Freaky Friday #15- Sleds and Deads
Happy to have our favorite chiropractic badass Dr. Matt Ward back to write this installment of Freaky Friday. When not cracking necks and cashing checks, Wardo is killing it in the gym and hosting "Quick and Dirty with Wardo" on the Beyond the Kill podcast by the guys over at Journal of Mountain Hunting. Wardo wrote an earlier Freaky Friday that I get sore just thinking about, so we are thrilled to have him write us another killer. Let’s get it on! And be sure to check out the latest episode of Quick and Dirty below the workout.
- CANIS Team
This is the time of year when building strength should be your primary concern. There is tons of time to build up your cardio in the coming months. Strength is the foundation that opens up a variety of movements, builds durability, prevents injury, and ultimately makes you more useful.
If you haven’t spent time pulling the sled you are missing out. It's been a staple in any strength and conditioning program since the beginning of time. I remember reading early work from the Westside Barbell crew dragging a 45lb plate for a mile, then going to try it and I fondly remember the feeling of burning muscle in my weak ass hips, hamstrings and calves. At the halfway point, I fell in love. You can use the sled for anything and because you don’t have a ton of eccentric load it doesn’t make you sore. In fact, my athletes who would get DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) with early season workouts, active recovery was always spent dragging the sled, and it always worked to flush the legs. If you don’t have one, you can get the S-35E E Sled from Rogue Fitness for around $140, and it is worth every penny.
Main lifts (i.e. deadlift, squats, cleans, etc) and sprints combinations were developed as early as the 80’s but could be earlier and made famous by a fucking machine named Sergey Litvinov. Litvinov was a gold and silver medalist for the Soviet Union in hammer throw during the 1980 and 1988 Olympics. You want to be leaner, faster, stronger, and more muscular, this is the exercise combo for you. It isn't a booty band and colored dumbbells. This is heavy weights and sprints. Litvinov would front squat 405 for 8 then sprint 400m in 70ish seconds and do that two more times. Boom workout over. He was a 200lb unit of a human. Now that we know what the goal is, let’s get into the workout.
Equipment: Barbell, Plates, Sled, Bands
Warm-up:
6 minute sled drag
0-25 lbs on sled
Go 30-40 yards forwards, backwards and laterally on each side #0-25 on sled
Appetizer
30 second Cat Camel- Get on all 4’s and arch back up, then back to resting flat position.
10 Seated Wide-Stance Good Mornings- Sit on a bench or ball, place a plate on your back, sumo stance with your feet, back flat, pull yourself forward, pull with glutes back up to erect position..
10 Barbell RDL- Common mistake here is going too low. Lower barbell slowly downs to the mid shin, force your hips backwards, pull with hamstrings to stand back up.
15 Banded Pull Aparts- Wrist flat, elbows straight, touch chest with band
Do 4 rounds of the above
Meat:
4 deads (however you want to do it: sumo, conventional, rack pull, trap bar)
Deadlifts should be 8 out of 10 effort, which means you could maybe do 3-4 more but that’s IT!
Immediately followed by 50 meter 80% max-pace run
Rest until recovered 2-3min
Do 4 rounds of the above
Potatoes:
200m forward sled march
200m backward sled march
Put the strap around hips for these, 60-100lbs on sled, this should be fucking hard and make you want to have a tantrum.
8 Barbell bent over rows with a full 2 second pause on while bar is against the chest
Light weight here, form is everything.
Do 3 rounds of the above
Dessert:
12-15 Hip Hikers- foot elevated on ball or bench, then it is a single leg glute bridge
12-15 V-Ups- Lay on back, bring feet and arms up to meet in middle of your body
Nightcap:
2 Minute Pigeon Stretch- Focus on belly breathing during the stretch, 2 minutes on each leg
2, 60 second up dog to down dog- Steady flow and get a good stretch