Body Weight Cardio Circuit

Ok, so this is a body weight cardio circuit that is pretty liking to leave you gasping for air if you do it right and will take you anywhere from 15-30 minutes depending on your level. The goal is to go through the circuit of exercises below 5x. Start at 20% of your max speed for the first round and each round after that you increase your speed by 20% (round 2 = 40%, round 3 = 60%, and so on).

High Knees – 10x – Hike your knees up through your core by pulling up and in through your abs.
Butt Kickers – 10x – Pull through you hamstrings and try to keep your knees under you as opposed to bringing the knee forward to bent it.
Jumping Jacks – 10x – I think this one is self explanatory, but just for an added workload try keeping your core tight as if you are ripping your arms away from your body and trying to stop it with your abs.
Lunges – 5x each side – We all know what these are and if not click here.
Squat Thrust – 10x – Keep your core tight when you kick your legs back to avoid low back injury.
Star Jumps – 10x – Squat down to the floor with knees and feet together and your arms crossed in front, then explode up into a jump with your arms up and out and your legs apart like a star. You can modify this to just come up onto your toes instead of jumping, but still bursting up in an explosive fashion. Be sure to keep your core tight as if you are ripping your arms and legs away from your abs.
Karaoke Step (cross over step) – 5 steps to each side – I learned it as grape vine step, but neither really makes sense to me.
Side Gallop with Arm Swipe – 5 steps to each side – The arm swipe is done by keeping your arms parallel with the ground out in front and then squeezing your shoulders together and moving your arms out to the side as you perform the side gallop.
Mountain Climbers – 10x – Keep your core tight and draw your legs up through your abs. Try to avoid as much vertical movement as possible and focus on pulling the legs straight forward under you.
Burpees – 10x - One of the best body weight exercises on the planet! Check out this video for 300 burpees. Notice the guy on the left and how his hips drop down when he lands in the push up position. Avoid this through keeping the core tight as you kick the legs back. The missing part in this video that really kills is the vertical jump when you come into standing after the push up. If you have the space you can also perform a horizontal jump like this!

You can also change the order of the exercises and do the set up backwards to mix them up for a different experience. Enjoy!

Cheers to your health,

Lynk

PS: For a FREE Body Weight Gauntlet by Craig Ballantyne click here!

Quick 10 minute leg workout

I picked this up from Vince Del Monte and you can view the video of it here.

1. Jumping Split Squats (jumping lunges)
2. Single Leg Bent Leg Deadlifts
3. Jump Squats
4. Side Step Squats
5. Front Squats
6. Push/Press – Squat with a military press and rotation

Perform 12 repetitions of each (6 per leg) and repeat through 5-6 rounds. Focus on keeping the core tight on the way down on each motion and squeezing your gluteals on the way up to really get that muscle burn going.

You can add weights if you like, but by the 6th round you probably won’t want them. Enjoy!

Cheers to your health,

Lynk

FREE 7-Day Body Weight Gauntlet

Seriously, this is totally free. There is no e-mail sign up or anything. Craig Ballantyne is a well known author and creator of a ton of fitness programs from fat loss to kettlebells to body building. He just put out this e-book that is all body weight exercises. The only equipment you need is a pull up bar, but that is only for a few of them. Its a 7-day long program that is always a great change up to your normal workout routine.

Just go to this link and right click over the e-book image a little way down the page. If the link does not work simple copy and paste the text into your web browser. You won’t regret it!!

Cheers to your health,

Lynk

Quick Body Weight Fat Burner

Hey Everyone,

This is just a quick body weight fat burning workout that I decided to come up with, but it does require the use of a pull up bar. If you don’t have a pull up bar you can substitute the exercise with a middle trapezius exercise in the down position of a squat. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Warm up: (no rest until completion of entire warmup)

Progressively increasing in intensity, perform high knees, butt kickers, and jumping jacks through 10 repetitions each. Start at 10% of you max speed and each round increase by 10% until the last round is done as 100% effort and speed. Follow this with a lunge progression starting with a forward lunge on the right, then immediately into a reverse lunge on the same side and then into a rotational lunge (stepping into a front lunge to the right and pivoting the back foot, then return to facing forward by coming up explosively from the lunge to pivot back to the starting position). Repeat all three lunges 10x on each side.

Rest 2 minutes

Super Set

Push Up Super Set – until fatigue (loss of form) the move to push up super set on your knees until fatigue (loss of form) (start with tricep push up, then move hands apart to shoulder width push up, then wide set push up and return to tricep push up and repeat). If you need to perform this

Pull Ups – until fatigue (loss of form) (ok so you need a pull up bar, but its still body weight) (If you are unable to do a pull up try attaching a strong bungie cord to the pull up bar to create a sling and stand in it for assistance. Or you can use a lower set bar to perform inverted rows (change angle of body to be more upright to make easier))

Middle Trapezius (substitute for no pull up bar) – 15x  Assume the down position of a squat with your chest toward the floor and abs drawn in (like zipping up a tight pair of jeans) (be careful not to round the lower back). With your head in neutral (not looking up) and your arm straight down pointing at the floor, slowly draw your shoulder blades together in the center as your arms raise out to the side in a “T” fashion. Be sure not to let your shoulder blades move up, keep them down and back until your arms are even with your body. Then slowly lower your arms by allowing the shoulder blades to separate.

Rest 60 seconds

Giant Set

Mountain Climbers – 20x

Squat Thrust with leg spread – 10x  In the push up position in the middle of the squat thrust, jump your feet apart and then back together.
Plank – 60 seconds (perform on knees or incline if unable to perform standard plank)

Side step squat – 60 seconds (alternating between right and left) Step out to one side and immediately into a squat position and then explode through the gluteals back to standing and then repeat in opposite direction.

Rest 90 seconds

Super Set

Rotational Plank – 10x to each side Assume normal plank position on forearms, then rotate shoulders and pelvis together up onto one arm with the other arm held straight up, once stable in this position rotate back down to plank position and repeat to opposite side. This can be performed on knees for decreased difficulty or on unstable surface like pillows.

Bridges – 15x (hold 5 seconds at the top of the bridge)

Rest 60 seconds

Giant Set

Burpees – 15x  Perform a squat thrust with leg spread followed by a push up after the leg spread and vertical jump from the squatted position with arms overhead. When you come down from the jump be sure to cushion your landing by moving directly into the next repetition.

Push up position middle trapezius – 10x each side Assume a push up position, lift one hand and bring the arm up and out to the side by trying to squeeze the shoulder blades together, avoid letting the shoulder hike up to the ear, and then slowly lower the arm by letting the shoulder blades move apart until back to the push up position. Focus effort on maintaining core in neutral without rotating, made easier by spreading your feet apart or by performing on incline.

Front Lunges – 10x to each side with hands behind head and maintaining upright posture

Mountain Climbers 20x

Jumping Jacks – 25x

Rest 2-3 minutes, then repeat above circuit, except for warm up, until you reach 40 minutes.

Cheers to your health,

Lynk