skills for the zombie apocalypse

06/14/2012

There are a lot of things that I do at the gym and I'm constantly asking myself
"self, why am I doing these things???? what will they help me do later?"

Well, I'd like to answer that here.

Things that you will need in the zombie apocalypse:
1) strong leg muscles. (to run, carry, push doors open, jump, kick, etc.)
2) flexibility/mobility. (to get under/over things quickly)
3) strong upper-body strength (to carry heavy things, pull yourself up, punching, beheading zombies, etc)
4) cardio! (if you've ever seen zombieland, this is just obvious).

Things that help with Legs:
Squats
lunges
reverse lunges
weighted lunges (doing lunges with any kind of weight... backpack, gallon jugs of water, etc.)
box jumps
HIGH-stepups. (i.e. stepping onto a box that is 24" or taller.)
back squats/front squats/snatches/etc. (almost all olympic lifting is leg/core based).

Things that help mobility:
deadbugs
squats (stand about 5" from a wall and do squats facing the wall. Don't lean forward!)
stretching! (yoga)
bird-dogs
the thriller dance. (not lying... it has some complicated moves and being nimble enough to do them all quickly is actually quite the workout!)
flutter kicks

Things that help upper-body strength:
pullups
pushups
russian twists
kettlebell swings
handstands
plank (actually, this helps your core, but it all helps)
windmills with weight
turkish getups (w weight)
carrying heavy things!
putting things overhead. (taking it from the ground and putting it overhead.)
farmer's walk with gallon jugs of liquid
dips
wood-choppers
swinging around a sledgehammer. (totally useful for zombie time!)

Cardio workouts:
burpees
kettlebell swings
running
rowing
biking
jump rope
mountain climbers

as an added bonus, if you want to keep your brain active, you should memorize flash cards in the middle of your workout. (just like 10 random words or something) and then try to remember them after you're done.