Prunges...

Better Than
Burpees For Working Your
Entire Body (And Posterior
Chain Especially)
When you're doing a fat-loss workout, you want to burn as
MANY calories as possible as FAST as possible. To do
that, you need to work your big muscle groups like your
quads, hamstrings, glutes, back and chest. So...what if
you could work ALL of those muscles in ONE exercise.

The Prunge is a total-body

exercise, perfect for time-efficient
fat-loss training.
 
This one is horrible...truly horrible...but in the best way it's possible
to be horrible.
And yes, the name isn't great but the exercise is awesome...and all
you need is a pair of dumbbells.
It's a combination of a push-up, a dumbbell row, a lunge and a
deadlift...all wrapped into ONE two-part exercise.
It's a beast and it will really show you what you're made of.
I highly recommend practicing with a light weight before you go full
speed ahead on the movement with a heavier load. It's not a high-
skill exercise but it does require a bit of coordination to perform.
Once you get the hang of it, it's easy, though.
First, set a pair of dumbbells on the floor in front of you. I like to set
them at a bit of an diagonal rather than straight. I'm using a pair of
85 lb dumbbells in the demo.

Come down into the bottom of the push-up. This exercise works the
chest, tricep and shoulders.
As you push back up, bring your left leg up and forward and step it
far forward like a lunge. This works the abs nicely.

You should step right up by the dumbbell handles...you'll need the

base of support to be way up there to do the next part of the
exercise.

Perform a one-arm dumbbell row while at the same time bringing

your torso to an upright position. This should be a POWERFUL
movement.
When I did this one, I did the row with the same-side hand as the
leg I stepped forward with. It's also possible to do this one with the
opposite side hand instead, if you prefer.
Balance can be an issue during this part of the exercise, which is
why I definitely encourage you to start with light weight to get an
idea of how it flows.

This part of the exercise works the deep core muscles strongly.
Bring the dumbbell up and back and hold for a second.
This combination movement hits the entire posterior chain (upper
back, lower back, glutes, hamstrings and calves) in one powerful
movement. It also brings in the rear delts and traps to bring the
dumbbell up and back and hold it at the top, as well as the biceps
and brachialis. The straightening of the leg brings in the quads and
adductors.
So yes, as you can see, I'm truly NOT kidding when I say this is a
TOTAL-body exercise. There's really nothing that doesn't get
worked to some extent here...even the forearms by gripping the
dumbbells.
Next, return the dumbbell to the start position in front of you.

Bring your left leg back and into the start of the push-up position
again.
Then you're going to do the same pattern with the other leg and
arm. Start in the top of the push-up.
Come down to the bottom.

As you push back up, bring your right leg forward into a big forward
lunge.
Row the dumbbell to the top as you stand upright in the top of the
split squat position.

Bring it back down.

Bring your leg back.

Then you're back to the start of the push-up again to repeat the
cycle with the left leg.
I'll tell you right now, this one is BRUTAL. If you enjoy hard
training, you're going to like this one.
And if you like time-efficient , hard training, you're going to LOVE it.
Definitely watch the video to get the best idea of how it flows.
 
How To Use Prunges In a Workout
 
If you're short on time, you could do an entire workout in a matter
of a few minutes using only this exercise.
I did 5 sets with 1 minute rest in between and I was sweating
buckets. Perform as many reps as you can get until either your
form starts to break down or you run out of gas....I ran out of gas
on every set.
Depending on how heavy your dumbbells are, you may want to do
more sets of these or fewer. I recommend using a weight you can
get at least 5-7 reps on each side with for the full metabolic effect
of the exercise.
If you go too heavy, you won't be able to get enough reps to really
get your metabolism cranking. I tried a pair of 105 lb dumbbells and
I could do a couple of reps, but I couldn't get enough reps to really
push the metabolic effect.
My next modification will be to address the biggest weakness of
this exercise, which is when you're strong at push-ups, using just
your bodyweight for resistance isn't much of a challenge to the
chest and triceps. To fix that, I'm going to wear a backpack and
throw some weight into it.
If you're NOT strong at push-ups, you could address that by doing
kneeling push-ups. That would allow you to still perform the
row/deadlift with whatever dumbbell weight you can manage and
still get the full effect of the exercise.
Definitely give this one a try...it's a fantastic metabolic resistance
training exercise. And, even as tough as it is, you won't even have
enough energy left to swear at me by the time you're done.