Want Something Challenging? Try My Bodyweight Squats Muscular Endurance Challenge

Hey, it's Mike Geary from TruthAboutAbs.com 
 
I told you last week that I'd be sending you out a training challenge this week.
Well, here it is. I challenge you to try to beat my results at this little 5-minute routine. 
 You'll see my results below.
I'm sure if you've been reading my info for some time that you know I like to get creative in the training routines that I recommend trying. I think trying different training styles and routines keeps things more interesting and can be motivating if you set specific goals for certain exercises.
In fact, if you didn't already see it, one of my unique training ideas was recently featured in the popular international magazine, Muscle & Fitness Hers, Jul/Aug issue pg. 18.
So my boredom buster this week is something I just thought up recently. I set a challenge with a couple of my training partners at my gym to see who could do the most repetitions of bodyweight squats in 5 minutes. I will qualify that these are meant to be full squats all the way down to thighs parallel with the ground, not the little "half way down" squats that you see so many people doing.
You basically just keep squatting for as many reps as possible in 5-min. You only rest a couple times here and there for a few seconds if you need it to help you keep squatting.
I liked this idea because I thought it would be drastically different from the normal 3 sets of 10, 5 sets of 5, 7 sets of 3, and so on. No matter how you break it down with weighted squats, you're usually in the range of 20-40 total repetitions in a given workout.
However, with max repetition bodyweight squats in 5-minutes, your numbers easily can get up to well over 100 reps. Let me tell you... even though you're not squatting heavy weights with this unique training style, the high volume of repetitions really pumps your legs and gets you dripping with sweat. Also, if you're not used to this high volume, your legs will be in for some deep soreness for about 2-3 days afterwards.
So the results? Well, in my first attempt at 5-minute squats, I pumped out 157 reps. About a week later, I tried it again, and beat my 1st number by repping 163 squats. Then the following week, I once again beat my former scores by blasting through 169 squats.
I've set the goal that I'd like to get up to 200 squats within the 5-minute time frame. Considering that you have 300 seconds in 5-minutes, I figured 200 reps might be about at the maximum possible capacity as you really need to be repping quickly to do 200 parallel squats in 300 seconds.
Anyway, you can see that this is just one of the many quirky training challenges that I think up on a regular basis that keeps me interested and keeps things fresh. It's a good idea to pick a goal like this and work towards it for a month or two and then pick something totally different and work towards that for a month or two. This gives your body some good variety while also allowing for progression because of the short term consistency.
For example, this muscular endurance goal of 200 squats in 5-minutes is on the totally opposite end of the spectrum when compared to a different goal that I trained for last year when I was training in a pure strength mode working up to a 405-lb deadlift. Changing things up like this and training for wildly different goals at different times can really help keep you interested in your workouts.
Alright, so go ahead and give this little 5-minute squat challenge a try (remember full squats, no halvsies).
Update:  several weeks after running this article, I ended up beating my goal of 200 bodyweight squats in 5 minutes by pumping out 214 reps!  Oh my, the burn!!
Good luck!

Feel free to share this link to any friends, training partners, or family that you think might want to try this training challenge.

Mike Geary
Certified Personal Trainer
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Founder - TruthAboutAbs.com

Read More

10 Second Trick Spikes Fat Loss 9x

This 10 second exercise trick is something you can easily implement and lose fat up to 9x faster.  Most people mess this up!
by Dr. Kareem Samhouri - CSCS, HFS
Neuro Metabolic Fitness & Rehab Expert
Author of the popular program:  Abs Strength Guide

You need to know how long to rest when exercising, or you might lose most of the effect.  This drives me crazy; make sure you read to the bottom of this page so you can avoid hurting your own results.

My name is Dr. Kareem and I’m here to help you lose fat as fast as possible. 

Rest intervals are equally, if not more important, than work intervals when it comes to working out for fat loss.  This is where most people either ruin their results or risk injury while working out.  If you think about ‘intensity’ like ‘sprinting’, than you’ll realize you can only be so intense for a short period of time. 

Do you keep the same speed for an entire 100 meter dash? 

No, actually, you slow down before/around halfway.  Isn’t that crazy to think about?  In less than just 10 seconds, Olympic athletes have already started to decelerate. 

As it turns out, your fat loss workouts yield the greatest results when you stop and rest at the precise moment you notice yourself slowing down.  After this point, there are diminishing fat loss returns and increasing risk of injury. 

Rest is a suggestion when you see it in a program, not a recipe.  You need to monitor your own body in order to best understand when to rest.  Likewise, it’s equally important that you know when to return to exercise. 

Fundamentally, returning to exercise should be when your muscles feel loose again and your breathing has returned to normal.  Expect your heart rate to continue to be elevated slightly, as you’re probably still walking or moving around during your rest breaks.  Plus, you’re in a hyper-stimulated environment if you’re working out in a gym, so the increased sensory input tends to increase heart rate slightly, as well.
You see, the key to fat loss is rest. 

Think about it this way... if you don’t rest properly, you’ll never have the intensity you need to truly ‘shock’ your body into losing fat.  It’s all about hitting your body with an intensity it’s never felt before, and forcing it to change.  That’s what fat loss is all about:  evolution. 

Evolve your body into a stronger, more capable being.  Evolve your lungs into greater capacity, and evolve your heart to no longer respond to what was once ‘intense.’ 

It’s amazing to see what your body is capable of if you just push it a bit harder each time you work out.  Endurance isn’t about pushing a bit harder each time; it’s about pushing a bit longer. 

Endurance and fat loss are not the same thing.

The good news is that you can actually improve endurance by doing this form of fat loss training, but not the other way around.  In fact, it’s been suggested in various resources that 20 minutes of high-intensity physical activity can yield up to 2 hours of cardiovascular effect. 

However, 2 hours of cardio does not stand a chance of putting on muscle or burning fat rapidly.  Instead, in cardio, you’re doing wonderful things for your body, but you’re teaching it how to adapt to an increased demand over time.  In other words, you’re increasing your efficiency with exercise.  This is not necessarily good for fat loss per se...

Fat loss is NOT about increasing your efficiency with exercise; it’s about ‘shocking’ your body with exercise.  Scare the fat away :-)

Think about fat loss as exercise intensity tolerance training.  We’re increasing your VO2 max, or your maximum oxygen uptake.  By constantly pushing the envelope and going a bit harder each time, your body will adapt and let you go a level beyond.  Instead of your body adapting to keeping the same low level muscle contraction going for awhile, we’re asking it to adapt to repeated, intense demands, that are interrupted by precise rest breaks. 

Sprinters are lean.  Marathon runners are thin and in shape.  If you want to get rid of fat, be the sprinter.  Learn how to rest, and you shall gain much more intensity from your workout program.

I’ve been testing rest periods and work intervals, program sequencing of exercises to allow your body to go just a bit harder each time, and overall workout timing in order to provide you with the greatest result with the least effort.  I’ve figured out a formula that has allowed me to lose 1 pound for every 11.86 minutes of exercise I did, and it only takes 10 minutes per day. 

I’d like to share this plan with you, so I’ve prepared a video that explains everything, and it's yours FREE:

Lose 1 Pound with 12 Minutes of Exercise?  <---- [FAT LOSS FORMULA]

The worst 7 exercises to ever do!

3 Major Fat Loss Mistakes

Read More