Check out this new workout I have used with some of my clients this week.
Last week I was talking about how getting stronger can make your fat loss efforts more productive. This workout will cement that idea in your psyche. The more you can lift through this workout, the more calories you will be burning (during and after the workout) and the closer you will be getting to achieving the body of your dreams.
It starts off with a Crossfit inspired combo. Here you want to use a weight that is challenging (question why you’re doing it challenging!) and rest as little as possible. Check your time on the stopwatch and try to beat it next time.
Then we move on to three mini circuits working the whole body. Keep the rest short and intensity high.
A1) Clean + Press
A2) Dumbell or Kettlebell Swing
21 reps, 15 reps, 9 reps for time (Rest as little as possible)
B1) Front Squat
B2) Push Up Rotation
4 sets of 10 reps with 60 seconds rest (ie B1, B2 rest 60, B1, B2, rest…)
C1) Romanian Deadlift
C2) Swiss Ball Jack Knife
3 sets of 15 reps with 60 seconds rest
D1) Bulgarian Split Squat
D2) Chin ups (or pulldowns)
4 sets of 8-12 reps with 60 seconds rest
Following on from the success of the post 8 More Ways To Instantly Improve Your Eating, here is the workout version. Too often we get caught up focusing on minutia instead of getting the basics right. If we take the back basics approach, more often that no there is a lot to gain. Enough rambling, lets get to it.
Stand Up. If you can do an exercise standing then….do it standing. We sit down way too much these days so the last thing you want to be doing when you are trying to improve your health, fitness and physique is to be exacerbating an existing problem.
Avoid Machines. The most advanced machine known to man is, well, man itself. (Perhaps I should have said the human, but I didn’t!) Body weight exercises, free weights and other forms of resistance such as kettlebells, sand bags, resistance bands will get the job done. The only ‘machine’ worth using is an adjustable cable. If you don’t know how to exercise safely and effectively without machines get someone (ideally me…or at least someone qualified to do so) to show you what to do.
Work the whole body. Yes guys, there are muscles on the back of your body. A full body workout isn’t just chest, arms and abs! Your strength in general will increase if you can squat or deadlift more weight. Strengthen your butt and hammies and you will be able to run better and fill out your jeans at the back. Increase the weight you can row, or the number of chin ups you can do and all of a sudden your bench press increases. Get to it and work the muscles you can’t see in the mirror.
Go unilateral to save your back. Huh? Uni what? Think single leg exercises. Step ups, lunge variations and single leg deadlifts. These will work your legs just as much as the bilateral versions (two legs) but because you aren’t using as much weight you will decrease the amount of stress on your spine.
Get up (and down). One of the best ways to get your heart rate up is to get your body moving vertically. Think about it this way. Star climbing, jumping, hill running. All of that is seriously hard work. If you want to keep the intensity up in your workouts, either throw in some sort of jumping exercise (jumping, skipping, burpees) or alternate between floor exercises and standing exercises. This little trick will send your body into a calorie burning frenzy!
Weights first, cardio last. If you are doing any sort of cardio, metabolic or conditioning work make sure you leave it to the end. The reason I suggest this is two fold. First of all you want to be lifting the maximum weight possible for all of your exercises. If you are fatigued from intervals, you won’t be doing this. Secondly, if you are fatigued , physically and mentally (and you should be after some serious conditioning work) then the chance of injury will be higher. Follow this formula. Warm up, weights, intervals -> go home.
Change it up. Whatever you are doing, even the most perfect workout, will have a shelf life. I’d suggest that somewhere between 3 and 6 weeks is the most you should follow the same program for. Even if you are making physical progress you will find that your potential progress might be limited when you get bored with a program. If you really like the program, mix it up, do something different for 3 weeks and come back to it.
Have goals. Last but definitely not least, goals will make or break your success. Have at least one if not many. A goal might be just to workout 3 times per week. It may be to deadlift 210kgs for 5 reps (that’s one of mine right now), or it might be to train consistently for 4 weeks. Whatever the goal is doesn’t matter. If you don’t have one, why are you training?
I could keep going on but I’m sure you’ve had enough listnening to me! Lets have at it. What is your number 1 method to instantly improve your workout?
What is the best bodyweight exercise you have done?
I hear some of you saying pushups. Sure they can be tough. But it isn’t unheard of to be able to do 50 or more of these.
Chin ups? I’d say these are harder that pushups given that I have never seen anyone do 50 consecutive chin ups.
I know that not one of my clients has ever asked to do more burpees than I have programmed! So I can guarantee that the old fashioned hard working burpee is up there with being one of the best bodyweight exercises.
But here’s a thought. Maybe not a particularly nice one, but a thought nonetheless.
What if I was to say to you lets do all three together?
Watch the video below for an exercise that will blast your whole body and take your fitness and fat loss to new levels.
Let me know how you go with it. First person to 100 wins a prize!
Fat loss workouts don’t need to be fancy to be effective. In fact sometimes the simpler they are the more effective they can be.
If you have to over think what you are doing when you are training, some effort will be lost on the workout and your results will not be as good.
For those of you familiar with any of my circuits, you will know that simple and easy are poles apart. For instance, doing 1000 burpees is a simple concept, but it would be anything but easy to do. (Do not attempt to do 1000 burpees. Ever!!)
One of the most effective ways of pushing yourself to work harder is to race against yourself, the clock or both.
When you have a predetermined number of sets or reps to complete, the only other variable is the time. The shorter it takes you to complete the workout, the more intense it is. Think of it this way. If you were to run 100 metres in 10 seconds it would be more intense than walking 100 metres in 45 seconds. Same workout, different intensity.
In a race against the clock, try the following 500 rep body weight challenge.
Go as hard as you can, resting as little as possible when needed. This workout will boost both your fat loss and your strength in record time.
You can check out a video of this workout (and my other video’s) here.
