"FREMONT RIDGE"

OBJECTIVE: Strength, Long Steady State Distance

WARM UP: 4x Barbell Complex (75#, 85#, 95#, 105#)

TRAINING:

(1) 5 Rounds
5x Back Squat @ 225#
3x Box Jump @ 24"
1 minute rest

(2) 5 Rounds
5x Romanian Dead Lift @ 135#
1x Rope Climb - 15 foot

(3) Run 30 minutes, moderate pace

Comments:

We can't buy our health. We have to work for it.

This disconnect is most evident in nutrition marketing and information. The drumbeat sounded by doctors, organic food advocates, and college professors is "change your diet, and you'll be healthy," or "buy organic food, and you'll be healthy."

It doesn't matter how well you eat, if you don't exercise, you're going to be slow, fat and weak. You can't "buy" your fitness through choices at the grocery store. No doubt eating well goes a long way, but not nearly far enough.

I see this often in older athletes who express interest in training with me. They come into the gym, have no wind, are really weak, and though they may look "skinny" are actually carrying around high levels of body fat. I'll put them through a short, but intense session, they'll flail miserably, yet leave the gym thinking they are healthy because they eat "healthy."

They'll never return. It's just too much work. It's just too unpleasant. Why suffer at Mountain Athlete when you can be "healthy" by walking three times a week and eating organic apples?

I'd gladly prefer the overall fitness of someone who busts their ass in the gym six times a week but eats McDonalds every day to someone who never works out, but eats healthy.

The "wellness" advocates make a lot of money promising to make people fit without the work. "Healthy" food is a lucrative component of this. So is packaging meditation activities such as Yoga, Tai Chai, and "power walking" as alternatives to actually training.

Certainly, avoiding white bread, pasta and ice cream won't hurt your health. And while I'm not convinced spending double for "organic" food is worth the health benefits, I don't begrudge people who are believers and chose to do so.

Finally, Yoga and similar activities won't hurt your fitness - unless you see them as alternatives to actually training.

I wish there was a short cut. I wish I could eat my way to dead lifting 3x my bodyweight and running a 2.5 hour marathon. If not that, I wish I could do it all in 2 months of hard work.

But no, we're talking years and buckets of sweat, as well as fighting the inevitable set backs and my own lack of athletic gifts.

That's cool. I want to earn it.

- Rob Shaul

Joe "earns" his fitness.