Our latest blog post article from Wolverson Ambassador, Personal Trainer and all round athlete Matt Shore. In celebration of the Assault Air Bike being BACK IN STOCK at Wolverson this week, Matt’s been testing some optimum workouts combining the bike with other pieces of Wolverson kit, with some great results!
The Assault Air Bike from Wolverson Fitness is one hell of a machine.
Having spent more hours on it now than I care to remember, I wanted to share some of my favourite ways of incorporating this savage piece of kit into some, shall we say, interesting workouts.
The bike has many uses - For a steady state, low impact recovery session of up to an hour, it fits the bill nicely; At the other end of the spectrum, if an aerobic challenge is your poison, then max calories in an hour can be a lesson in pacing and fortitude.
My favourite ways to use these bikes is in an interval weight training format, whereby the high intensity bike work is combined with strength movements to deliver a powerful 1-2 punch. The metabolic conditioning effect can be huge, and often felt for hours after the session ends!!
DESCENSION
Kit You’ll Need -Wolverson Fitness Heavy Slam Ball/Atlas Stone (30 - 70kg)
This workout is ideal when time is of the essence but you want to engage in something meaningful and testing that delivers a big bang for the buck!
- Med Ball Ground to Shoulder – 2 reps on each side alternating.
- 20 Kcal effort on the bike.
- Med Ball Ground to Shoulder – 2 reps each side alternating
- 19 Kcal on the bike
Keep supersetting the Med Ball Ground to Shoulder with Assault Bike intervals, losing 1kcal per interval until you get down to 1kcal.
During this session minimal rest is taken. I advise NOT sprinting all out from the start, instead preferring a more even, hard pace which facilitates shorter rest periods.
(Some chalk on hand will be useful for when the sweat starts to fall out of you before picking up the med ball!)
TOTAL BODY EMOM
Kit You’ll Need -
Wolverson Fitness Large Bison Sandbag
Moderate-weight Kettlebell (Men 32kg, Women 24kg)
Farmer's Walk Bars (or a pair of heavy Kettlebells for use as handles)
This session is a favourite of mine, based on performing 1 exercise each minute over 5 exercises/minutes.
- Minute 1:- Bison Bag Ground to Shoulder (bag MUST be heavy) x 1 rep each side
- Minute 2:- Kettlebell Swing x 15 reps
- Minute 3:- Burpee (Chest to Floor where possible) x 10 reps
- Minute 4:- Farmers Walks x 40m
- Minute 5:- Assault Air Bike Sprint x 10kcal
Complete 8 rounds to total 40 minutes.
This session is all about self-discipline - starting the exercise, getting the work done, and then “enjoying” what time remains in the minute.
(The kicker on this one tends to be the burpees, into farmers, into sprint. Work hard for the rest that you can achieve – it’s the best way to prevent this from transmuting from a suck fest into something much, much worse!)
UPPER BODY ASSAULT
Kit You’ll Need -
A pair of Kettlebells of the same weight
Assault Air Bike
This session is a little bit different, focusing on upper body strength while the bike takes care of all things leg related!
In a 3 ½ minute window perform:-
- Double Kettlebell Push Press x 5 reps
- Assault Air Bike x 10kcal
- Kettlebell Push Up to Renegade Row (1 push up, 1 row each arm) x 5 reps (5 push ups, 5 reps each side alternating rows)
- Assault Air Bike x 10 kcal.
Try for 8 rounds in the time limit!
The key with this session is to select a pair of kettlebells that require good technique and concentration without being too heavy. The Double KB Push Press needs to be powerful and explosive with a strong fixation over head to complete each rep. The Kettlebell Push Up to Renegade Row is about depth, anti-rotation and controlled breathing (not easy after a sprint and when time is of the essence!).
The Assault Bike efforts are sprints (nuff said!)
There is plenty of recovery built in on this session – so work hard to reap those recovery rewards!
Thanks to Matt for his great suggestions - Why not grab yourself some kit and give them a try? For more details on the Assault Air Bike or any of the other kit used here, feel free to contact Wolverson on 01922 618 780 / advice@wolverson-fitness.com
