SHOULD I?
Should I do all of the Workouts Listed Today?
BY MARK TWIGHT
When we post daily workouts we are intentionally cryptic at times. The point to posting any of this is to show a different way, stimulate thought, and to push those who are ready to be pushed to start their own line of inquiry and walk the path toward self-directed training.
Still, when people write in asking if they are supposed to do each of the workouts listed on a given day in succession I suspect two things: either they have no idea what they are looking at, OR they understand what it would take to do all of the workouts back-to-back, and not just that day but for months in succession, and they cannot believe it. I am a "hopeful pessimist" so while part of me wishes the second possibility were true I usually react as if the first option is correct.
To illustrate the absurdity of the question I'll pick three consecutive days beginning September 6th, 2007 and line up the workouts to see whether it would be possible, or likely to complete them all.
DAY 1:
1
5x Deadlift @ bodyweight (step on the scale, load up the bar, err too heavy rather than too light) +
10x DB Push Press @ 35% bodyweight
Maximum number of rounds in 8 minutes
Then:
12m KB Bear Crawl @ 2x 44# or 2x 53# KBs +
10x Pull-up
Six rounds
2
100x Burpee (with quality Push-up, Jump, and a loud Clap at the top) +
100m Tire Flip (jump in and out) +
100x Target Ball Shots @ 20# ball +
100m Tire Drag @ 135# +
Then:
50x Pull-up
Then:
10x 25m Underwater Swim
Rest 1:00 between laps
3
Ride (road bike) up Big Cottonwood Canyon, do two laps on Guardsman Pass then ride up Little Cottonwood Canyon, and finally ride up Big Cottonwood Canyon again
On this theoretical day the average individual would have done 65x Deadlifts @ 175# and 130x DB Push Presses @ 2x 30# in eight minutes, then 70m of KB Bear Crawls @ 2x 53# KB and 60x Pull-ups. Then he would have spent approximately 30 minutes doing the 100x Burpees, 100x Tire Flips (jumping into and out of the tire after every flip), 100x Target Ball shots at a 10 foot-high target, and dragging the tire 100m. The additional 50x Pull-ups and 250m of underwater swimming will have taken about 20 minutes. Then our protagonist would have hopped on his road bike and climbed 13,000 vertical feet while covering 89 miles, which would have taken 4-6 hours, depending on his remaining vigor. This day is feasible but it would take all day and the individual would not likely be looking forward to morning. But for the sake of argument let's pretend he or she was.
DAY 2:
1
The first part is a Tag Team style workout, requiring several partners:
P1: Feed Medicine Balls to P2
P2: 30x Med Ball Toss over 12-foot beam (2x 15#, 2x 20#, 2x 25# balls)
P3, 4, 5: Team Ball Slam Burpee @ 20# ball until P2 finishes Beam Toss
Rotate through until all five players have done 30x Beam Toss, which means a lot of Ball Slam Burpees ...
Then:
1x 15-foot Rope Climb +
10x Russian Twist @ BB & 10# (two count) +
15x Ring Push-up (feet same height as hands)
Five sets, rest between sets while others do same
Then:
15-meter KB, Med Ball, Blaster Bar, DB, Plate Shuttle:
Move 2x 70# KB, 1x 53# KB, 1x 106# KB, 2x 56# Fat Bar, 2x 50# DB, 1x 30# Med Ball, 1x 40# Med Ball, 2x 45# Plate (671# total) across gym as fast as possible
Three sets, rest between sets while others do same
This is a relatively easy day and for the fit individual could serve as a recovery workout since it is hardly stressful at all compared to day one. If memory serves, the average number of Ball Slam - Burpee combos done by each participant was well over 100, followed by 75 feet of rope climbing, 50x two-count Russian Twists @ 55# (the barbell plus a 10# plate) and 75x Ring Push-ups, and finally capped off by moving 670# across the gym (15m) three times in an average of 55 seconds per interval. Perhaps our mythological athlete has recovered well enough by doing this workout to tackle day three, the most difficult of the bunch.
DAY 3:
1
Ride (road bike) 2-3 hours @ endurance pace, include 2x 30-minute climbs at threshold pace
2
Wasatch 100 ultra-marathon (begin)
The day starts off easy enough, the warm-up requires just 4200' of elevation gain over 43 miles on a bike, then the workout begins in earnest: Run 100 miles, during which our hero will gain over 27,000 vertical feet and descend slightly more. This workout should last 24-30 hours but it might take a bit longer since days one and two will have begun adding-up at this point.
Hopefully this illustrates the absurdity of the question, "When you have a warm-up and then multiple workouts listed should I do one of these or two of them, or all three?" If the exercise paints an informative picture then don't ask the question. Even if it doesn't ... don't ask the question.
After a few days like this a fellow would need a good nap. Scott and Steve catching a snoozer in Talkeetna after having gone more than 60 hours non-stop on McKinley.