Total Body Tabata ish Circuit
Should all of your workouts be total body tabata circuits? No. Should you apply tabata as your timer for everything? No. Did I use the actual tabata timer definition (20 seconds on 10 seconds off) for this routine? No. That’s why it’s tabata-ish. HIIT is fine in moderation (3x a week or less) as it gives your body time to recover. And it prevents you from having too much time between rounds to think about what you’re doing so you keep going.
Adjust work and rest ratios to your current fitness level. For this one I went with 20 on 20 off. Part of the goal of this routine is to strengthen wrist / forearms / grip strength.
Incline Push Ups – For the incline I used a Bulgarian bag. You can use whatever you have available (couch, ottoman, stable chair, steps leading to your front door.)
Landmine Squats – If you don’t have a landmine attachment (or portable landmine, Olympic bar, and plates in your space) substitute with any squat variation you have the gear for (or can make gear for.)
Bent Over Single Arm Row (Right Side) – Again, this will depend on the gear you have available as well as your current strength level. You’re doing almost 3 minutes of lifting here so this is more of a light toning weight than anything.
Bent Over Row (Left Arm) – Switch sides and do it again. If you need to MacGyver something together a smaller bucket from Home Depot with an appropriate amount of sand in it (or rocks) could work. The larger buckets might rub against your leg funny causing bad form. Smaller suitcases with books or sand could work as well. Or a milk jug filled with water (or sand.) Test for rubbing against your leg and find something comfortable.
Hex Bar Deadlift – The Home Depot pale could work here as well, with more of a kettlebell form deadlift than that of the hex bar. I like the hex bar because it helps put your body into a safe deadlifting position easier than that of an Olympic bar. You need to know proper form for safety (and if you’re still learning take a PVC pipe or long broom and touch it to your head, upper back, and butt then hinge maintaining contact at all 3 points stopping when you lose contact anywhere instead of lifting weight) so please don’t think buying one bar over another will magically make you “safe.”
Single Arm Farmers (Suitcase) Carry (Right Side) – Home Depot bucket? In my world you’d use a kettlebell for this. You could also use the middle side handle of a Bulgarian bag to really mess with your finger grip strength (you can’t lock your fingers to your thumb the same way you could with the bell.) If you have plates you can always just grip the plates and walk with them.
Suitcase Carry (Left Side) – The main point here is to try and remain upright. Don’t let the weight pull you down to one side. This is essentially an anti rotation exercise. Walk looking forward, clench your non working hand (in this case the right hand) to add a bit of tension and strength overall to your body. Breathe and walk. The slower you walk, the more deliberate your movements.
Bridges – Odd way to end? Maybe. This technically should be a part of everyone’s warm ups to make sure the glutes are firing on, well, every exercise ever. Push ups should probably be part of a warm up as well (they are in some GPP warm ups.) Regardless, we’re finishing with glute bridges. Shins should be vertical when bridging and engage that core. Remember to breathe.
