Training: Poetic Spirit Training Like A Warrior

Let's throw away the Bowflex; throw away all machines. Machine weights are expensive, and are nothing more than hyped-up trash. Let's release our inner warrior, and let's get real. Let's take care of business with some tires and stones!

Let's stop making excuses about not having this, and not having that. Excuses are nothing but blocks in the road. So you don't have barbells, squat racks, or benches; let's make use of what's lying in the trenches.

Alright, enough with Dr. Seuss... I'm afraid that I wore out my welcome with that. Here's the point:

Sometimes the reality of not having the same equipment as a world-class gym can cause an individual to think that they are unable to truly become stronger. This thought is complete and utter shenanigans. You do not need to have access to a world-class gym to become a better athlete and get stronger.

I found an old tractor tire just hanging out in the woods the other day. The tractor tire was not the heaviest tire, maybe 150 to 200 pounds, but it gets the job done. Today I used it in a couple different ways including:

• deadlifting and explosively pressing the tire to the ground
• deadlifting the tire as explosively as possible so that the tire will flip without having to press it; almost as though you were trying to throw it straight up into the air
• carried the tire as if it was farmer bars

It was also garbage day out here in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania. Someone has to bring the garbage cans up from the end of the driveway so I decided to mix it in between sets. I would do some kind of tire variation and then sprint to pick up one of the three garbage cans. I would walk it up to where it belongs while carrying it over my head. I would then sprint back to pick up the next garbage can. This time I did a variation of lifts while walking including the power snatch, overhead press, and tricep extensions. I did the same thing with the last garbage can, that I did with the first one.

The next thing I did in my workout involved finding two stones in my rock wall. One of the stones was too heavy to do anything with other than deadlift it. The other stone was light enough to do just about anything that I wanted, but still heavy enough to get results. I did three sets of five deadlifts with the really heavy stone. With the lighter stone, I power cleaned it from the ground to my chest and would explosively chest press/throw it for distance; I did this approximately 10 times. I also power cleaned this lighter stone from the ground to both of my shoulders, one at a time. I did 3 x 5 for each shoulder.

I ended the workout with six sprints that were approximately 40 yards each and I did as many pull ups that I could. Obviously, the workout truly ended with some static stretching, and started with my normal warm-up routine. The static stretching at the end, and the warm-up in the beginning of the workout, are both key in preventing injury. The workout lasted about one hour overall.

I'm going to go off topic a little, but I promise that what I am about to say correlates to this topic perfectly.

Okay so everyone has dreams, but very few actually chase them. Most people dream their lives, but very few actually live their dreams; let's live our dreams. You need to take action in order to live your dreams. Your dreams will not just happen, you have to go get them; attack them with everything that you have, and don't let anything stand in your way. Everybody runs into blocks in the road when chasing their dreams, but only a few actually hurdle these road blocks. A lot of times when one reaches a road block they put their head down and quit everything that they had been working for. Not having the same equipment as a world class gym is just one example of running into a road block. However, instead of quitting, find alternative ways of getting stronger and be creative all at the same time. You will be amazed at how much of a workout you will receive in return. I'm not saying to never pick up a barbell again, or that lifting stones and flipping tires is the jack of all lifting, but I truly believe that you can become an elite athlete with doing so.

The real message here is covered within that idea of not quitting when you run into a wall; get back up and find another way. As Zach Even-Esh always puts it... 'there is more to training than just getting stronger or more athletic, you are training for life as well.'