Creating a better workout station...

Sunday, May 15, 2011

It was going to rain all day…little doubt about it, and so I headed for the Metropark and a survival workout. A young man I’d taught some years ago knew about my workouts and wanted to join me and try one out. He pulled up behind the Honda as I was finishing a set of step-ups and I walked over to his jeep to greet him. When he opened the door, my eyes went immediately to the pack of cigarettes sitting on the dashboard. “You’re going to feel those things once you get going on my workout,” I warned him. One thing you need during my brand of survival workouts is oxygen. When you smoke, the oxygen-carrying capacity of your blood is diminished, thus making workouts at intense levels more difficult to complete.

I threw the pack on his back and had him do some step-ups while I did my push-ups. When he was done, I introduced him to a new log I’d found buried in some muck just off the trail where I had him doing some lifts for his back muscles. His hands were slipping and I quickly realized the log was just a little too heavy for his current fitness level. Not a problem…there were many more laying in the mud throughout the park.

I had him lifting rocks and other logs as we hiked and he was doing well, but when we arrived at the cabins and I put him through some band work and crunches, he began to tire. We used another rock to work the oblique’s and when I had him lift it overhead, he started but dropped it quickly and headed for the woods to…well…sometimes when you push too hard with new exercises. I give him a lot of credit though…shortly after the heaves, he wanted to do more. I knew it was a good time to call it a day…we were both soaked to the bone from a chilling rain that had been falling since we started, so we returned to the cars. I know he liked the workout and will be back soon to try the entire routine.

I’ve been wrestling with a way of putting a workout station in my garage. I envision something utilizing a stack of weights, cables and pulleys and went to my nephew, Jon Duer, who owns and operates Great Lakes Rigging, for some help. He really knows about hoisting weight…both sails on boats and iron overhead. He’s a massive person and is currently training for one of those strong man competitions. To give you an example of his strength, one of the events has him lifting an 800-pound truck tire from the ground and flipping it over…with a goal of moving it 50 yards in total…and it’s actually something he can do. Anyway, he’s all over my idea to make a simple, inexpensive, multi-station weightlifting system. I’m going to put it in my garage, make the necessary modifications, and then we’ll have it ready for installation in other clients’ homes as part of their ‘back to basics’ workout routines. My goal is to have something to compliment the bands, logs, rocks, sledge hammers, heavy bags and other things people actually could do in and around their homes with an inexpensive and simple-to-use training station. More on that as we progress.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600