Two of my routines

Normally, I don't post too much about what routines that I'm doing. I have a couple of reasons. There are a lot of blogs out there where people post little else other than the routines they're doing. Frankly, I think that's boring as hell. Aside from a shortage of insight, I find them dry because often times I have little or no interest in their routines. They might be too easy or hard for me. They may be using equipment that I don't have access to, doing exercises that I have no interest in doing or trying.

Apparently, more than a couple of people are interested in my routines. I've gotten several questions. While I'm not going to lay out every routine and exercise that I do, I thought it would be worthwhile to share a couple that I've been doing lately. What's more important about sharing them isn't the exercises that I do and the reps that I do of them is the principles behind them. If anything, that's what I feel is most worth taking from these routines.

Lately, when I want to work my chest and shoulders, I've been doing what I'll call my 5-10-15 push-up workout. I've found a lot of very valuable push-ups out there. Trying to fit them into a single workout is essentially impossible. What I did discover was that if I took 3 or 4 and did them at about a third of my maximum reps, done with little break between sets, was very effective at getting strong and staying injury resistant at the same time. Moving the body in different directions, through its various planes, can be key to keeping your body healthy.

So, my favorite set of push-ups lately has been this:

5 One-arm push-ups, for each arm, 10 total
10 Handstand Push-ups
15 Dive Bomber Push-ups

This is merely a fragment. I've also thrown rock training or miscellaneous planks in between this circuit, depending on my mood.

When it comes to conditioning, sometimes I feel conflicted between my two most travel-friendly exercises: Jump rope and burpee/8 count bodybuilders. Both deliver full-body workouts but I feel like the rope better develops coordination, balance and timing. The latter develops even more full-body conditioning along with moving the body through multiple planes. So, my Gymboss provided the solution: Doing 4-6 of 2-3 minute rounds, alternating between jumping rope and burpees/8 counts (I lean towards 8 counts when in a hotel room since the jumping disturbs others). This is how it usually breaks down:

3 minutes jump rope
30 seconds rest
3 minutes burpees
30 seconds rest
3 minutes jump rope
30 seconds rest
3 minutes burpees

Ultimately, you can fit in an awful lot of exercises into a compact amount of time with a little creativity and know-how. These are good routines for me but feel free to modify them according to your needs. Physical training isn't doesn't have one size shoe. Don't ever forget it.