Sometimes, our fans can teach us a thing or two, which is why Muscle & Fitness will be showcasing a Badass Workout of the Week, submitted by one of our highly knowledgeable readers. Then our training experts will explain why they’re so bad-ass, how how to make them badder; and what training style they work for.
This week, Dan Trink, Director of Training at Peak Performance in NYC, tips his cap to this routine from our Facebook fan Chris. Let us know what you think, and show off your own workout at badassworkout@muscleandfitness.com. If we think it’s worthy, we’ll post it on the Muscle & Fitness website.
THIS WEEK’S OFFICIAL BADASS WORKOUT – THE BURPEE BLAST
By the end of this routine you will have completed 100 burpees and push-ups. The workout is timed so the idea is to blast through it as quickly as possible with minimal rest. You will need some dumbells, a Swiss ball, a kettlebell and a place to perform some dips.
10 Burpees with push-ups 40 Mountain Climbers (20 Each Leg)
10 Burpees with push-ups 10 Squat Jumps
10 Burpees with push-ups 10 Tricep Dips
10 Burpees with push-ups 10 Shoulder Press (25 lbs. each arm)
10 Burpees with push-ups 20 Lunges (10 Each leg)
10 Burpees with push-ups 10 Squat Thrusts
10 Burpees with push-ups 10 Reverse Crunches
10 Burpees with push-ups 10 Kettlebell Swings (50 lbs.)
10 Burpees with push-ups 10 Swiss Ball Pikes
See what our expert had to say about this workout
WHY WE CHOSE THIS WORKOUT
Holy smokin’ biscuits, Chris! I haven’t seen this many burpees in a workout since I dreamt that I was Rich Froening tearing my shirt off in the middle of the CrossFit Games Open. One hundred burpees, plus dips, jumps, mountain climbers, squat thrusts, lunges, swings, crunches and pikes. As quickly as possible. With minimal rest. As a finisher. You are either a metabolic beast or an alien from another planet. And I’m not sure which is more scary.
I’m a big fan of metabolic work that uses resistance, this way you are sure to maintain and even possibly build muscle mass while torching fat. And, though it’s gained popularity in recent years, work capacity is a strength quality that is often overlooked and you’re building tons of it here. Finally, you are hitting a lot of major muscle groups in this circuit which is ideal if you are going to tackle this type of challenge.
HOW TO MAKE IT BADDER
While you have a nice variety of movements, most of them are pressing variations in both the upper and lower body. How about getting some pulling in there with chin-ups, rows and RDLs? The squat thrusts come across as the freshman trying to get into frat party here.
Burpees are truly the more advanced version of this elementary school gym-class staple, so why not just stick with those? Finally, while I have no idea what you are doing in your workouts before this finisher, you freak of nature, I know that I wouldn’t be able to train very hard and still tackle something of this magnitude.
So this is just a friendly reminder from your Uncle Dan to make sure you are pushing hard in the strength training portions of your workout and not just saving everything you have in the tank for this metabolic happy ending.
WHO SHOULD DO IT
If you have high levels of work capacity and want to be challenged to build a bit more, then this workout is certainly for you. If you are planning on competing in the CrossFit games or have some sort of Annie Thorsdottir fetish, this could also be right up your alley. However if you are looking to build strength, need some more volume in your pulling exercises and don’t have the work capacity of a bunny rabbit hopped up on energy drinks, this may not be your speed.
Dan Trink, CSCS, is a strength coach, personal trainer, fitness writer and nutritional consultant. He is also the Director of Training at Peak Performance in NYC. You can find out more about Dan at Trinkfitness.com or on his Facebook page.
