Training with Cinder Blocks

By Louis Pontillo

Louis Pontillo, the author, is shown here performing the pushup on a pair of cinder blocks. Photograph courtesy of the author.

The pushup movement can be made harder by raising the feet upward. Note how Louis goes for a deep stretch at the bottom position. Photograph courtesy of the author.

Louis performs the front squat while holding two cinder blocks. This movements builds strong legs and total body power. Photograph courtesy of the author.

Here, the author drives the heavy blocks upward with his mighty legs. Photograph courtesy of the author.

Louis performing the swing with a cinder block. Photograph courtesy of the author.

Practicing the swing with a sandbag is an excellent way to build overall body strength and endurance. Photograph courtesy of the author.

Louis swings the sandbag forcefully upward with one hand stacked over the other. Photograph courtesy of the author.

Performing the snatch with a cinder block adds a new twist to this tremendous strength builder. Photograph courtesy of the author.

During the snatch, once the cinder block at shoulder height it is flipped over and the body is sunk down as the arm is straightened. Photograph courtesy of the author.

Performing dips on cinder blocks builds tremendous upper body strength and greatly strengthens various stabilizer muscles. Photograph courtesy of the author.

The bodyweight row is a superb back and arm builder. This movement also strengthens the rear deltoids to a remarkable degree. Photograph courtesy of the author.

At the top position of the bodyweight row, Louis contracts his muscles vigorously. Photograph courtesy of the author.

The other day I was looking at a dozen cinder blocks stacked neatly in my yard, and I thought to myself how they would be a great alternative to chairs to do push-ups on. I set up two cinder blocks about shoulder width apart, set my palms on them, body straight, toes on the floor, and did a few push-ups. Unfortunately, my chest still touched the ground, preventing me from getting a full range of motion, which is the whole idea. So I placed a second cinder block on each of the two I had placed earlier, and performed a nice set of about 10 reps.

On my next set, instead of placing my toes on the ground, I performed the push-up with my feet elevated on a single cinder block. A second cinder block was added for my third set. I then balanced my workout with three sets of pull-ups.

The next time I came out to train I wanted to see if I could get a full body workout using cinder blocks as the focal point. I had already tried doing push-ups the last time, and that worked great; but, now I wanted to see what else could be done. After doing a general warm-up I began with front squats holding just one cinder block in front of my chest. I performed three sets of 12 reps and they felt good. Just to note, I'm not exactly sure what my cinder blocks weigh. I looked up the standard weight for a cinder block online and it seems to range somewhere between 28 and 38 pounds.

Next up, was one-arm cinder-block swings. For these, I take hold of the cinder block in a vertical position with my palm down and use my hips to drive the block up. Then, I let the block swing back down and repeat for additional repetitions keeping the arm straight throughout the movement. This is a whole body exercise, and it really works the grip. Be careful not to let the block hit the ground.

During my workout, I did five cinder-block swings with each arm. Then I dropped for five burpees and repeated the sequence for about four total sets. Following this four-set sequence, without rest I switched to swings with a 50-pound sandbag or so. I was using a bag of “tube-sand”, about a third empty, and holding the excess fabric at the top. I did one set with my right hand stacked over my left, then another with left hand over my right. Burpees were performed in between sets, of course.

Next I moved on to cinder-block snatches. I held the block in the same position as for the swing, but this time I pulled straight up on it to about shoulder height. Then, once I had the block at shoulder height, I flipped it over and sank my body downward as I straightened my arm. At the top of this motion, the block stands tall over head while you hold the edge with a flat-finger-tips to palm grip. Steadying the block in that position can be precarious, so be careful. Don't forget the burpees...oh sweet burpees. I did this exercise for five rounds of five reps each hand.

Once I had completed that phase of my workout I kept myself moving with some martial arts forms. I tend to practice for a combination of speed and technique during this type of training session. Practicing skills and movements you're already familiar with after you've spent a good bit of what's in your tank is one of the best kinds of conditioning any martial artist or competitive athlete can be doing.

After some 10 or 15 minutes of martial arts movements I made two stacks of cinder blocks, five blocks high, and proceeded to do dips. I found that with my palms flat on the blocks, and with having to stabilize the stacks during the movement, I was only able to do about four reps per set, about half of what I would normally do on dip bars.

Following my first set of dips, I then grabbed an old aluminum bar I had laying around and passed it through the holes of the top block on both stacks. The ground I was on wasn't exactly level, so I enlisted the help of my 11 year old son to spot me and stabilize the blocks. I then lay on the ground between the stacks, reached up for the bar, and performed body weight rows (about 8 reps).

I continued performing super-sets of dips and rows for about five rounds. As the rounds continued, I placed first one, then two cinder blocks under my heels during the rows. This made it considerably more challenging. I also found that I needed the stacks slightly further apart for the rows than for the dips, less so if I changed my grip to palms up.

It's amazing the things that can be done with a few cinder blocks. And, I'm sure there's a lot more that can be done with them than I describe here. I'll be revisiting my little cinder-block gym real soon to see what else I can devise. Sometimes I have to remind myself that to get a really good workout I don't need a gym or special equipment. The ground provides all kinds of opportunity, add a beam, bar, or tree branch to hang from and there's virtually no part of your body that you can't challenge. Happy training!

About The Author

Louis Pontillo is a certified personal trainer, licensed acupuncturist and lifelong martial artist. He became interested in the martial arts and physical culture in his early youth, and pursued predominantly calisthenics until the age of eleven when he discovered an older brother's dusty weight set. An avid wrestler, weight lifter, and karateka through his high school years, Louis took up Yoga and tai ji quan in his early twenties, as well as kung fu. He holds the rank of “black sash” in the Wu De Guan system of kung fu, and the rank of nidan in seito gojuryu karatedo. Louis offers classes in his local community in tai ji & qigong, as well as kung fu. Now at age 38 Louis lives close to nature in Montville, Maine with his wife and three children.


How to Perform Burpees

Photographs courtesy of the author.

Step 2

Step 1

Step 4

Step 3