Topic: Great Full Body Workout When Time is Running Short...

[Pip]

Time is short these days! Lets face it, with the holidays in full swing, getting to the gym is tough. With holiday parties, shopping, work...it's tough to find time to work out. I'm lucky to have a gym in walking distance from my office and I work out on my lunch hour, but it's still only 1 hour  .

IMO these 4 compound exercises are the perfect complement to mountain biking.  Do this workout twice a week: 

- 5 min warm up on exercise bike.

1.  Squats, 2 sets 12-15 reps (go deep below parallel, even if you have to lighten the load...no weight belts!) 

2.  Stiff Leg Dead Lift (DL) or Romainian DL, 2 sets 12-15 reps (I generally use same weight as squats)

If you want to work on your balance, try one-leg dumbell DL's instead. 

--  Superset these two upper body movements if possible. Rest 1 to 2 minutes between each superset.

3.   Weighted Dips, 3 sets 12 reps (you shouls be at failure on your 12th rep)

4.   Lat Pulldowns with palm facing you, 3 sets 12 reps to failure (shoulder width, just like a chin up. You can do body weight chin ups if you prefer.)

Do another 5 min on the exercise bike (if time permits) or some light stretching after the workout and your DONE!

The key is working the upper body movements to failure.  With the squats and DL's I prefer to have 1 or 2 reps still in me.  Do NOT superset the squats and DL's!

Let me know what you think!