5 moves, and 5 minutes to incredible results
This May we make getting in shape easier.
5 X's easier.
May is approaching. And being that May is the 5th Month of the year it seems the appropriate time to roll out one of my greatest fitness creations. This is a workout I created by accident. I misread a chapter in a book by a guy named Pavel. He's a Russian kettlebell master who can do splits. He seems like a good guy and that just goes to prove my long held theory that not all Russians are evil.
Russians who ARE in fact evil: Ivan Drago, Joseph Stalin, Rasputin, Yakov Smirnov, Putin.
I thought Pavel wrote 'Do 5 sets with 5 reps of 5 exercises 5 days a week for 5 weeks.'
Never mind what he actually wrote. I went back, found the page, and apparently my reading comprehension sucks.
So somehow I read 5x5x5x5x5. 5 exercise, 5 sets, 5 reps, 5 days a week, 5 weeks. So that's what I did. Here are some additional rules.
- You can do this as your main course workout, or on your days in between your tougher workouts. I.E. if you're working with your trainer Monday and Thursday you can throw this one in on Tues, Weds, Fri. You got your 5 days.
-It is a good maintenance workout; or a good beginners workout. If you're reasonably fit you'll get strong/stay strong, but you're not gonna drop 30 lbs or bulk up. It's about getting something done, and getting it done quickly. Time is money, am I right?
- It's supposed to be somewhat easy. The ask of the 5 is so low that even when it's 10 pm Friday night, and your wife/husband is screaming at you, and your kids are going nuts, you can still get it done.
- You're performing 25 reps, and again, the point of this workout is convenience. If you want to do all 25 in one set then be my guest. You'll save time and add in a cardio aspect.
- When programming your 5 you want to consider equipment you have access to during the week. If one of the 5 is a chin up you're committing to installing a chin up bar in home or in the office.
- It doesn't have to be 5 consecutive days.
- When programming your 5 you want to include all of the functional movements, of which there are 7.
What's that? Smoke coming from your ears?
Don't worry. We can combine some of the 7 movements, The 7 moves are:
-Push
-Pull
-Squat
-Hinge
-Lunge
-Rotate
-Gait
-Dasher
-Dancer
-Prancer
Hey! That was 10! And three of them are flying reindeer.
I'm making sure you're not falling asleep and creating your own amazing workout by accident. That happens I'm out of a job.
Where were we? Combining foundational movements. Yes. Gait is walking. Chances are you'll do that somewhere else in your day. So we'll just chop that one for time, unless you want to do some farmer carries as one of your 5. Farmer Carries are suitably evil.
And rotation can be added to almost any of the other 5. Do a pushup with rotation, or a rotating step back lunge.
I'll do a sample 5 piece for you right now. You can do this at home in your living room with minimal equipment. Ready? Hyperlinks lead to demos that I worked "hard" on.
Push- Push up (creative I know)
Pull- Band Row
Hinge- Single Leg Deadlift
Squat- I'm gonna go with Air squats here.
Lunge- Step back lunge... with a rotation
Walk to the gym or get your 10k steps and BOOM. We're home.
You wanna break a sweat? Do it without stopping. Just crank it straight through. You won't die.
Quick aside... My teammates and I used to say things like 'I was doing great and then Diiiiiied in the 4th mile.' Then I was at a road race and a guy actually did die in the 4th mile. So I stopped saying that until I wrote the above. I'm keeping it so I can share this story.
The dead guy made it btw. The woman running next to him was a nurse. Lucky SOB.
Seems to simple to work? Well once upon a time yours truly did the 5 exclusively for 5 weeks. I lost 2 lbs (from a lean frame) and gained a bit of muscle. Read all about it HERE. Complete with semi nude pictures.
Simple works with fitness.
Repetition works.
Showing up 5 days a week works.
This will work. But...
Will you do the work?