The modern workout is often more tiring for our minds and souls, than for our bodies. We slog through the reps and sets, the sets and reps, the machines you pulley-pulley and the ones you pushy-pushy; each one different, but somehow also the same. After a while a workout can become the equivalent of filing or doing your taxes, something you treat like a chore to get on to the better parts of your day.
If the above is your current predicament, you love a challenge and enjoy sports movies with inspiring training montages set to power ballads then the Mountain Challenge was made for you.
Though the Challenge only includes three movements, it will dare you physically and mentally. It’s a workout and a goal all rolled into one. While in its clutches, if don’t wonder at least once if you will be able to finish, you’re probably not doing it right (or to the safe edge of your abilities).
You will complete a total of 10 sets, starting with 10 pull-ups and working your way down to the last set which will be only 1. With each set you will do one less pull-up, but the same amount of push-ups and hold the stretch each side for 30 seconds.
The bottom of the mountain looks like this:
10 Pull-ups (with assistance if needed, lat pull-downs can also be substituted)
10-15 push-ups (full or modified)
60 seconds of the lower body stretch that you know you need the most (probably hip or hamstring lengthening. This is your time to rest, so take it. By the end you’ll have given your most needy body parts the gift of an amazing 10 minute deep stretch).
This is an intermediate to advanced workout for those with no upper body injuries who have been training for at least three consecutive months. Start with some light cardio and dynamic upper body movements to get ready for action. Do it with a friend and good music and you’ll be more pumped than a bounce house at a birthday party.
Thanks to UCSF wonder-trainer Sarah Delaney, who contributed most of this workout. You can read more of her stuff at Sarah’s Health and Wellness Updates
Though many fitness trends of the 80’s are best forgotten (G-string leotards anyone?) the Par Course is one innovation that deserves a comeback tour.
The Par Course is a fitness playground for adults, made up of wood or metal apparatus set into parks, fields or other open spaces. The basic course usually includes various heights of pull-up bars, push-ups bars, downward slanting sit-up boards, and squat and step-up platforms. I’ve also seen balance beams, adult sized monkey bars and rings. The equipment can be spread out along a trail or clumped together like an outdoor gym.
To witness the hey day of the mighty Par Course in the US you would need to click the heels of your high-top Reebok aerobic shoes together and travel back to 1985, when there were over 5,000 courses. Since then, many have fallen into disrepair and been reduced to fitness ghost towns, with splintery wood, rusty bolts and missing instructional signs. The decline and fall of the Par Course is a huge shame because this fitness movement was way ahead of its time in offering a challenging, versatile, full-body workout with a view.
I hope that we can get a Par Course renaissance going and bring these sturdy, reliable work horses back to the forefront of fitness.
Reasons to find an existing course or ask your employer or local municipality to install one:
Once installed a Par Course is free to use and available to anyone with the energy and gumption to take advantage of it.
The Par Course is a great alternative to the gym, especially if you already have a foundation of fitness. Body weight exercises such as push-ups, squats and pull-ups develop balanced, full-body strength that is difficult to duplicate using fitness machines.
It’s outside, which can be such a blessing in our indoor, climate controlled world. Get your dose of Vitamin D while you get into shape.
Have a Par Course picnic! Since most courses are in park like settings why not relax and enjoy afterward.
Each course offers practically endless variations and challenges. Try jumping rope, doing sprints or sun salutations between stations. Bring your own gear (hand weights, medicine balls, or resistance bands) to add even more variety and isolate specific muscle groups.
Your progress is easily measurable. Keep track of how many push-ups, sit-ups or pull-ups you can do and recognize your bad a#* self as you get stronger and fitter.
You will gain functional, athletic strength that will easily transfer to sports and daily life.
It’s fun! Exercising in a playground like setting with others who are happy to be getting fit too. What could be better?
Find a Par Course near you, slap on some sweat proof sun block and get busy!
These two movements develop explosive pushing power and core strength. They also offer the society enhancing benefit of quickly defusing feelings of homicidal rage. I often day dream about enjoying this combo while engaging in more frustrating endeavors (usually involving a phone or computer).
What you need: a good sized medicine ball and something to bang it in to (a heavy punching bag, a solid wall or a partner who can catch).
Step 1: After a warm-up including loosening up your upper body, hit the ground for a challenging set of push-ups. Do enough to feel the tingle and get a little grunty, but not so many that you can’t get up.Step 2: Stand up and grab your medicine ball with one foot slightly in front of the other and knees soft. Think boxing stance. You are now ready to release the rage! To do a chest pass put one palm on each side of the ball and hold it against your chest at the nipple line. Arms should be bent and nearly parallel to the floor. To execute the pass extend your arms and thrust the ball forward in an explosive pushing motion. Focus on using your chest muscles, but make sure you keep your core/abdominals drawn in and tight and ground your legs into floor.Beginners: Do 10 modified push-ups (on your knees) followed by 15 chest passes. Rest one minute and repeat (for a total of two sets).Intermediates: Do 20 modified push-ups or 10 regular (on toes) followed by 20 – 25 chests passes. Do crunches for a minute and then repeat (for a total of two sets).Advanced: Do 20 – 25 push-ups followed by 30 passes (or 30 seconds of passing). Do crunches for a minute and repeat twice (for a total of three sets). Add a minute of jump roping between each set if you really want to sweat.Now get busy my little rage puppies and let me know what you think.
A barn raisin’ is not a shriveled treat found on the floor of a barn, but what communities used to do when one of their members need a warm place to stash their cows and oats. Building a barn is always a big job, but in the pre-power tools days of the 18th and 19th century the process was especially daunting. Even for strong country boys and girls barn raising was not a solo sport and several burly pairs of arms were needed to raise much of anything.
Back in the day all able bodied community members were required to participate in barn raisings and those who did not suffered community banishment and all around shunning. The process usually took at least a couple of days and nobody was paid. But it wasn’t all grunting and asking Cousin Edgar to pass the bucket of nails, because a barn razing also provided rare social opportunities for far flung community members to get together, feast and have a good ole’ time (I like to imagine there were fiddles involved).
Helping someone move is the modern day equivalent of barn raising. Which begs the question why would most of us rather hide ourselves in a box all day then help someone move? Why does the modern world leave people to raise their own sad, little lonely barns or hire some sweaty stranger to help?
What are we working out for anyway if not to build strong bodies capable of bounding up steps even when weighed down by heavy boxes of books? What’s the point of lifting a barbell if you can’t (or won’t) lift a couch? Unless you have a physical job, helping someone move is one of the few chances we get in our modern world to put our lovely muscles to productive use. Thought of in a slightly more historical perspective moving is an opportunity to use our skills and muscles, get together with friends and build community spirit. And don’t forget the beer and food enhanced celebration when the final box has been unloaded!
So don’t miss out on the next opportunity to help a friend, flex your stuff and dine on free beer and pizza. Just remember, lift with your legs, not your back and ask for help with the heavy or slippery stuff.
*Mennonite and Amish communities still practice community barn raising. Cool.
