By Neal Prokop, Sport Performance Specialist

It’s that time of year – time for one of the most challenging training sessions of the year, The 12 Days of Christmas! Every year we challenge our athletes to come to the Performance Centre and give this workout their best effort to see how their training through the year has paid off – and to have fun. And now you can try it too!

The training session is just like the 12 Days of Christmas song, it starts on the 1st day with 1 repetition, then you go to the 2nd day and then back to the 1st, and then the 3rd day, 2nd day, 1st day, and so on until you get up to 12 and then bring it all the way down to 1.

Equipment Required:

  • Weight: dumbbell, kettlebell, backpack or duffel bag filled with books, water jug filled with water, etc.
  • A chin-up bar for pull-ups
    • or if you don’t have that, tie a knot in the middle of a bed sheet and secure it at the top of a closed door so you can do inverted rows
  • Slider discs for the body saw exercise
    • or put a towel, piece of plastic, or a piece of cardboard under your feet on a smooth floor

Get a stopwatch out and record your time. Let us know how you did by taking a picture of yourself at the end of the workout along with your time and tag us @sportmanitoba with the hashtag #smbperformance12daysofChristmas

 

On the first day of Christmas, my strength coach gave to me:

 

1. Turkish Get Up (per side)

2. Pull-Ups

3. Lateral to Broad Jumps (per side)

4. Plank Hold (RKC style) 10s hold/5s rest

5. True Puusshh Uuuppss

6. Skaters Squatting (per side)

7. Swimmers Swimming

8. Lunges Leaping

9. Side Plank Hold (3s hold, alternating sides)

10. Thrusters Thrusting

11. Step Stepping (Up)

12. Squat Jumping