I have been involved with the JiuJitsu/Grappling world since it first got real publicity in the main stream. For me this was back in 1994 when I first got into the Army. Once I got to my home at Fort Lewis WA with the 2nd Ranger Battalion I found that they were transitioning from standard military “combatives” (just enough information to get your butt kicked in a bar fight) to Royce Gracie style Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I actually got to meet him and one of his brothers when they came up to the firing line to shoot our 240G machine guns! Talk about cool!
Ever since I got started with grappling concepts I was intrigued and found myself lightly following jiu jitsu, muay thai, etc. Then came the UFC. This blew things up considerably. Along with this came new ways to get in shape for such an intense sport to build a rock hard wiry body. You can do a search for “MMA Workouts”, “Spartan 300 training”, etc. In these types of workouts you find things that most gyms just don’t include in their offering to their members. Tractor tires, sledge hammers, slosh pipes, and many other out of the ordinary implements can be found in these new workouts.
I am proud to say that I finally located a 250lb tire and a 16lb sledge hammer. These two items add some great cardio concepts to my gym. I currently have a stationary bike, jump rope, head bag, speed bag, and heavy bag for getting warmed up with.
Tire workout: With the tire you can do some neat alternative style workouts that can really get a good sweat on. My normal workout now includes tire flips in the front yard. The tire flip is just as it sounds. It starts with a dead lift style bend at the knees, left with the legs, then the arms, and flip the tire. Then I hop into the center of the tire (an 18” vertical leap) and then hop out of the tire putting me in front of the tire. I then run around to one side to get behind the tire again. Performing another flip, I run to the opposite side, etc. I do this till I get to the end of my yard (about 50’) and start over again. Do this for 15 minutes or more (if you can) and you will be tired…begging to hit the iron!
Where do I get a tire? Any tire shop that service tractors will have some tires laying about. They generally will give you these for free as they have to pay to get rid of them otherwise. Generally the side wall may have a hole or slash in it or the tread is no longer useable. Try to get a tire that is at least 250lbs or more (depending on your size and needs of course). Look about on youtube and you will find some people flipping 1200lb tires! I hope to get this big one day.
Sledge hammer workout: Having a tire immediately allows you to have something to smash with a hammer. I use a 16lb sledge hammer and perform many swing actions with it. You can do an over head swing for both sides of your body and slam it into the tire in front of you (don’t worry about hurting your tire!). Do this for a few minutes…think reps and sets. Next you can do a baseball or golf style swing into the tire. This is actually quite difficult. Me being a right handed guy I can smack the hell out of the tire when standing next to it like home plate. But switch hitting with a 16lb sledge is not as easy as one might think. This takes practice! Do this for 15 minutes or more and you will feel the pain.
I will post some pictures and videos when I get a chance.
Andrew Siemer
Teacher, Author, Engineer, Architect, Build Master, Scrum Master, Father of 6, Husband, ex Army Ranger
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