There is always a new workout and the name “Spartacus Workout” sounds great since everyone knows that Spartans in ancient Greece were in incredible shape (at least the actors who play them in movies are). So what is the Spartacus workout and what can it do for your level of fitness and general health? It is a healthy idea and are there any drawbacks or dangers? What do you need to know before you get started? I will examine all those questions and more as we look beyond the hype and see what this Spartacus Workout is all about.
WORKOUT
The whole point of the Spartacus Workout is to lose fat and redefine muscle. It is not to lose weight. You can lose weight by dieting without doing any formal exercise. No doubt if you watch what you eat you will lose weight with the Spartacus Workout but that is a side effect. The workout was designed to change the way you look. The workout consists of 10 exercises, each at a 60 second-station, that you perform in succession. You do as many of the exercises at each station as you can for 60 seconds and then move on to the next station. After completing the circuit you rest 2 minutes and start again. Each workout session you complete three circuits. The workout is designed for three times a week. So the question remains, does it work?
BENEFITS
For all the research I have read the workout will do what it says if you follow it. Of course that could be said for just about any workout. The main reasons workouts fail is follow through. Will you look like the pictures you see with the workout? Probably not as just like in any advertising the best possible picture is selected for the ad. The real debate in workout circles is between aerobic exercise and weight exercise. The traditional belief has been that aerobic exercise, like running, is superior to weight training in that it burns more calories and thus more weight is lost. The Spartacus Workout was created to contradict that idea. But the latest research indicates that if you want to get rid of fat, weight training is better. As Jeff Volek, Ph.D. R.D. ,an exercise and nutrition scientist at the University of Connecticut states, in referring to running, “It’s sort of like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Any type of exercise burns calories. So if you’re told that running is ideal and you start dropping pounds once you take it up, then you have no reason to believe otherwise.” http://health.msn.com/fitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100252237 The research seems clear that running and weight training will both cause you to lose weight. The difference is that the weight lost during running will consist of fat and muscle while the weight lost during weight training will be solely fat. Some research has shown that up to 25 per cent of the weight loss from low calorie diets is in muscle. The same is probably true with running. In fact, by doing the Spartacus Workout you will increase muscle and with the lost fat comes the redefining of the body. If you look at long distance world-class runners you will see that they are very skinny. They have little muscle and do not have the type of body you would associate with Sparta. If you want that well-defined muscle you have to use weights and Spartacus allows that without turning you into an Olympic weight lifter.
RISKS
As mentioned before you have to combine a good diet with any workout program and you have to follow through with the program. Also you cannot expect to resemble the pictures you see. You will look better and if you are serious you may even look the best you possibly can. So if you are serious and what that body type then try the Spartacus Workout with a low calorie diet and see what happens.
SOURCES
http://www.menshealth.com/spartacus/workouts/
http://health.msn.com/fitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100252237
