Earlier today I published two articles which taught you some brand new bodyweight exercises. Now it’s time to show you how you can take those exercises and develop some high intensity workouts with them. The easiest way to develop a workout is to use Interval Training.

Interval training is where you perform an exercise for a given period of time, then either rest for a short time, or move onto a different exercise. The best way to progress from beginner to advanced level interval training is to use a program known as Taku’s Interval Training.

The program looks something like this:

Phase 1:
Weeks 1 & 2: 4 X 90 seconds work + 90 seconds recovery.
Weeks 3 & 4: 5 X 60 seconds work + 60 seconds recovery.

Phase 2:
Weeks 5 & 6: 6 X 45 seconds work + 30 seconds recovery.
Weeks 7 & 8: 7 X 30 Seconds work + 20 seconds recovery.

Phase 3:
Weeks 9 & 10: 8 X 20 seconds work + 10 seconds recovery.
Weeks 11 & 12: 10 X 20 seconds work + 10 seconds recovery.

If you’re a complete beginner, then start with phase 1. If you’ve done interval training in the past and have a good level of conditioning, then phase 2 would be a great place to start. Advanced trainees can get started from phase three.

For phase three, after the 4th week of training, instead of adding more intervals, just switch to a high intensity workouts. You don’t need to dramatically switch exercises. Instead, just make your current exercises more difficult by performing a simple change.

For example, if you were performing a quad squat, simple perform an explosive quad squat. Then move onto transitioning into a squat, then finally a squat jump. You can probably add something to that exercise to make it even more difficult and complex.

Putting it all Together: The mechanics of Program Design

Honestly, there are a million ways to organize a workout. I can probably sit here, and if you give me enough time, I can come up with variations of modifications of modifications of variations. So, jot this down as just another way of designing a program.

Lets assume you’re a complete beginner and are using Taku’s interval phase 1. So you’re doing 4×90 seconds work + 90 seconds recovery. If you perform one exercise per workout, that’s a 12 minute workout. That’s a nice, round number, so we’ll just stick to one movement per day.

Here’s a sample of what that would look like:

Day One: Ellipse Quad Squat

Day Two: Pullups

Day Three: Screwing Press

There you have it. A well balanced interval training workout program.

Adjusting Difficulty: Making your Workouts Easier/Difficult

Since I don’t know what your level of fitness is here, I can not design a program that would fit exactly to your abilities. However, I can give you some clues as to how to make an workout easier and more difficult.

To make a workout program easier:

• Reduce your work time.
• Increase your rest interval.
  
• Switch to a easier movement, or make your current exercise more easier.
  
• Alternate between two or more exercises so that your muscles are not overloaded with just one movement.
• Take an extra day to rest between each day

To make a workout program more difficult:

• Increase your work time.
• Decrease your rest interval.
• Switch to a difficult exercise, or make your current exercises more difficult.
• Alternate between two more exercises without resting.
• Increase your training frequency.

Using these principles, I’ve developed many of my own Bodyweight interval programs. One of them is called the Shah Training Playground Workout. This is a simple but intense, 3-day per week bodyweight only program you can do at your local playground.

Currently, it’s available for free:

Get an Intense workout at your Local Park!

Simply enter your name and email address below to download this program:

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Tags: bodyweight exercise revolution, Bodyweight Training, ellipse quad squat, interval training, takus intervals