30 Minutes or Less….

What Will You Do?

As part of the busy society, I can relate to the “I’m too busy to exercise” syndrome, the
difference is I don’t fall trap to it. I train when ever and where ever!

I’m going to outline workouts and methods for training in 30 minutes or less. Sometimes
this means I train after 10 PM at night or before 7 in the morning. The bottom line….I get
the job done, and if you’re a fellow Underground Beast, you will too!

First of all, ditch the isolation movements unless you are working on weak areas and can
throw them in as active recovery in between sets of heavy basics.

You can use the basics very often, the main thing you’ll want to do is vary the loads and
intensity to avoid burn out and overuse injuries. This is what the conjugate method is
based around. You use similar movements and special exercises and change them
frequently to allow the central nervous system to take less of a hit, allowing you to train
for gains in strength, speed and size on a more regular basis.

For example, you can squat, bench and deadlift for many weeks in a row. You can
change all the movements in many ways to avoid stalling in progress, check out the list
below for each movement:
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Squat Variations:
• varied foot stances: close stance
• wide stance
• staggered stance
• on a box
• without a box
• change the bar: safety squat bar, cambered bar, straight bar, buffalo bar
• change the position: zercher squat, back squat, front squat

Above, box squatting at DeFranco’s

Deadlift Variations:
• change stance: sumo
• shoulder width feet
• close stance feet
• feet elevated on plyo step or 45 lb plates
• rack pulls
• over – under grip
• overhand grip
• bent leg
• Romanian dead lift

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 Above, an athlete trap bar deadlifts 605 lbs! Notice the use of the band to hold the
weights on!

Bench Press Variations:

• Wide grip
• Shoulder width grip
• Close grip
• Reverse grip
• Floor press
• Board press 2, 3, 4 board press
• Thick bar
• Football bar
• Incline

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 Above, powerlifters working the 4 board press
Of course, there are many more options such as adding chains and bands.

But, for the sake of simplicity, we’re sticking to straight out barbell movements. There
were men back in the 50’s and prior who were deadlifting over 600 lbs and benching over
400 with no support suits, belts, etc.

These basic movements can be the lifeline of your workouts. Add some overhead presses,
pull ups, push ups and abdominal work and you can develop serious strength and serious
muscle!

Is 30 minutes enough time to get the job done?

You betcha! Rest periods between each set, even the heaviest sets, will be kept to 60 s
maximum. Change the weight, rest a little extra and get back in there again. The shorter
workouts force you to get more work done in less time. This is a simple principle that we
all know called ‘overload’.

Make the body work harder than before to force it to adapt. How does it adapt to the
higher workload? It adapts by improving work capacity and strength!

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Let’s take a look at a few workouts that I have done with basics in 30 minutes or less.
Your warm up template should be modified to meet your personal needs, so please keep
that in mind.

Warm up:
A) 50 BW squats
B) 50 push ups
C) reaching lunges x 10 each

workout # 1

1) squats 5 x 5 (first set was 10 reps)

2A) incline DB bench 3 x 6 – 10
2B) double Kb rows 3 x 10
2C) double Kb cleans 3 x 6 – 8
3A) band pull aparts 2 x max reps
3B) heavy DB side raises 2 x 6 – 8
3C) DB hex holds 2 x max time

Workout # 2

1A) double Kb clean & press 5 x 5 reps

1B) mixed grip pull ups 5 x max reps

2) BB deadlift 3 x 15 reps
** high rep deadlifts are brutal but have helped me improve max effort deadlift
numbers, very likely due to hypertrophy in the back and hamstrings. These high reps
with moderately heavy weights are excellent **

Workout # 3

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1A) double Kb squats 5 x 5 – 10 reps
1B) thick bar bench 5 x 3 – 6 reps (last set triple drop set)

2A) suspended chain push ups 2 x max reps

2B) 1 arm KB rows 2 x 15 – 20 reps

Workout # 4

1A) heavy long bar farmer walk 4 trips out drive way & back
1B) pull up variation 4 x max reps

2A) sandbag clean & press 3 x 8 – 10 reps

2B) reverse lunge w/sandbag 3 x 10 each

Workout # 5
5 rounds of circuit below

1A) squat jumps x 10

1B) split squat jumps x 10
1C) chest slap plyo push ups x 10
1D) pull ups x max reps
1E) glute ham raises x 10
1F) ab wheel roll outs x 10

Notice how many variations we can use with the basic power lifts or through simple odd
objects and bodyweight circuits.

Looking back, I have no clue how I trained for 1 ½ hours back in the day.

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Our athletes train for 30 minutes or less in season as well. We begin with a core lift
which is usually a full body lift and then follow up with a circuit of assistance work.

For example, the workout will begin with a few heavy sets of Kb snatches, and
afterwards there will be a circuit of pull ups, push ups and 1 legged squats.

Still, even during the season, our athletes improve their strength. For example, before our
athlete pictured doing 605 deadlift above was pictured, he had not performed the trap bar
deadlift for about 6 weeks! We used movements that were similar to the deadlift and
pushed for strength gains with them, and in turn the deadlift grew as well, without even
performing the deadlift!

Above, heavy DB split squats work the lower body very intensely, especially the
hamstrings and glutes. We also perform these with sandbags and kettlebells.

You’ll be amazed at the results you can get when time is limited and you weed out the
unnecessary movements that pay small dividends!

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With regards to the isolation movements, you can work them in as mentioned before, as
active recovery, or, you can perform them throughout the day. Perhaps you might leave a
band around and perform pull aparts, push down, leg curls, good mornings, or you might
do sets of 50 push ups a few times a day or sets of 10 – 20 pull ups a few times a day!

Above, push ups from all angles are awesome for developing the upper body. No
matter how advanced you are, we can always make push ups more difficult!

This is what some call working the groove, I call it “chunking” since you are getting your
workout done, just not all at once, so you are chunking pieces together throughout the
day!

Keep us posted on the forum with how your new results are with shorter and more intense
workouts!

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