This morning my bootcampers and I played with one of my favorite fitness tools: Big. Honkin…. Tires!
You hear and read about something called “Functional Training” all of the time.
And you see people balancing on a ball with a pink dumbbell in one hand and picking their nose with the other. It’s somehow supposed to “activate” small muscles.
Well, I think it’s a lot more functional to be able to move things in the REAL WORLD.
Hence, the awesomeness of tires.
Flipping a tire will carry over into sports, other bootcamp exercises, picking your spouse off the floor during a house fire, and…. activating your metabolism!
(Plus, they look really cool!)
Check out the three exercises we played with in today’s bootcamp~
Bootcamp Tire Exercise One: Battling Tires!
This is a great upper body and core exercise. Basically, you shove the tire back and forth for either TIME or a set number of REPS.
When I was training athletes from very physical sports (wrestling, rugby, football, MMA), we would use a very heavy tire and the goal was to KNOCK YOUR OPPONENT OVER!
My longest battling tire set was over 12 minutes with a rugby player named James. Whew!
But for fitness, fat loss, and fun, just push hard and take care of your partner.
Bootcamp Tire Exercise Two: Backwards Drags!
Another one that looks simple, but isn’t.
Holding that low position works you legs like nothing else, and your heart and lungs will be working in overdrive.
A few sets of backwards drags and you’ll feel like you’ve finished a marathon! (Without beating up your joints, of course)
Bootcamp Tire Exercise Three: Flipping!
You can use heavy tires for strength, or lighter tires for a metabolic circuit.
Whichever you do, these are TOUGH!
Check out what my hardcore bootcampers said right after playing with the tires: