A Weekly Workout that Involves Your Upper Body and Running

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A soldier approaches the finish line during the Army physical fitness test portion of the 2017 Army Materiel Command's Best Warrior competition.
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Joaquin Spikes, assigned to the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command, approaches the finish line during the Army physical fitness test portion of the 2017 Army Materiel Command's Best Warrior competition at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, July 16, 2017. (Sgt. 1st Class Teddy Wade/U.S. Army photo)

Here is an upper-body and running workout that works best if you have a pull-up bar and a place to run nearby. It is a combination of the Classic PT Pyramid Workout, mixed with a one-mile run every fifth set. If running four miles is too much for you at this time, cut the run to a quarter- or half-mile between choice sets of pull-ups, push-ups and ab exercises.

You can work your way up the pyramid until you fail or keep going until you max out at set 10 or 20. The goal is to go up until you fail at something, then repeat in reverse order. This will be a complete workout with a built-in warmup, max-out and cooldown all rolled into a classic routine.

Upper-body PT/run:

  • Easy jog, five-minute warmup

  • PT pyramid 1-5: Pull-ups x1, push-ups x2, abs of choice x3

  • Run one mile fast

  • PT Pyramid 6-10

  • Run one mile fast

  • PT pyramid 10-6 or 11-15

  • Run one mile fast

  • PT pyramid 5-1 cooldown or 16-20 burnout ...

  • Run one mile easy

Optional cardio after the run/PT:

  • Swim 500-meter warmup (Navy/PJ goals)

  • At goal pace:

  • 2 x 250 meters -- rest two minutes

  • 5 x 100 meters -- rest one minute

  • 10 x 50 meters -- rest 30 seconds

Or ruck 30 minutes (Army/USMC goals)

Or do both. That's a Special Ops goal.

Stew Smith is a former Navy SEAL and fitness author certified as a Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Visit his Fitness eBook store if you're looking to start a workout program to create a healthy lifestyle. Send your fitness questions to stew@stewsmith.com.

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