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Upper Body Partner Workout
If I told you to do 10 push-ups, 10 push-presses and 10 Dips, you probably would go at a comfortable pace. BUT, if I told you to do 10 push-ups, 10 push-presses and 10 Dips while I waited for you in plank position (and I couldn’t rest until you were done), you’d probably be more motivated to pick up the pace so you could give me some relief. This is the idea behind partner workouts like this.
Accountability increases intensity. If I can’t rest until my partner is finished, my partner is a lot more motivated to perform the exercises as quickly as possible. It’s one thing to slack, and punish yourself, but it’s totally a different animal to slack and punish someone else. This is why I do a lot of partner type exercises in BCx Boot Camp because it makes everyone work harder and faster.
The Workout
Here is a quick fun circuit you can do with a partner, to boost intensity and results.
Tools Needed:
Dumbbells, Barbell or Sandbag
Exercises in the Workout:
Click on the links to watch video instruction for each exercise
Push-up
Push-press
Dips or Modified Dips
Plank (hands, not elbows)
No rest between rounds – go straight from exercises to plank, and from plank to exercises. Time yourself to add even more intensity and accountability.
5 Surprising Fitness Tools You May Already Have
You don’t have to have expensive weight equipment to workout. There are many household items you can use for added resistance in a home workout routine. Here are 5 household items that can enhance your fitness program.
1. A Gallon of Water
One gallon of water weighs 8.33lbs. Pick up 2 gallons and you instantly have a set of eight-pound dumbbells. Exercising with two gallons of water not only adds 16lbs to your workout routine, but it also challenges your balance as the weight of the water shifts around with each you movement. Since you can pick up a gallon of water anywhere, getting familiar with working with water gallons can give you more options when on the road or away from the gym.
2. Stair Step
Athletes have used stair steps for cardio and conditioning training for years. Running stadium steps proved to tone the legs and glutes, burn a ton of calories and challenge the heart and lunges like no other exercise. Even if you don’t have a few flights of stairs available, you can do a lot with just a single step. Performing a Step up lunge on one leg, for 15-20 repetitions each, is great for toning the glutes and thighs.Box jumps can be performed on a stair step to increase power production, as well as READ MORE…
Leg & Butt Toning Circuit
You can do this workout with no weight, or with weight. Our boot campers did this workout with sandbags, but it would be great with dumbbells, kettlebells or a weighted bar.
INSTRUCTIONS: Take as little rest as possible (no rest is best for fat burning and toning). Go as deep as you can go on your squats and lunges – the deeper you go, the more inner thigh and glute action you will get, especially on the squats. If you can’t go deep with weight, then lighten your weight or use no weight at all. Use a mirror to watch how low you actually go. If you don’t have knee issues, try to get the same depth as the guy in the photo below – and feel the difference!!
LEG & BUTT CIRCUIT
3-Position Squat
- 10 Close Stance Squat
- 10 regular stance
- 10 Wide stance
60-Second Walking Lunges
60-Second Wall Sits
Repeat circuit with no rest for 3 rounds.
TRAINING TIPS: Notice his hips are BELOW parallel. If you want some serious buns, the deeper you go the better, as long as your knees don’t hurt and your form isn’t compromised. As soon as you feel that your back is bending, or your butt is tucking under (which we call “winking”), you know you’ve gone too deep, or you have range of motion limitations due to weak or tight muscles. The more you practice deep squats, the better your range of motion will be, simply from loosening up your hips, and getting more flexible and strong. 
Prime Bodyweight Workout
No weights? No problem. This insane workout only uses your own body weight to train your entire body and burn a ton of calories in one short sweatfest. The whole idea is to do this workout as quickly as you can. This means, take as little rest as possible throughout the entire workout. Time yourself for added accountability or race a friend.
Click on the exercise to view video demonstration:
- Squat Thrust
- Push-up
- T-plank (left & right)
- Squat Thrust
- Tuck Jumps
6 Total Rounds:
- 1 x = 1 rep each
- 2 x = 2 reps each
- 3 x = 3 reps each
- 4 x = 5 reps each
- 5 x = 7 reps each
- 11 x = 11 reps each
Smokin’ Shoulders Workout
This is a great workout that will sculpt your shoulders, while also toning the glutes, legs and core – AND burn a bunch of calories! UNLESS….
This workout will be extremely effective UNLESS you rest between sets and rounds. The goal for this workout is to try to keep going, back to back, through the whole workout. Turn up the effort even more by turning up the weight. For the best results, I recommend timing yourself for the whole workout. Then repeat the workout next week, and time yourself again. Compare your times to hold yourself accountable and push yourself into one effective conditioning, body-toning zone!
CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE VIDEO DEMONSTRATION:
10 Push-presses
10 Thrusters
10 Dumbbell Lateral Raise
10 2-Count Mountain Climber
Repeat 5 Times
1 Workout, 3 Exercises, 5 Rounds, 100% Awesome!
This was one of the segments we did on LiveXFit at LiveExercise last week. It doesn’t require a lot of resistance to really get great results either! Here’s the scoop…
Goal: Sculpt the glutes, legs, core and shoulders. The burpees continue to keep the legs warm, while getting the heart rate up and burning more calories.
Tools: You can use a band, pipe, bar, broomstick or whatever you want! I used a bodylastics band and Steve used a broom. At the gym, I use an olympic bar, but you can even use dumbbells (however I prefer using bars or bands to keep the body connected).
The Lower Body Blitz:
- 10 OVERHEAD SQUATS
- 10 OVERHEAD STEPBACK LUNGES
- 10 BURPEES
REPEAT 5 ROUNDS
- OR add 3 round to your existing weight routine.
How-To
Overhead Squat:
Notice arms stay overhead (they don’t drop down in front of the face or body). Go as low as you can go while maintaining a straight back. Push with heels and keep arms locked out overhead during entire movement.
Overhead Stepback Lunges:
If you like this workout, or the sample workout they offer on the site, sign up for a free 2 week trial! they have thousands of different shows to choose from for super cheap if you decide you like it!
Jog, Run, Sprint Full Body Workout
FitFluential LLC compensated me for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Strengthen your entire body, as well as burn a load of calories too with this full body conditioning and cardio workout.
Tools: Dumbbells, Kettlebells, Plate Weights, sandbag, concrete block or other heavy object, and space for a 50 meter run.
15 Mountain Climbers
50-Meter JOG
15 Burpees
50-meter RUN
15 Push Press
50-Meter SPRINT
REPEAT 5 X
Watch this instruction video for more information:
This workout is one of the Savage Race workouts designed for mud run training, offered at DesignerWhey.com.
Total Body Workout
Most likely, you will be so overwhelmed with how hard your heart is beating to notice that this workout is killing your legs, glutes, shoulders, traps and core – but you WILL notice plenty tomorrow.
Click on the links to see video instruction for each exercise.
Tools Needed: Dumbbells, Kettlebell, Olympic bar & plates.
10 Clean and Jerks (Bar or DB)
10 Kettlebell Swings (Kettlebell or DB)
10 Vertical Snatches Right* (Kettlebell or DB)
10 Vertical Snatches Left* (Kettlebell or DB)
10 Step Up 1-Arm Shoulder Press Right** (Kettlebell or DB)
10 Step Up 1-Arm Shoulder Press Left** (Kettlebell or DB)
X 4
I did 65lbs (45lb bar + 20lbs) for the clean and jerks, 25lb kettlebell, 15lb snatches and 10lb shoulder press. Try to take as little rest as possible. The heavier the weight, the more rest you’ll have to take to simply not pass out! ha! My goal was toning and cardio, so I stayed with all moderate weight. Have fun!
*Traditional kettlebell snatches are more like a swing, into the overhead position. A vertical snatch keeps the kettlebell close to the body and uses more glutes and legs (almost like you are cleaning it first. The kettlebell returns to the floor in the vertical snatch, where the traditional snatch only goes right below the hips.
**I step up and press with the same arm (unlike the instructional video) I had a hard time finding a video for this particular exercise since it’s not a traditional exercise that is very common – but it ROCKS!
Stop-N-Go Full Body Workout
Here was one of the circuits we did on the LiveXfit show on LiveExercise.com, available online and on Roku.
If you like this workout, or the sample workout they offer on the site, sign up for a free 2 week trial! they have thousands of different shows to choose from for super cheap if you decide you like it! …and you get to watch me DIE on the show every week! ha
STOP-N-GO WORKOUT:
Click on the links to watch video demonstration.
30-Second Wall-sits
20 Air Squats
30-Second Hand Stand
15 Push-press
30-Second Heavy Carry (I held 40lb dumbbells)
10 Pull Ups or pull downs
30-Second Plank
5 Burpees
3 TIMES
WORKOUT: Box Jump Full-Body Blitz
Grab a plyo box, bench or aerobics step and get ready to get your heart pumping! This is a great workout to put with an upper body strength program, like chest day, or you can even add it to a light cardio day to boost calorie burn and intensity.
Do the whole workout or break it up however you like. Do one or two rounds between each circuit of exercises or do one round each time you change exercises. There is no wrong way to add a BCx Blitz to a workout.
To make it even easier, here are 2 different examples of how you can add a simple routine like this to your existing program.
Conditioning Chest Workout:
4 Sets of Bench Press
2 Rounds of Box Jump Blitz
4 Sets of Incline Press
2 Rounds of Box Jump Blitz
4 Sets of Pec Deck or Incline Flies
2 Rounds of Box Jump Blitz
Fat Burning Cardio Workout:
10 Minutes of Cardio
2 Rounds of Box Jump Blitz
10 Minutes of Cardio
2 Rounds of Box Jump Blitz
10 Minutes of Cardio
2 Rounds of Box Jump Blitz
FitFluential LLC compensated me for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
