Men's Health DeltaFit Speed Shred

Don’t gear down your workouts this year: Step on the throttle instead. Crush every rep. Push yourself even harder. The results will be worth it. Our proof: These photos of Joshua Brady, an intellectual property attorney in Alexandria, Virginia.

In the summer of 2012, Brady made the choice to commit 82 days to Speed Shred, the cutting-edge DVD program from Men’s Health DeltaFit. By the end of the plan, he had shaved more than three inches of fat from his belly, and added muscle all over.

Brady’s secret weapon: a no-excuses approach. “As an attorney, the only opportunity I had to work out was at 5:30 in the morning. So I weighed the options: an increasing waistline or early morning exertion,” says Brady. “I trained six days a week, and missed zero workouts in 82 days.” That mindset is how Joshua Brady made summer his bitch.

This year, make summer your bitch—and be leaner, fitter, and stronger on Labor Day than you are now. You can start by trying out three of Brady’s favorite routines from Speed Shred (below).

Finish Off Your Fat!
Take a page from Joshua Brady’s training plan and use these fast fat-frying techniques to accelerate your results. While each is part of a larger 30-minute Speed Shred workout, you can simply tack these quick routines onto the end of any workout—for a gut-melting finisher that will torch even more calories and skyrocket your metabolism.

Speed Shred Supersets
This intense superset is based on a training method called the Tabata Protocol. You’ll work for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, and repeat for 4 minutes. Give it a try by alternating back and forth between two exercises: bucking hops and running lunges. After you’ve completed the routine, rest one minute, and repeat as desired. Other great exercises to alternate between: pushups and side lunges; burpees and lateral shuffles; shoulder presses and bent-over rows.

Exercise 1: Bucking Hop

Assume a pushup position while holding a pair of dumbbells on the floor with your palms facing each other. Bend your knees at 90-degrees so you look like you’re in a bear crawl position. Now hop your feet to the left, as if you’re a “bucking” horse. Land softly, and hop to your right. Continue to buck back and forth for the full 20 seconds.

Make it harder: Position your hands closer together, or simply perform the movement with just one hand on the floor. (Alternate hands each set.)

Exercise 2: Running Lunge
Get into a lunge, with your left leg forward and bent 90-degrees, and your right nearly touching the floor. Push yourself to a standing position, raising your right knee toward your chest. Return to the starting position, and repeat. (As you lunge back and forth, swing your arms as if you are sprinting.) Switch legs each set.

Make it harder: As you rise back to standing, add a hop on your working leg as you finish the movement.

Ultimate Isometrics
Get stronger without moving a muscle. This routine uses isometrics—holding a specific position of an exercise for a set period of time—to build your strength and improve your mobility, in almost no time. Simply hold the down position of a pushup for 10 seconds. Then rest 5 seconds. That’s one round. Repeat for a total of 12 rounds.

Make it easier: You can simply hold the top position of the pushup, or lower yourself halfway to the floor and pause there.

Make it harder: Start with your right hand positioned a few inches farther forward than your left, and then use your right hand more for balance than pushing. This allows you to do an assisted one-arm pushup. Watch the video to see one segment and give it a try yourself.

Mad-Minute Meltdowns
Here’s a terrific trio of squats that’ll make your fat cells cry. Without resting between movements, do as many reps of each exercise as you can in 20 seconds. Then rest for 60 seconds, and repeat one time.

Prisoner Squat Hold
Hold the down position of a squat with your hands placed behind your head and your elbows pulled back (as if you were just arrested).

Prisoner Drop Squat
With your hand behind your head, stand with your feet close together. Simultaneously hop your feet out to shoulder-width as you drop into a squat position. Jump back up to the start and repeat.

Prisoner Squat Jump
With your hands behind your head, lower your body into a squat, pause for a moment, then jump up. Land softly and repeat.