Building Your Gas Tank
Stamina Regeneration
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Stamina Regeneration /
Injury Prevention
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Injury Prevention /
You keep running out of breath in the ring… or even during runs. And you don’t know why. Here’s how to fix that.
Active Recovery
One aspect most people tend to overlook is rest periods and active recovery. What do you do when you’re done running? Walk for a few minutes afterwards, right? So why wouldn’t the same apply to muscular exercise?
Legendary coach Chris Hinshaw has an unorthodox approach to muscular exercise: continuing exercises between other exercises. His philosophy is that while fast twitch muscles are recovering, one can utilize their slow twitch muscles until the fast twitch muscles are back and recovered again.
Most people would do more reps to get a longer rest period, such as 9 reps of a sandbag over shoulder with a 150lb. sandbag.
One example is during rest periods of doing 3 sandbags over shoulders (150lbs+), he had the athlete do very slow reps of sandbag to shoulders with a 10 lb. medicine ball/wall ball. 3 reps left side, 3 reps right side, then go again with the sets.
Another example is doing floor presses with a PVC pipe during rest periods for push ups to keep the blood flow going.
Other ways to use this method: Stationary Bike or Sleds between sets of Squats or Deadlifts, Rower between sets of OHP or Bench, Burpees or Jump rope between calisthenics exercises.
Building Your VO2
Stop running so fast all the time. It might not hurt you when you’re 18, but you’ll feel it years later.
A way to build up your cardio is to run super slow all the time. Doing this is called Zone 2 Training and is utilized by Elite athletes such as marathon runner Kipchoge and even popularized by winners of the Best Ranger Competition with Vince Paikowski (Winner of 2021 BRC) popularizing the method.
In a nutshell, it’s steady long distance “jogging” at a reasonable pace where you’re able to hold a conversation with somebody. Many people will use this 2-3 times a week to build their aerobic base and in turn increasing their VO2.
Peter Attia explains Zone 2 Training
Metabolic Conditioning
You want to last longer during your workouts? Here’s the key
After workouts, utilize metcons, or metabolic conditioning. That doesn’t mean do 50 power cleans and 30 handstand pushups.
It can mean doing airbike intervals after a squat or deadlift session. 20 minutes of Rower after a bench workout. Yes, you can do burpees or slam some battle ropes too, but make sure it’s something that’s easy on the body and won’t lead to injury. Build up your body, not break it down.
Make sure that you balance out your strength work and metcons. Sometimes you’ll have to lower the volume for more conditioning or lower the conditioning for more strength work. Train smarter, not harder.
Tendons
The keys to success lies within your tendons. Weak tendons lead to injuries and injuries take you out of the playing field.
Some ways to train your tendons include:
Isometrics: Bruce Lee popularized this method back in the 70s by strengthening his body all around with iso-chains. Quasi-Isometric work, Iso-chains, and isometric holds can do wonders for your tendons to help build them up.
Heavy Reps: Westside Barbell knows what they’re talking about when it comes to heavy reps and tendons. Singles, doubles, and triples of certain percentages (70-95%) of your 1rm can layer your body with impenetrable iron!
Resistance Bands: Resistance bands seem like a scam or fad to many, but are very useful. Use them for warm-ups, control the concentric, and force the body to employ all muscles required for compound lifts or other exercises.
