Switch Up Your Workouts: Sample Ladder Routine
Unless you’re an athlete or are training for a very specific purpose, more than likely you’re training for one of three things:
1 – To Lose Weight
2 – To put on muscle
3 – To be healthy
Most people like to train for all three simultaneously and although possible, is not necessarily the most effective strategy. With that said, there are some people that have only one way of doing a particular type of training strategy.
For example, if you see someone who’s trying to lose weight, all you see is them training by “doing cardio.” If you see a guy who’s trying to put on muscle, he forego’s any and ALL type of cardio work. Both of these methods are a mistake.
For the guy who’s losing weight, cardiovascular work can be important, but there are a number of ways to get in more effective workouts. For example, he can add in some strength training followed by a metabolic circuit. Or he can do some strength training and for rest in between sets, he can do some high intensity cardio. That combination can burn more fat than doing one and then the other.
Here’s a strategy that you can implement that will work for all three goals above – Ladder Sets.
This example can be done with Kettlebells and can be used during a “de-load week” or extra cardio if you’re trying to put on size or a great fat loss workout if that’s your main goal.
There are a number of ways to do ladder sets, but the premise is simple – Increase your reps per set during your workout. Three options for ladder routines are:
1 – Up and down ladders (5, 10, 15, 20, 15, 10, 5)
2 – Staggered (5, 10, 15, 20, 5, 10, 15, 20)
3 – Reverse ladders (20, 15, 10, 5, 5, 10, 15, 20)
With that premise in mind, add in these three exercises and you can get in a good workout in about 30 minutes:
1A – Goblet Squat (5, 10, 15, 5, 10, 15, 20)
1B – KB Swings (5, 10, 15, 20, 10, 15, 20)
1C – Get-up (1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1)
This workout seems simple on paper, but is definitely “good” in practice. Try it today and if you have any questions, please leave a comment or contact button found above.
