The easiest thing ever is to kill someone with a workout and make them have to barf.

Yep it’s easy.

Make them do hard exercises as fast as they can. BINGO!

AHHHHHH!

But seriously what does that accomplish!?! So you FEEL like you got a great workout…But what does it really improve!?!

Is it really making you lose weight? Or are you just getting worn out?

Is it really making you perform better? Or do you just feel rundown?

I mean stringing a buttload of tough exercises together and making someone do them super quick may be difficult but the workout is totally bogus and TOTALLY LACKS DIRECTION!

But trainers continue to do it and clients continue to want it. I’ve even had friends who will go do cardio after a weight training workout just because they felt like they hadn’t sweated enough and weren’t totally exhausted.

While I understand WHY people like killer workouts that doesn’t mean they are always right.

Or good for you.

Honestly, I prefer to work below the barf line. Heck I even like not necessarily being sore the next day.

Honestly. I just want a well thought out workout which doesn’t necessarily mean a killer workout each and every time!

A killer workout each and every time leads to overtraining, which leads to injury which means forced time off.

I don’t have time for that!

I don’t feel like being sidelined with an injury!

So I plan and progress my workouts. I do stabilization days, which include lots of isometric holds. I do strength days, which can mean slow, heavy lifts that don’t even make me break a sweat.

And yes…occasionally this progression does mean workouts that absolutely destroy me.

BUT THEY ARE WELL THOUGHT OUT…Not just freaking hard exercises done as quickly as possible without rest.

Actually most of the “killer workouts” I do aren’t at all like most people do to create killer workouts.

But I was very very very close to barfing. Only of course because I worked as hard as I could.

So what are the killer workouts that I accept?

300 ft in one minute on the VersaClimber.

Or like today…

VersaClimber 30 seconds on 1 min 30 seconds off for 5 rounds

REST

Tsunamis 25 on about 2 minutes off for 5 rounds

REST

5 rounds with over 2 minutes rest in between each round:

Sled pushes 100 ft
20 Sidewinders
5 Squat Thrusts

Doesn’t seem like much right? It isn’t the hardest exercises EVER with no rest. But guess what!?! It made me feel more destroyed than almost any other workout I’ve done.

And I didn’t have to do it super quickly to feel destroyed.

It was a well thought out program with movements to help me progress toward competing well at the Kettlebell Competition.

And I probably won’t be doing another workout like it for a little while.

Because…For one, I don’t need to. There is no point. It wouldn’t get me closer to my goals. And two, it would only make me risk injury!

And when I say that workouts like this put you at risk for injury, I mean that workouts like this put a ton of strain on the body and usually only serve to perpetuate bad movement patterns.

If you want the most out of your workouts, even the killer ones, you need to do some non-killer workouts to improve your movements so you actually get the most out of everything that you do.

Stop wasting your time on killer workouts and really start working toward your goal.

So mix things up and try this stabilization workout!

Workout:

5 rounds of 1 minute holds on each exercise. Try not to rest between exercises, but take a short rest between rounds.

Toes (literally just balance up on your toes as high as you can. Don’t rock to the outside toes either, really use the big toe!)
Squat hold (squat at lowest to 90 degrees or to right above where compensation occurs. Keep the chest up!)
Bat Wings (AKA scapular hold. Pinch your shoulder blades back and lean against a wall only your elbows touching.)
Push up Hold (So set up at the top of a push up and try to hold from your hands and toes. Keep everything in one straight line without sagging!)
Glute Bridge Hold (Lay on your back and push up, driving through your heels and upper back. Once a minute becomes easy, do a single leg bridge)
Pull up hold (Do a chin up and hold at the top with legs straight for as long as possible. If you need to, straighten your arms and hang at the bottom until the minute is up)

Not a long workout. A great stability/recovery day so you can get everything working properly! TRY IT!

P.S. Going back to my whole New Year’s Resolution theme of the last couple of days….Not doing killer workouts, especially at the beginning is super important. For one, your body isn’t ready to handle workouts like that and you risk injury. And two, you risk making yourself so sore that you can’t workout for days, which won’t help you get into the habit of working out consistently, which in turn will only make it harder for you to get on track to reach your goal!