|
DOG BUSTER
Obj: Strength Endurance
Warm up: Row 1000m
Training:
25-20-15-10-5
Bench Press @ bodyweight
Ankles-to-Bar
Pull ups (strict) or ...
Rope Climb/5 (5x climbs 1st round, 4x 2nd round ...)
Weighted sit up @ 45#
***********
NUMBER 18
Obj: Sport Specific Power Endurance
Training:
5 Rounds
2 minutes on system board
2 minuted holding slosh pipe
1 minute rest
Comments:
Load "Dog Buster" heavy. This is a grind, not a race, and the goal is not to sprint through these rounds showing
what a badass you are. The idea isn't to complete first 25x bench presses unbroken. If all you can muster is 10 reps, that's
about perfect. Treat the other exercises the same way.
No kipping pullups. Make them strict, and perfect. Can't make all the reps? Do slow negatives to finish rounds.
Got a climbing rope? Substitute it for the pull ups. 5 climbs first round, then 4 climbs, then 3 climbs, etc.
When loaded like this, "Dog Buster" is surprisingly difficult.
Exum Guide Dan Corn powered through "Number 18." I've had good success using the local rock gym to train climbing-specific
pulling, grip and finger strength. Our local facility is pretty phenomenal, but what it does lack is a system wall designed
specifically for training.
One of the climbers I coach gave the gym his old 4X8 system wall, which we mounted at a 15-degree incline. Dan, and Andy,
another Exum Guide, were my first guinea pigs on the wall.
In the rock gym, I have to be very creative to give these good climbers a good forearm pump. I'll load their backpacks
with 35#, and have them do up and down climb laps on 5.9 routes, and after two or three rounds, their veins will finally be
popping out.
So I figured the little system board in the gym would be a too easy for them. Not so. My instructions to Dan and Andy
were to get on the board and keep moving for two minutes. Dan finished all 5 rounds, barely. Andy stopped after three - his
forearms were so pumped he couldn't cradle the slosh pipe.
Very interesting ....
EMAIL QUESTION
Hi Rob, Realize you get thousands of emails regarding this subject so I won't be expecting a reply but if you can I would
be very grateful. I come from a Triathlon/duathlon background and have won euro and British titles. My pb for 10k is 31:05.
I work full time as a Fire Fighter and soon enrolling in the reserve marines in the UK.
Although I like multisport I am always thinking that although I have good endurance my strength is very limited. I have
done crossfit type work outs in the past and enjoy them but can't seem to agree with there concept that you can do this type
of training and still go long. I now have less time to train but would still like to be competitive in running but don't
want to be a weedy runner type which won't help me in Marines.
Crossfit endurance seems for to much intensity for me and I would soon break down doing that much high level intervals.
I want to keep 3 key runs a week, Interval, tempo, long and maybe 4x Crossfit but sometimes the intensity of xfit blows me
up.
Should I just do a simple strength based program in the gym and not worry about bringing intensity up in the gym. To
keep it simple I want functional strength for my job and good endurance to be competitive for running and cycling. Any help??
Regards, Matt
COMMENTS/ANSWER
Matt - here are a couple of thoughts to consider ...
1) You are already an elite endurance athlete, which means you already know how to train endurance. If it ain't broken,
don't fix it.
2) Your are right, having a skinny, elite, endurance-type physique could be a detriment for a fire fighter and a marine.
You need strength and power for these jobs, including upper body strength.
3) The training time you have to invest, and the extra mass you'll gain to build the strength and power needed for your
jobs will negatively impact your endurance racing. Sorry.
4) In my humble opinion, the physique, and physical capabilities you need for your jobs (fireman, soldier) are more important
than your optimal competitive endurance athlete physique.
5) Intense, CrossFit-style multi-modal training is proven to build solid functional strength, power, and good endurance.
The stuff sucks, but it works.
5) Intense workouts like these aren't for everybody, are difficult to sustain every day, long term.
- It seems the "perfect" training program for you would be a strength oriented lifting program in the gym, combined
with your endurance training. But in my personal experience, when I trained like this, separating the two, I never got very
strong, and my endurance never got very far.
This is the genius of Coach Glassman and CrossFit - by combining lifting in high rep, moderate weight circuits, he trains
his athletes to functionally apply strength gained in the gym to real-world, and outside the gym activities. This is why CrossFit
athletes can enter endurance and other competitions and do so well and why it is so popular with the military.
So, to get the "functional" strength you desire, I'd encourage you to incorporate the intense circuits as well
as hard strongman-type training.
But you don't need to do these every day. At my gym, we'll do a timed circuit at most 2x/week. Training at that intensity,
while very effective every day, I don't believe is sustainable in the long run.
Understand, that just because you don't time a circuit, doesn't mean the training isn't intense. There is no short cut.
You have to train hard and heavy.
Our strongman, complex training and density training, is make-you-puke hard, without the "frantic" nature of
the CrossFit approach.
So I guess I'm saying that the CrossFit approach isn't the only way to achieve the functional strength you want, but incorporating
these type of intense circuits into your overall conditioning program will help. But whatever you do in the gym, go heavy,
and go hard.
- Rob
EMAIL QUESTION:
Rob,
Great post on 7.31 - very instructive. A good reminder for me to refocus on the sport specific training. I have been
getting carried away by the huge fitness gains that the circuit/metcon training your site has been suggesting - its become
a bit of a game in itself.
You mentioned some new books you have just received. What are the best books you have read on the subject of conditioning
and mobility. I am very interested in your reading list.
Very best,
Andrew
COMMENTS/ANSWER:
The books I got last week were:
"Diagnosis and Treatment of Movement Impairment Syndromes," by Shirley Shahrman
"Science & Practice of Strength Training, 2nd ed" by Zatsiorski and Kraemer
"Full Throttle Conditioning," by Ross Enamait
- the "best" books - I honestly can't say when it comes to strength and conditioning. I refer back to books
I've purchased again and again, and as my knowledge grows, the more I seem to get out of the books I re-read. I'll have to
think about this one.
- In terms of mobility, I haven't found a great one yet. I've got Gray Cook's Athletic Body in Balance, but find his exercises
difficult to implement in a large group. Sahrman's test is bomber, but very technical, and I'm not sure I'll be able to wade
through and understand it without a PT degree.
If you have any mobility book suggestions, pls share them with me...
- Rob
|
| Dan on the systems board. |
|
| Sit ups, rope climbs ... |
|
