After an exhausting week, a Kennesaw State club hockey goalie can rest easy knowing he successfully emulated the Red Bull 5-day Workout Challenge of Olympian track athlete Emma Coburn.
Not only is this a demanding task of physical strength, but it also tests the mental resolve of any person who attempts it. Senior club hockey player Richard Redd took the challenge head-on and saw it as an opportunity to test his general shape and to see how the challenge correlates to his goaltending skills.
“Many of the things I had to do in the challenge involved running, sprinting, hill sprints, core workout, planks and squats,” Redd said. “All the days had cardio in them.”
Despite the pain and adversity he faced during various stages of the workout, Redd never backed down and pushed even harder when he felt like giving up. He saw a connection between the challenge and his hockey playing.
“It put me more in a perspective of losing the pounds that I needed to make myself faster on the ice,” Redd said.
As a hockey player, Redd understands the demands of a contact sport, and he was interested to see how other athletes would approach the workout.
“The one I would find most interesting is a football player’s workout, to see what kind of training they have to go through compared to mine and to see how well they adapt to their workouts,” Redd said.
Because Redd was on his own during this challenge and not training with the rest of his team, he had to focus on the details of the workout and was exposed to the intensity of it in an enhanced manner. Although it was mentally more straining to do it alone and without team support, Redd pushed through and persevered.
Overall, the challenge is one that requires high levels of focus and energy. Each of the five days involves four sections of exercise.The first section is focused on running, jogging or sprints, while the following three sections focus on leg and core workouts. For complete details on the challenge, visit Red Bull’s website to find Emma Coburn’s “Fit in Five” challenge.
