KSTRENGTH Athletic Preparation Program

The following post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of Soldier of Steel™.

On Tuesday I introduced you all to the as part of a FitFluential campaign I’m working on.  Remember, itz what Hollywood fitness trainer Mark Twight designed for the cast of MAN OF STEEL™ and soldiers, alike.  Well, I did the first workout.  It didn’t look so tough at first glance…

Oh my gosh.  Any type of movement was so painful yesterday thanks to the lovely DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness).  Seriously.  It hurt to sit.  It hurt to get up.  It hurt to walk the stairs.  It hurt to touch.  It was rough.  All signs of an effective workout!

Wall squats – have you heard of them?  I hadn’t and let me tell you: they’re entirely and completely AWKWARD!  This is the description from the :

Take a wide stance in front of a flat wall with toes touching the wall and feet perpendicular to the wall.  Drop into a squat position until your knees touch the wall.  Once they touch the wall, they no longer move.  From this position, use your hands to balance against the wall as you continue to drop into a full squat.  Then slowly stand back up.

Having trouble picturing it?  Let me show you:

Like I said – AWKWARD!  Luckily for me, I dragged my best friend Diana to the gym to do this workout so we could take pictures embarrass ourselves together.  Hey, it may have been embarrassing and super awkward, but I’ll tell you what: the combination of all the exercises left us both seriously sore the following day.  And just so I’m not the only awkward one doing the wall squat, I’m going to show you one of Diana, too.  However, to justify hers I’m also sneaking in a gorgeous picture of her on her wedding from this past weekend (see what a nice friend I am?).

As if the three rounds of wall squats, air squats, jump squats, and walking lunges weren’t difficult enough during the first day of the Soldier of Steel™ workout, the three 30/30 exercises seemed brutal!  (And for the record: we used weights for the air squats and walking lunges because we’re just that hardcore!)  For the 30/30 exercises, you do work for 30 seconds (for example, frog hops) and then you rest for 30 seconds.  You repeat that four times for a total of four minutes.  Putting burpees at the end was just mean!

But hey, we worked through it, left the gym a sweaty mess, and felt the results the next day.  Something else that I really like about the Soldier of Steel™ workout plan is that they alternate a “workout” day with a “recovery” day.  The day after that tough workout was 45-60 minutes run/walk at an easy pace (we walked) along with a five minute plank (or a 300 second forward leaning rest FLR as they call it).  Definitely doable.

As a reminder: If you have a fitness question for Mark Twight then you can join the Twitter chat on Thursday, June 20th (TODAY!).  Mark Twight will answer fan questions on the @NationalGuard Twitter handle. Follow the conversation from 3PM EST – 4PM EST at #TwightTakeover.

Get all the Soldier of Steel™ workouts .  (They’re free!)

What’s the last workout that left your seriously sore?  Have you ever tried a wall squat before?  Go try it, take a picture, post it on Instagram, and tag me (@itzlinz) and use the hashtag #SoldierOfSteel.  Then we can all laugh together.