Metabolic conditioning for faster fat loss By Dave Ballantine 40 metabolic conditioning workouts for building more strength and burning more fat www.Edinburgh-pt.com Hi, my name is Dave. I live in Edinburgh, Scotland and have been a personal trainer for about 5 and a half years now. I love coffee, have a never ending reading list (if you have any recommendations send me a message!) and helping regular folks like you and me get fitter, stronger and leaner. Over the last few years, I’ve put together a few great metabolic conditioning ideas and borrowed a few from some great trainers. Now I have them all together for you to use as stand-alone workouts or as finishers at the end of your training session. I’m giving you the tools to burn fat fast while building more strength, boosting your metabolism, and improving your fitness levels higher than they’ve been before. www.Edinburgh-pt.com In all honesty, the workouts in this book aren’t easy. They’ll push you harder than you’ve ever been pushed. They might make you sore (in a good way). They’ll leave you dripping sweat after every circuit. But they work. Really well. And if you’re willing to put your nose to the grindstone you’re going to see serious results very quickly. These workouts will give you a test both physically and mentally. They’re short, intense, high work capacity building workouts specifically designed to increase your metabolism, boost your strength, and burn fat. I hope you’re ready. I will say this though, make sure you are medically cleared to train, and if you are unsure of the correct technique on any exercise in this book, make sure to get guidance from a qualified professional. And if exercise hurts, don't do it! If you have any questions, shoot me an email to [email protected] with “Ultimate Conditioning Workouts” in the subject line and I’ll get back to you within 48 hours. www.Edinburgh-pt.com Before you get started, here are a few thoughts to consider to get the most out of the workouts and for optimal fat loss. 1. The rest times are a suggestion, these workouts shouldn't be easy but if you need a little more time between rounds, use it. 2. These workouts aren't for building max strength, they are for jacking up your heart rate and burning calories and maintaining muscle mass. 3. Diet is and always will be the number one driver of fat loss. These workouts burn calories, and create an increased calorie burn after you finish the session, but your diet creates the sustained calorie deficit for successful fat loss. 4. Recovery is as important as training. Being able to recover between training sessions is key to being able to perform well each and every session. 5. Maintaining good technique and using appropriate weights will get you better results than going with your ego and trying to throw big weights around with sloppy technique. www.Edinburgh-pt.com Pyramids Bodyweight This is the most straightforward option going. Pick either pushups or squats and perform the following: 1 rep, 2 reps, 3 reps, 4 reps up to 10 reps, then 9 rep, 8 reps back down to 3 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep Bonus: If you do pushups as your movement, stand up between rounds. If you do squats or lunges, get down to the floor between rounds. Just don’t stay there too long… Rest as needed but try to get through it as quick as you can with good technique! 210 Bodyweight 210 seconds isn’t really a long time. 3 minutes and 30 seconds. It will feel like forever though by the time you are on the last round of this… Squat for 5 seconds Squat and hold for 5 seconds Squat for 10s Squat and hold for 10s Increase the duration of each round by 5 seconds each time up to a total of 30s per round. www.Edinburgh-pt.com The Bear Necessities Bodyweight Bear crawls are pretty awesome. Shoulders, abs, legs, strength and mobility all rolled into one. Squats are awesome too. Put the 2 together and the levels of awesome go through the roof! Pick a distance, 10m is pretty good but you can go shorter if you need to (no less than about 4m though). Pick a time or a number of rounds, then do 10 squats, bear crawl your distance, 10 squats, bear crawl (or for extra awesome, reverse bear crawl) back to the start and repeat. Go for total time or for a set number of rounds (4 is a good start…) Conditioning rules Use big movements Challenge yourself Don't fail technically Make it fun! www.Edinburgh-pt.com One sided Bodyweight The unilateral component of this circuit gives you a great core hit along with a full body workout. 1-arm TRX row x 20-30s RFESS x 20-30s Side plank x 30-45s Swap to the other side and repeat. Rest 60s and go into the next round. Aim for 3-5 rounds Worst Zoo Ever Bodyweight Three exhibits, keep moving, no icecream ☹ Dead bugs x8 per side Bear crawl x5m out and back Frog squats x15 15 minutes on the clock, how many rounds can you do? www.Edinburgh-pt.com Pullup/pushup Bodyweight Pullups are the best option here, but if you can’t do at least sets of 3, the regress to either an inverted row or TRX row. Pushup x 10,8,6,4,2 Pullup x 3-5 Rest only as needed Buns of steel Bodyweight Lot of glutes on this one, make sure to drive off the heel of the front foot on the walking lunges and squeeze those glutes hard during the plank… Glute bridge x 20 Walking lunge x8/side Plank x 30 seconds Rest 60 seconds and repeat for 3-5 rounds 5-10-15 Bodyweight Ascending reps, how many rounds in 15 minutes? Pushups x 5, 10, 15 Glute bridges x 5, 10, 15 Squat jumps x 5, 10, 15 Rest as needed and start over. www.Edinburgh-pt.com Negative rest Bodyweight Less rest time than work time, let the fun begin! Bodyweight squat Plank Glute bridge Plank 40 seconds on each exercise with a strict 20 second recovery/transition time. Rest 60-90 seconds at the end of the round, aim for 4 rounds. Lunge du's Bodyweight Lunge 8 steps out and 8 back, drop and do 5 hindu pushups, rest and repeat. Walking lunge x8/s Hindu pushup x5 60s rest 5-8 rounds www.Edinburgh-pt.com Deceptive Bodyweight and DB/KB A mix of bodyweight movements and low rep DB/KBs, not as easy as it looks… 15 frog squats 5 pushups 5 racked KB squats 5 bentover KB rows 8 mountain climbers per side 15 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) Ladders Kettlebells A delightful mix of swings and goblet squats, keep the rest to a minimum and aim high! 1 swing, 1 squat 2 swings, 2 squats 3 swings, 3 squats ..., ... All the way to 10 each for your first target, giving you 220 total reps. Or 15 each for 240 total reps Or 20 each for 420… How high can you go? www.Edinburgh-pt.com Circuit Breaker Dumbbells This circuit is a 3 round, high volume circuit. If you go too light, you won’t get a lot out of it, if you go too heavy then you're gonna have a bad time... DB press DB goblet squat DB RDL DB bentover row Round 1: 30 secs of work/ 30 secs of rest 2 mins rest after the round is complete. Round 2: 25s of work/ 35s rest, match the reps from round 1 2 mins rest after the round is complete. Round 3: 20s of work/ 40s rest, match the reps from round 2. Lie on the floor for as long as needed. High-intensity conditioning not only boosts your physical fortitude, but also your mental resilience. Pushing through a tough conditioning session helps you push beyond your preconceived ideas of what you're capable of. www.Edinburgh-pt.com Swing, carry, squat Kettlebells The farmers carry is a nice transition between the swings and squats whilst working on grip and core strength, hip strength and stability. 10 swings Farmers carry 20m Descending ladder on goblet squats – 10,9,8…3,2,1 10 rounds, great technique, quick as possible. Go! No catchy title Bodyweight/Kettlebells Each round is 10 swings, make them tight and snappy, in between rounds you have a countdown of pushups. The bonus of getting up and down for the pushups adds a little extra cardio boost. KB swings x10 Pushups x10, 8,6,4,2 Rest as much as you need, but as little as you need. www.Edinburgh-pt.com Carry and squat Kettlebells Right arm farmer carry x20m 10 sumo squats Left arm farmer carry x20m 10 sumo squats 30-60s rest 3-5 rounds Everest Bodyweight/ Kettlebells What goes up must come down! Hindu pushup x 2,4,6,8,10 Farmers carry x 20m Mountain climbers x 10 each side 1-2 minutes rest, then - Hindus x 10,8,6,4,2 Farmers carry x20m Mountain climbers x10 each side www.Edinburgh-pt.com Doubles Kettlebells Double KB swing x 10 Double KB front squat x 10 Double KB bentover row x 10 Pushups x 10 30-60s rest 2-3 rounds 1.5s Bodyweight/ Kettlebells 1.5 refers to the rep style used in this circuit.