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When I first heard about Density Workouts is when Coach Ethan Reeve was describing his very own workouts from when he was a college wrestler back in the 70s. He would crank intense workouts for 20 minutes, going for maximum rounds.
The workouts would give an ass whoopin' to ALL of us.
The Rutgers Wrestling Team is learning ALL about these Density Workouts as we crank many of our workouts based on time. It forces you to push the pace, minimize rest and in turn, mental toughness improves along with strength endurance, power endurance and muscle density.
No wimps allowed.
Below, I cranked 10 minutes of speed benching combined with mixed pulling, much of which was rope pull ups to improve grip strength.
With Density work you do not have to perform an entire workout based on time.
It can be portions of the workout.
You choose. Get UNDER the bar, in the trenches, live and learn.
Lead from the FRONT
--Z--
PS: I'll be doing Part II of The Coach Reeve Audio Interview for The Underground Inner Circle this week.
Don't miss it!
Recommended Resources:
Underground Strength System / Coach Ethan Reeve Audio Interrogation
11 Responses
Zac,
I love how you’ve driven full force into body weight workouts over the past 6 months or so. It really shows that you pursue ANY kind of physical challenge, and for those select few of us out there who train almost exclusively with calisthenics (with high weight vests, static holds, etc.) it’s good to get some recognition in the underground community. Quick question, what do you think about Parkour training?
Rock on and keep fighting the good fight!
THanks for the Chat yesterday Z! Great Ideas and even more greater accountability. Talk soon Brah!
P.S. Density Training….nice…..Leg version…not so nice….hehe
Hi Zach, I think you met concept of density workouts much earlier.
What about wrestling or other fighting sports from history? Use as much power and speed as you can in the time you have and maybe you win. If you sometime have no partner for training use any other equipment with scimilar principles for several minutes, rest, repeat. More you can do in given time stronger(or more powerfull) you will become. It was a wrestling training principle before xxxx years and also today. I lived in a small town, small country, small wrestling club without fancy equipment or conditioning coach(only the experience of older clubmates). Bodyweight and partner, or anything you can find and do your best. Even no barbell(1970). Result? 1 olympic, 3 world and 2 european championship medals(gold and silver) in period of 7 years(different guys). Our olympic champion is today asistent coach of USA national team.
But it was 40 years ago, and today is probably impossible to achieve scimilar results without help of training science.
Regards and continue your good work
Imrev
Man, that is awesome, I would LOVE to hear more info from you on your training or those you helped 40 yrs ago!!
Pls keep me posted!!!
Talk soon, brother!
–Z–
Sorry, my English is far from good and I need time to compose my thought. And time is something what in these days we do not have 🙁
At first I would like to clear something. Internet is media without any responsibility and full of BS. I do not want to write names in public to prove my writing, but if you need it I can send you a private mail.
I was not a coach, only team member. And it was scimilar like you posted in story about polish weightlifting team. it was nothing fancy. Warmup, some calisthenic and bodyweight exercises, easy wrestling for rest, than heavy wrestling. Sometimes 2 minute high intensity wrestling with heavier partner, than 2 minute with lighter. Lifting, throwing and wrestling with heavier partner was like continuosly lifting sandbag heavier than you until your “death”.
Bodyweight exercises were some animal movements, rabbit and frogg jumps, bear walks, crab walks,push-up walks upside down on the steps,( much worse than elevated pushups), tuck jumps, jump lunges, squats with partner on your shoulder,different bridge exercises(not invented by Mat Furrey as many gurus are saying):) etc. No rep or series count, just do as much as you can in given time. Yearly a preparation boot camp, 2 weeks, about 7am running 6 miles than sprinting with partner on your shoulders, change with partner, sprint again, and strength training+wrestling 2 a day.
And now something different, about motivation. I saw that you wrote about some, and you are fan of wrestling, so … There are 1000s of sport stories, but this one is rarely known and this guy I personaly knew.. A hungarian wrestler Hegedus Csaba, was World Champ in 1971 and Olympic winner in 1972. In 1973 he had a severe car crash, almost everything broken, even his spine at 3 places, liquor coming out of his head. He was in coma about 60 days, his normal weight was between 85-90KG but during the coma he went down to 51KG(or 49??).Imagine that. In 1976 he become European Champ(category 82KG),and again 1977. And there is more, but I have to go. If you are interested in somethig more, just write a mail.
Regards
I find density training to be an excellent conditioning tool. I used them in 15min blocks with 5min rest after each block, much like Charles Staley’s EDT for fat loss supersets. Mine go like this (my max reps are in brackets):
1a) Pullups 5 (9)
1b) 1.5 rep Bulgarian Split Squats with 12kg kettlebell 12/leg (20)
2a) pushups 10 (40)
2b) inverted rows 10 (30)
3a) vertical jumps 10
3b) dips 5 (20)
I know, my numbers are currently very poor, but I’m working on them. I hope to hit 12 pullups by the end of July and progress to using pistols in my density workouts as well. My main aim, though, is conditioning and strength endurance for my sports, soccer and wing chun kungfu.
If you have any advice for a newcomer like me, that would be helpful!
Zach,
I’ve used a form of density training with some wrestlers I’ve conditioned before. Talk about brutal. I love utilizing the bottom “bell” of the kettlebell for extra grip work. Static holds or rowing/pulling with only the bell (no handle). Just things to think about to make things even more brutal.
Keep it up brother!
I love the use of the Indian Clubs and the Mases. Those are 2 tools I need to add in my gym.
Blaine
Good info
great video with the training but even better with the section on the landlord and neighbor. we’ve dealt with those before with my gym but fortunately we have found a pretty ideal spot. it’s always a pain to look for new places, but it’ll work out in the end for you zach. best of luck in your search and keep kicking ass!