Toy Soldiers training (week 2)

Staff Writers
December 7, 2012

Continue with week one’s program once a week, and start timing the sprint periods, aiming to increase their length for week three – even if just by a few seconds. Make sure you have with you the results of your push-ups, squats, crunches and bench dips from week one, and try to better it this week, even if just by a few reps each time.

This week I’m going to give you a basic gym routine that will help you increase muscle strength, which will benefit you during the mud run course. The exercises are distributed between upper body (back) and lower body (legs) so that your heart gets used to distributing blood flow to the two extremities.

The first exercise is assisted, machine chin-ups using 50 percent of your body weight. Try four sets until exhausted. You place your knees on padding hands on chin-up bars, then pull your body weight up. Try this with between 1-1.5 minutes rest between sets.

Secondly, try a leg press, again using 50 percent of your body weight; four sets until exhaustion. Sit inside leg press with feet shoulder width apart on foot plate. Push the plate, extending legs, without locking knees, bend knees so quads are parallel to foot plate and extend. Same rest period as the first exercise.

Campbell Bannerman’s eight week training program for the Star Observer will run in the lead up to Toy Soldiers.