The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [168]
The minimum baseline conditioning for athletes engaged in runs of less than a mile is approximately 4.2 meters per second. This equates to a 100-meter run time of no more than 23.8 seconds.
How do you get athletes to this baseline? Believe it or not, by walking. The prescription is simple: walk as fast as possible for 15 minutes, three sessions per week. The walk is seven and a half minutes out and the same time back. This doesn’t sound difficult, and it isn’t … at first. The challenge is that the athlete must walk further out at each session and still return in the same seven and a half minutes.
“Walk as fast as possible” means that the athlete should strongly and persistently want to jog. He or she is experiencing extreme inefficiency in locomotion, and that’s the point.
If you don’t have enough flat ground (a track is ideal) to walk seven and a half minutes straight out and back, just use a set distance (five blocks, for example) and match the number of lengths in the second seven and a half minutes.
After four weeks of this timed walking (three sessions of 15 minutes per week) the athlete has accomplished the first goal: reaching baseline conditioning for competition.
It seems impossible, but reserve judgment until you see some of their results, described later in this chapter.
MAXIMAL STRENGTH
Next, Barry gets his athletes strong. Really, really strong.
His current protocol is similar to what Allyson used in 2003, but the exercises have been further refined and limited. Notice that “2–3 sets of 2–3” has been replaced with “1 set of 2–3 @ 95% 1RM, followed by 1 set of 5 @ 85% 1RM” for both the bench press and deadlift.
Reminder: take five-minute rest periods between sets, and the countdown starts after completion of plyometrics.
The following general workout template would be performed three times per week for most athletes (e.g., Monday, Wednesday, and Friday):
1. Dynamic stretch before each session: over-and-unders × 6–7 reps, no more than 5 minutes. No static stretching.
2. One of the following at each session (time under tension should be less than 15 seconds per set):
Bench press: 1 set of 2–3 @ 95% 1RM, followed by 1 set of 5 @ 85% 1RM or
Push-ups: 10–12 reps (same as in earlier program)
If you choose bench press and if equipment permits, perform plyometrics (four to five reps) immediately after bench-press sets.
Place two 6–12-inch-high boxes just outside of shoulder width. From the fully lowered position between the boxes (chest on the floor), jump up onto the boxes by fully extending your arms as quickly as possible, extend your arms fully again on top of the boxes, then drop back down inside the boxes into the fully down position. Just as with box jumps, it is critical to keep ground contact as short as possible.
If the plyometrics hurt your shoulders (as they did mine) or are too inconvenient, the program still works well without them.
3. Deadlift,10 1 set of 2–3 @ 95% 1RM, followed by 1 set of 5 @ 85% 1RM. Same rules as before: lift to the knees and then drop. If you’re not practicing high-speed running, lowering is fine. Plyometrics are performed within one minute after each set of deadlifts: box jumps of varying heights, jumping rope, or even a few short, fast 10-meter runs if space is available. First choice is two to four 10–15-meter sprints. This provides at least two times bodyweight borne by each leg upon impact. Second choice is five to seven 12–18-inch box jumps.
4. Core exercise: the Torture Twist, 3–5 sets of 3–5 reps (30 seconds between sets).
For the core, Barry now only uses one exercise: the Torture Twist. Every single trainee who uses it hates it. To perform the Torture Twist,