Perpetual
Motion
We’ve
all been in situations that have demanded more from us than
we originally thought possible. Even if you can handle the
job alone it’s usually good to know there is a helping
hand not too far away. When I was a Navy Diver, I can’t
tell you how many times we assured ourselves that a project
was going to be “quick and easy” only to find
ourselves, 5-6 hours later, still busting our backs. What
was amazing to notice after a while was that each of us would
stay in the water as long as possible before you changed out
with another diver. Even if your hands felt like blocks of
ice, you couldn’t feel your feet anymore, you hadn’t
had water in what seemed like forever, and you were damn near
exhausted, you dug down and gave it all you had until the
job was done. This was the unspoken rule most of us followed
because you didn’t want anyone else having to take up
your slack, or to be the weak link in the team, ever.
This
mentality was not about ego, bragging, or trying to be labeled
“hard-core” in any way. The jobs were usually
cold, long, and dangerous at times. We all knew that if we
didn’t give it 100% that the next guy would have to
do more and that attitude was simply unacceptable. Knowing
that every person on the team was giving it his absolute best
motivated everyone involved. The strengths of one person would
support another’s weaknesses until this mutual support
created an almost unstoppable mentality that enabled us to
perform well beyond our own individual limitations.
I
consider this workout a combination gut check/team builder
because it instills an “I’ll do more so you don’t
have too” mentality. I’ve used this particular
workout in my fitness classes and there have been many a participant
that has run off to the sidelines to puke in the middle of
it, so be ready to push yourself. You will need a partner
for this workout (but you can do it on your own if your friends
are too lazy to do it with you) and I call it Perpetual Motion
because each person is always doing something. By doing your
best to make sure your partner doesn’t do more than
“his share” of exercises, you’ll be pushing
yourself harder and harder as the workout progresses. There
is seemingly no time for rest and any rest that is taken during
the workout only insures that your partner will suffer longer.
It’s easy to fall in to the “you took your time,
now I’ll take mine” game and believe me it ruins
the workout in quick order. Drop the ego, assure your partner
that you will do more so he won’t have to, and give
it 100%. Let’s play.
Perpetual
Motion
Set
up:
The
first thing we’ll need to do is select 5 exercises for
the workout. The option to select exercises that fatigue predominantly
upper or lower body parts or choose exercises that are considered
“full body” is yours. Just to make things interesting,
I’ve selected the following 5 exercises for you:
Take
5 index cards, or pieces of paper, and write one exercise
on each card.
Take
your 5 exercise cards and shuffle them up so they are in no
particular order. With your back to the pull-up bars (with
cones and cards in hand) walk about 20-30 yards directly away
and place your first cone and card on the ground. Don’t
worry about which exercise is first, even if it’s the
easiest one in the group and you start to worry that you’ll
place the difficult ones towards the end. Do not change
the order of the cards from the original shuffle!
It’s tempting to place the more difficult exercises
at the beginning so that you can do them when you’re
fresh, and save the easier ones for the end of the workout,
but that’s just too bad. We’ve already discussed
that life doesn’t always let you do the hard stuff when
you’re fresh and that’s not the point of this
workout anyway, so suck it up! Continue walking directly away
from the pull-up bars and placing the cones/cards at 10-15
yard intervals. When you’ve placed all your cones down
you should have a direct line, away from the pull-up bars,
that’s about 75-100 yards long.
You
and your partner should decide on a set number of pull-ups
that you feel you can do for all 5 sets. Pick a number that
is challenging but doable. Remember that you must
do all the pull-ups before you can leave the pull-up bars
so try to be realistic about your abilities and keep in mind
that you’ll be sprinting before the pull-ups.
This puts a whole new twist on this section of the workout!
If you pick a number of pull-ups that is too high and you
can’t do them all at once, your partner is in for a
treat because you will not leave the pull-up bars until you
have done all the pull-ups in your set. Keep this in mind
as you’re shaking the fatigue out of your arms and he/she’s
out there doing squat thrusts, waiting for your sprint back,
cursing your mother for ever having such a wuss as you for
a child. Sound a bit harsh? Believe me, I've seen good friends
swearing at each other like drunken sailors when they feel
the other guy is slacking.
Like
I said, this workout builds some serious mental toughness.
Now
walk back to the first cone and you and your partner are ready
to begin.
The
workout:
Both
partners are standing at the first cone and have read the
card, which might say “squat thrusts”. When you
are both ready to begin, partner “A” will start
performing squat thrusts while partner “B” sprints
to the pull-up bars, does his set, and sprints back to the
first cone. Now this point is crucial: “A”
will not sprint until “B” begins doing the exercise
that is designated on the card! Why? Because after sprinting,
pull-ups, and sprinting again, it’s likely that “B”
will stand at the cone with his hands on his knees praying
for death, while “A” sprints to the bars. By the
time “A” starts to sprint back from his pull-ups,
“B” may have only done 5 squat thrusts as opposed
to the initial 25 that “A” did. This workout isn’t
about you catching your breath while your partner suffers,
so your partner is not allowed to leave the cone until you
begin the exercise! This might be where the term “suck
it up” takes on a whole new meaning.
You
might be saying to yourself; “Well, I can do one squat
thrust so my partner can go and then I’ll stop to catch
my breath.” Think again. If, while your partner is sprinting
to the pull-up bars, you stop for more than 5 breaths then
you will yell out “ADD ON”. Be ready for your
partner to start cursing you (or me for that matter) because
“ADD ON” means that he now has 2 sets of pull-ups
to complete before he can leave the bars. This means that
if the designated number of pull-ups was six he will now do
twelve. Honesty is the key here so don’t be a cheater
and take a break when you think no one is looking!
Once
“A” has sprinted to the pull-up bars and completed
his pull-ups he will sprint past the first cone to the second
cone, look at what’s on the card, and begin whatever
exercise is written on it. As soon as he begins the exercise
he will call out “GO!” and “B” will
then sprint to the pull-up bars, perform his set, and sprint
back to the second cone to start the exercise. Remember what
I said about the transition at each cone! This will continue
for each cone all the way across the field. Whoever is “A”
will always sprint to the next farthest cone after completing
the pull-ups. Done in this manner, both partners will “leap
frog” each other down the field and the workout is finished
when both have completed the pull-ups and sprints for the
very last cone.
Final
notes:
One
of the best things about this workout is the endless variation
you can throw into it. You are only limited by your imagination
and lack of knowledge of conditioning drills. Remember that
this workout is not only designed to build your capacity for
more work it’s also going to develop your mental toughness
like you won’t believe. It’s somewhat easier during
a traditional workout when you know how many reps and sets
you will be doing. With Perpetual Motion, you have no idea
how many reps you will perform so you really have to dig down
deep and find the drive to continue.
I’ve
included a diagram to help explain the set-up for those that
might not understand from the written explanation and a few
more variations you can use during the workout as well.
Train
hard!
SCRAPPER
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