Partner Workouts

I love training with Mike. We both have similar goals and we're both really driven and competetive.. In a good friendly way! I thought I would share some of the workouts we like to do with each other so you can try them with your partners, or friends, or anyone you might coerce into a challenge!

Teamwork
We have a number of exercises and a numeric goal for each exercise and work together to accomplish the goal. Click the link for a more detailed account. The best thing about this is the faster you do it the more benefits you get and the faster you're free to get on with other things!

Isometric holds
One person performs an isometric hold whilst the other completes a certain number of exercises. If the person holding the isometric hold drops it the person doing the exercises has to start from scratch. Examples;
Person 1 holds plank whilst person 2 performs * crunches
Person 1 holds wall sit whilst person 2 performs * squats
Person 1 holds bear hold whilst person 2 performs * push-ups
Person 1 does isometric punches whilst person 2 performs bag work or shadow boxing
Then swap person 2 moves to holds and person 1 performs the exercises!
* choose a number suitably challenging for your personal ability.
Add any of your own isometric holds into the mix and pair them with a related exercise. The possibilities are endless! Include yoga maybe? Anything you like really!

Intervals
We go to the track or a field and run our intervals together but at our own pace.

Race to...

• 100 burpee challenge (Mike does burpees with the push-up and I do them without, then we're fairly even in speed and can be quite competetive.. plus burpees with a push-up would be more of a strength exercise for me than conditioning..)
  
• Magic 50 Here's one account of me doing the magic 50.. I didn't write Mike's time down but we're always racing each other!!
  
• Workout Capacity 101 I've got two blog posts about workout capacity 101, note my variation is slightly different to the one on Rosstraining so be sure to check out the first link for the original workout. Here is another of my workout capacity 101 experiences.
  

Padwork
We put on the pads for each other and shout out combinations. One person starts holding the pads for a few rounds and then we'll swap so we both get time working the pads. To get hold of a set of pads, boxing gloves and hand wraps isn't too expensive and it's a really good workout even if you don't know too much about boxing, it's good stress relief too... Just try not to hit your pad holder in the face... I've come very close to that a few times when my glove has slipped off the pad!!

So, there you have it! Those are the main workouts we do together. I hope this inspires you to get your partner into a joint workout :-)

28/02/10

Today ended up being quite a good day work out wise, ended up getting more done than we'd both planned love it when that happens.

AM
Checked max chin-ups and push-ups, can still only do 1 chin-up from dead hang, it's getting frustrating!! I'm trying some new approaches to getting that bit from the bottom sorted out like having Mike give me a little support from the bottom so it's assisted so I can build the strength a bit more gradually, hopefully that will help. I also managed 30 push-ups but I stuck my bum in the air to rest a bit near the end so they don't really count as 30 consecutive ones so I'm going to try those again see if I can do them without the rest.

Did some boxing work on a new guard style I'm trying, like Joshua Clottey's guard.. Did some work with Mike like technical sparring so I was working on blocking and countering his punches and also throwing any combinations he shouted out to his gloves. Mainly working defensively though.
Technical sparring 4 x 2 minute rounds with 30s rest
Mitt work 2 x 2 minute rounds with 30s rest
We hadn't planned on doing any boxing specific work, just the magic 50, another Ross Enamait workout... So we did that too! I used to absolutely HATE this workout cause it's tough but now I love it! I used an 8.5kg dumbell for the lifts.

Magic 50
5 clean each arm
5 swings each arm
10 burpees
x 5 rounds

I completed it in 7.03, annoyingly close to under 7 minutes! I saw the timer was at 6.40 just before I started the last set of burpees so I was trying hard to power through them to come in under 7 but I just didn't quite make it! Maybe next time!

PM
Max push-up re-test got 30 proper ones this time, only just though, really tough, my arms feel like jelly now!
Max plank test managed 2.47 + 17 seconds from my last max test
Neck work

Off to watch Saving Private Ryan, it's on TV and I've never seen it, hope everyone has a great night!