Seize Your Saturdays (From Men's Health)

Saturday mornings, especially in spring, should be spent outside. That's why we asked the Utah-based strength and conditioning coach Dan John to design this fast, portable series of cardio workouts, one for each Saturday of the month. Use them as breathers from your weekly routine.

**Stretch before and after workout

Week 1: The Core Blast

The Moves

Pushup-position plank (change grip; diamond, wide, staggered)
Dumbbell swings, wood chopper or jumping jacks (clean jerk press)

The Workout

Set a timer for 10 minutes.

Hold the pushup-position plank for 60 seconds.
Without resting, do 20 dumbbell swings or jumping jacks.
Repeat the above sequence, without resting, until the timer goes off.

Rest for less than a minute and complete 2 more rounds.

Pro tip: Crank up the difficulty by increasing rep speed.

Week 2: The Sprint Set

The Moves:

Pushup (spiderman, decline, clap, behind the back clap or Under the Fence)
30-second sprint
Situp (full open and close toe touch or Russian side to side)
Prisoner squat (one legged or squat-thrust-jump)

The Workout:

Rest as little as possible between these exercises.
10 pushups
30-second sprint
10 situps
30-second sprint
15 prisoner squats
30-second sprint

Repeat 3 times.

Pro tip: Squeeze your glutes as you press up in your squats.

Week 3: The Doubleheader

The Moves

Pushup-position plank (change grip; diamond, wide, staggered)
30-second sprint
Dumbbell swing, wood chopper or jumping jack (clean jerk press)

The Workout

Combine elements of the first two workouts, resting as little as possible between exercises.

30-second pushup-position plank
30-second sprint
30 seconds of dumbbell swings or jumping jacks
30-second sprint

Rest for 30 seconds; repeat the sequence 6 to 8 times.

Pro tip: Treat the sprint as your recovery period.

Week 4: The Kitchen Sink

The Moves

All exercises combined

The Workout

Follow each of these exercises with a 30-second sprint.

30-second pushup-position plank (change grip; diamond, wide, staggered)
30 seconds of dumbbell swing, wood chopper or jumping jacks (clean jerk press)
10 pushups (spiderman, decline, clap, behind the back clap or Under the Fence)
10 situps (full open and close toe touch or Russian side to side)
15 prisoner squats (one legged or squat-thrust-jump)

Rest 1 minute and repeat the sequence twice.

Pro tip: On the final circuit, do as many reps as you can.