In our workouts, most of the time we have something set and schemed to work our bodies to a specific number of exercises in a specific order and specified time for rest. Unless you're going through a circuit, you're hitting an exercise for X amount of sets, X amount of reps and resting for some arbitrary amount of time. That has its merits and in turn can determine where you are as far as strength, conditioning, endurance or more than one attribute at the same time is concerned.
When it comes to conditioning, I want to do exercises that I can go to one after another without rest and test my abilities to a certain degree. You've seen the superset workouts I've done along with darebee circuits being written but none of those compare to the animal workouts I do; specifically, the animal dice game. Not only is it different, but it also tests your strength and conditioning from another perspective that you don't get from circuits or just supersets.
With circuit workouts, you know what's coming, you do the same sets, same reps, nearly the same amount of rest and changing it up can make or break where your level is at. Not the animal dice game. You never know what's coming, it's unpredictable, just like the jungle. It fools you into thinking it can get easier and than all of a sudden, poof you hit an animal doing steps or distance that is hard and ready to take you out. You're constantly moving in awkward directions and your brain is continually being forced to send messages to the nerves and coordinate with those awkward positions without warning. You're challenging your body practically on every roll and the more you add, the harder it gets. It's so random, it forces you to be prepared for the unexpected.
Now, you don't just have to make this game full of of just steps or distance; you can make it interesting for other parties who want to join. You can roll for an animal and whatever comes up, you can race, tag or do a relay. The only limit is your imagination. You can go as long as it will allow you to but for my recommendation, don't keep going until your arms or legs are ready to fall off and you're going to have a damn stroke. Do enough that is good for the day and still have some energy left in the tank. It's meant to be a game, not a chore or some crazy balls to the wall workout that resembles something like crossfit.
It's fun because it takes away the predictability of a typical workout whether from bodyweight, bands, weights or machines, it's just you being free and using your body in unique ways and developing a level of fitness that you can't get anywhere else. Animal Movements have had the dumb notion for decades as warm up exercises for sports programs or thought of just exercises meant for kids. They're more than just warm ups and whoever came up with the idea they were meant just for kids clearly never saw a well conditioned football player or wrestler. They're ancestral and have abilities to turn a person into a very fit one and have levels of strength that last, boundless energy and an unbelievable form of conditioning that would make an MMA Fighter's jaw drop.
With the dice game, you'll never do the same workout twice and you'll never know what comes next. Whenever I do it, I'm always up for what comes after each roll and sometimes I'll change an exercise on a certain roll to make things interesting but with the endless variety and how intense the workout is, it doesn't take long to get your ass kicked. I've done long and short workouts with this workout and I will tell you first hand, you'll always be on alert because any roll can come up something easy or so damn hard that you'll need a break within seconds. How much time do you rest? It depends on how many rolls you do until you feel out of breath but for the most part, there's no limit. When I need a break, I'll walk around and breathe deeply until I feel ready to go again which on average, maybe 1-3 minutes but that's just a guess.
Get wild and take on the jungle with a vengeance. Unleash the beast within and have a blast doing it.
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