Bogota Tacfit: How to work out in a jungle gym at elevation

By  Harry

Once we’re on the road it’s tough to get a work out in.  Sometimes days go by and we find ourselves worn out from the sheer trivials of travel.  Our bodies start to crave a proper muscle fatigue.  When we got into Bogota this was the case.  Our legs were sore and over worked from skateboarding and hiking the huge hills, but we needed some upper body conditioning.  So we found a little park with a jungle gym where we did a modified TACfit Tabata.

Four Exercises: Tabata (20s on 10s off 8x one minute break in between).  I’ve provided an explanation of three different versions but if you want a great coach and good videos on this visit Tacfit or Gold Medal Bodies.

Pull-ups: One of our favorite exercises especially since Bruce and I are rock climbers.  Always a useful skill.

*Jumping: a version that is great way to start if you can’t do a good pull up.

*Kipping pull up: a wave pull to get your body up the bar using momentum.  Easier then a normal pull up if you understand how to wave.

*Pull up pull up: quite hard when you do it in a tabata interval.  Be sure to keep your shoulders in the socket before moving.

Push-ups: We all know and love the push up.  There are thousands of variations.  This particular push up was taken from Tacfit who uses a gymnastic push up.  This stacks the elbows as close to ones side as possible.  Always be sure to keep a rounded thoracic spine.

*Kneeling Push: One or two knees down.  This is to practice good form, and sometimes when you run out of steam you run out of steam.

*Normal push up: A lot harder then you think if you have proper form (elbows tucked in upper back slighlty rounded)

*Circular push up: this is a variation that is much harder.  Start by going forward in a ellipsis motion then try backwards.

Dips: Myth has it that this exercise is bad for your shoulders.  It is if you have bad form.  Even our form isn’t perfect, but it’s important to keep elbows in and shoulders in neutral.

*Feet in front elevated: Find a stool a chair or something to make your feet and hands not on the same level. Then dip.

*Feet in front not elevated: This can be done on the ground or as I did this on the monkey bars.  I recommend parallettes as well.

*Hanging Dip: this is what everyone tries to start out with.  It’s the hardest form and even I still can’t do them correctly.

Leg lifts: The key is to do this while hanging from a bar.  The machine that stabilizes your back doesn’t do the whole core system justice.

*Knees to 90 degrees: It doesn’t have to be crazy just keep your back as straight as possible and bring your knees to 90 degrees.

*Knees to Head: Do this with caution and make sure you have control of the movement

*Knees to bar: After you bring your knees to your head roll back and push them to the bar adding an extra element to the exercises.

For more information on workouts like these visit: www.rmaxinternational.com/tacfit and  www.goldmedalbodies.com

We love our music and we had to use a Colombian band called ChocQuibTown because we just fell in love with their beats…