Blog

We’ve talked Urban Runs as part of our Functional Fitness program plenty times before. I had a post giving my usual tricks. I had a guest post highlighting problems. I had another post with Jeremy Marshall’s tip of changing a leader (more on that later).  Also we had a post on how to “step things up” a bit with both Urban Runs and Rural runs. But since we are in Urban/Rural Run weather here in Michigan yet for a few more months, I wanted to go over some lessons learned.

First I’ll start off talking about how things have been going here. Starting with the warm weather in late spring, I began my Urban Runs back up. I had done 2 last fall and got a great response.  We are now up to 14 of us running through the streets in downtown Grand Rapids (and growing).

About half of the participants are runners who run the rest of the week and join the Urban Run for their taste of Crosstraining. The rest is our normal Kemme Fitness crew, who do our workouts everyday they exercise. It has been a great way to share what we do with those who aren’t ready or willing to go totally over to a Functional Fitness program. So I call that a success!

I guess we can start off talking about that idea of changing leadership on a run. That was quite fun, but we came across some issues. Although some of the group had plenty of great ideas, others were at a loss. And still others liked running more and so wouldn’t stop for exercises often enough. The problem was the group got spread out and some of our crew felt we ran too far (some people just hate running). As a result, I have took back over full leadership of the Urban Runs.

I make sure I stop about every 100 yards to do some type of exercise or circuit. I am still a big fan of using the environment such as a cement wall for Pull-ups or a bike rack for Dips. Grass hills are great for animal walks up and down the other side. Grassy areas, alleys, and areas of shade are good spots to stop and do either Burpees or some small circuit.

In fact, I am moving more into small circuits. I will have us do 3 or 4 exercises in a row, or have a group do some type of plank while the rest sprint to a spot and back.

Here is the best tip.  I have a small stickie note folded in half with all my favorite bodyweight exercises written down. When we stop, or if I finish a circuit first, I scan the little list from my pocket and plan ahead. It takes constant thought to come up with new ideas, but so far we keep it fresh.

So have any of you done a version of an Urban Run?

How about a Rural Run (same thing, but in fields, woods, etc)?

Anybody have any tips or lessons learned?

How about fun stories like when our friend Tom caught his shirt on something and tore the bottom off, leaving an awesome looking 80’s cut shirt, showing off his belly!  It was awesome. I just kept humming the theme to Flash Dance 🙂