Cardio in the AM - What do you do?

**Poo-Jitsu** · Posted On: 6/20/2008 5:20pm

I jump rope - 6 sets of 3 mins with 30 - 60 seconds rest in between. It's not time consuming, it's high intensity, and I can do it on the back porch.

When I'm training for races I run in the evenings after the kids go to bed and it's not so damned hot.

I also read about this workout posted on grapplers guide...

you do 6 mins of exercise with 2 mins rest. 4 sets total...

1st min - pushups
2nd min - cross collar choke abs
3rd min - elbow drags (across the floor)
4th min - bodyweight squats
5th min - side to side bridge
6th min - mountain climbers

30 mins total.

**Liffguard** · Posted On: 6/20/2008 5:39pm

I've been working out my own crossfit-style workouts for the mornings recently. A personal favourite at the moment is a five round circuit of muscle-ups, kettlebell swings and 400m sprints.

I try and keept mixing it up. Basically I'll do anywhere from three to six rounds of any combination of exercises from sprints, pull-ups, muscle-ups, kettlebell swings, kettlebell snatches, kettlebell cleans, push-ups, squats, pistols, ring dips, burpees etc. Keeps things interesting so I don't get bored.

**Poo-Jitsu** · Posted On: 6/20/2008 5:56pm

Originally Posted by Liffguard

I've been working out my own crossfit-style workouts for the mornings recently. A personal favourite at the moment is a five round circuit of muscle-ups, kettlebell swings and 400m sprints.

I try and keept mixing it up. Basically I'll do anywhere from three to six rounds of any combination of exercises from sprints, pull-ups, muscle-ups, kettlebell swings, kettlebell snatches, kettlebell cleans, push-ups, squats, pistols, ring dips, burpees etc. Keeps things interesting so I don't get bored.

Have you ever seen that book by Ross Enamait "Never Gymless"? He's got a lot of that kind of stuff in it.

I'm not sure if I can even do a muscle up.

**Liffguard** · Posted On: 6/20/2008 6:08pm

Originally Posted by Poo-Jitsu

Have you ever seen that book by Ross Enamait "Never Gymless"? He's got a lot of that kind of stuff in it.

I'm not sure if I can even do a muscle up.

Haven't read it but it sounds good, I'll try and check it out.

Muscle-ups aren't all that hard, it's more a technique thing than raw strength. The two important points are maintaining the false grip and pushing forward through the rings rather than straight up.

**Asriel** · Posted On: 6/21/2008 3:47am

Originally Posted by HappyOldGuy

I don't do tabatas, intervals, etc in the am. I need something with a quick recovery time, and good HIIT wipes me out for a couple of hours. Steady state cardio usually has me getting back to normal by the time I'm heading out the door. So I jog. If I had access to a stationary bike, rower, pool, etc, that would also work.

It's probably being old.

I feel the same but seeing as all I have to do for work is sit at my desk, I think I'll give it a go

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 6/21/2008 11:28am

Well, you don't quite need to go balls out, seeking for the maximum possible of reps when doing tabatas.

All you need to do is to use the 20s/10s go/pause scheme and tune the intensity according to your needs. The 10s pause comes handy as you plow away, not just physically, but mentally. You stop and focus on how you will execute your reps in the next 20 seconds, for example.

Also, if you choose to use a mild rep speed, you can change the go/pause parameters. ie. 40sec/10-20sec, 60sec/10-30sec. Or you can choose a number of reps (20, 40, 60) regardless of time of completion followed by a fixed, unchangeable number of seconds of rest (10, 20, 30, 40, 60s).

These kind of changes help as motivational tools to perform long sets of exercises, which could be come monotonous.

**HappyOldGuy** · Posted On: 6/21/2008 12:21pm

To be clear, I do harder workouts in the PM. It's just my AM workouts where I find I have to take it easier in order to function at work. Well, or post on sociocide.

**Lily** · Posted On: 6/22/2008 12:27am

I'm with HappyOldGuy...most days I train hardest in the afternoon or evening. Mainly because my body has not recovered from the previous evening's training I'm not up for much more than cardio in the morning.

Been meaning to get in a weights workout on a weekday morning, we'll see how that goes.