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T-roll pushup

In a few short weeks, you’ll be tracking the dwindling hours, minutes and seconds before the New Year makes its first appearance. With luck, you’ll have family and friends around you, some good food, and a hearty kazoo blast or two to round out the festivities.

In honor of this annual clock-centric countdown ritual, we’ve put together a fast, furious and fun workout to help celebrate the fitness you’ve gained this year — and to mark your commitment to getting even fitter this year.

The Countdown Workout is a body-weight-only workout you can do virtually anywhere in just 10 minutes. It’s particularly effective because it develops “relative strength,” which is the ability to move your own body through space quickly and efficiently.

That guy at the gym who can crank out 50 pushups and 20 pull-ups? He has tons of relative strength. So do the gymnasts, dancers and team-sport athletes who jump the highest, run the fastest and go the hardest. That’s the kind of fitness we’d all do well to pursue.

But you don’t need to shoot for an assigned number of sets during this workout. All you need to keep track of is the time. That’s because the Countdown is a circuit, consisting of five exercises of escalating intensity performed as many times as your 10 minutes (and screaming muscles) will allow.

You’ll begin by doing five reps of the first exercise, four of the second, and so on, until you’re doing just one rep of the last, and toughest exercise — then you return to the first move.

This approach ensures that you don’t breeze through some exercises and burn out on others, and that you work your entire body equally, head to toe, during the brief-but-intense 10-minute time period.

If you crank through this workout three times a week, by New Year’s Day you’ll be moving better, feeling healthier, and looking leaner, too.

So prepare to work hard. “Since it will be over fast, you can give it your all for that concentrated period,” says workout designer Nick Tumminello, ACE-CPT, owner of Performance University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “Exercising for a set time frame, rather than completing a prearranged number of sets and reps, allows you to go at a pace that’s right for you.

“A mixed-martial-arts fighter can go full speed the whole time; a grandmother will take it slower, but they’ll both get a great workout.”

The Countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Work Out!

Directions:

  • Perform the exercises below in a continuous circuit for 10 minutes, transitioning quickly between movements.
  • Rest only long enough between exercises to maintain good form on each movement (as fatigue sets in, technique tends to slip).
  • Each time you perform the workout, keep track of how many full circuits you are able to complete in 10 minutes, and then try to beat your record each time you do the workout.
  • For an added challenge, try the workout wearing a 10- to 25-pound weighted vest.
  • For full descriptions and a video demonstration of alternate (easier) exercises, see The Countdown Workout video.

1. Alternating Reverse Lunge 

reverse lunge

  • Interlace your hands behind your head and spread your elbows wide, keeping them there throughout the exercise.
  • With your feet shoulder-width apart, step your left foot backward about a stride-and-a-half.
  • Maintaining the neutral curve of your spine and looking straight ahead, slowly bend both legs until your left knee nears the floor.
  • Reverse the movement and return to the starting position.
  • Repeat the movement, stepping back with your right foot. That’s one rep.

Reps: Five.

Coaching Cues: “It’s OK to lean forward a little when performing this exercise,” says Tumminello. “But if your knees hurt when you lunge, don’t go as deep — stay within a pain-free range of motion.”

2. Mountain Climber 

mountain climber

  • Get into the top of a pushup position, hands under your shoulders, back straight, body forming a mostly straight line from your heels to the crown of your head.
  • Without raising your hips much, lift your left foot off the floor and quickly pull your left knee in toward your chest, not allowing your left foot to touch the floor (it should hover a few inches above it).
  • While simultaneously moving your left foot back to the starting position, quickly draw your right foot up toward your chest so your feet switch in midair. That’s one rep.

Reps: Four.

Coaching Cues: “The mountain climber isn’t a jumping or bobbing move,” says Tumminello. “Keep your hips about shoulder height or lower throughout the movement.”

3. T-Roll Pushup 

t pushup

  • Begin at the top of a pushup position.
  •  Lift your right hand off the floor, rotating your arm toward the ceiling until your right hand is reaching directly upward, creating a “T” shape with your arms and body.
  • Return to the starting position and repeat on the other side.
  • Once back in pushup position, bend your elbows and lower your chest toward the floor, stopping when your chest is about 3 inches off the floor.
  • Reverse the movement, returning to the starting position. That’s one rep.

Reps: Three.

Coaching Cues: If you find it difficult to stay on your toes throughout the move, allow your feet to rotate all the way to the side when you roll so that your weight is resting on more surface area, instructs Tumminello.

4. Modified Burpee

burpee

  • Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing slightly outward.
  • Squat fully, allowing your knees to spread wide, and place your hands flat on the floor a few inches in front of your feet.
  • In one explosive motion, jump your feet backward into pushup position.
  • Jump your feet forward again, returning to the squat position with your hands on the floor.
  • Stand quickly, swing your arms overhead, and perform a vertical jump.
  • Land softly. That’s one rep.

Reps: Two.

Coaching Cues: “When you squat down, allow your knees to spread outside your arms,” says Tumminello. “You’ll protect your lower back and get a nice hip stretch at the same time.”

5. Pull-Up

pull up

  • Take a shoulder-width grip on a pull-up bar, palms facing away from you.
  • Lift your feet from the floor and allow your arms to fully straighten.
  • From a dead hang, pull your shoulder blades down and back, bend your arms, and pull your body upward until your chin is above the bar.
  • Lower yourself slowly back to the starting position. That’s one rep.

Reps: One.

Coaching Cues: “If pull-ups [palms facing away] are tough for you, try switching your hands to a chin-up grip [palms facing toward you] — either right from the start, or as you get tired later in the workout,” Tumminello says.

(Can’t do a pull-up, yet? Try this 30-day program created by Mikey Mueller, NASM-CPT, USAW, Alpha Coach at Life Time to get your chin over the bar.) 

Visit the Countdown Workout video page for a “Make It Easier” version.

Photography by: Bob McNamara

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