THE BEST BODY-WEIGHT WORKOUT [option A]

If you’ve ever wondered how guys who work out exclusively on monkey bars in the park get so ripped, this workout is the answer. We hope you’ll take it outside on a summer day , but it can work just as well in a bare-bones garage gym. Not only will you burn fat and build muscle with just three exercises—you’ll learn one of the secrets street gymnasts use to bang out dozens of reps of pullups and dips at a clip: the 10 to 1 method.

HOW IT WORKS

The circuit we’ve designed here doesn’t let up. When you train any squat variation, plus the pullup and the dip, you work nearly every muscle in your body , and your heart will race to supply them with blood and oxygen. Performing a decreasing number of reps—10 to 1—helps you keep the workout going despite being fatigued and builds the endurance that ultimately leads to being able to rattle off a high number of reps in one shot. In addition to getting you leaner, feel free to use this workout to win bar bets about how many pullups you can do.

DIRECTIONS

Perform the exercises as a circuit, completing a set of each in turn and resting as little as possible between sets. Repeat for 10 circuits (until you’re doing only one rep per exercise)

1 JUMP SQUAT

REPS: 10 TO 1 REST: 0 SEC.

Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and squat down about halfway. Jump as high as you can. Land with soft knees and begin the next rep. Perform 10 reps. Each time you repeat the circuit, perform one less rep. So the next round you’ll do 9 reps, then 8, and so on down to 1 rep.

2 PULLUP

REPS: 10 TO 1 REST: 0 SEC.

Hang from a pullup bar, jungle gym, or tree limb and pull yourself up until your chin is higher than your hands. Perform 10 reps down to 1 as described at left.