"STINK EYE"

Obj: Power/Power Endurance

Warm up: 4x Barbell Complex
Training:

(1) Work up to 1RM Squat Clean

(2) 3 Rounds
2x Squat Clean @ 85% 1RM
10x GHD Situps

(3) 15-10-5 For Time
Curtis P (M-75#, W-45#)
Weighted Situps (M-45#, W-25#)
400m Run with hill

So, first round is 15x Curtis P's, 15x Weighted situps,
400m run.

1x Curtis P = Hang squat clean, right leg lunge,
left leg lung, push press.

(4) 10x Sandbag Getups - go light, cool down


Comments:

How strong is strong enough when it comes to hybrid fitness, mountain sports, tactical athletes, etc.?

This I know. Athletes new to lifting gain strength really fast. And for most of us, the longer we lift, the slower the gains in strength come. At the elite levels, gains can come only after months or years of specific training.

And then there comes a point, when the only way to get stronger is to put on mass.

Mark Twight writes that in this hybrid fitness world, absolute strength is not important, relative strength is - or an athlete's strength to weight ratio.

There are our strength standards:

Men: 2x body weight dead lift
1.5x body weight bench press & front squat,
1.25 body weight power clean
1x body weight military press

Women: 1.5x body weight dead lift
1x body weight bench press, front squat &
power clean
.75x body weight military press

If we were only training these lifts, I assume it would take a lot less time to achieve these standards than it has - but of course, we have other objectives - strength endurance, metabolic conditioning, power endurance, power, etc. - all of which compete for the athlete's time in the gym.

Where did I come up with these standards? My educated guess for fairly solid overall strength without significant weight gain, and with significant injury prevention built in - using myself mostly as an example.

But a pure strength athlete like Dan John would scoff at these figures. I'm sure he would argue that instead of being the goal - they would be the minimum for serious strength training to begin!

But here's the rub. Does being able to dead lift 3x your bodyweight, help you climb the mountain any faster? Gym Jone's bench press standard is just 1x bodyweight for men - Twight wonders if anymore gets you anything. Mountain sports are dominated by legs and pulling motions (climbing) - so having exceptional pressing strength may be only useful in the gym.

And what if getting that 1.5x bodyweight bench press adds some size to your chest and 2-3 pounds to your overall weight? That extra muscle will be sucking oxygen during your climb needed for your legs, which have to carry up the muscle in the first place!

Brian Harder notes that the top bike racers and randone ski racers all have big lungs, strong legs, teeny tiny arms and weak spoon chests.

Time in the gym comes into play also. Getting 2x bodyweight dead lift took long enough - for me to get 2.5x would require lots more time dead lifting - to the detriment of overall conditioning.

I struggle with exercise selection too. Cleans especially take some athletes time to master technically. And then, the question becomes whether or not cleans make the athlete better at doing anything but cleans!

Westside Barbell founder Louie Simmons argues against cleans and other Olympic lifts for this very reason - the technical skill required limits the conditioning benefit from the exercise. Instead, Westside has it's athletes do loaded jump squats - power is trained, without all the technique issues.

Indeed, hybrid fitness, when taken to the competitive "sport" level can cost the athlete performance outside of the gym. Striving for a lower time on one of the metabolic conditioning circuits could lead to performance loss in another sport.

For everything, there is a point of diminishing returns. I believe the stuff we do in the gym should serve to build a solid foundation on which sport-specific training is layered upon.

An honest question is whether or not the foundation built in the gym leads to a greater overall performance in the field - or if the athlete would be better served by just doing sport specific stuff. Here are a couple different viewpoints:

On his website, climbing coach Eric Horst was asked this question:

QUESTION: "Eric, I have to thank you for all your hard work in bringing this knowledge to us. My question relates to an alternative training program used by a few climbers like Mark Twight and Steve House. It’s called CrossFit. Is this a good training program for an aspiring 5.12 rock climber? --Jordan (British Columbia)"

HORST ANSWER: Hey Jordan, Thanks for the kind remarks. Yes, I know of CrossFit...and, actually, I think Twight is now off the CrossFit bandwagon. If you are a serious rock climber then you too should not be using the CrossFit program. Rock climbers need a program that’s very specific to climbing and your personal weaknesses on the rock (strength, power, AE, technique, mental, whatever). CrossFit is a great (and grueling) general training program, but it is hardly specific to rock climbing. This complex and comprehensive workout strategy targets large muscles and multi-joint movements building strength, power, and muscular endurance; CrossFit also improves aerobic and anaerobic endurance. Thus, it would be a pretty good program for an alpine climber like Steve House, or anyone wanting to improve “total fitness”. But, again, for a serious rock climber it’s the wrong program (except perhaps as an off-season general conditioning program that you do for a couple of months).

Andy Bardin, one of my athletes, sent a similar question to Rob Miller, who is approaching "coach" status at CrossFit, is a Black Diamond-sponsored athlete, and one of the best big wall climbers in the country.

Miller replied that CrossFit's intensity has made him stronger in ways outside the gym, and further, he has applied CrossFit's intensity to his climb training - climbing harder for shorter periods of time - thereby saving the wear and tear on his fingers, joints, etc. - He still trains long on the rock, but much less than he used to.

Wrote Miller, "Classically, endurance athletes (of which we are! when talking about big days in Yosemite) train volume. Just as you said. The problem is that the body can't heal enough to sustain the rigors of that kind of training. Injury, retrograde performance and time issues become
problematic. The body is capable of the feats, but the approach to the preparation for the accomplishment has changed in my mind. I'm not saying that we should never train that kind of stimulus, but I will say that it far less than I used to think."

Interesting stuff, huh!

- Rob Shaul

Jump and shrug! - Kris hits a clean.

Nancy fires through weighted situps.