Effective Conditioning Workout
Effective Conditioning Workout
In a well-balanced training plan, strength and conditioning should go hand in hand. In lots of cases, it doesn’t. Lots of gym goers are obsessed with being bigger and stronger but this often leads to neglecting athleticism.
I suppose part of the problem is the misleading advice on ‘cardio’ – the mere mention of the word makes some meatheads feel as if they are losing their muscle!
The truth is, whilst the wrong type of cardio will see you lose muscle and strength, the correct kind won’t – in fact in some cases it can increase both strength and muscle mass whilst improving your cardio conditioning and athleticism.
The term ‘cardio’ is a bit misleading anyway. Essentially anything that is performed with the main aim of increasing your heart and breathing rate could be considered cardio. To be really clear, any exercise performed with those outcomes being the MAIN goal is cardio.
Why make it so clear?
Because any exercise performed correctly will increase heart and breathing rate, but that may not be the main purpose – strength training increases heart and breathing rate, but it’s goal is to increase strength.
What is the wrong type of cardio when it comes to maintaining muscle?
If you want to add mass and strength avoid the medium intensity, long duration cardio such as jogging. It increases injury risk, increases cortisol levels and reduces growth hormone secretion.
If you love jogging, fine, but don’t expect too much in the way of muscle growth if you are running for 60+ minutes per week. You can’t be a master of all trades, something has to give.
What is conditioning?
Conditioning is high intensity cardio. It’s cardio that protects strength and muscle mass. It’s cardio performed at a high intensity, much like many sports – not many sports are performed at a steady pace for a long time, distance running aside.
But who wants to look like a distance runner anyway?
A conditioning workout is very high intensity, it’s brutal but it’s also an excellent calorie-burner and muscle-maintainer. A good conditioning workout makes your lungs burn and your legs feel like jelly, but the results are amazing – serious calorie burning and strength maintenance.
If you’ve never done a proper conditioning workout before, you could give this one a go…
Exercise 1: Kettle Rope Drag
This is a great warm up to any conditioning workout. It’s low-intensity, the weight is light and the movement pattern varied – an ideal warm up. Start by tying a light kettlebell (around 12kg) to the end of a 10-15m battle rope.
Run until the rope is at full extension, then drag the kettlebell towards you using both arms, overlapping each time. When it reaches you, that is one rep. Repeat the cycle for 4-6 reps.
Exercise 2: Double Arm Prowler Drag
Wrap the rope around the prowler until you have two equal lengths of rope to hold. Run until the rope is at full extension, then using both arms, pull the prowler towards you. When it reaches you, that is one rep. Repeat the cycle for 4-6 reps.
The prowler is heavier than the kettlebell so is a step up in intensity.
Exercise 3: Prowler Sprint Pull
This is simple but a bit of a killer. Wrap the ropes over your shoulders like a rucksack and sprint forward, pulling the prowler with you. This combines the running elements of the other two exercises but adds the resistance of the prowler.
Perform 2-4 sets of 25 yard sprints.
Exercise 4: Weighted Prowler Sprint Pull
As above, but this time with added resistance. This conditioning workout is light on kit but high on effort, so to increase the weight I simply put the kettlebell on Marks’ prowler!
Perform 2-4 sets of 25 yard sprints.
Exercise 5: Weighted Prowler Push
The original prowler exercise. A standard in any prowler-containing conditioning workout – simply load the prowler and push at as close to a sprint pace as you can. This is an absolute KILLER of a conditioning exercise – a proper lung burner and an exercise guaranteed to turn your legs to jelly!
Perform 2-4 sets of 25 yard sprints.
Exercise 6: Mini Hurdles Into Sprint
You’ll need to rest before taking this one on!
Set up 5 mini hurdles around a yard apart. Perform a quick jump over each one before heading off on a 20 yard sprint. Walk back to rest, which is one rep.
Repeat 5 times.
Conditioning Workout Notes
This conditioning workout isn’t easy, but it can be tweaked depending on your fitness levels. There are enough variables for you to manipulate in order to make this conditioning workout suitable for your current fitness level.
You can adjust the workout by changing…
- The weight you use (kettlebell, the rope or the prowler).
- The distances travelled on the sprints.
- The number of sprints and/or hurdles.
Always tweak any workout to suit your ability or fitness level and progress from there.
Conditioning Workout Equipment
As with any workout, warm up thoroughly and stage the exercises so you aren’t going all-in too quickly. There is a multi-directional use of muscles and joints in the workout, so with cool down make sure you stretch thoroughly and control the heart rate descent, as it will reach VERY high numbers.
Do this conditioning workout once or twice per week and watch your cardio improve dramatically and your body fat reduce faster than ever!
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