This is part 3 in our Lift Dirty series. Part 1 is on what building materials and construction equipment make the best workout gear, and part 2 explains how to set up a dirty home gym.
In gyms throughout the world, you will find hundreds of pieces of fitness equipment designed to work nearly every part of your body. These pieces of equipment have at least one thing in common: They are specifically designed to be used for and elicit a fitness gain. The gyms of today are a relatively modern invention, primarily gaining traction in the 1970s during the Muscle Beach era of bodybuilding. Before the advent of the gym as we know it, men and women across the globe achieved enormous feats of strength. But how? They lifted dirty, that’s how.
People were required to lift odd objects in their everyday lives, and while these items were heavy and awkward, people developed strength relevant to the real world. Think of that farm boy you served with, or that guy who never lifted a single weight but was solid and powerful, or that woman you know can kick your butt. These people achieved their strength from lifting hay bales, chopping wood, driving fence posts, lifting barrels, and so much more. We’re going to replicate that in our dirty home gym program, as outlined in part 1 and part 2.
After understanding the exercises and the equipment required, you need a schedule:
| Weekly Schedule | ||||||
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 |
| Strength 1 | Conditioning 1 | Strength 2 | Rest Day | Conditioning 2 | Strength 3 | Rest Day |
Day 1, Strength Workout 1:
- 5×5 – stone lifts
- 5×5 – tire flips
- 5×5 – log squat to log press
- 5×5 – sandbag clean
Day 2, Conditioning Workout 1:
- 6 rounds, each round for time (you are aiming to match or beat your own time each round)
- 12 bucket presses
- 10 right-shoulder bucket squats
- 5 right-shoulder jump squats
- 10 left-shoulder bucket squats
- 5 left-bucket jump squats
- 200-foot bucket carry
- 5 pushups
- 200-foot bucket carry
Day 3, Strength Workout 2:
- 5×5 – sandbag presses (5 per side)
- 5×15 – sledgehammer swings
- 5×5 – stone shouldering (5 per side)
- 5×15 – log lunges
Day 4, Rest
Day 5, Conditioning Workout 2:
- 6 rounds, each round for time (you are aiming to match or beat your own time each round)
- 5 stone lifts
- 200-foot stone carry
- 15 sledgehammer swings
- 50-foot tire flip
- 30 box jumps on tire
Day 6, Strength Workout 3:
- 5×5 – stone lifts
- 5×5 – log shouldering
- 5×5 – log press
- 5×100-foot – bucket carry
Day 7, Rest
This dirty gym program incorporates strength and conditioning workouts, plus rest days.
The strength workouts are designed to help you master movement and reap the strength benefits that come with them. These differ from the conditioning workouts in that exercises are performed in isolation with an emphasis on the load lifted rather than the amount of work performed. If you have multiple objects, you will want to use the heavier implements during the strength workouts and save the lighter/smaller implements for the higher reps required in the conditioning workouts.
Conditioning workouts are designed to tax your entire body. These involve feats of strength combined with bouts of movements designed to increase your heart rate. This combination uses an enormous amount of energy and causes the body to draw on energy for days after as it repairs itself. This is the basis of high-intensity interval training, or HIIT. There’s a reason this style of training is so popular — it’s effective.
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