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Other/Mixed Burn the Ships

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)

paules

Level 6 Valued Member
Michael Easter, author of the excellent Comfort Crisis, recommends one really tough workout a week which he calls Burn the Ships. I have read Pavel recommend something similar but less frequently.

My training is almost exclusively low intensity - IC, A+A and Zone 2 so looking to introduce a higher intensity session.

How often do you recommend a Burn the Ships workout and what does it look like to you?
 
paules said:
Michael Easter, author of the excellent Comfort Crisis, recommends one really tough workout a week which he calls Burn the Ships. I have read Pavel recommend something similar but less frequently.

My training is almost exclusively low intensity - IC, A+A and Zone 2 so looking to introduce a higher intensity session.

How often do you recommend a Burn the Ships workout and what does it look like to you?
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I like to peg my HR a couple times a week, usually with running, KB's, or BW.
 
I've really been throwing myself into Extreme Isometrics for the mental aspect of them. They don't take much out of me physically, but mentally they're exhausting. I do at least 2 a week, sometimes 4. There were 3 years I couldn't train martial arts (Covid) and in that time I really went down an A&A / Maffetone rabbit hole where I avoided discomfort and was shocked do find my body absolutely freeze like a total noob when I resumed martial arts training, being hit by adrenaline, lactic acid and oxygen deprivation all at the same time.

I've been seeing a lot of carryover from the Extreme Isometrics to other areas of my life where comfort-seeking or pain-avoidance has had some unexpected influences. When I exited Covid / working from home, I noticed that I had a tendency to avoid conflict with people when it was absolutely necessary and have struggled with carrying a certain stress from it in a way I never did before. The way I relax, focus, think light thoughts and just go without hesitation for some extremely painful holds is now the same way I engage with extremely adversarial people. It's an improvement on the way I handled things before Covid.
 
Once a week I like to hit a strength workout followed by a hard ruck with hills anywhere from 3-5 miles based on the time I have. Not sure if this counts as “burning the ship” but it always leaves me sleeping really well that night. And I always follow it up with a recovery day
 
Wh
3letterslong said:
I've really been throwing myself into Extreme Isometrics for the mental aspect of them. They don't take much out of me physically, but mentally they're exhausting. I do at least 2 a week, sometimes 4. There were 3 years I couldn't train martial arts (Covid) and in that time I really went down an A&A / Maffetone rabbit hole where I avoided discomfort and was shocked do find my body absolutely freeze like a total noob when I resumed martial arts training, being hit by adrenaline, lactic acid and oxygen deprivation all at the same time.

I've been seeing a lot of carryover from the Extreme Isometrics to other areas of my life where comfort-seeking or pain-avoidance has had some unexpected influences. When I exited Covid / working from home, I noticed that I had a tendency to avoid conflict with people when it was absolutely necessary and have struggled with carrying a certain stress from it in a way I never did before. The way I relax, focus, think light thoughts and just go without hesitation for some extremely painful holds is now the same way I engage with extremely adversarial people. It's an improvement on the way I handled things before Covid.
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When I hear “extreme isometrics” it makes me think of this Hawaiian dude Bill Maeda (i think is his name) he is an older guy but the stuff he does is unreal.
 
Gypsyplumber said:
Wh

When I hear “extreme isometrics” it makes me think of this Hawaiian dude Bill Maeda (i think is his name) he is an older guy but the stuff he does is unreal.
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I've been looking at his DVD series on Strong and Fit and waiting for a sale! I didn't know he did isometric type stuff -- he doesn't have many videos on youtube. What kind of stuff does he do?

EDIT: just went and checked, there's a flash sale right now so I'm buying the set. 43% off. Thanks for the timely reminder.
 
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paules said:
Michael Easter, author of the excellent Comfort Crisis, recommends one really tough workout a week which he calls Burn the Ships. I have read Pavel recommend something similar but less frequently.

My training is almost exclusively low intensity - IC, A+A and Zone 2 so looking to introduce a higher intensity session.

How often do you recommend a Burn the Ships workout and what does it look like to you?
Click to expand...
Factor in any other physically demanding things in your lifestyle as another consideration. For me, it’s Brazilian Jiujitsu and Muay Thai…those are recovery intensive as Hell.
 
Boris Bachmann said:
This.

I'd need a clearer operational definition of a 'burn the ship workout' if I wanted to give a more specific answer.
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The closest Easter gets to defining a ‘Burn the Ship’ workout is reference to Interval Weight Training developed by exercise scientist Pat O’ Shea in the late 1960s and popularised by Gym Jones and provides the following example of an IWT session:

Pick one of the following strength exercises: Push press, goblet squat, deadlift, pushups, kettlebell swing, dips, pullups, bent-over rows, bench press, front squat, back squat, etc. Note: Select a weight you can do 10 reps of with good form.

Pick one of the following cardio exercises: Rowing, stair climber, treadmill, jump rope, exercise bike, elliptical, etc. Note: Select an “effort goal” you think you can hit in two minutes if you put in a lot of effort. For example, if I’m rowing, I try to reach 580 meters of distance in the two minutes. But your goal could be some number of stairs climbed on the stair climber, distance on the treadmill or bike, skips of a jump rope, calories on an elliptical, etc.

Now do the workout: Start by doing 10 reps of the strength exercise. Now immediately do two minutes of the cardio exercise. Rest two minutes. That’s one round. Do three rounds total.

Afterward, rest at least five minutes. Now repeat the exact same formula using different strength and cardio exercises.

The original IWT also included a third round of high rep body weight exercises.
 
I get a heavy workout at least once a month, but try every 2 weeks. at the least, I ensure 3 very heavy sessions over 2 months. for me, this 'burn the ship' can be a heavy EMOM type with a heavy weight, or a very hard run, or a medium to hard run for a longer time than usual. This type of session leaves me tired and a few muscles are quite tender for a few days after the workout (worked out in Pavel-T's context)

I do have a weekly hard session..maybe burn 1 ship, not all the ships ;) I might be a little tired the next day, but nothing that a good dynamic or static stretch cannot fix, and I'm ready to go again on the following day.
 
During the school year, I've been playing full court basketball with high school students (I'm 58) once a week for 3 to 4 hours, which is way more exhausting than anything I do in training. In fact, I've had to scale back my other training around recovery from basketball.

I don't think of it as "burning the ships." I think of it as "having fun."
 
Every other week or so I'll log into my Cross Fit account and see what crazy training sessions have been post, pick one that has a decent suck factor to it, and knock it out. My training is typically started on Sunday and runs through Thursday with Friday being a bit of a variety day and Saturday is for family stuff, so I will usually do these sessions on Friday. These sessions are usually pretty rough, but I enjoy the challenge they bring.
 
posted from another thread… perhaps this would count?

at one time we would do so called ‘depletion days’ that were I guess as much mental toughness as anything else. These usually consisted of some combination of an early start followed by: 2+ hrs cycling, calisthenics workout#1, 5k run, climb at gym or crag for 4+ hrs, calisthenics workout #2, heavy ruck 1hr, run 5-10k. This was a full day. Usually fasted. Usually after a whiskey night.
 
I first became interested in once weekly training after talking to this monster dude who claimed that was his program. He was in my gym every Saturday for a few hours, full body, all the powerlifts and some, multiple hard sets, he used to give it all he had. He was an enormous unit but admitted he was big before work (sole trader) and family (young kids) pressures led him to consolidating his training on the one day. I never got around to discussing what his training approach was before that. Most notably, Clarence Bass also voiced support for the one hard weights session weekly, supported by some cardio as I recall. I'm convinced it's all Regular Joe needs to look good and feel great but it's not optimal if your goal is strength and muscle
 
Every single day without exception. Even better if I have broken limbs or dislocated joints. No spotters? No problem.

Just kidding, obviously.
 
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