Saturday, January 17, 2009

Call Me John Henry

You may have read about the experience my lifting partner and I had on Friday on his blog, accelerateyourself.blogspot.com. If not, I will explain. Instead of performing your basic lifts with dumbbells, bars, and machines, we decided to mix things up every Friday. This past Friday we had some fun with sledge hammers and a sled. As a student of the University of Kentucky you may have seen us walking through the Seaton Center or Johnson Center with sledge hammer on shoulder. You may have given us a confused, maybe even scared look. You may have thought we were crazy. I'm not gonna lie, I'm not all there but there was a method to the madness. The sledge hammer is a way to work multiple muscle groups in a fashion that the body is not used to. It also mixes things up so that the workouts do not get monotonous. It's a great way to take your body to the next level.

The workout itself was brutal. It consisted of 4 sets of 1 minute on, 2 minutes off of alternating sledge swings. The goal of each set was to get the maximal number of hits before the time was up. After each set my lower back, shoulders, and forearms were on fire, which was great considering we were outside in 5 degree weather. With the completion of the four sets we headed inside to play with the sled. For this we set up a straightaway that was about 20-25 yards. With the sled holding 60 kilos (approximately 130lbs) we took turns pushing the sled the 25 yards and back. We completed 3 round trips and by my last 10 feet it was all I had to get it across the finish line. Near vomiting, I picked myself up off the ground to get some water.

This was something my body was not accustomed to and I could definitely tell. Each week the volume of the workout will increase while we continue to mix up the workouts. Other things such as sled pulls, sand bag training, and possibly your good Ole' car pushes will be used. I am excited to see how the rest of the weeks turn out with Fridays being this way. I truly believe this addition will help boost me to my goals and keep me guessing along the way.

Stay tuned for videos and pictures in the coming weeks.

No comments: