Well, I claimed a little while ago that I would get back to blogging regularly. I didn’t. It’s been a busy spring so far! But that’s a good thing.
One promise I didn’t break was my committment to revamp my training. And I’ve been doing just that. Today was a good example of that.
I recently read a great post by Steve Maxwell. Entitled A New Year, and a New, Improved Version of Yourself, the post discussed the importance of movement-based exercises for both performing better and looking better. Steve then made some suggestions for very simple but effective workouts.
I decided to start incorporating some of those suggestions in to my own training. For example, here’s what I did today…
Warm-Up: Joint mobility work, kettlebell halos, around-the-bodys, and windmills
Circuit 1: Ten minutes alternating between Chin-ups and Dips. I kept the reps low, somewhere in the 3 or 5 range, but kept the rest periods very short, usually less than 30-sec. For Chins, I played around with different grips, i.e. palms facing me, palms facing away, neutral grips, etc.
These ten minutes alone are quite a workout. As Steve Maxwell says, “These 2 exercises provide plenty of stimulation to every muscle in the upper body. These exercises exemplify virtue: honest, simple pulling and pushing the bodyweight and pure function. You can neither cheat nor pretend.”
Circuit 2: Tri-set of Sumo Deadlift, Alternating KB Swings, and Box Jumps. I did three sets of these, keeping reps just a few short of failure.
Circuit 3: This is my own addition. Five 50m sprints. Sweet and simple.
Cool-down: 400m ocean swim and yoga on the beach.
All in all, it was a fun and productive session. I plan to do this workout at least once a week for the forseeable future. Be sure to read Steve Maxwell’s original post, and get inspired yourself!
Fit Monkey Hawaii 