Last time I posted about grunge training. Simple, heavy, loud.

Improve your metabolic conditioning while improving your joint mobility! It is the era of hybrid everything, so why not train efficiently by improving that “cardio” of yours while allowing you to move better at once?

People think that mobility drills are doing a bunch of arm circles or calisthenics, or some sort of stretching (equating flexibility with mobility, which are two different things). You can be fast and loose about it, you can make it slow, controlled, dynamic and even make a circuit of it, get a great warm-up or even a great workout in-between your “grungy” loud, heavy days that leave you all beat up!

It’s all in how you cycle your routine. A great warm-up shouldn’t leave you exhausted for your “main event”, but it should leave you feeling supple and strong at once, relaxed and ready to fight. I know the late and great Jack Lalanne argument of “a lion doesn’t stretch before attacking”, and I agree that you shouldn’t stretch before working out. However, where the esteemed Mr Lalanne and I differ, and many better coaches than me agree, is that lions are always moving around, stretching, loosening up their body, playing, pouncing and when they’re ready, they’re always ready. Be it to hunt or to protect. You should be like that too!

You may not need to work for strength, for whatever you do, and you’re not a lesser person for it. Maybe you just want to feel good and get about your day. I like to lift heavy, but I get it. You need a break and do not want to lose your gains. You can still get the best of your conditioning and joint mobility by performing natural, all-body moves like burpees, moving into a suspended cobras starting from a downward dog stance, hip bridges (very tight for most people, and if you improve your hip mobility and flexibility, you will improve your quality of life!).

Perform any or all of these moves back to back in a circuit, for a minute each, and rinse, lather, repeat the sequence a few times. You will be huffing and puffing and still feel a great pump in your muscles, while burning a ton of calories and staying in better condition than running an interval program on the treadmill. Besides that, why would you run on a treadmill if nothing you do in life revolves around running? It’s not good training, not good conditioning…