A few weeks ago, we decided to put together a roundtable-style article about the use of the Prowler. The idea was to get some kind of dialogue going with several members of the Q&A – along with selected other contributors – in order to see how some of the best coaches, trainers and athletes in the world are using this amazing piece of equipment.

Usually, when one of these roundtable articles starts coming together, we end up with only a paragraph or two from each contributor. People apparently have very strong opinions on the Prowler, however, and the long-ass responses we received couldn’t be confined to just one article.

So, as a result, we’re starting a series of articles covering exactly what can be done with the Prowler. Some will be pretty straightforward. Others, like the following treatise from The Thinker, go a little “against the grain.” Regardless, the goal of the operation here, as always, is to give you more ideas you can put into action for yourself.

The Thinker:

In our program (American Football) here at the University, the Prowler is programmed in the training as a general specific training means for the down linemen, during preparatory blocks, insofar as an external load is overcome via the use of some or all of the active musculature used in the sport act in the same generally specific directions as defensive penetration and offensive drive blocking maneuvers.

With regard to the means by which the Prowler seems to be popularly used by other coaches, it is clear that our use of it is quite different.

I am now compelled to provide a degree of explanation to the reader.

The bioenergetic demands of American Football are largely alactic and aerobic. For this reason, the methodological approach via which our linemen use the Prowler is one in which alactic power and capacity are developed via brief work intervals separated by full or incomplete recovery intervals in series, respectively.

While exercise that demands heavily from the glycolytic mechanism is very challenging to the cardiac and muscular systems, it has little to no relevance toward preparation for sport disciplines that do not demand much of the glycolytic mechanism.

While certain components of fitness are developed via the popular use of the Prowler (in which extensive cardio-respiratory, muscular fatigue, and occasional vomiting are yielded) it must be clarified to the reader that these training effects will not transfer anywhere near as positively, toward sport disciplines that demand from other bioenergetic mechanisms, as other methodological approaches that satisfy greater degrees of Dynamic Correspondence.

In fact, to the contrary, an excessive overload placed upon the glycolytic mechanism will yield a negative impact upon the biological power development of the alactic-only, aerobic-only, and alactic-aerobic athlete. (See Block Training System in Middle Distance Running by Verkhoshansky for extensive clarification on the subject matter).

It seems to be the novel characteristics of the conventional use of the Prowler, on athletes of medium to low level physical preparation, that have misled many coaches and athletes into its improper use for many athletes whose sport demands little of the glycolytic mechanism -- specifically via the skeletal muscle fibers of the legs and gluteals.

The reader is encouraged to understand that a particular training means that presents a great challenge to the user does not necessarily ensure that the yielded training effect will transfer positively toward the further improvement of sport results, and certainly not for the higher qualified athlete.

The preparation level of the athlete must be closely scrutinized prior to the formulation of any concrete summaries.

To borrow from my friend Dave Tate, if we consider the scale:
- shit
- suck
- good
- great

It should be no surprise that the means necessary to elevate one’s preparation level from shit to suck to good will vary quite wildly, leaving the majority of practitioners to draw many different conclusions that, not so surprisingly in our western sport training industry, develop into a naïve religious devotion to particular methodological approaches that are, for all intents and purposes, meaningless due to the fact that the subjects are beneath the level of high sport mastery.

Remember, if the means are not SPP they are replaceable and not worth debating.

The reality is that it is a fact that a great deal of methodological approaches will assist athletes in evolving from shit to suck to good; however, the scope becomes much more narrow for athletes of higher preparation.

More importantly, it is encouraged to the reader to consider the validity of a particular methodological approach and to distinguish between one that works versus another that is optimal -- and, most importantly...WHY!

The Prowler is a fine training apparatus with a multitude of effective and directed uses ranging from general specific applications -- American football - down line, Rugby - scrum, Bobsled – push -- to the highly specific applications of the general fitness enthusiast, or masochist, who simply takes pleasure in challenging the limits of the glycolytic capacity of the skeletal muscle fibers of his or her legs and gluteals, to the bulimic who has no gag reflex and an aversion to syrup of ipecac.

The Prowler, like any other training apparatus, is similar to a firearm insofar as the device, in and of itself, cannot possibly be good or bad; but rather its application by the informed or uninformed user, respectively.

I trust that I have inspired the critical thinking of the former and by all means support EFS, purchase a gaggle of Prowlers and use them wisely.

More from The Thinker:
VIP Seminar Lecture DVD
Accumulate, Concentrate and Intensify DVD
High/Low Manual
Speed Training Manual