Burning calories is easy....

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems

Whenever you perform a "workout," there are a number of possible objectives that you might be trying to achieve.

You might wish to become stronger, faster, more flexible, more agile, more muscular, or a better technician in your chosen sport. You might be rehabilitating an injury or "prehabbing" to avoid a future injury. You might even use a workout as a stress-buster after a hectic day at work.

But of all the possible outcomes you might be seeking, burning calories is the easiest.

After all, all you've got to do is move until you become tired, and then move some more.

It doesn't really matter what the movement entails, although difficult movement will make you tired faster.

Nor does it matter how many exercises you do, how you do them, or in what order they appear in the workout.

It makes no difference how many reps you do, or how many sets, or how long you rest between sets (although if you rest too long, your caloric burn will gradually diminish)

No need to worry about knee alignment, scapular control, lumbar posture, or breathing technique. As long as you keep moving, you'll be burning calories

When you're only concerned about burning calories, programming is a snap. In fact, periodization becomes a non-concern. Paralysis by analysis? Not in your case! It's literally impossible to make an error, as long as what you're doing makes you tired, and preferably as fast as possible. Here are a few quick examples written off-the-cuff:

Workout #1

1) Run 3 miles
2) Do 50 pushups
3) Curl a pair of dumbbells until failure
4) Leg Press some weight until failure

Workout #2:

1) Swim 50 meters for (5) all-out sprints with 1 minute rest between sprints
2) Towel off and do 100 squat thrusts
3) Do 10 sets of 10 chins, or as close to it as you can

Workout #3:

1) Bench Press 100 pounds for 10 reps, 90 pounds for 9 reps, 80 pounds for 8 reps, 70 pounds for 7 reps, etc, until you get to 10 pounds x 1 rep
2) 10 sets of 10 pushups
3) 10 sets of 10 clapping pushups
4) Static pushup for 1 minute. Repeat 10 times

Workout #4:

1) 100 sit-ups
2) Bike for 30 minutes as hard as you can
3) Squat your bodyweight for as many reps as possible
4) Crab-walk 100 yards. Repeat 4 times

Workout #5 (I Like to call this the "Infomercial workout")

1) Do 7 minutes of 6 Minute Abs
2) Do 1000 reps with the Thighmaster
3) Do 30 minutes of P90X
4) Do 30 Minutes of Tae Bo

I could go on and on here, but I'm sure the point has been made. No need to stress the details. If it makes you tired, it was a good workout. How eay is that?!?!


Trouble-Shooting

Q: How do I know if my workout was effective?

A: If it made you tired, it was a good workout. If you didn't get tired it wasn't a good workout.


Q: Is that it?

A: Yup, that's it!


Q: Well, what if I was tired but I didn't sweat a lot?

A: Some people sweat more than others. Sweating is a good sign, but if you're REALLY tired and only sweat a little, it's all good.


Q: Here's my question: My workouts are gassing me to the max, but I have shoulder pain and I have numbness all down my arm. Is that cool?

A: It's cool. If you can't feel your arm, just do lower body stuff instead.


Q: I really love super-setting trap-bar reverse curls and rope climbs, but I also wanna work on my six-pack. But how?

A: Easy- Just add crunches to your superset


Q: What if I sweat a lot, but I'm not tired?

A: If you're sweating profusely, it'll at least LOOK like you're tired. But if you're NOT tired, either do more exercises, more sets, more reps, and reduce rests between sets. At some point you WILL get tired.


Q: I've noticed that after several months of doing 20-rep bench presses that I can bench 145 pounds x10, but my max is only 155 pounds. WTF?!?!

A: Do the 20-rep bench workouts make you tired?


Q: Yeah, usually I puke afterwards.

A: OK then, you're burning calories, PLUS puking out the calories you already ate- it's like a bonus!

Q: Should I do 2-a-day's?

A: Yes.


Q: What about 3-a-day's?

A: That too


Q: What about...

A: Look, I know where this is going. Stop.

Obviously, the article was meant to be humorous and no, do NOT follow this program! Unless, of course, you still believe that it's all about simply burning the calories (please say you don't, please say you don't, please say you don't)

About The Author

Charles Staley...world-class strength/performance coach...his colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results.

Click here to visit Charles' site and grab your 5 FREE videos that will show you how to literally FORCE your body to build muscle, lose fat and gain strength with "Escalating Density Training," Charles' revolutionary, time-saving approach to lifting that focuses on performance NOT pain.