It’s come to an end…sixty days of travelling on an overland truck through the depths of continental Africa. More importantly, it marks the end of a training era.
It’s been great fun. Four of us – myself, Mick, Freddy and Cal (and Sarah when she was injury-free) have found a way to do a different session every afternoon, either on the truck or in the myriad campsites we’ve visited.
The Sessions
We’ve done everything from pull ups and push ups to tent carries, backpack squats, skipping, dips, L-sits and a whole heap of timed workouts. Some of my favourites have been: – Cindy: AMRAP of 5 pull ups, 10 push ups and 15 squats (23.5 rounds – new record!) – Volleyball – Surf lifesaving sprints on the beach – The 1000 push up challenge – The team challenge (including cameos from two new guys in the group): 5 rounds of 50 push ups, 100 squats and a 150m hill sprint (it hurt!) with times of 19:30 and 21:45 respectively (nice work everyone). Not to mention the four extra people that then joined us for the following Tabata…
I must make special mention to our ongoing truck game. A 15 push up punishment was dished out to anyone who used the word “mine” or “bus”. Suffice to say, the record for one day’s punishment for one person tipped the scales at 165!
The Changes
Well, it pushed me much harder than I would have pushed myself. I’ve managed new records on Cindy, continuous push ups, modified Murph (a workout I’ve been using as a bit of a test each month) and more HSPU’s than ever.
Freddy has gone from a no pack to a pretty impressive set of washboards, and managed a very impressive 21 rounds of Cindy (on the first attempt).
Cal and Mick have definition where they’ve never had definition before. Both of them have lost their gut and are flying through pull ups like they were child’s play.
Sorry Mick it’s the closest photo I’ve got of you training…
All of them have learned more about exercise and training outside of the gym than they ever thought they would. I’ve got to say I’m very proud of my new crew!
The Cameos
We’ve had different people, both locals and fellow travellers, watch us (I like to think in awe of our athletic prowess!) and join us in our fun and games.
The volleyball saw at least 20 different players. The locals joined us for our beach sprints. We managed to surround ourselves with 14 local guys as we trained with an old bar and two buckets of concrete.
A couple of guys travelling with us (John and Gaz) jumped in for the team workout (well done guys, it got brutal!).
The Future
Hopefully everyone will keep up the training efforts. As for Sarah and I, we’ll go back into our hotel room workouts together. It may not be glamourous, but it still works!
Keep up the hard work!
athletics and aesthetics|by dan shute 
Reblogged this on Push Dump Fat Button.
Could you pretty please tell me exactly what you guys did on the trip? Like what each challenge was exactly and maybe an average of how many push-ups, crunches, trunk lifts, blah blah blah you did every day? I’d so love it of you could. I want to try something like that, but it would be in my town, not in an epic training tour.
It may take some time – me being diligent with my record keeping recorded none of the workouts! I might try and post a few workout ideas at least in a post in the coming days!