Short on time?

Short on time? Need a quick training session that will have you wishing you had even less time? These intervals are for you! With these sessions you can be done in 15 mins. 5 mins warm up then 10 mins training. These are some of the hardest sessions to do if you get the exercise selection and reps right.

It requires you to smash through your Anaerobic Threshold which is where all the magic happens.

What is the exercise?

Really simple. You just need 1 exercise. I really like using the Double Clean and Jerk as it is such a complete exercise, but snatches, kettlebell burpees, jerks or any exercise which is explosive in nature work as well.

If you use the Clean and Jerks then every muscle group gets hit, making the session a good all rounder.

It should also be noted that barbell or dumbbell clean and jerks could also be used, but kettlebells lend themselves much better to the repetitive nature of this type of training.

How do you do it?

Set a timer to beep every minute for a period of 10 minutes. Then pick a number of reps to complete every minute. A good starting point is 6 reps. At the beginning of every minute do your reps, whatever is left of the minute is rest time. You stick with the same number for the whole 10 minutes.

How hard should you be working?

This is really down to you and how hard you want to work. Remember that to get good results from training requires a certain level of discomfort, if there is no discomfort then you really are kidding yourself. Equally pain should be avoided. Personally, by the time I get near the end, I spend a lot of the rest time on my knees, and then need to lie down for about 5 minutes afterwards, but I’m stupid and that’s how I like to train.

How often should I do it?

Honestly, a couple, maybe 3 times a week is plenty. You can use this as a session on its own or as a finisher to your normal training. Be warned though, it is gruelling.

How do I progress it when it starts to get easier?

Initially just up the reps every session until you can’t complete the whole 10 minutes on that number then stick with that number until you do complete it. 10 reps a minute should be your aim, that is 100 reps total over the 10 minutes. Once that is complete then you have a choice of starting again with heavier bells, or grouping the reps together. For example:

6 rounds of 1.30 mins (9 minutes) with 15 reps then 10 reps for last minute = 100 reps

Seems like it wouldn’t be any harder, but trust me, it is.

5 rounds of 2 minutes with 20 reps per round = 100 reps total

4 rounds of 2.30minutes with 25 reps etc……

The good or the bad thing, depending on how you look at it, is that as you increase your reps, your rest period gets shorter making the wokout much harder. You might find that you can complete 7 reps, for example but 8 is nearly impossible. Just keep plugging away.

That’s all there is too it. Simple and very effective. Try it and see.

By Tom Mayes