by John Baker
Conditioning is vital to the success of any body re-composition and fat-loss program. A well-planned program does it’s best to take everything into account, especially frequency of conditioning sessions. However, sometimes you cannot predict the weather, both literally and metaphorically, and you are forced to adapt your conditioning on the fly. Here are 3 of the best ways in which you can do that:
- Tabata:
Tabata utilizes short bursts of very high intensity, big bang for your buck movements. A typical tabata workout last only 4-8 minutes, but packs a big conditioning punch. To structure a workout simply pick 1-4 large compound movements such as squat jumps, push-ups, lunge jumps, or mountain climbers to name a few. Then, do that movement with as much intensity as you can for 20 seconds, rest 10, and repeat for the selected duration. The important thing to remember here is the effectiveness of tabata lies within the intent and level of effort. - 6 Minute Burner:
Here is a 6 minute total body workout that requires you to pick either 3, or 6 movements – 1-2 upper body, 1-2 lower body, 1-2 core. This method dictates that you do each selected movement for a full minute and immediately go right into the next movement. The order should go lower body movement, upper body movement, and then a core movement. A sample workout could be jump squats, push-ups, mountain climbers, lunge jumps, inverted rows, shoulder taps. - Sprints:
There aren’t many things more efficient for conditioning than simply sprinting. It requires no equipment and can be done anywhere depending on what you have available to you. You can do sprints outside your house on the street, up and down a flight of stairs in your house, or even stationary doing wall sprints anywhere you have an immobile surface. Sprinting can be done for time or distance. For example, you can sprint for 30 seconds and rest for 30 seconds, or you can sprint 100 yards, walk 20 yards, and repeat.
Just because you can’t get to the gym to do your conditioning as you may have intended, doesn’t mean you can’t do some conditioning anyways. Utilize the methods above, or extrapolate upon them. There are no excuses, if you are creative, utilize the resources available, and work as hard as you can, you can get a good conditioning workout in.