What I Get Out Of Doing 30 Minutes Of HIIT With Dopa?

 When it comes to conditioning, it is where I find things the most challenging these days. With circuits, the exercises vary but the amount of work stays within a 500-1000 rep range. Sometimes I take breaks between circuits, sometimes I don't where I just mark it down and proceed to keep going. However; the Interval Workouts are the ones that truly test me.

I do them maybe no more than twice in a week which considering the way I do it, even a fit guy I've met in our Complex Rec Room has said he couldn't do what I do. Doesn't mean I'm better than him, it's a nice compliment but his training is different from mine and he's doing things for a guy his size that is awesome and he's roughly 60 lbs lighter than me. I'm still maintaining size, strength and cardio because of workouts like this and has made me better as time goes on. It's even helping me lean out more little by little. For 30 minutes, I'm kicking my ass but always leaving with some gas left in the tank.

The way I've programed it is simple but not easy. 5 Exercises which includes usually a push, pull, squat and core along with the propeller exercise which targets practically everything and adds the agility and coordination aspect to the workout. Each exercise is 45 seconds of work with 15 seconds rest and will do them a total of 6 rounds which adds up to 30 minutes. I don't count reps, I keep going for as many as I can do, sometimes (especially in later rounds) my hands start to slide away from the knots so I have to readjust which really only takes seconds and get back at it. Some of these exercises can be very hard to maintain form because you're feeling the burn from having to keep going. It's not always pretty looking and my focus has to be on point as much as possible.

One of the keys that really makes these workouts test your endurance is how you breathe. As you get into later rounds, controlling the breathing can become a challenge and might slow down the pace a bit so you can stay efficient and not every exercise will have the same breathing patterns. Sometimes because of lactic acid build up like in the shoulders, legs or even your grip cause you got to hold on the entire time, you may have to take a step back or two (even by an inch or so) towards the anchor point to reduce a bit of the stress but still have the energy to keep fighting. It is a lung strengthener that's for sure but a thing to remember is to keep your breathing under control as best as you can and be able to "relax" so to speak as you move through one exercise after another. 

When I say "relax", I don't mean to just let yourself be loose and just flop around, you still have to engage muscles but in a state like the breathing where the movements and patterns become automatic and your mind prevents the muscles from fatiguing quickly. When you're sweating hard and the band becomes slippery at times, we can't completely prevent things from sliding and having to readjust, but we can utilize what is possible, adapt quick and keep on going. Those 15 seconds of rest isn't about stopping to catch a couple breaths, it's really to take a small window to move into position for the next exercise.

The early days of working the band and doing Intervals, it was to get the timing down and learn how work with what I can do and rest for equal amounts of time or even longer. As time went on and I got more conditioned, I would add rounds, add more time, lessen the rest and test my abilities. Workouts at times last 10 minutes, 15, 20 and so on and would see the intervals that wrestlers would use and work around that. Once I can do the 45/15 protocol for a half hour, that was my sweet spot. 45 x 5 equals 225 seconds of work, multiply that by 6 and you get a total of 22 1/2 minutes of work and less than 8 minutes of rest total. That's pretty brutal and if you believe that's easy peasy or some bullshit, you haven't learned the meaning of hard work. It's pushing limits of your capabilities and not just your lung capacity, but your mental toughness, adapting to fatigue and strengthening your will to keep going. I would love to train with somebody with these bands and see how they handle a workout like this.

What am I getting out of it? Like I said, it's a sweet spot for me but also because I'm not counting reps, I'm building the capacity to keep things flowing as best as possible even when that burn comes into play. Reps can go as high as 50 in some cases but I don't know for sure, I just keep going LOL. I like finding out what I'm capable of and seeing what is possible when fatigue sets in and aspects of my mind and body want to quit. These workouts always feel different every time. I believe in having gas in the tank when I'm done. The funny thing is, despite having anything left in the tank, the burn and build up always hits differently, sometimes early on, other times towards the end but it never reveals itself until it smacks you in the face. It teaches you to expect the unexpected and to not panic when it starts getting really tough. At times, I'll think of Bud Jeffries in my head telling me I got this or thinking of a wrestler who makes workouts like this normal for them and I'm fighting to stay alive and they cheer me on. 

Do I ever get sore from these workouts? Believe it or not, no. It doesn't mean I didn't work hard enough, these are tough as shit but because of how I apply certain things; like pacing, breathing and quick adjustments, my body is able to recover very well when in most cases for many, they would need a day or two just to feel whole again but for me, I bounce back pretty fast and can do circuits or decks of cards the next day and be fine. My conditioning is at it's peak at the moment. Nowhere near the level of a pro athlete or even a well conditioned wrestler, but for someone who trains and works on his health and well being, I'm in pretty damn good shape and feel incredible. This is the type of training I like where I can push myself without losing ground and making other tasks seem easier. Hiking is not a problem for me, if someone needs help with moving into a place, I have the stamina and strength to go as long as needed, chopping firewood? Fun as hell to do. 

Keep being amazingly awesome and head on over to Dopamineo.com to get your bands. Use my code POWERANDMIGHT to get an added discount on your order(s) which can be great for deals that are already added for bundles and military discounts. Conditioning is your greatest asset, don't neglect it. 

Hope you enjoyed the article and since I have changed the settings to not having comments on here anymore, if you wish to contact me, go to my LINKTREE where you'll find my email and all my social media outlets. 

HIIT Workout In 30 Minutes Or Less With The Dopamineo Band

 One of my favorite workouts to help my conditioning is working the Dopa Band in interval fashion with heavy emphasis of resting very little. This is a way to keep going and as you rest, you're only able to change the position of an exercise and then work with what is possible. 

This is more of an advanced form of training so if you're new to it or experience at an intermediate level, start with doing it only a couple times and then build up. The way I like to do it is to take 5 exercises, do each for 45 seconds and then 15 seconds rest. A couple of rounds takes only 10 minutes at best. Once you start getting in better shape, start adding rounds like 2-3 every 3 weeks or so. This type of training is really only to be done 2-3x a week tops. If you're training for a sport like wrestling, maybe 4x a week tops. It's harder than it seems and it isn't some just little cardio session either. It tests limits, makes you work not only your physical capacity but your mental as well. You will sweat, you'll be firing your lungs and it'll be a full body blast.

Once you can hit enough rounds of this type of Interval timing, it should be no more than 30 minutes for the entire workout. If you wish to go longer, that's up to you but for me, 30 minutes is the sweet spot and have gotten results from this. I don't do it all the time like I i have with the circuits and cards lately since I have other training going on that if I go too hard without backing off a bit, it can bite me in the ass. When I do it, I keep the pace at a clip where it's kicking my ass but I'm not going so fast I burn out. What my true goal is when I do this, is to control my breathing as best as I can so in the later rounds, I still have that gas left in the tank to where I can finish strong and not feel like I'm about to collapse from exhaustion. So usually a day after this workout, I would do a circuit but with longer rest periods in between and my pace is slightly slower than doing the intervals. This has worked for my recovery and avoid getting too fatigued.

This type of conditioning works well to keep your mind sharp and have that long lasting strength and endurance. Some people can go for 15-20 minutes and that's their sweet spot, wrestlers would do this kind of training possibly as a post practice finisher to work on certain drills for less time so they can get that last bit of endurance training as they prepare for a match or tournament. For the sake of training with the band on its own, keep in mind that it is a taxing workout and not something that should be taken lightly, You will feel it so let things naturally come, don't force anything and progress according to your level as you ascend. For a 30 minute workout, it's only 6 rounds and even in solid shape, around the 3rd or 4th round, things will have you mind bending shit to find out what you're capable of. 

I would believe because of the use of cables and bands wrestlers have used since Russians have been dominating for a number of years, when it comes to our American style (Catch, Freestyle), old timers like Lou Thesz and Billy Wicks would get a kick out of these bands. Maybe even kept Ed Lewis leaner who knows but these Bands are unique, durable and fun as fuck to do. Seriously, with the kind of conditioning Ed Lewis had, one can only imagine if these bands added even 1% of what he was capable of in his prime. If you knew how long that guy can go on the mat, it would blow your mind just on that principle alone, get an extra 1%, he would have given someone like Gama a hard time or even beat him.  

Be amazingly awesome, get in killer condition and do what's possible for you. Go get it and see you later. Get bands here at Dopamineo.com and be sure to use my code POWERANDMIGHT. Join the family and help support these great athletes. 

Fun Animal Workout At The Park

 Yesterday, thought I'd take a stroll to the park and get in the Animal Dice Game. Roll once for animal, roll again for the number of steps of that animal. Man Eddie Baran was a genius coming up with that when he published Animal Kingdom Conditioning all those years ago. 

Went at it for 30 minutes. Walked it off when I needed to and did as many rounds as I can run with it. Lots of Crawling, Jumping, Hopping, Squatting, Going Backwards and feeling the INTENSITY. That's what I love about this type of training, expecting the unexpected and getting in some natural movement. It had been a while since I've done this specific workout so I kept things basic and not go Speedy Gonzales on it. It's still one of the best workouts I'll ever do in my life.

It's the type of training that makes muscles pop (more than just the core or abs), builds great leg strength and conditioning (some quack has said "If you ain't squatting, you ain't training" which he stole that line from Matt Furey but in reality, animal squats and leg movements IMO, are way more interesting than typical squats), makes you feel like a kid again and have that sense of relaxation afterwards that gives off vibes of feeling like a Bazillion Bucks all day long. 

Been doing this off and on since the Combat Conditioning Days and even more so since AKC came out in 2008. The fun of it just makes training come alive. It turns you into a RAGING BEAST that makes you feel unstoppable. I would at times go for more than 45 minutes on this and my longest workout was 82 minutes long, I just didn't want to stop and my energy was off the chain that day. Now does it give you the rank of Superhuman? In this day and age, quite possibly but it's important to not let ego hit you and do something foolish. Be smart about how you do it but also let it thrive in that adventurous nature.

Some of the exercises can be overwhelming at times. Hell, even though a few upper body movements can give you shoulders like boulders, don't forget that it's more about the movement than what specific muscles they build. After some workouts from this, it can make you hungry as hell, the intense movements that make you breathe hard with a fucking vengeance can build up quite an appetite. Still, it's great to get that Rugged, Animal-Like build that it can give. I still say my two favorites are the Gorilla Hop/Jump and the Bear Crawl. Giving off that Grizzly Power vibe that turns you into a fucking stud. Ok that was a bit lame and over the top huh? In reality, the classic Bear Crawl can never go wrong, it has been a staple for wrestlers and fighters for eons. It's one of the exercises Eddie taught to gymnasts as a conditioning coach to help build their handstand strength. One workout of the bear crawl I love to do every now and then is what I learned from some Blue Collar guy where you sprint or at least crawl as best as you can for 5 yards, walk back and repeat until you've done 20. The most I've ever done in this fashion is 45, I've filmed doing more than 30 in just crawling without going into Sonic Mode (this took 10 minutes or so to complete, very hard workout).

Overall, being able to train in a beautiful environment, fresh air, sweat dripping like Niagara Falls and breathing hard like it's going out of style is just awesome. Moving like a beast has a unique effect on the body and when you do it on grass, touching the earth, feeling the soil and letting it into your soul is something like no other. Animal Workouts are almost poetic in a way, it's weird but hey, weird is good in this case. Be wild, be free and be amazingly awesome.