A Quick Shape-up for Survival Routine !

[pitdog]

A key to survival is always going to be physical fitness, obviously other factors come into play but if your way outta shape when the SHTF then your going to be at a disadvantage right from the get go !

With that in mind I thought I'd share one of my favourite methods of shaping up quickly without spending hours in a gym.

What I do is use weighted exercises to a Tabata timer. My standard workout is 8 sets each lasting 20 seconds with a 10 second rest between each one.

The best exercises to use are compound exercises such as Squats, Push-ups, stiff legged deadlifts, sit-ups etc, I also do some multi movement exercises such as stiff legged deadlift with a barbell row in each rep.

I will warn you now that these routines although short are super tough as the sets go on so don't try using heavy weights.

After an 8 set Tabata routine I might throw in a few more sets of a different exercise for that bodypart but you definitely won't need to add many especially if you pushed hard.

Here is a Tabata timer I found, give it a go to something like push-ups or sit-ups and let me know if you like it !

http://tabatatimer.com/

 

[Joezilla]

I'm big on plyometric stuff right now....I'll see what this is about and try it out in some of my classes. It seems to coincide with kettlebell mentality for some of the workouts I teach, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. Horray torture!

 

[pitdog]

I'm big on plyometric stuff right now....I'll see what this is about and try it out in some of my classes. It seems to coincide with kettlebell mentality for some of the workouts I teach, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. Horray torture!

Oh man...Kettle bells + Tabatta= Torture for sure !:thumbup:

 

[Mike157]

I second the Tabata motion. Great high intensity workouts in short amounts of time. The Tabata intervals can be used with just about any exercise. Some of my favorites are wall-ball (throwing a medicine ball eight to ten feet up a wall, catching it as one squats then immediately standing and throwing again), slam ball (slamming a weighted non-bouncing ball to the ground as one squats, lifting it back up and overhead as one stands, then repeat), jumping burpees with a push-up included, jump rope, and various Bulgarian training bag exercises. The barbell exercises are great also. I've been doing some Cross-Fit type training lately and some of the traditional Olympic barbell exercises fit very well. A slight variation, if you're into sprint work, is (warm up first) 30 seconds all out sprint then 90 seconds coast to get the heart rate back to a reasonable range - repeat 8 times. If you're consistent, you'll be surprised how fast these types of workouts will get you into better shape. Not to be done every day. Work up to full intensity as your conditioning and health allow. Mike

 

[pitdog]

I second the Tabata motion. Great high intensity workouts in short amounts of time. The Tabata intervals can be used with just about any exercise. Some of my favorites are wall-ball (throwing a medicine ball eight to ten feet up a wall, catching it as one squats then immediately standing and throwing again), slam ball (slamming a weighted non-bouncing ball to the ground as one squats, lifting it back up and overhead as one stands, then repeat), jumping burpees with a push-up included, jump rope, and various Bulgarian training bag exercises. The barbell exercises are great also. I've been doing some Cross-Fit type training lately and some of the traditional Olympic barbell exercises fit very well. A slight variation, if you're into sprint work, is (warm up first) 30 seconds all out sprint then 90 seconds coast to get the heart rate back to a reasonable range - repeat 8 times. If you're consistent, you'll be surprised how fast these types of workouts will get you into better shape. Not to be done every day. Work up to full intensity as your conditioning and health allow. Mike

Wall ball is a great exercise, on the rare occasions when I go to our local gym me and wife always do some sets of wall ball.

 

[Brad "the butcher"]

Been doing "quickie" workouts for years similar to the tabata. When I don't bother with the gym this gets done 2 or 3 times in a day.
30lb dumbells - 10 reps of squat-curl-overheadpress all fluid without stopping, then 25 pushups with the "perfect pushup" swivel handles- 30 second break then the second set and a little stretching.
I do this when I get up and later in the evening.
Just doing this I can stay in reasonably good shape, will have to try the tabata way with the timer.