Who said cardio is boring? If plugging away on a treadmill or elliptical machine just isn’t your thing, try one of these hardcore conditioning exercises to shred fat and get you looking lean for summer.
1. TIRE FLIPS (ALTERNATIVE: MEDICINE CHEST TOSS)
- Grasp the bottom of the tire with an underhand grip
- Keeping your back straight and tight, drive up with your legs
- Aim to drive the tire upward and forward simultaneously
- Keep your body close to the tire at all times as you quickly rotate your hands so your palms are facing forward, and follow through until it is completely flipped
- Perform sets of 10 to 20 flips
2. SPRINTS (ALTERNATIVE: TREADMILL SPRINTS)
- Make sure to warm up with some jogging on the spot
- Get into the starting stance by placing your lead foot at the starting line and bend the knee at a 45-degree angle
- Place your hands on the ground, next to the lead leg, and lower your head into a comfortable position between your arms, relaxing your body to limit tension
- Pull your body into an upright running position as you begin to sprint forward, keeping your arms bents at the elbow and pumping them up and down in a smooth motion
- Run on your toes and bring your knees up to a 90-degree angle to increase your pushing force as the foot hits the ground
- Make sure to slowly reduce speed for a slight cooldown period to help reduce injury
- Perform several sets of 40- to 100-meter sprints
3. BATTLE ROPES WAVES (ALTERNATIVE: PLYOMETRIC PUSH-UPS)
- Hold the ends of the rope at arm’s length in front of your hips with your hands shoulder-width apart, brace your core and begin alternately raising and lowering each arm explosively
- Keep alternating your arms explosively for 30 to 60 seconds
4. LOG HANG CLEANS (ALTERNATIVE: BARBELL HANG CLEANS)
- Approach the log and take a shoulder to slightly wider than shoulder-width stance
- Gripping the handles firmly, bend at the hips and knees keeping your back straight, and take a deep breath and initiate the clean by driving through with your legs as you row the log up into your lap, keeping your elbows out and flared wide – this is your starting position; you will return the log back to waist height for every repetition
- Think of rolling the log up your chest by hugging it close to your body and driving your hips forward to clean the log up to shoulder height
- Once the log is at shoulder height, keep your elbows high and pointed forward, back tight and head back with eyes looking at the ceiling
- Squat down slightly and drive the log upwards by extending your legs as well as your arms explosively
- Remember, this is a conditioning movement, so choose a weight that you can perform 15 to 20 repetitions with
5. SLED PUSH (ALTERNATIVE: BEAR CRAWL)
- Make sure to put enough weight on the sled to provide enough resistance to require effort, but not so heavy that you are significantly slowed down
- You may use the upright or the low handles for this exercise; place your hands on the handles with your arms extended, while leaning forward towards the sled
- With a straight back and tight core, drive through the ground with alternating, short steps, moving as fast as you can for a short distance
- Perform for sets of 50 to 100 feet.
6. SLEDGE HAMMER SWINGS (ALTERNATE: MEDICINE BALL SLAMS)
- Line up the head of the hammer on the middle of the tire in front of you
- Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart and, with one hand on the top of the handle and one near the bottom, rotate the hammer until it gets aligned directly over your head
- With the hammer overhead, simultaneously drop your hips downward as your top hand slides toward the bottom, so maximum power can be generated as you hit the tire
- Catch the hammer up high on the rebound and then repeat the motion
- Perform sets of 20 to 30 reps
