April Workouts: Light Up Your Movement & Performance
There is often a tendency in the gym to be sucked into prioritizing the chase for personal records (like a 400-pound deadlift or beating your Fran time) and allowing a focus on form to drift away. This can create a range of problems. First and foremost, the risk of injury rockets upward when you let everything rip while trying to break a record. But when you lose your focus on movement quality (and strategically improving and balancing all of your motor patterns and ability to coordinate and fire muscles to your potential), you’re probably leaving a great deal of performance on the table. Ironically, the athlete too caught up in chasing personal records in the gym is more likely to achieve greater heights if movement quality is consistently the number one priority. It’s this line of thinking that underscores the Spartan workouts for this week: Under the guidance of Spartan SGX super coach, Yancy Culp, we’ll work on a wide-range of motor patterns using a basic set of strength and mobility tools. Perform the workouts diligently and with the determination to execute the movements with as much skill as you can muster, and the personal records—both in the gym and on the race course—will inevitably follow.
Week 1
Day 1: How to Squat with Strength Bands (and More)
Run 3 min
Bodyweight squat x 10
Strength Bands squat x 10
Bodyweight step-ups x 10 (5 each side)
Sandbag step-up x 10 (5 each side)
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Run 3min
Side lunge x 10 (5 each side)
Side lunge w/ band resistance x 10 (5 each side)
Slam balls x10
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Run 3 min
Dead ball shoulder over x 6
Forward bear crawl x 5 meters to backward bear crawl x 5 meters – continue for a total of 30m
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Run 3 min
Day 2: Kettlebell Halos
Run 3 min
Battle Rope row x 10
Versa Loop push-up w/around the world touches x 5
Seated slam ball press x 10
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Run x 3min
KB halos x 10 (5 each direction)
Strength Bands lat pulldown x 10 (5 each side)
Strength Bands seated row x 10 (5 each side)
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Run x 3min
Bent over row x 10
Burpee box jumps x 10
Strength bands assisted pull-up x 5 followed by hand position change
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Run x 3min
Day 3: Burpees +
Burpee x 10
Strength bands burpees x 9
Single leg burpee x 8 didn’t film
Burpee to slam x 7
Single leg burpee to slam x 6 didn’t film
Sandbag Burpee x 5
Repeat declining sets from 10 to 1
10 min
Day 4: Shakeout Run
Recovery Run
Talking points
Run x 20min
Total running = 20min
Day 5: Deadball Day
4 rounds:
Strength bands backward lunge x 20 (10 each leg)
Sandbag squat x 20
Lateral squat jump x 20 (10 each side)
15m Dead Ball carry (shoulder or front carry) followed by burpees x 5
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Dead Ball slam x 20 (didn’t film)
Sandbag walking lunges x 20 (10 each side)
Bodyweight step-ups x 20 (10 each side)
Forward bear crawl x 5 meters to backward bear crawl x 5 meters
Day 6: Blast Yourself Now/Kick Back Tomorrow
3 circuits, 2 rounds each
Cycle through all your exercises before beginning at the top again
Recovery day tomorrow, take advantage
Run x 4 min at comfortable aerobic effort
Banded Lat pull down x 10 (5 each side)
Banded Static Lunge Press x 10 (5 each side)
Scapular Rows x 10 (5 each side)
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Run x 4 min at comfortable aerobic effort
Strength band assisted pull-up x5
Dead Ball Pass Throughs
Eccentric Sit-Ups with Dead Ball x 10
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Run x 4min at comfortable aerobic effort
Wall/Med Ball sit-up throws x 10
Static hangs with hand position changes every x 15 sec
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Day 7:
Mobility
