Rugged Maniac Prep Month

Rugged Maniac was good enough to forward a Men's Health article outlining a training approach. The article prompted this post; in my experience, people are unwilling to adapt a training regimen to fit a pre-existing (and busy!) schedule.

Preparing for an event with just a month isn't ideal, but you have to work within the time you have. To that end, I'm going to do two workouts a day. I'm also making some compromises to fit within my existing schedule / activities:

Warmup (before each morning routine)

Repeat for 3 minutes

• 5 pushups
• 5 air squats
• 5 situps

Morning Routine A (Crossfit)

Do each workout for 40 seconds, rest 20 seconds, repeat 6 times.

• Bear Crawl
• Gorilla Hang Pullup
• Plank to Elbow Touch
• Dumbbell Thruster
• Spiderman Pushup
• Dumbbell Row

Morning Routine B (Yoga)

Hold positions for the time listed below. Do 5 reps of each position. Breathe in for 5 seconds and out for 5 seconds. Continue breathing during transitions.

• Hands to Heart (6 breaths)
• Mountain (10 second hold, 5 neutral, 5 each arm)
• Tree (1 min hold each leg)
• Down dog / Upward Facing Dog (10 sec hold),
• Cat / Cow pairs (5 seconds each)
• Broken Table (1 min each side)
• Sun Salutation A (5 seconds each position: Mountain, Extended Mountain, Fold Forward, Halfway Lift, Chaturanga, Upward Facing Dog, Downward Facing Dog, Step Forward, Fold Forward, Halfway Lift, repeat) Warrior 2, Triangle, Warrior 2, Reverse, Warrior 1, Fold Forward, Warrior 1, repeat (5 seconds each position) - do left foot forward for 5 sets then do right foot forward for 5 sets
• High Boat / Low Boat (15 seconds each position)
• Wheel (15 second hold)
• Supta Baddha Konasana (1 rep, 30 sec)
• Corpse Pose (1 rep, 2 mins)

Afternoon Routine (Cardio)

Running is familiar to me, but I want to cross-train for a future triathlon.

• Swimming, 2x week
• Biking, 2x week
• Running, 3x week

Combined

This is the resulting schedule:

Adjustments

Routine A is still a challenge for me, I'm starting out with 5-pound dumbbells and doing 2, 3, 4 and 5 sets the first four days. I strongly recommend making similar adjustments as you ramp up. Because the first few days leave extra time, I'm filling it with house work to maintain the schedule and keep moving.