I know some of you have played a sport of some kind, particularly an organized sport, and with that comes the training that conditions your mind and your body to undertake the physical tasks ahead of you. I played baseball and football, although the latter really shaped me physically more than the former. That being said, I'm thinking back about my favorite things about working out with the football team, including the workout itself, and I'd like to know some of the workouts you guys liked when you were in sports. I'll show you what I'm thinking about. Who knows? Maybe you'll find that you can incorporate some of what my team did into your workout! Anyways, without further adieu:

The Workout:

Bench Press/Super set of 12 Plate raises at 45 pounds
8 reps at 65% of max
6 reps at 75% of max
4 reps at 85% of max
6 reps at 75% of max
8 reps at 65% of max

Squats/super set of 12 calf raises
8 reps at 65% of max
6 reps at 75% of max
4 reps at 85% of max
6 reps at 75% of max
8 reps at 65% of max

Power Cleans/Super set of 12 squat jumps
6 reps at 65%
5 reps 75%
4 reps 85%
4 reps 85%

Tricep Dips of 12 reps, 3 sets

Weighted Step ups (45 pounds)12 reps, 3 sets

15 minutes of various ab exercises, including:

• Weighted sit-ups (25 pounds)
• Crunches
• Weighted oblique crunches (25 pounds)
• Butterfly kicks
• Bicycle kicks
• Planking (starting at 15 seconds and going up to a minute)
• Several exercises I don't know the name of
  

Outdoor workout:

After we would finish our session in the gym, we would do one of many things outside. Here's what I can remember:

• Two-man bungee cord sprints:This worked in two ways: The front man would run against the resistance, increasing his drive. When the back man would finally run, he would run faster than his normal speed because the bungee was pulling him forward. As a result, his speed increased, because his body and mind became able to cope with the higher speed.
• Tire flips: Good ol' tire flips. From rather small tires to the ones that belonged on monster trucks, we would often find ourselves racing against each other to flip the tire 10, 20, or even 30 yards the fastest.
• Ladder drills: The ladder improved footwork and coordination. The icky shuffle was my favorite drill.
• Wind Sprints: You know how these works. "Hey, boy. You see the 20 yard line over there? Run to it."
• Cone drills: Oh, the cones. Some of these were fun, some of these weren't as much. I got pretty good at running backwards.
• My personal "favorite" were exercises done on what we called the "Hell's Hill." There was this hill that was unused before the new strength coach came to the school, and I guess when he drove by it, the psychopathic tendencies in his mind sprung forth, because he sure did like taking us to the hill. In the beginning, we would just run, back peddle, and lunge up the hill. Our quads would be absolutely destroyed, and the worst part about it was walking down. However, as time moved on, he started using the hill as punishment for penalties (he was the offensive line coach, and they had a lot of holding calls... but somehow the defense was penalized, too). With this came more stuff: fireman carries, skipping (looked ridiculous, burned ridiculous), frog-jumping, bunny hopping, bear crawling... you name it, that man probably did it to us. But because of that hill, we really became tough and were able to outplay a lot of our opponents despite skill, size, and speed deficiencies.

There's a quote that I think is attributed to Alabama's legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, and it goes something like this:

"It's not the will to win that matters-everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."

I really like that quote, and I think it holds true. I only regret a couple of things that I didn't do during this time: Establish a diet and not run on my off days. I'd have been a much better player had I really understood the importance of putting more into it.

Anyways, I'd like to know what you guys (and girls!) have done in your workouts, or even if you don't remember everything, just share a fond memory or two of the grueling struggles and triumphant victories!

Some of the stuff I did when I wrestled was crazy. We used to have to do duckwalks through the hallways with a 8lb medicine ball. When we turned the corners we could not stand up but we had to jump and twist in the air and start duckwalking again. It was brutal but your core and quads got rocked afterwards, The jumping made us crazy explosive on down position when starting matches.

Also doing calestenics in my bathroom with the shower on super hot while wearing sweat suits and garbage bags. The couple of weeks before Alpha weigh-in was brutal. Dropping that much weight that fast was real hard on the body.

I've done some pretty intense workouts for hockey. For one, we had to go on a BOSU ball (look it up), and do squats with a 10 pound medicine ball in our hands. It was "Out, Down, Up, In", repeated for 30 seconds. Then we would move over to a slide board, do a 30 second rep on that, then we went on to Russian Boxes, and did that with a 5 pound medicine ball for 30 seconds. We then did tap boxes, where we had to go up up, down down, for 30 seconds, and finally we had to walk as far forward as we could with one of those resistance bands around our waists, and hold it for 30 seconds. We did that over and over for about a half hour

I used to have to do this thing called snakes at the end of every football practice I found it quite fun all you had to do is run down the zero yard line go up run down the ten yard line and so on.We also did wind sprints that were easy and fun as well.

austipokedude : I remember doing that stuff for football. It's a lot more fun in groups than it is by yourself, let me tell you. I was doing those in the middle of last year before I hurt my knee. It got kinda lonely out there.

austipokedude : Fun and easy wind sprints?  You obviously weren't training hard enough.  If you're not gassed at the end of those, you didn't try.

Most of my workouts are all work related.
Had I zero experience with sports? I would not have made it the first six months.

Try to keep up with a crew when your Manual Pallet Jack (not the electric ones you ride.) has bad wheels.
I learned a trick to use my hands and arms on the "Racking Beams" and drag the pallet using the jack as a gripping point. Weight? Varies. When the wheels do not rotate at certain points? It truely sucks.
Thankfully the Warehouse I was in had good "Racking Beams" in place that are solid and up to code.
If the wheels are bad you can use the racking to drag the pallet with the jack in a Zig-Zag Pattern across the distance. Just grab a beam and pull.
True it is slow, but if no other device is handy (Or the boss is a total fool and decides you will only work with... the worst equipment?) it can get the job done. Way better than running in place and getting nothing done.

You do this at the beginning of your shift. Every day. For about 30 minutes to an hour.
Distances vary but the max is about the length of a football field from the dock. (Heck of a way to wake up too.)

After 30 minutes (Light nights) to an hour (Heavy nights) your legs, arms, and lungs should be feeling something. (Remember to carry a gallon of water. We have Seven hours and 30 minutes left. Weight of the Water? 8.5 lbs.)

After the trucks are unloaded you should have about.....20,000 lbs of work to be Shuffled, Sorted, Stocked, Counted, and taken care of. Why the time Varies on the first task??? Other Departments get excess gear. (Supply and Demand.) Hope they do not need ASSISTANCE.

If you are a coffee drinker? You better hope you finished it while Dragging your pallets.
Fun Fact: (I mix my protein shake mix in my coffee. The coffee dehydrates allot but you packed a gallon of water anyway. Right?)

I would "drone on", But I am trying to not think about work when I get off the clock.

Good Luck To All.
Peace.