Workout Ideas and Programs for Fall Lifting and Outdoor Training

In Autumn When the Leaves Fall, the Sandbag is Carried, and the Thick Bars are Taken Outside

     With fall upon us—though it doesn’t feel particularly fall-like here in west-central Alabama, where I live on a few acres down a little-traveled gravel road—I thought I’d return to an essay that I wrote three years ago, and originally titled “Outdoor Lifting in the Fall.”  Initially, I thought I’d just repost it as a “Thursday Throwback” piece, since I haven’t posted one of those in quite some time.  As I was reading over it, however, I realized that it could be fleshed out even more, so I’ve added additional, brand-new workouts, and I combined the original article with another fall training essay on outdoor training challenges that I wrote a couple years ago, about a year after the first one.  Perhaps it will give you some ideas for your autumn training…

      “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.

     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.

     Here are a few workout “challenges” that are perfect for outdoor lifting, and particularly with a partner:

One Exercise, One Hour

     Sometimes, I do a training program where I just pick one lift to train each day, and then train that lift for an hour straight.  I’ve had folks tell me that one exercise doesn’t seem as if it’s enough.  Really?  Try squatting for an hour straight—doing a set every few minutes, high reps or low reps, doesn’t matter—and then get back to me about how “easy” that workout is.

     This is also a great way to train carries.  Pick either farmer walks, sandbag carries, or stone carries.  Do one set for a certain distance.  Make sure it’s not too hard; don’t go “all out” or there’s no way you’ll be able to complete the workout—or if you do complete it, you may not be able to train again at all for several days.  After that first set, rest four or five minutes, and then repeat.  You should end up doing around 10 to 15 sets for the entire hour.

The 50% Technique

     Here’s another good way to train loaded carries or dragging movements while managing fatigue.  Do a hard set for distance of any exercise.  Don’t go to failure but come close.  When you are finished, rest a few minutes, and repeat.  But only go for half the distance.  After a few minutes of rest, repeat another half-distance carry.  After that, once again do the same distance as the first set.  Repeat in this manner for however many sets you want to do.  If you really want to challenge yourself, keep doing sets of the “full distance” until you can no longer get the same distance on those sets.

You Go, I Go

     Here’s a “classic” method of training that’s great if you do have a partner.  Once again, pick any carrying, dragging, or other “odd” lift movement.  Do a hard set, but not to failure.  If you don’t leave a little something “in the tank” after each set, you won’t be able to do this for long.  Once you’re finished with your set, your training partner immediately does the same lift for the same distance.  When he is finished, then you immediately go again.  Continue in this manner until fatigue starts to really set in.

The Tri-Set Challenge

     For this one, you’ll need three different objects to drag, carry, or flip.  I often use sandbag carries, sled drags, and farmer walks, done in that order.  Line up each object next to one another.  Do a set of the first movement.  Make it hard, but once again, not all out.  As soon as you’re finished, walk slowly back to the second object(s).  Carry or drag it for the same distance as the first.  And as soon as you’re done with that one, walk back to the starting point and drag or carry the last implement.  Rest a few minutes and repeat.  Other good lifts would be stone carries, keg carries, tire flips, or, yep, even log drags or carries.

Carry and Deadlift

     Here’s a good one for either farmer walks or sandbag carries.  Do a set for about half of the distance of a really hard set.  At that point, without setting down the ‘bells or sandbag, deadlift them/it for a certain number of reps.  As with the carrying portion, don’t go all-out on the deadlifts.  As soon as you finish your set of deadlifts—don’t set down the weight—carry the weight back to your starting point.  When you get to the “finish line,” do another set of deadlifts for the same number of reps as the first set.  Rest a few minutes and repeat as many times as you want.

     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 for the above workouts, or any other workout you might choose to do, 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:

     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 something like 15 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 based on a quick search I just did online.

     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.  You can use one of the previous workouts.  It’s great for basically anything you could do with free weights along with others that you can’t do with them

     Here’s a sandbag-only workout, for example, to get you started in sandbag training:

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.

     That workout, by the way, is a great one for athletes, MMA fighters, or martial practitioners of any sort.  It just builds a different kind of strength from what you get out of free weights, even when doing the “same” lifts as you would do with a barbell or dumbbells.  It carries over to your fighting art or your sport in a manner that just can’t be achieved with free weights.

     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 that’s well worth purchasing. 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 more than 20 years at this point), 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.

     Here are a few workouts that would be great for outdoor training.  I’ve included a wide range of implements for these workouts—barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, sleds, tires, sandbags, thick bars—so, if you don’t have one or two of the particular implements, you can replace them with a similar same but different movement or odd lift.  But these workouts should give you some more training ideas.

Full-Body Overall Size and Strength Builder

1. Thick-bar deadlifts: 3x3-5.  After warmups, load the bar with roughly your 5-rep max.  On each set, stop a rep shy of momentary muscular failure.  Stick with that weight until you quite easily get 5 reps on all 3 sets, and then add weight at the next session.

2. One-arm dumbbell clean and presses: 5x3-5.  Use the same principle as the thick bar deadlifts, but increase the sets to 5.  Set the dumbbell down on each rep so that each rep is a clean and press.  Be sure to do 5 sets for each arm.  If you want, do these with a pair of Fat-Gripz and make them a thick-bar movement.

3. Farmer walks: 2 to 3 sets.  Do 2 or 3 hard, but not completely all-out sets.

4. Sandbag bearhug squats: 2-3x6-8.  Do these the same as described above for the sandbag only workout.

5. Tire flips: 2 to 3 sets, hard but not all-out.

6. Barbell curls: 2-3x6-8.  Take each set one rep shy of muscular failure.

7. Sled drags: 2 to 3 sets, hard but not all-out.  You can do these by dragging the sled forward, backward, or both.

     This program can be done 2 to 3 times per week.  You can do it on “set” days such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or Monday and Thursday each week.  You can also just train every 2nd or 3rd day, depending on how you feel.  So, you might train 1-on, 1-off for a couple of days, and then follow that up with a 1-on, 2-off for two sessions in a row.  Which means that you might train Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday the first week, followed by Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday the next, then Wednesday and Friday the following week.  And so on.

Minimal Movement Mass and Power Builder

Workout 1:

1. Clean and Presses: 8x3.  You can do this movement with barbells, dumbbells, or even kettlebells, assuming you have ones that are heavy enough.  You can do it with either one or two arms, as well, if you go the DB or KP route.  Use a weight where you could get about 6 reps if you were doing one completely all-out set and do 8 sets of 3 reps with that weight, resting about 2 minutes between each set.

2. Barbell curls: 8x3.  Use the same method as the clean and presses.

3. Farmer walks: 3-5 sets, hard but not completely all-out.

Workout 2:

1. Squats: 8x3.  Same method as Workout 1.  If you want to take this movement outdoors, as well, then you can do it with dumbbells or even kettlebells—again, assuming you have heavy enough DBs or KBs.

2. Thick-bar deadlifts: 8x3.

3. Sandbag bearhug squats: 1 to 2 sets almost to failure.  To finish off your lower body session, do these for almost as many reps as you can.  The number of reps will depend upon the poundage of your sandbag—20 to 30 reps, however, would be a good number to shoot for.

     Alternate back and forth between these two workouts, training 3 days a week, meaning that each session gets trained 3 times in two weeks.  The template would look like this:

Week One:

Monday: Workout 1

Wednesday: Workout 2

Friday: Workout 1

Week Two:

Monday: Workout 2

Wednesday: Workout 1

Friday: Workout 2

     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.

     If you have any comments or questions—maybe let the readers know what you like to do for your fall, outdoor training—then leave them in the “comments” section below.  If you have any in-depth or personal questions, then feel free to send me an email for private correspondence.

     And if you really want some great training programs for building mass and power, size and strength, then be sure to get a copy of one (or all!) of my books.  Click on the link for details on all of my books that are currently available for purchase.