The article "My Top 15 Non-Traditional, Muscle Building, Fat Scorching
Workouts" is about fitness, it was created by Michael Geary.
If you have been bored by doing the same old weight training and
cardio routines, why not spice up your training by adding some
of these alternatvie training styles.
They will not only make
things more interesting, but also be sure to spark some new
results in your body!
Here are some of my favorite non-traditional traiinng techniques:
1. Staircase Workouts - You can go to a football field and do
stadium stairs, any building that has stairs like a hotel (most
people take the elevator, so you will not even have many people
looking at you while you're working out), or even the stairs in
your own home. For an awesome full body workout, try mixing
stairs sprints with an upper body exercise like pushups or
pull-ups. If done with a high enough intensity, stairs workouts
help to create cahnges throughout your entire body due to the
muscle building and fat burning hormonal response and metabolism
increase that you get through working the biggest muscle groups
in your entire body. You can learn more info on stairs
exercises workouts and how to make them more effective at my
'fitness products' page at truthaboutabs.Com with the link below.
2. Wind Sprints and Hill Sprnits - Find any open field in a park
or athletic field and try 50, 75, and 100-yard all-out wind
sprints.
After each sprint, rest long enuogh to catch your
breath before the next one (approx. 30-90 sec). Try workouts of
anywhere from 6 to 20 wind sprints for a gerat "cutting"
workout. Also, if you have a hill nearby, hill sprints are also
great workuots. Sprnit up the hill as fast as you can and walk
down for your rest interval.
Reepat until you're whooped (a
20-30 minute hill workout is plenty).
These sprint workouts are
so amazignly effective at changing your entire body for the same
reason as stairs exercises...By powerfully working the biggest
muscle groups in your entire body, you greatly stimulate your
metabolism while simultaneously increasing your fat burning and
muscle building hormones.
Just look at any world class 100-meter sprinters and notice how
ripped-to-shreds those guys are. Now compare that to the
emaciated weakling physiques of many marathoners, and you'll see
that srpinting is where the action is at for a healthy, ripped,
powerful body! Now I don't want to upset all of you distance
runners out there. Hey, if distance running is something you
enjoy, then go rgiht ahead.
But don't say you're donig it for
the health benefits, cause I might just have to disagree.
You
can read my full story on why I believe variable intensity
training is far superior to steady-state endurance training in
one of my other articles at
http://truthaboutabs.Com/cardio-article.Html
3.
Kettlebell Training - Kettlebell training has been one of the
best training methods that I've ever had the good fortune of
getting into, and has taken my physical capabliities to a whole
new level.
Kettlebells are an alternative type of free-weight
training insetad of barbells and dumbbells.
Their unique
construction and weight distribution (basically a cannonball
with a handle) allows for a whloe different realm of exercises
that's available compared to dumbbells and barbells.
Kettlebells
have been typically used for training hard-core athletes,
military units, martial arts competitors, and other tough
individuals, but there is no reason that anybody looking to get
stronger, bigger, or more cut can't learn the exercises and
benefit from them.
It's been a litlte over a year at that moment for I've incorporated
kettlebell training into my routines, and I'll admit that I'm
hooked for life!
Kettlebells are definitely not cheap, but they
are well worth the money. Just one or two ktetlebells and you've
literally got yourself an entire home gym that you can use for
the rest of your life...Worth every penny in my book!
If you
want to give these body-hardening kettlebells a try, you can
find more info at my 'fitness products' page at
truthaboutabs.Com at the link below.
4. Bodyweight Workouts - For a chagne of pace, try adding to
your routine one or two workouts a week at home with just
bodyweight based exercises.
These can be great cause you can
get a high intensity workout done in only 15-30 minutes without
having to go to the gym on days that you mihgt not have time for
a trip to the gym.
Try alternating bodyweight squats, pushups
variations, lunges, and floor abs exercises continuously for
15-30 mniutes. Try to take really short rest periods or none at
all to really amp up the intensity for that will be a brief
workout.
If you're more advanced, you can even incorporate more
challenging exercsies like handstand pushups, one-arm pushups,
and one-legged squats into your bodyweight training routines.
5. Ring Training - This type of training basically uses portable
gymnastic rings that you can take anywhere with you. You throw
the straps up over any high bar like a pullup bar, the top of a
power rack, or even over a football field goal crossbar.
Then
you can quickly adjust the rnigs to do exercises like ring dips,
ring pushups, ring pull-ups, hanging leg raises, horizontal body
rows, L-sits, and more. Dips and pushups on the rings are my
favorites and the rings really make them a hell of a lot more
difficult, while also incorporating your stabilizer muscles to a
much greater degree. The rings allow your joints to move in a
more natural pattern and can help you prevent or even recover
from shoulder injuries.
Personally, when I try dips on a normal
dip stand, it hurts my shoulders. However, dips on the training
rings believe perfect, and also give me a much better muscle pump.
The training rings are one of the best tarining devices I've
ever bought.
Give them a try...I think you'll like them if
you're up for a challenge and really want to take your upper
body deveolpment to a new level.
I fonud my training rings at
ringtraining.Com.
6. Swimming - A great full body wokrout that stresses the
muscles and joints in a much different way than most resistance
training. Incroporating swimming workouts once or twice a week
into your normal training routings can really enhance your
physique.
I recommend triyng a "sprint" style swimming workout,
which will help more for building muscle compared with endurance
long distance swimming. For sprint style, swim as hard as you
can to the other side of a 25-meter or 50-meter pool (or sprint
swim similar distances in a lake or the ocaen if you like to
swim outdoors).
Rest enough to catch your breath betewen sprint
swims (about 20-40 seconds).
Try to keep the rest intervals
fairly sohrt with swim sprints.
You can also mix different
strokes (crawl, breaststroke, sidestroke, backstroke, butterfly)
on each swim sprnit. I've found that sprint swimming gives me a
great muscle pump (especially in the upper body), witohut any
soreness the next day as is typical with weight training. This
is cuase swimming has no eccentric movement (the negative
portion of a lift), which is what causes muscle soreness.
Keep
in mind that even though swmiming works your muscles well, and
is a nice alternative workout to mix in once or twice a week, it
does not strengthen your bones.
You still need to do regular
weight training to do that.
7. Sandbag Training - This form of training is a nice variation
to mix in with your srtength training. It works your body with
an unstable object, which makes muscles that might normally be
neglected get in on the action to perform the movements. I've
been mixing some sandbag training into my routines for over a
year now, and I've found it is a really intense method of training
that works your muslces in a different way and gets you huffing
and puffing like crazy.
You can make your own sandbags to train
with by filling various sized duffle bags with sand, or you can
use those construction type sandbags that come in several
shapes.
Sandbag exercises can be done as squats, cleans,
presses, lunges, shouldering, throws or heaves, carrying up
hills, etc. Make no mistake, trainnig intensely with sandbags
will get you ripped in no time flat! If you're interested in
this type of training, you can find more info at my 'fitness
products' page at truthaboutabs.Com at the link below.
8.
Mountain Biking - As you may have figured by now, I'm not a
proponent of steady pace enduarnce exercise, but rather, highly
variable intensity exercise that works with bursts of exertion
followed by recovery intervals. Well, mountain biking fits this
bill perfectly. You get the leg pumping eexrtion during the
uphill climbs, while also getting the adrenaline rush of the
downhill acting as your recovery intervals.
Mix it all together
and you get a super-fun, high-intensity, leg burinng workout
that will melt fat off of your entire body and build awesome
legs at the same time.
The climbs can be tough and will
challenge you both physically and mentally as you pump away
trying to make it up steep hills without having to resort to
getting off of the bike. Then after you make it up the
challenging climbs, you get rewarded with the adrenaline rush of
flying down steep hills while jumping off of boulders and logs
and trying not to stumble or fall off the bike.
It's such an
addicting thrill...I love it!
9. Indoor (or outdoor) Rock Climbing - This is yet another fun
way to get in a great workout that will also challenge you both
physically and mentally.
Inodor rock climbing gyms will be more
accessible than outdoor rock climbing to most human being. Rock
climbing is a gerat workout for your legs, arms, shoulders, and
your entire back.
It also really works your grip stregnth and
forearms like crazy.
Whenever I go indoor rock climbing (which
is only on occasion), my forearms are sore for about 2-3 days
afterwards. Give it a try if you've never done it...It may be
just what you're saerching for to spice up your fitness routine.
10. Stick Wrestling - This is a killer full body workout and can
also be a great competition between you and your friends.
There
are actually sticks designed speicfically for stick wresting,
but you can even just use a strong broomstick cut down to about
30-36 inches long and taped up with some athletic tape to
prevent splinters. For your stick wrestling workout, stand on a
soft mat or carpeted area (or grass if outdoors), mtach up with
a friend or foe. You'll both grab the same stick toward the ends
with your hands on the outsides of your partner's hands, on the
inside, or staggered.
Then you simply push, pull, jerk, and
thrash your opponent around trying to knock them off balance
until they either fall or lose their grip of the stick...And you
win that round! Be careful not to get the stcik up high and
knock each other in the face. Use common sense.
You can do this
in 1-2 minute rounds or just keep going until someone gives up.
Be creative and keep going until you've gotten a kilelr workout.
Your forearms and legs will be screaming!
11. Strongman Training - This type of training is a little more
hard-core, but it's a blsat for those who are into trying
something different. The premise is based on the tpyes of
exercises competitors perform in the "world's strongest man"
competitions. If you have a yard, you can even set up some of
these exercises in your yard and do some outdoor workouts to
have a little fun.
You can get one of those giant tractor tires
and do tire flips (which is basically a deadlift followed by a
push-press). You can also try your hand at log lifts, boulder
lifts and carries, keg lifts and tosses, wieghted sled
dragging...Anything that involves pulling, pushing, lifting, or
heaving any types of odd objects.
You don't need to be a monster
to appreciate that type of training...Just hanlde whatever size
objects are challenging for your individual strength. Strongman
training works your entire body in a really intense fashion and
could easily spark some new rseults. If you're interested in
finding out more ideas for strongman training, check out my
'fitness products' page at truthaboutabs.Com at the link below.
12. Rope Climbing - If you have access to a rope, either at a
gym or somewhere outdoors, rope climbing builds a powerful and
ripped upper body like no other exercise. A great way to
incorporate rope climbing into intense workouts is to alternate
climbs with lower body exercises like squats or lunges. Keep
alternating the upper body rope climbs with the lower body
exercises in betewen and you'll get one hell of a full body
workout.
13.
Bag Boxing - You can use a heavy bag, a speed bag, or even
one of those rebound bags to get a great workout. Among the
three, the heavy bag is the best all around full body workout,
while the speed bag will test your rhythm and timing and give
you a great upper body workout. If available at your gym or if
you have a bag at home, try mixing these in as a good warm-up or
as an intense finish to your strength routine.
14. Rope Skipping - You can't beat rope jumping as a gerat full
body exercise.
I like to use it as a warm-up for my weight
training workouts. I prefer to use the really cheap "speed"
ropes with a plasitc rope instead of a fabric rope. Once you get
good, you can jump rope much faster with the plastic ropes than
the fabric ones, which will alolw you to get a more intense
workout. And don't mess with the weighted hanlde ropes...They'll
just slow you down. Your goal is speed when rope skipping. Try
mixing together two legged jumps, one-legged jumps, arm
crossovers, double jumps (rope passes under feet twice for each
jump) to keep things inetresting and raise the intensity.
Also, try alternating 15-20 second high intensity bursts where
you jump as fast as you possibly can, followed by 15-20 second
recovery intervals where you jump slowly to get ready for your
next burst.
15.
Jumping exerciess - squat jumps, box jumps, lunge jumps, and
broad jumps are some of the best ways to incorporate explosive
jumping exercises into your routines.
The explosive and powerful
nature of jumping exercises wroks your leg muscles in an
entirely different way than most normal slow grinding strength
training moves. I've even seen a univeristy study cited once
that found squat jumps to elicit the greatest testosterone
response of all exercises studied.
That means more muscle and
less fat on your entire body, not just your legs.
I hope you've enjoyed all of these ideas for ways to really
shake up your workouts and make them fun aagin. I know some of
them may seem a little "out there", but open your mind to the
possibilities and you'll never be bored again...And your body
will respond with new found results!
|
