I’m going to do another one of those park workouts tomorrow – so I wanted to make sure what I did today wouldn’t interfere with tomorrow’s holiday calorie-destroying-strength-building extravaganza. On facebook, a friend of mine posted some kind of crazy 4 minute push up challenge from a UFC fighter and his buddy, and while what he was doing didn’t QUITE fit the bill for tonight, he did give me a great idea. He was doing 10 sets of 10 push ups which sounds fine and dandy except that each set was a different (intermediate to advanced) variation, and he was aiming for doing all of them in under 4 minutes. The video* reminded me of some of my favorite variations which will be listed below. As with other workouts, this is more of a “practice session” that just happens to work up a sweat. The focus here is on form. Also, I’ll give examples of how you can swap out different drills to make it match your skill set.
Always get started with some joint mobility, comrade!
First off, here’s what I did:
5 Rounds of:
- 10 16kg kettlebell snatches per side
- 10 (Push ups of some variation**)
- 3 ankles to bar hanging leg raises
- 1 walk down the wall bridge (Convict Conditioning yay!)
- rest if necessary
Finish up with joint mobility and a well deserved ton of water, half a Beyond Organic chocolate bar and some jasmine green tea!
Here’s an example of a beginner’s version – or if you’re doing a lighter day, or whatever:
4-5 rounds of:
- 10 1-arm swings per side using a light kettlebell, or 20 2 arm swings with a moderate kettlebell
- 10 standard push ups if you can, or push ups from the knees, push ups with hands on a raised bench, mountain climbers (10 per side, don’t be a cheat!), inch worms, burpees no push up
- 5 hanging knee raises, be careful and don’t over do it!
- 3 really really good hip bridges, pause at the top, keep it all controlled.
- rest as needed
Finish up with joint mobility of course!
* I’m not entirely in total agreement with the form on some of these, but you get the basic idea:
(Small group… I want to get you guys one of those tires…)**First round – twisting push ups (alternate bringing a straight leg across the body when the chest is low to the ground – like in the video at 1:45 but I keep my foot off the ground) 2nd round burpees with push up, 3rd round “spiderman” push ups (Bring an alternating bent knee leg up out and to the side when you are close to the ground), 4th round push ups with a tuck jump between each, 5th round T-push ups (Starts as a straight arm side plank, pushup then side plank other side, repeat until 10 push ups are done, keep your balance, hahaha!)
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