Warm up
- Couple of 50m sprints, and some squats.
Workout
- 50m sprints
- 10 x push-ups
- 10 x squats
- Repeat for 12 minuets
What you get from the workout
I would say that this workout focuses more on cardiovascular endurance than muscle strength (not that you don’t use your muscles though). Rather than just doing a lot of running, it incorporates pretty much all muscles in your body – giving you a full body relentless workout. You might think that moving from working legs to working your chest gives your muscles a break, but it doesn’t. This one will really get your heart pumping and your lungs gasping for air.
How I found the workout
I made the mistake of taking the ‘sprint’ all too literally, and in the first few cycles I sprinted as fast as I could. Although this does give you an exceptionally intense workout, I really did pay for it later on. Come about 6 or 7 minuets into the workout I was really struggling, which meant my squats and push-ups suffered. I wasn’t able to properly sprint at all after this point either, and if you watch the video, you can see that I can just about jog. I was really surprised how hard this workout was! I regularly do push-ups, squats and run/ sprint, so I thought this would ideal for me. I was fooled by the simplicity of this workout – don’t make the same mistake!
Aside from the actual workout, it was nice to do some exercise out and about. I regularly run outside, but I’m often lost in my own thoughts with my music in, and don’t necessarily appreciate the surroundings. Doing a good workout in a park really was a great feeling, you have the fresh air and sun which you don’t get in the gym or in your house.You just need to get over the idea that the odd dog walker will see you doing push-ups in the park.
My recommendations
First of all – do it! But I would suggest that you take it easy to being with. I don’t mean be lazy, but I mean make sure you will be able to do it all for 12 minuets. Err on the side of caution, and maybe only go at 75% effort for your sprints, and don’t rush the push-ups of squats. If you still feel like you have lots of energy, or that you can push your self a little more around 8 or 9 minuets into the workout then increase your speed – 3 or 4 minuets is still long enough to drain your energy!
Alternatively, if you aren’t used to doing 12 minuets of relentless exercise, you can do it in sets as Morg did. I.e, instead of repeating the workout, once you have done the 10 squats at the end of a cycle, have a little break to catch your breath and have a drink of water before you repeat the workout. This way you will still get a good exercise, and will still be able to go for 12 minuets. This alternative to the non-stop workout means no one has an excuse not to do it!
All in all a great workout, but I’ve learnt my lesson about pacing myself. If you have done this work out of the week, or any others I would love to hear your experiences in the comments.
We are going to be doing one of these each week when we can, so don’t forget to check back for videos of me and Morg doing Mark Sissons weekly workouts.
EDIT: I did think about doing a blog post for each of the WOWs, but thought it would effectively be spamming my own blog as I don’t always have the chance to blog every week. If there are any of particular interest I will blog them, but if you want to follow them all you can find them all at our Youtube channel here. I do a commentary for each on, so hopefully will be all the info you need :)
