A Healthy Mix of Weights, PT and Cardio

It's easy to create imbalances if you do the same old workout each week, missing out on muscle groups that oppose muscles on which you focus. The upper back often is ignored in daily workouts, so you have to make sure if you are doing a lot of push-ups, bench presses and other forward-pushing exercises that you do some opposing muscle-group flexing as well. See below for a circuit to explain better.

Weight PT cardio mix

Repeat as many times as you can in 45-60 minutes.

Burpee pyramid/run

• One burpee, run 25 meters, two burpees, run 25 meters -- up to 10.

• Dips max

• Pull-up max

• Pulldowns 10-15

• Dumbbell or TRX rows 10/arm

• Bench press 5-10

• Push-ups max

• Reverse push-ups 20

• Birds 20

• Arm haulers 20

Lightweight shoulder

• Run three miles.

• Swim a 500-meter warmup

Repeat 10 times.

• 100-meter combat swimmer stroke (CSS)

• 50-meter freestyle at 8-10 strokes per breath

Mix in abs each set and plank pose for 1-2 minutes every other set.

Or ruck 45 minutes if you need to focus on that skill.

In the workout circuit above, we start out each circuit with a basketball court burpee pyramid. This gets the blood pumping through the body and starts working the shoulders and chest quickly. Following with dips, we continue the pushing exercise, then spend the next three exercises balancing with pulling exercises (pull-ups, pulldowns, rows).

After that, we jump back on the bench press with moderately heavy weight, then immediately drop and try push-ups. This is usually a futile attempt, and you may get 10-20 reps if you did the bench hard enough. 

After push-ups, stay on the floor and work the upper back, rear deltoids and rhomboids to help balance out the pushing again and work on your posture muscles. The final exercise of the set is the lightweight shoulder workout. This is a very challenging five-pound dumbbell workout straight out of physical therapy torture. It works really well to focus on the smaller muscles of the shoulder and rotator cuff.

After a few sets of that circuit, you will feel like you worked your upper torso.  After the run, you will feel better and the swim will top off a great upper-body workout.  Enjoy.

Stew Smith is a former Navy SEAL and fitness author certified as a Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Visit his Fitness eBook store if you're looking to start a workout program to create a healthy lifestyle. Send your fitness questions to stew@stewsmith.com.

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