Maintain your gains: in this final phase, you consolidate your past progress, reinforce your weak points, and set the stage for future growth. Instead of slavishly following a fixed training program, you can change this one to meet your needs - Yearlong Workout

Now that you've bulked up your chassis in Phase 2 and become a lean machine in Phase 3, it's time to spend three months on cruise control. That doesn't mean staying in neutral, and it certainly doesn't mean shifting into reverse; you'll still be moving forward. But since you're not driven by a specific goal (getting bigger, getting leaner, etc.), you'll be easing up on the accelerator a bit and fine-tuning things along the way.

"Now that the initial growth and intensity phases are over, the focus becomes keeping the body where it needs to be while working on refining your weak spots," says yearlong-program architect Larry Krug, who holds a master's degree in exercise physiology and works as a certified personal trainer for Crunch Gym, Los Angeles. In accordance with this goal--and given that you should have a more sophisticated knowledge of training than you did back in January--Krug allows you to substitute your own choice of exercise for what he assigns as the last movement for most body parts.

Take Tuesday as an example. The program instructs you to wrap up your shoulder training with three sets of unilateral cable lateral raises, which zero in on the side delt heads. However, if those heads are already making nice progress while 'your rear heads lag behind the rest of your shoulder complex, your front delts will appear to be pulling toward each other, making you look like a muscled-up Quasimodo. To correct this, don't hesitate to substitute in some bent-over lateral raises, which shift the emphasis of the raise into the back of the shoulder. On leg day (Monday), if your hamstrings aren't quite up to speed with your front thighs, consider ditching the unilateral leg press in favor of something like a walking lunge. These substitute exercises can be pulled from the three prior installments.

CONSISTENCY IS KEY

Because this is a maintenance phase, now is a good time to fully integrate your training into your daily lifestyle. "Maintenance requires consistency," says Krug. For that reason, you're still going to train with weights four times a week in addition to two hour-long cardio sessions. In the gym, you'll be doing two or three exercises per body part, depending on the size of the body part and the degree to which it's hit tangentially by exercises for other body parts. The number of reps prescribed for most of these movements is 12, which affords a balance between muscle growth and endurance--neither of which can be sacrificed during a maintenance phase. However, the reps go up dramatically for endurance-oriented muscles such as calves and abs.

Moving forward, beyond the yearlong, you can pretty much map your own route from here on. Regardless of which direction you take, however, the key is to stay on the road and keep advancing, and to continue alternating phases of higher and lower intensity along the way. Your car won't last long if you go pedal to the metal 24/7, and neither will your body.

THE PROGRAM

PHASE 4: OCTOBER THROUGH DECEMBER

Monday: Resistance training

Tuesday: Resistance training

Wednesday: Cardio training*

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Resistance training

Saturday: Resistance training and cardio training *

Sunday: Rest

* Use whatever method you'd like, as long as it's capable of making you sweat for an hour. The intensity of these workouts should be "medium"--65 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate.

THE EXERCISES

1. MODIFIED CRUNCH (abs) Lie on your back on the floor with your hips and knees bent 90 degrees. Place your fingertips lightly behind your head. Assume the starting position by lowering one leg until your foot is six inches off the ground (1a). Exhaling, use your abs to pull your shoulder blades off the ground, and bring your rib cage slightly toward your pelvis (1b). Return to the starting position, inhale, and repeat for the desired number of reps before switching leg positions and doing the same number.

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2. SEATED V WITH ARM ROW (abs) Sit on the floor, resting on your butt with your knees slightly bent and extended in front of you at a 45-degree angle, your torso reclined at the same angle and your arms out to the side (2a). (From the side, your body should resemble a V.) Bring your torso forward as you pull your knees in, narrowing the V. At the same time, move your arms slowly back and forth, flapping your arms like wings. Continue with that motion as you return to the starting position and repeat.

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3. PLANK CRUNCH WITH TWIST (abs, obliques) Lie facedown, supported on your toes and forearms--which should be aligned with the sides of your body--so that you're staring down at your thumbs (3a). Raise your hips slightly and pull one of your knees up toward your chest, moving it toward the center of your body (3b). Return to the starting position and repeat, using the other knee. Continue in an alternating fashion until you've completed the prescribed number of reps for both sides.

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4. ALTERNATING ONE-LEGGED JACKKNIFE (abs, hip flexors) Lie flat on your back with your arms extended straight back behind your head (4a). Maintaining this arms-extended position, bring your torso up and forward as you pull one knee in toward your chest. "Throw" your arms forward and slide your hands around your bent knee until your fingers come together (4b). Return to the starting position and repeat, using the other knee, continuing in an alternating fashion until you've completed the prescribed number of reps for both sides.