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Survivor Workouts - Strength Training For Speed & Agility

There won't be tribal buffs nor voting but you will be put through a sweat! This is a strengthening program which targets muscular endurance, agility, speed and coordination. The balance of these training modules will enhance toning and fitness overall.

Similar to the Survivor challenges you will go through different stations and do so with form being the first priority then speed. Being the fastest in this workout does not win you any prizes but could cause you injury so I cannot stress enough how important it is that form is put before speed. My suggestion is to do this in a park which has a child section of jungle gym.

Stations may include but are not limited to: monkey bars, ladder handles to travel by hands and upper body strength, balance beams, child swings, zip line, slides, park benches, chains, and hurdles.

These are some of the things you may see at playgrounds and they can vary in shape or size but be creative!

Here is your obstacle course now some ideas on how to use it. You can order them in any way you wish and add things such as squat leaps, tuck jumps, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, burpees, crunches and pushups in between each stations or wherever you wish to place them. Do these for a certain number of reps or seconds. Go through the stations as fast as you can with good form. Sprints and shuttle runs are a nice variation to include.

Monkey bars can be used in 3 stages depending on your fitness level. You can go across once for beginners, go across then turn around and return for intermediates or advanced and go across then back along the monkey bars backwards. You can also use these and single bars for chin ups and pull-ups. Sometimes you don't find monkey bars but do have the hanging handles which need a bit more coordination.

Balance beams which are only ½ foot or so off the sand are another option you can find at some parks which are great for running across forward, backward and shuffling across sideways. Another use would be to hold the beam with 2 hands and hop over and back with both feet. You can use the beams as hurdles for parks without hurdle stations.

Child swings are great to hop through and back while holding the chains, keeping both feet working together in sync. Swings make lunges harder by keeping the front foot on a swing.
Zip lines are not at all parks but use it if you have it, great for a quick break then as you get off you move on to the next station. An ab station after a zip line is a nice blend.

Try getting up the slide from the bottom, excellent thigh and upper body work as you hold the sides with hands and feet.

Use park benches for step ups, dips, push ups and 2 foot leaps onto the bench in repetition.
Chains which hang lateral are good for lateral travel across and those which hang vertical are good to use for upper body climbing.

Remember to warm up and cool down at the end with stretching of the muscle groups worked. 30-45 minutes of this workout and you will be a Survivor too!

By Linda Cusmano