4 Unorthodox Workouts You Need to Try

If you are a gym-rat, then there is no doubt that you have spent a great deal of time trying different workouts and different lifting routines. And after a good amount of time, you have probably settled in to a routine that works well for you. However, even for the seasoned gym-junkie—and also for the newbie who simply wants to try something new—there is a certain pleasure that comes from attempting an unusual lifting session.

Furthermore, when you are having an off-day and just don’t feel like working out, trying an unorthodox routine just for one bout at the gym can help push you into the weight room when you otherwise might not have gone in. And so, to that end, here are four unorthodox lifting-routines that you may not have tried before, but which make for great single session lifts when you want to experience something new.

1. The One-Minute Set

Try one max-out set of this weight every single minute…and do it for ten to fifteen minutes.

The One-Minute Set is a good routine to use when you are relatively pressed for time but you want to get in a solid work-out on a number of different muscle groups. In essence, decide which exercises you want to do for your lifting session. Then, for whatever exercise you are planning on doing, put about 50% to 70% of your maximum lifting weight on the bar. Once you are ready, watch the clock and when a new minute starts, begin the exercise and max out.

The moment you are done, rest, but watch the clock. The second the clock changes to the next minute, do another max-out set. Repeat this one time each minute so that you are doing a set every minute. This does not mean that you are resting for a minute between sets, but rather, that once every minute, you are doing a full max-out set. So, in ten minutes you will have done ten sets; and in just a thirty-minute workout, you will have potentially done thirty max-out sets. And the next day, you will hurt. And that is a good thing!

2. The Super-Heavy Negative

Super-Heavy…or Too Heavy to Handle.

The Super-Heavy Negative workout is for those days when you want to lift really heavy, but your energy is not there for some reason. So, in light of that fact, this workout makes you lift heavy, but there is a lot of down-time in-between if you want it.

To get started, decide what exercise you want to do and then put yourself in a lifting cage or other location where there is something that can definitely catch the weight for you. Make sure everything is safe and the weight will not drop on you! Then, on the bar, put on from one-and-a-half to two times your one-rep max; the weight should be low enough that you can get it off the bar yourself at full extension but heavy enough that you could not even do a single full rep with that weight (and note that due to the strain on your joints that this workout causes, it should only be done by experienced lifters).

Once the bar is off, slowly lower it down until it eventually catches on whatever safety device you are using; note that lowering the bar should take as long as possible, even upwards of a minute if you can do so. Finally, once the bar is down, then, if you have a partner, lift it back into the starting position, or, if you are working alone, then take off the weight until you can do a normal set, do the normal set, put the bar back up, and then reload the bar with the super-heavy weight for your next negative.

Note as well that while this type of set works well for bench-press and shoulder-press, etc., it likely seems harder to do for any pulling exercises, such as for your back. So, if you want to do super-heavy negatives for your back, you can do something like the following: if you are on the back-row cable machine, for instance, then choose a weight that you can do with both hands but not with just one, which will thus allow you to pull the weight into position with both hands, but then do the super-heavy negative back-row with just one hand. If fact, you can do a super-heavy negative in each hand, then max out with a regular set of back-rows.

So this kind of lifting, whether pushing or pulling, will make you work.

3. Random Lifts

Sometimes, you just have to embrace the batshit crazy exercises!

This is more of a fun routine that is ideal when you are feeling a bit mischievous and want to be free of having a set routine for the day. So, for this routine, just go into the weight-room, then randomly decide what area of the room you will walk to. Once there, randomly decide what exercise you will do, and then randomly decide the weight you are going to lift (within your reasonable limits, of course). Essentially, the goal here is to make everything you do in the weight-room random.

And if you are the type of person who simply cannot make random-like choices by yourself, then pick two different exercises and fill a coin to decide which one to do (or use a dice-throwing app on your phone or something similar to make the decision for you). And use this same procedure for how much weight you will lift, how many sets you do, etc. In the end, the point is to let chaos take its course and have a good time.

4. Death By Dumb-Bell

These things can kill you!

The final type of routine is for when you are really pressed for time in the gym but you feel like your whole body needs work. Indeed, this is the routine to do if you only have ten or fifteen minutes to workout but you still want to hit all the major muscle groups.

So, once in the gym, find yourself an adjustable bench and grab a set of dumb-bells which might be on the light-side for compound lifts, and heavier for individual lifts, but which you can lift for almost all exercises. Then, with the bench there, start hammering out a single set of a certain exercise until you max out, and then immediately switch to another exercise and max-out, and then repeat this sequence until your workout is done. So, for example, do a shoulder press, then front shoulder-flyes, then shrugs, then bicep curls, then dumb-bell squats, then lunges, and so on. The point is to cover your whole body in a short amount of time, and to do it in a way which also gives you some cardio benefits. And this workout achieves exactly that.

Conclusion

So, these a just a few of the unorthodox workouts that you can do on the odd day that you do not feel like doing your regular routine. These unusual routines are enjoyable and likely quite different from your regular workout. And so, hopefully trying one of them will motivate you to head to the gym even on a day when you really just don’t feel like it.

Read More: How to Work Out The Lower Half Of Your Body Using Isometric Exercises

76 thoughts on “4 Unorthodox Workouts You Need to Try”

  1. I live about 40 miles from any gym and I have my morning exercise routine of push-ups sit-ups arm curls lunges stair climbs and jump rope. Any suggestions on other exercises with minimal equipment or space?

    1. dont bother with curls. they arent functional other than to improve your masterbating.
      Add some pull ups and that will replace your curls (bicep) workout, and do your back. There’s heaps more you could be doing. Have a look for body weight exercises online or buy some weights, power cages with a cable attachment are good value..
      Also, the first suggestion here, 1 minute sets, this should be what everone is doing. if youre resting much more than 1-2 minutes youre resting too long. it still takes me an hour to get through my workout watching the clock. it doesnt have to be every single set, but minute rests are a good baseline.

      1. Everyone is so down on Curls. There is nothing like a good bicep pump to put a skip in your step.

        1. They just wear out your arms when you could be doing compounds. Isolation is only good for shoulders in my opinion even then shoulder press is sweet.

        2. Big Fan of shoulder press. I superset various types of curls with back workouts. Wearing out your biceps is the point. Same with triceps. If you wear out your biceps it has two benefits. The first is that they regrow stronger and bigger which is great. But the bigger benefit with supersetting isolation work with compound with is that you get more from your compound work.
          I do biceps/back on a day together. If you ever try doing very heavy back rows compound with high volume barbell bicep curls, or concentration curls with pull ups or my favorite which is t bar row superset with preacher curls, you will find out very fast how much your body looks to the biceps to aid pulling exercise on the back. However, if your bis are blown out while doing those pulling exercises your heavy back stuff will be focused on the areas you want all the more.
          So aside from the added benefit of having the kind of arms that make women wet on site (the number of girls who just randomly touch my arms is a great motivator to get to the gym) you do yourself a favor when you realize that 30-40% of your heavy pulling for back has been regained as your biceps just don’t have the juice to step in.
          I do chest/triceps day for the same reason. If you ever want a huge, strong and well defined chest start doing some volume triceps superset with your chest work

        3. I just find any arm work fatigues for other exercises. I’ve been having a lot of dry needling done as my biceps are way too tight if I hold them in a curled position for a few seconds it hurts to lower them now. I just don’t see the point of an arm day.
          Back and bicep goes well together but after 20 or so sets over 4 or more exercises on my back it just doesn’t seem worth it.

        4. But that’s just it, fatigue is the whole ball game. Lower the weight so you can manage it and you will find you actually get more from the one with the other. I agree that “arm day” is just silly. I’m actually about to start my back and biceps day now that will be 6 separate giant sets of 5×20 and yes I will totally fatigue to almost nothing. It’s a great feeling

        5. Do you mean get your arms tired or wear them out like they are no good and damaged ?

        6. 5 x 20??? Sheeeeettttttt…..I’m 5×5 at the mo but going heavy….. thinking of putting bent over row in also so 6x…..building up to 100% body weight on squats…I know I’ve been out sick….. great though,finish in an hour but fucked after…..getting diet sorted out also….. problem with sweeties…..

        7. I have done it all and truly believe in the benefits of volume training. I am at 130% body weight on my squats that I go 5×20 on and at 2x body weight on deadlifts that I bang out 20 reps. I work in cycles. 12 weeks of extreme volume training and then I deload for 4 weeks use light weights for 5×10
          I also mix up a lot of stuff. I actually have someone from this site doing one of my workouts and the results are fantastic so far. I am in the gym a lot. WIth my cardio I spend 3 hours min daily and I work 7 days a week but I create programs to fit all lifestyles and equipment variables as well as working around injuries. I would be happy to customize a program for you once I am done working out the one I am doing for a second person on this site (will be my third, the other two having excellent results thus far). A lot of people think my volume shit is crazy, but not one of them has tried it. You let me know if you ever want to give a shot to what has lovingly been dubbed by one of my trainees (much to my joy) Uncle Knee’s Muscle Rape Program

        8. As a side note, I have switched out bent over barbell row and do a giant set of
          Bentover dumbbell row (each side) 10 (I use 105# dumbbells for this)
          Barbell curls x 20
          Hanging Leg Raises x 25
          I do this giant set 5 times with 45 seconds rest between each. If you have access to big dumbbells I have to say I think I get a better workout

        9. I’ve had moderate success on a 5×5 program. Been doing Wendlers 5/3/1 (boring but big) lately & having a lot of success with that.

        10. Not so much damaged but over trained because most back exercises work biceps pretty hard but those compound exercises activate all those stabilisers. Once u get over 35 I think it’s better to be smart with your workouts. But at any age unless you plan on competing in body building which is mostly about how you look curls are just a tiny piece of the puzzle that won’t matter too much if it is ignored in place of good compound exercises. If you focus on form of all your exercises and don’t do anything stupid without a spotter most should be fine. I don’t want to kill anyone joy in the gym haha but curls don’t do much for ya the big back exercises like pull ups, lat pull down, seated and bent over rows will do wayyyy more for you.

        11. Do you mean you do the heavy back rows first in the superset, before the high volume curls? Or vice versa?
          And by 5×20, do you mean you do say, 8 heavy rows then 12 curls? I used this approach in my workout today and found it very good.

        12. 5×20 on a superset would mean 20 of each exercise. In general and with few exceptions, if I grab a weight my goal is 20 reps

        13. Yes. I switched to massive volume training about 8 months ago and I am loving every second of it.

        14. Dang man, I thought I had a high volume routine. What astonishes me even more than your volume per workout is that you can do this 7 days/week. Your recovery must be completely dialed-in.
          Quick question: about how many of your exercises are focused on your targeted muscle groups for any given workout?
          For me personally, I can only manage about 45 sets before the muscles are toast and I just move onto other weak points or special projects for the rest of the workout.

        15. I recover fairly quickly, yes, but I obviously don’t work the same muscles back to back. I have different programs for volume that I have created. The one I am doing now has 5 giant sets of 3 workouts. So, to give you an example, yesterday was my Chest and Triceps day and my workout went as follows
          AM WORKOUT
          10 Min HIIT Sprints treadmill
          Giantset 1 5×20
          Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
          Standing Dumbbell Triceps extension
          Toe to Bar
          Giant Set 2 5×20
          Barbell Bench Press
          Dumbbell Tricep Kickbacks
          Pushups
          Giantset 3 5×20
          Laying Dumbbell Flyes
          Skull Crushers
          Dumbbell Russian Twist
          Giant Set 4 5×20
          Cable Cross
          Cable Tricep Pushdown
          Handing Leg Raises
          Giant Set 5×20
          Decline Barbell Bench Press
          Decline Sit Ups
          Close Grip Decline Barbell Bench Press
          45 Minutes Stairmaster Intervals on “Intense” Setting
          PM Workout
          Giant Set 1 5×20
          Dumbbell pull over
          seated triceps extension
          Plank (1 min)
          Giant Set 2 5×20
          Chest Dips (weighted)
          Triceps Dip
          Bicycle Crunches
          45 Min interval stairs on Intense
          That is pretty indicative of my daily workout.
          My schedule goes
          Day 1: Chest/Tri
          Day 2: Back/Bi
          Day 3: Ham/Calf
          Day 4: Quad/Glutes
          Day 5: Shoulders/Traps
          Day 6: All Cardio
          Day 7: Repeat Day 1
          Abs and Cardio every day

        16. Two-a-days? Oh man, I just assumed that you plunked down for a three hour session at the end of the day… that looks more like 5 or so total hours to me, although I guess you could cut the time way down by keeping a high tempo.
          Oosh, that really does look nuts. It’s great for me to read this because I’ve been considering adding a lot more volume, but some second-thoughts have been holding me back. I’m mainly concerned about injury prevention here. I get so many more dings whenever I start pushing beyond my current volume. So, I’m probably going to try to add new training days rather than adding extra meat to the time I’m already spending in the gym.

        17. I do it straight on weekends. The two a days is just because of the reality of work. You are right about tempo. It is very high and rest periods very low. On my IG I have a video of me doing bent over dumbbell rows with 100 pound dumbells at a pace that is really high. I just switched a friend from heavy work to volume work. It is his first time doing volume so he is doing slightly less than this and in 4 weeks he has notice size growth, weight loss, muscle strength and increased energy along with better aesthetics. I am customizing a program for someone now, but if you want I would be happy to do one for you as an intro to high volume.
          As for injuries, I actually started high volume work to get around injuries when I realized I would never lift insane weight again. I have honestly never felt better. It is easy for me to add the gym time because I genuinely enjoy being there. People will look at me and say “3 hours in the gym you are crayz” and then turn around and spend that amount of time in a bar easy peasy.

        18. also, if you ding up in volume it means lower the weight. Volume lifting is something that required you to check your ego. That was the hardest part for me. deadliftin 505 is cool. The whole gym knows when you put the bar down. You are the king. Deadlifting 225, 175, 155, even 135 whatever…but you are doing 100 reps total here (more if you do my deadlift heavy stuff). I have one guy doing 300 curls per arm with a 15 pound dumbbell in 6 sets of 50 with no rest. There is just no way to look cool curling a 15 pound dumbbell but the fucking pump is real.

        19. I was up until just before my vacation. Then I took a week off while I was away of drinking and eating whatever. But right up until I left I was

        20. I can get more detailed if you want to email me. I could even look over your goals and time and equipment and customize a program for you. I do it for a few guys here and all of them are seeing the results they want. As for me, I’m happy with my results. I’m on a 4 week slow period because my workout isn’t possible without a break but I think most people are shocked by my age when they see my fitness level. Anyway, I don’t charge or anything I just like helping out the it’s on ROK with the knowledge I’ve picked up over the years

        21. I’d be very open to that if you have the time. Thanks for offering.

        22. Even though I’m basically satisfied with the results from my current routine, that is a very tempting offer. I still consider my routine to be high volume, but it’s not quite the massive volume that you describe and I feel like
          I might be leaving something on the table by not making any substantial additions or changes to what I’ve been doing for about three years now (through a long bulk/cut from 155 to 200 to 175… still trying to get to ~168).
          One of the things you should know is that I’ve recently been delving into the world of gripsport. This is actually the type of volume that I’m most immediately interested in adding to my normal routine, but it has proven to be very difficult without causing injury. Even so, I’m intrigued by the idea of simply adding training days, maybe dicing up my training
          schedule to spread it out over the extra days with the added grip work I want to do, or simply changing my weights and rep ranges and pursuing something totally new like high-tempo, massive volume training (as you’ve introduced me to it).
          To give you an idea of what I’m doing, I’ll describe my own chest/tris day (in order of performance; rep ranges ending in 12 are to
          approximate failure and raised 5 lbs. next session if 12 reps are achieved, if more than 12 reps then raise weights immediately):
          Warm-up: light leg stretching, Cuban rotations, L-flyes.
          Chest:
          Dumbbell pullovers – pyramid 3 sets of 20 (+10 lbs. each set to make sure shoulders/elbows are warm, final set is rest-pause to failure at ~17-20… if hit 20 without rest-pause then raise all sets 5 lbs. next session)
          Incline dumbbell press – 3 sets of 6-12 reps
          Flat dumbbell press – 3 sets of 6-12 reps
          Decline dumbbell press – 3 sets of 6-12 reps
          Incline dumbbell flyes – 3 sets of 6-12 reps
          Cable crossovers (high-to-low) – 4 sets of 6-12 reps
          Guillotine press (Smith machine) – 9 sets of 6-12 reps (low weight, low rest periods… currently phasing this out because it’s starting
          to hurt my palms more than usual)
          Dips – 4 sets to failure
          Tris:
          Overhead dumbbell tri-extensions – 7 sets of 6-12 reps
          Bench dips – 3 sets to failure
          Cable press downs (supinated grip for medial head) – 3 sets of 6-12
          Extra stuff [in order]:
          Squats (when knee feels fine, which is rare these days) – 3 sets of 10 reps
          Leg curls/extensions (unilateral) – 3 supersets of 6-12 reps
          Calf raises – 3 sets of 6-12 reps
          Glutes/erectors – 3 supersets to failure using the hyperextension setup (for glutes I basically just lower myself a tiny bit and then squeeze the hell out of my butt while thrusting my hips forward to raise me back to neutral… haha, it looks like I’m performing some weird hands-free masturbatory ritual and the face I’m making while doing it really hams it up)
          Concentration bicep curls – 3 sets of 6-12 (final set is strip-set)
          Grip work (basically David Horne’s protocol for beginners):
          Kettlebell pinches – 3 sets for max holding time (increase difficulty if 20+ seconds; after last set do burnout with lighter/smaller kettlebell)
          Barbell finger curls – 3 sets of 12-20 reps (pronated grip while standing; hold to failure on last rep of third set; raise by 10 lbs. if hit 20 reps)
          Barbell wrist curls – 3 sets of 12-20 reps (supinated grip over knees while seated; raise 10 lbs. if hit 20)
          Barbell reverse wrist curls – 3 sets of 12-20 (pronated grip over knees while seated; raise 5 lbs. if hit 20)
          And that’s it. All in I’m looking at about 2 hours there. There are some other nuances and particular reasons why I do it this way, but that’s basically how my chest/tris day goes.
          I’ve taken the tack of slinging my triceps work to the end of my chest work, so I’m intrigued by the way you sprinkle it throughout. I’m familiar with the idea of pre-exhaustion and the potential benefits (I’ve even experimented with it), but the way you toggle the exercises seems to be something a bit different. Getting back to regular ab and cardio work would probably blow my mind in addition to the other features of your programming.
          The rest of my split is back/bis, shoulders/traps, legs. On off days I play with my grippers and dexterity balls. I do extensor and light thumb work about five days per week while sitting in the office. I actually think that I caused some damage by overworking my extensors, so I’ve been reducing volume there and my recovery is promising so far. The numbness and pain could have been from that or levering, I don’t know which, but I’ve totally stopped levering and drastically reduced my extensor work and the results are that my hands, wrists and forearms are feeling much better.
          We can certainly delve more into this and I’d love to get your feedback and advice. I saw that you provided your email here to someone else so I’ll just shoot you a line there.

        23. Excellent stuff here. Why the conc curls on a chest/tri day if you have a back bi day?
          Other than that question I totally get what you are doing and think it’s awesomd.

        24. Thanks!
          Well, my upper arms have not historically been one of my better body parts, and indeed I did not perform bicep curls for a few years due to a prior injury. Given the progress I’ve made in other areas, and the fact that I feel fit enough to work my bis fully now, I’ve decided to make a special project out of my arms. So, I basically work my arms in some fashion after every workout.
          On Chest/tris day, I do my bis in the way described. On back/bis day, I do my tris in a similar way. On shoulders/traps and legs day, I do them both. My inspiration for this came from the notion of “feeder” workouts. I must say that the results are satisfactory and that my bis and tris have developed more than I could have imagined them doing so on my normal routine.

      2. If you want big arms, you should train them directly. In the end of the day the strength is useless but the aesthetics are not unless you compete in a specific lift. At some point a weird orthodoxy developed where direct training was eschewed but that’s a big mistake if you want a great body; no need to sell yourself short when you could train your muscles properly by investing a few more minutes into the workout.

        1. If you’re doing compounds on your back properly no need for curls. It’s not a weird orthodoxy it’s just not over training a relatively small muscle with an exercise that isn’t functional. The LESS youcan getaway with doing the less chance of injury. After my right shoulder, my left went. It wasn’t a big deal mostthings can be corrected but I worry about the next injury and not being able to train for any period.
          I just thought in this case Jim Johnson doing curls in contrast to what he could use those Dumbbells for is silly. He should be doing one arm rows or something. The curls are one of those beginner exercises people just do, but they have little function. I still get comments on my arms and I haven’t done curls regularly for awhile.y biceps are pretty over worked now so it just hinders my over all workouts. In terms of burning calories curls are also a waste of time.
          But you are right 2-3 sets of curls at the end of a work out probably isn’t a bad thing for most. But they’re probably the least important exercise I can think of and when I see a skinny dude in the gym doing curls I feel like talking about curls here and all the video people see in body building videos or whatever is doing them an injustice.

    2. -Beat a tractor tire with a sledgehammer, alternating your grip after 15 reps or so.
      -Flip the tire.
      -Jump squats; two variations;
      1. Start from squatting position, jump and finish in squatting position and hold for a few seconds and stabilize.
      2. Start from a standing position, squat and load your legs with all your weight and quickly jump, land in a squatting position, stand and repeat.
      -YouTube some videos on MMA push-ups for different push-up techniques.
      -Buy a kettle bell. Kettle bell squats.
      -Search body weight exercises online and YouTube.
      -Research HITT training; run sprints in your yard, recover and repeat. It’s a lot easier than it sounds. If you’re in bad shape, it will be hard at first but you’ll be surprised how much easier it gets even during your first workout.
      -Buy a book on core strength conditioning and follow whatever program they have in their book. I recommend Mark Verstegens book. If I remember correctly, everything in this book requires only a few pieces of cheap equipment you can buy at the sporting goods store. https://www.amazon.com/Core-Performance-Revolutionary-Workout-Transform/dp/1594861684
      I was in the best shape of my life when I followed this book religiously, granted my diet was excellent and I also lifted weights.
      Hope that helps.

    3. Punching bag, even if you are not trained in boxing, it will help you for cardio, shoulders and arms.
      Buy a pair of decent gloves (forget Everlast, I suggest Adidas or Title, or if you can afford them Cleto Reyes) and wraps (Title) and wear them when you use it. There are videos in youtube about how wrap your hands.

    4. The callisthenic big-six are squats, pushups, pullups, leg lifts, handstand pushups, and bridges.
      Aside from pullups, no equipment necessary. Convict Conditioning details several levels, which Larsen has covered on this site.

      1. If you’ve got a pull up bar, adding levers (start with back lever, move on to front lever after that) is a great way to move up to advanced calisthenics. Similar situation with adding L sits and human flag (I still haven’t moved on to these yet) progressions.
        Then for mobility and cardio work, there’s the classic burpee, Hindu and dive bomber pushups plus BJJ conditioning (bear crawls, crab walks etc).

    5. Handstand progressions: by far the best pushing exercise for your upper body.
      Pull up variations: indubitably the best pulling motion for the whole upper body.
      Mastering these 2 will put you above 99.9 % of the population in terms of upper body strength.
      Pistols / squats for legs and the hip, and finally there is only 1 lift that you cannot substitute for with body weight exercises, and that would be well worth any investment in equipment: Olympic Clean & Jerk.

      1. he will be just fine without the clean and jerk…theyre a good way to get injured,especially for older men who arent used to it. if you wanna do something like olympic lifts id advise a sandbag made from an old military duffel and filled with pea gravel. much less likely to get hurt for several reasons(and cheaper too).

        1. Yes I would recommend a professional to initially set you up on correct form and technique with this lift; what sets apart the clean & jerk from all other lifts is the mandatory explosiveness of the compound movement, something very hard to replicate with body weight.
          Everything else, like the deadlift, squats, rows, etc. can be replicated pretty easily, but there is just no equivalent substitute for explosiveness and harmony of the whole body as required by this lift…

        2. as i said…sandbags. get a heavy sandbag,and use it for clean and jerks. no need to spend money.

    6. Just get back to basics Jim – no need to get too fancy. An adjustable pair of dumbbells and an adjustable barbell should suffice… Check Amazon for new equipment or Craigslist for used equipment. You can perform all your basic (compound and isolation) movements in a very small space if needed; these are all the same movements that have been around forever and have served as the foundation for a healthy, masculine lifestyle.

    7. It really depends on what your goals are. If you want to maintain overall health and fitness what you are doing is great but definitely art those pull ups people mention…the pull-up is a great full body exercise. Curwen is also right, if you can get a bag and go st it it’s a great exercise. I am also a big fan of cycling and it seems you seems you are in a good place for that.
      If, however, you are looking to put on Muscle you simply can’t do that without heavy weight. That’s ok though. Adding serious muscle rather than just being toned and healthy is a personal passion for some and not necessarily part of your balanced breakfast.
      One thing, while body weight stuff is good (push-ups and the hundreds of variations to them? Jumping jacks which I’m a big fan of, burpees which are an excellent exercise, etc) I am a firm believer in the absolute uselessness of the air squat. If you aren’t moving weight with your squats than you are just wasting time. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be a barbell or even a dumbbell. A good heavy bowling ball, a small anvil, anything you can grasp in your hands in front of you (look up goblet squat) and adds a min of 25-30 pounds and then increase it with time

      1. Cycling is great to burn off stomach fat….I got really lean with a combination of cycling and weights a few years ago….hilling for shorter periods will increase leg muscles and burn those love handles off….. just be careful about the long cycles…..

        1. Agreed. Here in New York we have the great loop in central park which is packed with women, a mix of uphill/downhill and flat and really scenically beautiful. I have always thought biking was a super exercise.

    8. Try the kettlebell “simple and sinister” program
      Two exercises – swings and get-ups. That’s it.

        1. Yeah, me too. The get ups have sorted all sorts of issues out for me including shoulders and knees. Still struggling with the snatches though.

        2. Yeah, get ups are pretty bad ass. I did this workout today after 10 minutes of rowing then stretching:
          Swings – 40 reps
          Swing Cleans – 10 reps
          Goblet Squats – 20 Reps
          Pull Cleans – 10 reps
          Push Ups – 20 Reps
          Reverse Goblet Lunge – 20 reps (10 per side)
          BURPEE BURNOUT
          Did it twice halving the reps on the second set. Good damn workout.

    9. get an adjustable bench and two adjustable dumbbells(75 lb each)
      that should be enough

      1. We have a detached garage that I am contemplating bringing in a weight bench and installing a pull up bar. So far, it has only been stuff you can do in the living room.

  2. Tomorrow’s headline on RoK:
    How To Treat the Elbow Tendon Sprain You Got By Following Yesterday’s 4 Unorthodox Workouts

    1. HAhahahah – I’m no lifter but I was thinking the same thing.
      I had this one jackass friend who would come into the gym, grab the heaviest dumbbell he could lift and do arm-curls – hyper-extending his arm backwards ‘because he could’……

    1. Not sure if you meant this as a joke or not but so absolutely true

      1. No, no, it was not a joke. I wanked the other day 20 min. before deadlifting and I could not lift more than 80% my weight, when I normally do 130%.

        1. I would imagine a mans testosterone levels collapse after one shoots the load…… don’t waste it, nut inside her or on the face/tits…..

    2. True shit. Can’t get a solid workout in if I’ve busted a few hours before

  3. Superseted bodyweight. Plain and simple. Push ups to failure on any day that the upper body is trained. Double unders and sprints on any day that legs are trained.

  4. I have just modified my routine. Originally, I was walking 7 miles a day. Mainly for blood pressure. Never missed a day for 9 months. Now I am changing though.
    I now am doing hard cardio just three day a week.. Still seven miles, but 2.4 are a jog. That is, walk 4.8 miles and jog 2.4. Generally, I do half before work around 3:AM and half after work.
    The other three days I only walk 2.4 miles (gotta walk the dog), and then do the following
    1)Three sets of 20 push-ups. (Last set I only get to about 10, but I try for 20)
    2)Three sets of 6 pull-ups. (Last set can only do three or so)
    3)Three sets of leg flutters.
    4)Three sets of squats and stands.
    5)Three sets of curls with weights.
    I really so not know much about training. Just adapting what I did 30 years ago in the military. I am 52 years old. About 6ft 2 inches and 167 pounds. Down from 185 before I started my walk routine.
    Also, on Monday I do nothing except walk the dog. On this day, I fast. Just a glass of beet juice. I have heard that a day of rest in important.
    Any suggestions for an old man geezer work-out. Also, on days like today, I will spend a couple of hours working in my garden and doing some housework as I am on three weeks vacation and my wife is working.

  5. Do bending bars work? Since i dont lift at all, i found an alternative in the web about bar benders. Any advice for me, experienced lifters?

    1. Bending isn’t my thing so I really can’t offer any advice, but I can point you towards The GripBoard if you haven’t discovered it already (www.gripboard.com). They have an entire forum for benders and you’re really missing out if you’re not engaging with these people.
      I can’t speak highly enough about their membership. They are a great bunch of guys and I’m sure you’ll find answers to most of your questions there including instructional articles and videos, inspiration, goal setting, training, injury prevention and recovery, equipment, you name it.
      I’d recommend that you spend some time lurking and get a feel for the place, then join up. You won’t regret it if you’re interested in anything related to grip or grip-style strongman feats.

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