This 4-Move Ladder Workout Will Finish Off Your Toughest Training Sessions
You don’t need to go guns blazing on a 400 meter sprint or do the infamous CrossFit workout Fran to hound your heart rate up and get your lungs firing. This four-movement bodyweight circuit from trainer Jeremy Scott (who also created the Men’s Health Action Hero Jacked fitness series) proves it.
The workout, which Scott recently posted to Instagram, includes 40 drop squats, 30 skater hops, 20 alternating shoulder to knee pushups, and 10 inchworm walkouts. But that’s just the start—he then works his way through the movements a second time in the reverse order, starting with the inchworms.
“It may be only bodyweight but this gets the heart pumping and lunges [fired up] quickly,” he writes. “Use this as part of a circuit or brutal finisher.” Or, “one the road when you have zero equipment.” Cue up your funkiest playlist cause it’s time to burn baby, burn.
Drop squats, if you haven’t tried them, are the love-child of gorilla squats and jump squats. Start with your feet hips-width apart, then drop into a low squat. To ensure you’re reaching depth on the squat, keep a proud, upright chest and dangle your arms between your legs like a gorilla, brushing your fingers against the floor. Because your ability to reach depth in the squat will be limited by your hip and ankle mobility, we recommend squatting only as low as you can without dropping your torso or coming onto your toes.
Drive off the ground to explode upward, bringing your feet together to land. Immediately drop back into the squat position to continue with the movement. If you’re having trouble with this and want to simplify things, go ahead and just do standard bodyweight squats.
Next up: Skater hops. Transfer your weight to your right leg, and sit back slightly on that knee. Lift your left leg off the floor . Push off your right foot and leap laterally to the left, landing with your weight in your left foot. Continue for 30 reps, using your arms for momentum and balance. If you’re struggling here, go ahead and do 30 side-to-side shuffles; let three steps to each side equal one rep.
Then you’ve got the pushup, and your goal on this one is deceptive. It’s easy enough to complete all the touches, but can you do so while still keeping your abs tight and doing your best to keep your hips and shoulder square to the ground? That’s the goal. Get into a high plank position, and then perform this five-step sequence:
Finish descending down the ladder with 10 inchworm walks. Then get ready to sweat burning your way back up the series in reverse.
Want more bodyweight workouts from Scott? Check out this 30-minute AMRAP, which doesn’t require a single piece of equipment.
Source: Read Full Article