Want to attack your lungs, lats, legs, and chest in one go? Give this circuit, courtesy of training Don Saladino, NASM and Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S, a whirl.
This workout is basically a jacked-up version of CrossFit workout Cindy—a 20-minute AMRAP of 5 pullups, 10 pushups, and 15 air squats. For their version, you’ll still start with 5 pull-ups and 10 pushups. But the squat reps are cut down to 10, and you’ll tack on 30 seconds of rowing to the end of each round. Rather than going for 20 minutes nonstop, you’ll race the clock, completing 10 rounds for time.
“This will make you strong, this will burn a boatload of body fat,” says Saladino. “And you will be able to do this, hopefully, within 15 minutes.” All you need is a rower and a pullup bar, so set up your station and get after it.
When you jump up to the pullup bar to kick things off, Saladino says, “keep your back flat [and] dorsiflex those feet.”
Finish your reps, then immediately “get into a plank position, engage those lasts, engage those glutes,” Saladino says, then crank out 10 pushups. In the video, you’ll notice Samuel, who’s demoing the workout, keeps his elbows tucked tight to his ribcage. Saladino notes that position will make things a little more difficult—we recommend that you do the same.
Hop up, stand with your feet hips-width apart, “turn [your] toes out a little bit, and sit into the hole 10 times,” says Saladino. Your squat depth might be limited by your hip and ankle mobility. If you can break parallel with your hips, as Samuel does in the video, do. But if sitting that low causes your chest to cave forward, heels or toes to completely leave the ground, or pain, go down only as low as you can.
Finish off the round of the circuit with 30 seconds on the rower. For some rowing form tips, check out this helpful guide.
Samuels really lets it rip on the rower, so you’ll notice that he’s out of breath when he finishes the session. Your move: Pick a pace that’s challenging, but that you’ll be able to maintain throughout the whole workout. Remember, you’ve got nine rounds left.
According to Saladino, there are two main objectives of this workout. First, “take as little rest as possible,” between movements.
Second, don’t worry too much about staying consistent between rounds. You’ll take longer to finish round 10 than round one, and the rower will get tougher as you fatigue even though you’ll be working for 30 seconds each time. If you start struggling to finish the pullups and pushups, cut down the reps so that you can finish with proper form.
While Saladino doesn’t mention how often you should repeat this workout, we recommend that you don’t do this every day, limiting yourself to once or twice a week, tops. Add it to the mix when you’re ready to push your conditioning and test yourself. “In time you’ll get faster with your time and improve your reps if your reps fell off,” he says.
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