The other day I woke up and made coffee, my big treat for the day. I have coffee in the morning, a gigantic cup I might add. And then I hit the gym. Mmmm…coffee…
However, my coffee was looking rather pale, no ‘to die for’ smell…
I forgot to add coffee…Yum-hot water đ
I started over again with the coffee making procedure (duh).
Do you ever have one of those days? I figured I best keep things pretty simple that day…my brain did get a little brighter after the real thing (coffee), but sometimes I know how it can be to have too many things on my mind that I don’t want to have to think or plan another thing. Read on to see how I made my life simpler that day…
My friend, Alwyn Cosgrove (Men’s Health contributor and all round fitness guru) has a saying: ‘I only have good and great days’. I love that saying. Life is too short to have a bad day, so instead of giving into the idea that the ‘hot water start’ to the day was going to be a bad day, I just made it easier on myself. I decided that the day would be a ‘good’ one and went to default for the things I could. I simplified things.
The reason I bring up Alwyn, other than the fact that when I think of him and his Scrooge McDuck Scottish accent it makes me smile, is a conversation that I was privy to at our last meeting. We were at the Fit Body Boot Camp World conference and it was lunch time. The idea of what kind of home training equipment is best came up. We were discussing whether the TRX or kettlebell training is more effective for fitness and fat loss for at home workouts. We had a lot of time to discuss it because we ended up walking to Wahoo’s (a fish taco place) and it literally was miles away (okay, not actually literally, but when you’re starving it seemed like we did an entire marathon to get a fish taco).
Anyways, Alwyn stopped walking and pointed out the fact that we all need to use more bodyweight exercises first before we think about buying new equipment. There are dozens of bodyweight exercises we can use before we even get into expensive equipment like a TRX or Kettlebells.
Good point Alwyn.
I agree whole-heartedly.
After all, I use bodyweight exercises in my fitness boot camps all the time and my clients get amazing results. They leave in a pool of sweat with smiles on their faces. Bodyweight workouts totally rock. In fact, my Saturday sessions are completely bodyweight exercises and we have a blast and a great workout together. Does this look like a boring bodyweight workout?
So, where am I going with all this? The hot water, the reference to Alwyn Cosgrove, bodyweight stuff…seriously, I do have a purpose and this is it…
If you’re doing an hour of push ups and crunches, you deserve to be bored out of your mind with bodyweight exercises. You have to get a little more creative than that.
This is Workout A from Phase 3 of Craig Ballantyneâs 6-Month Turbulence Training Bodyweight Manual.
1A) Prisoner Squat (15 reps)
1B) Feet on Ball Pushup (12 reps)
2A) Bulgarian Split Squat (12 reps)
2B) Chin-up (Max-1)
3A) Stability Ball 1-Leg Curl (10 reps)
3B) Spiderman Pushup (6 reps)
4A) Walking Lunge (15 reps)
4B) Side Plank Leg Lift (8 reps)
5A) Rotate Lunge (10 reps)
5B) Stability Ball Jackknife (15 reps)
By the way, here are a few exercise substitutions if you do this one at the park without a stability ball:
– For 1B, put your feet on steps instep of the ball
– For 3A, do 1-Leg RDLâs instead of 1-leg curls
– For 5B, do mountain climbers instead of the jackknife
When I need to simplify things, on those days where I have NO brain power, not even enough to make coffee right, I go to Craig Ballantyne’s bodyweight workouts and grab some ideas. They’re creative, fun and I never get bored with them.
Even a ‘pro’ like me (ha! I just called myself a ‘pro’) needs a little inspiration some days…
Take a look at this:
Craig has a special on bodyweight training this week. You can pick up all 11 programs for less than the cost on one personal training session with a sad sack personal trainer at the worst gym in the world. You’ll get 6 months of training ideas. That’s a pretty good deal. (You know that I’ll only suggest programs that I believe in and this is one of them.)
Check it out HERE.
And now, it’s time to make some coffee for the day…this time I’ll make sure to add the good stuff so it’s not just hot water…