Hot on the heels of a run of food fests we have Valentine’s Day, which is resplendent with chocolates, candy, and romantic three-course meals. Don’t worry, this isn’t one of those abstinence makes the heart grow fonder columns. Enjoy it — I’m hoping for some indulgence at one of Rye’s lovely restaurants myself. I do have some heartfelt drill work for you, however.
By Lee Sandford
Hot on the heels of a run of food fests we have Valentine’s Day, which is resplendent with chocolates, candy, and romantic three-course meals. Don’t worry, this isn’t one of those abstinence makes the heart grow fonder columns. Enjoy it — I’m hoping for some indulgence at one of Rye’s lovely restaurants myself. I do have some heartfelt drill work for you, however.
In my work I often design drills where people pair up, which usually brings out the competitive edge in people, therefore pushing them harder, without my having to yell at them. I decided Valentine’s Day was a good time to share some of them, in case you and your partner, friend, child, or just your usual workout buddy, want to try.
I’ll assure you that none of the drills is as intimate as those I was subjected to last year at the British Military Fitness Boot Camp in London. The first class I tried was a huge one of around 50, which tends to attract ex-rugby chaps redolent of beer from their Friday night out. Randomly you have to pair up, and the drill sergeant shouts at you if you don’t find a partner quickly enough. So there is no time to look for someone of the same gender and stature who doesn’t smell quite so bad!
I ended up with a man about 15 years younger — and 8 inches taller — than me, and we went through various discomfiting drills, including one where we had to hold each other’s waists, lock necks, and wrestle! Definitely something more suited to doing with your Valentine, than an unknown Londoner.
Here are some drills you can do with anyone.
Cardio
This is a great running/jogging workout to do with someone who runs at a similar pace. Along a long stretch of road, hill, or beach, leave your partner behind and run as fast as you can for 20-30 paces (as agreed) then crouch to touch the ground and stay there. As you hit the ground, your partner takes off at full pace until they reach you, at which point you take off again. Agree on a number of sets before you start, or a point in the distance to reach.
This protocol a) improves your speed as you will push to go much faster than you would on your usual “talking pace” runs; and, b) improves your cardio fitness because your heart has to recover from the hard, fast pace several times throughout a short workout, as opposed to just once at the end of a steadier-state workout.
Strength
Getting through reps of strength drills for different muscle groups can be pretty tedious alone and it’s very easy to stop when you feel any degree of discomfort.
Try this with a partner. I’ll use the example of squats. One partner holds a squat, thighs parallel to the floor, while the other performs ten squats or jump-squats. Swap drills and repeat, each partner doing two or three sets of each (i.e. 20 or 30 jump-squats in all). You can do this with lunges, upright row, bicep curl, tricep dips, push-ups, and most exercises you can think of. Remember the “hold” is at the hardest part of the exercise where the muscle contraction is greatest.
This protocol makes exercises more fun, easier to keep going, and varies the mode of muscle contraction between plyometric (explosive muscle contraction), isotonic (a traditional low-impact rep), and isometric (holding the muscle contraction). If that all sounds like Greek to you … well, in fact, it is! Anyway, all you really need to know is that variety equals more fun and more effective.
Core
The two most effective ways to work your core are the variations of abdominal crunches and planks, but these need not be solo activities.
One partner lies on the mat in an abdominal crunch position. The other stands at their toes and reaches across their partner giving them a target to aim for as they come up in their crunch. Vary the target each time, making your partner work their obliques too.
To make plank work more difficult, face each other in a plank and slap opposite hand to opposite hand. Constantly shifting around in tripod planks is harder than a stationary plank, but despite that, I’ll bet you’ll be able to do this drill for as long, or longer, than you could hold a plank.
