What is the hardest workout you ever done? How did long did it take you to complete?
When Coach Davies was first interviewed and began contributing to the forum, he posted some of his old Renegade workouts. In fact, he posted nearly 12 weeks of them.
Those were the first Renegade workouts I ever did, and they were the hardest workouts I had ever done!
The first few took me more than two hours to complete. I was dying the whole time. Between the rope work, kbell work, weights, unweighted and weighted GPP, it was more than I had ever done in a workout before. But the results were amazing. After that, I stuck with Renegade training for quite some time, and made good progress, especially in terms of conditioning.
I eventually became more efficient and was able to get them done in 1 1/2 hours or just a bit less, but they were always the toughest workouts ever.
Back in high school football coaches used to have us do workouts that consisted of squats, bench, military, cleans, dead lifts, and maybe some auxiliary all in the same day and three days a week. I can’t believe I felt overtrained, slight sarcasm.(Bigger, Faster, Stronger, yeah right!!) These would sometimes take up to two hours to get through. It was really difficult to do all of those core workouts in one workout. Mind you this wasn’t a program that emphasized periodization but rather balls out intensity each time. Anyhow, I have noticed much better results doing my own workouts.
I used to pick square bales off hayfields and stack them in the hay barn when I was a kid trying to earn money for university…
Honestly, I haven’t done alot of the renegade stuff, but I believe you when you say they were the hardest ever.
I can honestly say that Fat to Fire had to be one of the harder ones I’ve done. Doing woodchoppers after a squat workout, in superset form, was seriously tough! Once you’ve hammered your legs with slow eccentrics and then have to jump into the air as high as you can, you’ll be sweating like you just ran a marathon.
I remember standing at the water fountain at the gym, looking at the spitoon wondering when I was going to throw up into it. I honestly, almost did on a number of occasions.
Davies, will hurt you. Give it a shot if you dare. I have also heard that Meltdown is a killer as well. I think Alessi likes to hurt people, and as such has designed those programs with that in mind.
T
On the theme of Coach Davies workouts, I did the original Fat to Fire program and those workouts would leave you on the floor crying and unable to breathe! fantastic!
Or maybe i am just a pussy.
I have to agree with the posts about Coach Davies. I thought my conditioning was good. Found out otherwise. The Fat to fire had me dragging my ass to the showers.
Moe
[quote]Moerte wrote:
I have to agree with the posts about Coach Davies. I thought my conditioning was good. Found out otherwise. The Fat to fire had me dragging my ass to the showers.
Moe[/quote]
The programs he has posted on T-nation are nothing like what you get when you purchase one. They have a lot more to them and it makes it even more brutal!
I’ll have to find those original workouts and post a few so you can see what they consisted of. Gotta love it!
Oh yeah, I saved all the posts for those original Renegade workouts. This was Day 1.
Warmup:
Rope Skip: 3 minute rounds, with 1-minute breaks in which you perform the following during your “break”
- rounds 1, 2 & 3: 30 vertical jumps
- rounds 4, 5 & 6: 30 side-to-side slalom line jumps
[b]Section A:[/b] Strength Complex - 5 sets, minimal rest between stations.
Med ball wood chopper with jump x 20
One arm Dumbell Snatch x 25 reps
Glute-Ham raise x 25
Overhead Squat x 10
Towel chin x 10
Burpees x 15
Hang Snatch to full-overhead squat x 5
Iron Cross x 15 reps
[b]Section B:[/b] GPP
jumping jacks
shuffle jacks
burpees
star jumps
- 30 seconds x 5 sets, continuous
Wheelbarrow/Farmers walk x 10 minutes
Reverse Hyper 4 sets x 6-8 reps
Zottman curls 4 sets x 12 reps
[b]Section C:[/b] Med ball Hybrid 10 sets ~ performed in circuit fashion for a total of 10 throws per station.
Medicine Ball Scoop Throw Forward
Hurdle Barrier Jump (5 successive hurdles)
Medicine Ball Scoop Throw Backward
Hurdle Barrier Jump (5 successive hurdles)
[b]Section D:[/b]
Chinees (30/30 x 5 minutes)
Preferably use kettlebells for dumbell snatches or sandbags.
Oh man, I remember these so fondly now! I reread the thread for the first week’s worth of workouts. Ouch! LOL!
absolutely, Coach D is the toughest dude. he drove me to best conditioning I have ever been in. Mind you I boxed for 10 years, once I joined COach D, it skyrocketed for me.
Workouts were just phenomenal.
Boxer al
Climbing Mount Everest; took about 8 hours.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 reps of:
Deadlift: 1.5xBodyweight
Bench Press: Bodyweight
Clean: .75xBodyweight
For time.
I did it in 1:06, and I had to use a reduced Bench Press load.
This one makes strong guys throw up; it makes guys like me twitch and hyperventilate from all the CNS stimulus.
Oh they weren’t that bad, just a little prelim work and nothing compared to what comes later on. You adjusted and got through stronger, tougher and with a foundation ready for anything.
See you soon - and drop me a line sometime.
In faith,
Coach Davies
[quote]Coach Davies wrote:
Oh they weren’t that bad, just a little prelim work and nothing compared to what comes later on. You adjusted and got through stronger, tougher and with a foundation ready for anything.
See you soon - and drop me a line sometime.
In faith,
Coach Davies[/quote]
Yes, I did manage to adapt and built a very nice foundation!
I’ll drop you a line, as I’ve been a lurker to the Renegade way lately.
Usually any type of workout involving legs. I made up a good leg routine once called “Crazy Eights.” It’s posted on a past thread if anyone cares to look.
I’ve got to agree with the Renegade stuff. I did Fat to fire I and II and they were tough! I just purchsed Coach Davies 0-60 program and I can’t wait to get started on it!
Nate, I went through the old forums a while back and found all the archaic workouts that Coach Davies had posted - man they look like a killer!!
[quote]dkells1 wrote:
I’ve got to agree with the Renegade stuff. I did Fat to fire I and II and they were tough! I just purchsed Coach Davies 0-60 program and I can’t wait to get started on it!
Nate, I went through the old forums a while back and found all the archaic workouts that Coach Davies had posted - man they look like a killer!! [/quote]
They were! But damn, they worked and worked fast. I went from 14-16% bodyfat down to about 10-11% within the first two months. Here’s a photo I took after doing those workouts for two months.
Nate Dogg:
You look like a lean mean fighting machine! You look like you could be a Navy Seal. You look like an olympic sprint star. You look like…okay no more compliments otherwise in your next photo your head will be out of proportion to the rest of you.
Seriously, nice job!
Fat to Fire was very tough. I think I could only make it through 3 circuits instead of the recommended 6.
The Heavy Duty leg workout was also a killer. I think it giant-setted squat or leg press with leg extension with leg curl with calf raise?-All to complete failure. I used to have to get so psyched up for those workouts.
Also, anybody ever try the Cybergenics workouts? The guys that designed them probably never even did them. They would have had to have been insane. I think the leg workout went something like this:
Squats to failure, then strip 50% of the weight and continue the set to concentric failure, then have a partner help with the concentric portion of the reps while going to eccentric failure followed by jumping as high as possible with bodyweight only.
Repeat for multiple sets or until you’re lying on the floor in convulsions.
[quote]ZEB wrote:
Nate Dogg:
You look like a lean mean fighting machine! You look like you could be a Navy Seal. You look like an olympic sprint star. You look like…okay no more compliments otherwise in your next photo your head will be out of proportion to the rest of you.
Seriously, nice job![/quote]
LOL! Thanks Zeb. But look at this. I was in even better shape after a six-month Renegade program that I did last year!