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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)
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.
I’m don’t even really know how to describe what he does super slow over heat squats with a hold at the bottom, he does work with those bars that are wobbley (don’t know what they are called) but he’ll hang kettlebells on them with bands to make it that much more challenging
 
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?
This is basically flip the Crazy Switch from Simple and Sinister.
 
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. ...

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.[/I]

The original IWT also included a third round of high rep body weight exercises.
Well, MAYBE if you were already conditioned enough for that not to kill you... But, I'd say I do something that intense almost exactly NEVER.

I did a Litvinov-inspired workout a while back that I liked, but was hard enough that I'll probably do it again at most once a season.
 
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I also think of it as great fun. I simply call it Glycolytic training. As I am approaching old age I no longer care to use passionate expression :)

In summertime I like to run stairs. When doing glycolytic training I simply run for a longer time, typically 30-40 seconds. And then I rest for a relatively short time. Everything in order to feel quite some acid in my muscles.

During rain or wintertime I either do something close to a snatch test (24 kilo snatch, 100 reps in 7 minutes. This is my record and the best that I can do at the current moment).
Or, even more safely, I do circuit training with insufficient rest:

1 minute quickly on my stationary bike
10 push ups with a light band
8 rows with a band
10 reps 60 kilo KB deadlift
Crawling for 20 seconds.

Four-five rounds. This is great fun. I feel on fire. And it is impossible to hurt myself, since I am doing only simple exercises.

I do this once or twice every month.
 
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.

What is this supposed to be training you for?

This seems like randomized misery.

It's not good strength programming and it's not very good cardio interval programming, either.
 
What is this supposed to be training you for?

This seems like randomized misery.

It's not good strength programming and it's not very good cardio interval programming, either.
 

Lots of words.

But doesn't answer my question.

"Conditioning", in any directed S&C situation, should be specific, not randomized.

I could do this "conditioning" workout regularly and still be in awful condition to do rowing (cardio is too short, not intense enough, too much rest) and awful condition to do weightlifting (weights are too light, not draining ATP enough).

Looks like junk volume to me, not training for anything specific.
 
Well, MAYBE if you were already conditioned enough for that not to kill you... But, I'd say I do something that intense almost exactly NEVER.

I did a Litvinov-inspired workout a while back that I liked, but was hard enough that I'll probably do it again at most once a season.

When I was getting ready for a deployment to Afghanistan, I did a similar session twice a week without the weight squats. 25 bodyweight squats followed by a 1/4 mile "sprint". Got the legs and lungs in check with no issues. I would usually do this after a 3x5 squat and press session as a finisher.
 
When I was getting ready for a deployment to Afghanistan, I did a similar session twice a week without the weight squats. 25 bodyweight squats followed by a 1/4 mile "sprint". Got the legs and lungs in check with no issues. I would usually do this after a 3x5 squat and press session as a finisher.
Bodyweight calisthenics and more (for lack of a better way to express it) task-specific stuff are a different deal. But the protocol described previously is, for anyone w. much of a strength background, going to be a little nutso. If you're taking PEDs and are a professional athlete/gym-rat, then maybe, but yeah...
 
Lots of words.

But doesn't answer my question.

"Conditioning", in any directed S&C situation, should be specific, not randomized.

I could do this "conditioning" workout regularly and still be in awful condition to do rowing (cardio is too short, not intense enough, too much rest) and awful condition to do weightlifting (weights are too light, not draining ATP enough).

Looks like junk volume to me, not training for anything specific.

You're missing the point.

My understanding of this type of workout being discussed is more mental fortitude training rather than physical S&C, hence only doing it rarely. The rest of your program is more structured and specific, this is for fun/testing/a challenge/etc.

It's like looking at a competition or event and criticising it as poor training.
 
You're missing the point.

My understanding of this type of workout being discussed is more mental fortitude training rather than physical S&C, hence only doing it rarely. The rest of your program is more structured and specific, this is for fun/testing/a challenge/etc.

It's like looking at a competition or event and criticising it as poor training.

I'm not missing the point.

I just think the point is dumb.

I think there are better ways to test your mental fortitude that have more meaning than just invented self-torture in the gym.

Compete in a sport vs other humans, hike the Adirondacks, do laborious charity work, work the land, raise your own food, build a house, build fences, plant trees.

I'm not a fan of invented "fortitude training in captivity" when you can apply that same effort to something with more purpose.
 
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You're missing the point.

My understanding of this type of workout being discussed is more mental fortitude training rather than physical S&C, hence only doing it rarely. The rest of your program is more structured and specific, this is for fun/testing/a challenge/etc.

It's like looking at a competition or event and criticising it as poor training.
No, it's not missing the point really. Reread that article - it's not "rarely". I think a lot of Andrew's stuff is great, but this is out there, and except for the few prepping for BUD/S selection, I don't know how or why anyone'd be doing this on the regular (except like I said, MAYBE 'enhanced' professionals).
 
I think there are better ways to test your mental fortitude that have more meaning than just invented self-torture in the gym.

I'm not a fan of invented "fortitude training in captivity" when you can apply that same effort to something with more purpose.

but this is out there, and except for the few prepping for BUD/S selection

I think about a good friend of mine - built like a tank, and has arms about the diameter of my head; went on a hike with him- and he moved about twice as fast as me on a trail with an elevation gain of about 800 feet. he's an athletic monster.

I learned that part of his training is done under dehydrated malnourished conditions; self-induced, and self-imposed.

he recalls operating in forward positions without much support. no running water, no lights, no nothing for months at a time. he explained to me carrying a spate of jerry cans when there was a resupply up and down hills after having been without food/water for some time; and that on the way up and down a hillside to the truck that brought those supplies, he had almost blacked out on occasion.

and so, from time to time, he forgoes food and drink and rest - strange as though it might be. and then he lifts weights. didn't get too far into the weeds on sets reps weights etc. just that he does it that way. He was operating under the assumption that "this is something I should probably get used to; just in case"

I don't have conclusions to draw - only curiosity to exercise.
I think about this from time to time.

stated differently - maybe some people hope there's some payoff in digging deep, just to see how far they can dig; using whatever method they use.

maybe this is part of the appeal of "Boot Camps" (which i'm never going to be interested in doing again, as far as i can tell) and Military style - arbitrarily ramping up challenges, designed with absolute failure in mind - to push the participants to the edge necessarily.

I don't know.
maybe there's something to it.
not sure what, though.
 
I think about a good friend of mine - built like a tank, and has arms about the diameter of my head; went on a hike with him- and he moved about twice as fast as me on a trail with an elevation gain of about 800 feet. he's an athletic monster.

I learned that part of his training is done under dehydrated malnourished conditions; self-induced, and self-imposed.

he recalls operating in forward positions without much support. no running water, no lights, no nothing for months at a time. he explained to me carrying a spate of jerry cans when there was a resupply up and down hills after having been without food/water for some time; and that on the way up and down a hillside to the truck that brought those supplies, he had almost blacked out on occasion.

and so, from time to time, he forgoes food and drink and rest - strange as though it might be. and then he lifts weights. didn't get too far into the weeds on sets reps weights etc. just that he does it that way. He was operating under the assumption that "this is something I should probably get used to; just in case"

I don't have conclusions to draw - only curiosity to exercise.
I think about this from time to time.

stated differently - maybe some people hope there's some payoff in digging deep, just to see how far they can dig; using whatever method they use.

maybe this is part of the appeal of "Boot Camps" (which i'm never going to be interested in doing again, as far as i can tell) and Military style - arbitrarily ramping up challenges, designed with absolute failure in mind - to push the participants to the edge necessarily.

I don't know.
maybe there's something to it.
not sure what, though.

I would say that has a pretty specific purpose.

He was preparing for a combat environment.

I have no quibbles with that.

It's the civilian desk jockey / weekend warrior types who try to LARP that they're spec ops that make me roll my eyes.
 
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