Release Your Inner Masochist
By
Donnie Kiernan
I can’t help but look at the fitness world today and ask myself, “What the
hell happened?”
It was not until the early to mid-1900’s that we even NEEDED a “gym”
to exercise in. Before then, people were active enough just working in a factory
in New York or a corn field in Nebraska. Even since then, we’ve gone from sweaty
warehouses with a couple of bars and some rusty weights to huge, air conditioned
buildings with treadmills as far as the eye can see. You wouldn’t want to break
a sweat while running, so it’s a good thing we have fans built into the
treadmills. No scenery to take in? That’s fine – we’ll replace it with a TV or
ten.
This is why I train like I do: with “old school” equipment and minimal
luxuries. I first got into this style of training about three years back. I was
almost off of active duty in the US Army and decided to get out of the “running
five miles a day” mindset and back into the “lift heavy-ass weight” frame of
mind. Problem was, I enjoyed training in the outdoors and couldn’t just jump
back into the confines of four cold walls with air conditioning.
The solution? Unconventional strength and conditioning.
Nowadays, I don’t even own a conventional barbell. The equipment I train with
includes old bulldozer tires, military duffle bags stuffed to the gills with
sand, beer kegs filled with sand and water, rocks that I found on the side of
the road and all kinds of weird stuff that I never thought of when I was
training in a gym. I’ll admit that sometimes I’ll head down to
StrengthCamp in St. Petersburg,
Florida and train with the great bunch of guys there, but that’s the closest
I’ll come to training in a gym environment. (For those who have never heard of
Elliott Hulse’s StrengthCamp, it’s a warehouse gym with minimal conventional
equipment and absolutely NO air conditioning or modern day amenities).
My main focus with my training is staying in shape for the Army Physical
Fitness Test (APFT) and staying as big and strong as possible while doing so. I
learned long ago that the Army’s version of Physical Training will keep you in
shape for the APFT, but that’s about it. No real strength will be gained from
it. Now that I’m a reservist, I can choose what style of training I do on my
own, and as long as I pass the requirements of the US Army, I’m considered
within standards. Seeing as how I didn’t weigh a pound over 220 on active duty,
this makes much more sense to me, being a meathead and all.
So how do I stay within standard with the US Army while maintaining my 275
pound frame? Through a form of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) that I’ve
manipulated specifically for military and paramilitary members. An example of a
typical training day for me is as follows:
450 pound tire flip: 3 sets of as many reps as possible in a 1 minute
time frame.
Tire sled, loaded with a 100lb sandbag: 25 yards forward, 25 yards
backwards. 3 sets, 90 second rest
Truck push: 50 yard push. 3 sets, 2 minute rest
Sledgehammer slams for minimum time: 20 right side, 20 left side. 3
sets, 90 second rest.
The secret to staying in peak cardiovascular shape here is not to cheat
yourself on the rest periods. You MUST keep your heart rate elevated the entire
time. If you’re like me and absolutely despise long distance running, this is
the golden ticket to keeping your body in condition to withstand a long distance
run. At my current bodyweight, my joints couldn’t tolerate running 2-3 miles
every day. It just wouldn’t happen. I actually only run once a week, and it’s
only for my required distance of two miles and not an inch more. I don’t think
that running the two miles actually helps my conditioning all that much. The
benefit from the run is so my body stays accustomed to the beating it takes
during a run. The majority of my cardiovascular conditioning comes from the
interval strength training I perform.
Your typical meathead is usually more than prepared when it comes to push-ups
and sit-ups, which is why minimal time gets put into training the ACTUAL events.
Obviously, if you are weak in a certain event, you need to focus more training
on the lagging muscle groups.
The icing on the cake for this style of training is the cost. No gym is
needed, and minimal equipment needs to be purchased. Tires can be acquired for
free from commercial tire companies who have to pay to dispose of the old tires.
They’ll probably help you load the thing in the back of your truck and thank you
for taking it off their hands. Sandbags can be made for less than twenty
dollars, used kegs can be purchased from bars for cheap, and rocks are found
just about anywhere there’s nature. The most expensive piece of equipment I own
is a set of Walmart dumbbell handles with 150 pounds of weight.
I feel I must warn you ahead of time that this style of training is NOT for
everyone. If a person can’t stand a little bit of pain, some scratches and
bruises and a whole lot of sweat, then this isn’t for them. The level of
dedication required to train with these primitive objects is high. You must
release your inner masochist and push yourself past your comfort zone. There are
no pretty machines and juice bars in the great outdoors, but if you have the
guts to step outside the norm, the results will be more than worth the slight
discomfort.
Donnie Kiernan is a strength and fitness coach, US Army Reservist and the
author of “Maximize Your PT.” This brand new product revives the “old school”
methods of training for military, police, firefighters and other athletes who
want to gain strength and increase cardiovascular condoning at the same time.
You can read more about this controversial E-book at
CombatFitnessBlog’s “Maximize
Your PT”
