Ran to the football pitch and:

Sprinted 50 meters
25 Push ups
25 Sit ups
25 Burpees
Jogged back

Repeated 8 times without rest.

Originally posted 2009-05-15 20:32:45.

Tabata Intervals are made up of 20 seconds of maximum intensity exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest. This cycle is repeated 8 times (for a total of 4-minutes). I’m going to do this 4 times for a total of 16-minutes. The exercise I’m using is burpees. I’m in a hotel this evening and have my gymboss timer with me so this is this evenings workout. This one is sure to have me puking (-:

EDIT: While it didn’t have me puking, I wasn’t far off, burpee hell is a very good name for this intervals set. My score for the first cycle was 56 burpees. I averaged pretty much 7 burpees per 20 seconds for the other 3 sets too. I rested for about 90 seconds between sets.

The burpee is performed in four steps:

* From a standing position, squat down and place your hands on the floor.

* Kick your feet back, while simultaneously lowering yourself into the bottom portion of a pushup. Your arms will not be extended.

* Immediately return your feet to the squat position, while simultaneously pushing “up” with your arms. You will perform a pushup as you return your feet to the squat position.

* Leap up as high as possible from the squat position. Repeat, moving as fast as possible.

This is the ONLY way that I perform Burpees.

Originally posted 2009-06-22 19:51:07.

If you’re pressed for time and can’t get to the gym, bodyweight exercises are just what you need.

These exercises aren’t a substitute for a ‘real’ workout they are a ‘real’ workout. If you put in the effort these exercises can completely change your body all on their own. And fast.

Once you start learning about all the different body weight exercises you can do, you’ll see there are endless ways to put bodyweight exercises into routines..

Some great bodyweight exercises you can use include:

Bodyweight squats.
Pushups.
Lunges (forward, reverse, walking, jumping in place).
Mountain climbers.
Jumping Jacks.
Leg raises.
Squat thrusts.
Burpee.

Many bodyweight exercises have a lot of variations. Take the pushup, for example – regular, hands close together, one handed, spiderman pushups, feet elevated pushups, etc. There are hundreds of bodyweight exercises available.

Using your bodyweight alone, you can get your heart rate up, your blood pumping, and get yourself breathing heavily a lot quicker than you’d think.

You can combine the exercises in any way you see fit and adjust the number of reps based on your current ability.

Sample bodyweight workout. Start anywhere and work through:
20 Bodyweight Squats.
20 Pushups.
Plank hold of 30 seconds.
20 Mountain Climbers.
20 Burpees.
20 Jumping Jacks.
20 Sit-ups.
20 Squat Thrusts.
20 Lunges (ten per leg).
Repeat 3 to 4 times.

If you just want a quick and “easy” leg workout try seeing how many bodyweight squats you can do before the burn in your legs forces you to stop.

This was my workout for January 18th 2011.

Starting with any exercise perform:

50 Burpees
50 Squats
50 Sit-ups
50 Thrusters
50 Elephants
50 Walking Lunges
50 Push-ups
50 Tuck Jumps

Grab a quick drink and work through it again.

This was my workout for 2nd December 2010.

For this evenings workout I put together an upper body workout made up of burpees, push ups and bag work. After a warm up. I started with one five minute round of 30 seconds of burpees followed by 30 seconds of shadow boxing. For the first five minutes I concentrated on getting as many burpees into the 30 seconds as possible (10 per 30 seconds). Then after a quick drink, I did another five minutes of the same this time taking it a little easier on the burpees (8 per 30 seconds) but going a little harder on the shadow boxing. I then did 20 0f each of the following push ups interspersed with 30 second rounds on the bag.

1. Standard
2. Wide
3. Bosu
4. One Leg Up (10 with one up and 10 with the other)
5. Diamond
6. Hindu
7. Kempo
8. Robot
9. Three count
10. Inclined (with my feet on the base of the bag)
11. The Pit push up. One set, of one then two then three and so on up to a ten no rest in between push ups, basicly one set of 55 pushups.
12. 20 right hand up followed by 20 left hand up.

Then after a quick drink 3 two minute rounds on the bag.

Finally after another quick drink starting from five and working up to ten clap pushups with jogging on the spot between sets for active rest.

I haven’t updated for a variety of reasons just recently but mostly because I’ve been busy with work, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working out though. I’ve still found time to workout and took my 3 workout staples with me, my mp3 player with the pit workouts converted to mp3, deck of cards and my gymboss timer. I’ve mostly been in hotels for the last couple of months and mostly Hilton Hotels (ouch!) They’re not cheap but they have been convenient for work and they do have great gyms that as a guest are free to use. While I didn’t use any of the machines or free weights there was an aerobics room that had a reebok free standing bag in it that no-one but myself seemed to use. I’d get in there every evening after work and either do one of the 3 pit workouts, work through a couple of decks of cards or use the gymboss timer for tabata burpees. I’d never pay to use a gym and when I’m staying in a hotel that has no gym I’ll either find a nearby park, field or my favourite place to workout a beach and if the weather is too inclement I’ll work out in my room.

Kettlebell workout. Reps are 5, then 4, then 3, then 2, then 1 on the right and 5, then 4, then 3, then 2, then 1 on the left.

* Snatch
* Clean and Press
* Front Squat 2 minutes
* Bent Over Row
* Lunge 2 minutes
* Swing
* Burpees 1 minute

Using a 16 kg kettlebell I worked through this workout twice. This was my workout for July 19th.

Studies have shown that circuit training is the most effective way to build cardiovascular fitness and muscular endurance. Circuit training combining both strength and cardiovascular exercises is an excellent way to improve both aspects of your fitness at the same time.

A typical circuit has around 10 or so ‘stations’ where a person completes a certain exercise at each station for a set period of time, before moving on to the next station. At each station there is a different exercise which is selected depending on what benefits you are looking to achieve from that particular circuit, a typical circuit will have bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, sit-ups, squat thrusts, burpees etc… and resistance exercises such as dumbbell or barbell curls, shoulder presses and pull ups.

You don’t need expensive equipment for circuit training either. All you really need for a circuit training is space if you make all exercise stations bodyweight exercises.

You can also suit the circuit to the space you have, whether it be a small gym or a football pitch. The main advantage of circuit training is that there is an infinite way that a circuit can be designed, so circuit training can benefit everyone, no matter what your sport.

The main disadvantage of circuit training is that is that it doesn’t build bulk. Circuit training is primarily aimed at improving cardiovascular and muscular endurance and the exercises are done at a high intensity with high repetitions with little resistance. In order to build bulk circuit training, you should reduce the number of repetitions at each station and use heavier weights or greater resistance.

Circuit training is a great tool and most circuits don’t take too long either, so be sure to include them in your routine.

Example Circuit:

Plyometric Push-ups
Dumbbell Curls
Vee Ups
Mountain Climbers
Military Press
Rustys
Squat Thrusts
Jumping Jacks
Squats to Presses
Burpees

This was my workout for 19th June, I worked through this circuit three times.

This evenings workout is a quick one 100 burpees followed by 50 sit ups, 50 leg raises, 50 bicycles, 50 rustys, 50 twists.

Ran to the local football pitch, placed my t shirt and water bottle fifteen meters apart. Performed twenty one burpees then walked the fifteen meters and performed twenty burpees continued like that down to one. Marginally easier than starting at one and going up to twenty one, but still a killer routine, a total of 231 burpees.