TOTAL CIRCUIT 009

Hi guys!

It's been a little while since we put a new Total Circuit up here so we thought it high time to correct that. This one has a large focus on core strength and shoulders after a special request from our good friend Amy who wanted a workout to help her with her pole dancing classes. Pole dancing has become really popular in recent years as a fun and intense way to keep fit and strong and it requires a large amount of whole body strength, core, coordination and flexibility so it could be really good cross training for climbing.
Anyhow, here's the workout, mainly focusing on core to help Amy and Co. with their pole dancing and the rest of us with our core in general. There's no video this week but instead we're trying photo's to show all the exercises. As usual there are some you have done before and some new ones we are including for the first time so check out the photos and descriptions and try to perform each one as well as you can.
As usual set your stop watch for 1 minute rounds and do each exercise non stop for a whole minute before moving on to the next one and when you complete all 10 exercises go back through them one more time for a total of a 20 minute core blasting workout! Be sure to perform each exercise smoothly and evenly and try to complete as many reps of each in the minute while maintaining good form. Of course the static poses are just to be held statically for the whole minute.

Now go get training!
Enjoy!
Duncan

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Here are the 10 exercises...


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1. Alternating Superman - hold the opposite arm and leg out horizontal, hold each side for 5 seconds, then swap to the other side. If these are too easy try them on your toes, no knees on the floor, in a plank position.

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2. V - Sit to 5 second Boat Pose - Lay back, arms above your head then sit up into the boat pose and hold for 5 seconds, go back down and repeat.

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3. Push Up to Side Plank - Perform a normal shoulder width push up then rotate up into a solid side plank, hold the position for 3 seconds, then back down, push up again and up on the other side, repeat.

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4. Boat Pose Scissors -  Sit up into boat pose and scissor your legs up and down in a steady rhythm.

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5. Superman - lay down flat on your front, hands by your head and raise your legs and chest up of the ground and hold statically for the whole minute. You can do this also on a stool or across a chair for a variation.

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6. Uneven Forward Pushups - Place your hands for a push up but have one hand forward and one back, do 3 push ups on this side then swap positions and repeat for the minute.

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7. Headstand - Place your hands and head on the ground to form a solid triangle and smoothly pull yourself up into the headstand position and hold for the minute.

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8. Extended Plank - Perform a plank but with your hands as far forwards as you can manage and hold statically for the minute.

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9. V - Sits - Lay back, arms by your head and raise your legs and torso up at the same time into the shape of a V, then back to the ground and repeat.

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10. Star Plank - Another plank variation but this time with your hands as far to the side as you can manage to hold statically for the whole minute.

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Warm Up Intervals

Hi all!

Another short one here. Today I just wanted to post a little warm up I have been using lately before training that can be done easily anywhere. You can also extend it and use it as a good cardio workout too.

It's an easy one: set your timer for 1 minute intervals and do the following...


Minute 1

• 10 core exercises (v-sit, core ball pass, crunches, leg raises, etc - pick and mix them up)
• Finish the rest of the minute with skipping

Minute 2

• 10 push ups (standard, tiger, side to side, etc - again, pick and mix them up)
• Finish the rest of the minute with star jumps (jumping jacks)

Repeat this 5 times for a 10 minute warm up that will get your upper body and core working gently and get your cardio vascular system kicked into gear and ready to train.

Easy! Now get into it!
Duncan

Hangboard Endurance + core and cardio!

Hey all,

Here's a little variation on the hangboard endurance program that I posted here: Hangboard Workout 002

In this one you do the same sets of hangs, with your feet up on a chair, on a suitable hold (I use a sloper that gives me a deep pump but is easier on the fingers joints than an edge or crimp) but instead of just resting in the off sets you do 10 v-sits (or leg raises, or crunches, or mix it up however you like it, just 10 reps of a good core exercise) then do either star jumps (jumping jacks) or skipping or jogging on the spot, etc for the remainder of the rest (be sure to push hard on whatever cardio you choose to get yourself breathing hard and your heart pumping fast).

Follow the instructions in the previous workout for the hangs, but essentially you are using a chair and doing them like this:

I did this workout today with 1 minute hangs followed by 1 minute of the core + cardio combo and did this 15 times for a total of a 30 minute workout.

Now the reason to use a chair is that it takes some of the weight off from doing a normal dead hang and allows you to complete the full 1 minute reps and the required number of sets by allowing you to vary the resistance by moving the chair closer or further away as needed. It also simulates the full body connections and core tension used from fingers to toes when climbing on steep terrain.

Adding the extra core workout and cardio to this endurance workout helps to simulate more closely the conditions we find ourselves under when climbing close to our maximum - core starting to get tired, breathing hard and fast, heart racing - which means your body is having to perform the endurance hangs in the workout under conditions more closely resembling that of real climbing conditions.

Now go get into it!
Happy training!
Duncan.

The ultimate pyramid???

Hi all,

This is just a quick one from a training session I was doing today. It's a simple thing, a pyramid, but with a twist. Now pyramids are a nice, simple training structure that can be used for a lot of things but this one was brutal.
Instead of one exercise, you are going to do 3: Pull Ups, Push Ups, V-Sits.

Pull Ups:  I did standard wide pull ups on my hang board, but a bar will be fine too. If they are too hard, put your foot on a chair to assist.

Push Ups:  Again I did standard shoulder width push ups to keep this simple, but you can use any variation of a push up that you like. If they are hard just put your knees on the floor to make them easier.

V-Sits:  I chose V-Sits for this as I love them, but you can use any good core exercise you like such as leg raises, raised leg crunches, roman twists, etc. Check some of the Total Circuit videos for other ideas too.

So here's how to do it...

Set your stop watch for 1 minute intervals.

On minute 1 do 1 repetition of each exercise. Easy.
On minute 2 do 2 reps of each.
On minute 3 do 3... and so on up to 10 reps of each on minute 10 (which is mind bendingly hard as you are tired and you have only 20 seconds to do the 10 reps of each exercise!!!)
On minute 11 go back to 9 reps of each exercise.
On minute 12 do 8 reps of each.
On minute 13 do 7 reps... and so on till you are back to 1 rep of each exercise.

The whole thing takes 19 minutes and should have you feeling weak at the knees by the time your done...
Too easy? If so, try a pyramid up to 15, or 20, or?

Happy training people! Look out really soon for some more total circuits and some more climbing specific workouts too!
Psyched!
Duncan.

Vertical Life is born!!!

So the day has finally arrived... the new magazine 'Vertical Life' is here! It is an amazing multi media climbing magazine coming out of Australia that I am very proud to be lending a little bit of a hand to with training articles and climbing content from Asia.
So go and check it out at www.verticallifemag.com.au
Read the mag, tell your friends, get psyched! And as always, feedback on my articles in there is greatly appreciated. So go check it out!

The first training article in the mag is all about making the decision to train, writing training plans, time management, etc and has a bonus killer climbers home workout at the end, so go read the article then get training!

We're back!!!

Hi all!

Just a quick one to let you all know that we haven't abandoned you! We have been on a bit of a winter hiatus but we have some great new training stuff for you now that the spring season has started. Look out early next week for the first of our articles for the new Australian Rock Climbing magazine 'Vertical Life', coming out next week.
Once that is out we will have loads more training articles coming up regularly for you all to sink your teeth into!

Be back really soon guys, hope your training has been going well over the winter and looking forward to getting back into it with you all from next week!

Duncan

The End (of the year) Is Nigh!

Hi all!

First of all an apology for the lack of new content over the last month. Things have been busy here with all the perfect climbing weather we have had here in Yangshuo, also I have been starting on a new partnership with some folks that will be very exciting for all of us and will be providing all of you with much more great training material.

So with the end of the year looming upon us I want to say thanks to you all for following us here and I hope that your training hasn't slacked off too much over the holiday season. Remember the new year is a good opportunity to assess your fitness goals for the upcoming year and get psyched for getting in better and better shape no matter what your goals are.

Look out for news in here really soon regarding our new ventures and some great new training content.
Happy holidays all!!!

Duncan.

TOTAL CIRUIT 008

Welcome back guys!

We have been having a great week here training and getting ready for the annual Yangshuo Climbing Festival that I will be chief rout setter for the bouldering competition at.

Here is this weeks, and our 8th in all, Total Circuit workout. Remember to do each exercise for 1 minute each and repeat the sequence twice for a total 20 minute workout.

Here we go!


TOTAL CIRCUIT 008 - 20 minutes total time


Warrior Burpees
Boat Pose Roman Twists
Sumo Squat with opposite Knee to Elbow touch
V Snaps
Breakdance Push Ups
Leg Raise Crunches
Squat Jumps
Boat Pose Scissors
Jumping Lunges
Wide Side to Side Push Ups


There you have it, your 10 exercises for the week. Be sure to watch the video to ensure you are doing the exercises correctly.



Now go get it and enjoy your training folks!!!!

Duncan

Keeping your shoulders healthy

Hi all!

Here's a quick video showing a handful of basic shoulder / rotator cuff exercises that I do (and you should too) to keep yourself from a nasty shoulder injury that those of us that are climbers are very prone to.

A few years ago I over worked a hard gaston move on a route and after many strenuous repetitions I did minor damage to my rotator cuff and needed some time off. Doing these exercises every day or two as well as doing a fully balanced exercise program (like our Total Circuits) will hopefully keep you further from injury than I was.

So here's the video. Check out the 5 exercises I show in there and try doing each one twice for 10 reps on the minute with your stopwatch for a 10 minute shoulder workout.



Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions!

Duncan.

TOTAL CIRCUIT 007

Hi one and all!

So first I must apologize for it being nearly a month since our last workout went online, we have been up at the Petzl Roc Trip, a massive climbing festival in a rural region of Guizhuo Provence here in China. It was an amazing trip with lot's of great people and we had a blast!

But now we are home in Yangshuo again and ready with your next total circuit workout!

So here it goes...

As usual you have 10 exercises, you will do each continuously for 1 minute and do all 10 exercises twice through for a total of 20 minutes of a whole body workout. Remember; push yourself as hard as you can for each exercise to get the most out of the workout.

Here are your exercises:


TOTAL CIRCUIT 007 - 20 minutes total time

Skipping
V-Sits
Diamond Push Ups
Star Jumps
Twisting Leg Raises
Downward Dog to Upward Dog
Rasied Leg Crunches
Skipping
Leg Raise Ball Pass
Scissor Crunches

To make sure you do all of the exercises correctly just watch the video below:






Ok, so now it's time to get back into it! Remember to feel free to ask any questions you may have about the workouts in the comments section here... enjoy!!!

Duncan