23 Epic Workouts To Build Strength, Stamina, Character & A Hefty Appetite For The Forthcoming Holiday Feasts.

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Three weeks ago, I posted this “epic workout” request to my Instagram channel:

 

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Every weekend I try to do something epic, like a big hike, a long paddleboard session, a bike ride through the farmlands around the house, etc.. My wife wasn’t feeling well today so I decided to do today’s epic work out right at home in the garage. Try this one on for size: it’s an endurance focused bastardization of Pavel Tsatsouline’s greasing the groove workouts…Do one four minute Tabata on the bike, then 10 body weight times ~80% deadlifts, 10 strict pushups, 10 strict pull-ups, 10 kettlebell snatches with a challenging weight for each side and 10 ab wheel roll outs for…brace yourself… 10 rounds. 90 minutes is a respectable time. Your turn. Post your epic workout below. I will choose the best one and send you a free kettlebell from the best kettlebell source on the face the planet…@kettlebellkings #doepicshit #getyourkion

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The host of responses I received were very creative. From simple to complex, I've chosen my favorites. Feel free to bookmark this post and use it when you have some free time and want to build strength, stamina, character, or just copious amounts of lactic acid. Because let's face it: sometimes crushing yourself is a deeply meditative yet fun activity – one that often leaves you more rarin' and ready to indulge in some holiday feasting. And if you're curious, it was “liftingmandan” who won the kettlebell from Kettlebell Kings. Something 'bout that rowing machine/kettlebell condo that I liked about his workout.


  1. joshwolske: I workout with maniacs. We do this one where we have three friends. One person is rowing for 1000m while the other two people are doing pushups until the person rowing is done. We rotate and we keep going with the rowing and pushups until everyone has rowed three times.
  2. jonathanwoodsofficial: Aerodyne bike 100 cal as fast as possible- 10 burpees – 15 banded push-ups- 10 chin ups – 3 min round on a heavy bag. FIVE ROUNDS AS FAST AS POSSIBLE WITH GOOD FORM
  3. snowry34: My workout is called burpees in the Park run to all my local parks(I live in a city). 5 parks 3.5 miles 20 burpees at each park. If the park has something to do pull-ups on do 5. Increase pull-ups burpees miles or parks for more of a challenge. Note from Ben: I do a workout similar to snowry34 at the frisbee golf park. 30 burpees at the tee, then jog/run the entire hole speed golf style, 30 burpees at the next tee, etc. etc.
  4. biohackingdentist: 10 min on vibration plate doing 200 squats, 4 min on the upper body ROM, 10 min lower body ROM w/EWOT and intermittent hypoxia, then barbell curls w/ restriction bands and end w/ jumping rope for 10min.
  5. nathanrbentley: I’m a strong advocate that 5 pull-ups, 10 pushups, 15 air squats AMRAP for time is the greatest grunt workout of all time
  6. thatchman19: 4×8 kettle bell reverse lunge with a shoulder press, 4×3 eccentric loaded deadlift, every minute on the minute plyo pushups superset set with strict pullups as many as possible for 5 minutes, last isometric dip – (Post) bird dogs, slow light weight turkish get ups while listening to binural beats and focusing on the movement and angles
  7. liftingmandan: 500 meter row for time, followed by what I call the “Epic Eight” 8 reps, 8 exercises, 8 rounds, of: KB swing, left arm KB Shoulder press, right arm KB SP, KB Goblet squat, KB RDL, KB left leg reverse lunge, right leg reverse lunge, KB Renegade Row. After 8 rounds, do another 500 meter row. I usually row the first 500 in 1:40 and end around a 2:15, the lifts themself total 70-90 minutes depending on how I'm feeling.
  8. smitty.inthecity: 3 mile run / repeat: pyramid pull up from 5 (so total 9 sets of all this), 8 clean & press kettlebells, 10 push ups, 10 goblet squats / after those sets, trying to do 10 burpees within 1 minute for 10 mins cooldown = however long you have left within the 1 min
  9. chrisfrytriguy: This morning was a heavy explosive workout routine featuring 5 rounds of 6 reps of heavy lunges, seated row, squats, and DB chest press where I focused on exploding on the concentric part of the movement. Immediately followed it with an 11km run with 670ft of elevation gain. Last week I managed 15km doing this same workout.
  10. r_keller701: Warm up: 10 minutes of intense leaf pile raking (I’m surrounded by Missouri River Cottonwood trees) Stretch: 5 mins of cardio Yoga – Focusing in on efficient breathing, Abs: 5 sets of 25 – each set is a different style of Ab exercise, Back: 5 – 15 second Superman’s (3 respiration rest breaks between each set), Push ups: 5 sets of 25 – again 5 different set styles, Legs: 25 super skaters each leg. Kettle bell – 90 seconds of non-stop two handed swings. Wall sit – 90 seconds. Lunges – 25 each leg(backward lunges are easier on your knees than forward lunges). Turkish get ups – kettlebell 15 each side. Finisher – throw kids into leaf piles for 15 mins. Total time 60-70mins
  11. alexanderthegreatfitt: Deadlifts starting 100% body weight for 20 and rising in weight until 200% body weight for 8, superset with pull ups starting with 40 until only 6 or so. Bent over rows until failure, chainsaw rows until failure
  12. wheelzabub: 3×10 minute AMRAP: 1. Barbell bench press, front squat, back row, 6-8 reps each, 2. Medicine ball clean & press, step ups, Russian twists, 10-15 reps each, 3. 200 meter sprint, 10 burpees, 10 KB swings
  13. rwade1985: 400 meter run, between every set of 20 down to 1 burpee with a 20# weight vest.
  14. chasmilli: 20 Trusters, 20 Sumo Deadlift High pull, 20 push jerks, 20 overhead squats, 20 front squats, Run a timer and at the top of every minute perform 4 burpees then back to the barbell work, Men 95 lbs/ Women 65 lbs
  15. andrewhlivingston: Epic home workout: hang from pull up bar 60 seconds, kettlebell farmer walk around the house (heavy, about 100 yards), 10 handstand push-ups then hold the handstand for 30-60 seconds, heavy kettlebell suitcase carry around the house, side plank 30-60 seconds, repeat suitcase carry and side plank on opposite side, walking lunges around the house, table plank 30-60 seconds, bear crawl around the house, plank at the bottom of a push-up 30-60 seconds, Bulgarian split squats 10 each leg 3x (using kettlebells if you can) kettlebell Snatch shoulder press 10-12 – 3x. Leg raises 10-20 – 3x.
  16. jonathan.pog: I did 7-rounds of 400m on the air runner. 20 jumping lunges, 15 box jumps (24in) and 20 wall sit marches with a 20lb weight vest. Brutal.. small breaks between rounds. 71 minutes and dead.
  17. davidjeremiah18: 4 rds- 60 sec (95lb) Squat cleans + run .15, 4 rds- 60 sec (45lb) DB hangsnatch + run .15, 2 rds- 60 sec (95lb) OH lunges + run .20, 2 rds- 60 sec (20lb DB) Russian twists + run .20. This workout is an integrity workout. It's all about how much effort you put into each set and not becoming complacent with reps. On the run, the goal is always to maintain or increase the pace you started with. I ended with 10 mph.
  18. jesse.holguin: here’s some thing I did 3 rounds run .25 mi. /60s hang from towels/20 burpees – then 3 rounds 16 front rack KB w. Lunges + 50 meter bear crawl then 3 rounds 50 calories in airdyne + Max cluster sets of 3 weighted chin ups (3 breath rest by clusters) then finisher -run 1.5 miles Into max distance farmer carry w/2 pood KBs
  19. stierlihealthconsultingMy workouts always change. I like them timed, 8 exercises at 40 sec full out workout, followed by 20 sec of rest. Do 3-5 sets…but go all out during the 40 sec workout. I mix in push-ups, bench jumps, steel mace, kettle bell swings, battle ropes, lunges, twists, squats, … Trying to keep it to “primal moves” ;) – cheers
  20. priestkolibri: 1min jumping rope, 1min watt bike, 1 min rowing, 1 min thrusters, 1min battle rope, 1.min strict slow pull ups, 1 min push slow push ups on paralettes – 5times (rounds) 5min rest beetween
  21. coupe_usn: kettlebell deadlifts x10, bodyweight knee through to kick through x5 each side, steel mace push up to row x5 each side, bodyweight downward dog to pigeon x5 each side, Suicide sprints, than skier or rower for 150m for 30 mins. than 5 rds of sprints, 3 rounds of a circuit of broad jumps to sled pushes than 250 meters on the rower than 250 meters on skier. Than 3rds of kettlebell arm bars and shinboxes to recover. Than .25 mile sprint to 250 meters on the rower, 250 meters on the skier than 25 cals on the assault bike.
  22. ni_perk: Mine was not exciting! 2:46 minutes on the trainer, 4 mile run at 7:30 pace, and a 2,000yd Swim!
  23. runricrun: 1200m Run. 20x Pullup. 10-15x Band Resisted Pushup. 1200m Run. 20x Kettlebell Swing. 10-15x Kettlebell Goblet Squat. 4 Rounds, 6 Miles Total, for time.

Summary

So whaddya think?

Which one are you going to try first? Or did you try one already? How did it go? Leave your thoughts below. 

And if you have even more epic workout ideas, leave them in the comments section below. I'll choose a few of my favorites to try.

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4 thoughts on “23 Epic Workouts To Build Strength, Stamina, Character & A Hefty Appetite For The Forthcoming Holiday Feasts.

  1. Andrew says:

    Ben, got a non related suggestion that’s extremely easy and that I was happy with the first time around. In addition to adding a spoon full of salt to my soaking nuts (you recommended the salt), I decided to grind up a few tablespoons of high quality coffee and dump it in as well (gonna try your kion jam pretty soon). It adds a subtle but nice cold brew coffee flavor. Can’t say it was an ultra grand slam, but I enjoyed it and will be experimenting more. Could add cinnamon, etc… I rinsed them after soaking overnight but some of the grounds stayed in. Didn’t bother me at all and could easily rinse completely. Try it out! Overnight soak with coffee grounds and salt (almonds, walnuts and pumpkin seeds).

  2. Mike Brawer says:

    It may not be as bad ass as some of the others but its a good at home workout.
    I call it the Brawitzer, it is similar to your golf course workout
    5 rounds for time
    1 round = 30 burpees then run between .75-1 mile with a minimum goal of 3 miles running.
    I do rounds 2 and 4 with a weighted vest and luckily I am able to include some moderate hill work as a part of my run.

  3. Ben says:

    Murphathon
    24.2 mile run
    Don 20# weight vest
    1 mile run
    100 pull-ups
    200 push-ups
    300 squats
    1 mile run
    Takes me ~5.5 hours at bw 225#

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