If you are a fan of high-intensity interval training in place of slow, boring cardio workouts, Turbulence Training is the perfect match for you (and me.) I still do plenty of long bike rides to build my endurance, but when it comes to getting in shape, high-intensity training is the name of the game.

I love short, intense workouts, especially bodyweight conditioning circuits (such as this quick ab workout), so I’ve been a fan of Turbulence Training for a while now. It’s the king of “bang for your buck” workouts - just 45 minutes a day, 3 times per week.

And now, to help me on my quest for six pack abs, Craig Ballantyne has just launched a new book, Turbulence Training for Abs. It’s everything I’ve come to know and love about this style of training, but now geared even more for building my abs and shedding fat.

Best of all, the workout does not include the crunch! It’s been referred to as “the ultimate ANTI-CRUNCH home workout program.” This program has 30 ab exercises that Craig says work better than crunches - and he has the six pack abs to prove it! (Those are his abs on the cover, and this picture of him shows them off even more.)

Here’s what you get in this new program:

1) The 4-Week Beginner Introduction to CRUNCH-FREE Ab Workout
2) The 4-Week Intermediate Level ANTI-CRUNCH Ab Workout
3) And THREE Advanced 4-Week Home Abdominal Workouts
4) The “TT Abs 300″ Workout Challenges (including one for beginners, intermediate, and advanced fitness levels)

And the three bonus ebooks that come with it:

1) The Bodyweight Abs program that you can do anytime, anywhere, without a single piece of equipment (comes with beginner and advanced versions too)
2) The Advanced Ab Nutrition Meal Plans for Men & Women
3) The 5 Motivational Secrets to STOP Cheating on Your Diet and Never Skip Another Workout Again

Turbulence Training for Abs

Hungry for a solid training program, I opened the main Turbulence Training for Abs ebook first. It’s a solid 80 pages!

The book begins logically by first answering questions about Turbulence Training, then having you do a lifestyle review, and then does goal setting - very important things to think about before beginning any workout program! Then there are workout guidelines that explain what you’ll be doing - if you’re a beginner, pay very close attention here.

Next up, the actual workout plans. As I mentioned, there are beginner, intermediate, and advanced plans. I really like this approach because you can start at the beginner plan and work your way up gradually. Even if you breeze through the intermediate and advanced plans (unlikely,) you will then have the experience necessary to build on the advanced plan to form a “super advanced plan.”

Based on the exercise sequences and the expected intensity, I’m starting with the Intermediate plan. I have learned that even if an advanced workout program looks easy, it will be much harder than expected. Plus, if you’re not used to doing the exact routine already, it will really hit your body hard! (There are tips about which plan is right for you at the beginning of the book, but you’ll either start with Beginner or Intermediate.)

Just the fact that some of these exercises are new is a great reason to do the Intermediate Plan before moving on to the Advanced Plan, even if you are already in good shape from doing other bodyweight exercises I’ve mentioned here on CoachLevi.com. Not to mention, the Beginner and Intermediate plans aren’t too intimidating, but the Advanced plan sure is! (At least in my eyes.)

Easier said than done, I always say!

As for the workouts themselves, each starts with resistance training - a good mix of bodyweight exercises and some that call for dumbbells - and follows with interval training - alternating fast and slow workouts which consist of basic interval routines (running, biking, swimming, etc.)

After you get through the plans, you’re in for a treat! Once per month, at the end of the four week program, you can perform the “TT 300 Abs Workout” (all the details are included in the ebook.) But basically it’s a killer routine where you do a ton of exercises in a row to cap off the four hard weeks.

I’m expecting results much like I get from Cyclo-Core. These Turbulence workouts are a similar idea, although there are plenty of exercises here that aren’t in Cyclo-Core, so it’s worth adding this to your repertoire. You could also mix the two together and create a hybrid workout, which I plan to do once I have completed all the Turbulence plans.

Of course, you need to know the proper form and instructions for these exercises. So the entire second half of the book is filled with pictures and instructions for doing the exercises properly.

Plus, there is a section of stretches, which you should do after each workout.

The Free Bonus Ebooks

Don’t forget, there are three bonus ebooks to check out…

Advanced Abdominal Nutrition Guidelines

This book contains some basic nutrition advice to have you eating healthy and making the most of your workouts. It is basic advice, but it works, nonetheless.

The book also contains quite a few meal plans to help you burn off belly fat. It’s no miracle diet, but the meal plans do look good. (I think the author of this book goes a little overboard on drinking expensive bottled water, but otherwise it’s all sound advice.)

It’s most useful for beginners who need a quick explanation of a healthy diet.

5 Motivational Secrets to Burn Belly Fat & Get Flat Abs Forever

Now here is a book that is absolutely essential. Getting motivated and having reason to workout is a more important factor in your life than the exercise itself. Again, this book is full of sound advice, and it’s absolutely essential for anyone that is trying to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

(I’d actually recommend reading this book before any of the others.)

TT Bodyweight Abs

If you don’t have any equipment, or if you’re always in a hotel room without access to equipment, this book full of bodyweight workout plans is just right for you. There’s not much else to say, because this training program is very similar to the main “TT for Abs” regimen, but with a focus on only the bodyweight exercises.

Just a Few Drawbacks

Being an ebook, there’s a bit of a hassle to this workout plan. To do the workout, you have to review the plan and figure out the exact workout with the exercises, supersets, trisets, and such. You can’t just pop in a DVD and follow along. If you read carefully, you can figure it all out, but just remember, you will have look things over and review the manual before jumping in.

It will also help to have these pieces of equipment available: yoga mat, stability ball, light dumbbells, standard weight bench, bicycle or exercise bike, pull-up bar, ab wheel, medicine ball, Smith machine or squat rack, aerobic step, and an incline bench.

You don’t absolutely need all of that equipment, but you definitely do need the stability ball (then you can do probably 95% of the exercises.) The other stuff comes in handy though if you want to do every single exercise listed in this book.

Special deal - Ends 7/23/08 at midnight. That’s tonight!

Craig has added THREE more 4-week programs to sweeten the deal and keep you burning fat for another 2-3 months. When you grab your copy before Wednesday, July 23rd at midnight, you’ll get:

“Hot Zone TT Fat Loss Workout”

…showing you how 4 simple exercises hit all the fat burning hot zones of the body and help you boost metabolism and burn more belly fat.

“Bikini Ready Abs”

…from America’s #1 Fat Loss expert for Moms, Holly Rigsby, giving you another “IN-HOME” fat burning abdominal workout you can do with minimal equipment.

“The Big 5 Fat Burning TT Circuit Workout”

…revealing one of the most popular and innovative fat burning workouts Craig has ever put together. If you love burning fat with circuits, you’ll love this simple 5 exercise solution to getting rid of stubborn belly fat.

But remember, these extra bonuses are only available as FREE GIFTS for a limited time. After the deadline they will be put back in the workout vault for Platinum TT members only.

So, if you want these bonuses for free, click over to www.TurbulenceTrainingForAbs.com right away.

My final verdict is…

Overall, this is a great collection of books. Turbulence Training has become a popular workout program for good reason - Craig Ballantyne knows his stuff, the workouts get results, and you don’t waste hours of your time doing stuff that doesn’t work.

The package is just $39.95, which is a bargain. That’s less than most 1-month gym memberships, and much less than it would cost for someone to put together a custom training program (which might not even work as well as this.)

For absolute beginners, you might want to consider getting someone experienced to check your form, and/or look into a DVD workout program. But TT for Abs is still something to check out!

In any case, there’s a 60 day guarantee. You don’t like the program, you can get your money back. Every single cent, since there is no dealing with shipping and handling charges.

Official website: www.turbulencetrainingforabs.com

Turbulence Training is a popular series of training programs and fat loss systems created by Craig Ballantyne, an expert trainer and regular contributor to Men’s Health and other magazines. The programs aren’t geared specifically to cyclists, but the short, intense workouts do make great additions to our on- and off-season training programs.

(FYI: There was even a sample Turbulence Training routine mentioned in Bicycling before, in case you were wondering.)

These are indeed good workouts and they contain lots of bodyweight work, so they might remind you of Cyclo-Core. But today I want to talk about a very specific portion of the Turbulence Training collection - the totally new Bodyweight 1000 Program.

This is an intense new program for hardcore bodyweight exercise enthusiasts. (If you’re scared of push-ups, pull-ups, and jumping rope, you can go ahead and skip this review!)

Now, I haven’t tested the program yet, but I have a good reason for mentioning it - you can get it for free in the TT Members Area if you order the regular Turbulence Training program before the end of March. (After that, this plan will only be available to TT Deluxe members. And since Deluxe membership is expensive, it might be worth checking it out today.)

My Review / Preview

The actual “program” comes as a PDF manual that is just 32 pages. The first plan is about four pages long, and then there are a few “bodyweight challenge” workouts on the next couple pages, and finally the guides to doing the exercises themselves (written instructions with pictures.)

As you could expect, the program is pretty bare bones. It’s not too hard to understand once you check it out, but it doesn’t hold your hand and tell you what to do on each day of each week like the Cyclo-Core plans I’ve reviewed before.

The good news is those first workouts are traditional TT fat burning workouts, so anyone can use this, not just the hardcore bodyweight types. The six-week Bodyweight 1000 program includes Craig’s regular fat burning system of two total-body workouts, using both bodyweight and dumbbell exercises to blast belly fat fast without the need for long, slow boring cardio.

And it also contains 6 weeks of advanced Bodyweight Challenges to test your fitness and improve your fat loss each week. (That’s the hardcore part!)

So, you can use the program one of two ways:

A) If you are intermediate and just not ready for the bodyweight challenges, just use Workouts A & B as a regular fat burning Turbulence Training program, performing 3 workouts per week, alternating between workout A and workout B.

B) If you are super fit, do workouts A & B once each week, and then finish the week with your bodyweight challenge. Cautiously work your way up to the Bodyweight 1000 workout program over SIX weeks.

It’s probably a good idea to use the other, more basic Turbulence Training workouts before getting into this one. You’ll be better prepared for the work, plus better prepared for the terminology and layout used in the program’s manual.

Unfortunately I’m nursing an injury right now and can’t test out the program and say anything about the results. But on paper, it’s obviously hard. I don’t see myself completing the Bodyweight 1000 challenge until at least 2009!

I could start with the Bodyweight 250 routine and work my way up, but holy crap, just the Bodyweight 501 is scary!

What does that mean?

That the bodyweight challenges are NOT for beginners!! These workouts are also not for those who need motivation - it’s not a DVD you follow along, it’s text. You read it, then do it. (After studying the pictures and guidelines, of course.)

Shouldn’t be a problem, though, because if you’re looking for a hardcore bodyweight routine such as this, you’re probably doing a good job of working out as it is!

A Bodyweight 1000 Video Preview

Craig Ballantyne released a video on YouTube that gives you a good idea of how hard the Bodyweight 1000 Program is. Check it out:

My final verdict is…

If you’ve been thinking about buying the Turbulence Training program, and you’re looking for the hardest bodyweight exercise routines out there, now is the time to buy. If you buy during March you get all the basic programs, plus you get a copy of this Bodyweight 1000 Program for free in the members area. (But if you order after March 31st, you’ll miss out on this unless you upgrade to the Platinum membership.)

Just look at the cost - it’s $39.95 to get all the basic programs, and then you get a 3-month pass to the member’s area, where you can grab the Bodyweight 1000 for free. But if you miss this deal, it will cost you $297 to get the Bodyweight 1000 as part of the Platinum Membership!

So it’s a good deal at the moment. Like I said, I can’t vouch for the results, but since this is sort of a limited time offer, I wanted to let you know about it as soon as I could.

(Or, if you’re short on cash, just watch the video above and write down all the exercises and reps. The video doesn’t give you a good training program, but it shows you how hard the Bodyweight 1000 actually is, in case you are at that level of fitness…)

Website: www.TurbulenceTraining.com