A loaded backpack and six feet of floor are all you need for a complete home workout, because a ruck full of books turns simple bodyweight movements like squats and push ups into real resistance training. With gyms closed during the lockdown, I went back through the workouts I have collected over the years to find the ones you can do absolutely anywhere. In this Physical Friday I share Jelly Legs, a ladder workout that pairs squats and push ups in a tiny space. This is an audio episode, so press play and follow along.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Load any backpack with heavy books, put it on, and do bodyweight movements like squats and push ups. The weight turns simple exercises into real resistance training. Your kid's school backpack works perfectly, it is probably sitting by the door full of heavy books already. A loaded pack, sometimes called a ruck, enhances almost any workout, and you can adjust the difficulty just by adding or removing books.
Jelly Legs is a decreasing ladder paired with an increasing ladder. On round one you do 20 squats and one push up. Round two is 19 squats and two push ups. Round three is 18 squats and three push ups. You continue until the final round of one squat and 20 push ups. Wear a loaded backpack to make it harder. It needs no equipment beyond the pack and about six feet of space, and it will absolutely smoke your legs.
Yes. In a six foot square with a kid's backpack, I promise you will get an outstanding workout. I sometimes call this style a prison workout, because it proves you need almost nothing, no gym, no machines, no room. Ladder formats like Jelly Legs, plus push ups, squats, sit ups, and burpees, give you everything required to stay in shape in a small apartment, a hotel room, or anywhere you happen to be stuck.
Adjust the load and the exercises. A heavier ruck makes every squat and push up harder for you while someone working out beside you goes without the pack, which makes this format perfect for training with your wife or kids at different levels. If the ladder is not enough, finish it and immediately start a second ladder with two different exercises, like burpees and sit ups. You can also add a resistance band across your shoulders for extra tension.
At the time of this lockdown episode, David Goggins had done live workouts on Facebook and Instagram, and CrossFit Games athlete Noah Ohlsen was posting a free at-home workout daily on Instagram. Amazon Prime also has a tremendous amount of workout content, especially yoga and core routines that work well as family sessions. I also mentioned Ross Enamait, who showed ab rollouts using nothing but a rolling office chair.
You do one burpee on day one, two burpees on day two, and keep adding one burpee every day for one hundred days. It ramps up your burpee capacity and overall fitness gradually. In this episode I paired it with the Wim Hof quarantine challenge, three rounds of Wim Hof breathing plus a thirty second cold shower, which builds a calm mind and supports the immune system. I hate the cold water while it is happening and feel great when it is over.
When the gyms closed, a lot of people decided they had nothing to train with at home. You actually have more than you think. A backpack full of books is a weight vest, a kettlebell, and a sandbag rolled into one, and it is already sitting by your door. In the episode I explain how I think about using what is around you, including the office chair trick I saw from Ross Enamait. Press play in the player above.
Here is the workout I walk through in this Physical Friday. I cover the details in the episode.
I unpack each of these in the episode. Press play in the player above.
One of the best opportunities inside a lockdown is working out together as a family. The ladder format makes that easy, because the loaded pack lets a stronger athlete and a beginner do the same workout side by side and both get pushed. I talk about using Amazon Prime workout content, family yoga, and making the most of this time rather than just enduring it. Listen to the episode for more.
This month we jumped into the Wim Hof quarantine challenge, three rounds of breathing plus a thirty second cold shower, paired with the one hundred day burpee challenge, one burpee added every day for a hundred days. There is a full article on the Tom Rowland Podcast site with links to Wim Hof's own tutorials. I explain how both challenges work in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Whether I am stuck in a hotel room or locked down in a quarantine, knowing that a tiny space and a minimum of equipment cannot stop me from training gives me real comfort. I am going to get a workout anyway, and you can too.
Stay safe, make good choices, get your sleep, and eat as well as you can. Press play in the player above to hear the full episode.
Jelly Legs workout · rucking · backpack training · ladder workouts · David Goggins · Noah Ohlsen · Ross Enamait · GORUCK · Amazon Prime workouts · Wim Hof method · 100 day burpee challenge · quarantine workouts · Physical Friday · Tom Rowland Podcast
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's Physical Friday series I share the training, nutrition, and recovery practices that keep fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen strong and healthy for life, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
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