Warm up:

Start with 5 minutes of light cardio before starting the circuit.

Main workout:

For the main workout complete all the exercises back to back with little rest. At the end of the circuit, rest for a couple of minutes and then repeat. Aim to complete 3 circuits. The way the session works is that you will start with 12 reps on the resistance exercise followed immediately by 1 shuttle run (around 10-15 metres). After the shuttle run perform 10 reps of the resistance exercise followed by 3 shuttle runs and then finally 8 reps and 5 runs. Once this is done move on to the next resistance exercise and start again from 12 reps.

Example:

12 Press ups with 1 shuttle run

10 press ups with 3 shuttle runs

8 press ups with 5 shuttle runs

Circuit:

Squat to press (Hold a dumbbell at shoulder height. Perform a squat and as you stand up press it over your head. Complete the reps then change arms).

Press ups

Alternating front lunges

Dumbbell swings (Hold a weight in one hand. Bend your knees and swing the dumbbell through your legs. As you stand up swing the weight up to shoulder height. Complete the reps then change arms).

Plank with legs out and in (Start in a basic plank position with your feet together. Take your right leg out to the side and then do the same with your left. Bring the right leg back into the centre and then your left. This counts as 1 rep).

Dumbbell woodchops (Hold a weight in both hands and squat down. Start with the dumbbell by the side of your right knee. Rotate the weight across your body to shoulder height keeping your arms straight.  Complete the reps and then repeat on the other side).

At the end of the last set of shuttle runs rest for 1-2 minutes and then repeat.

At the end of the workout spend 5 minutes cooling down and stretching.

Warm up:

As always spend between 5-10 minutes warming the body up with some light cardio such as shadow boxing, skipping, cardio machines etc.

Circuit:

Complete 10 reps of the following exercises.

PRESS UP

PULL UP

1 ARM DUMBBELL SNATCH (10 PER ARM)

DUMBBELL SQUAT (Hold a dumbbell in both hands at chest height and perform a squat).

DUMBBELL FRONT LUNGE (Hold a dumbbell in both hands at chest height and perform 5 lunges per leg).

V-UP

BICYCLE OBLIQUE TWISTS

At the end of the circuit complete a 3 minute round on a punch bag throwing a mixture of combinations. If you have not got use of a punch bag then try the alternative below.

Punch bag alternative:

Complete 30 seconds of the exercises below and complete this circuit twice for a total of 3 minutes.

BURPEE

SQUAT JUMP

ICE SKATERS

At the end of your 3 minute cardio round rest for 1-2 minutes and then repeat the circuit. Aim to complete 3 circuits before cooling down and stretching.

Warm up:

The warm up also used a single dumbbell and involved exercises that would get all the major muscles working in different plans of motion. Use a light weight for the warm up and again spend 30 seconds on each exercise. For this session the guys used a 4kg dumbbell each.

Standing rotation: Hold the dumbbell with both hands in front of you at arm’s length. Rotate the weight from side to side by twisting the hips.

Wood chop: Squat down and hold the dumbbell by the side of your right knee. Stand up and twist the weight diagonally across your body by rotating your hips until the dumbbell is just above your left shoulder. Return the weight back down to the start position and repeat. 30 seconds per side.

Squat curl and press: Hold the dumbbell in your right hand and squat down keeping your arm straight. As you stand up curl the weight to your shoulder and then press it above your head. 30 seconds per side.

Rotational squat to press: Hold the weight in your right hand and squat down. As you do bring the weight across your body and reach towards your left foot. As you stand up curl the weight to your shoulder and press the weight up and slightly out away from your body. Return to the start position and repeat. 30 seconds per side.

Wide squat with chest press: Hold the dumbbell in both hands at chest height. Start with your feet together and then take a big step out to the side. Perform a squat from this wide stance and as you sit down press the weight out in front of you. Step your feet back together and repeat to the opposite side.

Lunge with front raise: Hold the dumbbell in your right hand in front of your thigh. Step forward with your left leg and perform a lunge. As you lower your hips raise the dumbbell up to shoulder height whilst keeping your arm straight. 30 seconds per side.

Side lunge with lateral raise: Hold the dumbbell in your right hand and step to your left. Perform a side lunge and as you do reach towards your left foot with the dumbbell. Stand back up and perform 1 lateral raise and repeat. 30 seconds per side.

Main workout:

Use a weight that is challenging for each exercise. You can either use the same weight throughout or change the weight as you go if you want more of a strength workout. I used dumbbells from 9-12.5kg with my 2 clients.

Squat with press: Hold the weight at shoulder height and perform a squat. As you stand up press the weight over your head. 30 seconds per side.

Concentration curls from squat position: Hold the dumbbell in your right hand and get into a squat position. Rest your right elbow onto your right knee and from here curl the weight up. 30 seconds per side.

Lunge with bicep curl: Hold the dumbbell in your right hand and step forward with your left leg and perform a lunge. As you lower your hips curl the weight up. Step back and repeat. 30 seconds per side.

Swings: With the weight in your right hand squat down and hold the dumbbell between your knees. Stand up and drive your hips forward and swing the weight up to shoulder height. Swing the weight back down through your legs and repeat. 30 seconds per side.

Snatch: Hold the weight in your right hand and squat down so the dumbbell is between your knees. Explosively stand up driving the dumbbell above your head so your arm is fully extended with the weight over your shoulder. Bring the weight down to your shoulder and then back down to the start position and repeat. 30 seconds per side.

Rows: Hold the weight in your right hand and step forward with your left foot. From this staggered stance tip forward from the hips so your chest is pointing towards the floor. Row the weight up into your body. 30 seconds per side.

High pull: Hold the weight in your right hand and squat down so the dumbbell is between your knees. Explosively stand up and pull the dumbbell up to chest height keeping the weight close to your body. Make sure to keep your elbow higher than the dumbbell throughout the movement. 30 seconds per side.

Press ups: Perform a basic press up.

Single arm floor chest press: Lie on your back with your legs in the air and knees bent. Holding the dumbbell in one hand so it is just outside of your chest, press the weight up until your arm is fully extended. Return the weight back down until your elbow almost touches the floor and repeat. 30 seconds per side.

At the end of the circuit, rest for 1-2 minutes and then repeat. Aim to complete 2-3 full circuits.

The dumbbell snatch is a full body movement and most of the major muscle groups come into play, particularly legs, shoulders and core. It requires a mixture of strength, agility, power, speed, balance and co-ordination to perform which is what makes it such an effective exercise.

As well as being a great exercise to improve power I also use it with clients who want to improve their muscular tone using lighter weights and higher reps.

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I use fitness challenges with my clients as one way of monitoring progress and as a way for them to see firsthand the improvements they are making. Once a client has completed a challenge then their score will be recorded and then 4-6 weeks later they will attempt to improve on it. I have found the challenges a great way to get people to push themselves to their very limits. We all have a slightly competitive edge, whether it is trying to beat our own score or that off a training partner or fellow gym goer. The challenges help to bring that out in people often resulting in very intense and extremely effective sessions.

Challenges you will find in this book range from short 5 minute ones, through to ones that will take up an entire training session

While most of the challenges can be tailored to meet all levels of fitness some of them are very intense and not for the faint hearted! For each one I have included a part that recommends what level of fitness the challenge is best suited. Whether that is beginner, intermediate or advanced. I have also included targets for each of the challenges to give you something to aim towards; these are from both personal experience (I like to put myself through all the challenges to see what my clients are experiencing!) and from what my clients have scored.

I have included the first part of this e book below. If you would like to receive the entire book for FREE then simply contact me at resultspt@hotmail.com and I will forward it over to you. Enjoy!

Contents:

1. Introduction

. Rate your fitness level

. Challenge selection

. When to do a challenge

1. Bodyweight

#1 THE BIG 3

#2 BURPEE HELL

#3 10X10

#4 BODYWEIGHT BLASTER

1. Powerbag

#5 POWERBAG

#6 POWERBAG 2

#7 POWERPLAY

1. Barbell

#8 CLEAN AND PRESS

#9 300

#10 3 ROUNDS

#11 FOURWAY FUN

1. Kettlebell

#12 KETTLEBELL 660

#13 3 WAY PLAY

#14 SNATCH TEST

1. MMA Conditioning

#15 GROUND AND POUND GAUNLET

#16 SPRAWL AND BRAWL

#17 JUMP TO IT

#18 PUNCH OUT

#19 TABATA PRESS UPS

#20 TABATA BURPEES

1.  Other

#21 WEIGHT PLATE WORKOUT

#22 SATURDAY MORNING CIRCUITS

#23 CRAZY 8

#24 KILLER KICK SHIELD

#25 TOTAL SET

#26 TRX 40/40

#27 5X5

#28 DUMBBELL 9

#29 GYM TRIATHLON

#30 CARDIO CRAZY

1. 1.      INTRODUCTION:

Welcome to my Results Conditioning “Big book of challenges”. In here you will find a whole host of fitness challenges that will test your aerobic and anaerobic fitness, muscular endurance and stamina as well as pushing you to your very limits.

I use fitness challenges with my clients as one way of monitoring progress and as a way for them to see firsthand the improvements they are making. Once a client has completed a challenge then their score will be recorded and then 4-6 weeks later they will attempt to improve on it. I have found the challenges a great way to get people to push themselves to their very limits. We all have a slightly competitive edge, whether it is trying to beat our own score or that off a training partner or fellow gym goer. The challenges help to bring that out in people often resulting in very intense and extremely effective sessions.

Challenges you will find in this book range from short 5 minute ones, through to ones that will take up an entire training session. I have split the challenges down into sections; you will find ones that use just your bodyweight while others will use equipment such as Powerbags, kettlebells and barbells.

While most of the challenges can be tailored to meet all levels of fitness some of them are very intense and not for the faint hearted! For each one I have included a part that recommends what level of fitness the challenge is best suited. Whether that is beginner, intermediate or advanced. I have also included targets for each of the challenges to give you something to aim towards; these are from both personal experience (I like to put myself through all the challenges to see what my clients are experiencing!) and from what my clients have scored.

Many of these challenges you will find already on my website at www.resultsconditioning.com under the Results blog. Here you will also see short video clips showing the challenge in action. For those who visit my site regularly will find many more challenges in this book to enjoy that are not yet on the site.

RATE YOUR FITNESS LEVEL:

For each of the challenges you will see they have been rated beginner, intermediate, advanced or a combination of the 3. If you are not sure which of these you fall under then use the chart or workout below to help you decide.

The chart below is just a rough guide as there are many different variables in terms of rating somebody’s fitness level such as past exercise history, injuries, age, weight etc.

Beginner: I would normally class a beginner as someone who I have been training for up to 6 months and who has been doing some form of training at least 3 times per week.

Intermediate: For this I would class anyone who has over 6 months worth of training behind them.

Advanced: I would normally start using advanced challenges with clients who have at least 12 months of regular training behind them.

If you want another way of rating your fitness level then try this simple challenge below. Perform all the exercises listed with a 30 second rest in between each one. At the end check your score on the chart to see where you rate. The challenge is designed to test your upper and lower body strength as well as your core strength and cardio fitness.  

Press up: Perform as many repetitions as you can of a full press up. Take 2 seconds to lower yourself and 2 seconds to push back up to the start position. Once you reach fatigue and cannot perform any more reps with perfect technique then record your score.

Plank: Lie on your front and support yourself on your elbows and toes. Maintain a flat back and keep your abdominals tight and hold this position for as long as you can up to a maximum of 60 seconds. The length of time you hold it for is your score for this exercise so if you hold it for 30 seconds then give yourself 30 points.

Wall squat: Stand with your back against a solid surface with your feet hip width apart. From here lower yourself into a squat position so your bottom is parallel to the floor and your knees are over your ankles. Hold this position for as long as you can up to 60 seconds maximum. Again turn your time into points.

Burpee: Bend down and place your hands onto the floor then jump your legs back so your body forms a straight line. From this position jump your legs back in and stand back up.  Perform as many of these as you can within 1 minute and record your score.

Crunch: Lie on your back with your knees bent and rest your hands behind your head with your elbows out to the side. Crunch up so your shoulder blades leave the floor. Return to the start position and repeat, completing as many reps as you can within 1 minute.

Jumping jacks: Stand with your feet together and your hands by the side of your body. From here jump your legs out to the side and raise your arms to shoulder height. Return to the start position and repeat, completing as many reps as you can within 1 minute.

Once you have completed all 6 exercises add up your scores and see how you rate on the chart below.

Beginner: 140 points or below

Intermediate: 141-264 points

Advanced: 265 Points or more

Challenge selection:

When it comes to choosing a challenge make sure you pick ones that uses exercises that you can perform safely and correctly. For example I would only use Ketlebell challenges with people who have been training with this piece of kit for a good few months regardless of fitness levels, and had perfected the techniques of all the exercises used within that challenge. Another point concerning technique is to make sure you perform all exercises with proper form throughout the entire challenge. Even though in many of the challenges you are trying to complete as many reps as you can or perform a certain amount in your quickest time make sure you do not lose form whilst doing so.

When to do a challenge?

Since the idea of a challenge is to get the participant to work at their maximum intensity you do not want to be doing them every week as this can lead to burn out, injuries and diminished results. Normally once a client has completed a challenge then they will not do this one again for at least 4 weeks although normally it is closer to 8 weeks. In between they may do a different challenge but they will usually have at least 2 weeks off from doing any kind of fitness challenge.

When it comes to structuring a challenge into a clients session this will depend largely on what the rest of the session is going to involve and the length of time of the challenge. Some of the shorter challenges that take only 5-10 minutes may be done either at the start or end of a session. If the challenge is mainly cardio based then I may do it at the end of a resistance workout. For any challenge that will take longer than around 25 minutes are normally done by themselves. For all challenges make sure you spend 5-10 minutes warming up beforehand and around 5 minutes cooling down and stretching at the end.

Many people avoid the deadlift due to a number of reasons and some of these I have listed below.

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BARBELL SQUAT:

The squat is a compound movement that works primarily the quadriceps but also involves the hamstrings, glutes, calves and lower back. It also requires a strong core to help to maintain good posture and stabilise the body. The squat is an exercise I would recommend anyone to include in his or her workout programme especially if the aim is to increase strength or muscle size.

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Workout A:

Incline bench press: 1 warm up set of 15 reps with lightweight then 3 x 8-12. (1-minute rest between sets)

Clean and press: 1 warm up set of 15 reps with lightweight then 3 x 8-12. (1-minute rest)

Press-up: For this exercise we started with the basic press-up and aimed to do 3 sets of 12. We then progressed up to 20 reps and once this was comfortable we used a harder variation such as using the “Perfect press-ups” or doing an atomic press-up on the TRX. (45 seconds rest)

Kettlebell single arm snatch: 3 sets 8-12 reps per arm. (1-minute rest)

Chest press machine: 3 sets of 8-12 reps (45 seconds rest)

Upright row: 3 sets of 8-12 reps (45 seconds rest)

Close grip bench press: 3 sets of 8-12 reps (45 seconds rest)

Workout B:

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