Athletes Training with Logs, By: Dave DePew

Not everyone has access to weights and even if they do the reality is that weight training outdoors in a large group just does not always work when attempting to combine resistance training with a variety of energy system work, unless you have a very large budget.

I have learned from my military training to improvise, adapt and overcome obstacles. I have developed the mindset that an obstacle is nothing more than a challenge waiting to become an opportunity for growth.

When I was presented with the challenge to create a football strength and conditioning program for a group of female football players who would not consistently have access to a weight room I thought it necessary to combine all the training systems into one workout.

The challenge excited me as most challenges often do. I would need to create a low cost effective way to train as many as 50 athletes at one time with a budget of zero dollars. The athletes would need speed and explosive training, training in agility and reaction, and both position specific & brute strength development all rolled into two one hour workouts each week.

Could I do it? Sure, no problem I thought. After all in the past I know I have improvised and came up with a few pretty good workouts. When teaching outdoor boot camp classes I used much of what I learned from my military training and would run the group on stairs, have them do sprints on steep driveways and loading ramps, use a variety of body weight only resistance off the ground or using suspended resistance, but unless I was teaching a class that involved some inside training I would rarely use hand held weights.

I knew I could do the athletes a great service training them the same way I did most of my boot camp classes, but I knew that much of what was needed to help them be successful would be missing.

In the three weeks leading in to the workouts I attempted to use various forms of resistance. I had a number of medicine balls that didn’t serve me well only because I didn’t have enough to go around and the whole no budget thing was an issue. I could have each athlete create sand bags, but at this time I was looking for a much simpler solution. I love using sandbags and knew that I would at some point bring them into the mix as I also planned to use a whole host of things.

What I needed was something easy for everyone to get. It also needed to be free or very inexpensive.

As luck would have it, one Saturday morning when training the group on a high school football field, I spotted a large pile of logs. When I saw the logs instantly my military training experience with Log PT came back to me. I could visualize the group doing the same log workouts I did, but because of my creativity and progression of exercise knowledge, naturally I would be coming up with even more exercises.

Just as my eyes became fixed on the logs I began walking towards them to confirm the possibility of working them into the training. My mind started spinning as I was thinking of all the possibilities. It took only a few seconds for the routine to be invented and I eagerly awaited the response from my victims… uh I mean athletes.

At first the response was that of confusion, but once they realized I was serious, I am always serious when it comes to training; they picked out their log and lined up on the field awaiting instruction.

I could tell that many of them were very uncomfortable with the idea that I was planning some sort of workout using these logs. I'm the kind of guy who gets a little excited creating fear, but only because my real enjoyment is in seeing people conquer that fear!

I became very serious and began calling out exercise after exercise. It was easy to see that the group did not enjoy the difficulty of training. I would also guess at that very moment many of them decided I was not a nice person to say the least.

So there I was, feeling very happy with myself as the group of athletes struggled with every rep and set, labored in breathing and groaned in pain. As I looked into the faces of each of them I realized we would push, pull, drag and lift tires, chains, sand bags, stones, and host of other elements of torture, but the log would be the staple of their strength and conditioning program.

I knew some of them would not come back. I hoped they would, but I could see that for some of them it was more than they could take, more than what they would allow.

However, I took great comfort in knowing that those ladies who would endure each week would play a very brutal game of football.

The Log Workout

The following workout is a portion of the total workout used from that first day. The exercise below are for 3 consecutive circuits.

Squats

20 reps

No rest

As you can see the log is held in the rack position. This places considerable effort on the upper body to keep from falling forward.

Stiff Leg Dead Lifts

20 reps

No rest

The awkwardness of using the log provides a higher degree of effort on the muscles in the mid back. However, when performed with a flat lower back and with a deep hinge in the hips pushing the hips way back, it is just torture on the hamstrings!

Lunge

20 reps

No rest

 Bent-over Row

20 reps

No rest

Biceps Curl

20 reps

No rest

Shoulder to Shoulder Press

20 reps

No rest

Front Raise

20 reps

No rest

Push-up off Log

20 reps (each side)

No rest

Sit-up with Log

20 reps

No rest

Strait Arm Over-head Carry/ Push Press

2 laps of 50 yards

at the end of each lap perform Log Push Press for 20 reps

2 minutes rest between laps

Tree Huggers

2 laps of 20 yards 

2 minutes rest

Well, this is the log workout!

As you can see this was a hard workout, but it's a great way to get in shape all over. You can use this training to build muscle, lean up, increase stamina for sport and just over all become a brute on the filed!

Many have lasted the workouts and all are getting stronger!

You don't always need equipment, so let's all get Fit!