***The Conditioning Corner***

[matthor]

***The Conditioning Corner***

Hi, my name is matthor and I am a conditioning addict. The purpose of this thread is to share my love of pain and encourage masochists everywhere to get involved in the wonderful world of athletic conditioning.

Firstly, this thread is not aimed at the body building purists, I and I'm sure others have great respect for what you do but the people this thread hopes to appeal to have a different goal. We train not for physique (though this is often a pleasant reward) but for fitness, for a specific sport, for enjoyment and perhaps most importantly, to be better than our friends

We know and crave the joy of finishing that impossible circuit, running that nightmarish sprint, conquering that impenetrable obstacle and this is our driving force. The sweet satisfaction of accomplishing something you thought yourself uncapable of - there is nothing quite like it.

So it is in that spirit that this thread was conjured up. A few likeminded members of this forum; AllGenetix, DerickonFire, Xquick and myself have been trading circuit & complex ideas and pushing each other to be faster, stronger, fitter and more intense in our training and also having a great time doing it. Using each other as motivation and others feats as inspiration I know that I and I'm sure others have reached higher levels of fitness than if we were to walk this path alone.

With out getting too dramatic the premise of this thread is as such:

1) Inspire improvements in conditioning and fitness through motivation derived from encouragement, education and my favourite... Competition!

2) Share conditioning drills/circuits/complexes and any other means of self inflicted pain in the name of fitness that we have done in the past, seen done, thought of ourselves, adjusted from another workout etc. This has the potential to be a wonderful resource for those seeking to increase their work capacity and conditioning which is vital for all sporting endeavours and is also just plan fun!

I have grand plans for this and will be regularly adding in things I try out and have tried in the past that I found particularly tough and effective and will encourage others to do the same. My main aim is get some good spirited competition between participants to help push each other to new levels of performance.

To achieve this end, each session will provide a detailed explanation of the workout, time taken to complete and any comments/insights regarding the experiences of the participant. I encourage people to use the template I will provide in my first post. This can simply be quoted then editted to either write in a new program or to enter your time and comments for the same drill.

Obviously we cant prove our times but I'm hoping people are honest as this is the internet, there is nothing to be gained by misleading us.

Videos/pictures/diagrams are all encouraged and I will hopefully be able to provide a few of these in the not to distant future.

So what do I mean by conditioning complexes/circuits? This is a very simple and highly interchangeable method of training. Basically you select a group of exercises that are performed in quick succession, either incorporating rest periods or done straight through depending on the particular workout goal. Common exercises can include:
-bodyweight exercises (pushups, burpees, bear crawls, sit ups, pullups etc)
-higher rep weight work
-cardio (running, skipping, rowing, cycling)
-kettlebell work
-sledge hammers
-med balls
-Anything you can use to get the heart beating and the sweat dripping. What I mean will be clear as a few training sessions are posted so if you have any doubts, stick about and keep reading and all will be revealed.

Im calling out all those who have experience in team sports and have had the privilage of working with good coaches, all those who enjoy creating their own workouts, all those who love the pain of a tough session and all those with a competitive streak that just like to be better than that other dude. Get involved in this and lets make ourselves a thorough database of conditioning drills with explanations/time taken/comments that can be used by all to keep their training fresh and be another source of motivation for those times when you struggle to lace the shoes up and get started.

[matthor]

Session = Deck Of Cards

This is a great workout! You assign an exercise to a suit and randomly draw cards and perform the allocated exercise for the reps shown on the card.

My Line Up

Hearts = Burpees
Diamonds = 10kg Med ball Squat Thrust (Number x2)
Spade = Mountain Climbers X 8
Club = Rope Turns Number X 10

Ace=12
Face=10
5-10 = Number Shown
2-4 = 5
Joker = 500m Row machine (2min, 1min55)

Bit of a marathon workout and was dripping in sweat by the end. HR was generally 160-170 with big peaks following the rowing. I got the first joker around 3/5ths in and then as i only have one i finished with the final row sprint. 1min48 and 1min54 respectively. But damn, after each of those on the crappy row machine without proper resistance i was pretty gone.

Once finished did maybe 5minutes skipping at an easy rate, just to loosen up

Some videos of my effort:

Part 1 - Start of Session
http://video.google.com.au/videoplay...63578762800341

Part 2 - Mid way through following a row erg sprint
http://video.google.com.au/videoplay...73274483912648

Comment

Great session today even if it was a tad harder than expected. was a bit dehydrated i think from working yesterday - didnt drink enough water! Think this contributed but overall still happy with the effort put in despite not feeling 100%

[AllGenetix]

Subscribed!

[matthor]

Originally Posted by AllGenetix

Subscribed!

Booyah!

Here is a nifty little complex i did today to finish off my workout:

Complex of Doom!

Sequence #1

-10x Db Swing @ 60lbs
-100x Rope Turns Sprint Style
-20x Feet Elevated on Stability Ball Pushups
-1min30s Row Erg (410m, 410m, 420m)
-1min REST

Sequence #2

-10x Burpee
-100x Rope Turns Sprint Style
-15x Seated Row @ 130lbs
-1min30s Hard Cycle Lvl 11/12

Repeat X 3 so:
Sequence #1 > #2 > #1 > #2 > #1 > #2


Duration = 27min05sec
Goddamn. My legs were complete jelly by the end of this. Honestly i think it was a bit too much today as I was a little drained from the hard couple fo days and the lack of sleep but when i thought it up, it was too damn tempting to resist. Really is a perfect complex lol, so well balanced, so intense, so gloriously masochistic.

Didnt run through it as fast or hard as if i was 100% fresh but put in a good effort and pushed myself to give what i had

Comment

Let me tell you by the end of this I was barely standing. I struggled through a long stretch down then just made it home to a big bowl of cereal & yoghurt.

The complex chewed me up and spat me out a soggy stinking mess of sweat and profanities

[MrSinister]

sooo where's the hypertrophy stuff?

[AllGenetix]

I think i'll be doing the complex of doom tomorrow but substituting the 1:30 bike interva for the row due to lack of equitment. Your time is going down! And what is that 1 Minute REST! ha, we will see....

Gonna do core lifts of Front Squats, Dips, Chin's then onto the complex!

[derickonfire]

Totally in!

One day I will be able to keep up.. I promise.

Until then, I will envy.

[PerpetualFlux]

Heart of Cards... I was going to do that one

Anyways, I love Ross Enamait. He's a conditioning king especially for boxing and MMA. I'm not too experienced in the conditioning area, but I love it. His one article described something called Work Capacity 101. Since I was in Michigan at the time and no access to a game since it was bloody expensive, I used it. Hell of a work out.

I'll copy and paste the parts I find important from the article. The link will be below it.

Start the routine at time 0:00
Circuit lasts 75 seconds (ending at 1:15)
Rest 45 seconds (until 2:00)
Begin second pass through circuit at 2:00

This will continue for 20-minutes, or until you have completed 10 circuits. The circuit may not feel too difficult after the first few cycles, but becomes more and more challenging as you approach the 20-minute mark.

The circuit: Pull-ups x 5
Medicine Ball Slams x 10
Burpees x 15
Jumping Jacks x 20

Perform each movement as fast as possible. Move from one exercise to the next without stopping.

http://www.rosstraining.com/articles...pacity101.html

[matthor]

Originally Posted by AllGenetix

I think i'll be doing the complex of doom tomorrow but substituting the 1:30 bike interva for the row due to lack of equitment. Your time is going down! And what is that 1 Minute REST! ha, we will see....

Gonna do core lifts of Front Squats, Dips, Chin's then onto the complex!

awesome. i think you're going to enjoy it Kirk. It is a fairly long one and doing it after lifting is a good recipe for pain

Originally Posted by derickonfire

Totally in!

One day I will be able to keep up.. I promise.

Until then, I will envy.

There he is! Good man, keep at it - we're all keen to support each other in here so post up your efforts, times etc!

Originally Posted by PerpetualFlux

Heart of Cards... I was going to do that one

Anyways, I love Ross Enamait. He's a conditioning king especially for boxing and MMA. I'm not too experienced in the conditioning area, but I love it. His one article described something called Work Capacity 101.

Start the routine at time 0:00
Circuit lasts 75 seconds (ending at 1:15)
Rest 45 seconds (until 2:00)
Begin second pass through circuit at 2:00

This will continue for 20-minutes, or until you have completed 10 circuits. The circuit may not feel too difficult after the first few cycles, but becomes more and more challenging as you approach the 20-minute mark.

The circuit: Pull-ups x 5
Medicine Ball Slams x 10
Burpees x 15
Jumping Jacks x 20

Perform each movement as fast as possible. Move from one exercise to the next without stopping.

http://www.rosstraining.com/articles...pacity101.html

yep Ross has had a big influence on my training and he has some wonderful ideas and work outs. I finally have some med balls at my gym so am keen to get into that one above! I have known of it for a long time but lack of med balls also stopped me trying.

Glad to have your input PFlux

[CrusadersDT75]

Sounds tough...wish I knew what some of the workouts were though. Burpees? Rope Turns? DBL Swings? maybe i know them but just under other names....info?
I think I'm in though! Sounds like a good way to end a workout.

[k9nacl]

there are quite a few crazy circuits i did at athlete's performance but here's one we did for summer workouts and then i'll post those.

easy sprint/lap circuit:

on a basketball court, stand on the baseline.

perform:

10 jumping jacks
run a full court sprint up court and back at 100% speed
20 crunches (legs up and ankles crossed)
run full court and back sprint
10 pushups
" "
10 mountain climbers
" "
10 burpees
" "

repeat 2-3x. it starts out pretty easy with the jumping jacks and crunches but once you hit the mountain climbers and burpees your legs will feel like jello.


AP complex #1 (i used to love this thing), this is all one big superset, going straight into the next exercise (obviously):

1. cross court lunge holding weight (hold a 25 or 35lb plate above your head, arms fully extended, and lunge across court alternating legs).
2. 20x body weight squats
3. 10x 3-1 count pushups (3 seconds down, 1 second up)
4. 15x medicine ball slams (rising up on toes when you go up, fulling come down on slam)
5. 10x each side medicine ball wall throws (have ball loaded at hip, get ass low, explode and turn, throwing ball into wall and catching, going right into next rep)
6. sprint across court to finish

rest 3 minutes

we'd do 5 sets of these, upping the reps on each exercise by 2 for each set.

AP wall-ball game:

this is absolutely crazy. we had a giant cement wall at the facility and sometimes, when there was only one or two of us in a group, we'd play this game.

grab a really bouncy medicine ball like seen here: http://www.fitbuy.com/images/vambh.jpg. have two people stand about 5-10 feet apart from each other and 10-15 feet away from the wall. from here, you just play wall ball with a 4-6lb medicine ball (depending on size of people). each time the person has to throw the ball it a different way too: overhead, side throw, chest pass style, etc.

if you don't know what wall ball is, it's very simple. one person starts with the ball and has to throw it off the wall. the second person has to catch it before it bounces on the ground more than once and, no matter where they are, they have to throw it and hit the wall without bouncing it. once they throw it they have to immediatlely recover because the other person can just throw it at an odd angle away from them and it'll bounce twice, and they will win. this is an absolutely brutal workout if played intensely, and on a few occassions i almost up chucked.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HSgkn2Z2p40

that's what it looks like, except we couldn't bounce it and it was a 6lb medicine ball. they'd have of the college football/basketball players do this as a end-workout burnout and it was insane. i distinctly remember a couple D1 players and some all-star OL from oregon playing with a 14lb ball until the ball almost busted open.

[Spottydog]

Originally Posted by derickonfire

Totally in!

One day I will be able to keep up.. I promise.

Until then, I will envy.

x2... this should be exciting!

[matthor]

k9 i really like that first one you posted! Just for reference, how long is bball court? i dont have access so would have to do this outside.

Crusader: google is your friend
http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/burpeeclip.htm
http://beauty.expertvillage.com/vide...in-climber.htm
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler25.htm

[AllGenetix]

Here are some sick CrossFit type programs

http://www.goccusports.com/strength/...altraining.pdf

[Lavoisier]

I'm getting crew flashbacks lol.

Interval training on the erg and 6 ks used to kill me:

1 minute at 1:55
30 seconds steady state (2:05)
1 minute at 1:50
30 seconds steady state (2:00)
1 minute at 1: 45
30 seconds steady state (1:55)
1 minute at 1:40
30 seconds steady state (1:50)

At that point I usually puked.

But those were still not as bad as 2ks.

Edit: In I suppose, but I won't be able to do anything until this weekend, and my cardio right now is AWFUL. I hope to get it back where it was.

[matthor]

Originally Posted by Sultan_of_Spin

I'm getting crew flashbacks lol.

Interval training on the erg and 6 ks used to kill me:

1 minute at 1:55
30 seconds steady state (2:05)
1 minute at 1:50
30 seconds steady state (2:00)
1 minute at 1: 45
30 seconds steady state (1:55)
1 minute at 1:40
30 seconds steady state (1:50)

At that point I usually puked.

But those were still not as bad as 2ks.

Edit: In I suppose, but I won't be able to do anything until this weekend, and my cardio right now is AWFUL. I hope to get it back where it was.

whoah - that looks brutal! I was thinkign of doing some rowing tomorrow morning so might have to have a crack. The machine is quite near an emergency exit so if the breakfast wants a reappearance, i should be ok!

Im not certain i can hold those times - the 'steady state' portions are still pretty tough, though i suppose that is intention

Ohh and dont worry about the current cardio levels - thats what we're in this for

[Lavoisier]

Originally Posted by matthor

whoah - that looks brutal! I was thinkign of doing some rowing tomorrow morning so might have to have a crack. The machine is quite near an emergency exit so if the breakfast wants a reappearance, i should be ok!

Im not certain i can hold those times - the 'steady state' portions are still pretty tough, though i suppose that is intention

Ohh and dont worry about the current cardio levels - thats what we're in this for

Yeah I got lucky-other people who were stronger than me had to use different times

It's good training for a 2k, like 6 minutes total, balls to the wall. Don't be afraid to get the stroke rate up-Towards the end, I was in the low 30s.

"Steady state" is kind of misleading. It's just kind of a back off, but it does get harder as you go on. It's a crasy workout. I probably could do about half of it now. Gl with it. You could probably adjust the time by picking a number for the last minute that is pretty hard, and then working backwards from there. Steady state is always 10 seconds above the all out portions.

[bodybuildit]

Do you want us to post our times/speeds and see if others can beat it?
This was the interval run I did today: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showpo...&postcount=223

[Dom_88]

Subscribed for sure. But I'll have to realistically start it all next year. Working over the holiday break is a little more imprtant to me ATM, plus my gym is closing for 2 weeks.

[DJohnson]

Awesome, I wanted to up my cardio a lot during xmas and eat a bit more. I'd love to try get competitive here although I think I have a ways to go.

[blacksmith77]

ok my workout yesterday:
HIIT
morning:

10 burpees, 10 pressups, 10 leg raises, 100 rope jumps
x 10.
followed by

on the bike


level 10/20

30s +125 rpm / 1 min recovery of 80rpm
until failure (25mins).


evening:
2hrs of tennis.... lost blamed it on brutal session in the morning

[matthor]

glad to have you guys. Yeah this time of year with gym closures is a bit of a hassle but there will be some great little/no equipment needed stuff being posted. i have a huge back log of workouts i have done in my backyard, ones i have done in my bed room when it was raining. One time i did a deck of cards in my bathroom lol.

For clarification: ye spost your session and times if you enjoyed it or found it particularly useful. im hoping this becomes a pretty good resource for a wide spectrum of training needs, which we're already starting to get happening.

I like session Blacksmith - good example of a way to get some ocnditioning in with no equipment needed

[daveske]

Wow i dont think id make it halfway through ur sessions..

[blacksmith77]

Originally Posted by matthor

I like session Blacksmith - good example of a way to get some ocnditioning in with no equipment needed

cheers,
for me I love cardio and conditioning without the use of machines. Its only really after a workout that I use machines for cardio. With your level of conditioning have you ever thought of free running?

[PerpetualFlux]

I'm not conditioning as much as I'm trying to get back in shape, so with my current capacity, I would probably die due to heart failure if I tried some of this stuff.

There isn't much I can say, but everyone knows that MMA is revolved around conditioning. If you haven't see UFC All Access with Sean Sherk, check it out now:

http://www.sprawl-n-brawl.com/2007/0...ean-sherk.html

It's around 20 minutes but wait until you see the workout. Astounding stuff. Will give you a ton of great ideas.

[xKKx7]

Originally Posted by matthor

Session = Deck Of Cards

This is a great workout! You assign an exercise to a suit and randomly draw cards and perform the allocated exercise for the reps shown on the card.

My Line Up

Hearts = Burpees
Diamonds = 10kg Med ball Squat Thrust (Number x2)
Spade = Mountain Climbers X 8
Club = Rope Turns Number X 10

Ace=12
Face=10
5-10 = Number Shown
2-4 = 5
Joker = 500m Row machine (2min, 1min55)

Bit of a marathon workout and was dripping in sweat by the end. HR was generally 160-170 with big peaks following the rowing. I got the first joker around 3/5ths in and then as i only have one i finished with the final row sprint. 1min48 and 1min54 respectively. But damn, after each of those on the crappy row machine without proper resistance i was pretty gone.

Once finished did maybe 5minutes skipping at an easy rate, just to loosen up

Some videos of my effort:

Part 1 - Start of Session
http://video.google.com.au/videoplay...63578762800341

Part 2 - Mid way through following a row erg sprint
http://video.google.com.au/videoplay...73274483912648

Comment

Great session today even if it was a tad harder than expected. was a bit dehydrated i think from working yesterday - didnt drink enough water! Think this contributed but overall still happy with the effort put in despite not feeling 100%

you are my hero and a sick masochist

[xKKx7]

I do these things that are mixture of bear crawls and sprints
They're called Screaming Eagles at our school.

Basically you've got to go to the whole field come back. Do beaer crawls until the 10 yard line then crawl back. then you run to the 90 and come back and do the same thing over. This doesn't sound too bad, but wow, seriously if you try them, you will be so winded. You've got to go as fast as possible and when you're in football pads (40+ pounds of crap) it's pretty much hell.

[cncretecbwo]

hers a few...

1) find a stadium, sprint up the stairs, go to next set and go down as fast as possible... go all they way down and back or around or whatever is best. then sprint to the opposite end from where you started. do the same thing. repeat until you hate moving and then do one more
each time you do a set, mix it up footwork wise. so the first time do 1 foot each stair, then skip a step, the hops, the side to side hops (think of skiing) then hops skipping a step, then one-footed hops alternating feet on each time up. try it out, youll love/hate yourself for the rest of the day..

2) tennis courts are great... do suicides. running parallel to the net, start at one sideline and just go touch every line with you hand and come back. works best when you have 3-6 courts next to each other. set a time and make sure you beat it every time, if you dont then do clap pushups for the difference.

3) My brother and i want to try this soon... play 1 v 1 bball... FULLCOURT, full-contact (no blood = no foul). the only rule is that you MUST play full-court defense the entire time. loser runs sprints, does pushups, anything else.

4) find a track. sprint 400m, jog 50m, sprint 200m jog50m, sprint 100m, jog 50m, sprint 50m, jog 50m. repeat until you cant do anymore, then do 1 more 100m..

* if you can do these with a partner, you will work a LOT harder, sprints turn into races and you will be surprised how much more you get out of it.

[ozfiz]

awesome thread! subbed

[matthor]

Originally Posted by PerpetualFlux

http://www.sprawl-n-brawl.com/2007/0...ean-sherk.html

yes i have seen that. Phenomenal work capacity and ethic. Guy is a monster

Originally Posted by xKKx7

you are my hero and a sick masochist

thanks

Originally Posted by xKKx7

I do these things that are mixture of bear crawls and sprints
They're called Screaming Eagles at our school.

Basically you've got to go to the whole field come back. Do beaer crawls until the 10 yard line then crawl back. then you run to the 90 and come back and do the same thing over. This doesn't sound too bad, but wow, seriously if you try them, you will be so winded. You've got to go as fast as possible and when you're in football pads (40+ pounds of crap) it's pretty much hell.

Sorry could you explain this more?

You run the length and then back, then you bear crawl to 10m and back, then you run 90m and back, bear crawl 10m and back, run 80m and back and decrease the length of the run?

Originally Posted by cncretecbwo

heres a few...

1) find a stadium

2) tennis courts are great... do suicides

3) My brother and i want to try this soon... play 1 v 1 bball... FULLCOURT, full-contact (no blood = no foul). the only rule is that you MUST play full-court defense the entire time. loser runs sprints, does pushups, anything else.

4) find a track. sprint 400m, jog 50m, sprint 200m jog50m, sprint 100m, jog 50m, sprint 50m, jog 50m. repeat until you cant do anymore, then do 1 more 100m..

* if you can do these with a partner, you will work a LOT harder, sprints turn into races and you will be surprised how much more you get out of it.

stairs are great. I dont have any stadiums i can use but did used to be able to get into this abandoned hospital that was 14 stories high to do stairs in. Was like the scene from a horror movie

Cant go wrong with suicides and that basketball sounds pretty rough

Originally Posted by ozfiz

awesome thread! subbed