Nate’s Advanced Training Camp: Week One
Trail running with a group of fellow runners from the Hamilton Township area has introduced me to many new people. One of those is Nate Ribiero, who is a physical fitness trainer/instructor, and has worked at local area gyms. He invited me, along with many other people, to attend a special “training camp” he is hosting. The agenda is simple: meet for an hour each week over five weeks to train as a group, and train HARD. His mantra: “Bring your inner monster”. The class meets 7pm on Tuesday evenings at the Robbinsville Indoor Soccer Field (with an exception that the first week’s meet was at 4:30pm due to a scheduling conflict).
One of Nate’s rules that must be kept: Everyone must either jog or run from place to place during training. No walking is permitted.
The first week was indeed challenging, but I found the inner strength to complete it in style. Here is the routine we followed:
– Warm Up: Jogging in circles on the soccer field, followed by a few minutes of thorough stretching.
– Routine 1: We repeated this routine ten times
1. Sprint at top speed across the width of the soccer field.
2. Jog back to start
3. High-knees across the width of the soccer field (not to be confused with skipping across the field).
4. Jog back to start
* Nate didn’t like the intensity of some people’s sprints, so we repeated a few here and there. (I’m growing to like Nate more and more.)
– Routine 2:
1. Sprint to 1/4 field
2. Hot feet in place for about 30 to 60 seconds (I’ve never done this before, and noticed it becomes more and more difficult to keep your legs in a wide stance while doing this)
3. Drop and roll to left into a push-up position
4. Mountain climbers for about 60 seconds
5. Crab crawl to half-field, making sure to keep the back parallel to the ground.
6. Push ups until entire group arrives at the line (approximately 15 push-ups)
7. Hot feet in place again for another 30 to 60 seconds
8. Drop and roll to the right into push-up position
9. Mountain climbers for about 60 seconds
10. Sprint to 3/4 field
11. Drop down into push up position and hold, waiting for the entire group to get on the line.
12. 25 push ups
13. Jog back to the start
– Routine 3: (we repeated this routine three times)
1) Side to side ski jumps to 1/4 field, using the while line to zig-zag across (don’t land on the line)
2) A low side-to-side shuffle across 1/4 field (with your back to the starting line)
3) Warrior lunges to 1/2 field (a very low lunge, holding your hands above your head the whole time)
4) Another low side-to-side shuffle in back to the line where ski jumps were done.
5) Sprint back to the center line, turn abruptly at the first cone, and repeat making sharper and sharper turns around the cones, shortening the sprint distance each time (zig zag)
6) jog back to start
Finished.