Get yourself ready for action with 100 jumping jacks and 50 tip toe squats. Feel free to bust out the jumping jacks and squats in one go, or split them up into a few alternating rounds. The order doesn’t matter.

The circuit you will perform is heavy kettlebell swings, loaded “suitcase” carries, and ring dips. If you don’t have rings hung outdoors or in your garage, try to find another flat surface where you can perform bar or wall dips. Ultimately, any dip, including bench or parallette dips will work.

For the loaded carry, you could use a heavy kettlebell, dumbbell, or even a barbell. I used this monster little adjustable dumbbell, that was able to take 100 lbs. If you can find one of those online, do yourself a favor and pick it up. They are the bomb.

Finish the workout with 3 sets of hollow rocks (15) and scorpion push-ups (6 per side/12 total).

How I did it:

• 70 lb Kettlebell Swings
• 100 lb Suitcase Carries
• Bodyweight Dips

See more workout ideas HERE

The warm-up is a few minutes of commando jacks and squat kicks. Try to accumulate 100 of the jumping jack variation and 50 of the squat variation. Those squat kicks are something from a martial arts workout. You’re going to dig them.

The circuit is 4 times through barbell back squats, dumbbell lateral raises (aka shoulder flyes), and single arm preacher curls. Bust out 8 squats, 6 lateral raises, and 7 preacher curls before starting over.

See the “How I did it” section below, to see what type of weight I used for each of the movements. Your starting point is going to be different, but the goal is to use enough weight safely that you are promoting muscle development through the overload principle. The idea is to gradually increase the intensity of your training so that you see the desired adaptations, like greater strength, more muscle mass, et cetera.

So, thus far the workout has some light agility, plus legs and pulling-type upper body strength training. What about pushing for the upper body? You’ll find the pushing component of this workout in the cool down. The aim is 3 x 10 plyo push-ups. If clapping push-ups are too challenging, scale down to regular push-ups. For those of you starting out, incline push-ups with your hands on a bench is a nice place to begin.

Have fun and have a great 4^th of July!

HOW I DID IT:

• 175 lb back squats
• 30 lb preacher curls
• 25 lb lateral raises

See more at-home workouts HERE

It didn’t make it into the article, but it’s a good workout nonetheless. The idea was to come up with a simple session that people could do at home during quarantine. The intended audience wasn’t necessarily someone with a garage gym at their disposal. Floor space, and a yoga mat were the main constraints.

Rather than using barbell like in the pictures, people were supposed to load up a backpack or duffle bag with some textbooks or other heavy items from the house.

Let me know what you think of the changes. Do you like having fewer warm-up and cool-down exercise? It’s good idea to mix-up your routine every now and then. I might start playing with the format of Strength Mob workouts based on your feedback. Let me know your thoughts!

Staving off depression is one reason. But as it turns out, regular exercise can also help fight off complications associated with ARDS. Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS for short), is one of the reasons Covid-19 is so deadly. This link was found on Reddit, but it reports on a NIH funded study out of the University of Virginia. It looks like exercise helps increase an important antioxidant that assists in the maintenance of lung health.

Since you are already the type of person searching online for at-home workouts, you’re definitely ahead of the curve for staying healthy. If anyone in your circle of friends or family is struggling with their own motivation for exercise, point them to this research.

You never know – perhaps it could help save their life!

For today’s Strength Mob circuit workout, you’ll be doing 3 main exercises for 8 reps each, 4 times through. The movements are: sumo deadlift high pulls (SDHP), dips, and windmills. The SDHP are really the meat and potatoes of this workout, targeting your legs, back, and arms. If you don’t have access to a barbell, load up a duffle bag or something similar. A heavy kettlebell will do the trick too.

For the dips use rings, a dip station, or if you don’t have access to those, try your kitchen counter top.

The windmills are in there as a bit of a treat. Think of them as a mobility helper for your back and hips. As the saying goes: “You’re only as young, as your spine is flexible.” Wise words.

How I did it: 

• 125 lb sumo deadlift high pulls
• 30 lb dumbbell for the windmills
• Dips were done with parallettes on top of a plyo box

DOWNLOAD THIS WORKOUT AND OTHERS FROM STRENGTH MOB

Raise your hand if this is NOT how you anticipated Spring 2020 to be rolling out. Covid-19 has taken a steam roller to life as usual.

As we’ve all quickly learned, quarantine life blows. All you can hope is that you stay healthy and that your friends and family do the same.

Considering that you might not have access to your normal workout gear, this at-home circuit training session is designed with minimal equipment. Two of the movements – the squat clean and shoulder curl – call for additional resistance, so load up a backpack with some old text books. A couple of jugs of water can add  decent weight too. Look around your house to see what you can throw together.

Have fun and stay healthy everyone!

BTW, if you are looking for more of these Strength Mob workouts you can now see the entire archive with downloads at www.StrengthMob.com.