This workout is a basic track and field sprint workout, but the Tarzan part requires a bit of explanation.

I will select a level location on a grassy field or a dirt or gravel path. I have an instinct for how far the run is, but I’ve never measured it. 100 yards? 50 yards? I don’t know. For this reason, the distance is different every time, which is fine; I’m not dogmatic about it.

I may do a slow warm-up run of a quarter mile or so, but I usually don’t. So, the first couple of sprints I do will be at a medium tempo, so I don’t injure myself.

I run the distance and then I walk back. The walking back part is a chance to recover and catch my breath. Once I get back to the starting position, I run the sprint again. I do this for 10 rounds and gradually increase my speed each time until I am running as fast as I can.

The Tarzan part of the workout is mostly a mental game using my imagination to psyche myself up to run fast. There was this one scene in the Legend of Tarzan movie where he gathers a quantity of animal friends, and they all go running into this encampment of bad guys and disrupt whatever they are doing. I forget the details, and it really doesn’t matter for my workout. So, what I do is imagine I am surrounded by animals. Most of the time they are big cats, so I will conjure up lions, black panthers, leopards, cheetahs, etc. They are all around me, tails twitching, sniffing the air, ready for action. Then I cue the soundtrack in my mind, which is layers of tribal drums underneath an orchestra. Then we are off to the races, and I am running with the big cats and the big drums.

I have a pretty vivid imagination, and somehow, with the music going and these big cats running with me I feel inspired and empowered. It’s pretty intense actually.

The other part of the Tarzan sprints is that I will take my shirt and glasses off because Tarzan doesn’t wear a shirt or glasses. Actually, he doesn’t wear shoes either, but I leave those on.

I’ve done sprint workouts with my son, and for those workouts I am not Tarzan, and there aren’t any lions; it’s just my son and I who runs like the wind. This destroys the illusion that I was raised by apes and am swift, agile, strong, and bronzed by the equatorial African sun. In fact, I feel a bit like the Pillsbury Doughboy. I am not muscles and sinew but rather flour, water, salt, and yeast waddling across the field.

My son lives 2000 miles from me now, and I would trade these Tarzan fantasies to have him closer, working out with me again, and beating me every single time. But that’s another story. 2026 UPDATE: I’m happy to report he has moved back to God’s country here in the Southeast, and we’ve done a few gym workouts together

As the months rolled by in 2015 through 2017 the Tarzan sprints gradually turned into regular sprints without the imaginary cats. I came up with this workout during a season of divorce recovery and financial recovery. You might think I was trying to escape reality, but it was more like I was trying to connect with a wild and primal part of myself. I wanted to be a strong, independent man able to survive by hunting Bora the deer, Horta the boar, and enjoying the sustenance of abundant fruit trees.

Tarzan was a strong, fearless, and independent man. He thought he was ok until the first time he saw Jane, and she turned his world upside down. I eventually met my Jane and settled down in 2020, but lately I’ve been looking at the pale Pillsbury Doughboy in the mirror and thinking I need to start running again with my shirt off.