As a young man I often did not appreciate many of the things
that were being taught to me in school. It's not until you start
to age that you look back on things and wish you had applied
yourself just a little more.
Just recently I stumbled onto some information about The Great
Pyramid of Giza. This is something that I should have paid more
attention to in school. Having friends that work daily as
ironworkers and discussing what type of work goes into their
daily job really makes your jaw drop when you ponder the work
that was required to build one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
This pyramid has a base that covers over 13 acres and its volume
is around 90,000,000 cubic feet. It is made up of over 2 ½
million blocks of limestone, which weigh from 2 to 70 tons each.
This is massive. I'll bet that during its construction there
wasn't a whole lot of time to play Xbox!
Well thinking about the amount of manpower that must have been
used to construct this massive pyramid got me thinking about how
difficult the work was. So, I decided to construct my own
pyramid, through my workout that is.
THE TOOLS REQUIRED:
* a workout partner * at least 3 flights of steps (for this
workout my partner and I use 6 flights) * med ball * weighted
vest (this is actually optional and use judgment on the weight
of the vest) * mental toughness * a touch of desire
THE THROWING MOVEMENTS:
* two-arm chest pass * over-head throw * forward keg scoop (like
a granny toss) * backward keg scoop * twisting rotational side
toss
THE WORKDAY:
The standard protocol for our workout has been 5 of each throw
variation followed by the running of the stairs. This can be
adjusted based on your current strengths and conditioning
levels. The throws can be mixed up for your pleasure! Let's get
started! With your weighted vests on we start off by simply
running all 6 flights of steps 5 times. This works as a great
warm-up and really gets the sweat started on the brow. We run
these at a moderate pace, remember it's just a prep.
Have your partner stand at the top of the 1st flight of steps.
You start by throwing the medicine ball up to your partner in a
chest pass fashion and he tosses it back down to you. Continue
for 5 reps of this movement and on completion you must run to
the top (or what you have designated the top) of the stairwell.
You will then run back down the steps stopping 1 flight short of
the bottom. Your partner will have moved up one flight to be
above you once more. Now you pick the med-ball back up and throw
5 more times, and then run back up to the top again. This time
when you run back down you will stop 2 flights short of the
bottom. You continue in this fashion until you and your partner
are both standing on the top flight of steps. Now it is your
partner's turn while you rest a little by catching his or her
passes. BUT, that's only one movement - the chest pass. You
still have 4 more movements to complete in the same manor.
The pace of this workout should be in a continuous manor. You
will get time to rest while your partner is bust'n his or hers.
THE CONCLUSION:
Now I realize that this is in no way close to the amount of work
that was put into building The Great Pyramid, but this workout
will have a great carry-over effect to your fitness levels and
drastically tests your mental toughness!
So, grab your tools and getting building your own pyramid!
About the author:
Shawn is an independent performance coach. He is a graduate of
Waynesburg College where he was an all-conference defensive back
and attended CFL/NFL tryouts in 1994. He is a certified Renegade
Training practioner under world renown Strength & Conditioning
Coach John Davies, and is a certified Speed / Agility and
Quickness Trainer through N.E.S.T.A. (National Endurance and
Sports Trainers Association)Visit his website
www.gamespeed.biz
