Burn Outs - Why Do Em...

Hey there Mayhem Maniacs,

Murphy here and I have a Fun but demanding training method for you to try if you have never done so and at MXT we call them "BURN OUTS!"

In case you're not familiar with this term I use - "Burn Out," it simply means finishing your workout with High Intensity Intervals that leaves you with practically nothing left to give.

A Burn Out consists of a single exercise or a group of exercises performed together with maximum effort for either time or a series of rounds.

Want An Example?

Today I did a Pyramid Burn Out that consisted of Resistance Runs - Sprinting as fast as I could while dragging an 80 pound tire behind me for 1 Lap of about 100 Feet, then pumping out 10 Pushups and 10 Crunches.  I repeated this drill again starting with 1 Lap of the Tire Sled Run, then 9 Pushups and 9 Crunches, then 1 Lap 8 Pushups 8 Crunches and so on and so on until I finished with 1 Pushup and 1 Abdominal Crunch and yes, that meant 10 Rounds of the dreaded Tire Sled Resistance Run.  By the time I got to my sixth round, I was really fighting to finish with the tire run and the pushups were near exhausting as I was trying to regain my breathing... the key here is, no rest and keep pushing.  Of course my time on the sled got slower and slower as reached the end of this Burn Out but that didn't matter; what did matter was finishing what I had started and seeing it to the end, with everything I had to give!

Side Note: Pyramid Training is nothing new.  In fact, Joe Weider pioneered the idea back in the day.  You can add Pyramid Training to any regimen that you decide to do and chances are, you already have.  Whether you take your rep scheme or weights up or down, you are in fact pyramiding.  You can read more about Pyramid Training in this blog post by clicking here.

So why do Burn Outs?

There are several benefits of the Burn Out Method but the biggest benefit is what I'll refer to as the after-burn effect.  If your goal is to slim down, lose more fat and show off that hard earned muscle, this will truly help get the job done.

It has been scientifically proven and shown that high intensity interval training promotes the greatest fat burn, boosts the anabolic response and your metabolism far better than steady cardio.  Of course you can mix in this type of training at any point into your routine, even implement a whole workout based on High Intensity Intervals (H.I.I.)

However, if you're focusing on absolute Strength and Power workouts you don't want to be doing this H.I.I.Training within those workouts as it will decrease your performance.  I know there is a lot of popularity with doing Olympic Lifting and Power Movements at high intensity and using high reps but this type of training can lead to overuse injuries and actual DECREASES in Strength and Power, the exact opposite of what those exercises are designed to give you.  Joe Defranco states it best when he says there is a time for Strength Training and a time for Conditioning Training, don't get the two confused.

But lets say your focus is on Fat Loss, Muscular / Cardiovascular Endurance and overall athletic performance - not absolute Strength and Power.  That is when the H.I.I.Training is the perfect protocol to mix into your routine and / or build your entire workout around.  I would caution that building a complete workout around H.I.I.Training should not be a daily routine but mixing these types of drills into your routine 2-4 times per week is perfectly acceptable.  This is where BURN OUTS can truly come into play because you can incorporate these into ANY workout every single time you train.  I especially like to put these into my Strength and Power routines because I HATE cardio and these get it done quickly in a FUN and Challenging way.

Here's How To Do Your Burn Out...

I always base my Burn Outs around the training that was completed for the day.  Was the focus on Lower Body... Chest... Back... Full Body?  The Burn Out is simply to give those muscle groups one last challenge to take yourself to near failure - think SubMax effort here, you don't want to take yourself to absolute exhaustion or failure but enough of a challenge to boost your overall performance and kick your metabolism up a notch.

Mix in a strength exercise along with some type of cardiovascular drill and repeat for either time or rounds.  In the example I gave above with the Pyramid Resistance Run, I chose to complete 10 Full Rounds, no matter how long it took me.  Other times I'll choose to complete 2-4 minutes and try to complete as many rounds / reps as possible (AMRAP).

Here are a few more examples you can do after your next workout...

Lower Body Burn Out:

• Bodyweight Squat Hops - 10 Reps
• 10 Cadence Count Mountain Climbers
• 2 Sprints - 100 Feet
• Repeat 2 more rounds

Upper Body Burn Out:

• Push-Ups - SubMax Failure (leave one or two reps left in the tank)
• 10 Burpees
• Bear Crawl - 50 Feet
• 5 Burpees
• Repeat until 5 Minutes is Up

Full Body Burn Out:

• Walk Lunge for 50 Feet
• 10 Cadence Count Mountain Climbers
• 2 Sprint Laps - 50 Feet
• SubMax Pushups
• 5 Burpees
• 2 Sprint Laps - 50 Feet
• Perform this as fast as you can for 1 Round

Single Exercise Burn Outs:

•  Biceps - 21's or Drop Sets
• Triceps - Parallel Bar Dips - Weighted Drop Sets or Reverse Pyramid
• Lower Body - Wall Sit Squat - 1 Round for as long as you can hold
• Back - Pull-Ups - Reverse Pyramid or Weighted Drop Sets
• Chest - Push-Ups - Pyramid or Various Forms

IMPORTANT!  Do not sacrifice form on any exercise for speed while doing these Burn Outs.

So there you have it, one of our Secret Weapons we use at MXT to give our members another Ultimate Advantage with Fat Loss, Muscular Strength and Endurance and Cardiovascular Fitness - and most of this stuff is with no equipment needed!

Now...Go Get Work Done!

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