Home Workout #34: Hellacious HIIT

Only 20 minutes!

Today's workout was written by YOU!

Less is More!

Many of you write to me boasting you do my workouts for longer than the amount of time I prescribe. This concerns me. Keep reading...

If you extend your workouts, then you will compromise your intensity. INTENSITY is the key to reaping the benefits of metabolic training. Here's why:

• You won't be able to maintain the intensity for that long. SHORT BURSTS of INTENSITY will get you the results you want. Bonus rounds of pseudo-intensity will not.

These "bonus rounds" are setting you up for failure. Here is why.

• Few people have time to devote to longer duration daily training 365 days a year.
• You are teaching your body to adapt to longer duration training, which means you will now have to exercise this long on a daily basis just to maintain your weight. The moment you decide to scale back on training, BAM, you gain weight. This is what happened to me in 2012. I was training 2-3 hours a day and sustained metabolic slowdown (Yes, this is an extreme example, but you get the idea).
• This is the goal: YOU WANT TO BE TRAINING FOR THE LEAST AMOUNT OF TIME POSSIBLE and EATING THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF CALORIES POSSIBLE WHILE STILL LOSING FAT OR MAINTAINING YOUR GOAL WEIGHT. Why make this harder than necessary? I am still losing fat doing anywhere from 4 to 30 minutes of training a day. I NEVER train more than 30 minutes/day. Why sabotage a good thing? My life is busy. So is yours. Who has time for "bonus rounds" 365 days a year? Take my advice: don't let exercise interfere with your schedule. So be smart and keep it endurable if you want to have success with training and dieting 365 days a year. Don't make it a chore and stop trying to rush fat loss. If you rush it, you won't get results that you can maintain with an endurable regime. I look lean as hell 365 days a year because my regime is EASY & QUICK. I don't have to restrict my calories and I don't have to train more than 30 minutes a day. That, my friends, is the secret. So be patient and be intelligent with your approach. It's important to never dread a training session. So keep them short & intense!
• So, when I say do a 4-minute Tabata, make it the worst 4 minutes of your life. If you have energy to do another 4 minutes, then you didn't do the true definition of Tabata. Be INTENSE!

Equipment Required:

• A Gymboss Timer
• Shock-absorbing surface, such as interlocking floor mats.
• A Kettlebell (I used a 25 pound KB)
• A Dr. Sara Solomon Cross Speed Jump Rope by Buddy Lee Jump Ropes. It’s portable and inexpensive. I always travel with mine!

Always a Must!

• Read my workout rules before you begin!

Drink your BCAAs!

Stay hydrated with water.

• I like to add BCAAs. Click here to read why.

This circuit consists of 10 different exercises. Perform the circuit 1 time if you are a beginner. This will take about 10 minutes. If you are not a beginner, then do it 2 times for ~ 20 minutes. You have to hustle between exercises. Keep it mega-INTENSE!

1. Daniela: 10 Burpees with Twisting Pistons
2. Dina: 10 Mountain Climbers
3. Adeline: 60 sec Starfish Plank
4. Brandon: 21's with sumo squats (I used a 25 lb kettlebell)
5. Krystal: 20 KB swings (alternating arms). I used a 25 lb kettlebell)
6. Lauren: Jump Squats
7. Cindy: 60 sec Wall Sit
8. Elsie: 60 sec Jump Rope (bounce step)
9. Roxanne: Single Leg Deadlifts - 10 R leg, 10 L leg (I used a 25 lb kettle bell)
10. Jared: 10 Push-ups

Do the workout with me. Just click on the video.