A Dinosaur Style Thanksgiving Workout

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I'd get in a workout that will build a serious appetite later when me and the wife will visit family tonight. Not just a typical workout I do but one that's in the style of Brooks Kubik's Dinosaur Training. It's nothing special but it's brutal, nasty and really hard. It hits every muscle in the body and all it takes is 3 exercises. You don't need to do tons of exercises that only hit a one or two muscles at a time, just pick a few that hit multiple groups at the same time and go at it hard. In this case, it was using only one implement; the 50 lb Sandbell.

50 pounds may not seem like much, hell it's just a few pounds over a barbell plate right? The main takeaway, this is live weight and it shifts so this isn't just a solid implement, it makes you bust your ass in more ways than one. Sandbag training has been around for ages and has been used by the strongest athletes on the planet. When you work a bag hard, you're hitting the body in places that most conventional training can't even touch. Some guys work with up to more than 200-300 lbs (that's for truly elite powerhouses) but 50-100 can be just as beneficial and tough when you get after it like a madman with a thirst for hardcore training. 

This workout consists of the Clean & Press, Bear Hug Squat & Bent Over Row; it is done in a Tri Set which means you do one right after the other and then rest. Do 10 Reps each exercise and then walk it off getting as much rest as needed for the next set. It'll get you breathing hard quick so you'll want to catch your breath just enough to be fresh for the next round. The more sets you do, the heavier that bag will start to feel. It's very simple but sure as hell isn't easy. I managed 10 full sets of this workout and it was so thrilling for it to be over. I wanted to quit around the 6th or 7th set but something in me wanted to just keep going and really test my mental toughness. If I had to pick an exercise out of the three that made me rethink things, it was the Squats for sure. Around the 4th or 5th set, my legs felt heavy. 

Once it was over, instant relief, a much felt endorphin high and a high level of gratitude for it to be over. What are the benefits of this type of workout? A full blown level of strength and power, a good string of cardio because of doing three exercises back to back, Testosterone and HGH booster, great calorie burner and some serious muscular strength & endurance. Keep it simple but never underestimate what it can do especially when exercises like these with a sandbag has some real carryover into areas of regular life. 

I' am thankful for today, to my readers and to my friends and family. Have a great and wonderful Thanksgiving, eat well and train hard, earn that Turkey and those amazingly awesome sides.   

What Are The 3 Ways To Revitalize Your Calisthenics Training?

 Bodyweight Training has a lot of advantages and one of those is making the training training fun and interesting. It's far better than feeling stiff as a board and acting like the Zombies that died from boredom in traditional or conventional style training. Whenever I do my suspension training, I do my best to not only focus on what muscles are being worked but also feeling like I can make a game out of it with the exercises whether it's with rows, push-ups, squats or whatever. Here are some ideas to help with your training....

1. Totaling Up Reps or Timed Sets

With Bodyweight Training, totaling up the numbers can be an ideal strategy to keep things afloat when things start to feel dull, tedious and/or boring. Sometimes you may hit numbers you didn't expect or you can pick a number and progressively make the workout journey to that number. Do as many sets and reps as you need to reach that goal. Say you want to do 50 of something, you won't want to necessarily do them in a row unless you want to or you want to build a set and rep scheme that helps you build up to that number and it could be 10 sets of 5 or do a high/low thing, whatever makes you comfortable to reach that 50. It could be 50 Push-ups, Rows, Swings, Slams or whatever. The standard isn't relevant here or as important, just getting the total amount is the key thing here. 

When it comes to timed sets, you just mainly work on the technique of an exercise and not worry so much about counting reps. Say you want to get better at doing rows, set a time for say, 2 minutes and do what you can in that time getting the most out of the exercise itself. Rep counts isn't necessary here, focus more on the muscle groups, the pulling, the pinpoint of the contraction at the end of the movement and just playing with it until you have solid technique. It doesn't have to be perfect, just enough that it's efficient for your training. This can be done with other bodyweight movements. 

2. Solidifying Circuit Style Training With Animal Crawls & Other Athletic Movements

Circuit Training or Superset Style training are a treat when it comes to conditioning and forming a level of fitness that can be done in a variety of ways. When you incorporate crawls and other animal moves like in Movement 20XX in addition to say the Jump Rope, Squats, Step Ups or other Bodyweight Moves, you're strategically exposing the body to great stimuli and you're adding variety to create a "comforting" idea to workout without it feeling like a chore. You can even throw in some Mobility work or certain stretches into the mix. I've always said, training is about discovery and having an imagination to incite results.

3. Go For Variety

There are multiple variations of various movements from the main three components of Bodyweight Training; pushing, pulling and squatting. Personally for me, it gets a little boring like a bad party seeing and doing the same shit. Why limit yourself? Change a technique or increase/decrease the speed of a movement and you got yourself something to make training worthwhile. Have the mindset of an explorer, it'll amplify the potential to creating benefits for your exercises. Don't live in fear of mixing it up, be bold and break out of the fucking norms of fitness. Normal has always been way overrated, everybody is different and normal for the most part means you're willing to settle for less. You're more than that, you're unique and you got something that will make you successful. When you throw out normalcy in your training and add some fun and exciting things, you'll be surprised at what will come of it. 

Be amazingly awesome, see the potential in these strategies and have some fun guys.