QUICK & DIRTY UPPER BODY “INTERVAL” WORKOUT Equipment: A pull-up bar A p

QUICK & DIRTY UPPER BODY “INTERVAL” WORKOUT Equipment: A pull-up bar A pair of dumbbells A bench (optional - you can also perform the below chest presses on the floor, which is actually advised as an accessory modification to your standard bench/chest press movement) Your grit Last Sunday, I arrived home at 11:02AM and had to meet my parents for brunch 15 minutes away by 12PM. I wanted to enjoy some carbs at brunch, so I decided to get in a quick workout beforehand so my body would be primed for fat burning going into the meal. So, I hauled my iHome down to our basement home gym, threw on some Busta and got busy, barefoot (my favorite way to work out), with this: Pull-ups to failure, switching between pronated (overhand) and supinated (underhand) grips between reps Dumbbell chest press, 12 reps with 25 lb dumbbells (I chose this weight because it didn’t present a super challenge, but it didn’t feel like a feather. A comfortable weight, maybe 40% of my 1 rep max.) Push-ups to failure, narrow stance Sprint up stairs, walk back down and rest before starting pull-ups again Repeated 4x through. Rest times: I completed all exercises all the way through without resting. I rested between sets until I could give it my all again. I subscribe to Metabolic Effect’s “go until you can’t, rest until you can” mantra when it comes to interval-style training. The methodology: I wanted a 20-min max duration for the workout. That meant I needed to hit whatever area I was working on as hard as possible in minimal time. That’s why I chose to work to failure on the pull-ups/push-ups. I wanted to hit bigger muscle groups to smack my system as forcefully as possible. The legs and back muscles are the largest muscle groups in the body, but I’d just trained legs the day before so I decided to do a push/pull style workout to smoke my top half. I placed the pull-ups first because they’re the most challenging exercise I was attempting so I wanted to give them max energy. Pull-ups also provide a great stretch for the upper body, so they were a good exercise to “re-set” my muscles with between sets. I performed the dumbbell chest press right before the push-ups because the press is a stabilized exercise while push-ups are more destabilized. By hitting the pecs in a more controlled environment first then following up with push-ups, I truly taxed the muscles and was able to work on my stabilization endurance. I chose to do push-ups because they’re a total body exercise and therefore a lot of bang-for-your-buck. I didn’t time the workout, but I think it took me around 15 mins. I should say that I was already stretched and limber from doing yoga before starting, so you’ll need to take at least 5 minutes to warm up beforehand. Because I shower in under 3 minutes regardless of the situation, I made it to my brunch on time. I was famished upon arrival and destroyed some eggs atop a bed of pudding made of butternut squash, caramelized onions, egg and thyme. Quick and dirty indeed. Happy lifting… love and light, V -- source link

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