Does your treadmill workout make you feel like a rat on a wheel? Then it's probably time to change up your routine. And not just because you're bored. "The human body wasn't designed for conveyor-belt training or repetitive, one-dimensional movement," says Dan John, a fitness coach in Burlingame, California, and the author of Never Let Go. So try one of John's novel cardio drills below. Or better yet, try all three. You'll blast fat and improve your fitness quickly. And the best part: You won't have to find ways to distract yourself during these workouts—you'll be too busy getting in shape. 

The "55" workout
Start by doing one body-weight squat and 10 pushups. Rest for 30 seconds, and then do 2 squats and 9 pushups. Gradually work your way up to 10 squats and down to 1 pushup. You'll complete 55 reps of each exercise by the time you're done—and reap both the cardiovascular benefit of aerobic training and the muscular pump of a strength session. (And if you like this routine, you'll love The World's Most Efficient Workout.)

10-meter sprints
Find an area in your gym where you can sprint for 10 meters. Once you've covered the distance, pause just long enough to inhale and exhale once through your nose. Sprint back and pause, this time inhaling and exhaling twice through your nose. Continue the drill—breathing normally as you sprint, and adding an additional nose inhalation and exhalation when you pause—until you can no longer breathe through your nose. "It takes more effort than breathing through your mouth—even during rest—which increases the intensity of the exercise," John says. The result: more gain in less time (and distance) than on a treadmill. (Don't undermine your fitness efforts: Make sure to avoid The Worst “Free” Restaurant Foods in America.)

Jumping-jack pyramid
Do as many jumping jacks as you can in 10 seconds. Rest for an equal amount of time. Next, do as many jumping jacks as you can in 20 seconds, and rest 20 seconds. Then do 30 seconds of jumping jacks followed by 30 seconds of rest. Now work your way back down the pyramid (30, 20, 10). Repeat three times. This will change the way you think about jumping jacks forever.

Pack on Mass, Get Huge

The gym has been my home for more than four decades. Spend that much time anywhere, and you figure out what works and what doesn't. Take muscle building, for instance. The greatest fallacy of the mass-building industry is that some big-armed expert is hoarding top-secret, burn-after-reading protocols that are worth whatever he's charging for access. (Usually way too much.)

The truth? There are no secrets. But there are rules. And most of them are surprisingly simple. As an athlete, I used these rules to break the American record in the Weight Pentathlon. And as a coach, I've used them to help hundreds of athletes—including Olympians—pack on double-digit pounds of beef.

One warning: Some of these rules are the opposite of what you're used to reading in fitness magazines. That's because this isn't an article that tells you how to both build muscle and lose fat. This is all about supersizing your body as fast as possible. And all it requires is a little common sense and a lot of time with a barbell.

8 SECRETS OF MASS BUILDING

1. Have a Single Goal
Building muscle and losing fat have one thing in common: Each is best accomplished when you do it to the exclusion of all else. I can't tell you how many guys with 14-inch biceps have asked me about building mass but want a guarantee that they'll keep their six-pack. While you're bulking up, you can't obsess about single-digit body fat or your finishing time in the 10-K. Pack 2 or 3 inches onto your upper arms, and then we'll talk about those other things.

2. Use Medium Reps for Maximum Gains
You'll build the most muscle by doing sets of 5 to 10 reps. They hit a "magical" intersection between heavy loads and extended time under the bar. Each generation of lifters wants to rewrite the rule book, but they all eventually come back to this system, which is the basis for the workout on this month's poster.

3. For Squats, More Is Better
About two decades ago I received good advice that I foolishly ignored: Never do fewer than 10 reps of the barbell back squat. Yes, there are always exceptions. But for most people most of the time, the extra time under the bar seems to stimulate the entire body as well as the appetite. Both are key in helping you add mass.

4. Don't Chase Variety
Good mass-building programs have very few movements. At a time when there is so much equipment to use, it's difficult for many lifters to follow a system with just eight exercises. But that's all you really need. (See "The Best Exercises for Big Muscles" on this page.) In fact, if your singular goal is pure size, then you should do them almost exclusively.

5. Always Leave 1 or 2 Reps in the Tank
It's often said that the secret to adding size is pushing your muscles past their limit, squeezing out extra reps with the help of a training partner or by sacrificing form. But most of you will reap more benefit if you end each set knowing you could've done another rep or two. It's better to do another set than to roast your muscles with forced reps.

6. Let Your Body Tell You How Long to Rest Between Sets
As a general rule for building mass, most guys need about 3 minutes between sets of squats and bench presses, and 90 seconds between sets of other movements. If you're leaving 1 or 2 reps in reserve (Rule 5), you should be able to repeat your performance from one set to the next.

7. Eat Big to Grow Big
When the goal is mass, it's difficult to eat too much. Most men eat too little. A good workout plan not only burns lots of calories but also jacks up your metabolism. If you eat just a little more than usual, you're not even breaking even. You need to eat a lot. When I put on 40 pounds in 4 months my freshman year in college, I ate sandwiches before dinner.

8. Save Your Energy
A guy who's eating to grow needs to minimize his activity outside the gym. Work hard, and rest hard. If you're playing pickup basketball between workouts, you're not resting. And if you're not resting, you're not growing. Remember, a mass-building program isn't a lifetime plan for health. It's a short, focused attempt to become bigger than you are now.

Read more at Men's Health: http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/big-muscle-fast#ixzz1qG7U2Lsu

Transform into Spartacus Now

WHEN LIAM MCINTYRE AUDITIONED FOR THE television drama Spartacus: Vengeance, he couldn't have looked less fit for the title role. He was fresh off a movie called Frozen Moments, playing a man who had awakened from a coma. Skinny made sense for that. For Spartacus? Not so much.

But McIntyre is a good actor, so the Starz network put him at the top of its list, with one major caveat: At go time, he'd better look the part of a rebel warrior.

So he set out to rebuild his musculature. "It was a combination of mental and physical effort," he says. "The body can do incredible things as long as the mind supports it."

We're providing McIntyre's fitness advice and our own Spartacus workout. Put them both to work, and when you reach go time—beach vacation, high school reunion, first date—you'll be sure to look the part, too.

CREATE A NO-FAIL PLAN
McIntyre wanted a body like Hugh Jackman's in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It would have been a challenge anyway, but especially so given McIntyre's 13-hour workdays. His strategy: Never miss a planned workout.

Make it work for you: Focus on the means, not the end. University of Iowa scientists found that people are more likely to stick with a weight-loss plan when they concentrate on specific actions instead of the desired result.

"Break your goal into habits that will help you achieve it," says Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, California. For example, you might set a goal of completing the 2012 Spartacus Workout 12 times a month. That's just three workouts a week. But if you reach your 12-workout goal every month, by the end of the year you'll have logged 144 high-intensity workouts. How many gut-busting workouts did you complete last year?

MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS
McIntyre had never been a gym rat before Spartacus. "I didn't treat my body as well as I should have," he says. But with his new role, he needed to perform intense weight workouts 4 days a week—every week, for months. Now McIntyre is stronger and fitter than he's ever been. "When I look back at the photo the Spartacus producers took at the start, I think, 'Oh, God,' " he says. "I didn't realize how much weight I'd lost for Frozen Moments." Which is a good reminder: Amazing results don't happen overnight, but they do happen over time.

Make it work for you: Since you're not likely to notice a change in the mirror right away, focus on what you can measure: Your performance. "You should be able to do more every workout; lift more weight, do more reps, add more sets," says Cosgrove. "You can bet that if your numbers are improving, so is your body.
FUEL YOUR MUSCLES
"You can lift all the time," says McIntyre, "but if you don't eat the right foods, you won't have the body you want." The key ingredient for any diet is protein. It provides the nutrients you need for muscle growth and also keeps you satisfied between meals.

Make it work for you: To grow larger and speed fat loss, Alan Aragon, M.S., a nutritionist in Thousand Oaks, California, recommends eating 1 gram of protein per pound of your target weight. So if you want to weigh 180 pounds, you should eat 180 grams of protein a day.

But some guys say it's too expensive; others say they feel like they have to force-feed themselves. So shoot for 0.7 gram of protein for every pound, says Aragon. It's still a highly effective dose for your muscles. The only downside: You may find that you're hungrier and more at risk of binge snacking.

FIND A PARTNER
McIntyre rarely goes to the gym alone. "There are tons of benefits to working out with someone else. You can do a better range of exercises if someone's there to spot you," he says. Plus, others push you outside your comfort zone. "They'll yell at me when I'm not working hard enough, and compliment me when I am."

Make it work for you: Find a workout partner or join a boot-camp class at a local gym, says BJ Gaddour, C.S.C.S., a leading boot-camp expert. "The more people we have training together, the more energy, sweat, and encouragement are in the room."

THINK BEYOND YOURSELF
McIntyre inherited his role as Spartacus from the actor Andy Whitfield, who recently passed away after a long battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. "Andy was amazing at his job," McIntyre says. "I want to do justice to the character he already created. I think of Andy and remind myself that no day is too hard."

Make it work for you: Not in the mood for a sweat session? Keep moving for the people who can't. Says Cosgrove, whose husband is a stage IV cancer survivor and the co-owner of their gym, "Put it in perspective. It's not chemo. When you think about people fighting for their lives, it makes a workout seem like nothing." Honor them by making yourself better. "We owe it to people like Andy to bring our best to everything we do," says Cosgrove. "And that includes taking care of our health."

THE 2012 SPARTACUS WORKOUT

This year, give your body the ultimate fitness challenge

Two years ago we teamed with Starz to create the official Spartacus Workout. Its popularity surprised even us: Readers told us it was their favorite Men's Health workout ever. So to kick off the new season of Spartacus: Vengeance, we asked Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S.—the fat-loss expert who created the routine—to design an all-new version that's even more intense, challenging, and effective. Like the original, the 2012 Spartacus Workout requires only a pair of dumbbells, a stopwatch, and, well, some serious grit. But try Cosgrove's plan just once and you'll quickly understand why it burns fat, sculpts muscle, and leads to fantastic results.

Directions
Do this workout 3 days a week. Perform the exercises—or "stations"—as a circuit, doing one movement after another. At each station, perform as many repetitions as you can in 40 seconds using perfect form. Rest for 20 seconds as you transition to the next exercise. After you've done all 10 exercises, catch your breath for 2 minutes. Then repeat the entire circuit two more times. If you find you can't keep working for the entire 40 seconds, use a lighter weight. If you feel as if you could keep going hard for an additional 15 seconds, progress to a heavier weight.

1. DUMBBELL SQUAT TO ALTERNATING SHOULDER PRESS AND TWIST



Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and hold a pair of dumbbells next to your shoulders, elbows bent, palms facing in [A]. Push your hips back and squat deeply [B]. Push back up, rotating your torso to the right and pivoting on your left foot as you press the dumbbell in your left hand above your shoulder [C]. Lower the weight and rotate back to center. Repeat, rotating to the left and pressing up the dumbbell in your right hand.

2. MOUNTAIN CLIMBER AND PUSHUP



Assume a pushup position. Your body should form a straight line from your head to your ankles [A]. Without allowing your lower-back posture to change, lift your left foot off the floor and move your left knee toward your chest [B]. Return to the starting position, and repeat with your right leg. That's a mountain climber. Now do a pushup [C].

3. DUMBBELL SIDE LUNGE AND CURL



Hold a pair of dumbbells at arm's length at your sides [A]. Take a big step to your left and lower your body by pushing your hips back and bending your left knee. As you lower your body, bend forward at your hips and try to touch the dumbbells to the floor [B]. (Note: Go only as low as you can without rounding your lower back.) Then push yourself back to the starting position as quickly as you can. Perform arm curls [C]. Alternate back and forth, doing a lunge to your left and then a lunge to your right.

4. PLANK WALKUP WITH DUMBBELL DRAG



Start in a pushup position with a dumbbell on the floor next to your right hand. Lower your body into a plank so you're resting your weight on your forearms instead of your palms [A]. "Walk" back up to a pushup position [B]. Without leaving this position, grasp the dumbbell with your left hand [C] and drag it underneath your chest until it rests on your left side [D]. Repeat, this time dragging the weight with your right hand.

5. DUMBBELL STEPOVER



Stand holding dumbbells at your sides [A]. Step forward with your left foot and lower your body until your front knee is bent 90 degrees [B]. In one motion, push back up and take a long step back with your left foot into a reverse lunge [C]. Keep shifting between forward and backward lunges with the same leg for 20 seconds, and then repeat on the other side.

6. DUMBBELL SINGLE-ARM ALTERNATING CLEAN



Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and a dumbbell between your feet on the floor. Push your hips back, squat, and grab the dumbbell with one hand [A]. Pull the dumbbell up and "catch" it at shoulder height as you rise to a standing position; keep your knees slightly bent [B]. Pause, lower the dumbbell to the floor, grab it with your other hand [C], and repeat on the other side [D].

7. PUSHUP-POSITION ROW AND SQUAT THRUST



Place a pair of dumbbells on the floor and assume a pushup position with your hands on the dumbbells [A]. Pull the right dumbbell up to the side of your chest [B]. Pause, and then lower the dumbbell; repeat the move with your left arm [C]. While holding the dumbbells, quickly bring your legs toward your torso [D], and then jump up [E]. Once you land, squat and kick your legs back into a pushup.

8. GOBLET SQUAT AND ALTERNATING REVERSE LUNGE



Hold a dumbbell vertically in front of your chest, cupping one end of the dumbbell with both hands [A]. Keep your elbows pointed toward the floor and perform a squat [B]. Then push back up to the starting position [C]. Now step back with one leg—into a reverse lunge—and lower your body until your front knee is bent 90 degrees [D]. Pause, and then push up quickly. Alternate your lunging leg with each rep.

9. DUMBBELL RUSSIAN TWIST



Sit holding a dumbbell in front of your chest. Lean your torso back slightly and raise your feet off the floor [A]. Without moving your torso, rotate the weight to your left [B] and then to your right [C]. Move back and forth quickly.

10. DUMBBELL STRAIGHT-LEG DEADLIFT AND ROW



Stand with your knees slightly bent and hold a pair of dumbbells at arm's length in front of your thighs [A]. Without rounding your lower back or changing the bend in your knees, bend at your hips and lower your torso until it's nearly parallel to the floor [B]. Without moving your torso, pull the dumbbells up to the sides of your chest [C]. Pause, and then lower the dumbbells. Raise your torso back to the starting position.

Want more Spartacus? The Complete 2012 Spartacus Workout is available on Men’s Health Personal Trainer. There you’ll find the complete four-week plan with exclusive exercise videos, and have access to our customizable nutrition program—which will help you create the best diet for your goals, lifestyle, and preferences.

Read more at Men's Health

The 300 Workout

Want Hollywood muscle?  Then look no further because this is the workout used by the cast of the movie 300, the one that built all that Spartan muscle.

One of the most popular videos on our site since then has been the "300 Workout," as demonstrated here by Men's Health contributor Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, M.Sc., a strength and conditioning coach in Toronto.

"It looks simple on paper, but I promise you, it's a great muscle building workout," posted one man on MensHealth.com.

Another posting noted the extreme interest generated: "I sense a new 'Brad Pitt in Fight Club' standard being born."

Butler's training for 300 simultaneously built muscle, increased muscular endurance, and stripped fat fast. To achieve movie muscles that pop, he and other cast members used this grueling, unorthodox 300-rep rite of passage. 

Ballantyne put together this workout video series for you to follow along with and—provided you're fit like a king—try for yourself.

"One actor from 300, Andrew Pleavin, completed the workout in 18 minutes, 11 seconds," says Ballantyne. "He didn't practice this workout ... and neither did I. My time? 19:07. My butt was kicked by a Hollywood actor!"

"It's a brutal workout, starting out strong and slowing down, finishing at a crawl," explains Ballantyne. "I don't plan on doing that any time soon or, really, ever again."

For a Spartan-sized challenge to your daily routine, consider this your new fitness gauntlet. All exercises are done without scheduled rest between moves.

THE "ORIGINAL" 300 WORKOUT

• Pullups - 25 reps
• Barbell Deadlift with 135 lbs. - 50 reps
• Pushups - 50 reps
• 24-inch Box Jumps - 50 reps
• Floor Wipers - 50 reps
• Single-Arm Clean-and-Press with 36 lbs Kettlebell - 50 reps
• Pullups - 25 reps
  
  → 
   

THE INTERMEDIATE 300 WORKOUT

• Pullups - 25 reps
• Dumbbell Deadlift - 50 reps
• Pushups - 50 reps
• Body-Weight Squat Jumps - 50 reps
• V-Ups - 50 reps
• Dumbbell Push Press - 50 reps
• Pullups - 25 reps
  
   →

Obviously, this is still a challenging workout...you shouldn't do it unless you are already in great shape. Fortunately, this can all easily be adapted. Appropriate exercises can be subbed in: Drop down to 150 total reps, or 4-6 exercises of 15-25 reps each. For example, you might try this workout, great for a guy with moderate fitness:

THE BEGINNER 300 WORKOUT

• Body-Weight Rows - 15 reps
• Body-Weight Squats - 25 reps
• Pushups - 15 reps
• Jumping Jacks - 50 reps
• Mountain Climbers - 20 reps
• Close-Grip Pushups - 10 reps
• Body-Weight Rows - 15 reps

Pack on Mass Quickly

"I'm a personal trainer and amateur bodybuilder. This is the workout I use to pack on mass. It's an upper/lower split based around compound movements and performed four days a week."

Days 1 and 3:

Deadlifts: 5 sets x 5-8 reps
SLDL (Stiff Leg Deadlift): 5 sets x 5-8 reps
Squats: 5 sets x 5-8 reps
Jefferson Squats: 3 sets x 10 reps
Calf Raise: 3 sets x 10 reps

Days 2 and 4

Flat Bench: 5 sets x 5 reps
Incline Bench: 5 sets x 5 reps
Bent Row: 5 sets x 5 reps
Pull-ups: 3 sets x 10 reps
Push Press: 5 sets x 5 reps
Barbell Curl: 3 sets x 10 reps
Skull Crushers: 3 sets x 10 reps

Expert Assessment #1

Rob Sulaver C.S.C.S. is the owner and founder of BandanaTraining.com Follow Sulaver on Twitter@BandanaTraining

Pros:
Love that you're lifting heavy. Love that you're doing old school, sweet-ass lifts like deadlifts, squats, and pull ups. Love that you've divied it into an upper/lower split. Love that you're trying to get jacked. All very commendable.

Cons:
Are you on roids? Be honest. The total volume here—5 x 5-8—is a lot, let alone for three different compound lifts. Start by cleaning up your rep ranges. I'd recommend sticking with 5 x 5 (not 5 x 8) across the board—reps and sets are inversely proportionate so the more reps you do, the less sets you do (you could do a 3 x 10 block for some auxiliary lifts later in the workout.) As a general guideline, I like to heavy-load the spine once in a session, which would mean splitting up your deadlifts and squats into two different workouts. You might also break up your upper body push and upper body pull into two different workouts to keep your lifts reasonable.

Comments:
You've got a solid foundation to work from, but your workouts don't need to be quite so massive in order for your body to be the same. Break up this routine into more manageable workouts, then be sure to call a Vet...'cause your pythons are gonna be sick!

Expert Assessment #2

Dan Trink C.S.C.S., CPT is the Director of Personal Training Operations at Peak Performance NYC and the trainer in our 8-Week Fitness Transformassacre Follow Trink on Twitter @TrinkFitness

Pros:
You're training four days a week, which gives you plenty of stimulus to grow while giving you enough rest to recover. I also like upper body/lower body splits for building size. Your rep ranges include those that will get you stronger (5x5) as well as those that will get you bigger (3x10) which is inline with your goals. Finally, you're using a lot of the great 'bang for your buck' lifts such as the squat, deadlift, push press and pull ups.

Cons:
I'm not a huge fan of programming squats and deadlifts in the same day. Plus you're performing them for five sets of fairly low reps. Plus your doing them twice per week. Plus you have additional squat and deadlift variations in there as well. I'm no mathematician, but that seems like it would add up to a ton of lower back pain. Your program also seems a bit disogranized as you go from 5x5 to 3x10 back to 5x5. You have some pretty heavy duty movements (squats, push press) fairly late in your program. Not a great idea trying to pull those off when you're already fatigued.

Comments:
I think you'd be better off breaking this program into four separate days. One lower body day could focus around squats and other knee-dominant movements. The other could be designed around the deadlift and other hip-dominant moves. The upper body days could be divided as well with pulls such as chin-ups, rows and curls being the main focus one day and pushes such as the push press, bench press variations and triceps working being the focus of the other day. A four-day split would allow you to get additional volume for each muscle group and give you ample time to recover. And volume plus recovery equals some serious mass building. Hey, maybe I'm a mathematician after all.