Prowler Envy
By Marc “Spud” Bartley
For www.EliteFTS.com
About three years ago, we got a Prowler. Not just any Prowler, but one of the first ones out. Joey Batson, a strength coach for Clemson, Furman, and I’m sure a few other schools by now, was given credit for this beautiful piece of pain. I had tried a year or two before this to get one of the metal fabricators at my gym to make something similar. Mine was mostly a bigger, regular sled with a handle on it like a shopping cart. I never could get the guy to make it so I was beat to the punch on that one. It’s okay though. Somebody before Joey thought of it and somebody before that somebody thought if it and so on. Anyhow, it’s the Bermuda Triangle of cardio endurance. However, I love it much like that bastard child who does everything wrong but when he tells you he’ll straighten up, you still believe his lying ass.
Before its arrival, I had been avoiding cardio and everything that required breathing hard, even sweet lovin’. My back cramped constantly, and my sets during training began to dwindle down to miserable levels. The main reason for this was the years I spent doing regular and extra sled work. We literally did Louie’s four recommended trips, both upper and lower every day—ankle drags, belt pulls, upper body strap work, and wheelbarrow trips around the gym! We each logged 100 miles a year with just the wheelbarrow. We waved sled dragging up and down with the speed work and max effort.
We did this for two or three years so you can understand why I dropped this for so long and whored myself out to the Little Debbie Pimp, the Reese’s Chocolate Pimp, and even the cheap ass store brand cookies and candies. As my stomach grew like a city dump so did my weight. Two hundred and twenty pounds came and went, 242 came and went, 275 came and went, 308…better stop there.
By 2004, I realized that I needed to get back on the GPP wagon I had fallen off of two or three years earlier. In my book, you either are or you aren’t. I tortured people for years at the gym with climbing stairs so I tried some for awhile. It only took a session or two to break me of this. I would do 10 flights, and my quads would cramp so bad it would make Tom Platz (the Golden Eagle of 1980s bodybuilding) jealous and hatin’. I’m not even going to mention the nausea and stomach convulsions. The second round of this ended that party so I went back to belt pulling with the regular sled.
In no time at all, my back spasmed almost uncontrollably, and I remembered one of the main reasons I quit it to start with. I carried on though because I had no choice. There was no way that I could do regular cardio. Jogging was out of the question too. I refuse to jog until the day I get put in the oven and laced in some protein powder or boxed up and dropped six feet down.
Back then, I was still at the compound (2004), and we were enjoying some success in powerlifting. One day, I showed up and Fatso had this triangle thing with handles that he was running with. As the years had passed, I had learned to steer clear of Fatty and the “extra work just to do work” thing he always does. And sure enough, what he was doing was stupid, not what we needed for powerlifting. He always dragged us in somehow though.
Sure enough, a few weeks later, I was running with this thing that was soon dubbed the “Prowler” in big stenciled letters on the side. After finishing my SPRINTS, I sat on a couch which was covered in tiger or leopard sheets (I can’t remember now) because Buddy, the leaking penis bulldog, would sleep on it for hours. However, because of the dumbass sprints I had allowed myself to get roped into doing, I could have cared less at that time. I sat there for about 30 minutes in the dark by myself with the A/C cranked as high as it would go. I just couldn’t move. I think I passed in and out of consciousness during this time. I was going to do some more work, but after that, there was no way. I went home and ate my usual Wednesday night meal of quesadillas. I swore I saw two plates of food like when you were in college and got drunk and picked up Taco Bell late at night.
When I regained full vision and awareness, the two things I noticed were that my back didn’t cramp at all while doing the Prowler and my lungs didn’t hurt the next day and the day after that. For years, the back cramping thing had plagued me when I did regular sled work. It had gotten worse as I plumped up like a fat kid going to fat camp. The only way to ease it was to walk backward with the sled part of the way, but that blew my quads up and cramped my legs even more, pissing off the resident bodybuilders whose puny quads looked like my calves. I would often lie down on the hot pavement in the middle of South Carolina’s 100 degree weather. I would rather burn my skin than bear the incredible pain in my low back from regular dragging. After realizing the Prowler’s potential, I immediately purchased one for the gym. This purchase was mostly just for me, but it was also another avenue to torture my clients and gym members. Nobody liked this from the get-go, but I don’t listen to them anyway. Everyone must get their punishment.
I’m not a fan of the Running Prowler Man so in the beginning I decided to just march with it for distance with less weight. This worked great! I got in my cardio in much less time and much more effectively without any cramping in my back. In the beginning, I would do a lap with 100 lbs on it with several stops. This is great interval training, but I didn’t realize it at the time. I would do a lap (1/3 mile) once a week on Saturdays, which was my assistance day before the 2005 Finland Bust trip. At the time, I was basically doing zero cardio, my lifting volume was lower, and my laziness was inversely related—high. This was a terrible but very motivating trip.
When I got back from Finland, a couple of thousand dollars poorer and beat down from the meet, I stepped up the Prowler work to two days a week—Tuesdays and Saturdays—after deadlifting. This did two things. It trimmed my fat ass down to a manageable weight (not so plump), and it got my cardio and metabolism up. Around this time, I had just been diagnosed with high blood pressure thanks to my great genetics and lack of decent cardio. I think my blood pressure was 168/90 something. Anyway, it was not good. I refused any pills, but my doctor insisted on the smallest dosage of Benicar. I unwillingly took it, and it brought it down some but it was still above normal. Within two weeks of doubling the Prowler work, it went down to 110/70 something. So what I’m saying, fatties, is working the Prowler will help your lifting and your longevity.
Getting back to the Arnold 2006… As I prepared for this meet by doing many things including the Prowler, I didn’t know what would pan out because as we all know, the meet is different from training. But, what I do know is no matter what I did to myself lifting wise either on a rep or weight basis, I recovered quickly. This carried on into the meet. By the time the deadlift came around, I still had plenty of gas. After pulling 740 lbs easily on my third attempt, even though it was turned down on a technicality, I could have pulled two or three more times!
After this meet and lots of ridiculous turmoil (male lifting drama) at the Compound, I laid off the Prowler for some time, only doing it occasionally. My cardio dropped off and my blood pressure went back up even with the medicine. It wasn’t too bad, but it was obvious that I had to restart the Prowler program. This time around I was training for the semis in New York. I went back to what worked—Saturdays for sure, but I cut out the Tuesday work and opted for an extra session on deload weeks, which occurred every fourth week of contest training. I kept it to one lap on either day waving the weight up on the deload weeks based on my lower volume in the gym during that week. I also fattened up to the 308 lb class, narrowly missing the Super’s by eight measly pounds. I paid for this dearly the whole training cycle with back cramping and lots of baby steps everywhere I went.
“Pathetic fat baby needing a diaper change” is about the only way to describe this training cycle. Thank God for the heat wrap. I wore this constantly until meet time and had to have everything done for me except bathroom duties. My wife, Sue, refused this so I endured lots of pre-poop stretching. The meet was okay with a PR squat. I got a so-so bench performance and barely a PR deadlift because I ran out of gas as in “ye olden days.” Shortly thereafter, I partially exploded my tricep doing some dumb stuff. It was nothing cool like 800 lbs over my face or anything like that. It was just a big box of crap, two left feet, and a giant spool of Gremlin wire that magically appeared in my path.
I fought to make the Arnold 2007. It was supposed to be my last year as the bridesmaid (runner-up three years running), but my tricep wouldn’t give me enough to get in the game so I reluctantly let it go the day of the competition and purposely left my gym bag at home in South Carolina the day before. During the battle though, I still worked an empty Prowler with my healing tricep about four weeks post-surgery, adding 50 lbs a week until I was back up to the regular 100 lb. I’m positive the static work of pushing the Prowler speeded up the healing process. This was about the only way to get work on the tricep without bending the arm and pulling the repaired tendon out of the socket. So chalk another one up to the Prowler!
My next game is the Cincinnati Pro-Am. In preparation, I’ve reevaluated my Prowler program because I feel that adaptation and mental laziness have taken root. I’m still keeping it to once a week, but I’ve tripled the mileage. When you do the math that equals three laps with 100 lbs in two week training spurts. On deload weeks, which are every three weeks instead of four now, I’m doubling the weight and doing two laps to help compensate for lower training volume. The only way to run this many laps is to do intervals.
Stir-Fry (Barry Sturdevant), one of my training partners, had started doing this a few months back. He would go 45 seconds and then rest 45 seconds. I have to admit, at first, I didn’t like the idea. I thought that you should just hammer it until you couldn’t anymore, rest for long periods of time, and resume. Yeah, I know a progressive overload tactic doesn’t work in the weight room or in the cardio world either. Everyone take heed of this—it applies in every sport. Period.
I started doing 180 lbs for the 45/45 intervals and noticed that this was much easier. I recovered two to three times faster when testing out this method. As my training began for this meet, I dropped the weight and increased the volume to the aforementioned mileage. What I noticed immediately was that I did the first lap in less then 10 minutes without breaking a sweat. Before, with the same weight, I would stop 5–7 times. This time around I stopped twice on the first lap, three times on the second lap, and five times on the last lap! It took 45 minutes total. On the following week, this dropped to 35 minutes. The 180 lbs and two lap deload week was a completely different ballgame. It took as long as the 90 lbs, three lap day (45 minutes total) with numerous stops. Lifting wise, I guess this would simulate a semi max effort night.
The questions I always ask about any exercise are “What’s the bottom line here?” and “Did it make a difference in training?” If you don’t have a Prowler, get one. They sell them at Elitefts.com. If you’re a cheap bastard or really are poor, then get my version that fits on a regular sled and is aptly named the Poor Man’s Prowler Attachment at southcarolinabarbell.com.
They both accomplish the same things:
- Almost instant cardio enhancement
- Lowered recovery time between sets (either max effort or repetition work)
- Raised volume of sets lifted per training session
- Works for any sport requiring strength endurance from football to cycling to running
- Great rep work for the glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves
- Great shoulder girdle static loading
- Gets your hated cardio done quickly and more effectively then just about anything you’ve done
- Probably one of the hardest things you’ll ever do
Though not scientifically validated (but I’m incapable of lies), the Prowler also helped lower my blood pressure. I’m sure that there are plenty more reasons, but these are the best I can think of right now. The main idea here is that the Prowler works. You can change the volume and weight any way you want for your particular need or sport. The Prowler will take care of the rest.
Marc Bartley is one of the premier 275 lbs lifters in the world and a WPO competitor. At the 2005 Arnold Classic, he squatted a huge 1058 lbs. Marc has been competing in powerlifting for six years and has used the IPA, APF, USAPL, and WPO to showcase his strength. He currently owns Total Gym in South Carolina. Despite his appearance, Marc is a very well-educated man and holds two degrees from the University of South Carolina—one in finance and one in economics. His best lifts include a 1124 squat, 716 bench, and 722 deadlift. His best total to date is 2562 lbs. For more information, visit SouthCarolinaBarbell.com. Click here for Marc's Products
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