This week I'm going to talk about diversity. Not the breakdancing guys who won Britain's Got Talent a couple of years back but in my workouts, particularly the legs and abs workout in the above video.
The thing I really like about training with my PT Dave Fletcher is that he always surprises me with new moves. I've been training for about eight or nine years and feel like I've tried a lot of exercises and workout formats, but he always makes me feel as if there's a lot more out there to try. That's one of the reasons I remain hooked on working out.
Take this routinem for example. It involves three pieces of kit I'd never used before I trained with Dave – Olympic rings (OK, I'd messed around on them trying, and failing, to do muscle-ups but I'd never used them in a workout), Dyna-bands and arm slings.
We use the Olympic rings for rollouts in place of a barbell. It's more challenging because they're less stable than a barbell rolled along the floor. This means your abs have to work harder to stop you falling on your face.
We use the Dyna-bands for explosive oblique twists. These are basically souped-up resistance bands that let me do functional, high-volume reps, which will help me make more powerful movements when I'm snowboarding, surfing or competing in a triathlon.
The arm slings are for the hanging straight-leg raises. When you get tired, there's a tendency to use your arms to power the move, but these keep it strictly core-based.
I hope you have these bits of kit in your gym because as well as making this workout super-effective, they also make it fun. If not, use a barbell instead of the rings for the rollouts, a resistance band for the explosive oblique twists and just do normal hanging straight leg raises.
In case you missed it in the last two blogs, here's the workout and nutrition advice I'm following. If you're using them I hope they're working out for you. My body fat has dropped from 10.5% to 10.1% this week, which means I'm getting close to as lean as I've ever been. Exciting!
Weeks 1-4 workouts
In each superset, do six reps of the first move, then 12 of the next. Repeat this three times with no rest, then rest for two minutes before repeating.
Move on to the next superset until you've got through the workout. If the move requires you to work each side independently, do half the reps on one side and half on the other.
Tempo - 3010 (the eccentric contractions should take three seconds so they recruit more fast-twitch muscle fibres)
Day 1 - Chest and back
Superset 1
Barbell bench press, gym ball press-up push
Superset 2
Jumping chin-up knee raise, dumbbell lateral shoulder raise
Superset 3
Power press-up, dumbbell explosive turn and press
Superset 4
Dumbbell press-up row, inverted row
Day 2 - Interval training
10x10sec hill sprints (10sec rest between sets)
5x30sec runs (60sec rest between sets)
3x60sec runs (90sec rest between sets)
Day 3 - Rest day
Day 4 - legs and abs
Superset 1
Barbell deadlift, explosive lunge chop
Superset 2
Bodyweight roll-out, explosive oblique twist (band)
Superset 3
One-leg assisted squat jump, dumbbell lunge jump
Superset 4
Hanging straight leg raise, gym ball forearm roll-out
Day 5 - kickboxing*
2x3min rounds (90sec rest between sets)
3x2 minute rounds (60sec rest between sets)
4x1 minute rounds (30sec rest between sets)
5x30sec rounds (15sec rest between sets)6x15sec rounds (10sec rest between sets)
*If you can't do this for whatever reason do treadmill or rowing intervals
Treadmill - adjust the incline to 5˚
3min run, 1min walk
2min run, 1min walk
1min run, 1min walk
Rest for 3 minutes and then repeat
Rower
10x50m sprint, aiming to complete each in under 10sec, with a 20sec rest between sprints.
Day 6 - Rest day
Day 7 - Legs and arms
Superset 1
Barbell stiff-leg deadlift, gym ball hamstring curl
Superset 2
Explosive dip, dumbbell biceps curl
Superset 3
Dumbbell lateral lunge jump, box jump
Superset 4
Dumbbell shoulder turn and press, dyna-band biceps curl
Click here to see week four of Nick's mission to get ripped.
For more from Nick Hutchings, fan him on facebook
For more on Sharmain Davis, go to maxitone.com/asktheexperts
For more on Dave Fletcher, go to theodysseyway.co.uk
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