Those of you who have been reading for the past couple of months have heard about the Spartan. Cameron did his Super Spartan in Carolina in early summer and I did the 12-miler Beast with some friends in Vermont last weekend.
The Vermont Spartan Beast (photo from nuvision)
This article will have 3 sections:
- Summary/Highlights
- Lessons Learned
- Details of the Experience, with Photos
Summary
This was a 12-mile race, but like nothing I’ve ever done. It was almost entirely hills (and I don’t mean normal hills, I mean straight up Killington ski mountain not using a trail but using a narrow woods path). And it had 26 obstacles, described below.
I did this with 3 friends, and about 1/4 of the way in we split into twos. We later found out that the leading two stayed just barely ahead right up until the 3rd to final obstacle, so we all finished in a little over 5 hours.
That’s right. Over five hours.
The elite men winners did it in about 3 hours. I think, in retrospect, if we trained a little more appropriate for the terrain, and pushed ourselves, we could have done it in 4 hours. But 3 hours seems insanely fast.
The 26 obstacles involved variations of the following:
- fire jumps
- barbed wire crawls
- wall climbs
- hills
- mud pits
- balance walks
- horizontal rope lines
- sandbag carries
- sled pulls
- swimming
- oh, and did I mention hills, some of which were so steep that we were on all fours, grabbing roots and branches to keep from falling backwards?
If you failed any of the obstacles, you had to do 30 burpees. I’m proud to say that I was successful on all obstacles except one: the spear throw. I was SO frustrated when I missed that (you only get one chance).
Some people were clearly not ready for this, as evidenced by Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: spartan
I started writing this article 2 weeks ago, and it is now two days before my Spartan Beast race. See my initial Spartan training plan but that quickly morphed into additional endurance sessions – but still no days off. Hence, this article.
I’ve always been skeptical about the concept of overtraining.
I get questions all the time, usually from newer lifters, who are worried about “overtraining”. In almost every case, they are nowhere near the “overtraining” point.
Sure, I know people can push too hard too fast (like I did last year; see http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/can-you-spot-the-mistake/ and also note the update at the end of the article). That’s called “overreaching”. You’ll see this in newbies who do body-part splits with insane volume for the first week but then are too sore the following week. Some even then give up and go back to sitting on the couch. But that’s not overtraining.
The term “overtraining” is usually applied differently. Overtraining is characterized by (in no particular order)
- Long Term – Overtraining isn’t about what you do in a certain workout, no matter how off-the-hook intense or stupid. Overtraining is about what is happening over many weeks.
- Not Beginner Affect – In my experience, it’s very, very hard for a beginner to overtrain. Beginners often overdo things, like lifting too much too soon. Or using crappy form. Or the classic of starting out all intensely, then missing workouts because they are “too sore”. That’s not overtraining. Overtraining is much more likely in intermediate or advanced lifters.
- Systemic Regression in Your Lifts – I’m not talking about one week not being able to lift as much as the previous week. That’s normal and happens from time to time (especially if you start a new routine using higher weight than you should). I’m talking about over the period of several weeks, all – or almost all – of your lifts are getting weaker.
- Constant Joint Pain – You are always in pain, including joint pain and pain in places you’ve never really had pain before.
- Persistent Muscle Soreness – Similar to previous, but this is in your muscles.
- Strong Desire To Skip Workouts – I always look forward to lifting. Always. But not always psyched for my runs. However, in an overtrained state, you really loathe the idea of exercising. And even dire-hard lovers of lifting/running start to hesitate.
- Decreased Motivation – Even outside the gym, you are unmotivated. Could lead to depression, irritability.
- Susceptibility to Injury – The combination of chronic pain leads to compensation. Also, your mental focus is off, so you might not tighten your core during your squats. Etc. Injury is just around the corner.
- Inability to Complete Workouts – If you are finding that you can only get half way through workouts that you have previously been doing in full, then that’s a warning sign.
- Other Biological Changes – for example, resting heart rate increasing, disordered sleep, lack of appetitie, elevated cortisol (for a full list see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining)
Not just lifters – happens to runners too. Any regular activity where you are pushing yourself daily (or almost daily). And this isn’t just about “recovery time” though that plays a part.
So what causes overtraining and how do you prevent it?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: overtraining
There’s a good reason rock climbers use chalk: improved grip.
- Chalk improves grip
Of course, chalk isn’t just good for climbers. Lifting heavy requires substantial grip tenacity. Especially in the summer, with humidity high.
I’ve been working my my grip strength for many months now, usually once a week doing plate pinches, towel hangs, etc. at the end of a workout.
But I had never tried chalk.
(That is, aside from 20 yrs ago and a friend sneaked some chalk into the university gym. That was back when I thought a good routine had “arms days” and no, using chalk to better grip the handles on the leg extension machine is not what I am talking about today!)
Most commercial/franchised gyms don’t allow chalk, and even though I workout in my home gym, I never thought it was necessary. For deadlifts, the hardest grip lift that I regularly do, I simply moved the mixed grip (one hand pronated, the other supinated).
But I recently bought a chalk ball – it’s like a sock stuffed with chalk and that really reduces the mess.
Holy cow – what a major improvement.
Seriously, I am now deadlifting with a standard grip (both hands supinated) weights that I previously could only do with a mixed grip. Just by using chalk. (Of course, a max deadlift requires more than a strong grip, so it’s not like I added 100 pounds to the dead overnight.)
And for power-movements (e.g. cleans, high pulls, etc.) the chalk is like a miracle.
Then there are lifts where you grip the bar where there is no knurling – like a sumo-stance rack pull. These are nearly impossible without chalk. I did add about 50 pounds overnight to that lift just by using chalk.
I can say without hesitation, now that I’ve gotten more experience, that chalk is far superior to using wrist straps (see my cautious recommendations on straps here).
How To Add Chalk To Your Lifting
Here are 5 Guidelines for adding chalk: Read the rest of this entry »
It’s been a while since I’ve thrown open the floor and done a good Q&A session. Some of you long time subscribers might remember that we sometimes did these via podcast/mp3 but let’s keep this simple. In the comments section below, ask me ANY fitness related question. Completely open. I will then do two things:
a) I will answer every single one personally (or, if it is an area I don’t know about, I will get the answer from one of my expert colleagues)
b) For the 3 best questions (my opinion), I will give those people a FREE copy of one of my ebooks or lifting routines
So, ask away! I’m guessing I’ll post the answers in about a week or so, depending on volume. I want at least 25 questions ok? Read the rest of this entry »
Join the forum discussion on this article, or comment below.
Ok, I admit, when Mike Geary sent me this article I thought it was a bit gimmicky. But when you read the recipe, you realize this isn’t just hype.
Check it out here:
Enjoy!
p.s. post comments as to how you like it/dislike it
Tags: geary
Cameron’s Spartan Experience…
Cameron did the Spartan in The Carolina’s the weekend of June 25th. Here is his first-hand account…
The race was intended to be approx. 8 miles with 15 obstacles. The fastest times were intended to be around 80 minutes. It ended up being (after adding the turns) Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: spartan
- Subcutaneous Fat vs. Visceral Fat
It’s almost too cliche to have fitness sites talking about abs and stomach fat as summer approaches, but then again, that’s important to most readers this time of year.
Have you heard of the difference between visceral fat and subcutaneous fat? Mike Geary has a Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: fat
I did a quick write-up for my team mates to jump-start our Spartan training. See previous post on the Spartan Race for context.
This is far from complete, and is just some basic principles. As I’ve mentioned, each of our 5-person team is coming with completely different strengths and weaknesses so this is just to get us all on the same baseline. What I personally am doing is slightly different. I’ll share that at the end.
General Principles
- work up each week (longer or more intense, etc.); each week should be harder than the previous [we had 8 weeks at the time I wrote this]
- use varied training methods
- keep an eye on recovery: you don’t want to be so sore that you miss workouts but you don’t want to undertrain either
- deload (reduce training 4-5 days before the event)
- stretch daily; this is important for recovery; my advice is mostly active stretching, but static stretching is fine too as long as it is AFTER exercise; foam rolling is amazing
- eat smart (don’t try to diet during this, but don’t eat junk; eat lots of good, real food to help your body recover)
- sleep well for recovery
Types of Training We’ll Cover
- endurance running (long distance)
- core training (stability, strength, endurance)
- load training (carrying)
- strength training
My Recommendations For the First 2 Weeks
These are the things I think should be a minimum.
1) TRI once a week. [For you WFN readers, I don't have time to explain the game of TRI but think of it as Rugby with 3 teams.] If we miss a week, you need to spend at least 30 minutes doing similar training (sprinting with change of direction, add in throwing).
2) 2 runs a week. One shorter one longer. Goal will be to get your longer runs up to 8 to 10 miles by early July. Depending on your current capacity, this could be a big leap so let’s talk if you can’t already do at least 4 mile runs. Try to do a lot of your running on trails.
For your shorter run, I suggest the type of training you see in the spartanraceblog. Something like this: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: spartan
