Summer officially starts two weeks from today!
That means it’s time for graduation parties, traveling, sporting events, grilling, transporting kids everywhere, outdoor hobbies, and a bunch of other activities that will make it feel like you don’t have enough time to get to the gym (even if the gym where you train is in your own basement).
Now my first friendly admonishment is that we should all be prioritizing our own health and fitness and, subsequently, scheduling time to train and progress towards our individual goals.
But lets face it, life isn’t always so simple and accommodating.
So for those times this summer when your schedule is stacked against you, here are three short & simple workouts that don’t require any special equipment and which can actually be done while enjoying a bit of fresh air.
FAIR WARNING #1: Don’t confuse “short & simple” with “short & easy” or “short & minimally effective“. All of these sessions are more challenging than what they appear on paper. And while doing them as one-off sessions won’t produce any magical benefits other than helping you maintain your current fitness levels—if you consider that to be magical—choosing any individual session and adding it to your training regimen once or twice per week throughout summer will produce noticeable improvements to your strength and conditioning as time progresses.
FAIR WARNING #2: Make sure to warm up a little bit prior to doing either of the first two options. Fast movement produces a lot of physiological benefits. But it can also produce some rather annoying “tweaks” or injuries if your joints are stiff, your muscles are inflexible, or you haven’t really performed any type of semi-fast movement recently. If you’ve been training for awhile, you probably have a reasonably good idea of how to warm up for these sessions. If that doesn’t describe you, start out with Option 3 (which doesn’t really require any special warm-ups) and email me for warm-up ideas when you feel ready to tackle Options 1 or 2.
Option 1
After warming up (← I can’t emphasize that enough), sprint for 10 seconds and then walk slowly or shake out the tension in your legs for 50 seconds. Repeat for 2-5 sets before taking a longer rest of 2-5 minutes. The rest at the end does not have to match the number of sets/sprints that you completed. This is one series (i.e. 4-10 minutes). Repeat for a total of 2-5 series.
For the best results, mark the distance that you travel during the first 10-second sprint. Start the resting part of the series—that’s the 2-5 minutes at the end—if the distance that you travel during any single set drops significantly from the first set of the day. Stop for the day if the distance that you travel on the first set of any subsequent series drops significantly from the first set of the day.
Again, if you’re thinking that this doesn’t look particularly challenging, notice the ridiculous emphasis on the word sprint. That doesn’t mean “jog kind of fast” or “run like you’re trying to catch the ice cream truck” (for your kid’s benefit, of course).
It means use a “stride out like you’re trying to escape from a starving lion and can feel his breath on the back of your neck” type of pace. If you haven’t run that fast since you were a kid yourself or haven’t done so for a sustained 10 seconds or for 2-5 sets on a 50-second rest… Well, enjoy (after making sure to warm up)! 😁😈
Option 2
Choose an exercise that can be done powerfully (again, after an appropriate warm-up). If you have no special equipment, I’d suggest that the best option would be Burpees (i.e. a squat + push-up + two-legged jump). If you have a relatively heavy kettlebell available, Swings, Snatches, or Jerks would also be good choices.
Perform 1-4 reps (3-10 seconds’ worth of work) every 30 seconds until one of the following four events occurs:
- Your technique falters or you start to “feel the burn”.
- You fail the “talk test”. I’ll save the longer explanation for another time. For now, you’re good to continue if you can recite The Pledge or sing Happy Birthday on one or two breaths. But if you have to inhale every few words, you’re done!
- You run out of available time.
- You complete 60 intervals (30 minutes). If this happens, increase your reps per set by 1 the next time you do this option.
Option 3
Choose one lower body exercise (LBE) and one upper body exercise (UBE) for which you can perform at least 10 good-quality reps. Body weight options for the lower body might include squats or lunges, “naked” (i.e. without weight) single-leg deadlifts, or pistols. Body weight options for the upper body might include push-ups (with hands or feet elevated), pull-ups, or handstand push-ups.
Set a timer for 10-30 minutes or whatever you have available. Moving at a relaxed pace, perform 1 rep of the UBE, 2 reps of the LBE, and 1 “naked” get-up (see GIF below) on each arm. Then do 2 reps of the UBE, 4 reps of the LBE, and 1 naked get-up per arm. Continue to add reps to each set of UBE & LBE until you think that you won’t be able to complete the next set with good technique. Then start over. Repeat the process until the time expires.
Bonus points if you do it with a shoe or cup half-filled with water!
Putting it into practice
If you have specific fitness goals and are following a structured plan to achieve them, stick with your plan as much as possible! But if you’re interested in maintaining or generally improving your fitness this summer and are either short on time or interested in something different for a “variety day”, give one of the above options a try.
Of course, be sure to drop me a line afterward to let me know how it went!