Primitive Athletic Training

I am in Tioga, ND again at the same job site I’ve visited twice this already this year. The first time I was here in October there were no buildings and we had to camp, leaving me with only outdoor running and burpees as my fitness options. Last time I was here in December, temperatures were in the negatives every day with a nasty and constant wind and heavy snow. We at least had shelter in December, but not enough to train inside. So, I still ran and did burpees outside.

As the site has developed in the past few months, also has an indoor fitness center! Even though running outside would not be bad now due to the temperatures being above freezing, it was nice to walk into a room with a full set of dumbbells, treadmills, pullup and dip stations heavy bag, and several machines.

After a full day of travel and teetering on burnout as a residual result of the Burpee Two Miler, I wasn’t sure if I should even strength train this morning. My lower back has been feeling stiff for a few days, so I wanted nothing to do with standing rollouts. There was no belt to attach weight for weighted pullups, so those were scratched. My legs and IT band were sore from running yesterday and an intense rope session the day before. Do I didn’t want to do single leg squats. Most of my main strength exercise options were eliminated before the workout even began. So, I honestly thought about slacking due to my lack of options. Then I decided that slacking is for douches.

After my three hours of sleep, I dragged my stiff and groggy self into the fitness center and tried to make the best of it. Not having a workout in mind, I just started on the pullup bar. I did a couple of warmup sets and decided to try to hold a dumbbell between my knees for some weighted sets. I did one set with a 70 lb dumbbell between my knees, which was cut short due to the dumbbell slipping. With weighted sets not being possible, I tried my luck at a strict bar muscle up- a goal I have unofficially set the near future. I’ve never been able to do it without a slight swing on the bar. To my surprise, I actually got it! I then did another one a few minutes later to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. Sweet! I need to get it on tape to make it official. Then of course when I turned on the camera, I couldn’t get it. I’ll try again in 48 hours.

I then decided to do some random sets of single arm dumbbell bench with 80 lbs. I did 4 x 6 each arm with some crappy isometric pulls in between sets. After this, I felt as if I had done nothing, which is not a good feeling after a training session.

What else could I do? Ah ha! Snatches! I haven’t done them since before the Burpee Two Miler due to my rotator cuff being so tender.

I figured I would do a few light sets and see how I felt. After all, a goal of mine for this year is to be able to Snatch a 100 lb dumbbell with each arm. 70, 80, and 90 lbs felt easy and smooth. I was shocked. They have a 100 lb dumbbell, so I decided to go for it. And, in case I actually achieved this goal, I had the camera rolling. After a crappy first half of a work and already feeling stiff, I was floored when the 100 lb dumbbell came up easy! Cross that goal off the list!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7KhuJoAcyY&feature=youtube_gdata_player