Minimal when Pumping Iron

Written By El Bandido

Pumping Iron takes time.

And sometimes time isn’t going to be something that everyone has. Here are solutions that I found.

I won’t always make it to the gym. I won’t always have time to get my workouts in. I don’t know what to do or how to do workout. These thoughts came to me very often through my years of fitness. I would have small solutions like…

Go faster with the reps and sets! Go harder than last time! No! Giant sets and supersets every gym session! No! Just do a different body part everyday and you’ll be fine!

What finally came to me very recently was this very conclusion: You really don’t need to do much.

In fact, this conclusion stemmed from a very hard fact that I learned while deployed to Afghanistan… You rely too much on technology [all those cable machines]! All the downtime (far and few) that you had could’ve been spent on simple exercises such as burpees and calisthenics or anything you could get your hands on instead of dreading that you’d be wasting a gym session entirely if you get called away halfway through working out.

I searched through my old fitness pdfs that I had on my old dusty phone and found out the source of this conclusion; People have always done minimal workouts to achieve strong and conditioned bodies. You just let yourself down by not utilizing these assets. Tactical Barbell, Iron Wolf, Brian Carroll. Names that are known for using the minimum to achieve the maximum.

It started with burpees and calisthenics. Even after Afghanistan, I was trying to find a way to combine these philosophies and methodologies into my own. Equipment that I could carry in my car. Equipment that had a full body builder aspect to it. Equipment that wasn’t going to cost an arm and a leg.

What came to my mind: Sandbags…

While I used to dread sandbags due to Army PT and CrossFit, the thought that it could solve my issues outgrew my distaste for them. So I hopped on the web and ordered one. It wasn’t cheap. That was a fact. $95 would up and disappear. But I had to believe that it’d last and help me in the long run. So the order was finalized. And oh hey! Sand is REALLY cheap too! $5 for 35 pounds per bag! Man that was a good purchase.

The old dusty garage was opened and out came a very cheaply-made plate carrier that was found next to a dumpster ages ago. Out came a 40 pound sandbag bought ages ago for working out that was never used and had cobweb all over it. Out came an ab wheel that’s worth a little more than $5 at the store. And out came the pullup bar that never costs anymore than $20 at the store.

All that was needed left was the dips that I wanted to do so bad. Academy had a deal for $20 on a dip bar that was made high enough to be able to do leg raises as well. That was a definite steal.

Figure 1.1

Figure 1.1: The dip bar taken a part.

Only a few screws to attach everything together and it works like a charm every time.

Now that everything was complete, one thing had to be made - the workout program. Strength and conditioning on my own terms. First was posterior (back muscles) and anterior (front muscles) splits. No. Cardio had to be involved due to my job.
Every time an idea was written down, it was crossed out for being too long. A crazy gas tank and the strength of the undead was needed. I looked back into a youtuber that I used to follow named Iron L00 that worked out using strongman, powerlifting, and calisthenics. There we go. So why not strongman, calisthenics, and cardio?

The full program became a testing demo for what was eventually to come to what I do nowadays. This is the first program. Named Nightbringer.

Weeks and days were split into this format

WEEK 1 - M: Lift, T: Run, W: Lift, T: Run, F: Lift, S: Rest, S: Rest

WEEK 2, M: Run, T: Lift, W: Run, T: Lift, F: Run, S: Rest, S: Rest

and repeat

Full Body (Lifting Day)

  • STRENGTH

Core & Cardio (Running Day)

This workout was split into two parts. One for cardio and one for core. When short on time, both were combined. Not entirely recommended to combine both as it dealt some blows to my energy and stamina.

Run days either had a long run (3-6 mile jog), midtempo run (1-3 mile run) , or sprints (100m to 400m sprints)

Sounds like a lot of time consumption, huh? Well don’t worry, I’ll show you what I do now with the same idea as above with more minimalization to it. Call it Nightbringer Lite for now ;)

The same format of L, R, L, R, L and R, L, R, L, R is still used.

STRENGTH DAYS

  • x5 rounds

    Sandbag Load x1

    Sandbag Get Up x1 (each side)

  • Down Workout (They go 7, 8, 9 on strength weeks and 7, 7 on run weeks)

    Pullup, Dip, Inverted Row, Handstand Pushup (I’m thinking eventually I’ll just switch to Hand Release Pushup - Arm Extension since I suck at keeping my legs up on walls for handstands.)

  • Burpees 1x15

    2 pumps (pushups)

    2 chasers (squats)

  • Rehab with bands (25 reps [each side for exercises requiring both sides] for everything)

    Face pull, pull apart, side leg lift, clamshell, fire hydrant

CARDIO DAYS

Long Run, Midtempo Run, or Sprints in the am or pm… with core at the opposite end of the day

  • Sets (3 on long runs, 4 on midtempos, 5 on sprints)

    Leg Raises (L-Sit or Hanging) x10

    Ab Wheel Rollout x10

    Crunch x25

    Cross Body Mountain Climber x15 (each side)

    Bird Dog x15 (each side)

A lot more minimal, eh? For the down workouts and burpees, I use a weighted vest now to add more weight and drive to the workout.

Secret Squirrel Club Bulletproof Vest

Just a sandbag that’s the weight of a human being next to my little plate carrier

In all honesty, I made it this minimal so that the equipment can easily fit in my car for travel. 2 sandbags, a pullup bar, a dip bar, an ab wheel, some bands and it’s all set.

On days or even weeks where this stash of equipment can’t be used due to a full inventory in the car, I resort to what I know best: burpees and calisthenics.

Different variations of burpees mixed with pushups, hand release pushups, squats, lunges, nordic curls and some core work to make an easy workout go smoothly. I tend to always make sure I hit the upper body and lower body even if it’s just the larger muscles!

Just remember that you don’t need all the equipment in the world to get a good workout in or even to have a good program. You just have to use your imagination, take the initiative, and get some reps in!

P.S. it ain’t minimal if it’s taking longer than an hour

El Bandido https://www.castlemend.net/
Previous

Pumping Minimal Iron: Bodyweight Edition