What's a Finisher?

It's an intense exercise, or combination of exercises, that stimulates all the major muscle groups to induce the highest metabolic cost possible. Basically, it's the longest 5 or 10 minutes of your life. And just like the name implies, it should be performed at the end of your workout. There are two reasons why.

First, your available energy stores are lower than normal after a strength training session. This depletion creates the ideal time to augment the demand for energy since your metabolism will trigger hormone-sensitive lipase in adipocytes in order to provide this energy. Translation: You can stimulate a helluva lot of fat burning at the end of a workout.

Second, if you do a finisher correctly, you won't want to do anything afterwards. A finisher should be exhausting up to the edge of nausea, and even though you might feel a bit queasy for a few minutes, you can take pride in the fact that you stoked your fat-burning engine. The proton accumulation and muscle acidification that caused the nausea are a powerful stimulus for fat loss.

Kettlebell Swing and Clap Push-up

This combination is popular because it only requires a kettlebell. You can do it almost anywhere. This is a 30/20/10 double countdown. Note the work and rest periods and you'll see why.

1. Start with as many kettlebell swings as possible in 30 seconds, then rest 30 seconds.
2. Then do as many clap push-ups as possible in 30 seconds. Rest 30 seconds.
3. Next do swings hard and fast for 20 seconds. Rest 20 seconds.
4. Follow it up with 20 seconds of clap push-ups. Rest 20 seconds.
5. Finish with 10 seconds of swings, 10 seconds of rest, and 10 seconds of clap push-ups. Rest for 30 seconds and repeat the sequence once more.

Note: If clap push-ups are a little too advanced for you right now, stick to regular push-ups.