I have moved a few times in my life. Dragging fitness equipment over multiple state lines is very expensive and can be a royal pain. Through the years, I have bought and re-bought several Olympic bars, collections of smaller weights, and a ton of other pieces of equipment. While my home gym is still a collection of odds and ends, my favorite training tool is still free.
It's pure movement.
Training never has to be complex. Sweat is sweat. When you stop worrying about every detail, every rep, every percentage, you get to have some fun again while getting fit.
After lifting, I go outside and play catch with a football, Frisbee, or medicine ball. Jogging back and forth while yelling, “I’m open, I’m open” is just fun. Training outside gets you some sunshine, some extra cardio, and makes you feel like an athlete.
I also like to mix body-weight exercises into fun ladders, pyramids, and circuits to change up my normal routine. One of my go-to combinations is the pushup and sprint. You can make it as long or as short as you want. Either way, it's a super-tough workout. The reason: You're getting up and down off the ground. That's something you don't do on a daily basis, so it challenges your muscles and aerobic system in an all-new way. When I played football, it wasn't the hand fighting, the running, or the collisions that wore me out—it was getting up and down over and over again the entire game.
Here's the basic version of the combo: Do 10 pushups, and then pop up off the floor and accelerate into a full-out sprint for 100 yards. As you reach the end of your yardage, decelerate and hit the floor for another 10 more pushups. Complete 40 pushups and 300 yards of sprints total.
One request: During the pushups, squeeze your heels and knees together (this is how Utah, where I live, teaches birth control). At the same time, try to crush walnuts in your armpits. Now you're creating as much tension throughout the movement as possible, and getting the most out of each rep that you can.
You can increase the total number of pushups or the distance. Or you can decrease your distance, increase your speed, and cut back on the number of pushups so you have less time between hitting the floor and jumping back up again.
And if you want a one-stop-shop conditioning drill, throw goblet squats into the mix. Bring a kettlebell or dumbbell with you. Do a few goblet squats, drop the load, hit the floor for pushups, and then sprint 50 yards up and back. Repeat.
After lifting, I go outside and play catch with a football, Frisbee, or medicine ball. Jogging back and forth while yelling, “I’m open, I’m open” is just fun. Training outside gets you some sunshine, some extra cardio, and makes you feel like an athlete.
I also like to mix body-weight exercises into fun ladders, pyramids, and circuits to change up my normal routine. One of my go-to combinations is the pushup and sprint. You can make it as long or as short as you want. Either way, it's a super-tough workout. The reason: You're getting up and down off the ground. That's something you don't do on a daily basis, so it challenges your muscles and aerobic system in an all-new way. When I played football, it wasn't the hand fighting, the running, or the collisions that wore me out—it was getting up and down over and over again the entire game.
Here's the basic version of the combo: Do 10 pushups, and then pop up off the floor and accelerate into a full-out sprint for 100 yards. As you reach the end of your yardage, decelerate and hit the floor for another 10 more pushups. Complete 40 pushups and 300 yards of sprints total.
One request: During the pushups, squeeze your heels and knees together (this is how Utah, where I live, teaches birth control). At the same time, try to crush walnuts in your armpits. Now you're creating as much tension throughout the movement as possible, and getting the most out of each rep that you can.
You can increase the total number of pushups or the distance. Or you can decrease your distance, increase your speed, and cut back on the number of pushups so you have less time between hitting the floor and jumping back up again.
And if you want a one-stop-shop conditioning drill, throw goblet squats into the mix. Bring a kettlebell or dumbbell with you. Do a few goblet squats, drop the load, hit the floor for pushups, and then sprint 50 yards up and back. Repeat.
Dan John has taught and coached for more than 30 years. As a coach, he's helped hundreds of athletes pack on double-digit pounds of rock-solid muscle. As an athlete, John broke the American record in the Weight Pentathlon.
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