If you’ve been following our Star Wars Fuel Your Force workout series, you’ve surely gained strength, power, flexibility, and peace of mind over the course of the program.
To close out our series, Week 8 focuses on power endurance, building your cardiovascular conditioning, along with your ability to be explosive, using a slam ball—think: medicine ball, but more durable. You’ll perform one of two flow circuits of slam-ball exercises (depending on your fitness level) that train the whole body and help melt fat.
Congratulations on completing Fuel Your Force! We hope you’ll carry these healthy habits with you to wherever your adventures may take you.
DISCLAIMER
The materials and information provided in this presentation, document and/or any other communication (“Communication”) from Onnit Labs, Inc. or any related entity or person (collectively “Onnit”) are strictly for informational purposes only and are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention or treatment of a health problem or as a substitute for consulting a qualified medical professional.
Star Wars, Fuel Your Force, Week 8, Endure
Products used in this workout:
Death Star Slam Ball
Perfect Shaker bottle
DIRECTIONS
Perform the exercises as a flow circuit, completing one rep of each in sequence without rest in between. (You’ll notice that the moves flow into one another—the end position of the previous exercise sets up the start of the next one.) You’ll repeat rounds of the circuit for 5 minutes straight (so set a timer), completing as many rounds as you can in that time. Aim to keep a consistent pace—don’t go so fast that you break form or tire yourself out quickly. Remember to breathe!
If you’re new to slam ball training, perform the exercises that Jena demonstrates. If you’re more advanced and feeling strong, do the versions that Eric demonstrates. For reference, both Jena and Eric use a 20-pound Death Star Slam Ball, but choose weights that are appropriate for your level (see our stock of medicine balls for more options) and will allow you to complete all your reps with good form.
JENA
1. Clean
Place the Slam Ball on the floor and straddle it with feet shoulder-width apart. Draw your shoulders back and down (think about Superman showing the “S” on his chest), and then tilt your bottom back and upward. Now push your hips back as if trying to reach the wall behind you so that you feel a stretch in your hamstrings. Continue until you can reach the ball—your shoulders should be directly over the ball and higher than your hips.
Take a deep breath and brace your core. Think
“proud chest” and try to draw your shoulders down and back even farther. Keeping your head, spine, and pelvis in one line, push through your heels as you extend your hips to come up explosively and heave the ball to chest level.
2. Squat
From the top position of the clean, twist your feet into the floor, screwing them outward so that you feel your hip muscles fire up. Imagine you’re spreading the floor like a rug beneath your feet—create that tension. Take a deep breath into your belly and spread your knees apart as you squat down as deeply as you can while keeping alignment from your head to your pelvis. Your knees should line up with your first two toes in the bottom position—don’t let them cave inward. Squeeze your glutes as you come back up to standing.
3. Press Toss
From the top of the squat, press the ball overhead explosively, so that it leaves your hands for a moment and rises into the air.
4. Slam
Catch the ball as it comes down and then slam it into the floor as hard as you can, bending your hips back, softening your knees, and drawing your arms forward to do so.
ERIC
1. Rotary Clean
Place the ball on the floor to your right. Turn to your right side and drop into a lunge position—your right leg is forward and bent 90 degrees and your left leg is bent 90 with the knee nearly touching the floor. Reach out and grasp the ball.
From there, explosively stand up and rotate your body to the left side, pivoting your feet and pulling the ball into your chest as you rise and drop into the lunge on your other leg. Now extend your legs to stand up as you rotate back to face front.
2. Press Toss and Twist
Toss the ball overhead and catch it as it falls. When you catch the ball, pivot back into your right-leg lunge so you face the right side again.
3. Turn and Slam
Perform a rotary clean again to face the left side, raising the ball overhead as you turn. When you’re standing tall with the ball overhead, slam it into the floor.
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