My latest Published Mens Fitness Article, What Is Conditioning?
In this blog I’m going to help clear up what conditioning exactly is, In my most recent article published by mens fitness magazine, I talk about ‘conditioning’
Here I’m going to expand further and even provide you a few free workouts if you scroll down to the bottom, to try in your own training
The fact is, traditional cardio isn’t an efficient way of training
If you’re a busy man, like the men I coach, you want the best results in the most minimal time, this, conditioning may be the game changer for you
Conditioning is cardio, but not as you know it. It’s a hybrid of both strength & cardio that requires you to workout at a high intensity for shorter periods of time
Say goodbye to the tedious hour long workouts on the cross trainer & treadmill.
Look, there is nothing wrong with traditional cardio if you enjoy it and have time.
However, the issue with longer duration cardio is that you won’t build muscle from it. Muscle is hard to build as it is, endless running or workouts on the cross trainer won’t help this situation.
Okay, so why is conditioning better?
Conditioning will give you far more bang for the buck when you’re looking to build a lean athletic physique in a much shorter time, when done right too, it won’t give you the knee pain that endless jogging can give you leave you skinny fat, the look you often see on men who ‘run’ to keep in shape.
Conditioning can make a man look great naked. Long duration cardio won’t. So why spend more time exercising than you need to?
Conditioning can refer to several different types of exercise that will increase your strength, speed, endurance & energy levels.
My two favourites ways of performing conditioning are weight complexes & bodyweight workouts (see examples at the end).
A complex is where you pick up a barbell or dumbbell, perform several reps of an exercise, then move to another exercise, then another, and another.
If you don’t have access to the gym, you can do conditioning from home with your bodyweight in a short time. I’d recommend downloading a free ‘Tabata timer’ app from the App Store and timing your work and rest periods with this.
Fitting a conditioning workout into your routine will be much easier than traditional cardio.
The examples below can be done at the end of any workout for a fantastic full body burn out or done on their own:
And 2-3 examples of short conditioning workouts the readers can do, please.
I’d recommend performing these 1-3x a week on top of your strength training for full effect. Aim to increase weight, reps or number of rounds every couple of weeks for progression.
You can also decrease rest periods or include more exercises to progress from this.
Workout 1:
For each workout, perform three rounds with as little rest as possible between exercises.
Rest for 3 minutes after each round.
Adjust the weight to what is appropriate for your current fitness level and know-how
Workout 1:
E1: Pull Ups – 10 reps
E2: Dumbbell Deadlift – 10 reps
E3: Dumbbell Shoulder Press – 10 reps
E4: Dumbbell Bicep Curl – 10 reps
E5: Press Ups – 10 reps
Workout 2:
All you will need here is a barbell.
E1: Barbell Standing Shoulder Press – 10 reps
E2: Barbell Bent Over Row – 10 reps
E3: Barbell Deadlifts – 20 reps
E4: Barbell Lunges – 10 reps (each leg)
Workout 3:
Bodyweight
E1: Jump Squats – 20 reps
E2: Press Ups – 20 reps
E3. Reverse Lunges – 20 reps
E4: Lying Leg Raises
– 20 reps
E5: Mountain Climbers – 20 reps
If you’re looking for support to push forward to achieve your goals, with a customised programme guaranteed to hep you reach them 100x faster, please do not hesitate to reach out!