An Interview With Jarett Perelmutter About SpeedX ™

Rusty: Jarett, thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Before we discuss SpeedX, let's talk a bit about your gym…Brick Sport Performance. Can you give me a bit about your background that let up to opening a pretty darn impressive CrossFit gym?

Jarett: I have been involved in athletics since childhood. I established a chain of five martial arts studios in the Miami, FL market, and after selling them in 2009, moved back to Los Angeles and got heavily involved in the world of CrossFit.

My background in martial arts and fighting led me to win over a dozen titles and world championships in kick boxing, and my love of exercise was reignited when I discovered CrossFit.

I immediately saw the appeal of the sport, and believe it is a revolution in fitness. I worked at a CrossFit in the LA area for a while as a private trainer while I also trained for the CrossFit Games and other various competitions. Seeing the opportunity in CrossFit, I found partners that were equally excited and we opened up BRICK in November 2010.

We set out from the start to be a bit different from the traditional CrossFit model that had developed nationwide. Our concept is a larger space with more amenities and variety of classes and programs to appeal to a broader audience and to keep members excited about coming back again and again. While CrossFit is our main focus we also saw great opportunity to develop other programs based on the CrossFit methodology.

Rusty: Although I have dozens of questions I'd love to ask you about CrossFit, I want to focus mainly on CrossFit for fat loss. When I was doing some research online, your workout called SpeedX came up on Google. Can you tell me a bit about it?

Jarett: We developed SpeedX as an alternative to traditional CrossFit.

Being located in an area that has a large population of very young and fit people accustomed to interval style workouts, we set out to develop our own class based on CrossFit methodology.

We had a lot of people coming in that were members of boot camps complaining about injuries and having reached a plateau. They were not, however, interested in the intense weightlifting components of CrossFit.

SpeedX was developed around high intensity bursts of activity with low to moderate weights and lots of body weight conditioning. In order to ramp up the intensity and results, we incorporated Tabata intervals. The typical class starts with a 15 minute warm-up, similar to CrossFit, designed to get your heart pumping, your body hot, and your muscles loose.

…We then jump into eight different stations, each a different movement, with 20 seconds of intense workout with 10 seconds of rest. Eight rounds at each station and then a 15-20 second rest in between stations. 64 bursts of intense energy in 45 minutes. The fat just falls off the bone.

The main attraction of SpeedX is that it is constantly changing. Unlike boot camps or other interval workouts, there is no repetitive motion and use of treadmills or other machines. Workout programs change daily to keep people excited, motivated, and coming back for more.

Rusty: So similar to the CrossFit WOD, you surprise people in the SpeedX class with a different set of exercises every time they come to class. Is there any station that people dread (in a good way)? What are some of the tougher stations?

Jarett: People usually dread the total body movements the most. Burpees, Handstand push-ups, wall ball targets, parallette bars, and the push-press thrusters. These are probably the hardest stations and the ones they dread the most. They're hard because there is constant motion – no way to rest between reps. These are also full-body exercises that work on multiple areas at once.

Rusty: This may be asking for a bit, but I best the readers would love a PDF sample of a typical SpeedX workout. Is there any way I could get a pdf for people to download?

Jarett: See attached a copy of a sample work-out for your readers. While the workout is awesome, we believe that the team aspect and energy we create within BRICK is what really drives people to push their hardest.

[Right click on the ebook cover and chose "Save Link As..." and save to your Desktop for easy access.]

Rusty: I'm one of those people who actually enjoys a typical commercial gym, but also likes the idea of doing some workouts in a CrossFit type of environment. Do you make special accommodations for people who want to keep their current gym membership, but maybe just want to come in 1-2 times per week for an intense fat loss session? Can people just pay for SpeedX classes without having to pay the full monthly membership fee?

Jarett: We absolutely do! We offer SpeedX either through the unlimited monthly membership, our 2 times a week membership, and through day passes that can be purchased in single to thirty packs. Most of our members have memberships at typical commercial gyms, but once they start to see the results from SpeedX, they stop going to their other gyms.

Rusty: Very cool. So someone who wants to kick their fat burning up in a big way in lives in the area…they can go to one of your scheduled SpeedX classes 2 times per week. Let's say someone is just traveling to LA for a beach vacation and wants to swing in mid week to one of your scheduled classes. Should they arrive 20-30 minutes early to learn the moves before the workout starts?

Jarett: If it is their first time, they can try out SpeedX for free.

We actually offer a free 7-day pass to everyone who wants to try out BRICK. They should come in about 20-30 minutes in advance to complete their paperwork and warm up a bit for class.

They can also speak with the instructor and let them know it's their first time so they will be given extra attention on form and technique. After the free week, they can choose between either purchasing individual or multi class packs or a 2-day a week membership, which will start June 1, 2011.

Rusty: I like team aspect of this. I know this type of workout is hard as heck to do without a little "push" from others. I can imagine that people would get fantastic results. What is the best way for people in the LA area to give your SpeedX class a try?

Jarett: The first step is just to come on in.

You can bring a buddy, but you don't really need one. You'll find that within 15 minutes, you'll have made 3-4 friends just by being there. That is our crowd and that is what we're most proud of – our community.

We've got members who have been in athletics and CrossFit for years and they'll come up to you and give you all kinds of encouragement and advice without any judgment or attitude. If people want to give SpeedX and BRICK's CrossFit a more casual try, we offer free classes at Runyon Canyon in Hollywood. Most Saturdays through the spring and summer months, people can come to Runyon at 11:30am and jump into one of our workouts.

Rusty: Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. I like trainers who think "outside of the box". You and the guys over at BRICK are certainly a great example of this.

Jarett: We appreciate the opportunity! Like I said before, our community is what keeps us going. To have such a diverse group of people come together and not only improve their health but create social bonds is really something we are proud of. We also strive to be the best CrossFit out there. Our place was designed around a cool and modern loft-style space with great equipment and amenities that a lot of other places don't provide. The single most important thing, though, is our trainers. They are all high level athletes and competitors who are dedicated to fitness. They are the most approachable, knowledgeable, and friendly bunch of professionals and they want to help people succeed and exceed what they thought possible.

BRICK Sport Performance
7811 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90048
(323) 315 – 0700
http://www.brickcrossfit.com/

[Believe it or not, I was going to put up a picture of an amazing looking Bulgarian beach. When you think Eastern Europe you don't think beaches, but Bulgaria has some parts that look like California. I decided with this picture of a painted on Bulgarian flag instead.]

Tales from an Eastern European Gym
-by Yavor Marichkov

I was skinny-fat, weak and completely lacking in athletic skills as a child. I was more interested in books I guess. Sometime before high school I noticed that I didn’t completely suck at basketball. My strategy was to wait for a pass in the opponent’s field. So when high school came, I joined the basketball team and through sheer stubbornness and lots of one-on-one with the basketball rim in my neighborhood, I managed to land a spot on the varsity team in my junior and senior years. That, along with my teenage growth spurt, fixed the fat part, but I was still weak as a kitten.

Me, The Muscle Mags and the Gym

Some of my class mates started working out and got very quick results and this inspired me to join a gym. I read a book or two and even bought fitness magazines, but following the routines from the fitness rags stopped working after a few months. It was later that I found out these newbie gains were due to the stress of introducing exercise in my life, and not thanks to the worthless routines in the magazines.

Hitting a Plateau and Discovering Strength Training

So after no longer being able to progress in the gym, I started looking for a solution. I asked around about protein shakes, high-carb diets, etc – desperately looking for a solution. It was then that I was introduced by one of my mentors to the concept of strength training. In just two months I blew through my strength plateau. My pull-ups increased from 5 to 12. I was ecstatic.

[Here's an advanced version of the pull-up: the sternum pull-up. It is done by pulling up explosively and finishing by moving the elbows back and touching the bar to your chest. This is a great way to build the overlooked mid-back muscles as well as to work up towards a muscle up.]

How I Became a Personal Trainer

I became fascinated with bio-mechanics – the highly efficient way the body works when aligned and used properly. Fun fact – most babies when they start walking, have perfect biomechanics – they do movements (for example when bending to pick a toy) like lunges, squats, dead lifts and over head presses with perfect technique. A bunch of friends, mentored by the same guy who introduced strength training to me, started a personal training studio where they showed people how to really get results in the gym. I started hanging out there, helping out, spotting, A few years later I became a part of the team

The Best Gym in Bulgaria

The cool thing abut the gym is that it is based on free weights, complex movements and perfect bio-mechanical technique. The gym also introduced the concept of personal training to Bulgaria. We use the same principles with regular people as well as with professional athletes. Here are some of the exercises I’ve mastered as well as a few advanced moves demonstrated by pro athletes and trainers in our gym:

Muscle-ups

[Mastering the muscle-ups will give you a fantastic upper body. In fact, you could do a complete workout with just a bar for muscle ups. At to this bodyweight circuits, sprints, jump rope or a pick-up basketball game and you are all set.]

The Muscle-Up Is A Technical Move

What you do is hang from the bar and let your body swing forward. At the top of the swing you explosively pull yourself up. At the moment your upper arms become parallel to the ground, you kick with your knees up. All of a sudden you will find yourself on top of the bar. Check out the post on the muscle-up, if you need further tips for this move.

Handstand push-ups

[The great thing about handstand pushups is that they will emphasize your shoulders. After only a few weeks you will dramatically improve your proportions – the shoulder to waist ratio.]

How To Master The Handstand Push-Up

First, get comfortable in a handstand against a wall. Start by facing the wall. Get on all fours and place your palms 1-2 feet away from the wall. Lift up your hips and carefully kick up with one leg so you end up against the wall. Next, place a bunch of books on the floor. Start doing handstand pushups and let your head lightly touch the top of the books. When it gets easier, remove a book or two. After some time, depending on your initial strength, you will be doing full handstand push-ups. If you get stuck, try alternating high-medium-low reps every 2-4 weeks. Check out the handstand pushups tutorial if you need further help.

Full Contact Twist

[I learned about the full contact twist from Pavel Tsatsouline’s book Bulletproof Abs. In our gym however we use a modified, strength based variation of this move. It is a full body rotational exercise, great for core strength and overall upper body and full body strength. It’s only drawback is that the silly instructors in your gym might not allow you to place a bar in the corner and practice it.]

The Keys to the Full Contact Twist

Here’s how to do the full contact twist (link to tutorial), starting from the ground up. First note that your trailing leg should rotate – just like a punch in boxing. Second, flex your leading leg. The body works in kinetic chains that run diagonally throughout the body.

What is a Kinetic Chain?

So a kinetic chain – meaning muscles working in cooperation – runs from your left leg, through your obliques and stomach muscles all the way to your right arm and vice versa. So when you want to twist a heavy barbell from left to right, you flex your left leg, your stomach and rotate toward the right side. The final tip is to stay in the hollow position. This is a gymnastic term which means to tuck in your pelvis and ever so slightly hunch forward and flex the abs. This ensures maximum power coming from the abs.

A Few More Full Body Strength Moves

Here are a few more moves we do at our gym. They are a bit more advanced but all have in common the principles of integrating the whole body and using kinetic chains – muscles working together in a sequence – that are as long as possible.

Dragon Flag

[The Dragon Flag was popularized by Bruce Lee, the Rocky movies and Pavel Tsatsouline’s books: a fantastic core stabilizer The way we perform it at the gym is with the body as rigid as possible.]

Mastering the Dragon Flag

There are two steps towards mastering the move. You need to learn to flex all the muscles of the front of the body – so legs, hip flexors and abs work together. The actual movement in the dragon flag is done predominantly with your lats – so you pull your whole body with the armpit muscles.

Elevated Renegade Rows

[Rusty already introduced the Renegade Row as a great way to get strong stomach muscles. Here we take the exercise further – the elevation forces you to stabilize a bigger percentage of your body weight.]

32kg Elevated Renegade Rows… By a Girl?

There’s no magic in this move. Maria, the cute and strong girl in the video uses the principle of flexing the kinetic chain from the supporting arm to the opposite supporting leg and all the way in between.

One Arm Evil Wheel

[The evil wheel also works by forcing us to stabilize the muscles of the front of the body in the hollow position. Here Nino, front man of an underground electronic band, Taekwondo and Capoeira master and a former trainer at our gym is doing the exercise one armed – to show off! He does push off slightly with his knees on the way up, but even doing the negative, descending part of the move is hard enough!]

—–End of Guest Post—–

Note: Make sure and head on over to Yavor's site and ask him any questions you have on these moves. He is extremely helpful and answers just about every question submitted on his site.

[I decided to throw in a beach photo after all. This is a little beach town in Bulgaria on the Black Sea Coast called Primorsko. Looks just as nice as many of the bigger well-known beach resort cities in the world.]

[Here's a picture from the Holi festival in India. It is a spring festival celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and others. On the main day of the festival people throw colored water and colored powder at each other. It would be cool to see this in person some day.]

Why Can't You Just Stretch for Mobility?

Static stretching just doesn't get the job done when it comes to true flexiblity and joint mobility. I recently conducted an interview with Special Forces Trainer – Scott Sonnon. He explains it like this…

"In general, static flexibility training is meant to change the resting length of soft tissue. It stretches tissues long or hard enough to cause a permanent deformation, much like pulling a plastic bag until it can't spring back to its original length. You certainly could address tight muscles that way, but ultimately it's a danger to joint integrity, and it isn't helpful for muscle growth or sports performance."

So static stretching isn't really a long-term solution to flexibility. You need to move on a regular basis through a full range of motion. This is what Scott calls "Mobility Exercise". Deep squats done properly are a great mobility exercise.

A Case of "Hip Flexor Inflexibility"?

So I got some pretty darn tight and inflexible hip flexors. What is the big deal with tight hip flexors? I'm asking for another lower back injury with tight hip flexors. When your hip flexors are tight, your lower back has to compensate and hyperextend to make up for when the hips can't fully extend. By avoiding the squat and deep squatting motions these past 10 years, I haven't been actively working hip flexor mobility. Tight hip flexors also can cause a pelvic imbalance and bad pelvic tilt.

Squatting Motions Will Actively Stretch the Hip Flexors

So although I don't want to increase leg mass and the size of my glutes, I need to incorporate some type of squatting motion into my routine. I suggest you do the same. A good active stretching and mobility movement is "Prisoner Squats". Since you have your arms behind your head it forces your lower back to remain arched. The goal here is to squat down into a sitting motion and sit back, instead of allowing your knees to travel too far forward. Craig Ballantyne does an awesome job demonstrating in this video.

So Prisoner Squats Are Going to Develop Mobility

So where do Hindu Squats come into play? We are going to do Prisoner Squats to develop mobility and Hindu Squats as a way to reinforce the motor patterns around this new mobility. What does that mean? Well Hindu Squats are a high rep fat burning body weight exercise that can be done for high reps. After we do a set or two of prisoner squats for 10-15 reps, we will do an extended set of Hindu Squats as our cardio workout for the day. Insuring good form for dozens of reps will retrain these crucial pelvic and hip muscles to become mobile again. We are training these muscles to reinforce joint mobility.

So How Do You Perform Hindu Squats?

So this will take a video for sure. Luckily I found a good one on Youtube by Matthew Armstrong. I will show you the video first and then explain the steps. It is a fast and rhythmic movement, so it is easy to miss some of the key points.

How to Do The Hindu Squat

1. Start with your hands pulled into your chest and feet shoulder width apart.

2. Squat down while keeping your back straight and bring your arms down behind you for balance.

3. Unlike the Prisoner Squat, you are going to want to roll up onto the balls of your feet as you lower down. At the very bottom you will almost be up on your toes.

4. At the bottom, swing your arms forward as you push up of your toes.

5. Your arms will reach out in front of you as you approach the top. Once you reach the top, your heels should be touching the floor again and then you pull your hands back in towards your chest. At this point start the movement over.

6. The breathing is important and different than other exercises. Exhale on the way down and inhale on the way up. Do this for each and every rep. The breathing is as important as the movement.

7. Start with 20-30 reps and slowly work up to 500. Within time, you will want to do this for 500+ reps for 15 minutes straight. This is easier said than done…and is a serious cardio workout.

Here's A Video That Explains the Arm Motion…

[As you can see it takes practice to get the timing right.]

How You Can Incorporate These Into Your Routine?

I would suggest trying to get in a session of Hindu Squats 2 times per week to reinforce good hip mobility. I will most likely do these in place of my steady state cardio 2-3 times per week. I would recommend 2 sets of 10 of prisoner squats as a warm up to get the lower back and hips primed. I would also recommend 1-2 sets of prisoner squats afterward and possibly a set or two of back bridges, if you want to really insure great posture.

Note: I would love to hear your comments. Have you guys ever done Hindu Squats? Do you plan on implementing them into your routine.

The Lost Art of "Progressive Calisthenics"

These past two years I have used various body weight circuits as a way to burn fat while maintaining muscle. This is a great way to condition the body and keep the body fat low, but it is not a way to greatly improve muscle strength using only your body weight as resistance. Before weight training became mainstream, men and women used their own body weight to get incredibly strong. In fact, it is believed the Spartans used extensive calisthenics to create extremely powerful bodies and crush their enemies in battle.

These Days When Someone Uses the Term "Calisthenics"…

Up until recently, when I heard the term calisthenics…I thought of Junior High or Elementary School P.E. classes. What came to mind was push ups, jumping jacks, burpees, situps, etc. I had images of awkward skinny kids with no muscle strength learning how to develop a tiny bit of base muscle (for some reason I think of white "tube socks" with two red stripes when I think of P.E…part of being a 70's and 80's kid). Once these kids became 16-17, they could then move on to something "real" like lifting weights for strength and conditioning. Well, my thinking has changed a bit.

A New Controversial Book That Has Changed My Thinking

Last month, I ordered a book called Convict Conditioning because it peaked my curiosity. I was hesitant to talk about it in detail on my blog…I just don't want people to think I am glamorizing crime or think it is cool to "do time" (so I left this part out of the post until now). That being said, this is by far (by a mile) the best book for gaining strength and muscle with body weight exercises. In fact this post is a summary of Coach Paul Wade's approach to doing one-arm push ups. He uses 10 steps, to get to the one-arm push up but the idea is the same. Again…if you can get over the name of the book, you will pleased with Convict Conditioning. It is right up there with Pavel's Power to the People…which is probably my all-time favorite fitness book.

Why the Military Focuses Heavily on Calisthenics

As I mentioned before the Spartan warriors used calisthenics to create powerful bodies made for combat. So as far back as ancient times men and women were using calisthenics to create amazingly powerful and functional bodies. Calisthenics create a "combat ready" body that is much more mobile and functionally powerful than a body that is created with nothing but weights. This is a big reason that it is such a big part of military training. I am all for lifting weights, but to become truly physically impressive…I believe that some body weight work needs to be included in your routine along with weights.

Using "Progressive Calisthenics" to Do One Arm Push Ups

The mistake most people make when attempting to learn one arm push ups is that they hop right to the actual movement. Many people will start by attempting one-inch one arm push ups and then gradually increase range of motion and then attempt two, etc. This is not what progressive calisthenics is all about! Progressive Calisthenics is starting with a super easy related movement, mastering that movement…then moving on to a slightly "progressively" harder version of the movement.

Here's a Sample Exercise Progression to One Arm Push Ups

1) Push Ups Against a Wall: Stand 2-3 feet away from the wall and slowly push your body away from the wall. Once you can do this for 3 sets of 20 reps, you are ready to master the next progressively harder movement.

2) Push Ups on Your Knees: Get on your knees and do push ups at a slow pace. One second down, slight pause at bottom…then one second up. Master this movement for 3 sets of 20 reps before moving on to the next level of difficulty.

3) Push Ups With Feet on Floor and Hands on Bench: The higher the bench, the easier this is. A standard bench in the gym works well, or a chair at home. Master this movement for 3 sets of 20 reps before moving on to the next movement.

4) Full Regular Push Ups: This one is self explanatory. Just focus on good quality push ups, all the way down in a controlled manner. Same deal, move on to next exercise once you can get 3 sets of 20 reps.

5) Close Grip Push Ups (Hands Touching): I like to make my hands form a diamond shape, like the guy in the first picture. Some people for a triangle. Just make sure your fingers are touching and you will be good. Once you can get 3 sets of 20 reps in perfect form, then move on.

6) One Arm Assisted Push Ups With Basketball: You can use a medicine ball if you have that available as well. What you are going to do here is put as much weight as possible on the hand that is on the ground and another hand on a basketball. Use the had on the basketball to assist you on the way up and the way down. As you get stronger, place that basketball further out to the side of your body away from the center. The further out the ball gets from your body, the less you can assist that working arm. Once you can do 2 sets of 15 reps per arm with very little assistance, it is time to move on to one arm push ups unassisted.

7) One Arm Push Ups: Your goal here is to eventually have the ability to do 20 full strict one arm push ups on each arm. If you can do that, you will have triceps as hard as a rock. If you mastered the previous movement correctly, you should be able to do 3-5 reps on each arm. Over a period of months you will work your way up to 20 reps per arm.

Here is what a good rep looks like…

[This guy is using decent technique, but could improve a bit by getting his feet closer together and tucking his elbow into the side of his body. This increases the range of motion and makes the movement more difficult to perform.]

A Weighted Exercise That Will Help

I have been doing an exercise called Renegade Rows that have increased the muscle density on my obliques without increasing the size of that muscle. This is great for "framing" your six pack and creating not just great abs, but all the detail muscles of the mid-section. This exercise also tends to make any pushing exercise much easier over time, due to having to support so much weight with one-arm. The great thing is that it strengthens the core tremendously for push ups. When doing one arm push ups you don't want your body to twist and turn due to weak obliques. This is the exercise you will want to do to insure this doesn't happen. Click here to read my post on that exercise —> Tighten Your Obliques Without Adding Size With These Isometric Exercises.

Some Other Tips on One Arm Push Up Progression

The best way to insure that you reach the point where you can do one arm push ups unassisted, is to make sure and really master the previous movements before moving on. The more time you spend mastering the previous movement, the easier time you will have with the next movement.

"One Step Backward to Take Two Steps Forward"

I would suggest you start with an exercise that you can easily do…and spend a week or two on that movement before moving on the the next movement. As an example, I plan on spending 2 weeks doing the "feet on floor hands on bench" push up before moving on to full push ups. This will be easy, in fact the next level won't be hard either. This approach works well, because you are teaching your body to progress successfully to the next high-demanding movement…you are training the habit of success. If you jump to quickly to the harder movements you will get stuck at some point.

Note: I plan on talking more about "Progressive Calisthenics" in my newsletter at some point. To subscribe to my newsletter, simply download my free report…Vacation Body Blueprint. The newsletter goes more into depth with slightly different info than my blog (I don't have to hold back as much since it isn't a public place like my blog).

Giving Credit to the Guys I Learned This From…

Adam Steer and Ryan Murdock are body weight Ninja-Masters. I have become friends with Adam over the past year and I am really impressed with his unorthodox training style. Anyway, in his BBFFL course, that I am currently following, he talks about this technique. In fact, the entire 2nd phase of his program revolves around doing nothing but this type of body weight training.

Body Weight Static Holds…Ouch!

I am not sure why I didn't think of this before. It is such a simple way to make easy exercises like push ups, tough and effective. I have only completed 2 workouts of doing nothing but body weight static holds, and have experienced a noticeable increase in muscle definition. Here is the basic explanation of a body weight static hold…holding your body in a position of resistance without moving, for a set period of time. So in the case of doing a push up, you would lower yourself about 1/2 way down and then hold that position for a set period of time (40 seconds, 30 seconds, etc).

Using Push Ups to Explain This In More Detail

Let's say you wanted to use body weight static holds to work your chest and triceps. You are going to perform 9 total sets of static holds. You will do 3 sets close to the bottom position of a push up (chest close to the floor). You will then move on and do 3 sets of static hold push ups close to mid-point of a push up. Finally, you will do 3 sets of static hold push ups closer to the lockout position. The goal is to do the toughest position of a movement first, then a position of less resistance, finishing with the easiest position.

Sets and Rest Periods of a Body Weight Static Holds

A set means that you are holding a position without moving for a set period of time. A good starting point is 40 seconds. You will rest for about 30-40 seconds (best if you time it) and then do another hold for 40 seconds, etc. As you get stronger, you can either increase the length of time you are doing the static hold -or- decrease the rest.

You Can Also Do These is Superset Fashion

With Adam's BBFFL routine, we are doing these as supersets…using opposing muscle groups. So each static hold push up is followed by a static hold horizontal pull. You can get really creative doing body weight exercises in this fashion. The additional benefit of doing these is lactic acid buildup throughout the workout. I explain in great detail why lactic acid helps in burning body fat in this post: How Interval Training Works – Lactic Acid, Oxygen Debt, and Recovery

Increasing Lactic Acid While Generating High Tension?

Here is why I think body weight static holds are outstanding—> You will generate powerful contractions to your target muscles, while simultaneously building up lactic acid. This will help you burn fat while building muscle density at the same time. In most workouts you are either doing one thing or the other…it is pretty darn cool to find a way to both at the same time!

Get Creative While Implementing These Into Your Routine

Feel free to mix these in to your free-weight workouts. For instance, after you do bench presses, maybe you follow with 3 sets of wide grip body weight static hold push ups. Possibly you end your tricep workout with 6 sets of dips (2 holds in each position). You could firm up your legs with 6 sets of body weight Bulgarian split squats after (or before) doing HIIT on the treadmill, etc.

Note: These are tougher than they sound on paper. To get a sample of how this feels, do that 9 set push up workout I outlined above. Try doing each set for 40 seconds, followed by 40 seconds of rest. You will feel lactic acid buildup…you will feel serious tension in the muscles!