A Conundrum of Sorts...

Co-nun-drum (n): a) a question or problem having only a conjectural answer b) an intricate or difficult problem.

First of all, I’m no biology major. Realizing that, I am going to stay away from scientific terms, partly because they confuse me. What I know, or think I know is based on what I have read, heard, or experienced. Even then, I’m not sure if what I know is correct or if it fits together on the scientific level. Confused yet? Me too, and I haven’t even gotten to what this is all about.

Where do I begin?

Moving heavy weight is hard. When I use the word heavy, I am speaking relative to whoever is lifting it. What looks heavy to me can be chump change to others. Anyways… when we are moving heavy weight there is only so much we can do until we reach failure and drop the weight on our face. At this point our muscles have been taxed to the limit and we need to rest them before they can do more.

In short, when moving heavy weight, the major limiting factor at play is strength.

Next…

Moving a low amount of weight (again, relative to whoever is moving it) at a fast pace is also hard. There is only so much we can do before we fall over in pain and/or exhaustion and start to cry. At this point, we usually stop or slow down until the pain subsides and we can do more.

To summarize, when moving low amounts of weight at a fast pace, the major limiting factor that comes into play is endurance.

Still with me?

This is where the conundrum begins.

If we are training to lift heavy weight the answer is relatively clear. Train for strength.

If we are training to run long distances, a similar approach applies. Train for endurance.

But what happens when we want to move medium/heavy weights at a quick/fast pace, or even low amounts of weight at an extremely fast pace? And if that is our goal, how do we train for it?

With these types of goals in mind, there are not one, but two limiting factors that come into play. These are strength and endurance.

An Example:

Let’s take two athletes and assign them numerical values for their levels of strength and endurance (10 being high, 1 being low):

Note: All other levels of fitness (Power, speed, agility, ect…) are the same for each athlete.

Athlete A has a numerical strength value of 8, and an endurance value of 6.

Athlete B has a numerical strength value of 8 and an endurance level of 10.

If we put both athletes on a bench and asked them to go for a one rep max bench press, their weights would be almost identical. However, if we scaled the weight back to 60% of their one rep max and asked them to go for max repetitions, Athlete B would be able to perform far more repetitions then Athlete A.

Why is this?

In a one rep max, both athletes have a high enough endurance level that it just doesn’t come into play. In other words, they don’t come close to reaching their endurance threshold.

At 60% max weight for max reps, Athlete A reaches his endurance threshold before he comes to his strength threshold, and is forced to stop. Athlete B however, is able to continue on and perform reps until he reaches his strength threshold.

Another example:

Same two athletes:

Athlete A has a numerical strength value of 8, and an endurance value of 6.

Athlete B has a numerical strength value of 8 and an endurance level of 10.

This time they are running a single 40m dash.

Since all other areas of fitness are the same, both athletes run the 40m in the same time. The reason being is that at such a short distance, endurance doesn’t come into play. Both athletes come nowhere near their threshold.

If however, Athlete A had an endurance level of 2 or 3, he may reach this threshold in this short of distance and he would lose the race.

Now, let’s move out the distance and make it a 400m run. Assuming they are going all out from the start, both Athletes will be tied for the first leg of the race. At some point, Athlete A will start to hit his endurance threshold and Athlete B will take the lead. Later on in the race, they might both hit their strength threshold, but this will be a moot point as Athlete B will already be ahead.

Of note, if Athlete B had a slightly lower level strength/power/speed then Athlete A ,this might even itself out by the end, with Athlete A taking an early lead and Athlete B coming back at the end.

Enough with the examples…

In short, the conundrum is that training across multiple fitness domains is a difficult task. If you are training for a specific movement, or event, this is made a little easier.

For example (I lied)

If you are running the 100m it is optimal to maintain a point where your strength and endurance levels max out at the same time. If you have 100 hours to train and you devote 99 of them to training strength, you are probably going to die after 25m. Similarly, if you train 1 hour to strength and 99 to endurance, you might be able to run 100m without breaking a sweat, but you won’t be breaking any world records. For this event, training 60 hours to strength/power, and 40 hours to endurance might be optimal.

That example is pretty specific. But what if you are training for the 1600m also? The optimal training breakdown for that event might be 20 strength/power and 80 to endurance, which is by no means optimal for your 100m efforts.

The optimal solution would be to train 40 hours to strength/power and 60 hours to endurance. Sadly, this probably wouldn’t lead to any personal bests in either event.

For most sports, such as football, soccer, baseball, or even CrossFit, you don’t have the leisure to pinpoint a single optimal breakdown. When one play in football might require you to stop a 230 pound freight train from head on, another might require you to chase down a 175 pound gazelle. In this case, the best for one, screws you for the other.

The way I see it, which isn’t all that clear, is that the only way to find that optimal training point would be to take the optimal split between every possible activity, assign it a value for how often it might occur relative to other scenarios, and then come up with an optimal training split. If you are a super nerd, then you might even find a way to factor in at what levels an activity would switch from “success” to “failure.” This, obviously, is more than I care to tackle.

Thus we find ourselves at our conjectural answer to the conundrum at hand…

Con-jec-ture (n): a proposition (as in mathematics) before it has been proved or disproved.

Answer:

Fudge it. Pick an optimal split that you think is right and train for it. At the same time, test yourself in whatever you are doing to see if you are improving and what is holding you back from improving more. If you continually find yourself reaching a strength threshold before an endurance threshold, then train strength. If the opposite is true, well then do the opposite.

Reasons this Answer sucks:

Training multiple fitness domains at once is almost never optimal to achieving a high level in one single domain. In fact, excelling in one specific fitness domain will often result in going backwards in another. As a result, going forward in two domains is slower.

Some would make a case that given a set period of time; you should specialize in training one, and then switch to the other, rather than do both at once.

For most, this isn’t an option given the short periods of training times between major events or when sport seasons take place. For Olympic athletes who have longer periods of time between events, specializing might work better, or it might not.

In Closing:

I think I started this post wanting to talk about lactic acid thresholds, but got a little sidetracked. Oh well. Maybe I’ll ramble on about that next time.

-dunkie

Everything Works: Just Not Necessarily For You

I don't read many books. Aside from the yearly book that I receive as an x-mas present from my Aunt & Uncle and the occasional work related book, I really can't recall the last book I read. That is not to say however, that I don't read much. In fact, I think I almost spend a little to much time reading.

Of the wide assortment of things that I read up on, which ranges from whatever The Wall Street Journal is reporting to the latest in sports, I have recently found myself focusing a lot more on fitness related topics. For the most part, the majority of these articles are opinion based (resulting from personal experiences), while a smaller portion are more focused on the more technical aspects of how things work.

From what I have read, I have come to this conclusion:

Everything works.

Everything?

Yes, everything.

Simply put, in regards to fitness programs, everything out there works to some degree. The catch is that it might not work for you. Sticking with tradition, let me try to use an analogy to explain this.

Choose Your Own Adventure/Light Bulb

A light bulb in your house goes out. What do you do? Well, you take your ass down to the hardware store to buy yourself a new one.

So you do that. Now you are at the hardware store, standing in the lighting section, wondering which one of the 100 different types of light bulbs you need. Depending on who you are, or what you know, this could lead to a few different scenarios.

Scenario 1:
You know nothing about light bulbs, so you ask someone for help. When they ask you what size light bulb you need you just stare at them with a blank look on your face. "Uhh... one that gives off light?" Using those parameters, the "helpful" sales associate hands you a light bulb and tells you to go try it.

Once home, you take your new light bulb out of the package and then...

1) Scratch your head because you have no idea how to install it.
2) Electrocute yourself because you forget to turn the light switch to off before installing it.
3) You find that the light bulb is not the right size.
4) Install it successfully.

If you picked option 1 or 2, you are pretty much hopeless. Sorry. Game over.

If you went with option 3, you go back to the store with your light bulb and return it, saying that "the light bulb doesn't work." Secretly, the person at the Returns counter is thinking to themself "Of course the light bulb works. You just chose the wrong one, idiot" but of course they don't say that out loud. Instead, they suggest another light bulb that might work for you. At this point, you go home with your light bulb and repeat the steps above.

If you chose option 4, you smile to yourself happily. That is, until you realize later that

a) The light bulb is not energy is efficient.
b) The light bulb gives off a crappy yellowish light, versus the bright white light you wanted.
c) You don't realize anything because you are just happy that you have light again.

Scenario 2:

Since you are an intelligent individual (not that I'm saying people the fall into scenario 1 aren't), you brought the burnt out bulb with you. You quickly identify the same bulb and purchase it.

Once home, you take your new light bulb out of the package and then...

1) Install the light bulb, only to remember, "hey wait, I don't even like the light this bulb gives off, why the hell did I buy this same bulb again?"

2) Are completely satisfied with your new light bulb. Who cares if it isn't energy efficient? Not you.

/end analogy

Okay, so we (both you and I) probably could have done without that analogy. What I am trying to get at here is that if someone took the time to write about some fitness program they did, it is probably because of one of following:

a) They got results, liked their results, and think you should do the same.
b) Got results, but they weren't the results they wanted. Regardless, they learned from it and are trying to share that knowledge with you.
c) Were lazy and didn't work hard, and have decided that the program they used sucks and they want to share that with everyone to shift the blame.

Whatever the reason, the program itself most likely "works." That is to say, if you are starting at point A, this program will get you to point B. Problems arise when you aren't starting from point A and they get even worse when point B isn't your goal.

So what then? How do you find something that will work for you?

First off, it helps to know where you are. Simply knowing that will eliminate half of the fitness programs out there. If someone is extremely obese and has a very limited range of motion it won't exactly benefit them to jump into an Olympic Lifting program. On the flip side, it wouldn't be very beneficial for an Olympic lifter to walk on a treadmill for 30 minutes a day. Will either of these programs be of some benefit? Probably. Are they remotely the best choices for these individuals given their respective starting points? Absolutely not.

The next question is, where do you want to be? What is your goal? For some people this is easy: they want to be in better shape. Sadly, this tell us nothing. Who doesn't want to be in better shape? Given that goal, pretty much ANYTHING will work... for a time. More often then not, there will be some part of a program that just doesn't work for you and you will drop it.

For instance, the program you go on might require you to workout 5 days a week. Given the goal of being in better shape, this program should have been a perfect fit. But it isn't. Why? Because maybe you don't have the time to work out 5 days a week. Maybe you can only work out three. In this case, your goal really should have been "to get into better shape using a program that only requires me to work out 3 times a week."

Using another analogy here (a short one this time)...

It's like a smoker saying their goal is to stop smoking, except not wanting to give up nicotine. That sort of limits things, doesn't it?

With goals come sacrifices. If you don't know what you are willing to give up to reach a goal then it is hard to find a program that will help you reach your goal without some trial and error.

For others, their goal may be more specific. Their goals may be to be faster, stronger, or better looking. But again, while there may be 5 different programs for each out there, not all of them will fit into the sacrifices that you are willing to make for them to be successful. However, if you know what sacrifices you are willing to make this might narrow the programs down to 1-2. You may even come to find there aren't any programs out there for you. In this case, you may need to re-evaluate your goals or even the sacrifices you are willing to make.

Another disconnect that occurs is when people do something fitness related and they don't know why. They might know exactly where they are, and exactly where they want to be, except they end up choosing a program that just doesn't fit them. Why do they do it? Because they don't know any better, or the person that told them to do something doesn't know any better.

Everything works, and if you are lucky, it might even work for you to some degree. Whether it is optimal for you, given your goals and the sacrifices you are willing to make, is the question, and honestly, you might not care if it is optimal, as the program might fit you well and you are able to sustain it. Just being able to sustain a fitness program is a goal to many people.

If however, you can determine where you are, where you want to be, what you are willing to sacrifice, and put in the time to research why you are doing what you are doing, chances are that you will find something that not only works, but works for YOU.

All this aside, I like CrossFit.

Is it for everyone? No.

Is it scalable so that anyone can do it? Yes.

Does it allow for flexibility for people at different starting points or with different goals that may need to have an emphasis on specific componenets of fitness? Yes.

Does it work for me? Yes.

Can it work for you? Yes.

Will it be optimal for you? That depends...

-dunkie

Side note: This idea that all fitness programs essentially "work, just not ncessarily for you" has a lot of parrellels to the financial/investment industry. When it comes to investing, a lot of people have the goal to just "make as much money as possible." This is great, until their investment guy takes that idea and runs with it, and then they come to find out that their guy basically went to Vegas and bet all of their money red. For most, they are not willing to take that amount of risk, even if the potential return are great. The problem is, if they don't say that, they might find themselves in a "program" that doesn't fit them.

If you are able to identify where you are, where you want to be, and what sacrifices you are willing to make to get here then you will be taking a step in the right direction. After that, the next step should be to educate yourself so that they can find a "program"or "investment strategy" that works for you.

p.s. If you actually made it through this entire post without becoming lost and/or confused, I applaud you. I got lost just trying to proof read it...and I wrote the damn thing.

New Years Resolution. About Damn Time...

This is probably my 4th or 5th go at trying to write this blog. Within those attempts, I've easily come up with a dozen different goals, all of which I was never really happy with. That being said, I going to skip the fluff and jump right to my New Years resolution, as to avoid a 6th attempt at this.

My 2009 New Years resolution is to qualify for the 2010 CrossFit Games. There, I said it. No going back now. Onwards and upwards!

Okay, now onto the fluff...

Q: 2010 CrossFit Games? Isn't that... in 2010?

A: Yes. The regional qualifiers would be somewhere around May 2010, with the actual games in July of 2010. This gives me roughly 18 months to prepare.

Q: Why not the 2009 CrossFit Games?

A: I'm planning on participating in the regional qualifier, but it would be an extreme longshot for me to qualify (I'd put it up there with the Huskies chances of making a bowl game next year). Only 4 men and 4 women are taken from the NW Region.

Really, I'm just planning on going this year for fun and the experience. 6 months should be enough time to not completely embarrass myself, where 18 months should be enough time to actually reach a competitive level.

Q: So... this is your big goal that it took you two weeks to write down?

A: Encompassed within this goal are dozens of smaller goals that I am going to have to work to get to my destination. There are about 1-2 dozen benchmarks that I will be working towards over the next 18 months that will help gauge my process. On top of that, this is going to take a lot of dedication and commitment.

Q: What are some of these benchmarks?

A: CrossFit has a lot of daily workouts (WOD's) that serve as benchmarks that people can do to compare there level of fitness to others who are doing the same workouts. The most notorious of these is a workout called "Fran," which involves a round of each of the following:

21 Thrusters - 95 lbs. /21 Pull Ups

15 Thrusters - 95 lbs. /15 Pull Ups

9 Thrusters -95 lbs. / 9 Pull Ups

I believe the current record for this is 2 minutes and 5 seconds, however I don't believe this record is performed to competition standards, which includes full depth squats with no ball, and chest to bar pull ups. These additional requirements can add a significant amount of time, which make a 5 minute "Fran" competitive.

Another benchmark is what is referred to as a CrossFit Total. This is a total of your max deadlift, squat, and press. You are allowed 3 attempts at each and there are strict form guidelines that help to standardize the lifts. Anything over 1000 is pretty ridiculous. Especially considering that some of these guys are 160-165 lbs. A CFT of 900 is pretty competitive.

I am confident that I can reach many of these competitive levels in the next 18 month. The X-factor here is the fact that the CrossFit games is only now coming into its 3rd year. Two years ago, a CFT of 900 was considered amazing. Now, those same competitors are reaching 1000-1100.

Q: Uh... what is CrossFit again?

A: Visit www.crossfit.com for more information. I also have a short blog post on it if you don't feel like making the jump.

Here is a video from the 2008 CrossFit Games:

Q: Why this? Why not something else as your goal?

A: I could probably write an entire book about this, which would include much of my life story. To save you (and I) the pain of going through that, let's just go with the cliff-note version:

I find myself being at or around average at a lot of things. This makes CrossFit a good fit for me as it stresses a balance between all 10 aspects of fitness. I don't think that I'm great, or horrible at any one aspect, which makes me a fairly balanced person in regards to fitness. Do I see myself being the strongest person out there? Of course not. What I do see is the possibility of being above average and excelling at all of the aspects of fitness? Yes.

Aside from the whole physical aspects of this goal, I think this will also be a great challenge mentally. With all that in mind, that is how I came to this goal.

Q: What if you don't make it?

A: My fallback plan is to move to Japan and attempt to become The Ultimate Ninja Warrior.

*Note: Ugh... just tried to find the YouTube video of this but it looks like all of them were removed due to copyright infringements.

Q: What...

A: Sorry, that's all the time I have for questions tonight. In closing I'd just like to say that I am disappointed that we never found any weapons of mass destruction.

-dunkie

CrossFit

I guess I should rewind a little bit here and take a moment to provide some explanation of what CrossFit is. In order to best do so, I'm just going to steal bits and pieces from various CrossFit websites that I find useful. This is also because I'm lazy and have no desire to reinvent the wheel...

According to CrossFit founder Greg Glassman,

"CrossFit is a core strength and conditioning program in two distinct senses.

First, we are a “core” strength and conditioning program in the sense that the fitness we develop is foundational to all other athletic needs. This is the same sense in which the university courses required of a particular major are called the “core curriculum”. This is the stuff that everyone needs.

Second, we are a “core” strength and conditioning program in the literal sense meaning the center of something. Much of our work focuses on the major functional axis of the human body, the extension and flexion, of the hips and extension, flexion, and rotation of the torso or trunk. The primacy of core strength and conditioning in this sense is supported by the simple observation that powerful hip extension alone is necessary and nearly sufficient for elite athletic performance. That is, our experience has been that no one without the capacity for powerful hip extension enjoys great athletic prowess and nearly everyone we’ve met with that capacity was a great athlete.

Running, jumping, punching and throwing all originate at the core. At CrossFit we endeavor to develop our athletes from the inside out, from core to extremity, which is by the way how good functional movements recruit muscle, from the core to the extremities."

CrossFit is a program designed to elicit as broad an adaptational response as possible. It is not a specialized fitness program, but a deliberate attempt to optimize physical competence in each of ten recognized fitness domains:

1. Cardiovascular/Respiratory Endurance- The ability of body systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen.

2. Stamina - The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and
utilize energy.

3. Strength - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force.

4. Flexibility - the ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint.

5. Power - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time.

6. Speed - The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement.

7. Coordination - The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement.

8. Agility - The ability to minimize transition time from one movement
pattern to another.

9. Balance - The ability to control the placement of the body's center of
gravity in relation to its support base.

10. Accuracy - The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity.

The general idea of CrossFit is to not specialize in any one aspect of fitness, but to train and excel in all aspects.

In 100 words...

"Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports."

Hopefully that provides an adequate explanation of what CrossFit is. Most questions that you might have about CrossFit can be answered by reading the F.A.Q. on www.CrossFit.com. Or if you'd like, post any questions that you have to the comments and I'll try my best to answer them.

-dunkie

Angie & Diane

Angie

100 pull-ups

100 push-ups

100 sit-ups

100 squats

I almost wussed out on this one today.  I felt pretty horrible (great) from the Filthy Fifty yesterday and didn't know if I would be able to get through this in a reasonable amount of time. Hoops said he might do this today so that gave me a little motivation and by the time I walked down to the downtown Y I had convinced myself that I had it in me.  Anyways...

Time: 21:34

Not horrible, but nothing earth shattering.  I feel like I could have done a sub 20:00 on this if I was fresh.  My kip disappeared after the first 50 pull-ups which made the second 50 even worse.  Also, I am regretting doing the sit-ups on the hardwood gym floor as my tailbone feels like it's on fire right now.  A 15:00 on this would be great.

After I picked myself off the gym floor I figured that I didn't really have anything else important to do today, or tomorrow for that matter and decided to give Diane a go (she was my backup plan had I not done Angie).

Diane

21-15-9

deadlift - 225 lbs.

handstand push-ups

My hands have been pretty torn up lately so I decided to use straps for this one.  Also, the downtown Y doesn't have a lifting matt which makes doing deadlift a little bit more disruptive then I would have liked.  I'm getting better at handstand push-ups, but that doesn't really say much seeing as how I could barely get into the handstand position two weeks ago.

Time: 12:46

I'm kind of disappointed with this one.  I think I'll try this one again in a week or two.  I feel like I should be able to break 9:00.

Rest day tomorrow.  Maybe I'll work on some form stuff and practice a few of the "beast skills" I'm trying to learn.  Might be fun doing that in the snow... Then again, maybe I'll just sit in bed, watch football, and stay warm.  That sounds pretty good also.

-dunkie

The Filthy Fifty

The Filthy Fifty

50 Box Jumps - 24"

50 Jumping Pull-Ups

50 KB Swings - 1 Pood

50 Walking Lunges

50 Knees to Elbows

50 Push Press - 45 lbs

50 Back Extensions

50 Wall Ball Shots - 20 lbs, 10'

50 Burpees

50 Double Unders

I didn't have any KB's so I used a 35 lb. plate instead (1 lb. shy of a Pood).  Also, the heaviest med ball available was 16 lbs so the wall ball shots were done at 12'.  Aside from that, the workout was done as RX'ed.

Time: 28:06

Notes: This was my first time attempting the Filthy Fifty.  My K2E's need serious work, as do my double-unders.  Hoping to break 25:00 next time and ultimately work towards a sub 20:00.

It's supposed to snow heavily tomorrow so I'll probably have to figure out something that I can do at the Y.  I'll probably take a go at Angie.

Angie

100 pull-ups

100 push-ups

100 sit-ups

100 squats

-dunkie