HEALTH POST FOR MEN

According to Men's Health,

Want to instantly make your cardio workout more intense? Move it off flat terrain. "Performing the same moves on a hill forces your muscles to work harder because you're fighting against gravity on the way up and on the way down," says BJ Gaddour, C.S.C.S., creator of Men's Health StreamFit. 

On the incline, your muscles—especially your hips and hamstrings—must contract more powerfully than usual to propel your body forward, explains Gaddour. And on the decline, your stabilizer muscles kick into gear to help you maintain controlled, proper form. If you go too fast, gravity will do the work for you, he says. The combination of inclines and declines increases the challenge to your muscles and cardiovascular system—and the greater the challenge, the greater your gains. 

Below is Gaddour's favorite lung-busting, muscle-burning hill workout. Find yourself a hill that's 20- to 30-yards long and on a 10- to 30-degree incline and give it a shot. After this, we guarantee you'll never be so happy to see level ground again. 

Warmup

DO THIS: Perform each move once, walking slowly down the hill between each exercise. 

1. Inchworm Uphill

2. Lunge Walk Uphill

Workout

DO THIS: Perform the following exercise pairs in a row without rest. Do each pair twice before moving on to the next pair. Complete all 6 pairings to finish a round. Do 3 total rounds. 

1A.  Uphill Backward Run

1B. Downhill Forward Walk

2A. Uphill Forward Bear Crawl

2B. Downhill Backward Bear Crawl 

3A. Plyo Pushup, 5 reps; Uphill Sprint

3B. Downhill Backward Walk 

4A. Uphill Shuffle Run, Left

4B. Downhill Lateral Shuffle Walk, Left 

*See the following exercise for the video.

5A. Uphill Shuffle Run, Right

5B. Downhill Lateral Shuffle Walk, Right

6A. Uphill Kettlebell Walking Swing, 20 reps

6B. Downhill Kettlebell Suitcase Carry, switch sides the next time you go downhill

*If you don't have a kettlebell, perform the following pairing instead. 

6A Substitute.  Uphill Long Jump

6B Substitute. Downhill Backward Lunge Walk

FINISHER

DO THIS: Perform the following exercises in a row. That's 1 round. Perform 10 rounds total. 

1. Mountain Climber, 10 reps

2. Uphill Sprint

3. Downhill Backward Walk