5 Implements to Enhance Your Conditioning Workouts

5 Implements to Enhance Your Conditioning Workouts

Whether you are an elite level athlete or the average gym goer trying to increase your overall fitness, conditioning is essential for anyone looking to get the most out of their training. Conditioning is more than just doing “cardio” to burn extra calories. Conditioning is done to increase your overall work capacity. If you increase your work capacity you increase your ability to get the most out of each training session. If you enjoy conditioning, congratulations you are in the minority. Conditioning however can be more than just hill sprints (although very effective) and jogging. Here are 5 implements you can add to your conditioning training to keep it fresh and somewhat enjoyable.

1. Sand bags

Sand bags are a great tool as they are fairly inexpensive to make and sand bags are very versatile. You can carry, drag, throw, shoulder, and push a sandbag as part of your conditioning. Try doing 5 minutes of picking up a sand bag and putting over one shoulder alternating sides as many times as you can. Women try using a 50lb - 75lb bag and Men use 100lb - 125lbs. 

2. Kegs

An empty keg weighs 30lbs but you can add sand to make it as heavy as you can handle. A conditioning complex I use a lot involves a clean, press, and slam into a tire 10x followed by an overhead carry 30yds. You can make this a ladder going down from 10 - 1 reps. Good Luck.  

3. stones

If you haven't figured it out by now, lifting awkward heavy objects is hard and thus will really get your heart rate up. Atlas stones are a staple of strongman training. If you have access to Atlas Stones try loading a heavy stone onto an elevated platform for sets of three to five reps with 60s rest between sets. This takes some technique so having a coach that is familiar with atlas stones is helpful.

4. Sledge Hammers

Sledge hammers are versatile, and using them can be mentally therapeutic after a long day at the office. With a partner alternate 30s on and 30s off hitting a sledge hammer to a tire as hard as you can for 10 minutes. This is only 5 minutes of work but will feel like a whole lot more. 

5. Sleds 

Dragging or pushing a sled is great because you can load as much weight as you want and it is much easier on your joints than traditional running. Instead of running 3 miles load a sled up with at least 50% of your bodyweight and walk a mile alternating between walking forward and backward. This will take significantly less time and will actually burn more calories than running.  


Matt Barnauskas, BS, ACSM, USAW, TPI
The Spot Athletics