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"SISTERHOOD"
Objective: Power Endurance
Warm up: 3 Rounds
5x Turkish Getups each side @ 16kg kettlebell
Hip Activation Drill
Training:
5 Rounds for Time
Run 400m with hill
Row 500m
3 Rounds
5x Heavy Sandbag Getups @ 80#
5x Weighted Pullups
******
"HIGH SCHOOL BUTTE"
Objective: Power Endurance/Interval
Training:
4x Intervals running up High School Butte in Jackson, jog down for "rest"
Comments:
We've visited the run/row combo a couple times now, and I've really come to like it as a good power endurance baseline
workout. I like that technique is not a huge factor here. Certainly rowing technique will help, but the majority of the time
is spent trying to run after the row.
I finished in 24:50, cutting 30 second from my March effort - and it laid me down. Andy crushed me, finishing in 23:17.
I did the High School Butte intervals today. I'm not sure what the elevation gain on each interval was - I'm guessing
500-700 feet. The switched back trail up the butte is shallow enough to "run" - jog really - but too long to sprint.
Here are my times and max heart rate for each interval:
#1 10:31/173
#2 10:56/173
#3 11:18/173
#4 11:18/174
My goal was to do 6 intervals - but I thankfully ran out of time. It took about 8 minutes to jog back down the trail....
EMAIL QUESTION:
Rob,
I am curious of your position and thoughts on mental toughness as a physical ability facilitator. In my military background
I have witnessed first hand individuals possessing a level of fitness affording them capabilities to accomplish given tasks.
However, a lack of mental toughness conquered their strength and abilities, leaving them the short end of the stick.
One would assume anything accomplished through mental duress is only a reflection of an individual's physical ability.
However, controlling the ability to tap into that physical ability in circumstances dictated by stressors both physical and
mental like fear or a lack of O2 is crucial in reaching one's full potential. What if you do, may I ask do you implicate in
your fitness regimes to help your athletes achieve that area of fitness?
From reading some of Mark Twight's concepts I came across what he calls SMMF (single movement mind fucks). So I gave it
a try today - 150 lbs. tractor tire 300 flips for time, I finished at 18:23. I was worked mentally. Any advice on other ways
to achieve this element of training? Thanks for your time.
V/R
Stephen
COMMENTS/ANSWER:
Stephen - thanks for the question.
First couple of quick thoughts:
1)The gym is an artificial environment.
2)Mental toughness in the gym can be learned and improved upon.
3)My mountaineers and other athletes report that mental toughness learned in the gym has been somewhat transferable to
their sports/jobs outside.
4)SMMF's, as Coach Twight callls them, may not be the best way to push this envelope.
5) I don't think a mentally tough workout is "hard" in the big scheme of things.
Just about everyone who walks through my doors is a better and more accomplished athlete than I. This is especially true
of the mountain athletes, many of whom have incredible resumes, which they couldn't achieve without some serious sufferage
outside in the cold somewhere.
Often these athletes don't fare well in their initial power endurance or metcon efforts. But, as they continue to workout
and push into the uncomfortableness of these events, their performance improves significantly. They move from exercise to
exercise quicker, with less rest, and are near panic breathing throughout.
The same is true on 1 rep max lifting days. Often these athletes start out hesitant, but as they become more comfortable
in the gym, the lifts, our atmosphere, and my judgement, they did deeper and push harder.
The point I'm getting at is that mental toughness might be mode specific. An accomplished mountaineer might be the toughest,
no-quit son-of-a-bitch, go-to guy or gal high up on an icy face in a blizzard, but his or her first push through our killer
"Shawn's Favorite" workout will put them down mentally.
Because of this, I have been pleasantly surprised when my mountain athletes report back that they feel more confident,
and more mentally tough out in the field. Often the comment goes like this: "It was terrible and bad but I remember pushing
though that workout last week and knew I could get through it...."
I don't believe that the gym is a place where you can dig deep into your soul and analyze your character - in a mental
toughness sort of way. Twight writes about this quite a bit on gymjones.com.
I've always felt a hard workout was a great escape from the hard stuff in life. If you want to do something "hard"
start a business, change careers, suffer through a divorce, etc.
I asked Mark about this during his seminar, and his answer was that I my events weren't long enough. Go longer, get more
exposed, he urged. Certainly Mark and several of the alpinists we train have endured several of those 12+ hour hard, dangerous
events with lots of exposure. I haven't, and I'm kinda scared to. I'm mentally tough in the gym. I wonder how I would perform
when it counts ...
All that being said, I generally find the intense workouts with two or more exercises to be more mentally tough than the
SMMFs. For example, last weeks 30-20-10 deadlift/pushpress circuit was killer. The "toughness" part comes in the
exercise transition, and shortening rest periods.
In "Sisterhood" above, the transition from the row to the run is absolutely killer - your mind wants you to
stop and walk really, really bad.
There are exceptions. Some complex barbell exercises are just physically and mentally crushing - such as Curtis P's, Rob
Shauls, Thrusters - and even our barbell complex. These can make great SMMFs - so terrible I won't unleash them on my athletes.
Try 100x Curtis Ps with 95#, or go 400m doing Rob Shauls with 75# (Hold barbell behind neck, do four walking lunges, then
5 push presses. Repeat. By the end I can do just 2 reps before I have to rest.)
Try the barbell complex with 135#. (Then report back, 'cause I'm scared to.)
Another I've come to hate is the simple kettlebell swing for time - like 2 minutes. As Gym Jones has written - "there's
no place to hide." The double kettlebell clean and press is terrible too.
Be careful here though. I went on a kick myself a couple of years ago where all that mattered was how "hard"
the workout was. I was pretty new to the CrossFit-type stuff, and tied my physical self-worth to how hard I worked in the
gym and how my times compared to the CrossFit badasses.
But there's a difference between working hard and training smart. Certainly my times improved - to a point - the limiting
factor being strength. If I had spent time on less intense, but more weight strength training, my times would have been better.
See what I mean?
It's a waste of time if it's not transferable, and the object of gym training should not be to make people throw up, or
have a terrible experience. I want my athletes to succeed in the weightroom, not fail.
- Rob
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| Dave fights for meters. |
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| Renae versus the sandbag. |
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