2/6/13
My training today:
Warm-up;
Stretch bands, Indian Clubs, and joint mobility
“Deck of
cards” Kettlebell style. “
Cards
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Kettlebells
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hearts
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push
press-2-KB
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clubs
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kettlebell snatch
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spades
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long
cycle press 2KB
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diamonds
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cleans-2
KB
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aces
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kings
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10-wall
balls 1 KB
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queens
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20-fig. 8
and catch 1 KB
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jacks
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10-bottoms
up press-2KB
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aces
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10-front
squat -2KB (16-2KB
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jokers
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50-flags
ab exercise 2 kbs
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52 cards selected at
random and executed AFAP
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takes around 40 to 60 mins depending on recovery. | ||
Oh no! Not
that” Deck of Cards” today! Yes you weakling punk, wimping out with blitz style
training, which you thought was in your best interest, but you knew intuitively
that you were cheating yourself. You thought just because you were using big
bad ass power exercises that you were training intensely. ( it must have been
the music or swearing) However, you did
not really “embrace the suck”. That is what The SEAL operators when training like
Mark Devine and Rich Graham from Trident fitness, to use as a rally cry to
training in very uncomfortable zones.
I must
digress for a time to show where I am really going with this on training
effect, which is what we all seek. My very good friend, Udo, is a unique person
who came to the US in the 50”s from war torn Germany. Unlike most of the immigrants
of today he had “skills” and just wanted the freedom to pursue them. He entered
the Army and become an instructor after completing basic, really! But demonstrating those “skill sets”that he acquired
by being in a real total war and surviving gave him a huge advantage. Beyond
that, it was his experience In the French Foreign Legion that made him unique
from the average “boot” in the US Army system.
So once
again where am I going with this and what does this have to do with training for the average person on the street? My Friend, who was a French foreign Legionnaire, showed me
how unique their training was as opposed to what he was given to recruit in the
US. He did not compare to make himself
more important, he just noted in a practical sense what was needed to achieve a
“positive outcome” . It was not that
complicated as complication leads to stagnation of action. Therefore, his
training was very basic, performed in a real environments that one would have
to operate instead of a constructed mazes that was truly uncomfortable, but not
practical.
The training
in the Legion is very austere for pratical reasons, as this is real life and not the
creation of some person who never experienced the process of war. It is very unrelenting and crude by most military standards, but they in the legion are the final stand of what is required of their service. The Legion is a instrument of War and a
total mental and physical integration process that has to have a random mental
association to be successful in operation and training. So whatever card you are dealt in a card game,
you have to reconcile.
Let’s get
back to my “Deck of Card”. I take 54 cards; assign exercises to each card based
in suit, face card and even jokers. The selection is very random in terms of volume
(reps) and suit (exercise assigned with difficulty) and ever weight. Makes sense to me, as life is random selection
or happen stance that Udo always taught me. Udo, would be proud of me to train
in such a way that challenges my ability to adopt to the mental and physical challenges
that make warriors of the Legion and or Special forces we have today.
I have been
educated in progressive exercise programming, but there is nothing like the random
selection as the session unfolds, that the human factor is challenged to the
max like one would experiences of total society upsets.
My friend Udo from the Legion, as I use as a closing:
“The mission is sacred”
