By far one of the most popular workouts routines program ever, if not the most popular, was the 300 workout the actors from the movie "300" performed while they were training for their roles.
While the traditional 300 workout was a "right of passage" rather than a workout performed on a frequent basis, people still loved the idea and even became addicted to the notion the workout created.
The original 300 workout consisted of several different exercises performed for a prescribed number of repetitions, and the total number equaled 300.
That workout required barbells and other equipment, but you are about to get a "Spartan home workout" that doesn't require any equipment. The only thing you will need for this workout is your bodyweight.
There are a few things that should be noted before we dive into the workout. First: this is not going to be easy! You are going to be performing total body exercises that are going to get you breathing hard and heavy. Second: you can perform this workout once a week if you like. If you do so, make sure you decrease the amount of time it takes you to complete the entire workout. However, you can also use this workout less frequently to test your strength and endurance levels.
This sample workout will help you burn off pounds of body fat, build lean muscle, and drastically improve your conditioning levels.
Spartan Home Workout
Bodyweight Squats x 50
Close Grip Push-ups x 25
Door Pull-ups x 25
Burpees with Push-ups x 20
Alternating Forward Lunges x 20 each leg
Mountain Climbers x 20 each side
Door Pull-ups x 20
T Push-ups x 10 each side
Burpees x 20
One Leg Romanian Deadlifts x 20 each leg
Perform the prescribed number of repetitions for each exercise before moving on to the next one. You don't have to perform all of the repetitions non-stop. For example: if you have to take a pause during the 50 bodyweight squats, that's fine. Just complete the circuit as fast as possible, and make sure to time yourself. Oh, and just so you know there is a total of 300 repetitions in that workout.
Create Your Own Spartan Home Workout
Once you get bored or too advanced for that workout, feel free to design your own. Just make sure you choose big, compound exercises like the ones listed above. Also, make sure you pick exercises that target the main muscle groups. Push-ups and all variations work your chest, shoulders, and triceps. Pull-ups and inverted rows are perfect for your back and biceps. All squat and lunge variations target your lower body.
One More Tip
You can also increase the difficulty of the workout provided. Just increase the number of repetitions for each exercise; anywhere from five to 10 additional repetitions for each. Or, you can increase the total number of repetitions by 100 and divide that number equally among the exercises.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3089903
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
3 Highly Effective 30 Minute Workouts
A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research in 2000 had two different groups of people do the same volume of resistance training. The first group did the entire workout in one day, while the other group spread the workout over three days. All participants were experienced trainees. The workout consisted of three sets; group one did all three sets one day per week, while group two did one set three days per week.
Group one on average gained four pounds of muscle, while group two gained more than double that at nine pounds. On top of group one achieved only 62 percent of the strength improvements of group two.
So, what's my point? If you workout three times a week, it's better to make your workout shorter than to cut down on the frequency of your workouts. Thirty-minute workouts routines program are one way to accomplish this. Thirty-minute programs also demand less of your time and, if you're working with a trainer, your wallet. Initially, some of my clients have been resistant to thirty-minute workouts because they believe they are only going to get "half" of a workout. In all honesty, this is not the case.
My 30-minute workouts are intense, full-body workouts. Some people may even achieve better results with a shorter session. You may be thinking, "Heck, my workouts sometimes take 90 minutes, how could I do a 30-minute workout?" Consider the fluff in your current workout. How many times do you stop to get a drink? How much socializing are you doing? How much rest do you take between sets? How intense do you lift during a set? Subtracting these intensity vampires out of your workout may cause you to rethink your workout time.
1. High-Intensity Training
High-Intensity Training is a training technique specifically designed for 30- minute sessions. HIT, as it's often referred to, is a term thrown around by many training enthusiasts. In my case, I'm referring to doing 1 set of multi-joint movements (chest presses, leg presses, lat pulls) to momentary muscular failure for 6-12 reps. Momentary muscular failure means you can no longer physically move the weight. Your form must be pristine, and your last rep should be brutally difficult to maximize the effectiveness of this program.
Unless you have someone spotting you, you should use machines with HIT to prevent injury. This protocol has been scientifically proven to both increase lean mass as well as decrease fat tissue. Specifically, this type of training will develop muscular strength as well as hypertrophy, or muscular growth. Even one set is extremely effective, because you activate the maximum amount of muscle fibers to push your muscles to the limit during that set. Plus, you're done after 30 minutes, so it's very efficient. The protocol is as follows:
- 1 set
- 6-12 reps
- 2-3 second positive rep
- Distinct 1/2 second pause at top
- 3-4 second negative rep
- Controlled 1/2 second pause at bottom
The disadvantage of this regimen is the sheer brutality of the set. If you don't have some tolerance for muscular discomfort due to the build-up of lactic acid, this program is going to be a challenge for you.
2. Tabata Training
Tabata training is an intense 4-minute interval protocol utilizing 20 seconds of work with 10 seconds of rest.
For example:
Squat for 20 seconds
Rest 10 seconds
Repeat 7 times for a total of 4 minutes of work
This type of training is named after Dr. Izumi Tabata, who studied this protocol at the National Institute for Sport and Fitness in Tokyo, Japan. What he found was amazing: After just 6 weeks of testing, subjects increased their anaerobic threshold 28%, and also increased their VO2 Max 14%. On top of that, the EPOC (look at my article on cardiovascular exercise an intensity for details on EPOC) created from this workout substantially increased the number of fat calories burned after exercise.
In a 30-minute workout, you could feasibly do five tabata intervals using different movements like squats with overhead presses, dead-lifts with rows, push-ups and pull-ups. This would allow10 minutes total for rest between sets, warming up and stretching post-workout. Weights should be light to moderate to allow for completion of eight sets. This type of training is much more cardio-based than HIT. In fact, it can be thought of as the anti-thesis of HIT. Movements are typically fast and explosive, and several more sets are used.
Just like HIT, tabatas are not for the faint of heart. They are extremely difficult and trainees should have a base of at least eight weeks of resistance training under their belt before trying tabatas.
3. Supersets and Giant Sets
Supersets are two exercises back-to-back with little or no rest. Giant sets are three or more exercises in a row with little or no rest. There is a multitude of ways to do supersets and giant sets. You can do two exercises for the same muscle group for hypertrophy and strength. You can pair an upper and lower body exercise with an abdominal exercise to create efficient circuits that challenge your cardiovascular system.
You can do a combination exercise like a lunge with a row, directly into push up, followed by torso rotations. There are endless combinations. By minimizing rest, you lessen the time you are working out as well as pushing the intensity through the roof. This means shorter workouts as well as an increased fitness level.
Here's a sample workout:
Repeat each circuit twice for 10-15 reps. (Do exercise A1 directly into A2, etc. Repeat circuit A. Rest. Move to circuit B.)
A1 Cable lunge with row
A2 Push up
A3 Swiss ball prone jackknife
B1 Dumbbell squat with curl, rotate and overhead press
B2 Pull up
B3 Dynamic side plank
C1 Dumbbell single arm deadlift
C2 Bench dip
C3 Swiss ball reverse hyperextension
Looking at these two workouts, you may be asking yourself, "Well, I can't do an effective 30-minute workout because I'm not at that level yet." That's not necessarily true. Thirty-minute workouts can be designed for novice trainees. However, they're not ideal. There are a lot of exercises to learn in the initial stages of training, and in this case, one-hour sessions are probably the way to go. If you do have a base fitness level, consider shortening your workouts. You may be surprised to find you get better results compared to your one-hour workouts.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2929105
Group one on average gained four pounds of muscle, while group two gained more than double that at nine pounds. On top of group one achieved only 62 percent of the strength improvements of group two.
So, what's my point? If you workout three times a week, it's better to make your workout shorter than to cut down on the frequency of your workouts. Thirty-minute workouts routines program are one way to accomplish this. Thirty-minute programs also demand less of your time and, if you're working with a trainer, your wallet. Initially, some of my clients have been resistant to thirty-minute workouts because they believe they are only going to get "half" of a workout. In all honesty, this is not the case.
My 30-minute workouts are intense, full-body workouts. Some people may even achieve better results with a shorter session. You may be thinking, "Heck, my workouts sometimes take 90 minutes, how could I do a 30-minute workout?" Consider the fluff in your current workout. How many times do you stop to get a drink? How much socializing are you doing? How much rest do you take between sets? How intense do you lift during a set? Subtracting these intensity vampires out of your workout may cause you to rethink your workout time.
1. High-Intensity Training
High-Intensity Training is a training technique specifically designed for 30- minute sessions. HIT, as it's often referred to, is a term thrown around by many training enthusiasts. In my case, I'm referring to doing 1 set of multi-joint movements (chest presses, leg presses, lat pulls) to momentary muscular failure for 6-12 reps. Momentary muscular failure means you can no longer physically move the weight. Your form must be pristine, and your last rep should be brutally difficult to maximize the effectiveness of this program.
Unless you have someone spotting you, you should use machines with HIT to prevent injury. This protocol has been scientifically proven to both increase lean mass as well as decrease fat tissue. Specifically, this type of training will develop muscular strength as well as hypertrophy, or muscular growth. Even one set is extremely effective, because you activate the maximum amount of muscle fibers to push your muscles to the limit during that set. Plus, you're done after 30 minutes, so it's very efficient. The protocol is as follows:
- 1 set
- 6-12 reps
- 2-3 second positive rep
- Distinct 1/2 second pause at top
- 3-4 second negative rep
- Controlled 1/2 second pause at bottom
The disadvantage of this regimen is the sheer brutality of the set. If you don't have some tolerance for muscular discomfort due to the build-up of lactic acid, this program is going to be a challenge for you.
2. Tabata Training
Tabata training is an intense 4-minute interval protocol utilizing 20 seconds of work with 10 seconds of rest.
For example:
Squat for 20 seconds
Rest 10 seconds
Repeat 7 times for a total of 4 minutes of work
This type of training is named after Dr. Izumi Tabata, who studied this protocol at the National Institute for Sport and Fitness in Tokyo, Japan. What he found was amazing: After just 6 weeks of testing, subjects increased their anaerobic threshold 28%, and also increased their VO2 Max 14%. On top of that, the EPOC (look at my article on cardiovascular exercise an intensity for details on EPOC) created from this workout substantially increased the number of fat calories burned after exercise.
In a 30-minute workout, you could feasibly do five tabata intervals using different movements like squats with overhead presses, dead-lifts with rows, push-ups and pull-ups. This would allow10 minutes total for rest between sets, warming up and stretching post-workout. Weights should be light to moderate to allow for completion of eight sets. This type of training is much more cardio-based than HIT. In fact, it can be thought of as the anti-thesis of HIT. Movements are typically fast and explosive, and several more sets are used.
Just like HIT, tabatas are not for the faint of heart. They are extremely difficult and trainees should have a base of at least eight weeks of resistance training under their belt before trying tabatas.
3. Supersets and Giant Sets
Supersets are two exercises back-to-back with little or no rest. Giant sets are three or more exercises in a row with little or no rest. There is a multitude of ways to do supersets and giant sets. You can do two exercises for the same muscle group for hypertrophy and strength. You can pair an upper and lower body exercise with an abdominal exercise to create efficient circuits that challenge your cardiovascular system.
You can do a combination exercise like a lunge with a row, directly into push up, followed by torso rotations. There are endless combinations. By minimizing rest, you lessen the time you are working out as well as pushing the intensity through the roof. This means shorter workouts as well as an increased fitness level.
Here's a sample workout:
Repeat each circuit twice for 10-15 reps. (Do exercise A1 directly into A2, etc. Repeat circuit A. Rest. Move to circuit B.)
A1 Cable lunge with row
A2 Push up
A3 Swiss ball prone jackknife
B1 Dumbbell squat with curl, rotate and overhead press
B2 Pull up
B3 Dynamic side plank
C1 Dumbbell single arm deadlift
C2 Bench dip
C3 Swiss ball reverse hyperextension
Looking at these two workouts, you may be asking yourself, "Well, I can't do an effective 30-minute workout because I'm not at that level yet." That's not necessarily true. Thirty-minute workouts can be designed for novice trainees. However, they're not ideal. There are a lot of exercises to learn in the initial stages of training, and in this case, one-hour sessions are probably the way to go. If you do have a base fitness level, consider shortening your workouts. You may be surprised to find you get better results compared to your one-hour workouts.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2929105
Best Cardio Workout For Quick Fat Loss - Mistakes You Should Avoid!
There are few disadvantages by following this method. I will show you my best cardio workouts at the end of the article, but first I'd like to correct some comprehension of cardio exercises routines.
In a long term, low to medium intensity
workouts with low nutrition may not be only ineffective, but also dangerous! For example imagine a people who is just a beginner, overweight and never stepped in the gym before, substantial amount of aerobic exercise could easily lead to a joint
and muscle injuries.
- High intensity workout! The best cardiovascular workout routines program to burn more fat
High intensity cardio workout has confirmed to be the best method for quick fat loss. In the low-intensity workout, the body will quickly adapt to the workout, where your tempo will be stable and your body start to save energy.
In other words, you will burn less
calories and your metabolism will decrease. Another disadvantage, when you decrease the calorie intake substantially and start to follow a low-intensity workout routine, it could cause overtraining and your body turns to catabolic.
Some research has shown the 30-65% lower calorie consumption among with these people who follow a daily low-intensity workout! You will primarily burn the energy through the fat storage when following the low-intensity routine which burns fat, while the High
intensity workouts burn energy mostly from carbohydrate stores. The total calories you burn will be much greater with high intensity exercise. You can eat more and still you will burn more fat than you consume.
- How much cardiovascular exercise do I need to get ripped
Let's say, 20 min a day helps you to keep your blood pressure low and avoid other health problems like high cholesterol and vascular disease, but if you want to lose fat effectively, I recommend to do at least 30 min of aerobic exercise 3-5 times
a week.
If you train more, there is a risk for overtraining and injuries. If you do a strength training in addition to cardio, three times per week should be enough. Or if you like, you can split your workouts. For example strength training in the morning
and short 30min cardio in the evening. That's an ideal exercise routine, because it helps you to recover the trained muscles faster from the weight training in the morning and helps you to burn fat faster.
But if you are heavily overweight and you have a slower metabolism, then you should first make sure, how much calories you eat and how much exercises you will need to burn off more calories, so you will create a caloric deficit.
You should start out a little workout
at a time until your body start to receive the stress and adapt to the workout, you will then gradually increase the workload and increase the duration of workouts! Your metabolism will speed up and your body start to burn off more calories, now you should look back at your diet and
add more calories if necessary.
- Benefits of cardio and strength training
By ignoring the strength training from your weekly workout routine, it's like leaving money on the table! Seriously, combining aerobic workouts with strength training allows you to maximize the fat loss. If you are searching the best routine for quick fat loss, then you should
definitely include the strength training workouts into the routine!
With aerobic exercise, you will burn fat during the workout, which will decrease immediately after you finish your workouts, while in strength training you will continue to burn calories after the workout.
This has been proven with EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption). EPOC represent the amount of energy, that body needs to normalize after the workout. That energy will be taken from fat storage, while the glucose in the blood will be used to fulfill the glycogen storages.
If we take a look at the EPOC value from aerobic workout, the research will show, that you will burn 9-30 calories after the 0,3-3 hours of workout. But if we look at the strength training, there could be even 4-7% boost in your metabolism for the next 24 hours after strength training.
For example, if you normally burn 2500 kcal, you will burn additional 100-170 calories per day!
Now you will understand the benefits of cardio and strength training. Every exercise, whether it's strength training or cardiovascular, are effective for fat loss if the value is more or as much as 6 MET-units (Metabolic equivalents). 6 MET-units means that the body's metabolism will gets
six times higher during the activity.
- Benefits of interval cardio
This is fragrantly the best workout method that boost your metabolism to the roof! Interval workouts differ a little bit from a regular aerobic. Each session will be shorter than in a regular routine and the results are often better.
A regular strength training combined with interval
cardio workout following a high intensity can result a extremely high EPOC values in a short time. This process can boost your metabolism even for two days after the workouts. This means, that you can achieve the multiple times of higher metabolic rate and burn more fat than by following the same amount of aerobic exercise.
If you are looking for best ways to perform interval cardio exercises, I would recommend to run outside preferably into the uphill. Another good methods to perform these exercises would be a rowing machine or swimming. An effective exercise for quick fat lose are those, where the most muscles are activated
at the same time during the cardio workout. The same rule will affects to a strength training.
- Example of the best cardio workout routine
-Warm up properly before the workout. If you are performing the workout outside, spend at least 5 minutes by jumping in a place with slow tempo and do a little stretching exercises for the legs and mid-section of the body.You will make sure, the blood will stream into the target muscles.
-Each interval will takes 3 minutes to perform.
-Increase the tempo as much as you can within the first 60 seconds. Your heart rate should be 90-95%/max after a minute. You should now feel a little pain in your muscles.
-Don't go too hard in the first time. You should test your ability first and then adjust it to the appropriate stress.
-Now, within the next 2 minutes, decrease the intensity close to the normal level, so that your heart rate will decrease to the 60%/max.
-This was the example of one of my favourite interval.
-Repeat it 3-6 times
-At the end of the workout, do some light exercises with slow tempo like in the warm up for 5 minutes.
If this feel too much for you, you can split the 60 seconds in a half and do the same with 2 minutes, so each interval will be 1.5 minutes.
- Interval cardio workout routine
WEEK 1-4
3 intervals, 3 times a week (19min)
WEEK 5-8
4 intervals, 4 times a week (22min)
WEEK 9-12
5 intervals, 4 times a week (25min)
WEEK 13-16
6 intervals, 5 times a week (28min)
*Each intervals include warm-up/end-workout
Summary
Now you know, what is the best cardio workout routine for quick fat loss and the huge benefits of intensive cardio and strength training, you are now ready to take it into action.
I know, because it works for me and for many people regardless of the approach. The only thing what matters, is to make it suitable for you. If you are starter, start with a little and
then gradually increase the amount of stress, tempo, training days, training time. Do whatever you can to make it suitable for you only! It could takes no more than 2 weeks.
There are many thinks that affect to the results, how much fat you could lose. Sometimes even the best strength training routine and cardio exercise routines won't guarantee the results you could dream of in a long-term. Although this is one of the best method to burn fat through exercises and gain lean muscle effectively in a short time, but if you fail with your diet, the entire system will crash down in a matter of days.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/960035
In a long term, low to medium intensity
workouts with low nutrition may not be only ineffective, but also dangerous! For example imagine a people who is just a beginner, overweight and never stepped in the gym before, substantial amount of aerobic exercise could easily lead to a joint
and muscle injuries.
- High intensity workout! The best cardiovascular workout routines program to burn more fat
High intensity cardio workout has confirmed to be the best method for quick fat loss. In the low-intensity workout, the body will quickly adapt to the workout, where your tempo will be stable and your body start to save energy.
In other words, you will burn less
calories and your metabolism will decrease. Another disadvantage, when you decrease the calorie intake substantially and start to follow a low-intensity workout routine, it could cause overtraining and your body turns to catabolic.
Some research has shown the 30-65% lower calorie consumption among with these people who follow a daily low-intensity workout! You will primarily burn the energy through the fat storage when following the low-intensity routine which burns fat, while the High
intensity workouts burn energy mostly from carbohydrate stores. The total calories you burn will be much greater with high intensity exercise. You can eat more and still you will burn more fat than you consume.
- How much cardiovascular exercise do I need to get ripped
Let's say, 20 min a day helps you to keep your blood pressure low and avoid other health problems like high cholesterol and vascular disease, but if you want to lose fat effectively, I recommend to do at least 30 min of aerobic exercise 3-5 times
a week.
If you train more, there is a risk for overtraining and injuries. If you do a strength training in addition to cardio, three times per week should be enough. Or if you like, you can split your workouts. For example strength training in the morning
and short 30min cardio in the evening. That's an ideal exercise routine, because it helps you to recover the trained muscles faster from the weight training in the morning and helps you to burn fat faster.
But if you are heavily overweight and you have a slower metabolism, then you should first make sure, how much calories you eat and how much exercises you will need to burn off more calories, so you will create a caloric deficit.
You should start out a little workout
at a time until your body start to receive the stress and adapt to the workout, you will then gradually increase the workload and increase the duration of workouts! Your metabolism will speed up and your body start to burn off more calories, now you should look back at your diet and
add more calories if necessary.
- Benefits of cardio and strength training
By ignoring the strength training from your weekly workout routine, it's like leaving money on the table! Seriously, combining aerobic workouts with strength training allows you to maximize the fat loss. If you are searching the best routine for quick fat loss, then you should
definitely include the strength training workouts into the routine!
With aerobic exercise, you will burn fat during the workout, which will decrease immediately after you finish your workouts, while in strength training you will continue to burn calories after the workout.
This has been proven with EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption). EPOC represent the amount of energy, that body needs to normalize after the workout. That energy will be taken from fat storage, while the glucose in the blood will be used to fulfill the glycogen storages.
If we take a look at the EPOC value from aerobic workout, the research will show, that you will burn 9-30 calories after the 0,3-3 hours of workout. But if we look at the strength training, there could be even 4-7% boost in your metabolism for the next 24 hours after strength training.
For example, if you normally burn 2500 kcal, you will burn additional 100-170 calories per day!
Now you will understand the benefits of cardio and strength training. Every exercise, whether it's strength training or cardiovascular, are effective for fat loss if the value is more or as much as 6 MET-units (Metabolic equivalents). 6 MET-units means that the body's metabolism will gets
six times higher during the activity.
- Benefits of interval cardio
This is fragrantly the best workout method that boost your metabolism to the roof! Interval workouts differ a little bit from a regular aerobic. Each session will be shorter than in a regular routine and the results are often better.
A regular strength training combined with interval
cardio workout following a high intensity can result a extremely high EPOC values in a short time. This process can boost your metabolism even for two days after the workouts. This means, that you can achieve the multiple times of higher metabolic rate and burn more fat than by following the same amount of aerobic exercise.
If you are looking for best ways to perform interval cardio exercises, I would recommend to run outside preferably into the uphill. Another good methods to perform these exercises would be a rowing machine or swimming. An effective exercise for quick fat lose are those, where the most muscles are activated
at the same time during the cardio workout. The same rule will affects to a strength training.
- Example of the best cardio workout routine
-Warm up properly before the workout. If you are performing the workout outside, spend at least 5 minutes by jumping in a place with slow tempo and do a little stretching exercises for the legs and mid-section of the body.You will make sure, the blood will stream into the target muscles.
-Each interval will takes 3 minutes to perform.
-Increase the tempo as much as you can within the first 60 seconds. Your heart rate should be 90-95%/max after a minute. You should now feel a little pain in your muscles.
-Don't go too hard in the first time. You should test your ability first and then adjust it to the appropriate stress.
-Now, within the next 2 minutes, decrease the intensity close to the normal level, so that your heart rate will decrease to the 60%/max.
-This was the example of one of my favourite interval.
-Repeat it 3-6 times
-At the end of the workout, do some light exercises with slow tempo like in the warm up for 5 minutes.
If this feel too much for you, you can split the 60 seconds in a half and do the same with 2 minutes, so each interval will be 1.5 minutes.
- Interval cardio workout routine
WEEK 1-4
3 intervals, 3 times a week (19min)
WEEK 5-8
4 intervals, 4 times a week (22min)
WEEK 9-12
5 intervals, 4 times a week (25min)
WEEK 13-16
6 intervals, 5 times a week (28min)
*Each intervals include warm-up/end-workout
Summary
Now you know, what is the best cardio workout routine for quick fat loss and the huge benefits of intensive cardio and strength training, you are now ready to take it into action.
I know, because it works for me and for many people regardless of the approach. The only thing what matters, is to make it suitable for you. If you are starter, start with a little and
then gradually increase the amount of stress, tempo, training days, training time. Do whatever you can to make it suitable for you only! It could takes no more than 2 weeks.
There are many thinks that affect to the results, how much fat you could lose. Sometimes even the best strength training routine and cardio exercise routines won't guarantee the results you could dream of in a long-term. Although this is one of the best method to burn fat through exercises and gain lean muscle effectively in a short time, but if you fail with your diet, the entire system will crash down in a matter of days.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/960035
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