General Physical Preparation

Hello All, 

General Physical Preparation, or GPP is a misunderstood factor in most health and fitness programs. We often see GPP referenced in texts on Periodization as the first stage of conditioning. I consider GPP work to be non specific activity that improves your level of conditioning and fitness. This kind of work improves physical capabilities in a way that carries over to all areas of fitness and to a great extent, everyday life.

Workouts performed that fall under the guise of GPP can be anything! Tools I have successfully used include kettle bells, club bells, body weight, barbells, dumbbells, medicine balls, sandbags, sleds, sledgehammers and cars! Anything can be used as an effective tool for GPP and the more varied, the better! I will now give you a few GPP workouts to fit in to your workout routine. They are best placed on days you have scheduled off from your regular exercise routine as a means of recovery by promoting blood flow to the muscles. They can also be put on the end of a workout after your main conditioning work.

Kettle bell GPP workout: This can also be performed with a barbell or dumbbells. Perform 5 reps of each exercise and then move into the next one. A full set is 25 reps. Rest and then repeat 1-3 times. Exercises that work great include - 

Snatch x5

Clean and Press x5

Front Squat x5

Romanian Dead Lift x5

Bent Over Row x5

These will fire up your heart rate and melt fat! Another option is:

Snatch x5

Overhead Squat x5

Squat Push Press x5

Front Squat x5

Romanian Dead lift with bent Over Row x 5

The second option is the more challenging one of the two. A great body weight workout could be something like this:

10 Body weight squats

10 Push Ups

10 Lunges each leg

10 inverted rows

Repeat 10x

This workout will challenge your whole body. To increase the challenge, record how long it takes you to complete the workout. Try to beat it every time you perform it. 

A great sandbag workout i picked up is from The Complete Sandbag Training Course by Brian Jones. He calls this workout the Atlas workout Perform this exercise in a circuit format with 45 seconds rest between exercises

Sandbag Squats (15 each shoulder)

Sandbag Push Jerks - 5 reps

Sandbag Upright Rows - 5 reps

Walk 20 meters holding the sand bag over your head then perform a Turkish Get Up with each arm. Repeat 4 times. Rest 90 secondss. The key is not to to let the sand bag fall below your head. You can put it down when you rest.

The last GPP workout for today is using a car! A training partner is required to hit the brakes and control the steering wheel if things start going pear shaped! From experience (painful experience) I have found automatic gear boxes better. 

The first step is to find a quiet street with a small incline. Pick a distance of around 75 meters and push the car! ideally you want to use good posture and a nice position with your upper body leaning about 45 degrees forward. when you get to your target distance the driver should bring the car back to the start. The pattern i use initially is Push, rest 3 minutes, push, rest 2 minutes, push rest 1 minute and then push once more. This workout gets the quadriceps absolutely screaming and severe burning in the lungs if you are unfit. If this method is practiced with nasal breathing you will be strong!! One funny thing that happens with this training is people stopping to help you because they think you may have had a breakdown!

I hope these ideas have inspired you to do something new and different with your training and I will be posting many more of these training ideas in the future!!

Paul

'The future depends on what we do in the present'

Gandhi