 8th rep you cannot do anymore) and cardio in that time, but otherwise, no way.
That’s exactly my situation; just looking to lose a couple of pounds, while firming up the old abs at the same time. Thanks!
What type of cardio would be best and for how long? I usually do 30 minutes on a stationary bike. Would fast walking for 30 minutes be better?
I prefer actual walking or biking to machines. No cite, I just feel like I get more out of it.
I agree; however I don’t have a bike and, since it’s so hot, I usually do my walking around the indoor track at the Y. In your opinion, which is better cardio…riding the bike or walking (30 min. in either case?) Thanks!
Riding a bike burns fewer calories per hour than any other form of exercise out there, so it’s probably not the right choice. If you want to get results as fast as possible, you’re going to have to really up the intensity. Anaerobic interval training is your best bet.
Of course, your diet really has to be dialed in to see noticeable progress in that kind of time. Merely eating healthy won’t cut it. Eat six meals a day, with 20-30 grams of protein and at least one serving of fruits or vegetables at each meal. Get some good fats (omega-3s in particular).
a) Get on the treadmill. Tilt it up up up. Speed it up to a slow trot, count your individual paces, bail out on it when you feel yourself approaching your limit. (Most treadmills are dismally unresponsive to anything but an outright STOP COMPLETELY NOW, but I’m comfy with grabbing the sidebars and moving my feet to the nonmoving sides of the thing. Your mileage and comfort level with that may vary). Rest for a duration akin to how long you were trotting “uphill”, then hop back on for the same number of paces. Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.
b) Find the leg press machine. Load it up — you’ll have to experiment to find out how much you can press up off the retaining blocks or whatever they’re called. Anyway, don’t flip the handles so as to let the weights come closer to you than they were on their retaining blocks, just push the weights OUT and AWAY. This exercises the big muscles in the thigh. Letting the weights down closer to you exercises different muscles (glutes, etc) and you will not be able to handle anywhere near as much weight as you can when simply lifting off the blocks and letting them back down. Let your big thigh muscles do the work, you’ll find you are phenomenally strong there. After you get the weights off the block, try 10 quick reps before putting them all the way back down to the blocks. I think you’ll find that you’re panting & your heart beating hard for a couple minutes afterwards even though it seems fairly easy when you’re doing it. Burns lots of calories fairly easily.
For a healthy adult, 1-2lbs per week is a normal safe weight loss goal, so that’s maybe 5-6lbs in your case. There’s nothing magic that you have to do - if you have a sensible diet and you’re getting 30+ minutes of vigorous exercise 4-5 times per week that should do it. Some of the math behind it is that a pound of fat stores about 3500 calories so burning an extra 500 calories per day for a week should theoretically take off a pound. YMMV of course.
As far as “getting toned” in 19 days, keep in mind that you can do a million situps a day and have abs of steel, but if they are under a layer of belly fat they won’t show. There’s no way to “spot reduce” fat (aside from something like liposuction) - you just have to sensibly adjust your caloric intake and your exercise level so that you’re burning more calories than you take in and let the fat come off wherever your body decides it’s coming off.
All that being said, bodybuilders and fighters do drop lots of weight in limited amounts of time, either to make their muscles stand out (bodybuilders - although the folks I’ve heard about have started months ahead of time) or to hit a weight goal (fighters - and they then immediately begin rehydrating and eating so they are back at their “normal” weight). Personally I wouldn’t want to do any of the stuff that they do and unless you’re properly supervised it looks like it’d rank somewhere between really unhealthy and really dangerous. I have dropped 5+ lbs in a few hours running (despite constant hydration) but that’s basically all water weight and it comes back on afterwards as I replenish fluids.
As far as what exercises to do I guess it depends on what your body is used to - if you have never lifted weights and you suddenly start pounding iron like crazy you’ll just injure yourself and be unable to exercise. I’d recommend something lower impact (swimming perhaps) and increase the duration and/or intensity as you are comfortable so that you can do it a lot over those 19 days. Personally I like running and biking but that’s me.
Whatever you do, be careful - getting toned in 19 days doesn’t sound like a realistic goal to me; cutting your caloric intake too much and/or increasing your activity level too much is a great way to do damage yourself. What’s the rush?
That is certainly not true. The number of calories you burn is correlated to the intensity at which you exercise. If you ride like a one-legged anorexic with an iron deficiency, then you will burn few calories. If you ride like a racer, you will burn tons of calories per hour.
It is all about how much effort you put into the exercise rather than what exercise you do.
I think he meant the machines. The bike machines burn fewer calories than the treadmill or the stair climber machines.
Of course, you’re right too. If you ride the bike machine like you’re in the Tour, and I put the treadmill at 1.5 mph, then you’ll be doing more.
That’s true, and I should have specified the intensity.