The Perfect Workout
Recently Men’s Health magazine interviewed me on the perfect workout set-up, and then I created a more advanced workout for Men’s Health UK. Then you’ll get a workout I designed for Men’s Health that they decided NOT to use in the magazine due to space constraints. So it’s a TT reader exclusive.
You get my answers, the workouts, and a really important mindset tip at the end of today’s email.
But before you finish this newsletter, make sure you go over to the TT Summit registration page and reserve your spot. We have over 65 of the 100 seats filled, and the price DOUBLES on Monday.
Reserve your spot here
Ok, now to the Men’s Health and reader QnA:
Q: “Craig, could you give your top tips for making a workout ore efficient?” – Men’s Health magazine
Answer: First, skip the 10 minute walk on the treadmill. That doesn’t prepare you specifically for a real workout. Use a circuit of low-intensity bodyweight exercises instead.
Follow that with at least one set (and up to three sets) for each major movement pattern, including a squat motion, a pushing motion, and a pulling motion. Rest only 1 minute between sets.
Finally, finish with 15-20 minutes of interval training, alternating one minute of slightly harder than normal
cardiovascular exercise with one minute of easy cardiovascular exercise. There’s no best type of interval training for fat loss, but that method is proven to work.
That’s the template for a fast, effective workout. Heck, you could call it the perfect efficient fat loss workout.
Q: “Craig, we need a 4-exercise metabolic workout with dumbbells and bodyweight.” – Men’s Health UK edition
Answer: Cool, let’s do:
1A) DB Reverse Lunge – 8 reps per side
1B) Decline Pushup – 2 reps short of failure
1C) DB Row – 15 reps per side
1D) DB Goblet Squat (feet hip width apart) – 30 seconds
– Rest 15 seconds between exercises
– Rest 90 seconds at the end of the circuit
– Repeat 4 times
Q: “Craig, we need a workout that readers can do in their backyard with minimal equipment.” – Men’s Health
Answer: This is a great metabolic circuit. Rest 15 seconds between exercises and 1 minute at the end of the circuit. Do up to five rounds for a full body session. Do as many repetitions as possible in the given time.
Make sure to do a bodyweight warm-up of squats, lunges, and pushups before this circuit (2 sets of 8-12 reps each).
1) Lunge Jumps – 20 seconds
2) Pullup or Bodyweight Row – 30 seconds
3) Spiderman Pushup – 30 seconds
4) KB Swing – 30 seconds
5) Walking Prisoner Lunge – 30 seconds
6) Cross-Body Mountain Climber – 30 seconds
7) KB Goblet Squat – 30 seconds
Q: So, this may sound silly but after my chest workouts it never really feels like I’ve worked my chest out at all. For example, when following the TT workouts I’ll have sore lats or whatever the day after the workout but when I do workouts focused on chest for example I never get soreness. Am I’m doing something wrong? – TT Member on the TT forums
Answer: Can’t say for sure if you are doing anything wrong, I’d have to be there to be certain…
However, you could switch the exercises to moves that you haven’t used in a while.
You could also increase the time spent in the lowering phase of the exercise from 2 seconds to 4 seconds per rep.
Start with those two changes and let us know how it goes for the next two weeks to see if you get your muscles to respond.
Finally…
This week’s KickButt Mindset Tip:
The main reason we are “not good at something” is because we tell ourselves we are not good at that thing.
We say, “Oh, I’m not strong enough to stick to that nutrition plan OR I’m not dedicated enough to train at 6am even though that’s the only time I can workout OR I’m not brave enough to try a Tough Mudder race OR I’m not this…OR I’m not that…”
But it’s that mindset that is the BIG BLOCK holding us back.
It may be the only thing holding you back from being as great as you can be.
Change really is up to YOU.
Let me know how else TT can help,
Craig Ballantyne, CTT
Certified Turbulence Trainer
PS – See you at the 2nd TT Summit in June.
We’ll talk more about your mindset and destroy the obstacles
that are holding you back from success.