It was a beautiful day! Exercising outside in gorgeous weather always seems a bit easier. And more fun.
Total Body Workout
I wanted to do some running intervals and move around some weight. My med ball has been yelling at me to use it, so running and wall balls were a sure thing. Then I considered what I hadn’t done recently. Using dumbbells was atop the list. Since I was hitting a lot of the significant muscle groups between running and wall balls, I thought I should continue that theme and smoke my entire body.
A movement I have been working on a lot with a barbell is deadlifts. So, I thought I would change it up with the dumbbells a bit. It is a much different stimulus. Working with two dumbbells instead of a barbell means using more stabilizer muscles so you don’t topple over one direction or another. Your hands are performing separately, gripping each dumbbell individually. I can stay more upright without rounding my back because the dumbbells come down to my sides instead of in front of me.
Then, I decided to round out the movements with some power. Dumbbell alternating Clean and Jerks. A chance to work each arm overhead individually after using both to throw the medicine ball. This movement also performs all the muscle groups I have already hit in the other movements. I used power and control through my hamstrings and glutes to pull the dumbbell from the ground, the power in my hips to explode it, and my arms and shoulders to press and stabilize it over my head to a locked-out position.
I figured this would be an excellent Total body workout.
I wanted to keep this workout around the 15-minute mark. Each day, it doesn’t take much time to pump up those endorphins and get fit. What it does take is intensity and consistency each day. So, I kept the reps at mid-range and knew from previous workouts that I could do about four rounds within that time frame.
The Warm Up
After finalizing my plan, I had to bring my equipment up from the basement to the garage. I grabbed my REP Med Ball and dumbbells. I moved my car out of the garage. I marked the 9-foot line on the wall with painter’s tape. Then, I set up my gym clock in a spot I could see very well.
I love this clock. I can set it to count down using the remote it comes with. It has interval settings. A TABATA setting. And for this purpose, to count up.
I warmed up with some dynamic stretches. Arm, ankle, knee, and hip circles. Some lunges. I took a few minutes of Jump rope to get my heart rate and body temperature up, which is always a good time to practice some double unders that I have yet to master. Then, I walked myself through the motions of each movement. I did some wall balls, deadlifts, and clean jerks to gauge if I was warmed up well. Want to see my essential warm-up? Go to THIS article.
After a few breaths, I set the Gym Clock and 3..2..1..GO!
The Workout
4 Rounds For Time:
200m Run
15 Wall Balls: 14 lb Med Ball to 9 Foot
12 DB Deadlifts: I used two 30 lb dumbbells
9 DB Alternating Clean and Jerks: One of the 30 lb DB
I finished up all four rounds in 13:20
I’m not blazing speed, but I got a perfect sweat in. Did I mention it was 86 degrees?
Reflection
Great Workout! I was so out of breath at the end.
My 200-meter runs stayed consistent, about 1 minute and a few seconds apiece. I learned that my turnarounds are slow, so it’s something to work on this summer.
The wall balls, though. It took my breath away. It was SO GOOD! I had to keep breaking up the 15 wall balls into 2 or 3 sets each round.
I felt like I could recover a bit during the deadlifts; I could go up in weight next time.
And the clean and jerks.. well, they did just what I thought. Being tired from the previous movements, I fumbled a couple of times and couldn’t lock out my left arm once, so I had to repeat that rep, remembering to power through my hips to get it up there. This is a movement that I know that I need to do more of, more often, especially with my weaker left arm.
Scaling
If you want to do this workout, I recommend it.
Make sure you use a safe weight, especially if you are new to overhead presses.
You can easily substitute thrusters if you don’t have a Med Ball or the room to throw it 9 feet. It is not precisely the same, but it is close enough to the same type of movement – going below parallel in your squat and then driving the weight up over your head.
You could also use kettlebells instead of dumbbells.
Mark out 100m away from your workout space, so running out and back in will get you to your 200m.
Keep your back flat and core tight throughout all of the movements.
Let me know in the comments what your times are!
Check out my ebook, Do Something: Home Workout Program and Nutritional Guidelines for more workouts!