Get Pumped With Mario Lopez

May 12, 2008 — -- When he co-starred as Bayside High's resident good guy jock, A.C. Slater, on the sitcom "Saved by the Bell," Mario Lopez, had an enviable, fit physique. Now, the actor has written a new book, along with fitness expert Jeff O'Connell, to help people get the toned and hard bodies of their dreams.

"Mario Lopez's Knockout Fitness" is geared toward having fun while working out, and positions itself as an easy-to-use exercise book. With 10-minute tone-ups and healthier lifestyle tips, the book uses a three-phase program to help readers get results. Check out an excerpt of the book below.

Check this out: I've been training now for going on two decades! So it shouldn't come as a surprise that my daily workouts, while a heck of a lot of fun, are fairly advanced and quite demanding. For many of you, those workouts would be impossible to ace right off the bat, and perhaps even unsafe, given their degree of difficulty. What we need to do is build you up to my level in a way that maximizes effectiveness, ensures safety—and guarantees that you have a blast in the process. Because if you're not having fun, you'll never stick with it. That's Mario's Rule of Fitness. For those of you with at least some training experience, the Mario Lopez Knockout Fitness program lasts six weeks, divided among three two-week phases. However, complete beginners who will be entering a gym for the first time, or for the first time in a long while, will spend twice as long—four weeks—in each of the three phases, for 12 weeks total.

How do you determine your current fitness level? It can be tricky. Perhaps you think you're only a beginner, because you've only dabbled in the gym, when in fact you're actually an intermediate, perhaps because you're naturally a great athlete. The reverse can apply as well: You might not be as far along as you think. I'm going to have you determine your "training age," which in turn will determine whether you spend two or four weeks in each phase. If you've been training for at least a year, you should be in relatively good shape—fit and strong enough to spend only two weeks in each phase. If you've been training for less than a year, follow the beginner sequence: four-by-four-by-four. The intermediate and advanced people will be doing the same phases as you beginners. They'll just be moving in and out of them much more quickly.

Here's the barebones breakdown of these three phases, which I designed along with one of the leading personal trainers in the country—Joseph Dowdell, a certified strength and conditioning specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and the owner of Peak Performance gym in New York City. Joe has worked out everyone from top pro athletes to actresses and runway models.

This six- or 12-week scheme, depending on your fitness level, allows you to build by starting off with simple lifts and body-weight moves in Phase I; moving on to more demanding moves in Phase II; and then adding some instability elements while shortening rest periods in Phase III, at which point you're training more or less like I do. Over the course of these six weeks, I'll gradually build up your strength and conditioning while introducing you to different "qualities" of training, especially power and explosiveness. Those qualities aren't just for guys, either. You need them if you want to smash a tennis ball or spike a volleyball, ladies. And I'll do it in a way that's safe, effective, and most of all, fun.

All of your fitness goals are going to be satisfied without you even telling me what they are, because we're going to hit every single area of your body to the max. No stone will be left unturned. If you want to have a great butt, you're going to have a great butt at the end of this program, even though you didn't tell me you wanted a great butt. Ditto for firm arms, a tight stomach, and every other showcase body part. About the only thing I can't guarantee is a set of dimples like mine!

That's because these aren't your run-of-the-mill, garden-variety, blah-blah-blah workouts. Not even. Cookie cutters belong in the kitchen, not in the gym. Normally, you don't see many people doing bench jumps. You don't see them doing a set of bench presses followed by medicine ball tosses. Or triple sets that include weight moves and jumping jacks. Or basketball, volleyball, or dance workouts in between their gym workouts. Uniqueness and variability are two of your watchwords over the next six or 12 weeks. That's why experienced gym goers and newbies alike will grow muscle and melt fat using this program.