Flash and Thunder: Training Week 4

To all of our tough mudders, brothers and sisters,

Week 4 was business as usual with a few key changes to make our session more interesting, fresh and exciting. It's not only important to change your program so your body doesn't get use to it, it's also important to change so your mind doesn't get use to it. The only person you have to beat to get the best out of a workout is you. Not that we are against gyms but our pet hate is people thinking they have to spend ridiculous amounts of money to reach their fitness goals, the possibilities to workout and achieve yours goals are actually far greater (and a lot more fun) outdoors. The proof is in the video below, how many people can you see in the gym in this video?

Smith Machine

As we said before, we are not against gyms. Both of us are gym members, for the reason that some exercises and equipment is not accessible on the outside. In this little piece I will explain how the Smith Machine can be a handy piece of equipment for just one workout. Now, free weights are great because you can develop your own range of movement but machine equipment such as the Smith Machine are undervalued. With machines you don't have to worry about the balance of the bar, just pushing and pulling, and therefore you can increase the weight and work the overall muscle harder. Listed next are 10 exercises that we were able to do in one session with one machine, ready? 1) Squats, 2) Romanian Deadlift, 3) Lunges, 4) Bent Over Row, 5) Overhead Press, 6) Upright Row, 7) Behind the Back Shrugs, 8) Drag Curls, 9) Close Grip Bench Press and 10) Standing Calf Raise. All exercises were completed in 3 sets with 6, 12 and 20 reps and 1 minute rest in between each set.

Before we start with this weeks training, let's talk about your diet. Since we have dramatically increased our sessions per week over the past month energy levels have been depleting fast our ability to back up sessions was becoming increasingly difficult. Here is the biggest tip we can give you - drop your sugar intake. If you are giving yourself sugar to get through the day, whether it be in your morning coffee or that chocolate bar you have in your top draw (yeah, we know about that), you have to get rid of it. If you want energy increase your carbs and proteins. Don't be scared of carbs either, just make sure you work it off by exercising. The secret to losing weight or maintaining those abs is to make sure your expenditure of energy in kilojoules is greater than your intake. We have first hand seen the effects of sugar to the body, and believe us once you get rid of them you will be grateful for it.



Our first session of the week was on Monday 14th of May down at McGillivray Oval with the North Cottesloe Surf Club Sprint crew. The session entailed 15 x 80 meter sprints with jog backs, this means no resting between reps. Jog backs as it sounds means to jog back to the start line and begin again when you get there, and the 80 meter sprint is generally done at 85-90%. These sessions are short and sharp which is great but the effort must be displayed in order to get the most out of the session.

Some of the North Cottesloe boys in action

Tuesday morning training was cancelled due to illness but we were both able to make up for it that afternoon by completing our own gym sessions. Thursday night was our next sprint session, and all we were hoping for was something a little easier than Tuesdays session. We didn't get it! Thursdays session included 3 sets of 5 x 200 meter sprints to be completed under 32s with 1 minute rest between each rep and 3 minutes between sets. An average time for a 200 meter sprint for us sits around the 28-30 second mark (this is performing at 90% capacity), but to maintain 32s was going to be hard. The session was completed successfully and we were certainly sore the next day!

As always our ritual of Sunday morning beach sessions continued this week down at the Scarborough amphitheater. The thing that made this workout different to any other is that we bought a 4wd tyre to training, that's right, we marched into Bridgestone and asked for a second hand 4wd tyre and we got it for free. The tyre companies have to pay to dispose of old tyres so they are more than happy to give them away, all we did then was go to Bunnings and bought a sledgehammer. Unfortunately our expert camera and video editor decided to take a trip to Germany this week so our video will be delayed until return but we certainly got some great footage from some awesome exercises that we performed. Some of the regular exercise in our Cross Fit session still appeared such as skipping, boxing, sit ups and pushups, but now with the tyre we can throw it, carry it and best of all bash it. Makes for a lot of fun!

As we are both Sport Scientists and Personal Trainers, one thing that we know all to well is the FITT principle. FITT stands for Frequency, Intensity, Type and Time, they are the 4 variables you can change to enhance your workout. By far the most important training variable is INTENSITY! All the others will not count for anything if you don't give it everything you have. You can increase the frequency of your training, you can change the type of training you do and you can vary the amount of time you train for but if you train half assed you will get nowhere. To get fitter you must break barriers, to build muscle you must struggle and to get abs you must come close to failure, but you won't, because when you give it everything you have you can't fail!

Pain is temporary, failure is forever

  
Now to finish up with some great news, this week Flash and Thunder have been invited to train down at The Cell in Bibra Lake. This is a hardcore gym run by ex-TRG cops that are going to make us work, they will make us sweat and probably bleed. We also may have found a couple of sponsors that will be assisting us to get to Tough Mudder in Sydney later this year, and lastly we have registered for the Western Mudd Rush to be held in Perth later this year, you can too at - http://westernmuddrush.com/

We are fund raising for Wheelchair Sports WA so please jump on www.everydayhero.com.au/flashandthunder to help us raise funds for West Australians living with a physical disability.

You can also 'like' us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/flashandthundercharity or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/flashandthunder

As always please share this blog with your friends, it increases awareness of your own capabilities, as they say in Tough Mudder 'if you can do this, you can do anything you put your mind to'.

Only 124 days to go!

 - Flash and Thunder

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

You can also 'like' us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/flashandthundercharity or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/flashandthunder

Only 131 days to go!

 - Flash and Thunder

Flash and Thunder: Training Week 2

To all our tough mudders, brothers and sisters,

Week 2 of our tough mudder training is over, and what a week it has been! The benefits from week 1 has been showing and we have had to make our sessions harder to make it more of a challenge. What we are aiming for from our week to week training is to become mentally and physically tougher and resilient to all types of weather and training situations. Firstly we have to be able to run 20km's and undertake 28 obstacles designed by British Special Forces, it is said that the course will take approximately 3 hours to complete, we plan to smash that! Click on the link below and click, 'click to view full map' to see a list and description of each of the obstacles - http://toughmudder.com.au/events/sydney/

As you would have seen in the link, there is an obstacle that will test the majority of your bodies capabilities. Within our training we try to include a mixture of cardio endurance, muscular strength and core stability and week 2 of our training saw us including more circuit work between our running workouts. Some of the obstacles can be simulated into our training, such as log carrying, ice cold water swimming and rope climbing, but other obstacles such as running through a bushfire pit and climbing a skateboard half pipe covered in oil will be things that we will have to man up and tackle head on, on the day.

Obstacle 24. Fire Walker

Together this week, Flash and Thunder undertook 3 training sessions. These are separate to our own individual gym sessions and sport training requirements. Monday 30th of April was our first session for the week, we began by running The Hill, which is Mount Street East of the Freeway in the city. Our aim was a short sharp workout with high intensity with little recovery time in between each lap. We usually meet at the car park opposite the Old Swan Brewery on Mounts Bay Road and run approximately 1km to the base of Jacobs Ladder, once at the top of Jacobs Ladder we were straight into running The Hill. From the previous week our times had improved by about 5-7 seconds per lap, getting results like this is encouraging as it is great to see improvements in our fitness goals from week to week.

Thunder after The Hill session on Monday

Wednesday morning was our second session for the week, we met before sunrise at 6am at Yokine Reserve, Yokine. We had a sprint session planned with some circuit work in between, the session lasted 45 minutes which is a great session time, long enough to fit in a great workout but not too long to become stale. Firstly, after warm up, we began with 2 x 100m sprints, at the end of the sprints we got out the gloves and focus pads and belt 9 bags of crap out of each other.

Thunder throwing a punch



Flash taking one on the chin

 Ladder sprints were up next, 3 sets of 150m variable speed running, first 50m at 50%, next 50m at 75% and the final 50m at 100%. Now that the blood is pumping and fatigue is setting in it is important to stay on your feet during recovery and breathe deeply, it is also important to focus on your running technique when tired. In between our sprint work we got some tough circuit work done including 20kg plate lunges, boxing, 6kg medicine ball passing, push ups and sit ups. Finally to finish up our session we raced each other over 100m to see who would take out the title of the weeks 'Quickest Mudder', Thunder took the cake by a landslide over Flash who clearly has his work cut out in order to take the title out next week.

Our third and final session for the week was at Scarborough beach at 8:30am on Sunday morning. In preparation for both Tough Mudder and Surf Life Saving we thought it would be a great idea to get some sand sprinting in and what better way to finish a session than a dip in the freezing cold Indian Ocean to soothe our muscle soreness. As this was our first beach session and there is also many workout opportunities at the Scarborough amphitheater including steps for dips, pushups and explosive jumping, we took our time in planning what we were able to achieve in a workout. Once we decided on what we were going to do we got stuck in and got some work done. Firstly, after warm up we began with some core stability work that included sit ups, bicycles, bridges and frog walking, great couple of exercises in there that really works out the core, it is important to remember to tighten and engage your stomach muscles during any core exercises to get the most out of them. 

Flash and Thunder getting some bicycle reps done

Our sprint work again was broken up by some awesome circuit workouts that tested our muscular endurance and mental toughness. Sprint work again included some 80-90% 100m sprints and ladder running at variable speeds over 100m, similar to that of which we undertook during our Wednesday training session. The circuit work we performed in between the sprints included 6kg medicine ball passing - chest and overhead, 6kg medicine ball wood chopping, one handed explosive push ups, incline push ups, straight legged dips and explosive box jumping. These were some tough work outs that made us very sore, but there is nothing like a swim after a tough session to top things off. Below are some pictures of our beach circuit workout, enjoy!

6kg Medicine Ball Passing

Explosive One Handed Push Ups

Explosive One Handed Push Ups cont'd

6kg Medicine Ball Wood Chopping

6kg Medicine Ball Wood Chopping cont'd

Sand Sprints

More Sand Sprints

Core Frog Walking - Knee to Tricep

Incline Push Ups

Straight Legged Dip

Explosive Box Jumping

Explosive Box Jumping cont'd

After a swim in the ocean (clearly Flash needs a tan)

As always we would like to remind you that we are raising money for Wheelchair Sports WA while training for Tough Mudder: Sydney 2012, you can help by donating at - http://www.everydayhero.com.au/flashandthunder

You can also like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter by clicking on the links above the blog.

139 days to go!

 - Flash and Thunder

The Meaning Behind the Names

To all our tough mudders, brothers and sisters,

When we begun to plan and organize the details of our campaign the very last thing we came to think upon was a name, whether it be individual names or a team name. After considering a few options we landed upon names that we found very appropriate. Now, from reading through our blog we hope you can see that the challenges that we plan to undertake is not about winning, recording times or defeating opposition, we are all about team work, camaraderie and mate-ship. When we think of these terms it is hard not to think about what they relate to, some may think sport, others possibly the armed forces. It was from the armed forces that we developed our names and we are proud to have a meaningful reason behind our names.

HBO's award winning series: Band of Brothers

Apart from being a great T.V. show, Band of Brothers is also a shared favourite between the two of us. It conveys the missions of Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne throughout WWII in Europe. On 'D-Day', Easy Company landed during the dark hours of the night in Normandy, ground heavily covered by German troops. Drop zones were heavily missed by the majority of paratroopers and the only way to distinguish friend from foe was a previously agreed upon 'countersign'. A countersign is a verbal exchange between soldiers to determine who's side they were on between Allied troops, words that typically go together are an example, such as the challenge being: 'blue' and the password being: 'moon'. When U.S. troops came across each other after landing, the previously agreed challenge was 'Flash' and the password was 'Thunder'.

Courage, Mate-ship, Endurance, Sacrifice.

Band of Brothers depicted the Allied troops teamwork, camaraderie and mate-ship perfectly, these are the values that we hold most respectfully. In turn Wheelchair Sports WA emit similar values in providing social and sporting opportunities for their members, they are a close knit community that feels more like a family and that is why we are proud to be raising funds for them. It also takes these values to complete Tough Mudder: Sydney 2012, it is no coincidence that we, the charity and the challenge portray the same values. Birds of a feather..

You can donate to Wheelchair Sports WA at - http://www.everydayhero.com.au/flashandthunder

143 days to go!

 - Flash and Thunder

Flash and Thunder: Training Week 1

To all our tough mudders, brothers and sisters,

Training for Tough Mudder: Sydney 2012 week 1 is over, only another 21 weeks til the big day. The pain, sweat and mud was certainly worth the effort this week, however we are looking to train harder over the coming months as ultimately we have to be able to run 20km and complete obstacles in between.

Training begun on Monday 23rd of April 2012, with no intention of Tough Mudder or fundraising. We both wanted to get fit for Surf Life Saving Championships. Thunder has been a part of both Bunbury and North Cottesloe Surf Club for years and only recently Flash decided to join up. Within 24 hours of our first session we had planned and organized to take on Tough Mudder: Sydney 2012 and fund raise for charity. We train both individually and together throughout the week, sometimes amounting to 12 sessions each in a week. Individually we train for our chosen sports (Thunder - SLS and Football, Flash - Basketball and SLS) and hit it out at the gym, but together we push ourselves through our paces and finish each session physically and mentally fatigued.

Our training base for week 1 has been Jacobs Ladder, Kings Park. This area contains a lot of resistive and assisted running opportunities that can help you prepare for all terrain running tasks. Jacobs Ladder is a twisting flight of concrete stairs amounting to 242 steps, at the top of the stairs is an even tougher task known as The Hill which is 250 meters with a 40 degree incline. These two obstacles are great, going up both is physically hard work and every muscle in your legs ache from the running but going down is mentally fatiguing, you must watch every step and control your body otherwise you may fall. Both Jacobs Ladder and The Hill have anywhere between 40-80 people training on it at once so you must dodge and work your way through the traffic.

View from the top - Jacobs Ladder

Thunder and The Hill

Twice in week 1 we met 1km from the base of Jacobs Ladder, it is always important to get a great warm up before exercise so we always run from our meeting point to the base. A good 45-60 minute workout is to complete both Jacobs Ladder and The Hill 3 times each, any more than this amount of time or sets of each means you are not going hard enough. To begin with we run hard up Jacobs Ladder, once we hit the top we go straight into aerobic boxing.

Completing a set of upper body exercise between Jacobs Ladder and The Hill and vice versa allows your legs to have a break but still keeping the blood pumping. Typically, for boxing we would complete 40 cross punches, 40 hooks and 40 upper cuts each before taking on Jacobs Ladder or The Hill again. Every time we reach the top of Jacobs Ladder or The Hill we will complete our boxing sets before moving on.

Both Jacobs Ladder and The Hill take the same amount of time to descend as it takes to ascend, this is because we must watch every step in our descent to ensure not tripping or falling forward. After completing 3 sets of each plus 6 sets of boxing in between, we finish at the bottom of Jacobs Ladder and run 1km back to our meeting point.
                                                                                   
Our third session in week 1 saw us tackling The Hill at 6:30am on Saturday morning, we planned to run only The Hill 3 times and add some more aerobic workouts at the top of The Hill. Our times for both descent and ascent of The Hill was again the same however we had improved our times from the previous sessions, averagely it will take 1 minute 20 seconds to descend and the same to ascend. We had some inspiration from a guy in the States and how he prepared for Tough Mudder, he is known as The Mustache Man.

Our aerobic workout at the top of The Hill included medicine ball lunges, medicine ball passing, push ups, crunches, sit ups and boxing that we had performed in previous sessions. We also added in the exercise that you would have seen in the above video, a pushup on raised bars, swing your legs through straight into a dip and back again. Each of these exercises we performed in 30 second stations, and although the time is short, to get a good workout you must go hard and perform as many reps as possible. You don't need special gym equipment to be able to perform these exercises, a lot of this equipment can be found or made from everyday items. We used 2x15 litre water containers (bought from a camping store) to perform the exercise.

In the future we plan to train in different scenarios including cliff diving, swimming, rock face climbing, sand running, quarter and half marathon running. We agree the greatest benefit from exercising and preparing towards a goal is the feeling of achievement after every session. If you can do this, you can do anything you put your mind too. We are Tough Mudder!

Remember we are raising money for Wheelchair Sports WA, so please donate at http://www.everydayhero.com.au/flashandthunder

Also, follow us on Twitter - twitter.com/flashandthunder 

145 days to go!

- Flash and Thunder

Flash and Thunder - Profiles

To all our tough mudders, brothers and sisters,

Get to know the Tough Mudders who are raising money for Wheelchair Sports WA as they prepare to take on the worlds toughest event - Tough Mudder: Sydney 2012.

Dean 'Thunder' Underwood

Tough Mudder #1

Name: Dean Underwood

Nickname: Thunder

Age: 19

Height: 182cm

Weight: 81kg

Sporting Highlights: Quarter finals of Australian Surf Life Saving Championships '12, Kokoda '10, Captain Bunbury Colts Aussie Rules Football '10, Champion Boy - Athletics '09.

Fitness Goals: Finish Tough Mudder and qualify for Worlds Toughest Mudder.

Idol: Mohammed Ali.

Lee 'Flash' Nott

Tough Mudder #2

Name: Lee Nott

Nickname: Flash

Age: 24

Height: 206cm

Weight: 96kg

Sporting Highlights: State Basketball League - Willetton Tigers '08 - current, Vice Captain Palmyra Colts Rugby Union '08, West Australia Basketball League '02 - '08, High School Athletics Captain '04, Inaugral 100m sprint record holder (Willetton Senior High School) - 11:04 (still stands) '04.

Fitness Goals: Climb Kilimanjaro. Qualify for Worlds Toughest Mudder. 

Idol: Billy Slater.


 146 days to go!

- Flash and Thunder