For this Weekly Workout, No Equipment PT Is Needed

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A soldier runs during his Army physical fitness test.
U.S. Army 1st Lt. Eric H. Hong, personnel strength manager for the 642nd Regional Support Group, runs his Army physical fitness test Oct. 14, 2017, at Forest Park High School in Forest Park, Ga. (Sgt. 1st Class Gary A. Witte/U.S. Army photo)

If you ever feel like you want to get out of the gym for a workout and have little or no equipment, here is a fun and challenging workout that will push your upper body, speed and endurance.

Find a field or high school track and turf area where you can run 100 yards fast. Warm up with a short run and dynamic stretch session for 10-15 minutes, then get after it:

Start with a half-mile warmup and stretch.

Run and Burpee Ladder 

You can do push-ups instead of burpees if you prefer.

  • Run 100 yards, one burpee

  • Run 100 yards, two burpees

  • Run 100 yards, three burpees. Keep going up until you reach 20.

If you stop at set 20, you've completed 210 burpees, or push-ups, total. If you want to make this a leg day, just replace burpees with squats for a similarly intense lower-body workout.

A half-mile easy pace run.

As a cooldown, if you have a pool available, you can mix in some swimming speed workouts with pool skills, like treading, floating, bottom bouncing or other drownproofing skills seen in Special Ops training programs (SEALs/PJ).

Swim Skills

Repeat 10 times.

  • Swim 100 meters

  • Tread water with no hands, bob and float (drownproofing test events) for the time it takes to swim 100 meters.

No equipment is needed, other than a place to run and swim. Enjoy.

Stew Smith is a former Navy SEAL and fitness author certified as a Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Visit his Fitness eBook store if you're looking to start a workout program to create a healthy lifestyle. Send your fitness questions to stew@stewsmith.com.

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