The story starts HERE
Steve “Shaf” Shafley summarizes what began as a conversation between Mario Guevara and myself. We were talking about that magical area between strength and endurance, and the most complete tool to enter that realm. Mario suggested the Thruster. We both agreed, based on years of observation, research, and anecdote, that the Burpee is King in terms of body weight training,… but with simple apparatus,….. hmmmmm. Why not the snatch or clean and jerk? Then again,.. as you tire,… skill may go in the dumper, if you use Olympic Style lifting. Why not use dumbbells or kettle bells?? Now it gets interesting. Let’s think of the five basic movements in exercise. 1. Lower body Thrust, 2. Total Body Flexion, 3.Total Body Extension, 4. Upper body Thrust, 5. Upper body Pulling. The idea then would be to include as many of these as possible in as few exercises, that require as little skill, and cheap equipment as possible. The Thruster uses mass quantities of muscle tissue. It’s a full front squat, followed by a push press, therefore we are using lower body thrust, and upper body extension. That would cover two of the five. Not too shabby. Huge metabolic cost, high heart rate, painful oxygen debt,.. you know the deal. Why not add to the mix and hit all five?? That’s what I’m going to do here. I am going to name it, “SYSTEMIC SHOCK SEQUENCE!” That way, it creates a sensation since calling it an “exercise template” is far too mundane. Sensation is the law of the Internet,… isn’t it??

Workout–
1. Dumbbell or Kettle bell or Barbell Snatch. This covers total body extension and upper body pulling.
2. Dumbbell or Kettle bell or Barbell Thruster. Same deal. Whatever equipment is available is good to go. Even rocks and sandbags. This covers upper and lower body extension.
3. Swipes with Club bells(tm), or Double Ski Poles with Heavy hands(tm) or Dumbbells. For instruction in proper Swipe, consult Scott Sonnen’s material. For proper double ski pole form, consult Heavy hands(tm) material by Dr. Leonard Schwartz. This covers Total body flexion.

There you go. Three exercises that cover all gross body mechanics. For sure you can add twisting, independent limb motions, etc…. but why complicate things?

Now the variables.
1. Go heavy, drop the reps
2. Go light, increase the reps
3. Go superhuman, used timed sets
4. Vary Barbells, Dumbbells, and Kettle bells for variety
5. Don’t rest till you drop
6. Rest slightly between exercises, more between circuits.
7. Alternate two of the exercises and use the third as a finisher.
8. Do one workout heavy and slow, the next light and fast.
9. Dump the gear outside and run between stations.
10. Set up snatches at one end of a field, and thrusters at the other.
Now doing walking double ski poles between the two stations.
11. Work each exercise to failure, HIT style and do just one circuit.
12. Try to go through the sequence 5 to 8 times.
13. Do it as many times you can in 20 minutes.
14. Don’t do it at all and eat donuts and blame your gene pool.