This Intermediate/Advanced work is all about your levers. Before you get smart, yes, all physical motion requires levers to generate a movement. But this workout takes that concept a bit further. Every movement builds on the movement before it. High reps at the start burn your endurance fibers. Less-high reps move you into utilizing both fast and slow twitch fibers. Finally, we blow the burn up with a low-rep, slow-rep movement in each segment. We want slow reps to focus on the full movement, with excellent range of motion and complete control. One to two rounds should be all you'll need. But, if you need more, tack on 2-4 miles post workout. Your ruck should be between 30-45lbs for this workout.
Work smarter, not harder. There is nothing in this workout that requires you to do each rep without stopping. You need to be familiar with high reps, which are occasionally required in an Event setting. Learning how to pace your high reps work is equally as important as doing the work. Divide the high reps as you see fit (10, break, 10, break...etc) and learn the right strategy for a workout that requires this kind of intensity.
WHAT EXERCISES DO I NEED TO KNOW?
Bear Plank to Elbow Plank Bear Plank begins on your elbows and knees. (You may use your hands instead of elbows.) Your elbows should be under your shoulders, your knees under your hips. Using your core, lift your knees 2" off the ground and hold for a 2-count. Walk your feet out to a plank and hold for a 2-count. Then back into Bear Plank. Wear your ruck unless you are still working on a stronger core.
Narrow Ruck Squats with Arm Extension If you know yoga, this is a chair pose with slightly more "sit." Your feet should be close together as you hold your ruck out with straight arms and sit into the narrow ruck squat. As you lower into the squat, bring your straight arms, hands holding your ruck up in line with your shoulder. As you stand out of your squat, bring your ruck down to your hips. This movement may alter your stability, so if you have wobbling ankles, squat to a bench.
Ruck Overhead Strict Press With a strict press, there is no bounce in the knees. As your bring your ruck up overhead with control, make sure all the muscles in your shoulders and lats are engaged.
Ruck Plank Hands to Elbows In the very first exercise, we went Bear to Elbow, and this segment, we walk our plank up into hands and down onto elbows. This is a hard-count movement, 1,1,2,2...
(For movements that are not video linked, simply type the movement in to YouTube. With very rare exceptions, a movement with a sandbag = the same as the movement with a ruck = the same with dumbbells/barbells. )
WORKOUT x 1-2 Rounds
- 10 x Bear Plank to Elbow Plank
- 60 x Ruck Squats
- 30 x Sandbag Sumo Squats
- 15 x Narrow Ruck Squats with Arm Extension (slow)
- 60 x Ruck Push-Ups
- 30 x Sandbag Bent Over Rows
- 15 x Ruck Overhead Strict Press (slow)
- 60 x Ruck Walking Lunges (hard count - wear ruck)
- 30 x Sandbag Deadlifts
- 15 x Ruck (or Sandbag) Good Mornings (slow)
- 10 x Ruck Plank Hands to Elbows (slow)