Welcome to our first week of workouts designed by Dan John. With a background in track and field, weightlifting, and Highland Games, and having worked with elite athletes for years, Dan knows what it takes to make someone fast and strong.
Three new workouts from Dan will be posted each week, starting on Monday. They can be done on any day you have available.
To learn more about Dan, read our feature interview:
Part 1: The State of the Fitness Union
Week One – Consisting of Three Lifting Workouts
Daily Warm Up:
I suggest you use a Kettlebell or a Dumbbell when you warm up. I start off with a series of walks, easy squats, some planks, and then move up to some lifting movements like the Row and Push Up. If you need to do additional mobility work, do it here, but reserve things like Static Stretching and Foam rolling until after the workout.
- Waiter Walks/Suitcase Walks
- Light Goblet Squats / Hip Flexor Stretch “Make Space”
- Plank (Superman and One Leg Variations)
- Windmill Movements (Get Up Series)
- Pushup Position Planks (Superman and One Leg Variations)
- Scap or Horizontal Shrugs “Relax into Stretch”
- Three Point One Arm Rows
- Alligator Push Ups Tic-tock-tic-tock…(Do a Push Up, move a hand forward, Push Up, Move other hand forward…a walking Push Up)
- Half Turkish Get ups using the elbow as a lever
Workout:
“On the Minute” – Eight Sets of Five
Start a clock and at the top of each minute perform a set of five reps of the following exercises. Perform eight sets of five before moving to the next exercise. Add weight each set, as is appropriate.
- Front Squats
- Bench Press
- Hurdle Walkovers
- Backward Sled Pulls (20m sled pull, just do one a minute)
- Deadlifts
Note: For Hurdle Walkovers use a flight of ten hurdles, and just march “High Knee style” over them each minute; it is a hip mobility drill and a bit of a rest. You can sub in High Knees Marching as a variation, if you don’t have all the hurdles.
This is FORTY reps per movement. Start light and don’t add much from set to set.
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