Why Craig is my favorite name

I know 3 men with the name Craig- one happens to be my father, the other happens to be our wonderful landlord, and the third happens to be the God of Workouts right now. *grin*

All right, so I found an email from Craig Ballantyne in my inbox this morning that contained an absolutely wonderful workout idea from the Turbulence Training member forums:

12-minute workouts.

Now, I'm a big fan of intense, short workouts, but sometimes one just cannot psych themselves up to do Wingates (I'll explain that one later). However, if you're busy and can only find 12 minutes to spare (happens quite often with me), then Craig's got a great idea for getting a great workout in a short time.

Here are his instructions:

Choose 2 exercises and perform them back to back without rest. For
example, if using dumbells, you could do a dumbell squat and a
dumbell chest press.

If doing bodyweight exercises only, you could use prisoner squats
and close-grip pushups.

The first time through the pair, use either 50% of the weight you
normally use, or do 50% of the reps you'd normally do (if you choose
bodyweight exercises). Then rest 30 seconds.

The second time through, work at 75% capacity. Rest 30 seconds.

Now you are ready to go at 100% capacity (using your normal weight
for 8-10 repetitions per set or doing as many reps as you can with
the bodyweight exercises).

Rest 30 seconds after doing both exercises, then repeat, and work
until 12 minutes are up.

How does this help?

You still burn calories and build muscle while losing fat, all in
only 12 minutes...so it saves you time you need to spend on holiday
activities.

Who knows, you may like it so much it becomes your regular workout
approach. 

Pretty cool, huh? I know I'll be trying it. If nothing else, it's a great way to get one last burst of exercise in at the end of a workout. If you like it, you can get three free months of the forum when you get Turbulence Training (which isn't fair, because when I bought it I only got one month, so the newest buyers are the lucky ones!).

Now, what are Wingates? They are quite possibly the most intimidating way to workout on the planet. I'll write it down, and you won't think it sounds hard, but you'll be praying to the porcelain god if you aren't careful! Wingate protocol: Warm up 5 minutes on chosen mode (usually stationary bicycle, but treadmill/outdoor sprints work too). Then, jack up the resistance to 75% of max and go to town as fast as possible for 30 seconds. Take 30 seconds to actively rest, then repeat up to 5 times. Cool-down for 5 minutes. Go pray. Then look at the clock. With the prayer, you only took 15 minutes to workout!

I wasn't praying last week, but boy did it take me a while to cool down. And I mean it when the resistance is high- no slacking on this one!