No End In Sight

By Carla DiGirolamo MD, CFL1 

This workout not only challenges your ability to recover within the 1-minute intervals, but it also challenges your mental grit because there is no clear endpoint! Your goal is to last for as many minutes as you can doing the prescribed movements and repetitions in the confines of the 1-minute interval. Just when you think you have done your last round, you manage to finish with 1 second left and the next minute starts - along with another round of movements! - and this could go on for who knows how much longer! Expect to complete 10-12 rounds.

Why should you do this workout if you are a mid-life woman? Because it integrates muscular strength and power training for metabolic health and body composition, plyometrics for bone density and the time domain creates a burst of intensity for a short period of time that will jump-start fat-burning and physical adaptation without tanking your recovery before your next training session.

Warm Up

TABATA -20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest for a total of 6 minutes (12 rounds). Set a timer for Tabata 20/10 for 12 rounds (1 round = 20sec work/10sec rest). Perform each movement sequentially for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds before moving to the next movement. Each set of 3 movements is performed 4 times.

• Air Squats
• Push-Ups (easy option)
• Up-Downs

Movement Practice

THIS IS IMPORTANT! Take 5-10 minutes to watch the demo video and practice the dumbbell power clean.  Use the same weight for the power cleans and thrusters. Test out your weights (moderately heavy) and burpee options. 

Practice one round of all three movements for the prescribed repetitions and time how long it takes. If it takes more than 40 seconds to perform the three movements, you can use a lighter weight and/or do three burpees instead of five. Once you find a combination of movement weights and repetitions that you can do in 40-45 seconds, you are ready to start!

Workout

EMOM (every minute on the minute) for as many minutes as possible

•  5 dumbbell hang power cleans (alternative: Barbell hang power clean)
•  5 dumbbell or barbell thrusters
•  5 burpee over dumbbell (jump or step over the dumbbell or barbell)

Score: Number of total rounds and reps completed

Cool-Down

Let’s dial down our adrenaline surge with this 15-minute full-body stretch and deep relaxation!