In about 40 days a large group of bootcampers and myself will be participating in the Tough Mudder in Mount Snow Vermont.  This is a first for many of us participating in an event like this, so there are are a lot of nerves to say the least.  I personally see it as a fun event with some exercise thrown in.  We will soon see if that is an accurate way of thinking or not

In an event like this there are a lot of variables that you must train for.  When I designed the program I referred back to when I trained a mixed martial artist in thinking that they had to train for a lot of variables. Sure there were major differences between the program design of the two events/sports, but my thought was I had to prepare the athlete for anything.

For this extreme event in particular there did have to be a few specific things needed to make the program effective:  time, pulling movements, running, and oxygen restriction.  Knowing those things were necessary, I could build a very effective program around them.  Some movements could combine more than one requirement and I did that often in the program design of Tough Mudder training.  Exercises such as Sled Drags, Tire Flips, Bear Crawls, Rope Climbs, and Plate Pushes are prevelant in the program.

In order to maintain a similar feel to the Tough Mudder course, we made workouts an hour, reps on the low end for stationary movements (to mimic obstacles) and any traveling movements we made a bit longer to build strength with endurance to help with the latter part of the course.  As we progress closer to the event, we will be incorporating many more items such as hill runs, more variations of pulling movements as well as getting out in the elements more to prepare for that ‘unknown’.  Here’s a couple videos of some of the action.  In both of these videos, there doesnt’ look like a lot of people participating but we had stations outdoors, and when I was filming these, most of them were outside in the dark:

Special #1: Half Price Gift Certificates for Bootcamp Membership

From now until Friday December at 6pm you can buy a month of bootcamp for half price.  Purchase one of our certificates (one per customer) between now and then and you only pay half price.  Normally $117.00 for three times per week, this week only are $58.00!

That’s four weeks or 12 workouts for half price!  Send me a message at benwarstler@hotmail.com to capitalize on this amazing deal (By the way, they make excellent stocking stuffers!!!)

Special #2: Semi Private Training Blockbuster Package!

Current bootcamp members, take your training to the next level with adding on semi-private training!  From now until Friday December 2nd at 6pm you can get 10 sessions for $200.00!!  That’s $150.00 off the regular price for 10 sessions!

And if you are not a member of our bootcamp program, don’t worry, you get the same savings!  Get 10 sessions of semi-private training for $350.00 which also is $150.00 off the regular price!!! But you have to hurry on this one, slots are filling up fast, and I don’t think this special will be around by Friday December 2nd.

These specials you won’t see again, they are the biggest bargains you will find on the highest quality training in three states.  Contact me at benwarstler@hotmail.com to sign up.  Do not comment on this blog post and expect a response, you must email me.

Happy Holidays

Now it was once thought that to train for endurance you need to perform your sport endless hours of the day. Let’s use running as an example.  Say you’re a marathon runner and are training for an upcoming race and want to improve your time from the year before when you participated.  There are two ways the typical distance runner will change their training:

1. They will run their routes, building more miles per week up to the event, just push their pace more, trying to decrease their time.

or

2. They will run more miles, spend more hours running in their training leading up to the big day.

There are a couple challenges with these two training methods.  Dramatic increase of overuse injury and burn out.  Also, the amount of free hours in a day are a big challenge as well.  Injury is never fun, and often hinders training, or even eliminates participation all together.

Now its not to say that injury can happen at any time, it can.  However we can greatly reduce the amount of overuse injury by minimizing the overuse of muscles, joints, and tendons.  And we do that by reducing the amount of reps or repetitive motions along the same pattern (like running).

Now I”m sure you are asking yourself how do we do that if our sport requires lots and lots and lots of repetition and an event like a marathon can take anywhere from 2-5 hours?  An understanding of energy systems in the body is a great start and then utilizing that knowledge to reduce repetitive motion while not compromising the training effect is the key to a successful training program in preparation for Endurance sports.

Weight training, metabolic training are great additions to an endurance sport training program as they change things up from the repetitive motion of the sport but do not compromise training goals or the training effect desired.  Performing weight training circuits of 2 minutes or more per movement produces a great training environment for directly training endurance.  However, sprinkling in some heavier weight training for strength is also a good practice for Endurance athletes as it will help with hills, or an extra kick at the finish line.

A mix of upper body and lower body training  combined with, yes some running ( or whichever particular sport athlete is training), will provide a well rounded training program for the Endurance athlete.  The actual sport is trimmed down and overuse injuries are prevented, or greatly reduced, but your training goals and performance goals are not compromised, rather they are enhanced.

Utilizing all the tools in a well rounded training program, plus also understanding how the body reacts to specific training methods is an important practice when designing a program for athletes or for the weekend warrior just wanting to get in better shape.  Make sure your training is enhancing not hindering your goals.

You get the personal touch of personal training but also the camaraderie of a group training session.  Plus semi-private is easier on your wallet because the price is reduced as opposed to one on one training.  It is even more easy on your wallet right now because we are currently running a special of 8 sessions at $30 per session.  We have limited it to 9 spots and 4 are gone.  If you want in on this special, please send me a message asap to benwarstler@hotmail.com or send me a message on Facebook.

Here are our Semi Private Training Rates.

Semi Private Training Rates

As of October 2011

Semi Private Training is groups of 2 to 4 people looking to accelerate their results with more focused attention and slightly longer workouts.  The ability to train with different tools and formats makes this the perfect compliment to bootcamp classes.

Non-Bootcamp Members

1x a week: $60 per session or $230 monthly

2x a week: $55 per session or $420 monthly

Bootcamp Members

1x a week: $40 per session or $140 monthly

2x a week: $37 per session or $296 monthly

Sparta Project: 3 Month Commitment- group is very selective

1x a week $50 per session

Most of my clients are women, and there is nothing more rewarding than empowering a woman to realize how strong they really are.  One of our specialty classes: Warrior Strength and Conditioning, focuses on two things: challenging movements that require a little more coaching, and going heavy.

These ladies are doing what most MEN cannot.  They are going heavy and shredding fat by doing so.  All too often heavy training gets overlooked because of many reasons (myth, difficulty, lack of proper coaching, etc).  But it is one of the several factors that must be present in a very successful fat loss program.  Wait to see these videos, they are mighty impressive.

All of these videos are from our Derby and Lyndonville Warrior Strength and Conditioning Classes.  We have Deadlifts, Kettlebell Snatches, and Tire Flips as the main characters and these ladies killed it!

Here is mother, daughter duo of Jess and Judy Buxton setting personal bests on the Deadlift (200 and 205 respectively).  Two days later Jess set another personal best by matching her mom at 205

Next up Lisa Cordeau sets a personal best in the Kettlebell Snatch  hitting 62 pounds for 6 per side.

Now some tire flips: First Gretchen Lewis rocks out the 475 tire flip!

Now Nikki Brainard takes her turn!

Cheryl, who was the first to try it makes the tire flip look easy!

Finally, Lisa Cordeau again muscling through the 525 pound tire!

Awesome intensity, and major fat scorching going on.  Not to mention it was a ton of fun, lots of smiles, and amazing feeling of empowerment.  That’s what its all about.