Any fun, creative exercise ideas? Please help!

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kekl
kekl Posts: 382 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone -

I am in Army ROTC at my college, and my class is in charge of writing a few weeks worth of PT plans for the other classes. (Pt being 3x a week) A lot of our plans were rejected for being too boring and repetitive, and we were told by our cadre that we needed creative, fun, pt plans.

Our PT runs from 0645 - 0800, and have mandatory warm up and cool down drills (about 20 minutes) and 30 minutes of cardio (running). The rest of it is fair game but situps and pushups are on our PT test so there is a high priority for exercises that work the same area.

I already am thinking circuits (lots of circuits), a 'scavenger hunt' across campus (incorporating running and situps/pushups), contest-type activities, HIIT/Sprinting intervals, but I am tearing my brain for other things.

So I ask you all.... any suggestions to make this more creative?
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Replies

  • SmudgerSmithRhino
    SmudgerSmithRhino Posts: 96
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    You could do worse then introduce them to the Tough Mudder training programme, the link is;

    http://toughmudder.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/tough-mudder-boot-camp.pdf

    They'll hate you and love you in equal measure. Although probably hate you more!
  • TrailRunner61
    TrailRunner61 Posts: 2,505 Member
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    Hula hoops!!
  • baxgilter
    baxgilter Posts: 246 Member
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    What kind of workout equipment do you have access to if any?
  • kekl
    kekl Posts: 382 Member
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    You could do worse then introduce them to the Tough Mudder training programme, the link is;

    http://toughmudder.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/tough-mudder-boot-camp.pdf

    They'll hate you and love you in equal measure. Although probably hate you more!

    Thank you for that link! I will definately use some of those! That's awesome!
  • capnrus789
    capnrus789 Posts: 2,736 Member
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    Look up some old Walter Payton or Jerry Rice workouts. Football drills will likely be very different than what they are used to.
  • mandiam
    mandiam Posts: 109
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    How about adding in some gun tactics??
  • mandiam
    mandiam Posts: 109
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    also mind games...example: write the ABC's backwards while in a plank.
  • Loulady
    Loulady Posts: 511 Member
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    Tell them to quit their whining - it's the Army (rotc), not summer camp. ;-)

    Mark's Daily Apple has lots of workouts of the week that are generally outdoors, don't need much equipment deals:
    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-fitness/workout-of-the-week-archive/#axzz26vSKzqqx

    Do you have any obstacle course or park with a jungle gym on campus that you could invade for the morning?
  • kekl
    kekl Posts: 382 Member
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    Tell them to quit their whining - it's the Army (rotc), not summer camp. ;-)

    Mark's Daily Apple has lots of workouts of the week that are generally outdoors, don't need much equipment deals:
    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-fitness/workout-of-the-week-archive/#axzz26vSKzqqx

    Do you have any obstacle course or park with a jungle gym on campus that you could invade for the morning?

    Haha, I wish I could. It's the cadre who want it to be exciting and nonrepetitive, not the cadets.

    Thank you for the suggestion, I will also be checking that out!
  • bonniebug50
    bonniebug50 Posts: 12 Member
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    Tap out XT...a little mixed marshall arts, a great all over body workout, it rocks!
  • nevertoolate2
    nevertoolate2 Posts: 309 Member
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    Orienteering - with way points in hard to get to places or waypoints with exercise challenges
    Human chariot or wheelbarrow racing
    3 legged races
    British bulldog


    good luck!
  • katsmo
    katsmo Posts: 219 Member
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    Geocaching, which is similar to orienteering. It's basically an outdoor scavenger hunt where you use your GPS to find hidden stuff. It's done all over the world. I would suggest something with a difficult terrain. You have to climb trees or traverse water to get to some. It's free.

    https://www.geocaching.com/
  • Topsking2010
    Topsking2010 Posts: 2,245 Member
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    Have team competition with different workouts at various stations.
  • kekl
    kekl Posts: 382 Member
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    What kind of workout equipment do you have access to if any?

    We have access to the campus gym facility - so kettlebells, barbells, etc. However we don't have much time to go and grab them, and there are 12 people that need to be exercised in a short amount of time so usually we just stay outside and do body weight exercises.
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
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    Obstacle course? Or mix it with the scavenger hunt - you know, find a certain feature on campus and then do some sort of activity.
  • chrishgt4
    chrishgt4 Posts: 1,222 Member
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    At Taekwondo we used to do things like pairing up and racing in various ways such as piggy pack down a course, switch round at the end and then run back up the course. Losers get pressups/situps/burpees etc.

    Wheelbarrow races except instead of walking on hands you have to do like a press up bounce along. Same thing - losers get burpees.

    At football we jog round a set area and there are various calls that people have to follow - losers get exercises. Things like left hand down/right hand down/both hands down/jupms/star jumps/get into groups of 3/4/5 /get on piggy backs etc

    We also do various types of races and time everyone. Such as you have to start laying flat on your belly arms out, then get up and run somewhere, do an activity (for us it's like football skills but you could amend it) then dodge in and out of cones back - do something else, then sprint round another course and back.
  • edge_dragoncaller
    edge_dragoncaller Posts: 826 Member
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    Setup an Amerian Ninja Warrior ( show on G4 ) style obstacle course!
  • kekl
    kekl Posts: 382 Member
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    Setup an Amerian Ninja Warrior ( show on G4 ) style obstacle course!

    oh man, I so would if I could. ;)

    Thank you everyone for your suggestions, by the way! You're helping a LOT! :)
  • MeanSophieCat
    MeanSophieCat Posts: 200 Member
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    If yoga is acceptable, I like sun salutations done quickly with some challenging holds in each set.

    If you are not familiar with yoga, here's a step-by-step on the basic sun salutation: http://yoga.about.com/od/yogasequences/ss/sunsalutesteps.htm

    Here's some additions:

    1. During the first sun salutation, hold plank (#5 in the above link) for 60 seconds and the 2nd downward dog (#10) for 60 seconds
    2. Do a full push up between plank and chaturanga (#6) during each sun salutation
    3. The second (and all subsequent times) you do sun salutation, add a hold after the last lunge (#9). 30 seconds is a good hold time. Some classes I take do 60 seconds.

    Some suggested holds are:

    1. Boat pose: http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaposes/a/boat.htm
    2. Crow/crane pose: http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaposes/a/crow.htm
    3. Scale pose: http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaposes/a/pendant.htm
    4. Warrior III: http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaposes/a/warrior3.htm

    In general, keep moving quickly. Aside from the holds mentioned, you should just get into the pose and then began to move to the next.
  • Bull2707
    Bull2707 Posts: 106
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    You can always do cross fit exercises, run swim runs pending on the weather, with your circut training add combat fighting into the routine. I have seen lot of military do Insanity. Love it!

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