Simple. Quick. Effective. The beauty of 21-15-9

Jonny Parr
Feb 12, 2019
3 min read

Training for us everyday Joe and Sue's can be a conundrum.

Should I follow programme A or programme B?

Should I train for strength, cardio, or a combination of both?

Should I train 3, 4, 5 or more times per week?

I believe these type of questions are important and warrant attention to detail. Indeed, I do create personalised plans for my clients in areas such as rep schemes, energy systems, tracking metrics etc.

However...

For all my love of programming, there's moments where my clients (and me personally), just don't have the time or motivation to follow everything as it's written and planned!

It's a bit like eating while on holiday where most of us, intentionally or not, won't 'follow the rules', and will more than likely splurge a little, or a lot, on hoards of Lindt chocolate truffles ;)

I personally think this is fine and great for our overall wellbeing.

In recognition of this, and when folks take their much needed holidays, I usually offer some quick and easy to perform workouts for clients to perform when and if they have time.

More often than not, this includes those trusty 21-15-9 workouts.

WORKOUTS

The genius of 21-15-9 lies with it's simplicity, quickness and ease to apply.

Routine 1

In short...

For Time

21-15-9

1. Row

2. BW Squats

3. Hand Release Push-Ups

In long...

To perform this routine, you'll firstly burn 21 calories on the concept 2 rower before completing 21 bodyweight squats and finally 21 hand release push-ups.

After this time you'll repeat the same exercises for 15 cals/reps before doing the last round at 9 cals/reps. Record how long it takes you to complete the routine.

Routine 2

In short...

For Time

21-15-9

1. Burpees

2. KB Swings (Russian)

3. Sit-Ups

In long...

To perform this routine, you'll firstly perform 21 burpees before completing 21 kettlebell swings and finally 21 sit-ups.

After this time you'll repeat the same exercises for 15 reps before doing the last round at 9 reps. Record how long it takes you to complete the routine.

KEY CONSIDERATIONS

One of the key factors you need to consider with 21-15-9 workouts are your ability and training experience. The workout can easily be modified where necessary. Some examples of how you can do this plus other considerations to make are listed below...

1. Exercise selection. Pick exercises that you can actually perform with good technique and range of motion (ROM). Don't include any exercises that you have little experience with or depreciates your form significantly.

You can replace exercises as you see fitting. A good example is replacing hand release push-ups with knee push-ups or replacing full burpees with burpees with no jump (see the video below).

2. You don't need to necessarily go 'unbroken' (without resting at any time). Admittedly, the purpose of 21-15-9 is to go as fast as you can, unbroken. However, this will depend on your experience and the exercise variation you choose (remember try not to pick an exercise that is too challenging for the number of reps prescribed).

3. Equipment. You may not have access to some of the equipment such as the rower, kettlebells or barbells etc. If that's the case, you can replace these with bodyweight exercises such as lunges, jumping jacks, deadbugs etc. You just need to use the old imagination!