Guest post from my friend injury expert, Rick Kaselj of Exercises for Injuries. But first, try this little test you see in the video below. It’s an easy test, too…

Last weekend, I was teaching a course at a local college and a participant in the class asked me about his forearms and elbows pain.

Let me share with you what I let him know about his forearm and elbow pain.

#1 – You are as Strong as Your Weakest Link

The fellow in my class was fatiguing out the forearms when he was doing rowing exercises before his back fatigued out.

When it comes to your body, you are as strong as your weakest link.

When exercising, if you have weak knees, you are limited with how much you can do because of them. This limits the exercises you can do and how hard you can go, which ultimately affects your fat loss results.

If your weakest link in your upper body is your elbows or forearms, this limits how much upper body work you can do. You will end up plateauing out in the weights that you can do when it comes to upper body exercises like bench press, rows, curls, and presses.

Plus you will fatigue out in exercises like burpees, push-ups, close grip push-ups, cross-body mountain climbers, inch worms, inverted rows. Many more finisher exercises will be tough to do, or painful. If you can’t do as many reps of the finisher exercises, you don’t get as much fat loss results.

The weakest links in this fellow’s upper body were his forearms and elbows, which were affecting his results.

#2 – Do You Get Pain in the Wrist with Push Ups?

I asked the fellow another question:

“Do you get wrist pain when you do a push-up?”

His answer was, “Yes.”

This is also another classic sign that your forearms and elbows are the weakest link in your upper body.

If you have sensitivity in your wrists or forearms when you do push-ups or are in a push-up position, it highlights the fact you need to work on your recovery and pre-hab work in your forearms and elbows.

From working out hard, we often times get adhesions in the forearm. Adhesions are like scar tissue that sticks to the muscles of the forearm, forcing them not to work properly. The forearm muscles end up being weaker, fatiguing easier, and becoming shorter due to these adhesions.

#3 – What else could be causing all of this?

I hate to say it but your computer.

Constantly typing on your computer at home and work ends up shortening the muscles in your forearms.

This leads to the muscles shortening up even more, which will affect their flexibility, their strength, and how quickly they fatigue.

#4 – What is another thing that could be causing things?

Look at your posture.

If you are sitting down with poor posture, it puts greater stress on your shoulders and more stress on your elbows.

Let me explain how.

Try to do a push-up on the wall.

The first time you do the push up on the wall, be in very poor posture. Make sure your shoulders are rounded out and your head is dropped down.

Where do you feel most of the work happening?

You got it: in your forearms, elbows, and wrists.

Now do the push-up on the wall with perfect posture. Make sure your upper body is in good alignment (head-shoulders-hips-ankles in a straight line). Activate your scapular muscles before doing the push-up on the wall.

Go ahead and do the push-up on the wall.

Where did you feel the majority of the work and stress this time?

You got it, in your chest.

If you are working out and have poor technique (posture) in your upper body, the work shifts from the upper body to the wrist, forearm, and elbows. This will lead to overworking them and promoting those adhesions.

#5 – Keeping the Elbows and Forearms Happy

I know you are working hard to get your fat loss results but you need to take care of yourself. If you are doing upper body work – which you should be doing because it will improve your fat loss results – make sure you are good to your forearms and elbows. When it comes to your body, you are as strong as your weakest link, and for many people, the weakest link in their upper body are their elbows. Make sure you watch your computer work and are doing your finisher exercises with great technique; if you don’t, it will lead to adhesions in your forearms, which will affect your fat loss results.

That is it. Thank you very much for reading. Take care of those forearms and elbows.

About Rick Kaselj

Rick Kaselj is a personal trainer in Surrey, Canada who specializes in designing exercise programs for clients recovering from injuries. Rick has trained thousands of clients and completed his Master’s of Science degree focusing on injury recovery. Rick shares with other fitness professionals, and exercise enthusiasts, exercises to help prevent your elbows and forearms from being the weakest link in your upper body. You can get more information about his forearm and elbow program by visiting http://fixingelbowpain.com/ .

For example, it will look like this:

1A) DB Split Squat (8/side)

1B) DB Chest Press (10)

Rest 1 minute and repeat 2 more times.

Why 1 minute?

There’s nothing really “magical” about the one minute rest period.  The truth is that I’m simply trying to keep the rest periods relatively short so that you can get your workout done and get home (or work).

But people underestimate the power of a rest period.  Here is where the workout goes from physical adaptation to mental adaptation.  If you do a set or even a circuit, followed by 5 minutes of rest, you are taking yourself out of your own workout mentally.

Trust me, there’s a big difference between 1 minute of rest after a metabolic circuit and 2 minutes of rest.  Don’t believe me?  Just for K & G (that’s cool initials for “kicks and giggles”), do this metabolic circuit:

1A) DB Split Squat (8/side)

1B) DB Chest Press (10)

1C) DB Row (12/side)

1D) KB or DB Swings (20)

Grab a stopwatch (or use your smartphone app) and rest for 2 minutes.  Repeat the circuit.  Then rest for 1 minute and repeat the circuit.

Now do you see the difference?

But here is where I find rest periods really important – the metabolic workout finisher.  When I write these, I choose a specific rest period on purpose.  I test these rest periods with online/offline clients, myself and even with Craig’s Turbulence Training membership site so I can get feedback.

The idea of the rest periods with metabolic resistance training and a metabolic finisher is incomplete recovery.  With a finisher, there’s a big difference just between 20 seconds of rest and 30 seconds of rest.

Ladies and Gents, exhibit B (or is it C – or is it “who cares”)

Do the following circuit finisher:

1A) Burpees (10)

1B) KB or DB Swings (30)

1C) Jumping Jacks (50)

After the first circuit, rest for 30 seconds.  Then repeat the circuit followed by 20 seconds of rest and then do the circuit one last time.  You should see a big difference between 30 seconds of rest and 20 seconds of rest.

Now I’m not saying you need to keep an eye on your watch every time you work out (I don’t even do that … with the exception of the finisher).  But if you find yourself just “moseying” around with your workout and you feel you’re not really getting anything out of it, then try keeping a closer look at your rest periods.

It can make all the difference in the world.

Have a rocking week,

Mikey, CTT

Imagine all this teal in a sea of black and red, along with some snarly stares.  Ha-ha, football is awesome.

Anyway, that’s the good news.  The bad news?  Sabrina’s birthday is that exact day.  So somehow, I will have to break the news to her that we won’t be doing anything on her birthday (except going to the game).  Don’t worry, I’m not a jerk.  She knows my love for my black cats and my friends warned her.

We’ll just have to tailor that weekend so that it’s a win/win.  The day before, we’ll do some Hibachi and a cheesy and corny chick flick.

Insert smooth transition here ==> SMOOTH TRANSITION

So, that’s how to transition a birthday weekend, but how do you transition a workout program to your fitness level and/or if you are lacking equipment?

Quick note – that transition from the birthday situation to this topic was epic.  It’s easily in my top 5 transitions.

Anyway, the alarm went off at 4:30 again this morning and I knew exactly what I was going to help you with.  Do you ever get a workout program that you’re really excited about and you then find out that you lack some of the equipment or you may find it too hard?

Don’t dis’ it.  Here is  how you can adjust your program.  But first, the question I get a lot is, “How do I know which weight I use?”.  I have answered that.  You can get that game plan by clicking here.

Alright, first, let’s take a look at an advanced circuit, like this one:

1A) DB Lunge (8/side)

1B) Spiderman Pushups (8/side)

1C) Pull-ups (10)

“Dude, no way”  <=== Don’t talk like that.

Let’s dissect it.  Alright the first exercise can even be a challenge if you don’t have coordination or if you are a beginner.  So, if you have trouble doing lunges or if you are a beginner, you can substitute lunges for lying 1-leg hip extensions.  I don’t have a photo of that, and so I’m going to borrow one from my coach, Craig Ballantyne.

And to make that even easier, you can do a hip extension with both of your feet on the ground (knees bent).  Just be sure to squeeze your glutes as you raise your hips.

So, first accomplish the hip extension, than move onto the 1-leg hip extension.  Than, give the bodyweight split squat a try.  Once you accomplish that, than try the lunge.  When you do try the lunge – learn how to do it with your own bodyweight first before adding external weight (aka dumbbells or barbells).   And don’t forget the classic DB Squat – where you squat and hold dumbbells at your sides.

The variety of hip extensions are also great for those that have knee problems.

Alright, next up is the Spiderman Pushup, which is an advanced pushup.  You can easily sub that out for regular pushups or even incline or kneeling pushups.  I actually prefer incline pushups whenever possible because that’s a good way to gauge your pushup progress.

Use a Smith Bar for an incline pushup.  The higher the bar is set, the easier the pushups will be.  Periodically (every 2-3 weeks depending on your fitness level), lower the bar one notch and try to complete the same amount of reps.

The last one is a doozy… as a matter of fact, if I were to really put some thought into a program, I would do a barbell lunge, pull-ups, and than Spiderman pushups.  If you go from a DB Lunge to a Pull-up,  your grip strength would suffer, but that’s a topic for another day.  I just wanted to say something that made me sound smart.  Did it work?  No? Awesome.  Bite me.

If  you can’t do pull-ups, you can do assisted pull-ups.  But if you don’t even have access to that, you can sub pull-ups for DB Rows.

So to sum this up, you would replace the above circuit with this if your fitness level doesn’t match the workout above…

1A) 1-Leg Hip Extensions (8/side)

1B) Incline Pushups (15)

1C) DB Rows (10/side) or 2-Arm DB Rows (10)

See?  You don’t have to abandon the workout.  The tough part is figuring out your fitness level while challenging yourself.  I’ll give you a great example.  In Craig’s MRT program, he calls for the Spiderman Climb (15/side).  So, I did the Spiderman Climb, but only 10 reps per side because my form breaks down horribly.

So, What’s the Step-by-Step Process for Tailoring a Workout Program?

That’s how to sub exercises, but that’s not the only way tailor a workout program.  Here is what you can do:

1) Sub exercises for ones that fit your fitness level (like above)

2) Reduce the number or reps (like I did with the Spiderman Climb)

3) Reduce the number of circuits (so if a program calls for 3 circuits, you can do just one to two… especially when doing it for the first time)

4) Increase the rest periods – if a program calls for 30 seconds of rest, but you know you need a full minute, than use it.  Just remember to challenge yourself and find your unique approach to fit your workout perfectly.  In other words, you can use 45 seconds of rest and evaluate.

Workout programs are a lot like diets – there is no perfect program for everyone, but like all diets, your workout program can be tailored to make it work for you.

Mikey, CTT

Do the following superset as many times as possible in 5 minutes.

AND… this was after a lower body workout.  Good times.  I left the gym feeling like I was king of the world.  Sooo, in your face Leonardo DiCaprio.  By the way, I was able to do the superset 5 times.

I’m really getting into density finishers recently, and I’ll probably talk a little about this with my presentation at the TT Summit.  If you’re a trainer, you need to be there.  It will be an amazing weekend.

Anyway, neither one of those exercises are bodyweight exercises, but I just wanted to brag a little bit.

This guy is a genius (Alwyn Cosgrove)

Moving on… and this won’t even have to do with bodyweight exercises either.  I need to give you a wake-up call first, and this wake-up call comes courtesy of Craig Ballanytne and Alwyn Cosgrove.  I remember getting this email from Alwyn earlier in April, and Craig reminded me again just this morning by quoting Alwyn.  Here it is…

“So here we are again. Today marks the 25% point of the year. Sorry – it’s not an April fools joke.

The entire first quarter of 2012 has already passed– we are now three months into 2012. 90 days are gone forever.

Are you on track with those New Years Resolutions? Are you on track with your goals?

If you wanted to lose 20lbs this year – are you down 5lbs already?
If your goal was to do 250 workouts – have you completed 62 ?

It’s amazing how time passes so quickly. If you need a “do–over” then I’m going to give you one.
You can REDO your New Years Resolutions right now and get started all over again.
That’s right – I’m letting you off the hook – but don’t waste a single second.

If your goal is (insert anything here) – start TODAY !

25% of this year is gone forever. Will you make changes TODAY or will another 25% pass, then another 25% –– and before you know it – it will be 2013.”

Boom went the truth dynamite.  That’s a good reminder.

Awesome, almost 400 words into this and I haven’t even scratched the surface about the bodyweight exercises.  You better grab a cup of coffee.

As summer approaches, you may find yourself tight on time and not being able to hit the gym as you freak out knowing you need to lose fat before beach season.  And you may be thinking, “bodyweight exercises bore me”.  That’s cool, I can understand that.

If you’re going back and forth between sit-ups and pushups for an hour, you deserve to be bored.  C’mon, you gotta’ get more creative than that.  You need to do a circuit like this:

This is Workout A from Phase 3 of Craig Ballantyne’s
6-Month Turbulence Training Bodyweight Manual.

By the way, here are a few exercise substitutions if you do this one at the park without a stability ball:

- For 1B, put your feet on steps instep of the ball
- For 3A, do 1-Leg RDL’s instead of 1-leg curls
- For 5B, do mountain climbers instead of the jackknife

1A) Prisoner Squat (15 reps)
1B) Feet on Ball Pushup (12 reps)
2A) Bulgarian Split Squat (12 reps)
2B) Chin-up (Max-1)
3A) Stability Ball 1-Leg Curl (10 reps)
3B) Spiderman Pushup (6 reps)
4A) Walking Lunge (15 reps)
4B) Side Plank Leg Lift (8 reps)
5A) Rotate Lunge (10 reps)
5B) Stability Ball Jackknife (15 reps)

Now of course, I’m going to get out my awesome sauce and pour it over this program by ending it with a finisher.

Cool stuff pops up on my image site when I search for "exhausted"... like this yellow circle missing one hand with sweat. (By the way - this is a long caption). Awesome.

So, here is how to finish up this fat-burning workout.

Do the following circuit ONE time, resting only when needed.  Time yourself.  Try to beat your previous best the next time you do this finisher.

6A) Prisoner Lunge Jumps (15/side)

6B) Mountain Climbers (30/side)

6C) Total Body Extensions (40)

That’s how to do it.  That’s not boring, and you’re burning fat without any fancy equipment.

I know what you’re thinking… “Wow Mikey, this is awesome.  I sure do wish I can get a hold of more workouts like this so I can burn fat at the park, in my garage, behind a farm (that’s not even my own), or in a cemetery (which would be creepy, but whatever).

How’z about getting 11 manuals to help you get shredded before summer arrives… all using your bodyweight, as well as amazing nutrition info and transformation secrets?

“That sounds amazing Mikey, can you show me a pretty pyramid image of what that might look like?” is what you’re thinking.

Well sure.  Look at this:

Seriously, you don’t need a ridiculous amount of equipment to have an amazing workout.  You can do a lot with just your bodyweight.  Remember my kid workout?  There’s proof.

Have rocking week,

Mikey, CTT

P.S. Get well over 6 months of workouts with photos using your bodyweight here

Click here ==> Crazy Bodyweight Workout Deal

But the truth was I had too much on my plate, and second, I did a half marathon back in 2008, and after that race, I vowed to never do another one.  By the way, that last sentence had a lot of commas.

Anyway, I still remember that day because I was on a little bit of a high… not because of smoking weed.  The half marathon was actually on my birthday that year.  It was a crisp fall morning and I truly thought I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else than doing an event like this on my birthday.

This was because I felt better than I have my whole life.  If I had ran that race in my twenties, I would have been laying on the ground after mile 1.  Now, I’m not a fast runner, that’s for sure.  I nailed it in about 2 hours and 7 minutes and I was exhausted.  My knees were aching a little bit… but I wouldn’t want it any other way.

I consumed 2 Baked Apple Dumplings - Know about it.

As a matter of fact, after the race, my wife and I went to Cracker Barrel and I ate not one, but two Baked Apple Dumplings.  Happy birthday to myself (awesome).  The manager was so impressed, she asked if she could take a picture.  Earlier that week, she served one of those and 3 people shared it.

Mikey <=== This guy knows how to eat.

But that race and training just about defeated me.  For the next week or so, my legs were achy, and I still remember that during the training, my appetite went through the roof.

Looking back, I wish I knew then what I know now.  I would have approached my training a good bit different, even though I was a trainer back then, too.

I would have done more core work, that’s for sure.  I also would have incorporated more bodyweight exercises, too.

The way I trained for it back then?  I lost a little bit of strength.  I don’t want you to make the same mistake.  If you’re getting ready for a Tough Mudder or any Adventure race for that matter, this is how you should do it.

Approach Number 1 – Incorporate Full Body Workouts

This will allow you to get through the obstacles without getting fatigued so quickly.  Use a combination of bodyweight exercises and free weights, as well as using the Stability Ball for core improvement.

Approach Number 2 – Use Hill Sprints

Hill sprints will get you in shape fast, improve your conditioning and will make regular running a breeze (even enjoyable).  Do this type of training 1-2 days per week.

Approach Number 3 – Interval Training

Because it works, that’s why.  You’ll improve your aerobic capacity, and you’ll burn extra flub, making you even faster.  A mixture of interval training and hill sprints will get you ready for the big dance.

Approach Number 4 – Use Explosive Movements

Using moves like Lunge Jumps and Box Jumps will improve your work output from your legs.  Bonus tip – if you find that your legs are fatigued during your runs, cut back to one set when using leg exercises.

Save your long run days for one day a week.  That is actually enough.  I sure do wish I knew that back then.  Then my strength training wouldn’t have suffered.  Craig talks about that and more in his latest unique workout program.

Here is the best and unique plan for Tough Mudder training

=> Adventure Race Training

The bonus part about this program from Craig Ballantyne is that you can even use this program even if you’re not planning on doing an Adventure race.  But if you are, there is a breakdown of each and every obstacle from the Tough Mudder race and how to train for it.

You will also dig the Bodyweight Challenge on Workout C.

Go train for an adventure and burn fat at the same time.

=> 8 Weeks of Workouts for $5

Have fun, and go be a kid,

Mikey, CTT

Dead. Sexy.

My wife could only eat a little before she said, “enough”.  I smiled, reached over and was in peanut butter heaven.  Peanut Butter Heaven (notice how I capitalized the first letter of each word – it’s that amazing) is a place where Reeses peanut butter cups help burn fat and the more you eat, the muscle you keep and chiseled you get.

That’s why is a fragment of my imagination.

The truth is I looked at the label AFTER I was done and was not surprised by the calorie count.  I don’t have it in front of me, but I’m pretty sure the entire egg is about 900 calories.  So, basically, I ate 630 calories… as a dessert.

Oops.

So, my wife and son were knocked out Saturday afternoon.  My son was doing his usual afternoon nap, and Sabrina was still recuperating from being a great Mom that day.  I thought, “I can either join in on the napping fun or I can attempt to at least burn some of the damage from last night”.  So, I went with the gym visit and I’m glad I did.

It was so beautiful, I walked to the gym and while some awesome 90′s hip hop was booming in the Pod, I did this workout.  You can do this, too.  You can adjust it to your level by reducing the starting point (more on that in a bit).

It’s what I call a “bonus Metabolic Workout” AKA “Good Times”.  Seriously, this workout takes only about 10-15 minutes, but will have you pouring with sweat.  It was either that or do a bodyweight workout.

Do the following superset, resting only when needed.  In the first superset, you will perform 15 reps.  In the next superset, you will perform 14 reps.  Continue in this fashion until you complete 1 rep of each exercise.

1A) KB or DB Swings (15, 14, etc., etc., down to 1)

1B) Pushups (15, 14, etc., etc. down to 1)

Boom.

I used a 30 lb DB since it was my first time doing this workout (I’ve done it before starting at 8 as a workout finisher).

On my walk back home, I started to smell honeysuckle.  I don’t know about you, but every time I smell that particular smell, I keep thinking back of when I was a kid at my elementary school.  We would play outside and

This is me as a youngster wearing AMAZING shorts

along the fence grew honeysuckle, which I would smell every day during Recess.

I got to thinking, when was the last time I “worked out” like a kid?  Maybe that’s what you need.  You just need a stroll down memory lane to get back on board with what you wanted to accomplish in January.  Sure, you may not be there,

but what would happen if you started back up and hit it hard for 12 weeks? Imagine this – would you be 12-24 lbs lighter?  Yes it is possible, knock it off with the self doubt.

Remember running as fast as you can for no reason?  Remember climbing the monkey bars like… well… a monkey?

Remember playing tag and having to run and shift directions quickly?

It’s time.  Go be a kid at your local playground (and who cares what you look like).

The Kid Workout

Do the following circuit 3 times, resting for 30 seconds between circuits, then move onto circuit 2:

1A) Broad Jump (stand with your feet shoulder width apart – jump as far/high as you can, then turn around and repeat) (6)

1B) Monkey Bars (30 secs)

1C) Suicide Drill (30 secs)

Circuit 2

2A) Jump Rope (9/10 intensity) (30 secs)

2B) Bear Crawl (30 secs)

2C) Ski Jumps (Jump from side-to-side on one foot – as if you’re speed skating) (30 secs) – see below

Finisher

Jumping Jacks (200)

Ski Jumps

Ski Jumps

You have 7 weeks until Memorial Day – go be a kid.

Mikey, CTT

This is called a "boring elliptical" google image search

To me, there is a big difference.  Hopping on the elliptical bores me to tears.  How people do it for 30, 40, even 60  minutes or longer is beyond me.

What does “beyond me” mean?  Who knows.  I’ve been using that expression for a couple of years and I still, to this day, have no clue what it means.

Anyway, my “cardio” is metabolic conditioning.  I use it as either a metabolic workout finisher or I will include a big conditioning circuit with bodyweight exercises and/or high rep DB moves.

These last shorter and they are way more effective for fat loss.  So, let’s like… do one.

First, let’s do this.  You need to have a plan, and one that makes sense.  A good MRT program would look like this:

Warm-up using bodyweight exercises

Strength training with a variety of rep ranges (usually in the 6-12 range)

Metabolic conditioning (optional)

Intervals or a Finisher

But if you’re on a 4-day program (which I dig, too).  You can set up your program like this:

Monday – Metabolic Resistance Training

Tuesday – Metabolic Conditioning

Wednesday – Off Day (but stay active with a light jog or walk… or anything you enjoy)

Thursday – Metabolic Resistance Training

Friday – Metabolic Conditioning

Saturday – Repeat Wednesday

Sunday – Rest

This is the hottest MRT program right now that follows this format

=> MRT Program

Moving on…

The idea for the conditioning is to perform intervals, which burns fat (duh) and to incorporate resistance so that you not only get the benefits of intervals, but you also get the benefits of resistance training, using more muscle.  The thing is – with the conditioning, you should keep your reps relatively high and/or use bodyweight exercises.  Another big key?  Use short rest periods (I like to use 30 seconds, depending on how big the circuit is).

And here we are… alright, let’s do a metabolic conditioning circuit using bodyweight exercises and high rep dumbbell moves:

Lunge Jumps (8/side)

DB Rows (20/side) – good times for the abs

Close-Grip Pushups (3/4th rep style)

DB Swings (30)

Rest 30 seconds and repeat up to 3 more times for a total of 4 circuits.

Sizzle, sizzle.  <=== That’s your fat burning without hopping on the elliptical.

As you can see, the rest periods should be short during the conditioning.  But when you have a complete metabolic conditioning workout with 8-12 exercises, you can use longer rest periods (1 minute for example).

Maybe that’s what I’ll show you next time… a nice big yummy metabolic conditioning workout.  That will be good times.

Ta-ta elliptical,

Mikey, CTT

I haven’t ran intervals in a while.  I better start.  I recently sent in my application for the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, GA on July 4th.

This is my second Christmas day to me.  Last year I didn’t even train for it, but you’re pretty much packed in like sardines for the first mile anyway.  So if you enter this race for your best race time, I would suggest finding another race.

If I were to prepare for it to beat a specific time, I would do intervals a few times along with one long run.  But my way of interval training used to be all wrong when I first became a trainer years ago.

I used to think running at a speed of 5.0 for a minute followed by a minute at 8.0 was interval training.

Not bad.

But here is how to really do it.  (Click on the blue to the left idiot).  And don’t forget part 2.

Now that you’re caught up on how to do interval training, let’s think outside the box and do some interval chaos.  Oh how I love to combine a finisher and interval training into a metabolic smoothie.

Alright, you will need 2 things:

Any piece of cardio equipment (I’ll use a treadmill for example)

Your body.

Now go get your body.

Alright, try this interval program:

1A) Run at a pace that you can only sustain for 2 minutes (about a 7.5/10 on a scale of 1-10)

1B) Perform a plank for 1 minute, rest 30 secs

1C) Run at a pace that you can only sustain for 2 minutes

1D) Perform 50 Jumping Jacks, rest 30 secs

Do this circuit twice.

Now that’s some interval good times.  You could do this on your “off” day for bonus calorie burning, too.  (Remember, beach season is quickly approaching)

Let’s put a cute little panic face somewhere around here

OK, let’s do another unconventional interval training program:

1A) Go 20 secs hard (9/10), followed by 40 seconds of recovery (3/10).  Do this 3 times.

1B) Perform 30 Total Bodyweight Walking Lunges (15/leg), rest 30 seconds

1C) Repeat 1A

1D) Perform 30 Pushups, rest 30 seconds

1E) Perform 1A one last time

That’s nice.  That’s some really good times.

Finish this week strong,

Mikey, CTT

This is from the Bootcamp Training Manual that Craig Ballantyne and myself have been working on since 1987.  Ha.  Seriously – it started as 31 workouts, but we got out of control.  We put together over 60 workouts you can do with minimum equipment.

10 Beginner/Intermediate Workouts

31 Advanced Workouts

10 Challenge Workouts (good times – especially the Super 6 workout)

The cover even shows 31 – but we got out of control and created 61 done-for-you workouts.

Let’s get to work…

 Full Body Countdown
Warm-up
Do the following circuit twice, resting for 1 minute between circuits. Each exercise is to
be performed for 20 seconds.
Jumping Jacks
Diagonal Lunges
Cross Crawl
Close-Grip Pushups
Leg Swings (20 secs ea leg)

 
MRT Circuit
Do the following circuit 3 times, resting for 1 minute between circuits. Each exercise is
to be performed for 30 seconds.
Bulgarian Split Squat (1-1/2 rep style) (30 secs ea leg)
T-Pushups
DB Row (30 secs per side) or Strap Row or Band Row

 
MCT Circuit
Do the following circuit 3 times, resting for 1 minute between circuits. Each exercise is
to be performed for 30 seconds.
Lunge Jumps
Plank to Tricep Extensions
DB or KB Swings

 
Finisher
Do the following circuit as shown
Bodyweight Squats (40 secs)
Pushups (40 secs)
Rest 20 secs
Bodyweight Squats (30 secs)
Pushups (30 secs)
Rest 10 secs
Bodyweight Squats (20 secs)
Pushups (20 secs)
Bodyweight Squats (10 secs)
Pushups (10 secs)

 
Cool-down, Stretching & Water Break – 10 minutes

Over 60 workouts for less than a session with me?  Yeah buddy.

Click here ===> 61 Done-For-You Workouts

P.S.  By the way, the rest periods for the Super 6 Finisher is 6 seconds.  Oh c’mon… that’s brilliant.  I remember Craig circling that and writing, “seriously?”.  Yeah, seriously.  More fun finishers like that in the manual.

In the meantime, let’s talk abs.  I actually talked a little about this with my presentation on Sunday regarding my Ab Finishers product.  I even showed the not-so-infamous Spiderman Pushup Plank.

Which brings me to this – these are 3 ab exercises you can use with your program to get your core stronger without a silly crunch or sit-up.

Ab Exercise # 1 – Stability Ball Stir-the-Pot

Position yourself as if you’re about to perform a Stability Ball Plank. Then literally “stir” the ball in one direction, while keeping your torso straight and abs embraced.  Complete a “circle” using your abs.  Do anywhere between 4-10 reps in each direction, depending on your fitness level.

Ab Exercise # 2 – Spiderman Pushup Plank (Good times)

Spiderman Pushup Plank

Perform a Spiderman Pushup by lowering yourself and bending one leg simultaneously.  At the bottom of the pushup, hold that position from 5-30 seconds depending on your fitness level and repeat for the other side.  Be sure to keep your abs braced.

Ab Exercise # 3 – Spiderman Climb

What’s my obsession with Spiderman?  Who knows.  But what’s more important – who cares?  I just threw awesome sauce at you.

Anyway, position yourself in the pushup position, keeping your abs braced.  Now, bring your left foot outside to your left hand, while keeping your torso straight and your abs embraced.  Return to the starting position and repeat for the other side.  Do anywhere between 6-15 reps per side, depending on your fitness level.  Just make sure you don’t hunch your shoulders and be sure to not let your hips sag.

Spiderman Climb

That’s how you work your core without silly crunches or sit-ups and wreaking havoc on your back.  Alright, it’s time to go read my 87 unread emails now.

To your success or some other goody two-shoes feel good saying here,

Mikey, CFNC, CTT