The Home Workout From Hell | Men's Health Magazine Australia

The Home Workout From Hell

Reckon it’s pointless to work out if you can’t make it to the gym?

 

Then you’ve never tried my Home Workout from Hell. (Note: it’s just as hellish in a hotel room.)

This devilish routine fuses two of my favourite rapid fat-loss training techniques: 5-minute death sets and deuces.

 

It’s the perfect solution for those days where you can’t make it to the gym.

 

5-Minute Death Sets Protocol

 

The first technique is my 5-Minute Death Sets protocol, in which you do one exercise a minute for 5 minutes straight with no rest.

 

This protocol maximises the density – the amount of work you do in a period of time – of your workout. When you’re short on intensity (ie: the weights you’d otherwise be lifting at the gym), bump up the density.

 

Since you’re cramming a ton of work in a short amount of time, you’ll create the most fabulous 5-minute fat burn you’ve ever experienced.

 

In my opinion, the hardest workouts of my life tend to be higher in density than intensity. I reckon you’ll agree after doing this routine.

 

Deuces Protocol

 

Technique number two is my Deuces protocol, which will create the biggest fat-burning “dump” of your life (without the stench I might add).

 

You’ll seamlessly combine two different exercises into one mega-muscle movement. Combination exercises are unreal for increasing muscle activation and upping the minute-by-minute kilojoule burn.

 

Here are three of my favourite two-exercise fusions:

 

1. Combos This one is simple. Do a rep of one exercise, and then immediately do a rep of another move that compliments it. (For example, the step-up, which works your glutes on the backside of your body, and the reverse lunge, which works your quads on the frontside.)

 

That’s one rep. Do a set number of reps or do as many reps as you can in a set period of time.

 

2. Flows The choice is yours: you can either move between two exercises every 3-5 seconds, or you can move intuitively move between them (whenever you feel like it).

 

But you never stop moving for the length of the work period. This allows you to keep intensity higher on both moves, and thus increase the overall intensity of your workout.

 

3. Complexes Pick one exercise, and then do a certain number of reps or do the movement for a certain amount of time. When you’re done, follow the same protocol for the next movement.

 

The Home Workout from Hell

 

Combining these 5-Minute Death Sets and Deuces is as EPOCalyptic as it gets.

 

EPOC stands for “excess post-exercise oxygen consumption” and it means the post-workout afterburn that happens from the oxygen debt created by intense exercise.

 

If you want to maximise your fat-burning potential, you need a workout like this one that burns kilojoules both during your workout and long after it’s done.

 

Do this workout today and I promise you’ll never want to work out at home again. Ha! 

 

How to do it: do each of the following exercises for a minute with little to no rest between moves.

 

Each exercise is a deuce, meaning you’ll combine two moves into one in a very specific way as outlined in the instructions below.

 

For the step-ups, if you don’t have a bench or box, use a sturdy table, chair, couch or staircase. Find a way to get it done!

 

Watch the video above to see demonstrations of each of the exercises.

 

Minute 1: Squat to Skater Jump Complex
Do 6 reps of each exercise. That’s 1 round. Do as many rounds as possible.

 

Each jump counts as one rep for the skaters, so 3 jumps per side equals 6 total reps.

 

Minute 2: Push-up to Superman Hold Complex
Perform 15 seconds of each movement for two rounds.

 

Minute 3: Running Step-up to Reverse Lunge Combo (Left Side)
Perform as many reps as possible.

 

Minute 4: Running Step-up to Reverse Lunge Combo (Right Side)
Perform as many reps as possible.

 

Minute 5: Mountain Climber to Side Plank Flow
Flow back-and-forth between the two exercises, doing each one for 3-5 seconds before beginning the next one. Alternate which side you perform the plank every time you do the movement.

 

After completing all 5 minutes, either rest a minute or perform star jumps, mobility work or foam rolling for a minute active recovery.

 

That’s 1 cycle. Do up to 5 total cycles for a brutal 30-minute workout.

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