Monday 14 May 2012

Flash and Thunder: Training Week 3

To all of our tough mudders, brothers and sisters,

This week we stepped things up a notch after watching some inspirational Tough Mudder videos, the commitment and preparation that it will take will be hard work but we have no doubt that we have the physical and mental abilities to get the job done. Where we have been able to we have been employing the style of Cross Fit training to our sessions, we find this an easy way to mix in cardio, strength, core and endurance capabilities.



Cross Fit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide. The program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. The Cross Fit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. The same routines are used for elderly individuals with heart disease all the way to cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We plan to scale load and intensity; not just change our programs.

The first session of week 3 was on Monday the 7th of May, this was the first session for the North Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club Sprint Team for their upcoming season. Thunder has been a part of this club for a number of years and only recently Flash has decided to join and compete. The first session was at McGillivray Oval at the UWA Sports Complex in Claremont at 5:30pm. These sessions are generally short and sharp, requiring a large amount of intensity and effort to get the job done. The session that was laid out before us was 2 sets of 6 x 200m sprints, each 200m sprint was to be completed in less than 34 seconds with only 20 seconds rest between sprints and 5 minutes recovery between the 2 sets. The athletes that are a part of the sprint team are full of support and camaraderie which is what Flash and Thunder live off, they rotate the lead sprinters to help everybody lift at different times, this can have great impact on motivation and persistence. Much similar to the flying formation of Canadian Geese, they rotate the lead to always have a strong leader to keep up the pace and intensity of the flock.



The very next morning, Flash and Thunder met up at Scarborough beach for a Cross Fit session down in the sand. There is nothing better to get a day started than for a workout at the beach at 7am and finish with a swim in the Indian Ocean. Our exercises remained the same as our last beach session listed in 'Training Week 2' blog, the only difference was is that we picked up the intensity. Pushups, crunches, sprints, dips, boxing and other various exercises were on the agenda and after the previous night of sprinting we were really sore after this session. A swim in the cold water was great for recovery and certainly a great reward for some very hard work.

Our next session together was back at McGillivray Oval on Thursday for some more sprint training, on the agenda for that night was 4 sets of 5 x 80 meter sprints, with 10 seconds rest between sprints and 4 minutes recovery between sets. We don't go out to complete the entire session at 100% intensity however we choose a competitive pace that we will be able to uphold for all 20 sprints. Some will be harder than others, but this is how you become a strong and consistent athlete.

Our final session together this week was back down at Scarborough beach at 9am on Sunday morning to complete a Cross Fit session, this turned out to be one of the most intense sessions yet and the feeling of completion that we felt after the session was immense. Just quickly a tip for early morning sessions - Get up and do something before leaving for your workout, have a cup of coffee and think about the outcomes that you want from your session. If you go to a workout half asleep and unfocused you will not be training at your full potential and will never get the most out of any workout.



For this session we were excited because we were going to use for the first time a Go Pro HD video camera, which sits on a head strap and captures all what is happening in high definition. Through the photos that you will see below and the clip you will be able to see the capabilities of the Go Pro, the opportunities are endless. We bought some more equipment down to the beach this session including skipping ropes and a 20kg weight plate which made the session more versatile. We won't list and describe the full workout, rather the pictures and video clip will describe it far better, enjoy!

Warm up - Wearing the Go Pro
Medicine Ball Bounce Downs

Skipping - Great for Cross Fit
Bicycles

Bicycles cont'd

Incline Push Ups
Bicep Curl into Shoulder Press then behind the head for Overhead Tricep Extensions

Explosive One Handed Push Ups

Explosive One Handed Push Ups cont'd

Shoulder Press
Tricep Dips

Overhead Medicine Ball Passing

Explosive Box Jumping

Boxing (with angry faces)

Boxing (with angry faces) cont'd

Sit Ups

Shoulder Press

More Push Ups

Fresh from the Indian Ocean

 Please help us raise funds for Wheelchair Sports WA by donating at - www.everydayhero.com.au/flashandthunder

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Only 131 days to go!

 - Flash and Thunder







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