Workout of the Week: Child's Play
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In the last post, “Cross Country Cross-training,” I wrote about how I adapted my training to my surroundings while I was on the road. The settings for my workouts mainly included parks and playgrounds.
This “Workout of the Week” is an example of one of the workouts I did at a playground within an Arkansas state park, while I was attending a family reunion. I went either early in the morning or in the evening, when I typically would have the playground to myself. If any children came by, I’d stop and return later when it was empty.
Playgrounds are clearly built for kids, but most of its apparatus, especially the climbing equipment, can benefit adult fitness as well. The playground’s set up is ideal for a variety of pull exercises, core work and rotational movement. Not all playgrounds will have the same equipment, but most have some form of climbers, such as high bars or rings for chin ups/pull ups and swinging exercises.
This particular playground had monkey bars, rings and a sliding pole, which all played an integral part in my training. The following workout script is a rundown of my go-to full body playground fitness routine.
Set one:
Ten chin ups on the monkey bars + crossing the bars
No chin up bar? No problem. Since monkey bars are more truncated than the typical chin up bar, it actually helps to ensure you’re maintaining proper chin up form (i.e. keeping arms about shoulder-width apart), and putting significant emphasis on the biceps.
Being that I was on the playground, my mind spurred playful thoughts. The width between the monkey bars was the perfect fit for my head, so each rep felt like I was a human gopher popping up from out of its burrow.
After doing my ten chin ups, I would swing across the monkey bars, a move I remember being much easier as a child than as an adult!
Rest, and then repeat both exercises for a total of five sets.
Set two:
Ten neutral grip pull ups to hanging leg raise
I don't often do pull ups using a neutral grip, because I don’t have the proper equipment in my home gym. As luck would have it, the playground’s climbing rings provided a great opportunity for me to do some. While holding the concentric muscle contraction of the chin up, I lifted my knees to my core, then extended my legs, so that I ended up in an L-sit.
Rest, and then repeat for a total of five sets.
Set three:
Ten fireman’s pole climbs + five chin ups (you can modify the amount of chin ups to three)
While the fireman’s pole is technically for sliding down, it’s far more rewarding (and equally as fun) to shimmy up it. For this particular exercise, using your upper body strength to get to the top bar is a large part of the challenge. Getting up there is already going to tax the muscles you’d be using to do strict chin ups, which is why I only need to do three to five chin ups per set.
Of course, what goes up must come down, so after pumping out the chin ups, I slid on down.
Poles are some of the best structures for developing peak core strength. The total body benefits you get from working the pole is why pole dancing has spawned a fitness genre of its own.
By the end of this combo, my biceps and abdominals were on fire!
Rest, and then repeat for a total of five sets.
This concludes another “Workout of the Week” for your exercise enjoyment!
If you choose to do this routine, please let me know about your experience. And if you have any specific questions about this workout or general fitness inquiries, please reach out to me. I am always eager to hear from you!
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hahaha a human gopher! you crack me up