OUTDOOR LIFTING IN THE FALL

 

In Autumn When the Leaves Fall and the Sandbag is Carried

      “What should be sad in the falling of spent leaves, of leaves that have decked themselves in bridal hues to keep a tryst with death?  The leaves are glad enough.  They spiral down from their parent twigs, and golden and red they are, to carpet the loam of which they must become a part.  If wind drives over them they are blithe to dance in the hazy sunshine of autumn.  The leaves are not saddened by this most natural of fates.  In death is found rebirth, and the tree lives.  Nothing is lost in nature, nothing wasted.  These leaves shall, in a manner of speaking, break from their waxen buds again or come back to us as flowers… Yet the spent leaves sadden us, and the bare boughs touch our hearts.  Something or somebody is going away, unseen, silent, wistful, and on a certain morning we shall wake to know a loss, to feel an absence.” ~Ben Hur Lampman, writing in the Portland “Oregonian,” 1925

     My favorite seasons for lifting are the spring and the fall, but I think it is fall that I love the most.  Many lifters don’t think about the seasons and lifting.  This is probably because most lifters train at a gym where it’s the same temperature year ‘round, come rain or shine, cold or heat, it’s always 69 degrees (or whatever temp gyms are set at - I really have no clue since I haven’t trained in one for well over a decade).  But I train in my garage, with a power rack, a bench, a lifting platform, and an assortment of dumbbells and kettlebells, not to mention an array of implements to carry or drag: a sandbag, thick-handled ‘bells, a homemade sled welded by a friend long gone.  I write what is there in my dungeoness garage gym so that you can understand that it is a complete gym; a lifter needs nothing else.  But it’s different from the “average” gym, the commercial gym, in the fact that there is no central heating, no central cooling.  As a garage lifter, you are - at least somewhat - at the whims of nature.  But this also offers advantages that a lifter who only trains in a commercial gym will never understand.  There is the joy of lifting outside.  Especially in the fall.

     I must say that I love the fall simply as a season of change, lifting or otherwise.  I feel a peace, an inner tranquility that even I can’t quite understand or get at when I see the falling of leaves, “leaves that have decked themselves in bridal hues to keep a tryst with death,” as Lampman - that sheer genius of an editorial writer - so eloquently put it almost a hundred years ago.  Perhaps it is the fact that the “death” of nature isn’t really death at all - simply preparation for a rebirth when spring comes, that other season of outdoor training - that touches something in the core of my being, that speaks to me a truth of the impermanence of everything, including what we often think of as “endings.”  Even the “end” is not the end.  Nothing really dies.  It simply changes.  And is reborn.

     Something about that sense of rebirth makes me want to lift in the fall, compels me - and I have a good feeling this is the same with many lifters - to train with a renewed sense of purpose, vigor, and dedication.  If all of life is made anew then there is no reason that I can’t do the same, there is no reason that I can’t transform myself, to let the old me fall away and allow the rebirth of the new me, perhaps the me that I always was and always have been, just waiting to be unearthed and discovered.  And you, dear reader, can do the same.

     This past weekend, I began to think about all of this because the weather changed here where I live in Alabama, and I awoke on Saturday morning to crisp, cool air, and in the distance the smell of wood smoke that only smells that way in autumn, a distinctive scent of fall.

     In the afternoon, my son Garrett and his friend Ryan came over to the house so that they could train in my garage and, in particular, so that they could do some outdoor sandbag training and thick-handled farmer’s carries.  I did much the same.  It was a perfect day of fall lifting.

My son Garrett warming up on the squats in my garage gym. (And my dog Kenji taking it easy.)

     As much as I would like to continue to wax poetic - perhaps even quixotically so at times - over my love of fall, let’s get down to the practical.  Grab some weights and go outside.  Here are some ideas to help.

     I enjoy lifting alone.  I really do. There is something sacred about the lone lifter, and when I lift alone, I sometimes touch something that is rarely touched, perhaps only in deep prayer or in a martial arts session when “body and mind fall away,” to use the most Zen of budo expressions.  But for lifting outdoors, I generally like a partner.  Outdoor training is great for challenges, for pushing yourself to do just a little more than, perhaps, you typically would.  And for that, most lifters need a partner.  So maybe I should have written: grab some weights, grab your lifting partner, and go outside to pick up, drag, or carry - perhaps even all three at once - an assortment of implements that you may have on hand.

     If you don’t have anything for training outside - you don’t own any weights or other training implements at your disposal - then the easiest thing to start with is a sandbag.  I personally own - and believe it’s well worth investing in one - an IronMind “Tough-As-Nails” heavy sandbag as seen here:

Here's the sandbag I use.  It'll cost you about $75, but worth every penny.

     I ordered my sandbag from IronMind when I first saw their bags in the “World’s Strongest Man” competitions.  I think I paid between $50 and $75 for it, and it was worth every penny.  I’ve had it now for at least 12 years (I think I purchased it in 2011, but I’m not completely sure), and it has stood the test of time!  You can load it with rocks or sand - I currently have mine loaded with rocks and it’s an absolute beast to get a hold of, but that’s exactly what makes it so damn great.  If you’re not willing to fork over $75, or if you’re impatient and don’t want to wait for your sandbag to arrive in the mail, you can always go out and purchase a duffle bag from Walmart, an army surplus store, or a sporting goods store.  You can find some decent ones for around $30.

     I personally think it’s good to purchase two sandbags.  You can load one of them with 50 to 75 pounds for doing such things as overhead presses or curls, and you can load the other one with 100 to 150 pounds for deadlifts, bear hug squats, and cleans.  Well, you may have to clean the 50/75 lb-er first, but eventually you want to clean the heavier bag.  The other thing you can do, if you only purchase one bag, is to load the rocks or sand into smaller bags, and place these bags in the sandbag.  This makes it much easier to add or remove weight for your different exercises.

     Once you have your sandbag, you can use it in a plethora of ways.  You can clean it.  You can deadlift it.  You can overhead press it.  You can carry, lift, throw for distance, or throw for height.  

     Here’s a sandbag-only workout that you could implement:

1. Bearhug squats: 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps.  For your first exercise, pick up the sandbag in a “bear hug” and squat with it.  This forces you to keep your back straight, and to have the best form possible so that you don’t “topple” over.

2. Sandbag clean-and-press: 2 to 3 sets of 5 reps.  This one will work you hard!  A sandbag will feel much different than a barbell or a dumbbell for this movement.  And that’s what makes it such a good exercise.  You will have to stabilize and balance much more than with other weights.  No matter how tough, shoot for 5 reps on each set.

3. Sandbag hill sprints: 2 sets (1 for each shoulder).  Here, clean the sandbag to your shoulder and run or jog up a hill almost as far as you possibly can.  Try to leave a little in the “tank” after each exercise.

4. Bearhug carries: 2 sets.  Pick up the sandbag as you did with the squats.  Walk almost as far as possible for 2 sets.

     Of course, you don’t have to use the sandbag for your outdoor training.  In fact, I think it’s desirable to do different exercises.  Add in some farmer’s walks with heavy dumbbells.  To make the farmer’s walks really tough, use some “Fat Gripz” - another item you should purchase immediately.  Add in some sled dragging.  My sled was made by a friend of mine who welded two pieces of steel together, one for a “base” and the other to hold the rope or chain for dragging.  He cut off the end of an Olympic bar, and welded that to the base so that you can load it with whatever poundage your heart desires.  It’s one of the best gifts I have ever been gifted.  Add in some tire flips.  You can often find used truck tires for a cheap, or even free if they’re no longer of use.

     Another thing you can do for outdoor training - and it could be the simplest for many of you - is to simply take the weights you have outdoors and train with them there.  Before I had a sandbag, a sled, and other made-for-outdoor implements, this is exactly what I did.  I didn’t simply get all the weights in my gym all at once.  It took me a while to add everything that I have now (although I’ve had all of it for almost twenty years), and so it was easiest for me to just take some weights outside and lift them.  Load a barbell on your back, and walk as far as possible (or close to it).  Load a barbell on your back, or a pair of dumbbells in your hands, and do some walking lunges as (close to) far as possible.  Grab a heavy dumbbell and do some “suitcase” carries - go for distance with one hand, and then go the same distance with the other.  The possibilities become quite endless.

     As Lampman pointed out in the quote that began this essay, autumn can sometimes bring a sense of loss, a sense of the absence of things.  We see this most obviously in the falling of leaves or in the nakedness of a wilderness that was lush green before, but fall is also a time of renewal; not just in nature but in us as well.  So take those weights - and all of those odd implements and tools at your disposal - outside and renew and rejuvenate your lifting this autumnal season.