Answers to Freqently Asked Questions - Part 1

Spring has brought many things this year.

As Jodie and I approach our one year anniversary of home ownership we realize that spring is a busy time for us around the house. I've always enjoyed working outdoors, so I welcome the opportunity to create a beautiful landscape that is the envy of all our neighbors.

 Yes, that is a porta-john in my neighbors driveway.

Also, its been over a year since I stared my blog. Hard to believe! It has become my little labor of love and I look forward to making improvements as it grows. It has also provided me the opportunity to begin a distance coaching service, which is beginning to grow as well.

Between the house, blog, work, distance coaching, and Game of Thrones starting up again I have been pretty busy lately. The growth of my online presence has also brought growth to my inbox.

So many questions....

As someone who has been in the fitness industry for several years, one might expect I get asked a lot of questions. Whether at a bar, restaurant, farmer's market, gym, or obviously at work, as soon as someone hears what I do for a living their ears seem to perk up a little bit.

Granted, this scares me a little bit as it indicates how readily people will accept information from just about anybody. There are a lot of idiots out there that don't know their ass from their acetabulum. Many fitness "pros" fail to even pick up another book after they complete their entry level certification.

As someone who has spent countless hours expanding my knowledge base over the years, I'd like to think I know a thing or two. So if someone asks me a question, I make sure to give them a well researched answer. Conversely if I have no idea, I'm not afraid to admit it.

I gave some thought to what questions I have heard the most over the years and thought I would shed some light on a few. Being that I have heard all of these more times than I could count, it makes sense that I have spent a lot of time learning the subject matter. While there is always more to learn, I feel I have gained a fairly firm grasp on these subjects.

Bear in mind these answers reflect my own philosophy, research, and experience. The answers to these questions may differ depending on whom you ask.

1. How Do I Get Rid of "this"?

When the individual says "this" they are referring to an area they would like to lose body fat. Usually in the arms, abdomen, or hip area.

I would hope by now we all know one cannot "spot reduce", but I am constantly shocked by the ignorance of the general public. Performing thousands of sit ups and crunches will not only destroy your spine, they are pretty much useless for targeted fat loss in the abdomen. Sculpted physiques are made in the kitchen.

With that being said, regional bodyfat storage does point to certain lifestyle, hormonal, and genetic factors. Charles Poliquin's Biosignature Modulation is a very interesting method revolving around the idea that regional bodyfat stores can in fact be targeted through tailored nutrition and supplementation protocols.

Admittedly, when I first read about these methods I thought it was some sort of voodoo, but after doing some research I found the literature quite intriguing. Basically, over time we develop hormonal imbalances due to lifestyle, genetics etc. These imbalances can cause bodyfat to accumulate in certain areas, based on what hormones are out of whack. For example, if you store excess bodyfat in your abdomen compared to your upper arms, you may be insulin resistant or cortisol levels may be elevated. If this is the case, put the cookies down, eat some vegetables, back off on the caffeine, and get more sleep. It's much more complicated than this, but you get the idea.

I'm not going to go into some long drawn out explanation, but with a 7 site skin caliper and lifestyle assessment, these imbalances can be identified and a proper nutrition and supplementation strategy can be formulated. I've tried some of these recommendations with my more advanced clients and have seen some good results.

Most people will do best with a balanced nutritional approach with an emphasis on clean eating for starters. I'm not ready to begin drinking all the Kool-Aid on this just yet, but the research seems to make sense. Before all of you go changing your diet and supplementation around to target "jello arms", remember you need a proper assessment done by a qualified professional to achieve the desired result.

2. What Do I Do for Cardio?

As with any fitness based question, it depends on your goals and current fitness level.

Beginners need to build an aerobic foundation first. Some basic walking with a target heart rate of 120-150 for 30-45 minutes is a great place to start. Couple this with 2-4 times per week strength training and you have a recipe for success in the first couple months.

After this time the focus should shift from general to more specific.

If the goal is strength development and hypertrophy, the main focus will be in the weight room with a couple days of low intensity aerobic work to aid in recovery. You might have one HIIT day (high intensity interval training) depending on how many days per week you are lifting. This is also assuming you are consuming a lot of calories.

For fat loss, HIIT protocols work best utilizing circuit training, sprints, and finishers to name a few. Aerobic work should be kept at maintenance levels (~once per week) using the aforementioned target heart rate and duration.

Endurance junkies will obviously prioritize aerobic activity and supplement with strength and interval training.

I am often confronted by those who have fat loss goals, but concurrently want to train for a half marathon. This doesn't really work because you can't serve two masters. It's like saying you want to prepare for a hot dog eating contest by eating 5 gallons of ice cream every day. I wouldn't advise it. First of all, you and your toilet will become very good friends (or enemies depending on your perspective) at the end of this. Second, if you want to get better at eating hot dogs, you have to eat......wait for it......hot dogs. Pick one or the other.

This sets me up nicely for the next question.

3. Do I Need to Run to Lose Weight?

The short answer here is absolutely not. If I had a dollar for every time someone told me "trainer x" told me I have to run to lose weight I could finally buy that sweet Vitamix blender I've always wanted. Seriously those things are the Rolls Royce of blenders, but I digress.

I only recommend distance running for competitive runners (ie. your goal is to run x) and those who absolutely, unequivocally LOVE to run. If you are anyone other than that, the cost to benefit ratio of the pavement pounding just isn't worth it. Trust me, I've seen more than a few life long running junkies with knee and hip replacements due to a lifetime of seeking out their next half-marathon.

There is another, even better reason I don't recommend distance running for my fat loss clients. Frequent distance running (and other long duration aerobic dominant work) leads to an over-reliance on the aerobic energy system. You see, the aerobic system primarily uses the oxygen you consume to break down fat for energy. This might sound like a good thing, but the body is an amazing adaptable machine.

According to the SAID principle (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands), the body adapts to whatever demand you impose on it. By using running and other steady state cardio as your primary conditioning modality, the body will store fat to be used as energy needed for those long distance runs.

So distance running makes you fat. Just kidding...sort of. I'm not saying to hang up your running shoes for good, just don't make it your primary source of conditioning unless you have specific goals that require it.

For fat loss, I recommend a regimen that consists primarily of strength training and HIIT as I mentioned previously. You can still log those long runs, but keep them to once per week.



I hope this begins to shed some light on some common questions you might have. Keep your eyes peeled for part 2 where I answer questions about joint pain, lifting heavy things, and calorie counting.

Any thoughts? Questions? Completely disagree? Let me hear about it!

Enter the Matrix: A Simple Way to Organize Training and Nutrition

Sorry nerds folks, this has nothing to do with Keanu Reeves or taking the red pill. It's just another system you can use to get more out of training and nutrition in less time.

Consider the average working professional/parent/superhero for a minute. Most of these individuals are highly motivated, goal oriented, and hard working, but they struggle maintaining consistency in their training and nutrition. They simply need some structure in their lives to stay on track.

So enter the matrix, and I'll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes...

What is a Matrix?

In the mathematical sense, a matrix is a rectangular array of quantities or expressions in rows and columns treated as a single entity and manipulated according to rules. (Thank you Wikipedia)

If you paid as much attention in calculus as much as I did, this means absolutely nothing to you.

Basically, a matrix is a super geeky (albeit effective) way to concisely organize information and use it more efficiently.

Nerdy, efficient, yep that's how I like to party.

Luckily for us, our matrix will be nowhere near as complex as ones used in the mathematical sense. We can use matrices to organize our training and nutrition. Here's an example:

Sets & Reps	Push	Pull	Conditioning
Strength: 5x3,3x5,5x5,8x3,6x2, 5x1	Bench	Deadlift	Kb Swing
	SSB Squat	Pull Up	Sled Push/Pull
	Front Squat	Chest Supported Row	Sprints
	Box Squat	Lat Pd	Burpees
Fat Loss/Hypertrophy: NOT TO BE USED WITH OLYMPIC LIFTS 3x8,4x10,5x10	OH Squat	Seated Row	Med Ball Slam
	Back Squat	Hang Clean	Battle Ropes
	OH Press	Power Clean	Erg (concept 2 rower)
	Incline Bench	Inverted Row	Thrusters
Conditioning: (Work:Rest) 30:30x10 40:20x10 20:40x10 30:60x6	Floor Press	Bent Over Row	Finisher
	Push Up	Deficit Deadlift	Anything for high reps
	Dips	Trap Bar Deadlift	Jump Rope
	DB Press	Sumo Deadlift
	Push Press	1 Arm DB Row

Your basic training matrix will consist of just a few columns. You can use excel, or just draw it on a whiteboard or piece of paper. Each column will be used to categorize the type of movement performed. Technically, any movement can be categorized as a push or a pull, this allows for more simplicity.

Simply pick one movement from each column to perform during your training session. Choose set and rep schemes based on your goals. For example, in a strength session I might choose 8x3 for back squats, 4x10 for chin ups, and 40:20 on the erg performed as straight sets.

This is just a quick example I whipped up in a few minutes. You can design your own to include whatever movements you prefer to use. Add or remove columns as you see fit. I am a bit of a minimalist, so I prefer to keep mine to three columns. Things are simpler that way.

Admittedly, this is a little too random for me so I prefer to use the Matrix for conditioning purposes only. With that being said, this is an easy way for the general fitness enthusiast to create some much needed structure while providing some variety in one's programming. In the above Matrix alone there are over 1800 possibilities! Just make sure to keep a training log to track progress.

Matrices can also be useful for nutrition. A useful one I came across is Robb Wolf's Paleo Food Matrix. Regardless of what you choose to include in yours, the principles remain the same.

Now it's your turn. Create your Matrix and put it on your fridge, hang in up in your garage, or toss it in your gym bag so you have an easy reference that can save you some much needed time.

Questions? Comments? Leave your feedback in the comments section!

Stuff You Should Read Because I Said So - 3/30/14

I've said this before, but there is sooo much information out there.

As a "Life Long Learner" (aka nerd), I am constantly looking at research and new sources of knowledge through books, journals, articles, and blogs. Fitness is my passion, so it's easy to want to learn as much as possible for my own benefit and to apply that knowledge to help others.

That being said, it's a little overwhelming. There's a lot of conflicting information and opinions, so its hard to wade through all the proverbial bullshit and find good information. I suppose at the end of the day, you just have to hold true to your own values and methodologies and take everything you read with a grain of salt. I do the best I can with the the knowledge I have.

After all, we are all just winging it anyway right? 

This is why these types of posts are becoming a little more infrequent. I'm trying to place more emphasis on quality over quantity.

These are the best I have come across over the last couple of months. I found some great stuff about nutrition and strength here.

Relax and enjoy a little Sunday reading!

Block Periodization for Powerlifting with Jamie Smith - Part 1

Block Periodization for Powerlifting with Jamie Smith - Part 2

Addicted to Fatigue

The Dirty Truth Behind Emphasizing "Good Fats" in Your Diet

Get Strong First: Your Goals Depend On It

Recovering Your Metabolism: Do You Need to Decrease or Increase Your Calories? (Part I)

Recovering Your Metabolism: Do You Need to Decrease or Increase Your Calories? (Part II)

The Truth About Squatting Deep

How “Clean Eating” Made Me Fat, But Ice Cream and Subway Got Me Lean

4 Reasons You're Not Getting Stronger 

Are You Tucking or Flaring? (Great bench press read)

You Don't Know How to Breathe

What Deadlifts and Free Throws Have in Common

You gotta love college basketball this time of year.

March Madness is in full swing and guys and gals everywhere are blowing off work to drink beer and watch the madness unfold all day. I am no exception.

While I didn't blow off work and sit on my ass from Thursday to Sunday, I definitely watched my share of hoops.

As someone who played the sport since I had the strength to shoot a ball, I understand the value of repetition. I used to spend hours upon hours in my backyard shooting hoops as a kid.

I remember watching my dad putting up the hoop on our garage. I stood there and watched him carry this heavy as shit basketball hoop up the ladder, hold it in place, and screw it into the side of our garage. Yeah, my dad was a pretty strong dude. I still wonder how he managed to do that all by himself. Anyway, I was sooo excited!

I grew up in the country, so I didn't have a lot of neighbor kids to play with. As a result I spent most of my free time outside shooting and chasing down rebounds. At first, I didn't even have a concrete slab to play on. Just a level space of uneven dirt. I suppose this explains why my shooting skills were so much better than my ball handling skills. Our property was on an incline too, so if I badly missed a shot, I usually had to chase the ball down the driveway before it rolled into the woods. Fun times.

I also had to walk to school, uphill, both ways, barefoot.

Through this repetition, I developed into a pretty decent shooter. What does this have to do with deadlifts you ask?

Repetition builds efficiency. 

If you want to be great at something, you need to do it over and over again. I've heard Dave Tate say it takes 10,000 repetitions to master a particular movement. I actually think it is much more than this, but you get the point.

A lot of popular programming out there pays no attention to this law of repetition. "Muscle confusion" is a term used quite often these days. Random, myopic programming is everywhere. Why? People have no patience anymore. They have to do something different every time they go to the gym because they get bored. Instant gratification at its finest. Few look at the big picture anymore.

Lets say you have a goal to deadlift double your bodyweight. Well, if you only deadlift once a month, you don't have a very good shot at accomplishing that goal. The same can be said of any other movement or skill. Some level of mastery must be achieved to have success.

Sticking with our basketball theme, lets use free throws as an example. Anyone who has watched or played the sport for any extended period of time understands the importance making free throws down the stretch. Often times this is the difference between winning and losing. As one might expect, we spent A LOT of time shooting free throws at practice. If you ever played organized basketball, I'm sure you did too.

Deadlifts (or any skilled movement) should be approached the same way. Most of your results will come from high skill, multi-joint movements like squats, deadlifts, swings, snatches, cleans etc. The more proficient you become with these movements from a strength and technique standpoint, the more successful you will be. Just like free throws.

Taking this all into consideration, you should be doing these movements A LOT.

As Dan John would say "If it's important, do it every day." Just like brushing your teeth or buckling your seat belt.

While you don't have to do it every day, if you want to hit that double bodyweight deadlift you had better be doing some variation of this movement AT LEAST two times per week. The same goes for any other movement. I am a firm believer you can't serve two masters. Meaning pick ONE THING you want to improve and focus on that for a set period of time. Anything else is a waste of time and energy.

Practice Makes Perfect

Everything you do should have a purpose. Improving the big lifts comes from patience and LOTS of repetition.

Many give very little thought to the training process. They show up, train, then proceed to completely forget about what they just did. No training log, no self-education, and not surprisingly, no results. These individuals take no ownership. You don't have to be a total nerd like me. I know you are busy. We all are. Just put forth a little effort. 

Take ownership of your program. Don't just follow it blindly. Read, explore different schools of thought and methodologies, keep a training log, and flourish.

5 Simple Activities that Make an Immediate Impact on Health and Performance

I think spring is finally here! At least for my Southern peeps and I....

Sorry Northern friends. I almost feel bad for you.You still have the chance to escape. It's never too late!

With the coming of spring, many of us feel much more motivated. In addition to better weather, we have daylight savings time, which gives us more time for activities!

A big part of my "mantra" if you will, is to provide simple solutions for my readers to implement that can improve their health and performance. Let's face it, life is crazy. Many of us barely have time to scratch our assess and brush our teeth (hopefully not in that order). With that being said, here are 5 simple things you can implement immediately to get more out of your daily regimen.

1. Go For a Walk

I am convinced that walking is the sole most underrated activity out there. Just about anyone can do it and it is easy as pie to implement into your daily routine. Many seem to poo poo waking because it "isn't hard enough". Well let me be the first one to say that you don't need to blow your a-hole out every time you exercise. If you drive your car 100 miles per hour everywhere you go its a pretty safe bet your car isn't going to last very long. Neither will your driving privileges.Your body is no different.

Simple aerobic exercise is excellent for recovery and overall sense of well being. I make it a point to get out almost every day with my favorite walking buddy and get a mile or two in.

Simply go for a brisk walk, 2 miles per day. You can also throw some strength work in beforehand. For example, I might do a total of 60 kettlebell swings and 20 pullups (which takes all of about 5 minutes), then we head out for our walk. Boom.

2. Drink More Water

Adequate hydration is essential for overall health. Drinking more water will help with weight loss, flexibility, and generally make you feel better.

As a rule of thumb, you should consume half your bodyweight in ounces per day.

My favorite strategies are to fill up a big jug/container and take it with you wherever you go, or make sure you drink a big glass every time you put food in your body.

3. Learn to Breathe Properly

Yet another activity that does not get enough credit. Considering that we do this on average of 22,000 times per day, I'd say its kind of important.

In my experience, most people are mouth and accessory breathers. First off, breathing should be done through the nose. This ensures an adequate amount of oxygen is taken in with each breath. Mouth breathers tend to "over-breathe" meaning upon inhalation too much oxygen is taken into the body. Ever have a stuffy nose or are constantly clearing your throat for no apparent reason? Well that is your body trying to control tidal volume by producing more mucous. The body can only handle so much oxygen at one time. Without these attempts to maintain homeostasis, blood Ph would sky rocket, sending you into renal failure. Moral of the story? Breathe through your nose.

Second, use your diaphragm to breathe. Upon inhalation the abdomen should expand and the upper chest/neck area should remain still. For more on this read my two part series on breathing HERE and HERE.

Proper breathing is essential for core function, recovery, and your movement foundation, so DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ITS IMPORTANCE.

For starters, take 15-20 deep, diaphragmatic breaths before bed every night.

 3 month breathing

 Crocodile breathing

4. Do More Pulling

Ask any lifter if he has done more pulling than pressing over his training lifetime. The honest answer will most often be NO. I am no exception (although I believe I am closing the gap).

A strong back is essential for performance and shoulder health. The biggest, strongest individuals in the world concurrently have big strong backs. You will squat more, deadlift more, and press more with less shoulder pain with attention to this important muscle group. And yes ladies, a wide back is sexy.

Shoot for a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of pulling to pushing with exercises like rows, chins, and rotator cuff work.

5. Eat a Hearty Breakfast

I have never understood how people aren't hungry in the morning. When I wake up I am absolutely ravenous. At the risk of sounding cliche, a good breakfast sets the tone for the rest of the day. It stokes your metabolic and anabolic furnace. Energetic, well fed, and strong people will always out perform the tired, starving, and weak.

In my humble opinion, if you aren't getting AT LEAST 30 grams of protein in at breakfast (breakfast means within 30 minutes of waking), you are falling short. If you train in the early morning, some exceptions can be made here. Here are a few examples from my own breakfast:

4 whole eggs
1/2 cup of oats with cinnamon
1/2 or whole banana

Smoothie
1 cup of almond milk
2 scoops of natural peanut butter
1 scoop of protein
1/2 cup of oats
1 large handful of spinach
1 banana
Cinnamon to taste

1/2 cup of oats
1 scoop of protein powder
1 handful of walnuts or almonds
1 banana
Cinnamon

Obviously you will need to scale these up or down based on body composition and goals.

So there you have it. 5 simple activities to make your daily life a little more awesome. Give them a shot and reap the benefits!

Movement Mistakes: The Burpee - Dissecting a Fat Loss Staple

One could argue the burpee has become to most popular movement in the fitness world. Loved by few, hated by many, you would be hard pressed to find anyone that has never heard of this staple in fat loss and general programming. Memes, bumper stickers, t-shirts, you name it. Burpees are everywhere.

I work with a lot of fat loss clients, so I regularly include burpees in my programming as they are very taxing from a conditioning perspective. I'm not a huge fan of them on a personal level (I don't know many who are), but as far as bang for your metabolic buck, they are hard to beat.

As with many mainstream movements, burpees are butchered more often than the victims of Dexter Morgan. Walk into a gym anywhere and you inevitably see someone violently throwing their body to the ground and sloppily peeling themself off the floor with no rhyme or reason to how and why.

What a Burpee Is

To avoid going into a detailed explanation myself, in Becoming a Supple Leopard, Kelly Starrett describes the burpee as a push up, squat, and vertical jump layered into one seamless movement.

Taking this into consideration, before we incorporate this movement into any program we need to establish a reasonable competency in each of these three movements. The individual technique points of each goes beyond the scope of this post, so just understand you should at least know how to preform a decent push up, squat, and vertical jump (This includes correct landing mechanics. Ninja landing!).

What a Burpee Is Not

Instead of explaining what a moving train wreck looks like in detail, I'll just show you an example:

Obviously this is an exaggerated example, but you get the point. Here are a few things to make note of at various points through the video.

• Anterior weight shift (:01 and :04). This will totally fry your quads and low back.
• Knees moving too far forward increasing shear forces in the knee joint (:02 and :06).
• Unstable position at top and bottom of push up.
• Excessive lumbar flexion placing undue stress on the low back (:06)

All of these faults make for a sore lower back and knees, not to mention you looking just plain silly.

What a Correct Burpee Looks Like 

 
 As with any complex movement, it helps to separate into steps.

1. Begin with a hip hinge. Push the hips back by visualizing spreading the hip bones apart.
2. Keep the chest puffed out and low back flat until the hands touch down flat on the floor. This ensures you maintain a more neutral spine.
3. Jump the feet back at the same time into push up position. DO NOT allow your hips to sag down toward the floor. At the top of the push up your core should be stiff, glutes tight, and you should be actively pressing your body away from the floor. 
4. Lower the body to the floor as a unit chest first. If you struggle with push ups, this is the perfect opportunity to work on the eccentric (lowering) portion of the movement, which many struggle with. 
5. On the way up, simply push up quickly and replace the feet with the hands. The feet now should rest where your hands used to. Now you are essentially in the bottom position of a squat. The feet should be flat and shins close to vertical.
6. Stand up or jump into the air. I didn't jump because, well, I forgot. But you get the idea. Ninja landing!

Modifications
Many don't possess the requisite mobility or basic movement skills to preform a true burpee correctly. If this is the case, continue to teach/learn these basic skills and modify the movement until basic competency is achieved. I use two basic modifications:

1. Decrease the range of motion with a step.

2. Try taking a wider stance.

Just like a sumo deadlift, a wider stance will allow a trainee with less hip and ankle mobility to get down to the floor without stressing the knees and low back.

Summary

The above tips should help you move through the burpee with much more efficiency. By being more efficient and moving correctly, you will waste far less energy, be at lower risk of injury, and improve your overall performance.

So to wrap up, remember these points:

• Strive to master the squat, push up, and proper jumping mechanics first.
• Break the movement down into steps.
• Modify when necessary.

Have fun with your burpees!

3 Quick Finishers for Fat Loss and Improved Conditioning

I'm always on the lookout for non-traditional forms of cardio. From my perspective, nothing is more boring than plugging away for 30 minutes plus on a treadmill or elliptical trainer. I would rather watch Ozzy Ozbourne try and explain quantum physics.

To be clear, I'm not saying I don't like aerobic work. Steady state cardio definitely should be a part of any balanced training program. For more on that, check out this post. With that being said, I would rather get my aerobic work in through walking, hiking or a mobility circuit. For the rest of my conditioning, I use a lot of finishers.

I like finishers for a number of reasons:

• Great way to elevate heart rate after main strength work.
• Time-effective.
• Usually minimal equipment is required.
• Creates a "metabolic disturbance" without totally crushing the trainee.
• Can be used as a stand alone workout if short on time.  

Finishers are a fantastic way to get in some conditioning at the end of a heavy strength training session. A good finisher will elevate heart rate for a period of time, which is ideal for fat loss and improved conditioning. They usually take anywhere from 5-15 minutes to complete, and can be used as a stand alone workout if you are short on time. Here are three of my favorites.

1. Countdowns

Countdowns are pretty straight forward. Simply pick a rep range and count down, decreasing the amount of reps performed with each circuit. They are best when performed with 2-3 multi-joint movements such as squats, kettle bell swings, pull ups etc. For example:

Burpees
Push Ups
Kettle Bell Swings

On the first set, perform 10 reps of each. The second do 9 reps. Third 8, and so on until all reps are completed.You can use virtually any combination of movements for these so they provide plenty of variety for the trainee. You can also do count UPS, or combine count downs and count ups if you are really sick and twisted.

You can also use them in a lower rep range for extra strength work or to work on some weaknesses. Higher rep ranges can also be used with countdowns in increments of 2-4 reps.

I'll throw in a few more of my favorite combinations. These are all done in countdown format, but you can use them however you like.

5 Hang Cleans
5 Front Squats
5 Pull Ups

10 Front Squats
10 Back Squats

20 Kettlebell Swings
20 Push Ups

10 Inverted Rows
10 Rollouts
10 Deadlifts

2. Ladders

Ladders are performed with 2 exercises performed in ascending/descending order. A third movement can be added as a "constant". For example:

Burpees: 1-10 done in ascending order
Squats: 10-1 done in descending order
Pull Ups: 3 constant

The sets will look like this:

Burpee x 1
Squat x 10
Pull Ups x 3

Burpee x 2
Squat x 9
Pull Ups x 3

All the way down to...

Burpee x 10
Squat x 1
Pull Ups x 3

Sometimes it helps to remember the sum of the first two movements will always be the same. In this example it will always be 11.

I find that the constant is a great way to work on any weaknesses. For example, if you are terrible at push ups or chin ups you could use a low number of these as your constant. You could also add some sort of corrective exercise as your constant such as a hip or shoulder mobility correction. A corrective ladder might look like this:

Kettle Bell Swing x 10
Push Up x 1
Bench t-spine mobilization x 5 each

As with the countdowns, ladders provide a seemingly endless amount of variety, so you should never get bored with these.

3. Minute-On-the-Minute Sets

Minute-On-the-Minute sets are a great way to be held accountable for your rest periods while sustaining a metabolic effect. The amount of work will be limited by how fast you can complete the interval before the time expires or by the amount of reps you can perform. Simply set an interval timer or stop watch for one minute work/one minute rest intervals (there are a ton of free interval timer apps out there for your phone).

There are three ways I use this method:

1. Pick a compound movement (squat, deadlift, bench press etc.) and load it with 75-85% of your one-rep max. At the top of each minute, do 1-3 reps. Do this for 10 minutes. By the end you will have performed a pretty decent number of reps with a large percent of your 1RM.  This is a good stand alone workout because it builds strength and work capacity simultaneously.
2. Pick a compound movement and load it with 50-60% of your 1RM weight. At the top of the first minute do 1 rep. At the top of the second minute do 2 reps and so on and so fourth. Continue in this fashion until you can no longer complete all the reps within the minute time frame. It will seem easy at first, but trust me it will catch up with you. 
3. Combine minute-on-the-minute with countdowns and ladders. This adds a timed element to the aforementioned methods. So on the first minute you could do 10 swings and 1 chin up. Second minute 10 swings and 2 chin ups and so on until failure. 

With all of these methods in your toolbox, you now have an endless variety of ways to add finishers into your training. These are simple, effective methods that can easily be added regardless of the equipment and time you have at your disposal. Enjoy!


 P.S. Don't forget to like and share!