Christmas is a time for giving... Here are some free workouts

With the festive season just around the corner, I wanted to give you all something from me.

Christmas time can be a common time for people to fall off the wagon in every unhealthy way imaginable. Late nights, extra alcohol, extra food, extra chocolate or nibbles and no exercise.

I can't stop you from doing ALL of that, but what I wanted to do was offer you 10 quick workouts that you can do in or around the house.

Ideally, you would drag yourself to the gym. But, if you're not going to do that, you could at least spare 20-30 minutes to do some of these at home over the holidays.

As a promise, I'm going to do each of these as a MINIMUM this holiday just to up my activity levels.

I HOPE some of you might take these and give them a go; if you do, let me know how you get on.

I'd ALSO like to remind you of this handy article which explains how you can approach Christmas in order to limit the damage you cause yourself: Brilliant Christmas article - click and read!

WORKOUTS

WORKOUT 1 - 22 mins

Set your watch or timer for 10 minutes. Leave your house and run as far as you can in 10 minutes. Don't think too much about where you're running, just run in the most continuous and straight way you can. When the alarm goes, stop and rest for 2 minutes. After that, reset the alarm and try to make it all the way home in 10 minutes.

WORKOUT 2 - 20-25mins

Set a time to go off every 30 seconds for 20 minutes. You'll work for 30 seconds, rest for 30 seconds and carry on until you complete 4 or 5 rounds

A1) Press Ups

A2) Bodyweight Squat or Jump Squats for more advanced

A3) Mountain Climbers

A4) Plank

A5) Alternating reverse lunges while raising your arms and opening your shoulders

WORKOUT 3 - 20 mins

Set your timer for Tabata (20 secs work, 10 secs rest). Perform each of these exercises against the Tabata timer until you have completed all 8 sets of 20 secs. Then, rest a full minute and move on to the next exercise.

Exercise 1: Mountain Climbers

Exercise 2: Burpees

Exercise 3: Plank-Push Ups / Suicide Push Ups

Exercise 4: Kneeling - squat (do a squat, climb down to kneeling position, and back up, squat and repeat)

WORKOUT 4 - 21 mins

Set your timer to sound every 60 seconds for 21 minutes. Start each exercise when the buzzer sounds and rest for the remainder of the minute. For examples, if the exercise takes you 30 seconds then you still have 30 seconds rest. But, if it takes you 50 seconds for example, you only have 10 seconds rest until your next exercise. Speed is of the essence. Complete 7 rounds of these 3:

A1) 10-15 press ups and reach. As you come up from the press up extend your arm and the opposite leg and hold at the top position for a second. Change arm and leg each repetition.

A2) 20-40 Mountain Climbers & 5-10 Crunches

A3) 10 reverse lunges or 16 Jumping switch lunges

WORKOUT 5 - 21 mins

Set your timer for 30 second intervals. Complete each of these exercises for 30 seconds and rest for 30 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R819KfRrRe0 

WORKOUT 6 - 22 mins 

Repeat the 20 minute run in workout 1 and aim to run further.


Workout 7 - 15 minutes or so
Bodyweight complex - do 1 repetition of each of the exercises below in this order. Keep going until you have completed 8 repetitions of each. That's 1 set. Then rest for 60-90 seconds and repeat it again until you have done 3 sets. ie: by the time you've finished, you will have completed 24 repetitions of each exercise by doing 3 x 8 reps. Make sense?


A1) Squat
A2) Reverse lunge each leg
A3) Burpee
A4) Press Up
A5) Lower Back Extensions
A6) 8 mountain climbers
A7) A "pop up"
That's 1 rep.

WORKOUT 8 - 11mins

Roxanne Challenge: Play the song "Roxanne" by The Police. When they sing the words "Roxanne" perform exercise 1. When they sing "Put on the red light" perform exercise 2. Rest for 2 minutes and then try it with the next exercises.

A1) Press Up

A2) Up/Downs or Plank-Push Up or Suicide Push Up (whatever you want to call it)

B1) 2 x Squat Jumps

B2) Burpee

WORKOUT 9 - Ladder: As fast as you can without rest

A1) 10 Press Ups

A2) 10 Squats

A3) 10 Lower Back Extensions

A4) 10 Burpees

A5) 10 Crunches

Then 8 of each, 6 of each, 4 of each, 2 of each, and finish with 10 of each.

WORKOUT 10 - 20 mins

Set the timer for 30 second intervals. Work for 30 secs, rest for 30 secs.

A1) Press Ups

A2) Plank

A3) Squats

A4) Left Side Plank

A5) Split Squat - Left leg Forward

A6) Right Side Plank

A7) Split Squat - Right leg forward

A8) Plank

A9) Lower Back Extensions

A10) Left Side Plank

A11) Plank Crawl Outs

A12) Right Side Plank

A13) Burpees

A14) Plank

A15) Mountain Climbers

A16) Left Side Plank

A17) Crunches

A18) Right Side Plank

A19) Straight leg Raises

A20) Plank

There you have it - 10 workouts - all under 30 mins and all without equipment.

make it your challenge to do at LEAST these over Christmas. I'm going to make a start on them December 20th or there abouts to finish them this month. I'll be moaning about them on Twitter.

Enjoy.

Try them out and let me know how you get along.

DON'T FORGET: You can follow me on Twitter (@MichaelD_PT) and YouTube

Retro Bodybuilding Myths

As we get more and more information thrust upon us each day, it's easy to understand why some people take on bad advice and include it in their training.

However, there are some old fashion, retro "body builder" tips that, for no great reason, have hung around and still show their ugly face in many gyms across the world. "BroScience" to many of you is more apparent than ever.

Just because a big lad at the gym gave you a tip, don't take it as gospel. here's a few to look out for.

Bench Press with your feet in the air to isolate the chest...
There are some people that like to perform chest press with their feet on the bench, or worse still, feet in the air. The idea being that it "isolates the chest". Remember, just because something is harder, doesn't make it better. Performing squats balanced on a swiss ball is tough but not the best way of working your legs.
Ultimately, if you want to improve your chest and your pressing ability you want to be stimulating growth and adaptation. The best way to do that is through some form of overload via increased weight or repetitions or time under tension; if you want to do that then you're best to keep your feet planted firmly on the floor. You're not a balancing act after all.

Heavier squats are more important than deeper squats...
You'll see many people looking to squat the heaviest weight they can waddle out of a squat rack at the cost of sacrificing squat depth and at times, much squat form all together. In order to recruit the highest amount of muscle fires and stimulate growth from a squat depth is key. Work on proper depth under proper control and maintaining good form throughout - the weight increases will soon follow.

Always wear a weights belt for the heavier sets...
Many people still opt for a weights belt as they reach their upper limit for lifting weights. They looked shocked at you when you ask why their using a belt as if you wouldn't imagine lifting a heavy weight without a belt. Personally, I wouldn't ever advise a non-competitive lifter to use a belt. Instead, focus on strengthening all areas of your body equally to take the load and strains placed on it. Relying on a training assistance of any kind is never a good idea.

Walk for extended periods for fat loss...
Long bouts of steady-state cardio (usually treadmill walking) has been a staple exercise for body builders looking to shift body fay and retain muscle for many years. However, what many people ignore is the benefits of sprint work in reducing body fat and improving sporting performance. Sprint work is tough, but short bouts of interval sprint work are an incredibly effective way to shift body fat and boost your metabolic rate. It's a much more time-effective and less tedious option in my opinion. If like me, you're not a huge running fan, intervals of rowing, cycling and even crawling might be a viable option.

Wear a sweat suit to burn more fat...
Sweat suits like you sometimes see a boxer in are designed for one purpose only: to reduce your immediate weight. Not your body fat, just your weight. All that it may do is increase the rate at which you lose water. If you're under pressure to reach a specific weight in time for a pre-fight weigh-in then sure, a sweat suit might be a viable (though not ideal) option. Otherwise, be warned that any fast loss in weight is merely water weight that will return once you take on water again. Rather than a positive, in fact these suits are likely to have a negative impact on your training and results. A loss in water will cause dehydration. Dehydration will reduce your performance and rate you can work at and so, reduce your potential effort so burn less calories and lift less weight. It will also hamper your bodily functions which are heavily reliant on water.

Arms days are essential...
Don't be lured into thinking that you need to put aside an hour a week just to build your arms. Most of you will have other time constraints such as work, family and friends; so why not spend your valuable gym time a little more effectively? Sure, the odd bit of isolation work will target your arms specifically, but consider the benefit of fully body, multi-joint compound exercises like squats and deadlifts if you're looking to improve strength and general body composition. If your under-sized biceps are keeping you awake at night then opt for lots of narrow grip pulling work when working your back. This will not only target your back but also require a lot of forearm and bicep effort. Bigger back and better arms in one go.

More cardio to reduce body fat and get fitter...
It's often the view that if you want to "get fit" then running is the first option. Or, if you need to lose weight, it's cardio again. "Cardio" training is designed to improve the strength and capabilities of your heart and lungs by elevating the heart rate. This can be achieved in many more ways than just running. Heavy lifting or high intensity resistance work are all viable options. Just because you need to reduce your body fat, don't instantly opt for the treadmill. Build lean muscle and improve your everyday metabolic rate while also burning calories in the gym through high intensity resistance work. This is much more likely to avoid you spending a long time in a catabolic state (muscle wastage) and so, will help to retain the muscle mass you've worked hard to gain. if you want some ides for high intensity interval workouts I've written up plenty here: http://www.michaeldarren.blogspot.co.uk/p/workouts-that-ive-enjoyed.html

Carbs in the evening will make you fat...
Ever heard "no carbs after 8pm"? This can work... but usually as it stops people from eating anything after 8 and so, reducing their calorie count every day. Where they might usually opt for late night eating, if you cut that out of your life then yeah, you probably will make a difference. However, it's not that carbohydrates that were the villain in this whole lifestyle adjustment.

Conclusion...
Most of these ideas and tips will have an element of truth or, at one stage, were a current and up to date method of training. However, they're now out-dated and sports science has allowed us to find more beneficial and effective way to stimulate adaptation in the body. Don't be surprised when you still see the above happening in a  gym... just don't join them!

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter - @MichaelD_PT and subscribe to my YouTube channel