Uncommon Training, Uncommon Results
Grab a friend, find a hill, and get to work
The scene: Sunday morning, Long Beach California. Me, John Berardi, Craig Weller, a handful of almost-Division 1 athletes and Scott, our sadistic host, are stretching at the bottom of a huge fucking sand dune. I start to get scared.
The reason: I’d just spent an entire week of traveling, drinking beer, eating sub-par food, staying up too late, and covering the Perform Better seminar for T-Nation. And now, I wanted to punish myself.
The protocol: Sprint up the huge sand dune. Then sprint back down. Do this multiple times. Try not to throw up.
The result: Vomit. Sand in my hair. A new respect for Scott’s athletes. Feeling like a champ. A smile and a cool blog idea to make you do the same freakin’ thing.
Your homework: Find a hill. Preferably sand. If you have neither, just find a big open space. Do a few warm-up stretches. Knock back a gulp of water. Set your stance. Start sprinting.
Go for 30 seconds as hard as you possibly can. Rest a couple of minutes. Repeat three more times.
Throwing up is optional.
Good luck.
You got an uncommon workout? Let me know below. I may just be crazy enough to try it.
Comments for This Entry
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wow, that hill is intense!
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I see you included your aromatherapy photo. Nice touch.
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Nate,
How was the sprinting on your knees?
This may be a difficult question to answer as I presume that you have no existing knee pathology. That said, how would you rate the stress/impact on your knees relative to running on a hard surface or a treadmill. Additionally, did you find that your quads were engaged significantly?
I suspect that your answers will be "less impact because of a yielding - and therefore impact absorbing surface" - and "yes", respectively. However, it would be great to get any additional details that you might wish to provide.
I ask because I've got knee a knee condition that prevents me from doing any variant of the squat or leg press and I need to find a way to strength my quads (in fairness, i can do the leg press but the increased sound in my right knee - from crepitus - makes me leery of the movement).
Thanks in advance.
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Nah, it wasn't too hard on the knees. (But, like you said, I don't have any pre-existing knee conditions.) We went barefoot, and that seemed to help.
The climb up was a definite quad-burner.
-Nate -
I just thought of something,
For an even more challenging "weightless" workout, you could turn your hill sprints into modified "Litvisprints" (i.e. do a set of full ROM bodyweight squats - perhaps 25 to 30 reps - and then tear ass, collapse, stay collapsed, recover and repeat a few times).
Weights, while rendering this protocol less practical, would make it better/harder.
http://www.t-nation.com/article/performance_training/the_litvinov_workout&cr=
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I think this would be a great idea if you're just running sprints on flat-ground. However, there is no way in hell I would have tried this on the monster sand dune.
Maybe John Berardi would, though. :)
-Nate -
Heh.
I would definitely categorize litvisprints up a hill as creating a significant metabolic disturbance while simultaneously generating profound discomfort.
But I've never met anything that didn't go down easier with a little slickster marketing. Perhaps, "From Superfatso, to Superhero in 30 days...if You Survive". The subtitle could be "Expect to Thrive if You can Stay Alive".
It doesn't read as brilliant as it sounded in my head.
Perhaps I should stick with law. -
Sand is definitely the way to go in terms of relative knee comfort. My fiance and I play volleyball here in Boston, and during the summer alternate between sand and grass doubles tournaments. I find the grass really jars my joints in general, and knees and back specifically, whereas the sand causes muscle aches for sure, but the joints feel great.
I can't imagine doing hill runs in the stuff, though. 30 foot sprints on level sand are hard enough (usually accompanied by a healthy Saturday morning hangover :) -
I am a triathlete, and triathlons often involve open water swimming. The triathlon starts with the swim, and the swim starts with a 'mass-start'. This is where everyone simultaneously runs into the ocean/lake/river and starts swimming.
Here's the workout, and you don't need to be a triathlete or even a particularly good swimmer. Actually, you'll probably end up working harder if you suck at swimming.
Take yourself to a lake/ocean/river or to a pool that has a gradual, sloping, beach style entrance. Start sprinting as fast as you can into the water. Soon, you'll have to pick up your knees high to keep from falling on your face. Then, start alternately take a few shallow dives, running, diving, running into the waves. Go as fast and as hard as you can. Take it out for about a minute. Then, stop, and easily return to the shore. Take about 2-3 minutes rest, then repeat 3-5 times depending upon how many people are laughing at you for falling on your face.
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Ryan 8:31pm Jun 17, 2008