As well as experimenting with fluidity training recently, I’ve been trying to mix up conditioning sessions to be a bit more interesting as well. Gauntlets are one great way to do this (an example of the new UW one is coming), but we’ve also started to mix in creativity challenges with the conditioning exercises and it’s been a lot of fun.

The Challenge Loop

The idea is that you pick an area to focus on, and take turns coming up with difficult conditioning challenges to complete there. We started this at Freeway Park in an area that has a great set of stairs on one side, and a set of varying sized blocks on the other. We went from fireman’s carries, to wheelbarrows, to backwards QM, to successive broad jumps, to various QM movements, to all sorts of stuff. Without a single person calling out all of the exercise ideas, you get a more varied and interesting session (a lot of times it’s a much harder session as well).

I’m back today from a great training session at UW where we focused on the slanted wall and some railings. We did a ton various muscle ups, reverse cat hangs, one footed pop vaults, QM on railings, underbars, and long confusing fluid routes. I loved it, got a great workout, and am definitely looking forward to the next one.