● Body Book
Hybrid training
The über Cross fitter Turn yourself into an absolute specimen in just four weeks by combining CrossFit-style training with bodybuilding. By Don Saladino and Robert Yang Photographs by James Michelfelder
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Bodybuilding makes you big and strong. CrossFit builds power, agility, and endurance. Now, imagine what you would get if you combined the two, taking the multitude of CrossFit techniques used to maximise athleticism and added to them the old, reliable exercises bodybuilders employ to maximise aesthetics? The answer: This hybrid program, which promises to get you into the best condition of your life — big, lean and unbelievably powerful — in just four weeks flat.
1A SQUAT CLEAN
There are four workout days you will use to train six days per Directions week. Perform Day I’s workout on Monday and Thursday; Day II’s routine on Tuesday and Friday; Day III on Wednesday, and Day IV Saturday. Complete Days I and II as written on Monday and Tuesday respectively. When you repeat them later in the week, make this change: Take no rest after each round of exercises and time the workout. Each time you repeat it on these days, try to beat that time. Perform exercises marked with a letter (“A”, “B” and so on) in sequence.
Sets: 5 Reps: 5 Rest: 0 sec.
Sets: 5 Reps: 6 Rest: 0 sec.
Kick up to a wall and lower your body until your head nearly touches the floor. If that’s too difficult or you don’t have a spotter, place your feet on a bench and pike your body by bending your hips 90 degrees so your head points to the floor. Lower your body until your head is just above the floor and press up.
Hold a barbell with hands shoulder-width apart and stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Bend your knees and slightly at the hips, lowering the bar to just above your knees. Now extend your hips and knees until the bar reaches pocket-level on your pants. From there, jump and shrug the bar explosively so it rises up your body and then pull yourself under the bar and catch it at shoulder level. Follow the momentum by descending into a squat. Stand back up, lower the bar to your knees again, and begin the next rep.
MEN’S FITNESS
■ Four times a week you’ll train with mainly CrossFit moves, which make you faster, more explosive and more athletic overall. You’ll also time your workouts just like they’re CrossFit WODs. When you repeat the sessions, try to beat those times; that way, you’ll be competing with yourself for better gains, just as CrossFitters do (the aspect of CrossFit people seem to love most). In two other weekly workouts, you’ll do familiar exercises like bench presses and rows, which build muscle in a way CrossFit moves can’t, and round out your physique.
1B HANDSTAND PUSHUP/ PIKE PUSHUP
D AY I
110
How It Works
1C DOUBLE KETTLEBELL SQUAT TO CARRY Sets: 5 Reps: 10, 40 steps Rest: 0 sec.
Hold a pair of kettlebells just under your chin and stand with feet shoulderwidth apart and toes turned out about 45 degrees. Twist your feet into the floor firmly and squat down as low as you can without losing the arch in your lower back. Perform 10 reps, then come back up to standing and walk forward 40 steps.
AUGUST 2016
