It’s Saturday as I write this, and I did my heavy deadlifts on Thursday, followed by some Tabata work last night. Today, I’m enjoying that gratifying feeling of being crazy sore while knowing full-well that I’ve earned my weekend off from exercise. Bring on the recovery days!
I mentioned in my post on the deadlift that it is a fantastic workout for the core, particularly the lower back. Well, after yesterday’s workout, my abdominal muscles are sore (along with other parts) and I didn’t do a single crunch. But I did do about 7o pull-ups. Let me explain.
Last night I did some circuit training inspired by the Tabata protocol (20 seconds of work, followed by 10 seconds of rest, for 8 rounds, or 4 minutes per exercise). I did pull-ups, pushups, 53# KB swings and squats. But rather than doing all the pull-ups together, then all the pushups, etc., I did them all in sequence. It looked like this:
8 rounds:
pull-ups (20 seconds)
rest for 10 seconds
pushups (20 seconds)
rest for 10 seconds
KB swings (20 seconds)
rest for 10 seconds
squats (20 seconds)
rest for 10 seconds
So that’s 16 minutes, with no more than 10 seconds’ rest at a time. It was a great workout, and some good ol’ metabolic conditioning. Not surprisingly, I was starved all evening afterward.
This is a great workout that is primarily bodyweight focused and as such requires minimal equipment. If you don’t have a KB to do some swings, there are lots of other things you could do instead. Try planks or you could even do crunches, though I personally hate crunches; not enough bang for the buck.
Finally, in anticipation of some premeditated gorging on Thursday, this would be a great workout to do Thursday morning or even Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving. It’ll help elevate your metabolism going in to your day of feasting and celebration.
