Challenge Workouts

Do you have 10 minutes? Then you can get a full body kick a$$ workout in.

This is a ‘RIST’ style workout, that means ‘reps in specific time’. The goal is to get 10 reps in every minute for 10 minutes.

The exercise is everyone’s favourite: the BURPEE!

Now it’s WAY more fun to be doing burpees nose to nose with your dog, but if you don’t have one, you’ll just have to rough it. Sev pretty much follows me everywhere, so he got in on the action in this workout. (Of course, he stole the show in the video.)

Feel free to follow along with me as we get to 100 burpees together.

*If 10 burpees per minute are too much for you,  dial it back to 5 or 7 burpees (or whatever challenges YOU). The point is, you can get an amazing full body workout in NO time whatsoever with this one.

To spice things up, I’ve added a different burpee variation Read the rest of this entry »

Guest Post from Mike Whitfield, CTT

I just realized that the annual “Gobble Jog” I run every year on Thanksgiving is sneaking up on me. I haven’t trained for it at all, and yet, I’m not sweating it.

I did the same thing back in July with a 10K. I didn’t train at all… and I did fine.

The secret? There is no secret. I won’t sugarcoat it. I work my butt off in the gym and I end my workout with a finisher that will challenge my conditioning and fitness, while at the same time, burn a ton of calories.

Hey, I’ll tell you it’s HARD work. Believe me, a TRUE finisher shouldn’t be any longer than 10 minutes. If you’re going longer than that and keeping a “finisher intensity”, you’re an alien.

Now why do I use finishers instead of traditional cardio or interval training after my workout?

Well, if they can help me lose 105 pounds, they can help me keep it off, right?

And with a finisher, you’ll work more muscle, burning more calories. Whereas on the treadmill, you’re working your legs and that’s it.

But as you and I get older, we need to be concerned about our core strength. I just turned 39 less than 2 weeks ago (and yes, I had pancakes). And with two young kids, I want to be around to do fun stuff with them, including sports. That means a rock-hard, bullet-proof core.

And hey, staying injury-free is important to you, too… right?

So that’s where an Ab Finisher comes in.

What is an Ab Finisher?

It’s the best of both worlds. You get the fat-burning and intensity from a finisher, but the ab strength and definition of the best ab exercises.

Let’s face it, even the best ab exercises won’t make you break too much of a sweat. That’s why they are “infused” inside of an intense finisher so you’ll work your abs with elevated heart rate.

Now you and I both know how much Shawna loves her jump rope. So that’s why I created an Ab Finisher using one for you crazy kids.

You ready to rock it? Let’s do this. Here’s a video walk-thru and I also have it written out below so you can print it and take it with you.

Jumpin’ and Climbin’ Ab Finisher Ladder

Do the following circuit resting only when needed. In the first circuit, you’ll perform 6 reps of 1B and 1D. In the next circuit, you’ll perform 5 reps of 1B and 1D. Continue in this fashion until you complete 1 rep of 1A and 1C.

For the jump rope, you’ll do 20 seconds of intense jump roping with EVERY circuit (it’s just 20 secs – c’mon now).

1A) Jump Rope (20 secs)

1B) Spiderman Climb (6/side… down to 1/side)

1C) Jump Rope (20 secs)

1D) X-Body Mountain Climber (6/side… down to 1/side)

Now that’s how you end your workout with a fat-burning, ab-strengthening bang,

Mike Whitfield, CTT

Contributor to the Men’s Health Big Book of Getting Abs

=> Get 51 NEW Ab Finishers Here 

Mike Whitfield, CTT, has lost 105 pounds propelling his passion into the fitness industry. His unique approach of using workout finishers has helped thousands of people lose fat with his online and offline programs. He is known across the fitness industry for his effective “workout finishers” and humor. His workouts have been seen in Men’s Health, Turbulence Training, AJC and more.

We all know that crunches are the LEAST effective way to find your six pack right? You know that you CAN NOT spot reduce and you could do crunches all day long and still not find your abs. So don’t bother.

There are WAY more effective ways to tighten, tone and strengthen your core.

Here’s my good friend, Mike ‘pancakes’ Whitfield with a jump rope ab finisher for you.

Now Mikey is a big finisher freak. He suggests doing these finishers after any workout, including a challenge workout. OR, you could do them on your day off.

I love that Mike added the jump rope in this finisher since I’m a jump rope freak 😉

Here’s what you’ll do:

20 sec jump rope
6 per side spider climb
6 per side

Then repeat the 20 second jump rope each set, but count down on the spider crawls.

Good times.

Thanks to Mikey, I know you’ll enjoy that one.

For more cool jump rope ideas, grab Challenge Jump Rope and stay tuned for Ab Finishers coming up soon.

Happy training!

Guest Post from Dennis Heenan

Author: Super Hero Sprints

“But I can’t sprint…”

Ahh if I had a nickel for every time I heard that one…

When people hear or see the word sprints, they often do one of two things:

1. Sprint away as fast as possible in order to get away from the workout
2. Make an excuse about why they can’t sprint

Here’s the thing… Although going out to a track and running as fast as you can is most certainly a sprint, that’s not the only definition of the word.

See, I have worked with people from all walks of life and understand that sprinting outdoors on a track simply does not work for some.

Or if you are like Shawna living in the tundra 9 months out of the year, outdoor sprinting becomes very difficult…

So what do you do? You follow my sprint definition below:

“Certain exercises done at your highest intensity for a short period of time, followed by a short rest and repeat.”

No matter what your fitness level, you should be doing some form of sprinting. Aside from sprints on a track, field or hill, here are other great options that you can start doing anytime, anywhere:

 Beginners: Jumping Jacks, Mountain Climbers, Total Body Extensions, Jump Rope

Intermediate: Cross Body Mountain Climber, Modified Burpees, Squat Jumps, Jump Rope

Advanced: Burpees, Sprints in Place, Jump Rope (preferably double unders), Box Jumps, Prisoner Squat Jumps, Jump Lunges

All of the exercises above are what I consider to be sprints because they force your body to work near your anaerobic threshold the entire time.

That’s the key… You must be sure you are staying at your highest intensity for as long as you comfortably can, take a short rest, and repeat.

Studies have shown that the closer you work near your anaerobic threshold, the more fat utilization occurs. This means, the harder you work the more fat you burn.

PLUS, when working out like this, your workouts only need to be 10-25 minutes long depending on your fitness level.

As you all know, Shawna has a complete Burpee Challenge program (which is awesome by the way) and when I first found this out, I just about leaped out of my chair.

The reason for this is I am one of the few people on earth that can actually say “I love burpees” and fully mean it!

Call me weird or crazy, but I LOVE BURPEES.

In fact, in my own Superhero Sprint program, burpees are one of the sprint exercise options simply because they are so dang powerful.

Now Shawna and I are both known for our crazy intense workout programs and recently while we were in Las Vegas, we did a video together on just how powerful sprints and burpees are.

Check out what we had to say about the two in the video below:

There are two things I want to point out in this video:

1. Burpees are one of the best sprinting exercises that you can do because they force your body to work near that anaerobic threshold.

If you don’t believe me, try doing 1-minute of burpees and come back and tell me you weren’t winded…

2. I am A LOT taller than Shawna… 🙂 (who else noticed that? HA!)

In all seriousness, I want to make sure that you know when you hear the word SPRINTS… I means one thing:

Serious results.

Since I think Shawna and her readers are awesome, I decided to share a “fun” little workout I did the other day in my hotel room. I call this one, “The people below me must think I am crazy”. Take a look:

Complete all exercises in order, resting only where it says to rest. Take as long as rest as you need just making sure you are pushing hard throughout:

•  30 seconds of sprints in place
• rest as long as needed
• burpees: 10 reps
• squat jumps: 10 reps
• pushups: 10 reps
• planks: 60 seconds
• Rest as long as needed and repeat 3-5 times

Can you see why I named the workout the way I did?…

This workout, although short, is incredibly intense and forces you to work at the anaerobic threshold the entire time, which in turn forces your body to burn tons of fat. And that is what we all want…

Short workouts, faster results.

Start sprinting my friends… because you CAN!

**********************************************************************************

Thank Dennis, especially for pointing out our height difference, I hadn’t noticed it before 😉 (Wait till you see the video of Dennis and I doing jump rope together…)

I have two great options for ‘sprinting’: You can try out Challenge Burpee if it’s not already in your workout arsenal…

OR

If you want to try more ‘sprinting’ workouts like the one above from Dennis, you can’t go wrong with the program that he created called Super Hero Sprints. It’s well worth the $14 investment for 6 weeks of programming that you can do anywhere no matter what your fitness level.