Oh HILL no… or Hill Yes – a Hill Sprints Workout (with an indoor alternative)

Sometimes it’s helpful to have a workout that doesn’t involve a ton of precise movements. Not all the time, but after a hard week or a set of high cognitive load tasks sometimes it’s good to just go hard.  This workout has outdoor and indoor variations, since everyone seems to be dealing with heatwaves and other challenges. I made up the fan bike version since I decided to test the workout after midnight and avoid mosquitos.

The next day, I gave my client the choice of the outdoor “hill yes” version or the indoor “hill no” version and her hatred of the Assault Bike won out… she also likes to sprint. The driveway here is a formidable foe in terms of hill sprints… in fact, my iPhone counts it as a staircase and a half every time I go to get the mail.

This workout is designed to get a lot of work done in a short amount of time.  Regardless if it’s done indoors or outdoors, it starts the same –

• Joint Mobility, the CC2 Trifecta
  
• ONE set of max rep dead hang pullups (whatever that may be, I use it as a way to see “where I’m at” or where my client is on that given day). I think it’s fun to write it down to compare with the next time I do this workout.
• One get-up on each side with a moderate weight kettlebell (I used 20kg for reference – but choose anything that’s handy and sub maximal but still a little challenging. Use great form always)
• 5-10 deadlifts with a moderately heavy weight. Since I’ve only got kettlebells at the home gym, this means grabbing the pair of 36kg and going for 10. It’s submaximal weight and reps, but it’s still a wakeup call. This workout is not the time to set a PR.
• One get-up on each side with a slightly heavier kettlebell than before (I used the 22kg for example)

Now that we’re through the extended warmup, it’s time to get serious–and to make a choice… “hill yes” (outdoors) or “hill no” (indoors).  Before you make that choice, check out this video with my Sandbag Burpees:

HILL YES!
TEN rounds of:

• 10 heavy kettlebell swings (choose a challenging weight that you can swing with full power and proper form)
• 30-40 yard SPRINT ALL OUT up a hill hopefully.  Walk to catch your breath if/when necessary
• 5 Sandbag burpees with a light to moderately heavy sandbag

OR

HILL NO!
FIVE rounds of:

• 20 moderately heavy kettlebell swings (choose a challenging weight that you can swing with full power and proper form, I went with my default for 2 hand swings, 24kg)
• 10-20 second all out Fan Bike sprint – using arms and legs. Go slow for a bit afterwards to recover a little
• 10 Sandbag burpees with a light to moderately heavy sandbag

Always finish this sort of workout with plenty of water, active cooldown (I kind of stagger around for a while if I’ve really gotten into it), and joint mobility moves.