Balls To The Wall - How To Have The Least Fun in 30 Minutes!

There are a lot of different types of workouts.

Some focus on speed. Some focus on muscle growth (hypertrophy).
And some focus on…THE SUCK
I mean, mental toughness.
When I was younger, I didn't really know what fitness was. I mean, Arnold was fit, right? So whatever he did must be fitness.
Fringe Sport Balls To The Wall Med Ball Weekend Workout
Later, I found CrossFit, and was introduced to their 10 component assessment of fitness:
  1. Cardiorespiratory Endurance

  2. Stamina

  3. Strength

  4. Flexibility

  5. Power

  6. Speed

  7. Coordination

  8. Accuracy

  9. Agility

  10. Balance

(Side note, Jim Cawley, the founder of Dynamax, told me that CrossFit borrowed that framework from him. Then after he had a falling out with CrossFit, he told me that they stole it from him. Open source fitness!)
I digress.
Not mentioned on that framework- or on that GLORIOUS picture of Arnold above is mental toughness.

But it's real.

What does it matter if you CAN do something… if you WON'T?
To this end, there are a number of workouts that exist… to help teach you to power through them. To put your suffering aside.

To EMBRACE THE SUCK.

And today's workout of the week is one of them.

This was shared by David Chambliss from our private Facebook community, but it originated from Zero Comfort Functional Fitness. 
We're challenging you with it since:
A) it's super scalable- just starting your strength journey? Go light!
B) it's easy to tack on to the end of a workout or even a rest/fun day without tanking your programming 
C) I love med ball work.  You can also use a sandbag-  I personally did this with a 30# sandbag.
D) This is another example of how to incorporate endurance/stamina work into your programming… without running.
Oh, and if you need a great med ball, we know where you can find one!

THE WORKOUT

  • Bear hug for distance
  • Maximum distance in 30 minutes
  • Bear hug a med ball, sandbag or  whatever you have handy! (Got a bag of dog food lying around- grab that!)
  • Start walking or jogging
  • You can shift the weight around as much as you want- or even drop it as much as you want, but don't shoulder it, farmer's carry it, drag it, etc- you want to carry it in front of you
  • If you drop the weight, stop moving, take a few breaths, then pick it up again and keep going!
  • Male Rx weight is 50#  (but you can start lighter if you're a beginner!)
  • Female Rx weight is 30#  (ditto to the above!)
A few notes:
 * This is supposed to SUCK, but it's not supposed to HURT. Try to keep moving as much as you can. Dropping the weight and taking a break is fine, but try to limit breaks to 5 deep breaths, max.
 * I did this with a 30# sandbag and made it 2.14 miles. I intentionally weighted myself light and set goals to A) remain in constant motion B) never drop the weight C) "reverse split" my distance- go further in minutes 15:00-30:00 than in minutes 0:00-15:00.
 * While this is a "mental toughness" workout, it can be nice to do it with friends or your headphones in. I did it with my Shadow dog keeping me company.
Of course - we always want you to post your results to our IG and tag us @fringesport.  - or leave them in the comments, along with YOUR favorite med ball workout!
And remember, if you need a great medball, I saved one for ya!
As always, lift heavy lift happy -

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