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"WASTED YOUTH"
Obj: Endurance
Training: Hike/Run 1.5 hours, including 1,400 foot elevation gain/loss
Comments:
This came in from Brian Harder, concerning his challenge that I should stop lifting for 12 weeks and become a spoon-chested
endurance athlete. - Rob:
BRIAN'S COMMENTS:
"Rob Shaul as a spoon-chested endurance athlete...hmm...the image brings a smirk of amusement to my face. The idea
of Rob being skinnier and, thus, lighter in all the right places was born after reading his blog about how well his female
athletes do during his climbing circuits. He spoke of their climbing volume and superior technique as to why they kick his
ass on the wall. But I knew it was more a matter of mass.
"For those of you who have never seen Rob, well, he's built like a fire hydrant. He is strong in ways most climbers
will never understand and looks like it. His strength and physique was developed from a life time of iron worshipping. He
may feel inadequate while pulling on plastic but put him in the middle of a weighted metabolic conditioning circuit and he
will crush you everytime. While the rest of us are bent over heaving for breath staring at the barbell we dread to pick up,
Rob is hammering out reps on his way to embarrassing us yet again. Unfortunately, years of front squatting, dead lifting
and bench pressing have made his physique dense and thick and, thus, heavy, in places that don't help much when you are hanging
by your fingertips.
"I, too, have been a gym rat for years but have also tasted the fruits of being skinny and light, at least in my
upper body. Back in the late eighties and early nineties I fully committed to bicycle racing as a way of life. I dropped
15 pounds of lean tissue off my six foot frame and weighed in at about 163 lbs. I rode my bike in all sorts of nasty weather
and pushed heavy iron in the gym, but only with my legs. I joked that I had the upper body of an X-Box toting, Twinkie wolfing
10-year old. Despite that indictment, I quickly made my way through the ranks and won lots of races. At the time, the trade
off was worth it. I hated being embarrassed to take off my shirt but loved smoking the competition whenever the road turned
uphill. This lasted about five years.
"It occurred to me that Rob has never known this feeling. I'm not saying that a lighter version of him will suddenly
fly up 5.12 or run a 35 minute 10k. You also have to be a member of the lucky sperm club to do that. But what an interesting
transfomation to watch as he hones his physique down to the bare necessities required to excel in some very specific tasks.
Only then will he truly know his potential in these realms. I think it would also give him additional insight when dealing
with certain athlete populations.
"We would all have a great time watching him shrink down and speed up but, once the experiment was complete, derive
equal pleasure seeing him gleefully push the poundages back up as he regains the physique and power he prefers. Now, if I
could only get him to take on this most daunting of challenges."
- Brian Harder
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