Contest: WOW Thoughts for Witstick
The Prize:
Witstick. Got 3 inches of floor space? Want an intense, full-body workout in minimal time? Pick up a Witstick. If you’re trying to lift heavy things, this giant stick of heft cuts the mustard. At just 2.5 or 3 inch diameter and 2 feet long it is deceivingly heavy. I was sent one of these awhile back and it’s really nifty. Its rubber covering makes it easy to grip and it’s the right size and shape for a wide variety of movements. I like to hoist it on my shoulder and just go for a walk. Eventually, you’ll be swinging it, tossing it, snatching it, and lunging with it in a choreography limited only by your own creativity. These things are handmade by John Byrne and John Muse, long time readers of MDA. There are several weight varieties, from 22 to 40 lbs. The winner of today’s contest will receive a Witstick of his or her choosing.
The Contest:
Primal Blueprint Fitness and the Workouts of the Week were released nearly two months ago now, and I’d like to hear what you have to say about them. In the comments section below, give me your best feedback on PBF and, more specifically, the WOWs. Do you enjoy them? Easier than you thought? Harder? Are there specific types of workouts of which you’d like to see more, or less? Do you have an idea for a new WOW? What do you think about the PBF Self-Assessment? What do you think about the PBF Lift Heavy Things progression and goal reps? Let me know. A winner will be selected at random.
The Deadline:
Midnight, tonight!
Who is Eligible:
Folks in the continental U.S. Other folks will win a substitute prize of equal value.
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
I have read all the WOWs and have read through PBF and even though I haven’t really delved too deeply in to either I like the use of progressions and body weight exercises… as far as the WOWs are concerned I would like to see some that are a little more… playful sometimes… something like
“find a location with some climbing trees that are a decent distance apart”…”climb tree…climb down and sprint to the other tree” …”rinse…repeat”…
My overall assessment of them so far is “so far so good”
I like to throw in the WOW when I am looking to go a different route other than the weights for one day. Keep ‘em rolling.
I’m really into the WOW’s and do some of them on the weekends. I hope to do more in the future! Right now time is tight with me (trying to pay down my student loan bills), so I bike to work both to limit gas prices and to get in my workout on my way to work (work two part-time jobs). I wish I didn’t have to do the “cardio” biking route, but for now I focus on doing at least one WOW intense activity once a week on a weekend. Also, one of my jobs is working at Gymboree, so I get a pretty good amount of on my feet movement all day, unlike some desk jobs.
I’m echoing the whole “Indoor” WOWs… Some lift heavy things body weight strength progression would be nice as well.
While the basic movements are well-formed and the progressions solid, I think that for many people there is the thirst for something more. Various feats of strength, if you will. We know that contests of feats of strength date back many thousands of years (e.g., the ancient Greek Olympics). These days there are a variety of other such feats, many of which are bodyweight-only (aside from handstands).
Progressions for various high-strength/balance feats would be quite useful (e.g., muscle-ups, levers, presses beyond simply a handstand press).
I’ve not done the WOWs yet so I can’t truly critique them, but I’ve seen each one of them and each is very well put together and (in the case of partner ones) challenging/fun enough to want to repeat. I will echo the sentiment for creating indoor WOWs, especially for those rainy days…
I have not done the WOW’s yet as I am nursing a bum knee back to health.
I like seeing what activities are in the WOW as it gives me ideas of my own to try hopefully soon.
One thing that might be fun is to create a template for at least a main or most common type of WOW. For example…1) Choose one of the following sprint related activities (list). 2) Choose one of the following upper body strength exercises (list). 3) Choose one of the following fine motor skill developers (list) etc. Then give directions for number of sets, rest intervals and such. Maybe include a few alternatives for people with injuries or people not yet fit enough to do most of the exercises in any group. Then we can mix and match to our hearts’ delight. Wordy, but that’s the idea.
Love how PBF, WOW, and PB lifestyle in general is so very dovetailed! You and your team have worked very hard to bring fitness to the masses and we appreciate your efforts and time devoted to it!
Mark,
I grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee and reading all your articles and WOWs take me back to when I was in high school/ college throwing large stones and climbing everything in sight. Watching and reading everything on this sight takes me back and really PUMPS me up. I think I’d like to see more water activities b/c my creativity is limited here. Thanks!
Was truly excited when you came out with the WOW’s and was not disappointed. Lately I have been putting them in place of one of my workouts at random whether its sprinting, LHT or HIIT. WOW can be one to all three of those. My favorite part… getting me out of the gym and outside.
I understand that a lot of people probably like/get motivated by working with other people, but some of us don’t, so I always find myself skipping over the ones that say “these are designed to be done with a partner.”
Granted, I have low motivation on the exercise section of living primally anyway and have only recently started to get in the swing of things, but I’m much more interested in getting 30 minutes to myself and myself alone.
Most of these come with disclaimers that you can adjust it for working out alone, but how about some WOW with some meditation tied into it for those of us who like to get into the zone alone?
I really like PBF! I love that there are Primal movements that you can work towards mastering. I love that there are different levels to work at. I am better at squats than I am at pull ups and overhead presses, but I can still do the whole cycle just varying the difficulty of each exercise. Keep it up!
GROK ON!!
As far as PBF goes, I love it! It doesn’t eat up a huge chunk of my day (as p90x did) and it’s scalability means my gf can work out with me and do the movements more tailored to her abilities.
I like the WOWs, “Easy as 1,2,3″ and “Fight and Flight” really kicked my butt, in a good way! But I’d like to see more indoor WOWs, especially since the weather is changing. Also, I bike to work every day, so sometimes I’m just not feeling another sprint workout.
I have LOVED the WOWs so far! They have given me great ideas to add variety to my PB Fitness routine. As others have said, I’d like to see some indoor WOWs, so will be looking forward to those. I’ve been amazed by how quickly they’ve helped me improve in my self assessment!
The WOWs are great so far but when winter hits in MN it may be hard to do some of these outside! Maybe I’ll have to wear a wolly mammoth coat to keep warm.
David
I enjoy them as workouts during my strength bias for Crossfit training. I do a heavy lift and once a week use the metcon typically as the WOW. I think there should be more metcons where it’s just all out effort for 5 minutes. Something like 30-20-10 Overhead walking lunges with a 20# object, Burpees… Sprint 50m shuttle in between each 30, 20, 10. Something like that that just destroys you in 5-10 minutes, because there fun and you learn new things about yourself, like how far you can push yourself.
Again, this comes from a Crossfitter who has been around this type of working out for 2 years. I know lots of people are not up to my level yet (not bragging, it’s true though) and that has to reflect in the work out. But people might love that kind of work out and have never done it.
We have been doing PBF for about 8 weeks now. We thought the self-assesment was right on. The first time we did the workout it took an hour, but that was because of all the starts and stops figuring out the reps, movements, etc. The next time we did it though, we were ready and it took the 30 minutes as described….and kicked. our. butts!
The progressions have worked really well too. As for the WOW, we haven’t tried them because we haven’t mastered the basic movements yet. I look forward to joining in the fun when we can. Maybe it would be possible to have a WOW for those that haven’t yet mastered the basics according to PBF?
I like getting ideas from the WOW’s to shake up my routine a little-it’s nice to have guidance towards things you wouldn’t think of on your own.
Haven’t tried them yet, but I am amazed you have any time at all. As full service your site is.
I really liked the detail put into the PBF. It cleared up a lot of confusion for me. As for the WOWs: I tried a few, they were harder than I expected but a great workout indeed! I would like to see some more solo WOWs however.
I am thoroughly enjoying the WOW’s! I look forward each week to see what fun and interesting challenges I have waiting for me. I enjoy lifting heavy things and feeling strong and powerful doing it. I would like to see something integrated having to do with like tires and ropes and other raw tools such as these. i know everyone may not have them but it will give them incentive to get them and try these out. I thrive on getting weird looks when I am doing my Primal workouts in my Vibrams. I challenge myself to get more and more looks, this means I am not falling victim to the workouts of conventional wisdom.
Grok On!!!
I gotta say that WOW’s are a fun approach to keeping up with the PB community and lets us stay in tip top shape
I enjoy ‘em.
I think the PBF and WOWs are great for general fitness, and I think it’s an area that was lacking in the fitness industry. Other programs have you merely walking at one extreme, or training like ninjas, soldiers, or Conan at the other.
The only area where I think it really needs improvement is in poor posture correction/prevention. Currently, PBF and the WOWs have about twice the pushing movements compared to pulling movements, which contributes to the head forward posture and internally rotated shoulders and arms that many of us already have.
In addition to too many pushing movements, PBF also has a lot more pushing volume than pulling. Pushups are far easier to do than pullups or chinups, since they use a smaller percentage of body weight, so you end up doing so much more pushing.
Despite the effort to keep things simple and minimalistic (bodyweight exercises), adding bands and a simple and inexpensive adjustable dumbbell set would add so much for so little an investment. It can take a long time to get to the point of doing a few proper pullups, and a place at home to do inverted rows is hard to come by.
DBs are not as elegent as kettlebells, but for $40 you can have about 40lbs of rowing weight that you can adjust up and down, plus you can add extra weight for about $2 per lbs as you need it. Despite the fact that I’m a kettlebell instructor, dumbbells are more cost effective and easier to find for this role. Kettlebells can come later.
Computers, sofas, cars, desks, iPads, and blackberries are not Primal, but these things cause problems that must be countered not only with exercise, but with behavior changes (stretching, stand up desks, work breaks, mobility drills, etc.).
My girlfriend is a Personal Trainer specializing in rehabilitation and corporate wellness programs, and my posture has improved tremendously under her watchful eye and programming recommendations, despite my weekly 40+ hours of driving, Blackberry, and computer time!
I’m really at the bottom of the fitness ladder so I have not attempted any WOW’s. I’m still on the lowest levels on every exercise in the PBF manual. I do however look through the WOW’s as somthing to aspire to in the hopefully not so near future.
I personally love the simple CREATIVITY of the workouts. I hate hate hate mindless repetition. I can jump on my treadmill in the winter only by wearing headphones and watching videos on my laptop (I custom built a laptop stand to be able to do so).
So the variety and creativity of actual “play” workouts is great.
What I would LOVE to see is some workouts that involve practical results from the efforts, too. Yeah a bunch of guys moving a huge tractor tire is great, but at the end it’s just still moving weights. What about hauling firewood, cutting down trees, doing construction, moving bags of concrete! It would be great to see a combination of “this old house” and “primal workout”
How about “Grok’s Old House” ??
Awesome comments! I’d echo the ones regarding individual workouts, and the need for Indoor WOW. I have only become Primal for eight weeks; have a routine of PBF basic every other day with cycling or hiking on the other days. I admit, I could be accused of extreme cardio, but I had a strong cycling base before I went corporate and sedentary (and “blossomed” to 257 pounds). I typically ride 40-60 miles per day, 3-4 times a week, but in looking at my average HR it is right there in the 70-80% range. Near Grok
I have lost 30 pounds in these eight weeks, and my blood pressure is again in the normal range.
As for the WOW, have tried a few, but am really looking forward to the indoor series as winter here in Colorado is just around the corner. Indoor, and I have to say, hardwood floor friendly. I cannot be bouncing a kettle ball or banging a tire in this old house. Indoor WOR, with xcountry skiing and snowshoeing to replace the cycling, would be ideal!
I love the effectiveness of the WOW’s as well as the Primal fitness schedule. It fits into any schedule and I enjoy involving my kids too. It is a lot easier than exercising for many hours a week.
I love their simplicity, and scalability.
I love the simplicity of them in that you can really do them anywhere with no equipment….or add equipment/weight to make them even harder if necessary/in the mood. I can’t wait until I can get fully into PBF
I’ve been doing early morning PBF workouts in my basement and I’ve really been enjoying the flexibility of doing different kinds of push-ups/pull-ups/squats, etc. within the workouts to keep things fresh. Would like to try the WOWs but schedule/kids prevent me from leaving the house on weekedays. May start trying some stuff in the back yard and make use of the kid’s play set.
Love those WOW’s! I do them with my little son and we both have a great time. It is so nice to break up the basic fitness plan and it gives me an opportunity to test myself.
Thanks!
I’ve really been enjoying the WOWs. They are a nice mix up from my normal crossfit routine and really incorporate a full body burn, but are still simple enough that I can do them with other people that aren’t athletically inclined. Thanks for all the great info. It’s a struggle as always to keep up with the nutrition and everything else, but this is a great source to help keep me on track.
Thanks Mark!
Josh