Self Limiting Exercises: Intense Workouts Less Risk

Let's face it people are busy. Demands at work, spending time with significant others, getting kids from point A to point B, volunteer work, the list goes on. It's because of this people are seeking workout options that provide a big return with a smaller time investment. I mean the goal after all is to work smarter not harder right?

Problem is the exercises that tend to pack the biggest metabolic punch (get's your metabolism way up) tend to be the most technically difficult and time consuming to learn. So what is a person to do??? Fortunately, I got you covered with some strategies that keep intensity up, risk down, and awesomeness maximally awesome. Let's begin. 

I would like to start by briefly describing the concept of self limiting exercise. I first heard the term used by Alwyn Cosgrove at a lecture about training small groups. The concept is simply this. The end user has the ability to scale the pace, load, and intensity of the chosen exercise to their specific capability. If they happen to reach a high level of fatigue or even muscle failure during the exercise that is fine because injury risk remains low, ie. no one has to worry about dropping a weight on their head. This is nice because the person doing the work can feel good about working themselves to exhaustion without being fearful of mechanical injury. So what qualifies as "self limiting" exercises you ask? The following selection would work well.

Body weight Inverted Row: For this exercise find some sort of platform that will hold your body weight and is about 4-5ft off the ground (suspension trainer shown in pic). Take a firm grip on the object and position your body underneath it so your arms are in line with your shoulders and body is horizontal. Pull your body up to the object for as many reps as you can. 

Suspension Trainer Push Up: For this you can use a TRX (shown in pic), a stability ball, paralletes, or any other body weight training device. Set up in a solid plank and execute as many push ups as you can.

TRX Plank: Again find an unstable object (TRX shown in pic) and attach your feet to it. You can set up on your forearms (easier) or up on your hands (harder) and hold your body perfectly horizontal with a focused contraction in your abs. Hold this position for as long as you can.

TRX Sprinter: For this exercise set up with the suspension trainer underneath your arms so that it is supporting your body weight. Establish a good forward lean and a split stance (as is you were about to sprint) with most of your weight in your front leg. Drive forward off of the front leg in an explosive fashion and then decelerate as you return to your starting position. Complete for an established duration of time (30sec maybe???).

Battling Rope Undulating Waves: Grab your battling ropes and set up in an athletic ready position (knees flexed, hips back, chest up). In a rhythmical alternating fashion drive your ropes up and down with a high level of pace using your legs to stabilize the movement. Complete this drill for an established duration of time (30sec maybe???)  

Sample Workout: 

20 TRX Inverted Rows

20 TRX Push Ups

20 TRX Sprinters on each leg

30 seconds of battling rope drills

45 seconds of suspended plank 

*Complete 4 Sets*