No need to spend hundreds of dollars on gym memberships. Just go to your local playground and try these 4 killer exercises that’ll get you strong and jacked!
1) The Basic Chin Up - oldie but a good, but do it with a twist: instead of just doing chins, climb up and down poles, across the swing poles. This not only changes the whole dynamic of the exercise but is super fun and challenging, not to mention way more real to life!! If the playground isn’t available use a jungle gym over a tree branch and do your chin ups!
2) The Playground Push Up - with your feet on a bench. If this is too much, which it is for a lot of people, simply drop down and do some knee push ups or regular push ups, but if you can get your feet on a bench and do inclined push ups or use my favorite piece of portable equipment, the power push up!! It fits in your backpack easily and can adjust anywhere from 20 to 300 lbs of resistance!
3) We got some great upper body exercises covered already, so let’s hit the legs a bit. Squats, lunges and jumps are easy to do anywhere, anytime. If two-legged squats are easy then do one-legged ones; pistols and knee touch 1-leg squats are both perfect to really improve overall balance and stability for everyone, as well as building incredible strength and power. If that’s not enough, add the power jumper, a great portable device i invented about 9 years ago to improve vertical jumping. Again, it can fit in your backpack and can adjust from 40 to over 200 lbs in seconds. You can easily resist bench plyo jumps with it as well as broad jumping across a field or a sand pit… It is a great training tool for athletes!
4) Hopscotch!! yes, hopscotch is a great exercise! not only does it improve stability in the ankle and knee which reduces injuries, but it can be made into great interval exercise for athletes. one day i was jumping rope at a nearby playground and started to do the hopscotch patterns while jumping rope…next thing I know I am sweating like crazy and my legs were burning like mad too!! It was awesome! Since that time i have added the hopscotch patterns to all of my students and especially my athletes training regimes… They all have a love / hate relationship with it:) adding in the jump rope takes this exercise to another level due to the rhythmic nature of it. I love it and it’s one of my favorites!
If you train outside or inside, these 4 are great for overall strength and power development as well as overall conditioning. Try my favorite 15/15 workout with each and tell me how you like em’.
Jon