We’ve been having a ton of fun occasionally using a giant soccer field for our small group workouts. A little bit ago, I’d received a SandBell from Hyperwear and was inspired to think about “P.E. games” and related activities that might be fun to add to our workouts… Then I found my old stack of 20 orange plastic cones, and the following workout variations came about. In the video I show the variation that we used recently which has elements of chance (a poker chip of a random color is under each cone, each color corresponds to the number of pushups we’ll need to do), sprints (or active rest if necessary–you could walk or jog out to a cone), and a little bit of mental flexibility (whenever someone returns with a cone and chip, we have to stop what we are doing and knock out the required number of push ups). Obviously you want to keep this variation to groups of 3-5… a giant group would throw off the timing to the point that it could be frustrating! Video is below:
(can you tell I’m used to swinging heavier kettlebells than the 14kg I’m using in this demo? I like to make every rep of every exercise a display of POWER!)
Below is the actual written out workout, and the values for each color… we found out that one of our guys had a hard time telling the difference between the blue and green chips (it is a strange green) which added a 2nd level of chance during certain instances! Because I like to be “challenging” I’ll write new values for each chip color on different days in that infamous little red Moleskine For this variation, you’ll need 5 cones for each person in order to run through the circuit once. During the break between rounds you could have the small group place the cones and poker chips out in the field–be sure that they are of the mind to challenge each other and don’t just put the cones too close to their workout area or the walks/jogs/sprints will be too short.
First we warmed up with Primal Move (or choose your favorite relevant joint mobility routine), and the CC2 Trifecta (bridge, l-sit, twist)
Then…
- 1 kettlebell get up per side
- Run to get a cone and the poker chip under it, when you get back to the group, everyone has to safely stop what they are doing and complete the number of push ups indicated by the chip’s color*
- 20 kettlebell swings (2-hand and reasonably heavy)
- Run to get a cone, chip, and come back to interrupt everyone for the required # of push ups.
- 10 Sprawls (burpees w/o push up… or if you’re feeling it, go ahead and do the push up….)
- Run to get a cone, chip, and come back to interrupt everyone for the required # of push ups.
- 10 kettlebell goblet squats
- Run to get a cone, chip, and come back to interrupt everyone for the required # of push ups.
- 100 Jump rope turns (or if you’re in the grass, feel free to substitute 20 alternating 1 arm kb swings, or 10/10 snatches or…??)
- Run to get a cone, chip, and come back to interrupt everyone for the required # of push ups.
From there we played with a few alternating intervals involving the kettlebell figure 8 and hand to hand swings, BUT you could have everyone take their 5 cones and 5 chips back out to the field and place them for another round or two. Walking out to place the cones would be a decent form of active rest too…
*The color assignments that day were: Yellow=1, Blue=2, Red=3, Green=4, Black=5, but I change them around on other workouts, to keep us all on our toes…
Beginners can enjoy a similar workout variation, but instead of sprinting out to and from the cones, they can use that as a recovery jog or walk instead. Always be sure to choose an appropriate drill for the “chip-reps” and make sure everyone keeps it safe.
Special thanks to RKC Team Leader, Laurel Blackburn for helping with the video!
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