Cart is empty 
I Ain’t Got No Motivation…but I Got Goals
It is October and I have now successfully had a crappy training ethic for almost an entire year. Sure, I have been training but it has lacked focus and commitment. I still train 5 days a week with some weight training and cardio, but it is pretty boring and unfocused. The other day Marc offhandedly said “your training would be better if you had a goal in mind”.
In the words of Gru from “Despicable Me”….Light Bulb!
I don’t have the time or brain power right now to focus on any kind of powerlifting goals, and that was what was holding me back. Can’t/Don’t want to squat heavy then screw it all. Of course, he was right though (Spud, really is almost always right) I needed a goal.
For October I have set these 2 goals. They are to push me to get back to my old form on both exercises.
- Run a mile in 10 minutes. I tested at the first of the month and did 1 mile in 10:45. That isn’t great, but it was the first time I ran an entire mile and didn’t have to stop to walk.
- Complete the StrongFirst snatch test of 100 snatches in 5 minutes with the 16 kg KB. We did this the other day and I got 93 in 5 minutes so I am almost back to where I need to be. I did suck an incredible amount of wind doing it so hopefully I can reach my goal and do it without dying.
How I am going to accomplish these relatively minor goals?
1. I am going to run 3 days a week. Two days, Tuesday and Thursday I will just work the mile. 5 minute walking warm-up before and after. For the mile run I usually break it up by doing 1 minute increments. For instance, (and remember I am slow) 5.6 for 3 minutes, 5.7 for 3 minutes, 5.8 for 3 minutes and then 5.9/6.0 for the remainder. Or I will do 5.6 for a minute and 5.9 for a minute and alternate in a fashion like that until the mile is reached. On the third day, which is Saturday, I do a 3.2 mile run/walk. This past Saturday for the first 2 miles I did 2 minutes running and 1 minute walking. This long day is to get my brain past the “I wanna stop” record that plays in my head. Doing 3.2 miles on Saturday makes the 1 mile seem short.
2. For the snatch test I am doing one training day where I play with snatch volume/intensity and one day where I perform the snatch test. My volume day this week was 5 snatches per arm every 30 seconds for 5 minutes. I did that for 3 rounds and then did 2 rounds with 6 snatches an arm every 30 seconds. In between each round I took our new handles and did short walks carrying our small tire. That workout challenged my load capacity and the tire helped to gas my forearms and shoulders making each round of snatches that much more difficult.
Need a visual? Here I am doing my snatches:
3. The other days I am doing a lot of sand dune with either 5 minute rounds straight or 20 minute rounds of 45 seconds on/15 seconds off. I am also doing things like Keg carrys, Tire flip, sled, farmers walk etc around our parking lot which is about 1/5 a mile. I add in lunges, overhead hold walks with kettlebells and any other out door strength/endurance combo I can think of.
Another visual aid…me walking with the tire:
Here is what a week of training looks like
Monday: Snatch volume training – 3 sets of 5 minutes. 5 reps every 30 sec, then 6 reps, then 7 reps
Keg walk around parking lot
Sledgehammer (light) 50 reps per arm
25 pushups against the tire
Tuesday: 1 mile run (5 minute warm-up and 5 minute cool down)
Banded zercher squats 4 x 10
Banded good mornings 4 x 10
Some type of ab work
Wednesday: Off day
Thursday: 1 mile run (5 minute warm-up and 5 minute cool down)
Flip tire around parking lot
20 sets of stairs
PM workout: Snatch test
Friday: KB overhead walks alternating between 1 arm up/1 arm rack position, both arms overhead, farmers walks and rack position walks with the 16 kg.
Seated rows on any machine
DB side raises 4 x 10
Light leg press for a 4 sets of 25
Saturday: 3.2 mile run/walk. There are any number of ways that I get through this but I try to make it 2/3 running and 1/3 walking if I can. And end with Yoga stretches.
— end the article —
For more detail about us (Spud-Inc-Straps). Please feel free to call us 803-788-2852 or to message us visiting our Contact page and you can visit our Facebook page.