If you’re reading this article you’re already doing good; you’re motivated (maybe). Don’t be one of those riders that have to deal with shedding unwanted holiday baggage and re-conditioning the body after weeks of inactivity. Believe me, it is much easier to keep the pounds off than it is to remove them later. Enter cheesy moto metaphor here: Compare losing weight versus keeping it off like either pulling the holeshot or working your way through the pack, respectively.So let’s assume for a second that you’ve done a good job so far and avoided too many helpings of the T-Day/ X-Mas stuffing and passed on that third Pabst Blue Ribbon during the football game. The next part of the puzzle is going to be keeping the metabolic systems working throughout this time-sorry, I mean get some exercise! There’s a great deal of exercise you can do with limited time that will dive deep into those calorie reserves of yours, but you’re going to have to be willing to work.First, choose your movements or exercises wisely. Compound movements like rowing (on the Concept2 Erg, of course), swimming, cross-country skiing or even spinning on the Schwinn Airdyne are best choices. These multi-joint, multi-muscle movements return the highest dividends for your investment (read: time). If you can’t make any of the previous exercises happen, fear not, I have more solutions.Pick any number of the following movements, choose a rep scheme (I’ll give you some examples) and with 20 minutes on the clock, work your way through them as many times as possible in the given time. Keep your workouts varied, too. So if you went 20 minutes today, change up the movements and go 15 minutes tomorrow, then 23 the next day. Get it? Change things up.Beginner Movements: Squat (unweighted), Jump Squat, Sit-ups, Jump Rope, Lunges
Intermediate Movements: Pull-ups, Push-ups, Tuck Jumps, Box Jumps
Advanced movements: Burpees, Mountain Climbers, Man Makers (check YouTube for demonstrations.)
Ok, let’s say you’ve picked three movements out of the lot that you can do efficiently and safely, time to pick a rep scheme. Try this:As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
10 Push-ups
10 Sit-ups
10 Squats
10 Mountain Climbers (for example see here
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI8u58hPam4 )
Just like the time domain, you want to keep the movements changing. So take the stuff you did today and put it on the back burner until next week or the following before you repeat it. Keep the workouts short, intense and varied and you’ll burn the bird off in no time!About the Author:
Greg Hammond has worked for Concept2 for 14 years with everyone from top athletes to weekend warriors. He still rides in the hills of Vermont and races moto in the always-competitive 40 plus vet class. Check out Greg’s Twitter account @Concept2MXMMA
