This Bootcamp Improved My Running & Could Improve Yours
I just have to share this with you, the results have been great—why not see if it works for you.
Intro
Hey all — I’ve been using this workout whilst training for my 10km race and the results have been fantastic. My intent is to share this with you so hopefully you can experience similar results:
Increased overall strength, improved cardiovascular & muscular endurance
Week by week I’ve been logging my progress (Road to 10k). It’s not just for runners, it’s for overall functional fitness. If you’re into any sport, or you just like a bootcamp, I’m sure you’ll benefit.
General
Basic information on the plan.
Duration:
- 55mins — 1hr
Difficulty:
- Intermediate
Target muscles:
- Full Body
Goal/outcome:
- Improved muscular endurance
- Improved overall strength
- Improved cardiovascular
- Improved balance/ankle stability
Equipment
All you need is a Sandbag, Slam Ball & Kettlebell
Because of the nature of the equipment, I’d advise this to be done at the gym.
Benefits:
- Most of the equipment are at commercial gyms.
- No machines needed.
- Minimum equipment/fuss — You stay in one place for the entire workout.
- Free weights promote functional fitness — You utilise more muscles according to HealthLine [1]
The Plan
We have 13 moves in this plan. Some of the moves may take you out of your comfort zone — but stick at it.
2 — Slam Ball Split Leg Lunge Slam
4 — Slam Ball Reverse Lunge Slam
11 — Kettlebell Swing (Alternating Arm)
I chose moves which require a considerable amount of energy to perform. This‘ll give you a large caloric burn whilst giving exposure to different exercises.
As a side note: before this, I only knew about the Kettlebell swing and didn’t touch the sandbag. As a byproduct this has given more variety to my training toolkit.
The structure:
Still here? Great! We have 3 phases: warm up, phase one/two both repeated x2.
As many reps as possible (AMRAP) — How many reps can you get in a certain amount of time?
Example: Burpies | 12 reps in 60s
This is particularly popular with the crossFit community.
Compound movement — An exercise which uses multiple muscle groups to perform the movement.
Examples: Squat/Deadlift
Our time is 40s. However, you can mod the time before you start by editing the targets.
Warm up (do not skip):
How you warm up is your preference, either a light treadmill jog, high knees/jumping jacks on the spot — just make sure the heart is pumping. We don’t want to shock/pull the muscles before.
Phase One:
You’ll have a combination of target reps (just meet the target — no time limit) and AMRAP. We use the sandbag and slam ball here to work on power and compound movements. If you want to focus on caloric burn & endurance, swap out the slam ball for a medicine ball. This will have a higher bounce and you’ll work harder. I’ve written about the differences in more detail in this post [3]. This round is done twice.
Phase Two:
We focus purely on the Kettlebell — to be done twice like with phase one. The first 3 exercises are AMRAP followed by KB swings & a balance exercise. Overall I think it’s a good balance between competitiveness, strength building and balance.
The kettlebell is underrated in my opinion because I hardly see anyone do anything different than a KB swing. From the list above, you’d probably not seen some moves before — good, variety is the spice to life.
If you do 14 reps per exercise:
- Sandbag Burpee Clean | 28
- Slam Ball Split Leg Lunge Slam | 28
- Sandbag Thruster | 28
- Slam Ball Reverse Lunge Slam | 28
- Sandbag Shovel | 28
- Slam Ball Rainbow | 28
- Sandbag Rotational Swing | 28
- Kettlebell Hang Clean | 28
- Kettlebell High Pull (x2) | 56
- Kettlebell Power Lifter | 28
- Kettlebell Swing (Alternating Arm) | 28
- Kettlebell Balance Swap (x2) | 56
- Kettlebell Swing | 28
Total | 420 reps in 20 mins
Now, reps…
Rep ranges
This section was taken from this blog which will be in the references.
I specifically didn’t talk about rep ranges in the beginning because this can be flexible based on your goals. As we want to increase muscular endurance here’s how you do it:
Aim for 14+ reps with 30–60s rest
For those who don’t know their one rep max (1RM)
- Pick an exercise (e.g. squat) and start with a light weight.
- You should feel the ‘burn’ around the 12/13th rep. If you feel it before, drop the weight. If you don’t feel it until the 17th, up the weight.
- Take a short rest in between (e.g. 1min)
For all those who know their one rep max (1RM)
- Pick a weight <67% of 1RM.
Take a look at this diagram from Storm Fitness Academy [4]. This blog explains 1RM which is worth the read.
I’d like to point out things aren’t necessarily black & white with rep ranges. I found this blog by AJPerformance [5] which goes into more detail about this. I’ll link it down below in the resources.
Beat last weeks targets
Week by week you’ll get stronger so the weights & reps will need to be readjusted. Here’s an example:
Week 1 | Sandbag Burpie Clean— 14 reps | 12kg | 40s
Week 2 | Sandbag Burpie Clean — 15 reps | 12kg | 40s
Week 3 | Sandbag Burpie Clean — 14 reps | 14kg | 40s
Listen to your body — play it by ear.
My results:
This Google Sheet [6] shows my running progress after incorporating this routine. My rate of perceived effort (RPE) ranges from 5–8 but my pace has gotten quicker.
Give your body enough time to recover:
Personally, I’ve done this five times during the 7 week build up to the race. Because it’s mostly compound movement, my body didn’t have a hard time recovering. It’s good to test your fitness at the end of the week. Depending on how I was feeling, I’d finish on the treadmill for 10 minutes.
Here’s some tips to a speedy recovery:
- Consume good quality protein/fats/carbs* — to rebuild muscle & fuel the body.
- Hot baths — to help with delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
- Stretch after the workout* — to prevent injury.
- Foam Roller — to prevent injury.
Here’s some bonus tips:
- Visualise yourself *enjoying* the workout before it happens — can’t explain it but I feel way more focussed/on task if I do this for 2 minutes.
- If you’re doing this in the gym, grab a bench/plyo box and put a water bottle on it to reserve. Get the sandbag, slam ball & Kettlebell. You won’t move from this position.
- This bootcamp was done every Sunday. I did a run mid week (Tuesday/Weds) then an isolation style plan on Saturday.
- Throw in some knee mobility work such as the Poliquin Step Up — I’ve had knee problems and this has helped!
- For hip flexors, the Mini Band Runner Extension is great. A week before the race I was focusing on mobility.
Final Thoughts:
This bootcamp has clearly helped me prepare for my race. I’d like to hear if it’s helped you as much as me. Hope you’ve found this useful — you’ve got new resources to add to your routine.
You can download the full plan here for free.
Here’s a list of the resources used
