Gene Hikes the Appalachian Trail

Tag: strength-training

  • Workout Ideas

    Just wanted to take this occasion to share a workout tip I have been using for about a year now which lets me keep things fresh. I love to do this on months with 31 days, and since July and August both have 31, this is a chance to do this for consecutive months.

    I like to take a movement and progressively add to how many I do each day of the month. It is tough to explain the progression, so here is a calendar for the month of July that shows how many to do.

    For example, I’ll do 10 burpees on the 1st, 12 on the 2nd, etc. By the final day I’ll do 60. This is not in lieu of normal workouts, just an extra layer. In the beginning of the month, it is a nice little invigoration. By the last week or so it can become a slog, especially when also getting in 8000-10000 steps a day. Since this is in addition to your regular workout, you can spread it over the entire day. In May I forgot to do burpees one day when it was 22, so I just did 46 the following one. It isn’t that serious.

    Burpees are my go-to workout for this, so I think I’ll do that again for July. I know there are many ways to do burpees, but my preferred way is an eight-count like this.

    1. Drop into a squat with hands on the floor
    2. Kick legs out behind you into a plank
    3. Down portion of a push-up
    4. Up portion of a push-up
    5. Bring legs back under you into squat position
    6. Stand back up
    7. First half of a jumping jack
    8. Second half of a jumping jack

    For August, I’ll probably do explosive squats. Depending on your fitness level, you can choose any workout for this. Some suggestions:

    Here is a calendar for August as well. Give ’em hell!

    If this doesn’t float your boat I have one more thing to consider. I am not a Crossfit person, but I recently got into a specific Crossfit named workout called Cindy. It consists of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 air squats. I know Crossfit people do those weird looking pull-ups, but you can do regular pull-ups for this instead. You do those exercises in order for one round. A full Cindy is as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) in twenty minutes. A great full body workout in a short time with no equipment needed other than pull-up bars.

    If that also does not float your boat, maybe you should stay on dry land.