This workout is inspired by the “least effective dose” that Tim Ferris discusses in his book 4 Hour Body, the philosophy of high intensity training that Jillian Michaels preaches about in Making the Cut, and the interval training experienced in the Insanity workouts.

Combining all three philosophies yields dramatic results, and this hill sprint workout does just that. When you train at an incline and add sprints you are able to experience the cardio, strength training and fat burning benefits of exercise all at once. This is some serious booty burn and engages your fast twitch muscle fibers, which is one of the only ways the human body can naturally release Human Growth Hormone (HGH). HGH is the key to allowing your body to build and maintain muscle as you grow older. This is muy importante! As you get older, you slowly loose your muscle mass and this is the reason people gain weight as they age. We must prevent this from happening to our booties!

Running or doing any type of cardio at the same pace at the same incline over and over and over again will continue to lead to the same results and you probably won’t see much change in the shape of your body. It may get smaller, but you might still be flabby.  Running long distances isn’t very natural either, our ancestors did not run mile after mile with no rest. They completed short bursts of exercise to hunt. My workout is an example of the type of exercise our ancestors thrived off of and will change your body composition over time.

Note of caution – I would not preform this type of training after a strength workout on your legs. This is something, however, I LOVE to do before a Hot Yoga Class or when I am short on time before an early work meeting.

Below is a good starting point, if you require modifications, please feel free to facebook me or email me.

I completed this exact workout before Hot Yoga today and my heart rate got up to 177 several times, about 94% of my maximum heart rate – Incredible! During class when it was time to do the Warrior series… I could really feel it….My hamstrings were burnin’…. ahhhh yeah!

I am adding this type of training at least twice a week to my workout schedule, along with the stair monster at the gym. We are prepping to climb Japan’s tallest peak and possibly Bali’s in a month! We plan to conquer Mt. Fuji at night, in the dark and cold to make it to the top by sunrise. Watching the sunrise atop of Mt. Fuji is called Buddha’s Halo and we want to experience it with a big bowl of noddles in hand (That’s what you do when you get to the top….and you drink hot chocolate too!) We have been researching the climb and hear it is going to take 4-6 hours to get to the top, which doesn’t really sound that bad considering we have experienced pretty difficult hikes through our travels like when we went to Patagonia last year.