Dumbbell conditioning

Think you can get a quality conditioning session with just one dumbbell that weighs under 50 lbs? Absolutly you can! By racing the clock and pairing movements together that are full body and hence very taxing to perform. If you are unprepared physically for a training session like this, one a 20 lb dumbbell can quickly wear you out. Also a training session like this is very effective at building power endurance or the ability to be explosive over and over again.

Training:
5 dumbbell snatches per arm
5 dumbbell swings per arm
10 burpees
rest 1 minute
5 rounds for time

One more round Mick!

The gym sounded like an old school boxing gym today with all the rope skipping going on! Just a piece of advice when sizing a rope to ensure it is the proper length for you, the handles should come up to or just short of your armpit while you are standing with one foot in the middle of the rope. Also even if you cannot jump rope for 100 jumps cause you are getting tripped up, just reset yourself and continue.

Training:
100 rope turns
50 squats
4 rounds for time

Plyometrics

After a strength base has been built the athlete is ready to begin working on explosiveness. This can be done in a number of ways from olympic weightlifting and medicine ball work, but my favorite is plyometrics. Plyometrics utilize the athletes own body to get faster and more powerful. Right now I have plyo's divided into 2 days, 1 upper body, and 1 lower body. Plyo's are easier to coach than the olympic lifts or their variations and in my opinion can be just as effective, especially when paired on a strength day. SO when put on a strength day the athletes are training with compound movements and heavy weights and then switching gears to a fast bodyweight only powerful movement. This is very effective at building strength and power.

Training:
Bench press 5x5
Pulls 4x quality set

Training:
1 arm pushups 5x8
1 arm pulls 4x quality set
Broad jumps 3x10

Training:
Bench press x bodyweight
Pull-ups
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Broad jump 3x10

Mixed modality training.

This type of training is really coming to the forefront of the fitness world in a big way. From Ross Enamait and Zach Evan-Esh to Crossfit and Gym Jones and myself, the best are mixing strength with conditioning and sometimes throwing a little bit of everything into training sessions. More recently the New England Sports Medicine publications have researched interval training extensively and have found that it build more fitness and burns more fat much faster than traditional long distance cardio sessions. Short answer for why this happens is this, intervals quickly burn the muscle glycogen away the body then turns to fat for fuel. However this does not mean that every once and a good while a longer distance conditioning session may pop up as a training session!

Training: courtesy of Crossfit
Run 400 Meters
21 swings
12 pulls
3 rounds for time

Athletic squats

I like to teach the full athletic squat after a cycle of deadlifts with beginners for a couple of reason. Reason number is the deadlift builds strength in the whole body and more specifically the low back, glutes, and hamstrings. After building strength here the squat becomes easier to learn and do. Reason number two is much more weight can be used in the deadlift therefore building more overall strength as well as a strong base for the lighter loading of a squat. The full squat is actually a whole body lift bringing elements of the core back and all the leg musculature into play, this lift is extremely important in building muscle and bone mass.

Training:
Squat 5x5

Training:
Deadlift 5x5
jumping lunge 3x20
Turkish get-up 3x5

Training:
Deadlift 3 heavy singles
Plyo-pushup 4x10

Training:
Pistols 5x5
Swings 3x15
Plyo-pushups 4x10

Let fate decide

it can be very interesting when you let the universe decide what workout you perform. Just by rolling a dice you can put together an infinite number of exercise combinations that may never repeat. And to add in a little extra bit of fun and pain, burpees was added in twice!

Training:
1. situps x 20
2. pushups x 20
3. squats x 20
4. burpees x 12
5. swings x 20
6. burpees x 12

Roll a dice twice and the corrosponding number is the exercise you perform
As many rounds as you can in 20 minutes

Pretty straight forward training day.

kept it really simple today but extended the effort out on all training sessions. The runs were longer and the jump rope rounds longer and more of them. Yet again I'm working to encompass a broad range of fitness for the athletes and pushing conditioning efforts out brings some different stress to the body. Doing this also helps to strengthen the athletes mind as dealing with an extended conditioning effort is much different mentally than dealing with a set of heavy deadlifts.

Training:
Run 800 meters
Rest 2 minutes
4 rounds

Training:
Jump rope 3 minutes
4 rounds
1 minute rest between rounds

Training:
Jump rope 3 minutes
8 rounds
1 minute rest between rounds

The 1 arm pull-up

The chase has seriously begun for the challenging 1 arm chin. Building the required strength to perform this movement will be a slow yet very rewarding goal. Just to name a couple of aspects of the 1 arm chin include, whole body tension, a very strong grip, mind body coordination, and a massive amount of limit and mental strength. The whole body must remain tight and work in harmony with it's self to perform this impressive display of strength. The work will be challenging but the rewards great!

Training:
Bench 5x5
Push-ups 4x quality set
Pulls 4x quality set

Training:
Press 5x5
Push-ups 4x quality set
Pulls 4x quality set

Training:
Press 5x5
1 arm recline rows 4x quality set
Knees to elbows 5x10

Training:
Modified 1 arm push-ups 5x5
1 arm recline rows 4x quality set
Knees to elbows 5x10

Tore the roof off the gym!!

Man did everyone just smash todays training session! I am really impressed and very proud of all the athletes I train! And I hope you are proud of yourselves as you should be, everyone continues to improve performance and body composition wise so please keep up the kickass work!!

Training:
2 pulls
6 push-ups
10 squats

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes

Training:
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 squats

As many times as you can in 20 minutes

Turkish getups

As always we are looking to incorporate the entire body during and exercise as much as possible. And the turkish getup get definitely fits the bill. Hailed as a core movement, it ties the entire body together in order to properly execute a successful getup. As a point of safety ensure the athlete looks at the dumbbell through the entirety of the movement.

Training:
Deadlift 5x5
Jumping lunges 3x20
Turkish getups 3x5

Training:
Deadlift 3 heavy singles
Plyometric push-ups 4x10
Turkish getups 3x5

Smashing it

First off I would like to congratulate Diana and Tiffany for flipping the big tire! Useing proper technique and never letting go they were able to drive through and lift the tire! There aren't many movements that teach drive and agrression like the tire flip, plus it's pretty badass the first time you do it!

Training:
Sledge swings x 20 seconds
High pulls x 20 seconds
Push press x 20 seconds
Sledge swings x 20 seconds
High pulls x 20 seconds
Push press x 20 seconds

5 rounds

Training:
150 rope turns
50 squats
100 rope turns
75 squats
50 rope turns
100 squats

for time

Old School

We took the training today old school with some rope skipping. Jumping rope has been around since people starting training and some of the worlds greatest athletes have used this simple tool to build high levels of conditioning. Athletes include Muhammad Ali and Bruce Lee to super stars like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. Skipping rope builds much more conditioning, while training the athlete must maintain focus to time the jumps and use good hand foot coordination to keep the rope turning and not get tangled in the athletes feet. And when fatigue sets in the athlete has to dig deep mentally and physically to complete the training session. More challenging and fun than running and the pay back is tremendous.

Training:
Jump rope 90 seconds
Over head squats x 15

5 rounds for time

Training:
Deadlift 185 lbs
Thruster 65 lbs

21-15-9
for time

Training: Courtesy of Crossfit
50 Pull-ups, ring dips
40
30
20
10

Unilateral

The afternoon crew is just in their second week of standing over head press or just press for short. I like to start new athletes with 1 arm lifts as it challenges their non-dominate side much more than a 2 arm lift. Also some may notice that on the accessory movements we took them to failure instead of stopping short of failure. I don not do this often but do throw it in sometimes as a new challenge and stimulus for the athletes.

Training:
Bench press 5x5
Push-ups 3x max reps
Recline pull-ups 3x max reps

Training:
Press 5x5
Push-ups 3x max reps
Recline pull-ups 3x max reps

Minute drills

Normally minute drill are used to train fighters and build elite levels of conditioning. The drill is easily manipulated and timed for rounds, doing this can mimic what a fighter has to prepare for prior to fight night. Say a boxer knows he will be fighting 4 rounds which are 3 minutes a round, well then the times and number of rounds can be modified to exactly how long the fight is. But these drills are also very valuable to the everyday athlete or weekend warrior as they build muscle and conditioning while burning fat, plus it is a fun challenging workout!

Training:
burpees 30 seconds
mountaim climbers 30 seconds
jumping jacks 30 seconds
burpees 30 seconds
mountain climbers 30 seconds
jumping jacks 30 seconds

rest 60 seconds
4 rounds

Got deadlifts?

Deadlifts, just as good for you as milk! This lift was originally called the "health lift" because of all the physical benafits that are built using this movement. Then for whatever reason the lift was renamed the "deadlift", I'm told it is called this because the weight is dead on the floor until the lifter lifts it. Either way any successful training program would be smart to include this lift as it improves several motor abilities and athletic movements.

Training:
Squats 5x5
Romanian deadlifts 4x12
Turkish getups 3x5

Training:
Deadlifts 5x5
Jumping lunges 3x20
Turkish getups 3x5

Training:
Squats 2x5
Power jerks 3x3
Weighted pull-ups 2x5

12 Minutes

12 minutes doesn't seem like a long time but it can feel like an eternity if your in the middle of a high intense drill! Remember the long distance steady state cardio is not the most optimal way to burn fat and become fit. Training with traditional cardio will result in less muscle and bone mass, not very much strength or power and more body fat than you would think. That is why at Hybrid Fitness my athletes train with high intensity drills. These drills and workouts burn fat while building muscle and power and they are much quicker than spending a boring hour on the elliptical.

Training:
Burpees x 30 seconds
Mountain climbers x 30 seconds
Jumping Jacks x 30 seconds
Burpees x 30 seconds
Mountain climbers x 30 seconds
Jumping Jacks x 30 seconds
Rest 60 seconds

4 rounds for time

Athletes in the mist

Very foggy morning but that didn't stop training. The air was cool this morning and the athletes had said their throats felt like they were burning during the run. This is a result of the body trying to heat that cool air as fast as possible before it hits the lungs. It is a myth that you can get sick exercising when it's cold outside just bundle up and be sure to warm up properly!

Training:
100 squats
run 400 meters
75 squats
run 400 meters
50 squats
run 400 meters
25 squats
run 400 meters

Training:
75 squats
run 400 meters
50 squats
run 400 meters
25 squats
run 400 meters
15 squats
run 400 meters

The most popular gym exercise

The bench press, its all some people do! Just because some lifters feel the need to highly overtrain this exercise doesn't mean it's not a valuable movement. The bench press can be done with more weight than a standing overhead press but because the lifter is laying down the functionality of the movement is diminished. However being able to use more weight allows more strength to be built and that strength can be carried over to other activities.

Training:
Bench 5x5
push-ups 5x quality set
Recline rows 4x quality set

Training:
squat 5x3
Bench 5x5
power clean 5x3

Afternoon lifting

Finally got my rings!! Very excited and the afternoon athlete was the first to break them in and she did a great job! Some very strong work was put in and it is great to be able to reel in the athlete help them focus on building muscle.

Training:
Dumbell press 5x5
push-ups 5x quality reps
Recline rows 4x quality reps

Rips, tears and burpees

Well as the trainer of these athletes I like to lead from the front and to perform well. That requires me to push myself as much as I push the athletes and sometimes something has to give and today it was the hands!

Training:
Run 400 meters
21 burpees
8 pull-ups
3 rounds for time


Scale this up or down as needed

Eating iron for breakfast!

The strength building continues!
Training:
Squats 5x5
Romanian deadlifts 4x12
Turkish get-ups 3x5

Training:
Deadlifts 5x5
jumping lunges 3x20
Turkish get-ups 3x5

Training:
Squats 5x5
Press 5x5
Weighted pull-ups 4x6

Strong women doing strong things!

Great video for a rest day going into another great week of training!!

15 minutes

Instead of the regular 20 minute interval we did 15 today, I did this to encourage the athletes to sprint to the end. Also changing the time keeps the workouts varied and the athletes on their toes! Just a reminder my goal setting newsletter is almost complete so if you are not one of my athletes but want this free newsletter please leave a comment with your email or go into my profile and email me directly.

Training:
Over head press -Work up to 3 heavy singles that are over 90% of your 1 rep max
be sure to take 3-5 minutes of rest between singles

elevated pushups-5 x quality reps
pull ups 5 x quality reps

Training:
5 dumbell swings
10 sprinters
15 squats
20 jumping jacks

max rounds in 15 minutes

Training:
from Crossfit
100 pull-ups
100 push-ups
100 sit-ups
100 squats
For time

Making interval training that much more fun!

Just like a couple weeks ago with the tire flipping and burpees we added an explosive movement after running a 400 meter interval. Training the body to be explosive and to perform a technical skill after being fatigued by a run is critical in developing our bodies work capacity. this is type of training you will be glad to have had when you need it!

Training:

Run 400 Meters
5 dumbell snatches per arm
5 rounds for time