LABOR DAY TRAINING RECAP

*this training session was actually from Monday September 7, 2009

Although I had the day off from work on Labor Day, two of my buddies came over to the SHOP and we put some serious work in!

Here’s what our workout looked like:

WARM UP

• Foam rolling
• Dynamic stretching

A:  Box Jumps – we started off with a few warm-up jumps and eventually worked up to about a 45” box for sets of 5

B:  Box Squats – 5 x 5 (my sets were as follows:  295, 305, 310, 310, 310)

C1:  Pullups – 3 x 13, 12, 11 (I was only using bodyweight since I’m coming back from an arm injury, felt good though)

C2:  Single-leg Squats – 3 x 8 each leg (I laid a cinder block on its side to “touch and go” at the bottom of the squat…it keeps you honest by making you go all the way down and keeping your heel flat on the ground)

D1:  Sandbag Shouldering – 3 x 8 (my sandbag probably weighs about 165 lbs.)

D2:  Standing Ab Wheel Rollout – 3 x 7 (I am progressing to the one-arm variations shown in that link, so I started out with 3 sets on flat ground to get some work in, then I did a couple of singles going downhill followed by some wheel pushups and t-rollouts also demonstrated in that video…I’m getting close!)

FINISHER

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Burpees

Med Ball Slams (20 lb.)

This was a pretty brutal finisher.  My goal was to complete it unbroken (accomplished) in about 4 minutes (my time was 4:08).  It was especially brutal since the night before I had to do my Birthday Burpees!

A quick tangent:  I definitely recommend training with as many like-minded people as you can whenever possible.  The level of intensity is instantly raised, and therefore the gains you’ll make will also be better.  For instance, during my box squats, without a friend there to spot, I might not have felt comfortable going with 310 lbs.  However, I had a spotter and was not concerned with getting stuck with the weight.  Also, when one is contemplating lightening the load on a set a squats, a true friend will let him know that he needs to suck it up and do WORK!  Also, during that finisher, those burpees caught up with me really fast.  However, both of my friends completed it before me, and both of them did it unbroken.  With that added pressure, plus both of them yelling at me, there was no way I was going to stop for a rest!