I’m always in search for the elusive “perfect workout.” Perfect, however, is in the eye of the
beholder. Instead, I’ve decided to
settle for “really great,” and explain to you why this is “really great,” and
you can decide for yourself whether it fits within your fitness
preferences. The entire idea is not
mine; I designed my class based on an idea shared by Kim Witherspoon, whose
boot-camp sub had used a format of this sort.
Many thanks to Kim and to the anonymous trainer; I took the bones,
assembled the skeleton, and added my own flesh and skin.
For participants, this blog entry might help you understand
what you’re doing and why, so when I’m telling you about strength versus
endurance, you have a better understanding of how hard to work and why it’s
good for you. For instructors, this
gives you a skeleton and a little flesh.
But make it your own.
3-2-1
The format, “3-2-1” describes 6.5 minute cycles consisting
of 3 minutes of strength at low cardio, 15 seconds transition/active rest, 2
minutes of muscular endurance at medium cardio, 15 seconds transition/active
rest, 1 minute of HIIT at high cardio.
Each cycle contains 6 separate activities. Three one-minute strength exercises, two
one-minute cardio-vascular challenges with a muscular endurance component, and
one high-intensity cardiovascular challenge (goal = anaerobic).
Strength section – 3 minutes. Using body-weight and the resistance tools I
have available, I select three strength exercises that challenge different
teams of muscle groups. Most of the
exercises are done in a stationary position, rather than moving around the
room, so the participant can focus on working on strength as opposed to balance
and timing. An example of 3 exercises
would be: a primarily upper body anterior chain exercise like a push-up, a primarily
upper body posterior chain exercise like a row, and then a lower body
anterior/posterior chain exercise like a barbell lunge. The key in exercise selection is to select
movements that (a) will fatigue the participant in slightly less than one
minute and (b) ideally, uses more than one muscle group, so the heart rate is
kept in the low end of target heart rate zone.
Exercises like push-ups and rows, although primarily for strength, will
increase a particpant’s heart rate since the number of muscles working and
needing oxygen for the muscle fibers to fire will increase heart rate
demand. This makes a strength exercise
into a low-end cardio vascular exercise.
Muscular endurance section – 2 minutes. Vigorous cardio-vascular exercise that would
be in the participant’s medium range for target heart rate. Here, we move. Something simple, with multiple options for
intensity and impact, that people can learn quickly and repeat. Personally, I don’t dance in this class. We do cardio like 4 marches/jogs/runs forward
+ 2 jacks, 4 marches/jogs/runs back + 2 jacks.
I like to use a lot of low-body focus here, for muscular endurance in
the legs. Alternating anterior
lunges. Traveling squats. Corner lunge + reach to 2:00, 4:00, 8:00 and
10:00. If I’m targeting the upper body
for muscular endurance, it would be with a band, and a repetitive action that
mimics the earlier strength action, but with less of a load (think “finish work”).
HIIT section. The
good news is, it’s only for a minute.
The bad news is, I want that minute to feel like you hate me after about
10 seconds, you are kicking, scratching and clawing into 30 seconds, and by one
minute your legs are lead, your breath is loud, and you can. not. go. on.
Then we do an active rest like a slow walk to bring the
heart-rate out of anaerobic zone and back into a safe zone for strength training….and
we do it all over again 5 more times!
Why?
Why? WHY??
Each one of these “why” answers could be a long blog post of
its own, so please forgive the shortness of the answers.
- Muscular strength is functional for daily living, and spending 24 minutes on strength (not just endurance, tiring strength exercises) is adequate for increased strength when done 2x a week.
- Lean muscle tissue, which increases with strength training, burns more calories than fatty tissue. Although there is controversy regarding how much more, it’s been shown in several carefully controlled studies that muscle burns more calories than fat.
- Intermittent interval format burns more calories after class. According to Dr Len Kravitz (whose lecture I attended August 2012 regarding the research he performed), steady-state cardio exercise and intermittent / interval / HIIT exercise burn about the same amount of calories during class. However, the calories burned after class, as the body replaces its oxygen deficit and recovers from exercise, is greater for intermittent / interval / HIIT than for steady-state exercise.
- Bursts of high intensity activity occur in daily living – sometimes we have to run across airports so we’re not late for the plane, or chase after children getting into danger. In addition to the calories burned with HIIT, having practiced burst training may give you increased confidence in your ability to use it in real life; you’ll know your capabilities, what it feels like to work that hard, and how hard you can push yourself.
- By alternating between strength, endurance, and HIIT, you are working one system hard while allowing other systems to take a back seat (not complete rest because you are always using multiple energy systems). That makes 3-2-1 an efficient workout for strength and calories.
Planning considerations for
instructors:
Multi-level exercises.
Each exercise should have an option that is accessible safely to
everyone. Some participants with
wrist issues can’t do push-ups, so a wall-push-up or a chest fly is a better
alternative.
Permission to work at one’s own pace and instruction
on how to do so. This should be a “challenging”
class. That said, everyone in class
should be encouraged to work within their own definition of “challenge.” If I’m training a client one on one, I can
take them to their personal edge and push them, push them, push them. But in a class setting, it is an instructor’s
responsibility to watch a large group of individuals, and to teach those
individuals bodily awareness so they can self-pace and self-monitor.
Easy to teach exercises. There is very little time for transition
between exercises (15 seconds) and cycles (30-45 seconds as they come down from
anaerobic). Pick simple exercises with
simple form cues. If it takes too long
for you to cue, heart rates drop and effectiveness drops. If participants don’t understand the goal and
the form, they can get hurt. Keep it
simple to understand (there’s a difference between easy to understand and easy
to do…..)
Vary the muscle groups worked. This consideration comes into play both in
picking the 3 strength exercises within a cycle, and also in picking all of the
exercises that will be done in a class.
Personally, I like to repeat a cycle twice, so each exercise gets two “sets.” This is especially helpful when I’m doing a
one-sided exercise like a stationary lunge.
The first time around, I’ll hit the right leg and the second time around
I’ll hit the left leg.
