12 Examples Of Intense Training From Around The World

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1. Chinese Table Tennis Drills

International Table Tennis Federation / Via youtube.com

Table tennis training involves a surprisingly complicated mix of speed, footwork, and hand-eye coordination. Not only do players run complex drills to prepare for each potential table position, they also spend a lot of time building aerobic stamina by bicycling, swimming, and running.

2. Cricket Training

Cricket Coaching Academy / Via youtube.com

Like in baseball, a cricket batsman trains to build fast twitch muscles and hand-eye coordination. Weight training is also a core component of cricket fitness.

3. Shaolin Monk Endurance Training

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Shaolin monks train through Buddhist meditation and an extreme version of kung fu. Traditional training methods include balancing on their fingertips and standing on their heads for hours at a time to strengthen their necks for battle.

4. South Korean River Training

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South Korean soldiers mentally and physically prepare to deal with the most extreme battle conditions by running exercises in a frozen river.

5. High Altitude Distance Running In Kenya

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Running has a storied history in Kenya and marathoners will train by covering many miles every day at altitudes between 5,000 and 7,000 feet.

6. Iditarod Training

Iditarod Trail Committee, Inc. / Via youtube.com

A musher and a team of sled dogs typically run 2,000 to 3,000 miles over the year to prepare for the 1,112-mile-long Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. In the summer months, dogs pull all-terrain vehicles over dry land to maintain conditioning.

Mushers also have to be in top physical form before the race to deal with the harsh winter weather. Most mushers stay in shape by biking, jogging and weight lifting.

7. Sumo Squats

A Normal Life / Via youtube.com

Japanese sumo training places an emphasis on strengthening your core and lower body. Sumo wrestlers competing at the highest level are required to live together in "training stables."

8. Baseball Training In Cuba

NTDTV / Via youtube.com

Baseball is an incredibly popular sport in Cuba. Despite the lack of state of the art facilities, players find creative ways to train throughout the year.

9. European Strongman Training With Tires

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Competitors for the World's Strongest Man competition train by flipping industrial-sized tires from farm equipment. The tires can weigh upwards of 700 pounds.

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Smaller tires can also be used to build core strength.

10. City Park Muscle Gyms

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In big cities around the world, body builders will take advantage of outdoor parks, children's play equipment, and light posts to perform exercises like muscle-ups, pull-ups, and hanging sit-ups.

11. Lumberjack Training

WVAxeman / Via youtube.com

Timbersport competitions measure logging skills and require a tremendous amount of upper body strength, balance, and stamina. In the Springboard Chop, loggers build a balancing platform, climb up onto it, and chop through a 12 inch log. Training involves a lot of chopping and core-strengthening.

12. Parkour Training

3Run Training / Via youtube.com

This Berlin gym trains youth in the basics of Parkour street acrobatics. It takes a lot of physical and mental preparation before you start doing things like this:

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