outdoor training

I have to start by offering an apology for misleading many of you on my previous article about Matthew McConaughey’s training philosophy.

All I did in that post was mention that “he sweats”, which I suppose made complete sense to me as the main point of the article, but left many of you readers wanting to know some specifics. After reading it, I feel that the message was received, but it was lacking in “how-to” knowledge. That is my error. I hope to redeem myself by sharing a decent little bodyweight workout with you today.

In honor of Spring of course.

Hopefully I can redeem myself here. I’m nervous.

The Mecca of the Midwest

As the weather warms up here in “God’s Country”, Eau Claire, WI, the doors begin to open to all sorts of opportunity for engaging in physical activity outside.

Training outside is the greatest. It’s freeing. The air is fresh (depending on where you live), the sun is beaming, and quite honestly, when you train outside the workout seems less monotonous than training indoors. Training inside year round can make you feel like a rat in a laboratory.

[Segue…]

Alright, let’s talk about Matthew McConaughey’s workout, because that is why we are gathered here today.

Super awkward that I had to post this pic, but needed the visual.

Let’s face it, guy has the kind of body aesthetics that women drool over and men want, yet his theory on physical activity and what it takes to maintain his physique is so incredibly simple. I love that. Why complicate matters?

Performance-wise, I’m not entirely sure how strong the guy is, if he has aches and pains or any sort of endurance. But aesthetically he is doing alright.

Just sweat everyday… doing something.

I received a lot of interest in the previous article, so I should probably man up and post a workout of his… ahemmmm… or at least a workout that I believe he may enjoy participating in.

Well, ok… maybe it’s just a workout that I designed with the thought that if he and I were hanging out, he would enjoy working through it with me. Based on some of his older interviews in Men’s Health, he tends to avoid the gym whenever possible in favor of training outside in a more natural environment.

Equipment: None (although a heart rate monitor is highly encouraged)

Time commitment: 30 minutes-ish

Difficulty: 3/5

*** Warm up***

Start with a 5 minute run at 70-75% of your HRM (heart rate max)

Run #1) 2 minutes at 80-85% of your HRM (heart rate max)

—> Recover to 130 bpm

a) 20 Push Ups (no rest leading into the run)

Run #2) 2 minutes at 80-85% of your HRM (heart rate max)

—> Recover to 130 bpm

b) 20 Reverse Lunges (no rest leading into the run)

Run#3) 2 minutes at 80-85% of your HRM (heart rate max)

Recover to 130 bpm

c) 20 Bodyweight Squats (no rest leading into the run)

Run#4) 2 minutes at 80-85% of your HRM (heart rate max)

–> Recover to 130 bpm

d) 20 Burpees (no rest leading into the run)

Finish with a 5 minute run at 70-75% of your HRM (heart rate max)

Buy a heart rate monitor.

If you are going to take your cardio training seriously, you need to be monitoring your work bouts and your recovery time with a heart rate monitor. Buy the cheapest version Polar sells if you are concerned with cost. It will work just fine and help guide your training. The heart rate monitor will give you insight into your progress.

On the 2 minute run, which is the “work” portion of the session, you’ll notice that I suggest running at a pace that is 80-85% of your heart rate max. The easiest way to figure out your heart rate max is to get on a treadmill, crank it up to a ridiculously high speed and incline, and sprint until your vision becomes blurry. The test ends when the treadmill spits you off.

JUST KIDDING!

Seriously, don’t do that. However, there are some equations that you can use. Most heart rate related formulas have some flaws in them. They are just formulas, estimations, so this makes sense. The Karvonen formula is “the best of the worst” when it comes to finding max heart rate. No matter which formula you choose, remember that your heart rate “training zones” are going to be ESTIMATED. I’d rather you use these formulas than the really old school method of finding heart rate, which is nothing more than 220-(Your Age). 220-your age is quick, but there is a lot of room for error.

Recover to 130 bpm after each run prior to working through each bodyweight exercise. Recovering to 130bpm will keep your training efforts aerobically challenging and also provide an beats per minute (BPM) mark to green light the next work bout. Recovering based on time is ok in a pinch, but recovering based on when you heart is ready to go again is preferred. Your body will let you know when it’s time to go back to work.

The bodyweight strength movements that follow the rest periods are integrated to break up the monotony of running and provide a low load resistance based training stimulus. Don’t expect to build great amounts of strength from just 20 reps of any of those movements. If fact, let me re-phrase that last sentence… You will not build strength from those exercises. Not at that rep count, with bodyweight load, etc. Unless you are relatively reconditioned (which isn’t a bad thing) or new to purposeful exercise. You may experience some strength gains, but I would rather see you work through a dedicated strength program at that point.

Scale the workout. Run for less time if you need to. Decrease the reps on the bodyweight moves if you need to.

Or, if you are battle hardened, increase the running time, add a few more rounds of bodyweight moves, etc.

Take your training outside and get some fresh air. It will change the training experience.

Cheers to breaking up the monotony of running!

There was a song a number of years ago by Johnny Cash, “I’ve Been Everywhere”.

As I sit outside on a gorgeous Fall day here in Wisconsin, I got to thinking about how fitness has evolved over the years. It wasn’t all that long ago that a workout only took place inside of a commercial gym. Sure, there were some outlying people here and there, maybe some underground gyms that were doing some really great stuff, but for the most part, a membership style big box gym was the only place to get your hands on some equipment and train. At least that is what most people thought.

Gone are those days.

I haven’t trained in a big box gym for 5 years running.

At first, it was hard. Looking back, I have to assume that it was a far more mild withdrawal than what a smoker experiences when they go cold turkey, but it really was difficult. I felt lost trying to figure out how I was going to create a sustainable training plan without all of the equipment that I had become so accustomed to using.

I think that a lot of people go through these feelings when they think about organizing a training plan that doesn’t involve a gym. I can assure you that the thought that you need thousands of dollar worth of equipment to get a quality workout is a myth.

Does equipment help? Yes, absolutely.

At some point, it is nice to have access to a traditional barbell, some dumbbells and a nice cable machine. But you can survive and progress for a really long time without it.

I had 4 kettlebells, a first generation suspension trainer, some resistance bands, a foam roller, a Tiger Tail, chin up bar, and a jump rope. That was my gym.

After thinking things through, I realized that I really wanted to try and create a training regimen that I could use to preserve the muscle, strength/power, soft tissue health and solid quality of movement that I had built over the years.

My training really went to another level once I took my training wheels off and left the gym. I came to the conclusion that if a person clings hard to the fundamentals and principles that really great programs are built on, you can get an unreal training effect no matter what equipment you have available, or your environment.

I’ve trained everywhere.

Outside in backyards, parks, school tracks, football fields, etc. Inside in a room that’s slightly larger than a small bathroom, a guest bedroom, a hotel, etc. If you have a few feet of room in all directions from where you currently stand, you can make it happen. Trust me, I have done it.

Not on purpose or as a topic to brag about in conversation, but out of necessity. I have made the commitment to a physical lifestyle. It makes me happy and keeps me challenged to see what I can do next. When I travel or when we are away from the house, I feel comfortable knowing that I can engage in some quality physical activity no matter what the environment is.

Winter in Wisconsin is a bitch.

But even then, you have options to get a training session in.

So when I start ranting on and on about people’s lame excuses for not getting a sweat in on any given day and how weak that this, now you can understand where that is coming from. You can train anywhere with anything, you just have to WANT to.

I aim to always be a resource for all of you. Sometimes you what I write about will really hit home for you and your situation, sometimes you may be offended by my tone or sometimes you may think my article is so boring that you hardly make it through the initial few paragraphs.

Either way, I aim to create change and get you to think…

M(eaux)tion Fitness

Fuel Your Fitness Journey

Redemption: The Matthew McConaughey Ninja Bodyweight Workout

I’ll Train Anywhere, Man

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