Back in the Fight in 30 Days: Day 3

Categories: Back in the Fight: 30 Day Challenge

A reverse-grip barbell row. Source: Pinterest

Get Back in the Fight with us!

START FROM THE BEGINNING  –   PREVIOUS DAY   –   NEXT DAY

Don’t just say you’re going to get into shape.  Do it.

Welcome to our Back in the Fight 30-day fitness challenge!  This workout program is designed to get you from sitting on the couch to, ultimately, building habits of fitness that continue beyond the 30-day period.

This program is intended more for people who are recovering from injury or haven’t exercised in a while.  If you’re looking for something a bit more challenging, try our Harder to Kill series.

Over the course of our Back in the Fight 30-day fitness challenge, we’ll be doing quite a bit of calisthenics, body weight exercises and running.  We’ll also set foot inside the gym a couple of times to get you familiar with some key weightlifting movements, like back squats, overhead press and deadlifts.

Eventually, you’ll want to transition into a workout program that incorporates bodyweight exercises, weightlifting, functional fitness and cardiovascular endurance for your long-term physical fitness.  American Grit’s “Harder to Kill” daily workouts are great for that.

Some of these workouts will require access to a gym with basic equipment, as we’re going to be introducing you to some weightlifting techniques.  Lifting weights gives you better results, faster, and is a proven way of reducing fat and building muscle.

Are you ready?  Here we go!

Every day begins with a warmup and ends with a cooldown stretch.  The workouts are all designed to be done in under an hour.

Back in the Fight: Day 3

You’ll need access to a gym today, or at the very least, a barbell.  

• Warmup: Walk, run or bike 10 minutes on an elliptical, treadmill, or exercise bike at a moderate pace. Then, perform 20 arm circles forward, 20 arm circles backward, and 20 dumbbell overhead presses with 3 or 5 pound dumbbells.
• Strength:
  • Barbell overhead press: 3 sets of 5 reps. If you’ve never done these before, go light and go up in small increments of 5 to 10 pounds.
  • Barbell rows: 3 x 5. Same as above.
  • Barbell deadlift: 3 x 5. Same as above.
  • Tricep Pushdowns: 3 x 10
  • Bicep Curls: 3 x 10
• Hanging leg raises/leg raise machine: 3 x 10 (use the dip station).
• Stretch: Quads x 30 seconds each, repeat 2x, then hamstrings x 30 seconds each, repeat 2x.