The RAMroller Workout Challenge: 22 Moves for 22 Days to Build Strength and Endurance

The RAMroller Workout Challenge: 22 Moves for 22 Days to Build Strength and Endurance
Presented by Spartan Training®

A RAMRoller. Twenty-two moves. Thirty seconds each. Twenty-two days. Eleven minutes a day.

That's all it takes to build major strength and endurance, according to Coach Yancy Culp. Some of you already know how effective the RAMroller can be in helping you develop your overall fitness. It's a beast of a multi-tasking exercise tool: More compact than a barbell, there's virtually no limit to the moves you can do with it and the muscles you can target (as Coach Yancy proves in this challenge).

He recommends moving through the series for a few days at the recommended tempo, and then increasing your speed and doing as many reps as you can once you get the hang of it. Alternate RAMrollers if you have more than one, using a heavy weight and then a light weight every other day.

Eleven minutes may not sound like a long time, but this workout is no joke: It's a full-body conditioning beast, spiking your heart rate with dynamic movements. And 21 days is the amount of time it takes to form a healthy habit, so if you stick with it, you'll have a stronger body and a new workout routine that's easy to maintain. Make the commitment and set your timer NOW!

 

Related: The Spartan Guide to RAMrollers: A Killer Guide to Get You Started

The RAMroller Challenge: 22 Moves a Day for 22 Days

Move 1: Seated Press

Start in a seated position, leaning back at around a 45 degree angle. Press the RAMroller up, reaching your full elbow extension. Your abs and core should be engaged, activating the chest, tricep, and interior delts.

Move 2: Sit-Up With Press

Starting in a lying position with the weight touching the ground behind your head. Sit up and pull the weight in front of you, completing the rep with a press. Repeat!

Move 3: Sit-Up With Scissor Kick and Press

Start in a lying position with the weight touching the ground behind your head. Bridge your hips up by pressing one foot into the ground, while driving the other leg and pointing it straight up in the air. Drop your hips and leg as your complete a sit-up and press, activating your glutes and hamstrings.

Move 4: Step Side-to-Side Twist (aka Russian Twist)

Start in a seated position with a slight trunk lean and the weight resting on the ground beside your body. Keeping your core tight, lift and rotate the weight as you twist through the trunk, sitting the weight on the ground on the opposite side. Your eyes should follow the weight, and keep a slight bend in your knees.

Move 5: Plank With Side-to-Side Row

Start in a plank position with the weight lying on the ground under your chest, perpendicular to your body and offset to one side. Grab the weight and pull it under your body to the opposite side. Repeat to the opposite side using your other arm. Stay strong and stable through your hips and core.

Related: The RAMroller Lunge: How to Crush It Every Time

Move 6: Plank With Pull to Row

Start in a plank position with the weight lying on the ground, in line with your body and out in front of you. Grab the weight and pull it down under your body, then pull it back to the starting position with the same arm. Repeat with the opposite side. Stay strong and stable through your hips and core.

Move 7: Dead Lift

Starting with a neutral spine, squat with the weight resting on the ground. Lift the weight off the ground until you have reached a hip extension.

Move 8: Back Squat

Start from a standing position, with the weight resting on the shoulders behind the head. Squat down with a neutral spine until your hip crease is at or below the knees, and stand up out of the squat until reaching a hip extension.

Move 9: Thruster

Start from a standing position with the weight in front of the body, touching your chest and under your chin. Squat down with a neutral spine until your hip crease is at or below the knees. Stand up out of the squat and press the weight overhead, achieving elbow and hip extension.

Move 10: Ground to Overhead

Start with a neutral spine squat, with the weight resting on the ground in front of you. Stand up out of the squat as you lift the weight from the ground and finish the rep with a press above the head, achieving elbow and hip extensions. Focus on keeping the weight close to your body as it travels from the ground, and in front of your body.

Related: 6 Essential RAMroller Moves to Build Total-Body Strength 

Move 11: Move Squat With Transverse Press

Start in a squat position with the weight resting on the ground, off to one side of the body, perpendicular to the front of your body. Stand up out of the squat, lifting and rotating the weight in front of your body as you twist through the trunk, while pressing the weight overhead. Repeat on the opposite side.

Move 12: Snatch

Start with a neutral spine squat with the RAMroller resting on the ground in front of you. In an explosive manner, drive power into the ground — up from the squat position — and lift the weight overhead. Once the weight is overhead, stand up until a hip extension is achieved. As you’re learning the snatch movement, start with a light weight and work up.

Move 13: Squat Jack

Start in a squat position with your feet slightly wider than normal, and the weight held in front of your body touching your chest. Jump up out of the squat as you press the weight overhead, landing with your feet shoulder-width apart.

Move 14: Reverse Lunge

Start in a standing position with the weight resting on your shoulders behind your head. Step back and touch your knee to the ground in a position that has the knee under, or slightly behind, the hip. Stand up from the revers-step lunge, returning the reverse step to the starting position. Repeat on the opposite side.

Move 15: Reverse Lunge With Press

Start in a standing position with the weight in front of the body touching your chest and under your chin. Step back and touch your knee to the ground in a position that has the knee under, or slightly behind, the hip. Stand up from the reverse step lunge as you press the weight overhead, simultaneously returning the reverse step to the starting position. Repeat on the opposite side.

Move 16: Side-to-Side Squat Jump

Start in a 45-degree neutral spine depth squat, with the weight resting on the shoulders behind your head and your feet slightly wider than a normal squat. In a powerful manner, stand up out of the squat as you jump laterally, finishing the rep with the trunk centered between both wide-stance feet.

Move 17: Side-to-Side Squat Jump with Press

Start in a 45-degree neutral spine depth squat, with the weight in front of the body touching your chest and under your chin, and with feet slightly wider than a normal squat. In a powerful manner, stand up out of the squat as you jump laterally, simultaneously pressing the weight overhead and finishing the rep as you lower the weight with the trunk centered between both wide-stance feet.

Move 18: Burpee

Start in a standing position, holding the weight in front of the pelvis area. Squat down, lowering the weight to the ground. Drive your feet backward, landing in a push-up plank position. Lower your body until the chest touches the weight, and press the body back up to the plank position. Drive your feet forward and stand up out of the squat position, simultaneously lifting and pressing the weight overhead.

Move 19: Bicep Curl

Start in a standing position, holding the weight in front of the pelvis area. Lift/curl the weight up until it touches your chest under your chin. The goal is to start lowering your heart rate during these last two minutes, beginning with this move.

Move 20: Overhead Press

Start in a standing position, holding the weight in front of your body and touching your chest under your chin. Press the weight overhead, reaching full elbow extension. This is where you can start working on your grip strength, an essential skill for OCR.

Related: 8 Exercises for Incredible Grip Strength

Move 21: Bent Row

Start with the hips in a hinge position — which has the torso position at a 45-degree angle — while holding the weight with your elbows extended and the weight positioned under your chest. Holding this position, row the weight up until it makes contact with your chest.

Move 22: Halo

Start in a standing position, holding the weight in front of your pelvis area. Creating side-to-side momentum, perform a complete circle with the weight starting in front of your body, transferring the weight behind your head. Continue the circle as you finish each rep, with the weight in front of your body.

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