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TONGUE LASHING
Obj: Strength
Warm up: 5 Rounds
10x Wall Ball
20x Sit ups
Shoulder dislocate stretch
Training:
(1) Work up to 1RM Standing Press
(2) 6 Rounds
3x Press @ 75-80%
10m Walking lunge holding dumbbells
(3) 5 Rounds
5x Curtis P (1 Curtis P = hang squat clean, right leg
lunge, left leg lunge, push press)
1x Rope Climb
For the Curtis Ps, chose a load you can complete all
5 reps, unbroken.
(4) 30/30 Jingle Jangles
30 seconds work, 30 seconds rest, 4 rounds. Set up two cones, 5 yards apart. Sprint back and forth between them, touching
the ground at each cone.
Comments:
I climbed up Teewinot Mountain yesterday, one of the prominent peaks in the Teton range. The great thing about this mountain
is there is absolutely no approach. It rises about 6,000 feet straight up from the parking lot, to around 12,900 feet.
Work and family obligations have kept me out of the mountains so far this summer. So Teewinot was a fairly good test of
the transferability of my gym training.
The climb begins with about 4,000 vertical feet of non-technical trail hiking which took my about an hour and a half to
complete.
You have to cross a snowfield, and so some fourth class scrambling to on the way to the summit, 2,000 feet further up.
This took me another hour and a half, as I floundered a little with route finding (this was my first attempt on Teewinot)
and scrambling (I'm a sissy climber.)
On the way back, I ran/jogged back down the trail to the parking lot after crossing the snowfield. My round-trip time
was 5.5 hours.
I'm sore today. My quads are sore from the run down. I expected this and ran down on purpose. Walking/running downhill
forces eccentric loading on your legs, and in the gym, we do mostly concentric work.
My calves are sore too - more than I expected. While we don't specifically train calves in the gym, I have been hiking
up the hill behind the gym quite frequently, with weight - but the volume I've done (1,500 feet/day) was eclipsed by the Teewinot
attempt (6,000 feet).
So what does this tell me about my gym work and its transferability to the mountains?
While my gym training certainly would set me head and shoulders above other recreational athletes in this test, it doesn't
prepare me like sport specific training. The guides I train would have spent most of their day waiting for me.
I spoke to Brian Harder, and he related that his fastest time on Teewinot, car to car, was 3 hours round trip.
Recovery? Overall, I could go again today, but I'd be somewhat slower due to soreness. And, a third day in a row? Boy,
I don't know.
Again, I think I've recovered better than many of the other recreational climbers I met on Teewinot yesterday, but relatively
short training sessions in the gym has not prepared me for multiple long days in the mountains.
Only Multiple long days in the mountains prepares you for multiple long days in the mountains.
The point is to understand the limitations of gym training and their application to out-of-the gym activities. My gym
work has given me a really high level of general fitness, strong legs and core for injury resistance, and mental toughness.
But it hasn't made me the fastest mountain climber in Jackson. To do that, I need more sport specific training (i.e. hiking
fast up hill, long days in the mountains, multiple long days strung together) and technical practice (i.e. efficient gear
management, climbing experience and techniques to move fast over moderate terrain, confidence which comes with technical proficiency.)
There are some coaches out there in this hybrid fitness business who argue that similar gym training prepares you for
anything. I don't agree with them.
I would argue that this type of training prepares you for just about anything better than any other type of gym training
out there.
And, in outside activities, this type training prepares athletes to perform very well, but they won't be the fastest or
best. The athletes doing the sport-specific work will summit first.
And, this type of training can hinder outside performance if its allowed to encroach upon sport specific training in technical
practice. As they get closer to the "season" athletes need to spend less time in the gym, and more time on the mountain
or field, or bike or whatever their sport is.
There are no short cuts. This stuff isn't a magic bullet. It will take athletes a long way, but not all the way.
- Rob Shaul
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| Rope climbs |
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| Curtis Ps |
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| Jingle Jangles |
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