Tractor Tires, Cinder Blocks, & Sledge Hammers 3.0 (Almost Certifiably Crazy version)

If you haven't read "Tractor Tires, Cinder Blocks, & Sledge Hammers . . . Oh My!" and "The Neighbors Probably Think We're Nuts (Tractor Tires, Cinder Blocks, & Sledge Hammers 2.0)", then you should probably go read in order to catch up.  Then come back & continue to read the post below.

Each time we've done this workout we have added, change, or modified something.  Ever and always raising the bar just a bit higher.  Yesterday was no exception to that.  Earlier in the week, Ted had done the workout (without me . . . jerk) but instead of doing a timed session he did a certain amount of reps per exercise.  Unfortunately we didn't time the workout to see how much of a time difference there was between this style and the timed, but I'm sure it went just a bit longer than before.  I'll leave out the warm ups and cool down, being that nothing has really changed there.

SESSION #1:
Both exercises are done twice.

Tire Flip:  Flip the tire a set distance three times (down, back, and down again).  About 5 to 6 flips each direction for a total of 15-18 flips.  The distance is roughly 50 feet.

Farmer's Walk & Kettlebell Swing:  Holding cinder blocks, walk 50 feet, then back.  Do 5 Kettlebell swings using a 20lb kettlebell.  Repeat twice more, switching the grip on the cinder block each time.

SESSION #2:
We changed this so that we do both exercises twice as we do in Sessions #1 & #3.

Cinder Block Stack:  Move stack of 4 cinder blocks from the ground onto a platform at about waist high (we use wood placed on top of saw horses).  4 blocks done 15 times for a total of 60 reps (first onto the platform, then back down to the ground).

Chains:  Ted attached the chains to the footing of the shed out back so that we don't have to get creative on how to hold down the other end of them.  We shot for 120 reps (60 each arm).  However I am sure we went over that mark.  Both of us got quite creative with this.  For my first go at this, I did 30 up & down, 30 circles out, 30 circles in.  Alternating right then left arm.  Then I did the same but did 10 reps of each where I did both arms at the same time.

The second round I used the same beginning, but then added in two variations.  First:  Holding both chains to the right side of my body, moved them in a circle to the left.  Left first, and the right followed.  Then went back the other direction.  Right first, then the left followed.  This made for a pretty good core workout in addition.  Second:  I held both chains in one hand and did 5 reps each of the "up & downs", "circles in" & "circles out".  Then changed hands and repeated.

SESSION #3:
Both exercises are done twice.

Sledge Hammer:  Hit the tire, repeatedly.  Over, and over, and over, and over . . . We really didn't set a goal for this one.  You just hit the tire until the other person is done with the Sandbag workout.  We do change stances and grip though.  I did 10 hits then changed.  Right hand side swing, right hand overhead swing, Left hand side swing, left hand overhead swing, repeat.

Sandbag:  For this we laid out a rectangle (about 20' by 50') and each corner was a place you had to stop and do the lifts with the bag.

Do 5 push ups to start, lift onto shoulders and run 50' to the next corner.
Do 5 bent over rows, put back on shoulders and side shuffle (defensive shuffle) 20' to the next corner.
Do either 5 squat to shoulder lifts or 5 squats, put back on shoulders and run 50' to the next corner.
Do 5 overhead presses, put back on shoulders and do crossovers 20' back to the start.
Repeat once.

All in all, this was a great version.  One of the biggest differences is that in the timed version, I find myself breathing harder more often.  In this version, I found myself physically exhausted afterwards.

Of coarse after the workout, we went on to do fight choreography for the fest show for a few hours . . . no big deal.

How To Make A Homemade Sandbag

When Ted and I began to talk about putting together our outdoor workout (see here and/or here), one of the things I wanted for the workout was a sandbag.  I had seen several online videos and figured it would be a but kicking exercise to toss into a workout.

The routine I came up with was to use the sandbag to do a circuit of 5 pushups, 5 bent over rows, 5 squat lifts, 5 overhead presses, and then run with the sandbag on your shoulders.  Turns out it is a "kick your butt" kind of exercise.

Having read or watched several "How-tos" on how to make them, I'll let you know a few things that most people leave out.  First, we'll start with the price.  Most will say that you can make this for about $30 or under. Problem is that you can't buy one set of the items by themselves.  So I will tell you the price I paid total, even though all of what I bought was not used in making the bag.

So here is how to make your own for around $40 bucks.  I stopped at 2 stores to get all the supplies I would need.  If you look harder, you could find some of these for cheaper.

1 Military sea bag (the thick canvas kind) - $20 (Military Surplus store)
2 contractor bags (heavy duty trash bags) - It was about $7-$8 for a roll of them. (Home Depot)
2 Rolls of Duct Tape - $6 (Home Depot)
1 bag of Pea Pebbles - $1.97 (Home Depot)
1 bag of Rubber Mulch - $5.97 (Optional - Home Depot)

First, take one of the contractor bags and cut open the Pea Pebbles and empty it into the contractor bag.  Then do the same for the Rubber Mulch.  I did a bit of mixing after I added both to the bag.

I then put the bag onto it's side and shaped it to roughly the size of a large pillow, wrapping the excess bag around it.  I then taped the bag shut and then proceeded to duct tape the entire bag.  This will help the bag to be stronger so that it does not bust open.  This of coarse is not a guarantee.  It may still bust open.

A little piece of advice . . . don't do this on pavement

My fiance always tells me to double bag when we are at the grocery store.  Of coarse I never want to, but that small percent of the time when the bag actually does break is annoying.  So . . . I double bagged it.

You'll notice I moved to the grass

If you are someone who takes the time to tape the bag, you may not need the second roll of duct tape . . . I did.

After the duct taping, you are ready to put the sandbag into the canvas sea bag.  In a lot of instructions, they tell you to cut off the handles.  I left them on.  I am not exactly sure why, but I may have a use for them some day.  Notice the duct tape on the straps to "tie" down any stray ends.

Ta-da!

HOW DOES IT WORK

Fantastically!  The exercises that we do with this could be a workout routine of it's own.  The second time through the routine I couldn't get all five overhead presses out.  Of coarse after everything else I did that involves shoulders & arms, it really isn't surprising.  

WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENT

Now this is my first attempt and at making one, and I would probably do a second slightly different.  The one thing for sure is that I would not use the Rubber Mulch.  I would also try to find a scale to use to better plan out the weight of the bag.  The Pea Pebbles weigh about 50-55lbs.  The Rubber Mulch about 25-30lbs.  This was the best guess by one of the workers at Home Depot.  Now given that they store these outside, the Pea Pebbles were quite damp so add a few pounds.  At best guess, Ted and I figure the total weight of the bag to be about 90lbs.  This is a very heavy bag.  A 50-65lb bag would have worked just fine.

Next time I plan to use a scale and just two bags of the Pea Pebbles and weigh out the amount of pebbles i want to use.

The Neighbors Probably Think We're Nuts (Tractor Tires, Cinder Blocks, & Sledge Hammers 2.0)

Oddly enough, the people I work with out at the Renaissance Festival here in Minnesota tend to joke about that a lot.  With The Dueling Grounds, which is a stage combat group here in the Twin Cities, we joke about that a lot.  If you saw your neighbors sword fighting in their back yard, what would you think?

Now with the Robin Hood and The Merry Men Show, add in our strange workouts to the stage combat practice.

As I hinted in the last blog post, we added two new pieces to the workout.  One is a brand new workout, the other is the sandbag to replace the punching bag.  I'll outline the workout again and note the changes.  Due to a sore shoulder, Ted sat this one out and took some pictures for this post.

WARM UP
No change here really.  5 minutes of stretching and some medicine ball tossing to warm up the body.  

SESSION 1
No changes here either.  All exercises are done for 1 minute and are done twice, alternating between the two with a 15 second rest period in between.

Tractor Tire Flip:  Lift tire, flip, repeat.  I had originally planned to do 5 tire jumps whenever there was a change in direction . . . I did it the first time . . .

Sometimes finding a good grip is difficult

You'd almost think this was the easy part

 Cinder Block Farmer's Walk & Kettlebell Swing:  Walk for 20 yds holding two cinder blocks, set one down, do 5 Kettlebell swings, repeat.

SESSION 2
We did make a change here.  There are now two workouts in this session.  Both done for 2 mins 15 secs with a 30 second rest period.  The Cinder Block Stack & Pass remains, then we added Chains.

Cinder Block Stack:  (without Ted, there is no "stack & pass")  Stack all four cinder blocks on top of each other on the ground to your side.  Pickup one cinder block at a time and stack on a platform.  Then take off of the platform and stack back on ground.  Face other direction and repeat.

I was pretty sure he took much more of these . . . 

Chains:  I can't say I have ever seen this done with chains.  Typically it is done with about 2" thick rope.  The 20 foot chains worked great though.  We did tape the ends to give us a stiff handle to grasp.  The other end of the chains are criss-crossed and set under the tractor tire . . . then we put the punching bag on the end . . . then we put a cinder block on top.  There are three motions that I used.  Up and down, circles out, and circles in.  The effect you want is to make a wave through the chain as you do the motion.

SESSION 3

The only change here is that we replaced the 75lb punching bag with a 90lb (approx) homemade sandbag.  In my next post, I'll provide detailed instructions on how to make one . . . and how not to make it so heavy.  All exercises are done for 1 minute and are done twice, alternating between the two with a 15 second rest period in between.

Sledge Hammer:  Hit the tractor tire with a sledge hammer.  I used a side swing and an overhead swing, switching grips after 10 hits.  We are still unsure on the exact weight of the hammer, but it feels like it weighs a ton by this point in the workout.

Sandbag:  My intent was to make the bag about 75 lbs . . . it's a bit heavier, but it worked.  This workout goes:  5 push ups (on bag), 5 bent over rows, 5 squat lift to shoulder, 5 overhead presses.  Then set bag on shoulders and run.  After the lifting, I got about three 20 yard runs in before the timer ran out on the minute.

5 Push Ups

5 Bent Over Rows

5 Squat to Shoulder Lifts

5 Overhead Presses

Now Run!

So there you have it.  Leave a comment or share with your friends.

Tractor Tires, Cinder Blocks, & Sledge Hammers . . . Oh My!

Stop.  Remove the thought of Wizard of Oz reference from your head and re-read the title of this post with a George Takei "Oh My!" at the end.

. . . there you go.  Now you may proceed with the rest of the post.

Some of you may or may not have been aware of the plans that Ted and myself have had for some time now to do a strongman style workout once a week. 

If you are confused, replace "strongman" with "Crossfit" . . . and you'll be close.  If you are still confused, Google it . . . or just read the rest of the post. 

  If you have been following along to this point you know that Ted and myself have been working on getting back in shape and loosing weight.  If you know us personally, you probably know that we are a bit crazy.  Which would help to explain why we would even attempt something like this.  We both have changed the way we eat to be healthier and also began working out.  Recently I began biking to work and Ted also had his first bike to work just the other day.  The following is just one more thing that we wanted to do to help us along our way to being healthier people.


THE EQUIPMENT
The biggest challenge of getting this workout together was getting all of the equipment we would need for it.  We have one or two more items that we would like to get and add to the workout, but as we found out this past Tuesday, this was more than sufficient to start with.

1 Tractor Tire (5.5 feet in diameter by about 18 inches wide)
4 concrete blocks
1 Sledgehammer
1 75lbs Everlast punching bag.

They're not just for tractors anymore ( . . . or sandboxes . . . or planters . . )

THE WORKOUT
The workout has five sessions and each session is five minutes.  For Session 2 and Session 4, each exercise is done for 1 minute.  Each person does each exercise twice in the session with a 15 second switch delay between the 1 minute.

Session#1:

• 5 minute warmup.  Stretching and 10lb medicine ball toss.

Session#2: 

• Tractor Tire flip
• Farmer's Walk - Walk for 20 yds with a cinder block in each hand.  Stop, do 5 kettlebell swings with one of the cinder blocks (repeat)

Session#3:

• Cinder Block Stack & Pass (5 minutes) - I really don't know what else to call this.  I stood facing one direction and Ted stood facing the opposite direction next to me.  With the 4 cinder blocks stacked next to me I would pick them up and pass them one-by-one to Ted.  He would put them down on the other side of him.  Then he would pass them back to me.  Then we would switch directions we were facing and repeat.  This was inspired really by the "side lunge to shelf" (Ted calls it the "Fedex") from P90X.

Session#4:

• Sledge Hammer - Simple, hit the tractor tire with the sledge hammer repeatedly.
• Punching bag - This was improvised as we plan to have a sandbag eventually.  For this, basically we just did a fireman carry with the bag (lift onto the shoulder) and walked/jogged 20 yards.  Then going into a squat, dropped the bag and lifted onto the opposite shoulder, walked 20 yards, dropped the bag, did a rack & press and lowered the bag onto both shoulders and walked 20 yards - repeat.

Session#5:
5 Minute cool down.  Stretching & medicine ball toss.

THE RESULTS
Even after one go at it, this is one of my favorite workouts.  Ted and I plan on doing this exercise routine about once a week (or as our busy lives permit).  The past few days I could really tell that the workout worked my entire body.  Most noticeably were the core & leg muscles.  One exercise we have talked about adding would be a rope workout to add to the upper body portion of the workout.

The one thing I do plan on doing for next time is to make a sandbag to replace the punching bag.  While it did the job, it was still very awkward to try and lift & carry.  The original workout plan we had created called for a homemade sandbag.  The sequence would go as follows:

5 pushups on bag, 5 bent over rows, 5 squat & lift (to shoulder - alternating), 5 overhead presses - 20 yd run with bag.  Repeat.

Next week, we may even have someone to take pictures of this insanity to post & share. . . just a fair warning.

My Kettlebell Workout

I've had a few questions in regards to my workouts so I thought that I share them here in more detail.

The Kettlebell workout (which I have been posting as Kettle Bell) is a workout program that has always intrigued me but most gyms that I have been at didn't have them or I didn't know enough about them.  When I finally came across a gym that had them I figured I would give them a shot.  The more I used them, the more I loved them.  The only problem was that the gym I was at only had a wall chart depicting a few exercises and most were just variations on each other.  I wanted more than that, as well as heavier weights.  This gym was a little over protective of certain equipment and locked up the heavier KettleBells.  

Luckily for me, the new gym that I go to has a set from 10lbs all the way up to 45lbs.  Seeing this upon starting to workout there I was inspired to look up and research more exercises.  The result you see below is the Kettlebell workout that I did this morning.  I perform this workout each Tuesday & Thursday.

Tuesday, 01/24/2012 - KettleBell Workout

During the first week, which was a 3x10 week, I did two sets of 10 for each exercise.  This week I did 3x5 being that this week is a 5x5 week for the weight lifting.  I perform the exercises in an almost superset fashion.  I do each exercise's first set and go down the list before moving onto the second set and so on.  

There are a few exercises that probably bear some explaining.  All other exercises can be Googled to find more information.

Bent Over Pec Swing

The "Bent-over Pec Row" is something I created for my weights workout using dumbbells.  Due to issues with my right shoulder, working my pecs can be a challenge.  Basically you place your left hand on the end of a bench, low table or something similar and bend over.  Holding a dumbbell in your right hand you start out and to your right then pull the weight to your left just outside your left armpit.  Then switch and repeat for the left.  The "Swing" was added for the Kettlebell workout.  The added swing into the movement engages your core

The reason this exercise is grayed out is because it will not be performed until week 4 of my workout plan.  Week 1-3 has enough exercises on the weight lifting days for the pecs.

Bent Over Lat Fly

This is the same concept as the dumbbell version of this exercise with the only difference being that you do one side at a time rather than both.  Using the same position as the Bent Over Pec Swing, you move the weight in the opposite direction.  I usually have this one grayed out, but tossed it in today for some reason.

Pendulum Swing

Pretty much the same thing as a Side Lateral Raise, just with a swing added and alternating right then left.

The Last Two

The Side Lunge to Shelf and the Get Ups are grayed out because they are optional.  Most of the exercises in this routine engage the core muscles where these two focus on them.  Sometimes my low back feels great and I can do them, other times . . . not so much.

So there you have it, my Kettlebell workout.  Look for a description of my weight workout . . . sometime in the future.