When In Doubt Workout

You might be in between routines or just looking for a change of pace.

It might be that you are on holiday or training at a mate’s house.

That’s where the ‘When In Doubt Workout’ comes into play.

Follow this simple formula for a great, balanced workout that never has to ge boring.

Take one each of the following and do either 5 x 5, 3 x 8 or 2 x 20.

1. Deadlift or squat variation (do the other movement lightly in the warmup)’
2. Bench or shoulder press variation
3. Seated row or chin up variation
4. Kettlebell or dumbbell swings
5. Floor based abdominal exercise (Go for higher reps if needed)

Don’t worry too much about the details. Sometimes the back to basic approach will work best.

If you were to do this two to three times a week and make gradual improvements in the weights that you were lifting, you would be doing better than most people.

If you want to throw some metabolic, fat burning intervals on the end, make sure you check out this post.

Fat Melting Intervals

In one of my recent posts I mentioned that if you are short of time and can only do three, half hour, sessions per week that one of these sessions should be an interval sprint session.

Now running doesn’t agree with a lot of people (neither do I for that matter!!) so the sprint session doesn’t just have to be running. What we want to do is get the heart rate and intensity elevated quite high and then have a rest. So you can do this on the track, in the pool, on a bike or if you’re mad : burpees! It doesn’t really matter what the input is as long as the output is high.

These sprint/interval type sessions have been shown in a lot of research that it can be up to NINE TIMES more effective for fat loss over steady state or endurance training.

Put in the extra effort and you will have your body’s metabolism revved up for 24-36 hours after you have left the gym.

Just a quick word of caution though. Don’t go overboard with this type of training. Too much of a good thing can easily make it bad (think red wine). If you overdo these intervals (more than say three times per week) then you run the risk of injury and burning out. Incorporate it with the rest of your training and you’ll be fine.

Here are a few quick samples of how to set up your session. Remember that you need to do a proper warm up prior to going crazy at it.

Session One

2 minute warm up (specific to your task after your general warm up)

30 seconds hard (8-9/10 Perceived Rate of Excursion)  : 90 seconds easy (3-4/10) x 8

3 minute cool down

Session Two

2 minute warm up (specific to your task after your general warm up)

120 seconds hard (7/10)  : 120 seconds easy (4-5/10) x 4

3 minute cool down

Session Three (specific to your task after your general warm up)

2 minute warm up

60 seconds hard (8/10)  : 120 seconds easy (5/10) x 6

3 minute cool down

Try to increase your intensity with each session either by increasing the level or the speed on the hard section of the interval. You will be rewarded with a new level of fitness and a leaner, toned body.

Do you have a favourite sprint or interval session that you do? Let us know about it in the comment section below.

Fat Burning Cardio

Forget cardio. Well at least forget cardio in it’s usual form. Unless your goal is to get better at riding a stationary bike, or running on a treadmill then you had better ditch the idea that this will help you burn fat.

To get the maximum amount of fat burning happening you want to recruit a lot more muscles, build fatigue and be working hard enough to question why you are doing it at all. By using high intensity intervals the goal is to get your heart rate up around or over 90% of your maximum. A typical session should last at most 30 minutes. You want to get in, go hard and go home. No messing around.
Instead of just going for a run next time you have a cardio day scheduled, try the following workout.
All you need is a few dumbells or kettlebells, a treadmill (running outside would be better) and the desire to work hard.

For Time :  Maximum number of rounds in 30 minutes

Run 250 metres
10 One-arm dumbbell/kettlebell swings (each arm)  Hard – 10kg, Easy – 6kg
Run 250 metres
50 Mountain Climbers (25 each side)
Run 250 metres
10 One-arm Alternating dumbbell/kettlebell clean (each arm) Hard -20kg, Easy – 10kg
Run 250 metres
50 Bodyweight Squats

Rest as much as you need to but as little as possible.

This fat burning workout will get you using all your big muscles which will get your heart rate sky high, burning so many more calories than a normal cardio session.

It is important to fully recover between session like this. With this in mind I would recommend that you did no more than two of these sessions per week.

Also, make sure that you have your food and nutrition in order. You can learn more here.

Post your results below.

Top Five Ways to Improve your Training

Whether you are training at home or in the gym,  putting in the time, you want to make sure you are getting the biggest bank for your buck, so to speak. There are some things which are done time and time again for no other reason than ‘that’s the way we do it’. If there are things you are doing for no other reason than this, it might be time to change. Take yourself armed with the following information to your next training session to supercharge your workouts.

1. Time your rest periods.
Sounds simple huh? I know I have already written about it here, but I have to say it again. 60 seconds should be 60 seconds. If you are meant to have 90 second rest then have 90, not 180 or more. You will be surprised how much more you can get done, or how much quicker you can get it done if you are on the clock.

2. Stand Up
If you can do an exercise standing on your own two feet, then lets do exactly that. If you want to be sitting down doing that exercise you’d better have a damn good reason for it. Chances are you sit down enough already. That’s the way life is these days.

3. Multi Joint (Compound) Exercises only
Let me put it this way. If you are training to get fitter, lose some body fat or get stronger then you have no business doing tricep kickbacks and concentration curls. If you want a quick experiment in increasing metabolism, try the following. Do a clean and press for 3 sets of 15 reps with a minute rest between sets. Next do 3 sets of 15 reps with your favourite isolation exercise. Which one really got your body going?

4. Warm Up, Resistance, Intervals
99% of the time you will want to be doing your resistance training after a proper warm up and before any ‘cardio’ (see next point) or interval work. Why? If you want to get boost your metabolism and change your body shape you want to be doing your resistance training at the start of your work out when you are fresh. If you have just spent half your workout and most of your energy on the treadmill then the effort you can give your weights is going to be be compromised.

5. Reconsider your ‘Cardio’ training
Now this one fits into the category ‘Change the world one step at a time’. Remember however; that the world was once thought to be flat. Just as we once thought that ‘Cardio’ training was great for fat loss. If you really want to use some form of electronic cardio equipment (think elliptical trainer, treadmill, stationary cycle, stepper, rower etc) then at least do some High Intensity Intervals. Say goodbye to steady workouts and you will be saying goodbye to some extra stomach fat as well.

Got a sixth tip to share? Leave a comment below.