"GYM RENT"

Obj: Strength/Endurance

Warm up: 4x Medicine Ball Complex

Training:

(1) 5 Rounds
5x Back Squat @ 225#
1x Rope Climb

(2) 5 Rounds
5x Front Squat @ 185#
3x Box Jump @ 24"
1 Minute Rest

(3) Run 5 miles, 75% max heart rate

Comments:

I received the following e-mail question from Ryne, a Navy SEAL stationed back east. My comments/answer follows.

QUESTION:

There are a few exercises that you list but I am not familiar with the names, perhaps a brief explanation and I will most likely know what they are.

-Slasher
-Spring Start
-Double Eagle
-Russian Twists (the photo I saw didn't look like the classic twists that I know)
-Cauldron

Sorry there are so many, please excuse my ignorance I am always striving to learn anything new and worthwhile so I have to ask a lot of questions.

Thank you very much for your help,

Ryne

PS Do you go over diet with your athletes as well, or do you stay strictly with the physical aspect? If you do I would love to read about it in a comment some day, just to hear your thoughts.

Thanks

COMMENTS/ANSWER: Click on the links below for video of a double eagle and sprint start.

Slasher - this exercise I gleaned from Greg Everett's cathletics.com site - a great resource. Take a kettlebell, hold with both hands and drop the bell down to your right hip, then using your ass, hip, arms and abs, "slash" the bell up and across your body, finishing at your left shoulder. Keep the bell close to your body - don't extend your arms. Repeat from the other direction. See photo below.

Russian Twist - Grab end of barbell, hold arms extended, twist torso side to side, far as possible. Keep arms extended through entire motion. See photo below.

Cauldron - Torso stays still this time. Grab end of barbell, pretend it's a big spoon, and stir the barbell left, then right. Torso does not twist. Keep arms extended, and bring end of barbell back to chest each evolution.

Diet - My general guidance to athletes is to go Paleo lite: Eat all the meat, nuts, fruits and vegetables you want. No sweets, alcohol, bread, pasta, cookies, etc. Try to avoid "tropical" fruits like bananas. Dropping the bulk of the carbs (bread and sweets) generally leads to significant weight loss and improved performance. Understand, that you can eat as much as you want on this diet - just no junk.

One of my athletes, Rob Parkins, has dropped over 20 pounds in two months doing this and working out. When I'm strict, I drop 5 pounds.

I've never been disciplined enough to do the Zone diet - and don't know how long I'd last measuring and weighing food - but the CrossFit folks swear by it.

I think the Paleo diet referees would ban all dairy, too. But I eat cheese and have cream with my coffee. Protein at every meal is very important. And I do cheat every Sunday (ice cream, mostly, but some bread too). I aim for 90% compliance.

Also, this is a day-to-day diet. Yesterday, I did a long/slow ski tour, on a breakfast of scrambled eggs - and bonked two hours in. Event diet is something different - long slow needs some carbs - and a granola bar fueled me up fine to continue.

Think long term about diet and training. You'll never stick to a super-strict diet for long, just as you'll never be able to do timed workouts every day, for months - you'll burn out. Dieting strict to lose weight for an event, or training super intense in cycles works, but you can't have the hammer down every day.

- Rob Shaul

VIDEO: Double Eagle

VIDEO: Sprint Start

Russian Twist....

.... Slasher.