Medicine Ball & Bodyweight Mini-Circuits

If you are looking to cut down on the amount of time you spend in the gym without jeopardizing your fat loss goals, then including interval training alongside your strength training program is the only way to go.

Just imagine spending half the time in the gym - if not more - and getting way better results.  Isn't that what you deserve?

I thought so.

And to make the notion of ditching long, slow, boring cardio even more convincing is the fact that you will be far less susceptible to sustaining an overuse injury with interval training.  

For some of you, however, the thought of giving up your daily cardio machine routine is too much to bear.  But not to worry because you can still use your favourite machine, but we'll just tweak things a bit so that you get more out of your workout in half the time.

For example, try incorporating intervals on the treadmill by running hard for 30 seconds, at an 8 out of 10 intensity level, followed by 60 seconds of light recovery at a 3 out of 10 intensity level.  That is one interval, and so you will repeat this process up to 6 times, while using a five minute warm-up and a 5 minute cool down.

However, for those of you who are tired of the same ol' thing day after day, then here is a great medicine ball and bodyweight interval training circuit to give a try.  A couple instructions beforehand; do not rest in between exercises and go through the circuit only one time.

1)     Medicine Ball Woodchoppers
a.     (20 seconds woodchoppers + 10 second hold with ball overhead x 8 rounds)
2)     Squat Thrusts
a.     (20 seconds thrusts + 10 second hold in top pushup position x 2 rounds)
3)     Running "High Knees" in Place plus Plank
a.     (20 seconds sprinting + 10 second plank x 8 rounds)
4)     Squat Thrusts
a.     (20 seconds thrusts + 10 second hold in top pushup position x 2 rounds)

So there are two great ways to replace your ineffective cardio workout and help you reach your fat loss goals in just a short amount of time.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS