Weight training burnouts

by Eric Z
(Camarillo, Ca, U.S.)

Burnouts consisted of a few things. It started simply enough with five sets of sit-ups, five sets of crunches, and elevator leg lifts.

After we finished this we were put into groups of four, one person did the bench press, another did squats, one more did barbell lifts, and the last one did push-ups.

For fifteen seconds we had to do ten reps of each workout, then we were given ten seconds to switch positions and start over again. This went on for an hour of constant switching and going over and over again.

We were able to add or remove weight as we saw fit, however it was hard to do it in the ten seconds allotted to us.

The entire time of the work out coach would yell "don't cheat yourself, treat yourself to a new body" to further motivate us. Then finally when it looked like the hour was just about over we got to the actual burn out part of the workout.

Each person started on a station, and we were given 30 or 45 seconds, depending on how the coach was feeling that day, to do as many reps as humanly possible, with only a ten second breather between each workout.

Our bodies ached in defiance after an hour of constant reps that made us tired and feel weak. On the bench press, it wasn't uncommon for people to go without weights or tiny weights on the bars. By the end of the year however it wasn't uncommon to see people with forty-five pound weights on the bench press bars.

Squats on the other hand had a minimum of at least twenty-five pound weights on the bar. Barbell lifts had a minimum of ten on each side.

By the end of the day we were tired and beat, we could hardly lift our arms and wanted to pass out, but by the end of the year doing burn out sessions once a week we felt like an Adonis.

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