This is a very short challenge that should only take a few minutes to complete so would be ideal to use as a finisher at the end of a session. The workout hits most of your major muscles from your upper body (chest, shoulders and triceps) to your legs (quadriceps hamstrings and calves) as well as giving you a great aerobic workout. The aim is simple, complete 20 reps of 5 bodyweight exercises in the quickest time. The exercises are listed below.

Burpee

Jump squat

Press up

Squat

Double leg squat thrust

At the end of the workout stop your clock and record your time before cooling down and stretching out. See if you can complete all 100 reps in less than 2 minutes. If you really want to push yourself see if you can do the 100 reps in 100 seconds! Post your scores below and let’s see how we get on!

Here is my first attempt at completing the challenge in 100 seconds. 110 seconds later and I had finished! I am determined to smash the 100 second barrier next time!

1. : 

Start off with the walking swings, to do this perform a normal 2 handed kettlebell swing and as the bell reaches the top of the movement, step forward. Repeat until you reach the end of the 8-10 metres, put the bell down and then perform alternating leg walking lunges back the way you came. Then finally drop down and bear crawl back to the kettlebell, to do this keep your hips low and move your opposite arm and leg. Start again with the swings and keep this routine going for the full 10 minutes. The aim is to complete as many repetitions as you can over the 10 minute round, performing swings, lunges and bear crawls once counts as 3 reps.

Tips:

: Use a kettlebell that you normally perform 3 sets of 8-10 swings with. If your starting out then I would recommend women using 6kg and men 12kg.

: Focus on perfect technique throughout the 10 minutes. If you start to struggle then take a rest before continuing or end the challenge.

: Make sure to fully warm up and cool down before and after the challenge.

Aims:

: Start out aiming for 30-40 reps and then see if you can progress to the magic 50 plus. Over 50 and it is time for a heavier kettlebell.

1. : 

Again for these sessions reps were kept fairly high (around 15) and aerobic exercises were performed for 30 seconds each. Rest between circuits was still 2 minutes. As always we spent 5-10 minutes warming up before each workout.

Workout 1 (chest, shoulders, triceps).

Barbell bench press: 15 reps

TRX Front raise: Hold the TRX by both handles and start with your arms fully extended and leaning back (the further you lean back the harder the exercise). Keeping your arms straight, lift your hands above your shoulders and raise your body as you do so. Maintain a straight back throughout. 15 reps

TRX Squat thrust: Start in a press up position with your feet in the TRX stirrups. Alternating legs bring your knees into your body as fast as you can whilst maintaining a flat back. 30 seconds

TRX Chest press: 15 reps

Standing dumbbell Arnold press: From a standing position hold a pair of dumbbells at shoulder height with your palms facing towards you. Press the weights above your head while rotating your hands so your palms face forward at the end of the movement. 15 reps

TRX Jump squats: 30 seconds

Medicine ball walk over: Start with both hands on a med ball and take one hand off and place it on the floor. From here perform a press up and then return both hands back to the ball and repeat on the opposite side. 10 reps

Around the head rotation: Hold a weight plate in both hands at chest height. From here lift the weight over your shoulder and around your head. Return to the start position and then repeat going the opposite way. 15 reps

Lateral jumps over Powerbags: Place 3 bags on the floor spaced evenly apart. Jump sideways over each of the bags aiming to land soft each time. 30 seconds

Close hand press ups: 15 reps

Workout 2 (Back, legs, biceps, abdominals)

Renegade rows: 10 reps per arm

Wide leg squat: Hold a powerbag across your chest and perform a squat with your feet wider than your hips and toes pointing slightly out. 15 reps

Step jumps: Perform a 2 footed jump onto the step aiming to land soft by bending your knees on impact. Step down and repeat. 30 seconds

TRX Rows: 15 reps

Lunge with bicep curl: Hold a pair of dumbbells and perform a front lunge. As you bend your knees and lower your hips curl the weights up towards your shoulders. Step back and repeat leading with the opposite leg. 12 reps (6 per leg)

TRX Jump lunge: 30 seconds

2 Handed kettlebell swings: 15 reps

Stand to kneel: Hold a weight plate at chest height and from a standing position kneel down placing one knee at a time onto the floor. Stand back up and repeat. 15 reps

Hammer strikes onto tyre: For this exercise we used a 14lb hammer and swung it over head and striking down onto a large tractor tyre. For this exercise you could replace it with overhead medicine ball slams. 30 seconds

TRX Bicep curls: 15 reps

After 3 circuits were completed we did 3 abdominal exercises. Again these were performed in circuit fashion with a 90 second rest in between each circuit.

Roll outs: 12 reps

Medicine ball v-sits: Perform a v-sit whilst holding a med ball on your chest. 12 reps

Plank with up and down movement: Start in the plank position on your elbows. Hold for a second and then push yourself up onto your hands so your arms are fully extended. Return to the start position and then repeat. 10 reps

Next week’s session we will be increasing the aerobic exercises up to 40 seconds and reducing the rest periods down to 1.45 between circuits

In 6 weeks Rob will be going away for his summer holiday and so the focus has turned to getting rid of the last bit of body fat from around the stomach and getting into the best shape possible before hitting the beach. For this goal I have put together my “Inferno” fat burning programme, a circuit workout that mixes compound resistance exercises with high intensity aerobic work and core focused exercises. The programme is split into 3 workouts, workout 1 will be a whole body session while workout 2 and 3 will split the body into half due to the fact Rob trains on 2 consecutive days. The workouts will be progressive over the 6 weeks so for example reps, weights and time spent on aerobic exercises will be increased during the programme while rest between circuits will be reduced.

Below I have posted our first whole body session which we did the other night and have outlined how it will progress over the course of the programme. Over the next few weeks I will be posting some of the other workouts used as well as an update on Rob’s progress.

Workout 1: Whole body.

We start off with a 5-10 minute warm up using a mixture of bodyweight and light medicine ball exercises. The exercises used for this session all involved a medicine ball and had Rob doing 12 reps of each.

Swings

Rotations

Squat to press

Wide leg squat with chest press

Front lunge with rotation

Side lunge

Main workout:

The main workout consisted of 9 exercises all done back to back with no rest in between. At the end of the circuit Rob rested for 2 minutes before repeating. We completed 3 full circuits.

TRX press up with leg swings: Place your feet in the foot stirrups and get into a press up position. Perform one press up and then swing your legs from side to side keeping them straight before repeating. If you have not got a TRX available then do a different variation such as press up with feet on Swiss ball, Spiderman press up etc.  15 Reps

Powerbag front squat: Hold a bag on your chest and perform a normal squat. 25kg bag 15 Reps

Burpee: A normal burpee with a vertical jump as you stand up. 30 seconds

Recline row: 15 Reps

Powerbag front lunge: Hold the bag across your chest. 12 Reps (6 per leg)

Lateral jumps: For this we used a kick shield stood on its end and performed side jumps over it aiming to land soft by bending the knees on impact. If there is no bag available then use a low step, Powerbag, hurdles etc. Reduce the height to cater for fitness levels. 30 seconds

Powerbag clean and press: 25kg bag 15 Reps

Good mornings: Hold a powerbag across your chest or use a barbell resting on your upper back. 25kg 15 Reps

Alternating leg squat thrust: 30 seconds

Rest for 2 minutes and then repeat.

Over the next few weeks we will be increasing the intensity. The cardio exercises will go up by 10 seconds per week up to a maximum of 60 seconds. The rest periods will be reduced down to 45 seconds by the end of the 6 weeks.

Recline rows: For this exercise you will need a barbell that is supported on a squat or power rack or use a smith machine. Position the bar high enough so you can hang underneath it with your arms fully extended. Hold the bar with either palms facing you and hands shoulder width apart or palms facing away and hands wider than your shoulders (for this challenge you can alternate between grips if you wish from set to set).  From the arms fully extended position, pull your chest up to the bar keeping your back straight throughout.  Return to your start position and repeat.

Press up: Perform a basic press up with your hands positioned slightly wider than your shoulders.

Burpee: From a standing position squat down and place your hands on the floor. From here jump your legs out behind you. From there jump your legs back in and return to the standing position. If you want to increase the intensity of this challenge then add a vertical jump as you stand up.

Aims: Start out aiming to complete at least 150 reps within the 10 minutes and then see if you can work up to over 200 reps.

: If you can get well over 200 reps and want a more advanced workout then look at replacing the recline rows with pull ups and adding the jump to the burpees.

As always spend 5-10 minutes warming up before the workout and 5 minutes cooling down and stretching at the end of the session.

Overhead medicine ball slams: Hold a ball at arm’s length above your head. From here drive the ball as hard as you can into the floor. Catch it on the rebound or squat down to pick it up if you are using a ball that does not bounce. 20 reps.

TRX Jump squats: Hold a TRX suspension trainer with both hands and perform a basic squat. As you stand up explode into the air. As you land, bend your knees and immediately drop into your next squat and repeat. 20 reps

Lateral jumps: Place 2 objects on the floor such as powerbags, low step boxes, low hurdles etc. Make sure there is space between them for you to jump into. Start on one side and perform a 2 footed side jump over the first object. Land soft and then immediately jump over the 2^nd object. Return to the start position by jumping back over the objects. 10 reps

Split jumps: Stand with your feet around hip width apart and place 2 low steps either side of you (make sure they are both the same size). Jump up and out so you land softly on the steps. Jump back off and repeat. 20 reps

Dumbbell burpees with shoulder press: Hold a pair of dumbbells and squat down and place them onto the floor. Keep your hands on the handles and jump your legs back. Bring your legs back in and stand back up, as you do lift the weights to your shoulders and then press them above your head. 10 reps

Basic Burpee:

This is one of the easiest versions of the burpee but is still a tough exercise particularly on the legs and heart and lungs.

: Begin in a standing position

; Squat down and place your hands on the floor

: From here jump your legs out behind you to full extension

: Jump your legs back in and stand up back to your start position.

Burpee with press up:

This exercise will also work the muscles of the chest, shoulders and back of your arms. Perform the exercise as above but this time as you jump your legs behind you perform a press up. As you push yourself back up from the press up jump your legs back in and immediately stand back up to the start position.

Burpee with press up and vertical jump:

This version is very demanding as it adds another explosive movement at the end of the exercise. Perform it as above but this time rather than standing back up, jump into the air has high as possible.

Other variations:

Easier option: Squat down and place your hands onto a step box in front of you and perform the burpee from here without the press up or jump. The higher the box the easier it becomes.

Harder options:

Burpee to pull up. Perform a full burpee under a pull up bar. As you jump up grab the bar and do one pull up before dropping back to the floor and repeating.

TRX Burpee. Perform the exercise with one foot in both the foot straps of a TRX suspension trainer. This will test your balance and stabilisation and work your core harder than a normal version.

Single leg. Stand on one leg and perform a full burpee keeping the other leg off the ground throughout the entire movement including the press up and jump. Again this will test your core and balance more than a normal one.

Sample workout:

Here is a bodyweight circuit that uses the burpee. Complete 10 reps of each exercise and at the end of the circuit rest for 1-2 minutes and then repeat.

Burpee

Single leg squats (10 per leg)

Wide hand press up

Double leg squat thrusts

Lunge (10 per leg)

V-ups

Squat jumps

Superman’s

Burpee Hell challenge:

Once you have mastered the burpee then why not give this simple but very tough challenge ago. All you need to do is complete 100 burpees in your fastest time. If you can perform 100 full burpees complete with press ups and jumps in less than 10 minutes then you really are a fitness challenge warrior!!

For the first round you will complete 20 reps of each of the 8 exercises, at the end of this stop the clock and rest for 1 minute. After the rest period restart the clock and complete round 2 completing 16 reps of each exercise. Again stop the clock and rest for a further minute. Start the clock for round 3 and complete 12 reps of each exercise, at the end of this round stop your clock and record your time.

Exercise technique:

 Bench hops: Place your hands on a step box and then jump both legs over from side to side.

Step-ups: Rest the bar on your upper back.

Step jumps: Perform a 2-footed jump onto the step aiming to land soft by bending your knees on impact. Step back down and repeat.

Burpee: Place your hands on the step and jump both legs back out to full extension before jumping them back in and standing up to full extension.

Straddle jumps: Stand with both feet either side of the step and perform a 2-footed jump onto it aiming to land soft by bending your knees on impact. Step down and repeat.

Tips:

: For this challenge I have been using an Olympic bar with 5Kg per side (total weight 30kg) for men and for women a Bodypump bar with 5Kg per side (total weight 15kg). If you can complete the challenge in less than 15 minutes then look at increasing the weight.

: Use a step box that is 4 raises high for this challenge.

For this evenings session we were again focusing on circuit training to help with Marlons cardio fitness, stamina and muscular endurance. Tonight’s session would follow the format of my R.E.P’s (Register of exercise professionals) MMA conditioning class. This circuit-based workout is currently being run by Fitness first health clubs around the UK on their exercise class timetables under the name Strike-fit. The workout uses a mixture of fight specific movements such as ground and pound and sprawling etc alongside plyometrics and resistance exercises to give you a high intensity session. Participant’s work through 4-6 rounds with each round lasting for 5 minutes. Rounds are made up of 5 exercises with each one either being done for 1 minute or for 30 seconds with each of the exercises being done twice. For this workout Marlon would be spending 30 seconds on each exercise. Rounds 1 and 3 would consist of one lot of 5 exercises with rounds 2 and 4 being made up of 5 different exercises. Once all 4 rounds were done we would finish off with a gut busting 5-minute challenge round.

Warm up:

For this workout the warm up is made up of shadow boxing. I would call out numbers 1-4 and Marlon would throw the corresponding combination, so for example number 1 was a single jab and 4 was a jab, cross, lead hook, rear uppercut.  As well as the numbers I would also call for front and rear knee strikes as well as the sprawl to help warm up the entire body.

Main workout:

The MMA conditioning class follows a set structure so that within a 5-minute round you will perform 1 exercise for upper body, lower body and core and 2 cardio based exercises.

Rounds 1 and 3.

Lower body: Step up to knee strike

Place one foot onto a step box. Push off the leg that’s on the step and as you do so bring the other leg up, forcefully driving the hips through to deliver the knee strike. Step back down and repeat, aiming to spend as little time with your foot on the ground as possible.

Cardio: Ground and pound

From either the mount position (knees either side of bag) or knee ride (one knee on, one leg off) throw a mixture of punches, elbows and hammerfists.

Upper body: Walk over step

Begin with both hands on a low step. Take one hand off the step and place it on the floor and perform a press up before returning your hand back onto the step and repeat to the other side.

Core: Crunch with med ball between knees.

Perform a basic crunch whilst keeping your legs in the air and holding a medicine ball that is positioned between your knees. This not only works your abdominal muscles but also the muscles used when holding someone in guard.

Cardio: Lateral jumps

Stand next to an object such as a low step, hurdles, powerbag etc and perform a 2 footed side jump. Aim to land soft by bending your knees on impact.

Rounds 2 and 4.

Lower body: Step jumps

Jump up onto a step box that is positioned in front of you, aiming to land soft by bending your knees on impact. Step back down and repeat.

Cardio: Ground and pound with armbar

Start in the mount position and throw 10 strikes before pushing yourself off the bag and throwing your left leg over the bag and falling to the left hand side. This forms the armbar position, which is a submission technique, used within MMA. From here scramble back onto the bag and repeat with an armbar to the right.

Upper body: Medicine ball strikes

Standing at arms length from a punch bag. Hold a heavy med ball in both hands and rapidly tap the bag. After each strike against the bag bring the ball back and tap your stomach. This exercise will help to improve the stamina in your forearms, which can benefit a fighter when it comes to grappling and clinching. It also gives your abdominals some impact training.

Core: Guard sit up

From a crunch position hold a medicine ball across your chest and then scramble to your feet without using your hands. Return to the floor and repeat.

Cardio: Sprawling.

From a standing position drop your hips to the floor as if defending a takedown. From here explode back up onto your feet. For this workout Marlon would throw a jab, cross into the focus pads each time he stood up.

Challenge round:

At the end of a MMA conditioning workout there is a 5 minute challenge round. This is designed to push people to their limits and simulate how it feels in the last few minutes of a MMA bout when faituge and latic acid really kicks in.

The challenge I used with Marlon used lateral jumps over a kick shield and ground and pound strikes. Place a shield on the floor and stand next to it. From here jump sideways over it and then back to your start position (this counts as 1 rep) then drop down and throw 5 strikes. Each time increase the jumps by 1 rep and the strikes by 5. I set Marlon the challenge of reaching 10 jumps with 50 strikes within 5 minutes. He completed it in under 4!

The video shows Marlon working through round 3.

: 

I am pleased to announce that Fitness First health clubs will be launching Strike-fit in the following  clubs in the next couple of weeks.

Mansfield

Solihull

Stoke

Manchester Gorton

Pontefract

Wakefield

Bradford Horton park

Moston

Manchester Central

Leeds

Chesterfield

For any more information regarding courses or classes please contact me.

*****
You need to be logged in to see the rest of the post. Login using the box in the sidebar.
Not registered?
Click on the 'register' button below to sign up to one of our great packages which will allow you to view all the posts (including exercise vidoes and workout plans) and participate in online challanges.

*****