The Definitive Guide To Using Car and Truck Tyres At Your Bootcamp

I thought and planned for a long time about what to include in this article.

I wanted not only to include some new ideas but also to answer some common questions that revolve around using tyres at your bootcamp.

I’ll cover the most important step, how to find yourself some tyres. You will also read about safety and why it’s so important when using equipment like tyres.

After that we get into some fun stuff like exercises and drills. We’ll finish off with a complete workouts so you can see how to put the content in this article into practice.

I have included as many videos and pictures as possible to make it easy for you to take these new ideas to your own bootcamp.

In an effort to keep this article as focused and simple as possible I have left a few things out. I have not included exercises and drills that require additional equipment that you would have to go out and buy. Items like sledgehammers for example.

I have also stayed away from overcomplicated or advanced movements. In my bootcamp I want to be able to teach the movement quickly so that there is less time demonstrating and more time exercising. I’ve kept that in mind with the exercise selection.

Why Use Tyres In Your Group Fitness Bootcamps

When I first started my bootcamp I had one piece of equipment that I wanted to use.

Tyres.

Personally I had never used tyres for fitness training before but I felt like for my bootcamp to be a proper bootcamp it needed some tyres.

Over the next 4 years I acquired quite a collection of tyres of all sizes. Some of which you will see in the videos later in this guide.

Twice a month I would haul these tyres down to the park in my trusty second hand trailer for some fun, authentic feeling bootcamp sessions. During winter it often seemed to rain on these particular sessions leaving my campers wet, muddy and satisfied at a job well done.

The other thing I liked about tyres, especially early on in my bootcamp, was the price. Free.

You should never have to pay for a used tyre.

Tyres are also very versatile as I will show you momentarily. You can use them for strength exercises, endurance drills, team work, portable dip and step up stations and more.

If you are trying to bootstrap your business you really should look at getting some tyres. They are excellent bang for your buck.

Alternatively, some fitness equipment companies now create a fake tire which includes things like handles, soft edges, etc. That might be an option for you too.

Using Tyres Safely In Your Group Fitness Workouts

Before we continue on to the fun stuff I need to get a little serious with you.

The problem with using tyres is that they are not a proper piece of equipment. There are no handles, they get slippery in wet conditions and can be very awkward to pick up.

These same reasons make them great training tools, but it also makes them potentially dangerous. Caution and risk analysis should be exercised when using them in your bootcamps.

Make sure you take the time to emphasise to your group how to handle the tyres properly and be safe with them.

Here are some things you should consider before getting your clients start using tyres at your bootcamps. These are just suggestions. Use that lump of grey matter between your ears for your own situation.

• Check the tyres for any sharp pieces of metal. Sometimes tyres are made from recycled rubber which can include small pieces of metal.
• If you train during winter consider supplying gloves or suggesting your clients bring some. Cold, wet tyres are not much fun to handle with bare hands. Gloves will also help with grip and stop hands from going black.
• Also check the inner rim of the tyre, this too can often be sharp.

How To Find Free Workout Tyres

This article is pretty massive as it is, so seeing as I’ve already covered this in an excellent article I’m going to link to that: Where To Find Tyres For Your Bootcamp

Related article:

Fitness Exercises To Do With Tyres

The exercises you can do with tyres is really just limited to your imagination.

The most obvious exercises to do are one’s you can do with other pieces of equipment like dumbbells and kettlebells. Exercises like squats, presses and carries.

Here are some some more creative uses for car tyres at your bootcamp:

1. Tyre Bear Crawl

This favourite bootcamp exercise just got a whole lot tougher.

Teaching points:

Make sure you know how to bear crawl first.  A lot of clients get their arms and legs mixed up. Take your tyre and push it along the ground as you bear crawl. Alternate which hand you push with each step.

Also check out: Tyre Reverse Bear Crawl

2. Feet Elevated Push Ups

A more difficult version of the push up which places the feet higher then the hands. Try stacking the tyres 2 or 3 high to add more difficulty and some instability.

Teaching points:

Start by placing your hands on the ground and then walking the feet up onto the tyre. Place feet on opposite sides of the tyre (not on the same side or it will flip).

3. Tyre Inchworm Push

Another great travelling movement.

Teaching points:

Start in a crouched position with both hands on the tyre (laying flat). Push the tyre out as far as you can keeping your feet in the same place. The further you go the more taxing on your core. Jump both feet in so you are in a crouching position once again. Repeat movement.

4. Tyre Fast Feet

This cardio exercise requires coordination and good lungs.

Teaching points:

Start with one foot resting on the edge of the tyre. Have your other foot on the ground. Your weight should always be on the foot on the ground NOT on the foot on the tyre. Switch feet quickly so your feet are now in the opposite position. Repeat. Arms should move in a running motion in time with your legs.

Variations: Move around the outside of the tyre. Once a lap is completed go back the other way.

5. Tyre ‘Around The Worlds’ (or ‘Clocks’)

A fantastic core and upper body exercise.

Teaching points:

Place hands on the ground and feet up on the tyre wall. Move side ways by bringing hands together and apart. Move feet slowly around the edge of the tyre too. Once you have completed a full lap around the tyre, change directions and go back. Keep your butt down and shoulders over your hands.

Variations: You can have up to 4 people doing this at once, just start them at different quadrants of the tyre. Make it easier by only going halfway around the tyre and back.

6. Big Tyre Squat Press

This exercise really loads up your legs at the bottom of the squat.

Teaching points:

Start with the tyre standing in front of you. Pull it forward slightly to the wait is leaning towards you. Keep your arms straight. Lower into a squat, bending your arms and allowing the tyre to fall towards your chest. Stand back up straightening your arms out in front of you. Keep control over the tyre, don’t push it over. Repeat.

For more exercises you can check out the Bootcamp Ideas YouTube channel.

Group Fitness Drills to do With Tyres

Don’t limit your use of tyres to just a few special exercises in an otherwise normal workout. You can use tyres to build entirely new drills. Here are 5 of my favourite partner and group drills:

1. Partner See Saws

Partners should face each other with a large tyre in the middle. Partner A flips tyre to partner B who catches it before it falls flat and passes it back.

Partners keep passing the tyre back and forth, without letting the tyre ever fall flat, until reps or time is completed.

2. Partner Flip Shuttles

One client flips the tyre once and then sprints away from the tyre around a cone 10m away and then back. While they are doing this their partner flips the tyre back in the opposite direction and then runs around their cone.

3. Team Flip Jump

A group variation of the flip jump through exercise. The team lines up behind the tyre, one person flips the tyre, jumps through it and then runs to the back of their team line. The next person then goes. If you have a few tyres you can set several teams against each other to complete a distance.

The jump through ensures that the tyre is flat and resting on the ground before the next person flips it. Quite often if you have teams flipping against each other, they get excited the tyre gets rolled around as people flip it in a hurry.

Variation: Flip, Jump, Sprint

Set up two cones a distance apart.

After flipping and jumping through, instead of joining the back of the group straight away, the client sprints to the end cone, then jogs back to the back of the team line to flip the tyre again.

The sprint gets shorter and shorter as the tyre moves closer to the end cone.

You can reverse it by making them run back to the start cone making the sprints get longer and longer each round.

4. Tyre Shuttles

Set up two cones around 20m apart. At one end stack 5-20 tyres depending on your group. Have 1 to 4 people grab a tyre and run it to the other cone. Then they go back and grab another, starting a new stack at this cone.

You can have clients carry the tyres however the want or you can specify a movement like overhead, bear hug, shoulder carry, two tyres at once, farmers walk.

Once all tyres are stacked at the other cone, the client(s) should bring them back. This makes for a great timekeeper station.

Variations:

• Set up extra cones in a zig zag pattern that clients must zig zag through.
• Increase the distance to 500m to 2km and base an entire workout around this drill.

5. Tyre Complex

Tyre complex’s are inspired by barbell complex’s – a series of exercises performed with a barbell without putting the barbell down between exercises. You may also come across them with kettlebells.

Lucky for us we can do the same with tyres.

There are a couple of common options when it comes to doing a complex. Style one involves a set of 4 or 5 exercises in a row. For example:

Complex #1

• Tyre clean to chest x10
• Squat press x10
• Push up on tyre x10
• Mountain climbers on tyre x10

Rest.

Complex #2

Style two involves one rep of 4 or 5 exercises in a row done for several sets. For example:

• Military press x1
• Overhead squat x1
• Overhead reverse lunge x1 per leg
• Burpee x1

Repeat 8 times.

Complex #3: Two tyres (hold one tyre in each hand):

• Double military press x8
• Double overhead walk x20m
• Double squat (tyres in racked position) x8
• Double racked farmers walk x20m
• Double tyre bent over row x8
• Farmer’s walk x20m

Rest.

Complex #4: Heavy tyre:

• Tyre flip x3
• Squat press (heavy tyre) x3
• Box jump x3

Repeat 5 times.

Complex #5: The Basics

• Overhead squat x10
• Military press x10
• Bear hug squat x10
• Place tyre on ground and stand on it
• Squats standing on tyre rim x10

Rest.

A Bootcamp Workout Using Tyres

So how does all of this look in a workout?

Well firstly, don’t try to do everything I’ve covered here in one workout! Mix and match to create a series of fun sessions.

Here’s an example of how you can add in some of these tyre exercises to a regular workout and then use a heavy tyre for a finisher.

Punishing Three

• Equipment needed: Enough tyres for 1/3 of class, Optional: One large truck tyre, ropes
• Time: 60 minute workout

Start off with some safety tips when using tyres and ropes. For example: Tyres are slippery when wet, awkward to carry and heavy. Ropes can burn skin and get tangled.

Warm Up

Increase repetitions with exercises listed from 1 rep to 7 reps:

• Handwalkout + 1 shoulder tap per side + walk hands back and stand up + 1 squat + 1 reverse lunge per leg
• Handwalkout + 2 shoulder taps per side + walk hands back and stand up + 2 squats + 2 reverse lunges per leg
• Handwalkout + 3 shoulder taps per side + walk hands back and stand up + 3 squats + 3 reverse lunges per leg
• …

Continue til 7 reps on shoulder taps, squats and lunges.

Shoulder taps can be push ups for fitter participants.

Main Workout

The 3 person circuit: One person does a strength exercise for a set number of reps (eg. 20 squats), the next person does an isometric or active rest exercise (eg. an isometric squat) and the third person does a cardio exercise (eg. shuttle runs). The group rotates when the person doing the strength exercise completes the set number of reps.

Split the  clients into equally capable groups of three. Demonstrate and explain each circuit before having the clients do it. Spend around 2 minutes on each set of exercises.

Stations

*5on5off Squats – Do 5 squats, then hold a squat for 5 seconds, then 5 more squats, then hold for 5 seconds, etc

Finisher

If there is time and you have access to a heavy tyre and some ropes you can run this awesome finisher.

Split the group into two.

Group one will perform tyre flips over a 10-15 metre distance. To perform this, the group must line up single file behind the tyre. The first person flips the tyre, jumps through it and then runs to the back of the line. Each consecutive group member jumps through the tyre except for the last person who flips the tyre and starts the process from the start again.

Group two takes turns performing rope slams with the rope(s). When the tyre flips finish, swap the groups.

Things To Remember

• Tyres are a nice piece of free equipment that can add a whole new dimension to your sessions.
• Keep safety in mind when using tyres.
• Don’t just use them as a replacement for weights, get creative.

If you’re keen for more workouts like this check out the Ropes and Tyres archives.

Kyle Wood

Kyle Wood created Bootcamp Ideas in 2010 when he was hunting around on the internet for workout ideas. He ran a successful bootcamp in Victoria, Australia and spends his spare time managing this site, adventuring (or lazying) with his wife and find new ways to make bootcamps even better.