Sometimes there are days when you just can't make it to your group workout and you aren't feeling motivated to do a 60 minute workout. Or maybe your schedule eats into your workout time and you only have like 20 minutes to crush it. Often, we would make an excuse just to not workout. I mean, what kind of damage can you do in less than 20 minutes?
Did you really just ask that? Normally, the shortest workouts are the worst ones - i.e. FRAN. Working at INTENSITY is, yes, very uncomfortable. But the reason that it's so uncomfortable is because it is also EFFECTIVE!
So, I challenge you to instead of skipping the workout, to try a "death by..." workout. These workouts normally take 15 minutes or less, but HURT and definitely give you a good bang for your buck. What you do is pick a movement, pick your rep starting point, and then each minute you increase your reps by one. For instance, if you start at five burpees in the first minute, the second minute you do six, third you do seven, etc. You keep going until you fail to complete the number of reps you are on in the 60 seconds. Here's how to get started...
First you pick your movement. Almost any movement works but it needs to be something where the weight or the skill isn't the limiting factor. What I mean by that is you shouldn't be resting because the weight is too heavy or because your skill level stops you in your tracks. The movement should be something that you can do 20ish reps in a minute if you are fresh, but would be breathing heavy after finishing that set. Some popular movements for this are burpees, cals on bike/rower/ski erg, thrusters, wall balls, cleans, and jump squats/lunges. The thing that most of these movements have in common is the movement uses at least two major joints (hips, knees, shoulders, elbows) which jacks your heart rate UP. You could pick a movement that doesn't, but just understand that it's going to be a slightly different stimulus. Like doing sit-ups or pull ups could still be challenging, but you aren't going to feel the same level as intensity if you chose a thruster or burpee. Hopefully that all makes sense.
Then you pick your starting rep point. Normally these workouts work best when they can be 10-15 minutes long, so if you start at five reps, know that you aim to complete the 15th minute (or beyond!).
UGHHHHH side note... so I was really excited to film my Death by Assault Bike calories workout and then when my baby fell asleep I ran outside to workout so fast I FORGOT to set up my camera... #facepalm. Needless to say, that 10 minutes of my life was awful. I started at 4 calories and ended up completing the 14 calorie minute... did not even attempt the 15 calorie minute... I was TOAST! lol. So, I still wanted to give you a video of me dying during one of these workouts so here is Death by Burpees. I find this video comical but also just very real. Me talking to and trying to entertain my baby so that I have time to finish the workout, and fending off the dogs. Yes, I get impatient with Gus and raise my voice with him and even push him (GENTLY lol) to get out of my way. Normally if I'm outside I can just move around them when they get close to me, but inside on the hardwood, staying on the yoga mat is ideal for my knees and for the hardwood. ;)
Let me know if you try out this "Death by..." technique and your thoughts on it!
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