GPP Combo Collection
The Incomplete List of Combo Ideas
We name many of our combos after philosophers, others after pop culture references, others with no discernible connection to anything.
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Rollout-deadlift: Bodyweight. 8 reps.
40 meter run with 2 turns (1.5 lengths of the gym)
Box jumps: 18
40 meter run with 2 turns
KB clean/press/windmills: 8 per side
Rest one minute
Repeat 2 more times. Time each round, and see if you can improve each round. Repeat in a week or two, and eliminate 15 seconds of the rest period, eventually attempting 3 rounds with no rest periods.
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Socrates
Dynamic planks (hanging straight off a GHD while pulling on a band)
jump rope (100 revolutions)
Inch Worm Pushups (50 feet)
Jump Rope (100 revolutions)
KB Halo Twists (6 per side)
Jump rope (100 revolutions)
As the finisher: as many times as possible for 10 minutes
As the workout: 20 minutes
Jean-Paul Sartre
double kettlebell swing 12 reps
bear crawl 100 feet
split squat with kettlebells 6 per leg
jog 100 feet
windmill with KB 6 per side
gorilla crawl 100 feet
How many rounds in 15 minutes? Use a pretty hefty pair of KB’s.
Barbell Rollout/clean/press/goodmorning. 1, each, 6 reps total
Burpee. Next to the bar. Jump over the bar on each burpee. 6 reps
Animal crawl of choice 50 feet.
Lateral KB Clean into Cossack Squat. 6 reps
Stiff Leg Burpee. 6
-legs wide and straight (never bend during the burpee)
- kick out into wide leg upward facing dog
- kick back into wide leg stance
- stand up (legs still wide)
Leverage Club Stop-and-Go Lateral Swings (10 per side)
Burpee up-and-overs (squat jump laterally onto a box, then off the other side into your next burpee) (5 per side)
Mobility Pushups (5 per arm)
3x for time.
Goodmornings/farmer’s walk. Heavy, especially the farmer’s walk. 3 sets, 6-10 reps/100 feet.
Sandbag clean and throw/squat hops. Clean and throw the bag across the gym and back (120 feet) then squat hop in a full circle around the gym (140 feet). What’s a squat hop? Squat down and stay low as you hop forward. A couple sets of this and you’ll be done, but keep the rest short between sets.
One bar. deadlift. hang clean. front squat. overhead press. goodmorning. One into the next. In fact the first four movements really flow well into each other. Then just lower the bar behind the neck after the press (which can be push or jerk style) for the goodmorning. Bring the bar back to the beginning and do it again.
How many times in 10 minutes?
Dan John 2
Power clean/press/back squat. This one was from Allyson, but it might make Steve Justa proud. Make the bar heavy enough to scare you a little on the overhead portion, especially having to swap the bar from front to back, and vice versa. Get to 30 reps, even if it means repeated sets of singles or doubles.
Pick up and squat either a heavy sandbag or heavy punching bag, squat it 5 times then carry it 100+ feet.
Sprint 100 feet as fast as possible
10 heavy KB swings
jog 100 feet
Repeat as many times as possible for 5 minutes (or more)
Pushups rows/burpees(with the DB’s)/push press
5 sets of 5 reps for time (get your stopwatch).
KB Turkish Get Ups (6)
KB Clean/press/windmill (6)
heavy sandbag lift and carry. 2 100ft laps, dropping it at the beginning of each lap.
3 times. How fast?
Turkish Get Up (heavy) 1 per side
3 roller mobility burpees
100 foot run
Lunging Ninja Chops with heavy club
3 roller mobility burpees
100 foot run
Overhead Press with same heavy KB
3 roller mobility burpees
100 foot run
2-hand stop-and-switch circles with same club
3 roller mobility burpees
100 foot run
3x
One barbell, 5 movements.
Stick one end of the barbell in the corner, then crank out 3 rounds of the following:
Buelers (8)
Overhead squats. Holding the end of the bar in one hand and squatting (8)
Zotts Press. Stay squatted and press the bar (8)
Bent Over Row. (8)
Russian Twists (8)
Squat hops/burpees. 5 squat hops, 5 burpees, 5 times.
one-arm snatches (30 seconds)
farmer’s walk (100 feet)
club rockets (30 seconds)
farmer’s walk (100 feet)
band wood chops (30 seconds)
farmer’s walk (100 feet)
band twists (30 seconds)
farmer’s walk (100 feet)
4 rounds.
Lunge Buelers (6 per side)
Farmer’s Walk (100+ feet)
Sandbag Getup and carry (bodyweight bag weight, if possible, carry 100 feet)
3 rounds for time.
Arrrgghh
30 seconds of burpees/30 seconds of planks non-stop for several minutes.
5 minutes = bold
10 minutes = delicious
Grumble and Bitch
Heavy KB swings for 6-10 reps/15 jump squats/sled pull (backwards sled dragging), really heavy for about 100 feet. 4 sets for time.
Sandbag burpees/cleans/presses. 30 reps for time.
with one pair of dumbbells…
bent over rows: 6
Swings (with both DBs): 6
squat press: 6
burpees (with DBs): 6
6 times. Time it.
Push Press/Burpee. 10 reps each, 5 rounds. For time.
Power clean a moderately heavy barbell, then…
5 front squats
5 goodmornings
then heavy farmer’s walk
repeat the barbell combo, then drag or pull a heavy sled
repeat from beginning through the whole thing one more time. Time it.
Robert Altman
Sandbag thrusts (15)/burpees (10)/club swipes (15)/band twists (10 per side). Nonstop for 10 minutes. See how many rounds you can do.
South by Southwest
Glute-ham developer/swings/heavy sled pull. GHD for about 10 reps, swing something for 15 reps, run backwards with a super heavy sled for about 100 feet. Repeat 3 times.
Love
Pick 3 exercises. Use a moderate weight, a little on the heavy side.
Hard: 10 reps, 8 reps, 6 reps., etc until you’re at a single rep. Non-stop through all three exercises.
Insane: 10,9,8,7,6, etc. down to one.
Time it, because someday soon, you’ll do it again.
Kitchen Sink
The gather a bunch of heavy objects in a pile. Sandbags, plates, engine blocks, drunken prom dates. Grab a pair of challenging kettlebells as well.
KB bent rows/KB high pulls, 8 each, followed by grabbing anything in your pile and carrying all of it one at a time about 50 feet before sprinting back and grabbing them next one. A shuttle-run with heavy objects.
Do it for time. Then try it a second and third set attempting to beat that first time.
Labor of Love
Sandbag carry (100 feet)/sled drag (200 feet)/ farmer’s walk with heavy dumbbells or FW handles (100 feet, 1 turn)
Repeat. A lot.
MySpace, not Yours.
Box Jumps/Burpees/Sand Bag Shuttle run
This one is particularly fun after squatting really heavy. Have a pile of sandbags (or anything, really) ready. Jump up onto a challenging box for 25 jumps. Then crank out 10 burpees. Then grab a sandbag (or whatever) and run it about 50 feet at fast as possible, only to drop it, run back to the pile and pick up another one. Repeat until the entire pile has been moved to the other end.
Rest a minute, then do it again.
1 sandbag of moderate weight
side deadlifts (aka ’suitcase deadlifts’) 7 per side
shouldered squats (alternate sandbag from one shoulder to the other by pressing it up over the head after each squat) 7 per side
get ups (sandbag on shoulder) 7 per side
burpee/clean/press 7
4 rounds for time (or 2 rounds with a much heavier sandbag)
Istanbul was Once Constantinople
Turkish get up-windmill/overhead squat/heavy sandbag carry: HEAVY t-get up, for 1-3 reps. Moderate overhead squats for 8 reps. 200 foot sandbag carry (2 laps of the gym), dropping it every 50 feet (at each end of the gym), and cleaning it up again. Twice if brave, 3 times if a little nuts, but 4 times for this week’s challenge. Time it!
Burn Your Treadmill
Squat rows/buelers/farmer’s walk/jump rope.
12 reps/8 reps/100 feet/1 min. respectively.
Hard: 3 times
Insane: 4 times.
Pullups (modify them according to ability), followed by deadlifts (125% bodyweight for guys, 80% for women). Do 30 reps, however you need to break it down (sets of 3, sets of 5, however many you can before you puke… whatever), but for every pullup you do a deadlift, or vice versa Example: 8 pullups/8 deadlifts, 6 pullups/6 deadlifts, until eventually you’ve done 30 of both.
Mr. Kotter
This is the ‘welcome back’ challenge that all my clients who take too much time off have to suffer.
KB swings. Moderate-heavy weight. 20 reps (10 each arm)
Saxon Bends. Light weight. 8-10 reps per side.
Sandbag shuttle. 2- 50# and 2-20# bags, one at a time, 50 feet for speed.
Sled Tug. Heavy. 3 lengths of rope.
Repeat the whole combo for 15 minutes, non-stop.
1 KB, multiple swing directions.
front swing (8 reps)
lateral swing, same arm (8 reps)
front swing, opposite arm (8 reps)
lateral swing, same arm (8 reps)
front halo swings (8 reps).
Let it flow, stepping into the next direction without letting the path of the KB stop. As a movement meditation, close the eyes during the whole exercise.
10 burpees
10 Ninja Chops (or leverage club exercise of choice)
100 foot run (length of gym, down and back)
then 9 or each, run, 8 of each, run, etc. etc. down to 1.
Hers and Hers and His
single leg deads with kettlebells (straight knee, bent knee, up to you, but I prefer the straighter the better), followed by lunging bueler’s, followed by sandbag drill: the clean, press and toss. Clean a sandbag, press it overhead, then toss it forward as far as you can. This is meant for speed, so depending on how many bags you have, challenge yourself for reps, not weight. One option would be our 5 50# bags. Make a pile, clean, press and toss all of them one by one into another pile, repeat 3 times.
So the whole combo looks like this: go heavy on the kettlebells and aim for 5 per leg. 10 bueler’s per side. Sandbag drill. Time the whole thing. Repeat it a second time, trying to beat the first. Then repeat one more time, still for faster time.
Get Out
sled tug/tire flip/sandbag shuttle run. Outside. Tire sled tugs (three rope lengths)/5 tire flips (more if too light)/2 heavy sandbags, run 100 feet, one at a time. Repeat.
Oops
Sandbag front squat/KB high pull/burpees: 6/8/6, two times through equals one set. 2 sets altogether.
Pullups/burpees/ninja chops/box jumps. One for each year that Al’s been alive. Now we’re at 40.
Burpee-pullups/L-dip (with a pike bonus, if ya wanna). The combo of the beast: 6 burpee-pullups, 6 L-dips, 6 rounds for time. Throw a weighted vest on if you’re bored.
Hatebreed
The super-heavy-short-sweet combo: Weighted pullup/heavy sled tug/heavy farmer’s walk. 1 rep/1 length/ 50 feet, as many times as you can in 10 minutes.
2 bars and the FW handles. Lighter bar: 6 snatches and an overhead carry. Heavier bar: 6 cleans and a racked carry. FW handles: 6 deadlifts and a farmer’s walk. Repeat for 10 minutes.
Crow Eating
Deadlifts/pullups/sled tug. Descending sets:
10,8,6,4 etc for the intro version
10,9,8,7 etc for the hardcore.
EXCEPT for the sled tug, which will be cut in half. 10 deads = 5 sled tugs, 4 deads = 2 sled tugs. You get the idea. Keep the weight simple for now. 50% of max for deadlift, 75% bodyweight for sled tug.
And, of course, time it.
Grab a heavy weight. Something that frightens you a little. You’ll use this for a single Turkish getup on each side. You’ll also have a heavy KB, also a little scary. You’ll swing this for 8 reps. Finally you’ll have a heavily loaded sandbag, which you will carry for 100+ feet. This combo is meant to create large amounts of force development while keeping the workload up as well. Keep going for 10 minutes straight. How many rounds ya got in ya?
Crocodile pushups (forward pushup crawls)/sled tugs/ninja chops. 30 foot crawl (the length of our tug rope)/2 lengths/6 chops per side (go heavy). 3 rounds, and time it!
This one is meant for moving a lot of weight a lot of times. Make these heavy!
6 KB lateral cleans and press
6 leverage club ninja chops
6 deep pushups
6 times. How fast?
3 KB clean/press/windmills (heavy)
8 burpees
3 sandbag shoulders (heavy)
shuttle run. 50 feet out and back, 2 times (200 feet total).
3 times. Time It. BUT, the goal is load, not total speed. So work as close to maximum effort as possible and just see if you can finish it.
Sandbag shoulder, get up and carry. Shoulder a heavy sandbag, lie down, then get back up, run 50-60 feet, drop it, shoulder it on the opposite shoulder, and repeat. 10 times (5 laps). How fast?
One barbell, 5 movements. Barbell rollout/clean/front squat/press/back squat. 5 reps/5 sets/ 30 seconds rest between sets.
