Wednesday, July 22, 2009

A Quick Workout Challenge To Test Your Fitness

Do you ever feel like you want to change your workouts up and add a "challenge workout" to really see where your level of fitness is at? If so, then this is the perfect workout for you!


Keep reading and you will discover a challenge workout I designed where you attempt to complete a 10-exercise bodyweight circuit as many times as you can in just 20 minutes.


The Challenge has 2 levels; one for beginner and one for advanced. If you are a beginner, then you will perform 10 repetitions for each exercise, whereas an advanced individual will perform double that at 20 repetitions per exercise.







So, you'll start out by placing your hands up behind you head and complete a series of prisoner squats. Get your elbows back, squeeze your shoulder blades together, feet slightly wider than hip width apart, and then push your hips out as you squat down and then back up. Repeat.


After the prisoner squats you'll go down to the ground for close-grip push-ups. So, for this exercise place your hands shoulder width apart and elbows tucked into the side.


Next up are stability ball leg curls. Be sure to bridge those hips up and then curl in and out.


Once you are finished doing that exercise, keep the stability ball with you as you are now going to do 1-legged jackknives. If you are doing 10 repetitions, that means 10 in total, so 5 for one leg and then 5 with the other.


If you are a beginner or you can't do the 1-legged jackknives, then just do regular stability ball jackknives. Also, these can be done with either your hands on the bench or on the floor.


Now you'll stand back up and do diagonal lunges. Proper form for this exercise is stepping out to the side, while keeping your foot pointing forward. This will give you a great stretch through the groin, and then go straight down, and drive back up. Again, if you are just doing 10, then you are only doing 5 for each side.


Starting out the final 5 exercises, you'll do the underhand inverted row. This means your palms are up and facing you, with your hands a little narrower than shoulder width apart.


If you are unable to complete 20 repetitions straight, then do as many as you can, take a rest, and then finish them off. If you are a beginner and can't do the straight-legged inverted rows, then bridge your hips up and bend your knees to complete the reps.


After the rows, you'll do an interesting exercise called the grasshopper push-up. For this exercise you will start by getting into a regular push-up position and then swing one leg underneath your body, drop down, and then swing it back out. Alternate sides. If you can't do the grasshoppers then just do regular push-ups.


Next up is the side plank with a leg raise. Start in the regular side plank position and then perform a leg raise. This will either be 5 and 5 repetitions for the beginner or 10 and 10 for each side for the advanced.


Immediately after finishing all the repetitions for the side plank with leg raise, you are going to move into the spiderman climbs. Your starting position for this exercise is the push-up position. Next, you will bring your foot up outside your hand and then back down, alternating sides. Only bring your foot as far up as your body feels comfortable and then slowly work to improve your mobility.


To finish of the circuit challenge you will do running in place for 10 strides if you are a beginner or 20 strides if you are advanced.


Once you finish the last exercise, take a quick breather and then head back to the beginning to continue working your way through the circuit as many times as you can in 20 minutes.

1 comment:

nk said...

Craig,

How come you don't recommend using parallel bars for chest dips? Are push up grips/ stands harmful? I get an amazing stretch in decline press ups if I use 'em. Pl advise