Let’s face it – even with the best will in the world, life just gets in the way of our healthiest intensions…we aim to exercise regularly but sometimes we just can’t make it to the gym. It seems a shame for our best efforts to be hindered or halted just because of our busy lifestyles.

An important fact that is often forgotten is that when it comes to exercise, the body is pretty dumb! It has no idea you are running on a motorized treadmill, doing squats in a state-of-the art gym or working your abs on the latest machine designed to give you that “summer six pack”! All your body knows is degrees of exertion. So long as we find ways to exert ourselves sufficiently, our bodies will respond by getting fitter and stronger no matter what the stimulus might be.

My intention in this article is to give you an excellent “break out in case of emergency” (hence the name of this particular workout) workout to use when you just can’t get to the gym. It’s both low tech and deceptively simple, but will get the job done with a minimum of equipment, time and fuss!

The Emergency workout came in to being because of my necessity to exercise while deployed on an HMS ship in the Irish Sea while I was in the Marines. I had no access to a gym, no real space to speak of but I knew it was essential for me to at least try and maintain a decent level of fitness, despite the lack of an ideal training venue. I enjoyed the resulting work out so much that it is now a regular part of my training and often allows me to exercise when time or location is against me. For this workout you need a stop watch with 2 timers, although a single countdown timer will be fine, a mat or other soft surface on which to lay, a skipping rope or aerobic step and about a 10 foot by 10 foot space…

I want you to set your timer for 2 minute and 1 minute intervals (assuming you have a timer equipped with this function). Check out www.gymboss.com for an excellent product designed to do just that. The Timex Ironman range of watches also has a dual timing facility. If you only have a single timer, set it for 1 minute repeating intervals and make sure you keep a mental note to perform 2 minutes followed by 1 minute rounds.

During every 2 minute segment, you are going to perform either skipping or alternating leg step ups and during every 1 minute segment, you are going to perform a bodyweight conditioning exercise from the list I will provide you with later.

You continue with this 2 minute/1 minute pattern for as long as you feel capable. 5 “laps” would be equal to 15 minutes, 7 laps would equal 21 minutes and 10 laps would equal 30 minutes of cardio work combined with exercises to condition your major muscle groups. The real beauty of this workout is you can make it as hard or as easy as you need by choosing exercises that suit your current level of ability. Here are 2 examples to demonstrate what I mean.

1) Less intense version

• 2 minutes step ups
• 1 minute bent leg sit ups
• 2 minutes step ups plus arm curl arms
• 1 minute of press ups on knees
• 2 minutes step ups plus shoulder press arms
• 1 minute of shallow lunges (don’t go too deep!)
• 2 minutes of step ups plus chest press arms
• 1 minute of sky diver back extensions
• 2 minutes of step ups plus curl and press arms
• 1 minute of ab crunches.

 2) More intense version

•  2 minutes skipping
• 1 minute of squats
• 2 minutes of skipping – performing a crossover every 10^th turn
• 1 minute of full press ups
• 2 minutes of skipping – double under every 10^th turn
• 1 minute of reverse lunges – arms overhead
• 2 minutes of skipping – cross over every 5^th turn
• 1 minute of burpees
• 2 minutes of skipping – double under every 5^th turn
• 1 minute of V sits
• 2 minutes of skipping – knees up
• 1 minute of mountain climbers
• 2 minutes of skipping – alternate double unders and cross overs every 5^th turn.

As you can see, the Emergency approach is quite flexible and can be adapted to cater for different levels of fitness and conditioning.

An excellent modification of the Emergency workout is to use only 1 minute intervals for both the aerobic component and the conditioning exercise. Treat the aerobic component as a race and attempt to perform as many rope turns or step ups as possible which will leave you nicely out of breath for the conditioning exercise. This combination adds a real intensity to the exercise programme.

You can use any of your favourite exercises with this style of training but remember to choose the ones that you are best suited to your current fitness level and goals. I suggest you try to rotate the type of exercise you are performing throughout the workout and therefore avoid over loading any one part of the body. Personally, I try to order my exercises lower/core/upper so that no matter how hard I find a particular exercise, I know I won’t be repeating anything similar for few minutes. Mentally, this allows me to really attack the current exercise and adds another intensity level to the session.

So, that’s my Emergency workout, one of my personal favourite training methods – and now you have no excuses for missing an exercise session! Enjoy.

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