Power planks/power push-ups

Can anyone hear my cries?

We can hear your abs pleading for a break no doubt.

I think the official name for that would be called super-sets and yes, they're killer awesome. I like to incorporate some of these into my workouts occasionally to shake things up. Just use your imagination and stack exercises that work similar muscle groups. I like to stack weighted exercises with body weight counterparts. Dumbbell bench press followed by push ups is a great one for example. I also like the chin up followed by leg raises since I'm already hanging there. Great combo move.

On the core you can do the rotisserie chicken thing where you do a side plank, middle plank, then side plank on the other side. You have to shorten you plank times a bit for each one but it's a killer as well.

One other more advanced strength training tip would be using drop-sets. You really can't do these with body weight but using something like dumbbells or a cable or weight machine it's effective.

Let's say you're doing dumbbell curls and you can do 25 lbs. 10 times. Do that and then without more than a 5-10 second break switch to 20 lb. dumbbells and do 10 more. Switch to 15s and do 10 more, ect. until you're burnt out or run out of smaller weights. Save these till the end of your workout because it really blows through the rest of the strength you have left in your muscles.

Super-sets and drop-sets don't have to be used every time you work out but they're great additions to your routine to keep things from getting boring and to squeeze out the last drop of effort you can from your muscles from time to time. Best of luck.

Another good one to incorporate is to move into plank position. Bring your left hand to your hip and then down again and repeat on your right side. In other words you should only have one elbow on the floor at any one time during the whole set. Keeping as straight as possible ofcourse - KILLS!

That sounds sadistic.....


Challenge accepted!

spiderman pushups and mountain climbers, then mix all of this with burpees (squat thrusts)...my set goes like this: from standing, squat, kick legs back to pushup position, do 5 pushups, do 5 mountain climbers, do 5 spiderman pushups, drop to elbows for a 30 second plank, back up to pushup position, bring legs in and stand back up, high jump as you do (bring knees to chest mid jump)...5 reps of this for 3 sets and I am winded, sweaty and aching in my core