Complete 5 rounds of the following for time:
- 10 Hollow Rocks
- 20 Seconds of Side Plank
- 20 Seconds of Side Plank (opposite side)
- 30 Sit Ups
- 1 Minute of Front Plank on Hands and Toes (if you can’t do a full minute without stopping, stop. Rest a few seconds and then get back up for more planking. Repeat as many times as is necessary to complete a minute)

Benefits:

This workout will trash your core like nobody’s business. It will also help you with fat loss if you execute it at maximum intensity.

Timecap:
45 minutes

Score:
The amount of time it takes you to complete the 5 rounds
or
The number of rounds and reps you can successfully complete in 45 minutes

Keep track of your time!

Demos:

Hollow Rocks:

Side Plank:

Sit Ups:

Front Plank:

How To Scale This Workout Down

The video will show you how to scale down each movement in this workout.

If you do decide to scale, try to scale less next time!

I finished this workout in 9:28.

Workout:

Complete 4 rounds of:
- 50 Air Squats
- 25 Push Ups

In case you’re counting, that’s 200 total air squats and 100 total push ups.

Benefits:

This workout will help you to build strength and stamina in your legs, glutes, hips, chest, and triceps. It will also really get your heart rate up and that will improve your metabolic conditioning and contribute nicely to fat loss.

The workout is designed to be finished in 15-20 minutes.

Timecap:
45 minutes

Score:
The amount of time it takes you to complete the 4 rounds
or
The number of rounds and reps you can successfully complete in 45 minutes

Track track track!

How To Scale This Workout Down

Beginners may scale this workout by doing push ups on their knees and/or by doing less repetitions of the squats and/or push ups.

If you do decide to scale, try to scale less next time!

I completed this workout in 5:58.

Workout:

Complete 100 burpees as quickly as possible. Chest must touch the floor at the bottom of the burpee and while standing at the top, feet must leave the floor. Hands must reach six inches above the top of your head or you must clap.

If you struggle to complete a burpee, see the ‘How To Scale’ section below.

Benefits:

This workout will really allow you to test your level of fitness. In fact, this workout will be one of the main fitness benchmarks we’ll refer to here. Whether you fly through the burpees or can’t finish, it will be beneficial to see exactly where you’re at. It doesn’t matter if you can only complete 5 burpees in 30 minutes because now you’re getting fit!

This workout will improve your metabolic conditioning and contribute nicely to fat loss.

Timecap:
30 minutes

Score:
The amount of time it takes you to complete 100 burpees
or
The number of burpees you can successfully complete in 30 minutes

Don’t forget to track your workouts! We’ll be coming back to #1 in a few months so you’ll be able to see your progress.

How To Scale

Beginners may scale the workout by NOT going down into a pushup at the bottom of the burpee. Or, they may push up to their knees first and then move up into a full plank.

If you scale the workout, keep track of how you scaled it. Try to partially scale or not scale the next time we do this workout!

I feel like my time was ok, especially considering I haven’t been for a run like that for years. The closest thing was running a 5k (3.1 miles) back on May 15 at the gym.

I did the run in a fasted state and that may be the reason I felt so terrible. I’m definitely going to eat before the Spartan Beast since it’s twice as many miles with a lot of obstacles.

I skipped my strength workout today because I felt pretty fatigued.

Conditioning:

Today at the gym I did a deadlift, burpee tabata mashup. That means that I did 20 seconds of deadlifts @ 185 pounds, rested for 10 seconds, did 20 seconds of burpees, rested for 10 seconds, and repeated for a total of eight minutes. I completed 160 repetitions.

I felt dang good doing the deadlifts and the burpees. I did 19 deadlifts in the first round and had slowed to 12 deadlifts by the last round. I started with 12 burpees in the first round and slowed to 7 by the last round.

I maybe should have used 225 on the deadlifts just for the heck of it. That’s probably the lowest weight I should ever use in a workout that has deadlifts. Anything less seems really really light.

I did sets of three at these weights: 135, 225, 315, 405. I’m feeling pretty good deadlifting, but I need to stay committed to it. I have maintained strength on this lift for a while but haven’t been working on it. I think that I can really improve on this.

Conditioning:

21 Pull ups
21 Front squats @ 95 pounds
400 meter run
15 Pull ups
15 Front squats @ 95 pounds
400 meter run
9 Pull ups
9 Front squats @ 95 pounds

My time was 6:28.

I felt dang good in this workout, except for when I was running. I know – seems to be a trend. I never feel that great running. I should be doing extra running but I haven’t started that yet.

I did all of the pull ups and front squats without stopping. The front squat weight was pretty dang light for me. Wasn’t a problem at all. I worked on doing butterfly pull ups before and tried to do them but they just weren’t working for me. I switched back to a kip after the first few.

Strength: Shoulder Press

I’ve really wanted to get stronger at this lift and have wanted to start working on my upper body strength for a while now. I did sets of three reps at 95, 135, 145 155, and 165 pounds. I should have and wanted to finish up with max reps at 135 pounds but got there a little late. My class started before I got to it. Next time.

Conditioning:

800 meter run
30 Russian kettlebell swings @ 70 pounds
30 double unders
400 meter run
30 Russian kettlebell swings @ 70 pounds
30 double unders
800 meter run
30 Russian kettlebell swings @ 70 pounds
30 double unders

I finished everything in 13:47.

The runs were by far the hardest part. I really need to figure out how to improve my conditioning on runs. I was seriously loafing it on the last 800 and my 400 wasn’t that fast either.

I did all of the kettlebell swings without stopping and didn’t rest at all before I did them. I walked right in from the run, picked it up, and did 30 straight.

I also didn’t rest before I did the double unders. I messed up on my 30th double under in the second round and did all 30 consecutively in the other two rounds.

I guess maybe I should be doing some extra running. I need to improve on that a LOT.

Wallballs @ 20 lbs.
Sumo Deadlift High Pull @ 75 lbs.
Box Jump @ 20″  (for reps)
Push press @ 75 lbs.  (for reps)
Row (for calories)

You do a full tabata of each movement, which means that you work for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, and repeat until you finish 4 minutes.

We did low rep scoring, which means you score your lowest round during the tabata. That made it rough.

Wallballs

I started strong and got 11 wallballs in each round. In retrospect I maybe should have given up a rep on wallballs because I didn’t stay strong during the sumos. Next time I do this workout I’m going to want to do 10 wallballs so I can try to get more sumos.

Sumo Deadlift high Pull

This was my worst movement. I only got 7. I did 9 during the first two rounds and couldn’t hold it. I took off to get my water during one of my breaks and might have not recovered. I can definitely do 9 if I do 10 wallballs and that will get me an extra rep.

Box Jumps

I did 13 box jumps. I think that I can definitely do 14 next time. I started with 16 and finished that for the first two rounds. Then I dropped to 15 and then 13, 13, 13. I wasted a bunch of reps. The best thing to do next time is to stick with 14 and finish it. I can maybe handle 15 if I’m feeling really good.

Push Press

I did 9 push press and stuck with it the whole way. I’m glad that I did that. 9 was a huge challenge during the last few rounds. It felt like I picked the right number. I might be able to handle 10 next time if my fitness improves before then but 9 was a stretch.

Rowing for Calories

I wussed out on the first row. I messed up the foot pad when I was trying to get the rower set up and decided to just row 4 calories. I could have definitely rowed at least 5. Next time I think I should just go all out and try to row 5 or 6. I definitely could have rowed at least five per round because I was finishing 4 in like 10 seconds. I was pretty smoked by then but I still could have held on.

Overall I got a good score but I’m disappointed. I should have had at least three more points.

I scored 44.

- 30 Handstand Push Ups
- 40 Pull Ups
- 50 Kettlebell Swings @ 53 pounds
- 60 Sit Ups
- 70 Burpees

Usually I’m great at kettlebell swings but these were really tough after the pull ups. My grip was toast. I’m still not fast enough at pull ups and that slowed me down a lot. Another guy in my class gave me a beat down on pull ups and I couldn’t catch him until halfway through the burpees.

My time was 14:41. I did this workout in March in 17:30 so that was a nice PR. If you want to know more about why I improved that much, you can check out my whole 30 results. That should shed some light.

I can still get a LOT better at this workout. I keep saying that I need to commit more time to learning to butterfly my pull ups. Yeah – still true. I really need to speed those up. My handstand push ups are improving but there is still a LOT of room to get better at those.

My sit ups were fast and my burpees were very fast. I did the burpees in about 4 minutes.

I’m not gonna lie. This workout will be a huge challenge. I’ve done box jumps and planks before and your legs will be on fire when you do the planks. If you want to fix your body composition, fix your legs. Fire is a good thing.

Don’t wuss out. Do it!

Workout:

Complete 7 rounds of:

- 25 box jumps to a 20+ inch box (24″ preferred)
- Hold a plank for 1 minute

If you don’t have a box at home, anything will do. Here at my house I have like 10 different things that would work including benches, a safe, stairs, a porch, and buckets. Don’t skip the workout because you don’t have a 20″ setup. Use a shorter one if needed.

You need to stand completely up on top of the box before you come back down.

Timecap:
40 minutes

Score:
The amount of time it takes you to complete the 7 rounds
or
The number of rounds + extra reps and/or time you can successfully complete in 40 minutes

Record your time. We’ll be hitting this one again before too long!

Plank Demo Video

Box Jump Demo Video

How To Scale This Workout Down

1. Use a smaller box. At the gym where I workout, there’s a guy who uses a 4″ plate for box jumps. If you can’t handle a lot of height, start low. You’ll improve a lot as you go.

2. Take breaks during the planks. Hold as much time as you can during a one minute period. In other words, don’t stop the plank timer when you break mid-plank.