Fitness Friday

Is it possible to get a great total body workout in a short amount of time? Absolutely.  Compound or combination training is the key.

A compound exercise is where you take one exercise and combine it with one or more exercises. The whole idea here is to get more muscles involved to burn calories  in the shortest amount of time possible. After all, the key to any successful fat loss workout is escalating density, or the accumulation of more work in the same amount of time or less from workout to workout. So, total body workouts are great, but why not turbo charge your results by using total body exercises within your total body workouts?                                         

For example, let's say you are doing a dumbbell lunge to work your lower body. The lunge is a unilateral knee-dominant exercise which, when performed correctly, increases leg strength and stability. This is a key movement pattern in teaching your body how to decelerate or efficiently stop and go on command. Well, adding a dumbbell curl to press at the end of each lunge will transform this exercise from a great lower body exercise to an even better TOTAL body exercise.  The curl to press is in itself a combination upper body movement that works both pull-push components. Plus, your core is the link between all integrated upper and lower body movements, so any time you perform an upper-lower body combo exercise your core automatically gets called into action. In other words, choose the right exercise and it's one and your done!
So, how do you make use of this total body exercise for a simple, yet brutally effective five to ten minute fat loss workout?

First of all, your muscles must be warm, so do an appropriate warm up. Second, you need to work at YOUR HIGHEST  level of intensity for the allotted amount of time. Third, you must like pain. Just kidding on that last one, but it should NOT be easy!

One Exercise Workout#1- Alternating DB Lunge + Curl to Press (the picture does not show the overhead shoulder press)
- Select one dumbbell (in general, 8-15+ lbs for women and 15-30+ lbs for men works great)
- Perform max reps for time in 5-10 minutes, only taking brief 5-20 sec rest periods as needed when speed slows and/or technique/form is jeopardized
- Once you can perform at least 5-10 reps per minute, seek to increase the weight by 2-5 lbs per dumbbell

                               

One Exercise Workout#2- 1-Arm DB Squat to Shoulder Press
- Select one dumbbell (in general, 8-15+ lbs for women and 15-30+ lbs for men works great)
- 1 Round = Perform 10 total reps/side
- Perform max rounds for time in 5-10 minutes, only taking brief 5-20 sec rest periods as needed when speed slows and/or technique/form is jeopardized
- Once you can perform at least 1 round per minute, seek to increase the weight by 2-5 lbs per dumbbell

One Exercise Workout#3- 1-Arm DB Swing
- Select one dumbbell (in general, 8-15+ lbs for women and 15-30+ lbs for men works great)
- 1 Round = Perform 10 total reps/side
- Perform max rounds for time in 5-10 minutes, only taking brief 5-20 sec rest periods as needed when speed slows and/or technique/form is jeopardized
- Once you can perform at least 1 round per minute, seek to increase the weight by 2-5 lbs per dumbbell.

                              

One Exercise Workout#4- Killer Variation: DB Squat Thrust + Push-up + Core Row + Knee-Ins
- Select one dumbbell (in general, 8-15+ lbs for women and 15-30+ lbs for men works great)
- Perform max reps for time in 5-10 minutes, only taking brief 5-20 sec rest periods as needed when speed slows and/or technique/form is jeopardized
- Once you can perform at least 5-10 reps per minute, seek to increase the weight by 2-5 lbs per dumbbell

                

There you have it. Four "One Exercise Workouts" involving total body combination exercises that you can do in 5-10 minutes at home or on the road . Now if you really wanted to ramp up your results with a full 20-minute workout, try selecting two of the total body exercises above and then doing two separate 10-minute workouts or selecting all four of the total body exercises above and then doing four separate 5-minute workouts.

Good Luck!