Workout of the week part 8

“When will she say ‘up’ again, dammit!?”

There are quite a few videos out there that show trainees working out to the rhythm to a certain song. This particular is called ‘Bring Sally up’ and was released by Moby back in 1999. The lyrics of the song pretty much only consist of the lines ‘Bring Sally up and bring Sally down, lift and squat, gotta tear the ground’. Every time you hear the words ‘up’ and ‘down’ you do the corresponding movement. So lift the weight when you hear ‘up’, lower it on ‘down’.

The message is pretty clear. Was wasn’t so clear to me: Elmar had the great idea to do 3 rounds back-to-back. At least I asked beforehand how long the song actually is. OK, only three and a half minutes. This doesn’t seem too hard!

However… You are only doing 30 reps while the song plays. The long time in the holding position makes this workout pure torture, though. Especially when the song switches to a different rhythm and you have to wait even longer for the liberating ‘up’ it just becomes mean.

Round 1: front squats with blackPack

Those were the longest three and a half minutes of my life. Since I lack a decent amount of flexibility in my legs and lower back I had to spend the lowest point of the squat in a kind of floating position. My thighs burnt like fire. You don’t have much time in the starting position, you are mostly squatting down during the song. The nice lady singing the lyrics makes sure you squat down almost all the time. I love her… NOT!

Eventually the song finished and I survived. I immediately dropped the blackPack to the ground and sat down on the nearest stool to relax a bit. Without music this time! However, just as the gaps in the song are always longer than you think the break between this round and the next one was shorter than I hoped. ‘No time to relax yet!’, Elmar screamed at me, ready to go. So we started the second round.

Round 2: Push ups

‘No way, Jose!’ I thought to myself but got down on the floor anyway. Never disagree with your boss! DJ, run the track! I have already described what kind of torture this workout can be. Even with the relatively strong leg muscles. So how in the world are my pecs and triceps supposed to hold up now? Doesn’t matter, gotta tear the ground! I have to admit that I had to lower my knees to the ground at one point and do the easier version of push ups. There was no other way. Oh jolly, this was only the second round…

Round 3: rowing with aeroSling

When I say rowing you probably think more of a horizontal exercise. But we (Well, Elmar mostly. I was too exhausted to disagree and also, never disagree with your boss!) decided that we wanted to give it all and positioned our upper bodies right under the anchor point of the sling trainer with our legs bend, feet shoulder-wide apart. This time the arms are straight in the starting position so your time to relax is in the lowest point and not in the highest unlike with the other two rounds. The whole thing is still tough as hell, just like the other two rounds. At one point I also had to sit down for a bit. But this doesn’t change the fact that this workout has been the most effective 10:30 min of my training career. And the best part about this workout: it doesn’t only give you a mean muscle soreness that stays with you for days, it also puts this haunting song into your head that stays there even when the muscle soreness is long gone.

The number of rounds and the exercises can vary as you like. You can also do pure bodyweight exercises without any equipment. Try using your office table instead of the aeroSling to hold from when doing the rows. This is a great way to get a quick and effective exercise into your office routine and you can challenge your co-workers to a ‘fun’ head-to-head. Just try it! You’re going to… like… it. ;)