Strength and Conditioning A Cardio Circuit Training Workout

I have something a little different for you today. I met a guy named Eric Wong recently. Eric is a trainer for MMA fighters. I know your not a fighter but stick with me here. If you have ever watched an mma fight you probably have seen the strength, conditioning and physique of the fighters (ladies this IS for you too).

In talking to Eric I decided to pick his brain a little about the workouts and training fighters do. So he gave me a copy of a workout he uses and I figured you could benefit from it.

If you're training consistently, then sometimes, the concrete walls of the gym can be a little boring. Especially when the sun is shining and the weather is perfect. When this is the case, knowing a few simple bodyweight exercises and the location of the nearest park can re-energize your workouts. Try the following circuit but I'll warn you, it may be simple, but it's far from easy.


This circuit is great because you combine core work, pushing, pulling, and sprinting, which gives you complete development. I consider this an Anaerobic Endurance workout, and would schedule it 6 weeks or farther out from a fight or competition for one of my MMA athletes.

The first thing you need to do is find a park with monkey bars or a swing set. Use a pyramid scheme, meaning that for each set, I start at 8 reps, then drop a rep until you get to 1 rep. If you're a beginner, you might want to start at 5 reps.

This circuit consists of the following exercises:

Chin-ups

Hanging leg raises

Sprinting

Clap push-ups

So do 8 chin-ups, followed by 8 hanging leg raises, sprint a distance that lasts about 20 seconds, then do 8 clap push-ups (or regular push-ups if you can't clap). Keep your rest times at a minute or less, and go hard! When I'm training fighters, I monitor everything. So if you take more rest, write it down. The next time you do this circuit, do the same number of reps, and decrease the rest time. This is how you make progress, and is a missing link in many people's workout routines.

Go to Eric's site Ultimate Strength and Conditioning and get your Free report Crazy 8's bodyweight circuit training workouts