Grit or Grits?

by Dr. Jeff Godin, Ph.D., CSCS, and director of Spartan Coaching

Compared with what we ought to be, we are only half awake.

- William James, American Philosopher and Psychologist

According to Webster’s dictionary ‘grit’ is defined as a hard, sharp granule, an abrasive particle. Webster’s also says that grits are a coarsely ground hulled grain, usually corn.

One is used to smooth out rough, uneven surfaces through persistence and repetition, the other is an overly processed porridge that is energy dense and nutrient poor. One is unyielding and resolute the other is smooth and gelatinous.  If you get a little grit in your sneaker you end up with bleeding blisters, get some cooked grits in your sneaker and you might enjoy it. In terms of hardness, they are on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Among other things, Spartans are gritty. Through persistence of effort they accomplish their goals. Physical fitness and good health isn’t accomplished with a single, monumental effort. They are attained by consistent, focused, strenuous effort .  Angela Duckworth, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, has conducted research on high achievers and has determined that the human attribute of grit predicts success better than any other personality trait such as openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Duckworth says that grit is even a better predictor of success than intelligence (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, and Kelly, 2007) .

Duckworth studied West Point candidates using multiple personality tests and intelligence scores and found that that freshman candidates that scored the highest on grit had a higher probability of surviving the first summer of training. Grit predicted success even better than West Point’s  Whole Candidate Score that is used to select candidates for enrollment (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, and Kelly, 2007).  Duckworth also studied National Spelling Bee candidates and again grit was an important predictor for advancement into the final round. Duckworth noted that the grittier candidates put more time into studying vocabulary (harder workers) and performed better that some of their more intelligent peers (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, and Kelly, 2007).

I can think of more than a handful of individuals that had great talent in their sport yet never attained the pinnacle of success in their career. Conversely, there were those that had modest talent, yet worked on their skills and honed their talent through daily vigorous practice, over a long period of time, and became extremely successful. The former had grits for breakfast and the latter had a big bowl of grit.

Grit isn’t a short term phenomena. A conscientious, persistent athlete can achieve short-term goals such as improved fitness and weight loss. But grit is much more than that. According to Duckwork “Grit entails working strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress. The gritty individual approaches achievement as a marathon; his or her advantage is stamina.” (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, and Kelly, 2007. p. 1087-1088)

Can a leopard change its spots? Can a human change their personality and become gritty? Generally personality is stable over time as indicated by research conducted at the University of California (Nave, Sherman, Funder, Hampson, and Goldberg, 2010).  But it is important to understand that our behaviors can be influenced by the environment. We may not be able to change our biology but we do have the capacity to change our behaviors.  We do have free will. In similar vein, someone may have a genetic predisposition to develop heart disease, but if that person makes the conscience choice to eat healthy, be physically active, and not smoke then the manifestation of heart disease is less likely.

For some becoming gritty may be an easy transition. For others it may require more conscious effort. Do you want more grit? Start here:

1)     Write out your plan for success – establish your baseline, set a goal, define a clear path towards that goal.

2)     Eliminate distracters – What are your barriers? Is it TV, internet, video games?

3)     Keep a journal – Journal your successes and failures. Contemplate them; monitor your feelings and emotions. Work on solutions.

4)     Share the plan – Share your plan with someone that is supportive yet can offer constructive criticism when needed. Hire a coach.

5)     Keep track of your successes – Remember the days when you would receive a gold star for exceptional performance in grade school? Give yourself a gold star for every success you have during the day.

6)     Last but not least, don’t give up. Success is a marathon…ultramarathon, not a sprint. There will be peaks and valleys. Expect failure, but don’t accept it. Learn from it and keep moving forward. You must remain passionate about your goals.

7)     All of this is work, hard work. Expect it, and embrace it. I looked for some research that supported the idea that success was the result of sleeping more, day dreaming, and quip facebook posts, but I couldn’t find any.

What is your next meal, grit or grits?

References

Duckworth, A., Peterson, C., Matthews, M., and Kelly, D.  (2007).  Grit: Perserverance and passion    for long term-goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology; (92), 1087-1101.

Nave, C., Sherman, R., Funder, D., Hampson, S., and Goldberg, L. (2010). On the contextual independence of personality: Teachers’ assessments predict directly observed behavior after four decades.  Social Psychology and Personality Science; (1), 327 – 334.

Tags: Spartan Coaches, spartan training

The Top 5 Benefits of Alternative Locomotion:  Part 5 – Be a Kid

by Joe Di Stefano co-founder of Spartan Coaching

Need some catching up?  Here’s Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV

GET COMFORTABLE WITH BEING UNCOMFORTABLE

At a recent Spartan SGX Coaching workshop, following one of Dr Jeff Godin’s lectures on analyzing the specific demands of Spartan Race’s most troublesome obstacles, a seminar attendee named Jackie, said something that struck a chord. Her point was one that Dr. J and I have heard before but for some reason this time,  I really pondered it.
Jackie, chuckling, said, “you wouldn’t believe how easy these obstacles would be for my five year old!”

Wild. Isn’t it?

But how could that be?

How could a human being who has been capable of standing upright for fewer months than I have remaining on my car loan, actually be better on two feet than most of us?  Without getting into the nitty gritty bio-mechanical or structural differences between children and adults, let’s give the real reason.

We are born fearless.

We are born tough.

We are born strong.

And most importantly,….We are born to live for the moment.

Through conditioning from upbringing and social pressures, we learn to embrace fear, that pain should be avoided at all costs, and that pessimism is ultimately the most secure path to longevity, health, and dare I say,happiness. Our instinctual mindset when faced with an obstacle should not, by nature, be focused on what might happen if I try, but about how exciting an attempt would be. Ask a five year old child why she felt compelled to try and jump over that ten foot wide puddle there was no way she could leap, decode your answer to discover it was for none other than a slight chance of victory and the inevitable emotional high no matter the result. If we are all the same humans we once were, why don’t I see suits on Wall Street skying over bums and wet pavement?

Because that’s not socially acceptable, TRUE. However, the fact that we contain and limit our adventurous side habitually, destroys our body from the inside out.

Just watch a young child get up onto a full size chair. They brace the chair  with their hands and then at the hip flex, abduct, and internally rotate all and climb up effortlessly. As we get older, we do fewer and fewer activities that require 1/10 of that amount of hip functionality so the body gives it up. Don’t use it, you lose it!

At the grocery store, how often do you see someone over the age of 25 having a good time or even wearing a smile? Or how many people in that group ever ride the cart like a skateboard?

We have to be coached and instructed how to conquer even the most basic obstacles is not because we have gotten older, but as a result of losing our emotional connection to being human. The biggest difference between Jackie’s child and most of us is that her child lives for the moment. Most of us today are all stuck somewhere in the future or the past. We often times bury our human priority list to focus on more socially acceptable or financially rewarding priorities.

Get that back and life becomes your Spartan Race.

WORKOUT:

Stand up for 30 seconds every 15-20 minutes. Close your eyes and this will be surprisingly meditative in helping you regain presence and very beneficial to your productivity.

Do one thing today that you wouldn’t normally do. This might be jumping a puddle, riding the cart at the grocery store for a few feet, skipping to the coffee line, whatever! (Post your funny one’s to the comments section!)

Grab a friend, do this workout in public and try to be a kid again. Live for the moment, and get comfortable with being uncomfortable:

At a jogging track, skip at varying intensities for 5 minutes with opposite arm and leg moving in a coordinated rhythm. Try jumping for height, jumping for distance, “double time” by doing quick, low to the ground skips, etc. Then, complete one full, 400m lap:

Bear Crawl for 15 “One-thousandths”
Burpees 5x
Reverse Bear Crawl for  15 “One-thousandths”
Burpees 5x

Cool down / recovery: Skip at varying intensities for 5 minutes

Tags: spartan coaching, spartan training

The Top 5 Benefits of Alternative Locomotion:  Part 4 –  Distracted Cardio

by Joe Di Stefano co-founder of Spartan Coaching

Need some catching up?  Here’s Part I, Part II, and Part III.

What percentage of the American public is either thinking about getting in shape or is actively on the wagon right now? My guess is that it’s got to be over 75%…So why is it so hard? ….And what percentage of this hypothetical 75% do you supposed has been on the wagon before? ….

If you’ve been to one of our SGX seminars you know the real reasons why the failure rate is so high but let’s just look at this on a more superficial level….Most of the time, it didn’t work last time because losing weight or getting in shape for most is synonymous with major suck.  

“Major suck” means giving up all the foods you love and then dealing with the drug addict-caliber withdrawals from doing so, while you spend hours on stationary cardio equipment watching TV doctors who tell you that your unfitness is just more than likely genetic and so you might as drink wine every night to try and avoid heart disease.

So of course because of a variety of social and internal pressures, many throw their hat into the game, maybe even hire a trainer to show how serious they are. Whatever the case may be, ultimately many do the equivalent of showing up at the base of Mount Everest holding the flag they want to plant at the summit, wearing flip flops. They show up, they are serious, they are gung-ho…but ultimately most know from the start they are not going to succeed and act accordingly until they finally fall off the wagon.

So what if the major suck is optional?

Rather than stationary cardio machines and TV, both of which flood your mind with negativity and consume your precious (and in many cases very limited, will power) why not do something that’s going to work more muscles more synergistically, at higher intensities, that will build coordination, and that requires your full focus and attention. Something that you can also do for half as long to get twice the benefit and leave the gym with a clear, optimistic, and present mind?

Sounds good to me.

Distracted Cardio WOD #1:

Warm up:

Bird Dog x 100 reps total. then:

Power Skip x 50’

Reverse Skip x 50’

x 3, then:

Crab Walk x 25’

Reverse Crab Walk x 25’

x 3

Main Set:

4 rounds of:

Frog Hops x 50’

Bridges x 50 reps with 2 second hold per rep.

then, 4 rounds of:

Bear Crawl x 50-100’

Elephant Walk x 50-100’ (Butt in the air bear crawl)

Jumping Jack. x 60 seconds

Finish with 

Power Skip x 50’

Reverse Skip x 50’

x 3.

Tags: spartan coaching, spartan training

Animal Movement Exercise Glossary

by Joe Di Stefano co-founder of Spartan Coaching

Bear Crawl: Begin in a baby’s crawl position, lift the knees 1-2″ and maintain this posture as you walk in a coordinated left arm / right leg and vice versa sequence for 30-60ft

Bird Dog: Beginning in a baby crawl or “quadruped” position with the knees on the floor. Lift the opposing arm and leg, point and stretch to opposing sides of the room. Hold, then return to the starting position. Repeat on the opposite side and continue alternating for desired number of repetitions. For a more advanced progression, balance a water bottle on your lower back, if it falls off you know you were moving too much from your spine and not enough from your butt!

Dead Bug: Lying on your back with your arms and legs stretched straight up and down, simultaneously attempt to bring your right elbow and left knee together. Return to start position and repeat on the opposing side.

Elephant Walk: (aka “a not-so-strict bear crawl”) -From Bear Crawl position, allow your butt to lift into the air as high as is comfortable. Walk in the same coordinated, opposite arm and leg pattern as the Bear Crawl.

Lateral Ape: Beginning in a bear crawl position, “push” yourself backwards until your feet are flat on the floor and you are in a deep squat and “hands free” position. Now reach both arms to one side and shift as much of your weight into them as possible. Maintain this pressure as you “hop” your legs to that side. Continue in a fluid pattern and repeat on the opposing direction.

Tags: spartan coaching, spartan training

The Top 5 Benefits of Alternative Locomotion:  Part 3 –  Multiplanar.

by Joe Di Stefano co-founder of Spartan Coaching

click here for Part I and click here for Part II

The human body has three primary planes of motion, the sagittal plane, the frontal plane, and the transverse plane. All human movement can be categorized as occurring in in one of these planes depending on if it involves stressing the body as a left and right side, a front and back side, or a top and bottom; respectively.  In short, the human body can move forward/back, side to side, and up and down.

Most of us would likely agree that almost everything we do on any given day involves forward locomotion on two feet, lifting, pulling or pushing weights, lounging on a couch or working at a desk. Generally speaking, nearly every possible action or movement we can make in any one of these activities is dominated by the sagittal plane with mere brief incidental exposures to the other two.  Most of the time in life, whatever you are doing, it involves moving forward.

Taking a look at Spartan Race, the single most common injury we see are ankle rolls, which occur in the frontal plane after the joint loses a stability battle with rough terrain or an obstacle. Our second and third most common injuries are separation of the acromioclavicular joint of the shoulder from falling awkwardly onto an outstretched arm or injury to the rotator cuff muscles, usually the supraspinatus whose job it is to keep the ball at the top of the humerus in the shoulder socket. Both of these shoulder injuries typically occur in a combination of the three planes but whose pathology can be traced back to sagittal plane dominated posture, the resulting dysfunctional length-tension relationships among the muscles surrounding vulnerable joints, and the fact that we rarely train the body to deal with it’s own weight under varying conditions.  Ankle and shoulder injuries are common because our bodies are built and trained for forward, while these body parts are about all ranges of motion.

Most training programs, no matter how dysfunctional your flexibility, posture, or strength are will have you picking up weights on your first workout. This may get you feeling great, mainly because muscles are finally being used and previously dormant physiological processes are actually being kick-started but in the end typically you are reinforcing the postural problems created by your previously sedentary lifestyle and continuing your body’s tendency to favor the sagittal plane at the expense of the other two.  Alternative locomotion will exposure shoulders and ankles to multidirectional joint positions and stabilization requirements as well as multidirectional deceleration forces in controlled and varied postural positions. After training with these movements regularly expect to see improved posture, improved muscle function, and few aches and pains after your next race. You’ll also be stronger in most weight lifting exercises because much like trying to walk on a sprained ankle, if your body senses poor posture or high injury potential, it makes sure to only gives you enough strength to not get hurt.   Briefly put, animal movements get your stabilizer muscles strong enough to start lifting weights.

Traditional training programs are almost always dominated by overhead movements with little if any productive work done to reduce injury potential. In fact, the majority of people actually lack an ability to fully flex the shoulder to an overhead position! (A simple test: Stand tall, with completely locked elbows and straight arms. Lift your arms overhead…one of two things probably happened, one, you got “tight” prior to being fully overhead or two, you arched your lower back to achieve the last few degrees of flexion in the shoulder.)

Research has shown that up to 54% of asymptomatic individuals already have a cuff tear their body has not told them about yet. Let me rephrase, up to 54% of people with ZERO pain in their shoulder already HAVE a rotator cuff tear, add in the people with mild to severe pain prior to the race and the deck is pretty stacked! No amount of “strengthening” or standing external rotations with a thera-band are going to prepare you to survive a full body, deadweight hang that forces full flexion of the shoulder (regardless of if you just failed my test)…Add in the momentum of swinging from bar to bar and a splash of strength in internal rotation with your entire body weight hanging in the balance and basically…. we’re lucky anyone survives it.

Experimenting with alternative locomotion will stress the body in all three planes of motion without much thought or premeditation needed. In any given workout, these movements will expose the body to it’s own weight and force the shoulder to be stable despite being confronted with multidirectional forces acting on it. The hips and ankles hip have to be more mobile yet still incredibly supportive in foreign and awkward joint positions. At the same time, the core is being forced to stabilize the torso yet still transfer energy between the upper and lower body. Oh and by the way, these incredibly beneficial exercises are 100% free and you can do them in your driveway. At some point maybe I will touch on the stoic value of doing these in public, but not today. For now, let’s injury proof your body while adding fluidity and coordination to your athleticism!
Here’s a warm up to your workouts to test your skills:

Warm up:

Bear Crawl x 15’

Lateral Ape, Left x 15’

Lateral Ape, Right x 15’

Reverse Bear Crawl x 15’

Reference:

Sher JS, Uribe JW, Posada A, Murphy BJ, Zlatkin MB. Abnormal findings on magnetic resonance images of asymptomatic shoulders. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1995 Jan;77(1):10-5. PubMed PMID: 7822341.

Tags: spartan training, Sparting Coaching

The Top 5 benefits of Alternative Locomotion Movements (aka Animal Movements):  Part II

by Joe Di Stefano of Spartan Coaching

click here for Part I

Eliciting a more balanced training effect.

“Body weight training” not so long ago was synonymous with doing a whole bunch of push ups and sit ups each night in front of the TV. Occasionally including chin ups for some but let’s face it most either did not have access to a chin up bar, did an entirely imbalanced ratio of push ups and sit ups to chin ups, or simply couldn’t do a single chin up so focused on the other two…as for legs, they either got the total shaft or were taken care of by “running”. Today “Body Weight” training for most has evolved, improved, and got a little more balanced but still many people do not balance the program anatomically. There are those that do of course, but sometimes only after incorporating outside equipment such as suspension trainers or other implements that continue to isolate specific movements or combinations.

Alternative locomotion, or animal movements, allow us to utilize the entire body in an athletic, fluid manner that forces all of the muscles to work as a single system. This helps us avoid a need to work the back, the middle, the top and the bottom which tends to develop “mirror muscles” but can actually impede athleticism and coordination while increasing injury potential in unforeseen or untrained scenarios, i.e. any Spartan event.

At the start of Day 2 of a recent SGX Workshop, where Day 1 included multiple workouts using Crab Walks, Ape Walks and some Bear Crawls all the trainers could talk about was how sore their butts, inner thighs, upper and mid back muscles were. How often is that the case in bootcamp?! People are almost always universally sore in the chest, shoulders, quads and abs! This makes it clear that our effectiveness to work the “anterior” or frontside, of the body far outweighs our ability to work the “posterior” of the body. In fact, the postural adaptations discussed in the previous post along with a human body that is incredibly efficient at compensation, most of us tend to use all the same muscles in almost everything they do! Which also explains why people literally “forget” how to squat, lunge, or pick something up yet can “relearn” simply without stretching a single muscle once they switch on some of those dormant muscle groups.

Since the posterior side of the body is ultimately the side of the body whose strength and function will dictates head to toe injury potential, it is critically important to incorporate training that trains it efficiently and in synergy with the rest of the body it is designed to protect.

A Spartan WOD on Motion by Spartan Coaches Part II

All motion is cyclic. It circulates to the limits of its possibilities and then returns to its starting point.

—Robert Collier

Cover 1 mile for time carrying a sand bag, dumbbell, or Lowe’s bucket full of sand or rocks.

Then:

Crab Walk, 50 ft

Sideways Ape Walk, 50 ft (left)

Sideways Ape Walk, 50 ft (right)

Reverse Crab Walk, 50 ft

Rest 1 minute, Repeat 3-5 times, then:

Match your previous 1 mile time from the warm up.

Lateral Ape: Beginning in a bear crawl position, “push” yourself backwards until your feet are flat on the floor and you are in a deep squat and “hands free” position. Now reach both arms to one side and shift as much of your weight into them as possible. Maintain this pressure as you “hop” your legs to that side. Continue in a fluid pattern and repeat on the opposing direction.

Tags: Spartan Coaches, spartan training

The Top 5 Benefits of Alternative Locomotion Movements aka Animal Movements

by Joe Di Stefino by Spartan Coaches

Part 1: Reacquaints your body with more evolutionary muscle activation sequences and patterns.

According to almost any source you can find, upwards of 80% of our population will have some form of back pain and/or treatment during their lifetime…with shoulders and knees lagging not too far behind. It is my contention that the vast majority of these injuries are caused by a sedentary lifestyle and are entirely avoidable, even those that are seemingly “freak” accidents, wear and tear, or even trauma.

Human beings evolved to be weight bearing and active for the majority of each and every day. This created a muscular system that fired in rhythmic and predictable patterns depending on what we asked of it. Being weight bearing also kept the joints strong and lubricated, the posture tall, and even things like digestion working properly. The less active we are and the more time we spend in a habitual position, typically seated, the more intensely all of these systems are impaired. Consider the foundational lesson of any university program on Exercise Physiology; The SAID Principle. The body essentially views everything we do on a regular basis as an “imposed demand” that it needs to “specifically adapt” to (Google search: SAID Principle). In other words, just as a professional baseball player trains their body specifically to play baseball with no regard for the influence it will have on their horseback riding, or a body builder pumps iron without worrying about the effects large muscles will have on their golf game, “practicing” sitting down for the majority of your time is literally pushing your body to get better at sitting down. If you rarely expose it to anything dramatically different, the body will willingly and intentionally sacrifice it’s ability to skip, jump, run, bend, twist, and even stand. People have trouble moving with fluidity and athleticism not because of tight hamstrings or a bad back but because they have sacrificed their innate functional abilities in training for their preferred activity, or “sport”.

This leads to the muscles that move your body into a seated, forward head, back breaking, perfect keyboard typing posture to be chronically over used and in many cases, almost permanently contracted. These chronically “tight” muscles, such as the muscles of the neck, are usually the ones that mysteriously hurt when we “sleep wrong”. They can also have a negative influence on opposing muscles which increase their injury potential. For example, if the hip flexor muscles are chronically “tight” and the gluteal muscles are dramatically underused, our risk for lower back pain or injury skyrockets…picking that pen up off the floor might be the last straw, but that was in no sense of the word an unavoidable, “freak” accident.

Most of us have joints that are literally drying up from lack of use. On top of that our guts are getting heavier and our postures are getting worse, all of which leads to pain, injury, injury-potential, and younger and younger people saying “i am too old for that”.

Bottom line, let’s get weight bearing, get moving, and impose demands on our body that are new and different. Here’s a good way to start:

Workout

Tags: Spartan Coaches, spartan training

3 Eggs a Day: 70% of the time, it works every time.

by Joe DiStefano  of  Spartan Coaches

Eggs have been perhaps the most debated food of our time. In fact, I distinctly remember the lecture labeling them as the number one food my father was to stop eating after having a heart attack, along with their partner in crime, red meat.

The influence of the Paleo Diet revolution has really shifted many of us towards going more Pro-egg, so I am hoping to provide perhaps the necessary capstone insight to clear the air…at least for some of us.

Research out of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Connecticut explains that 70% of the population are “hypo-responders” to dietary cholesterol. In other words, 70% of us Spartans could eat all the cholesterol we want and see little to no change in blood cholesterol levels or heart disease risk. AROO!!!

However, there is a possibility you are in the other 30%. My sincerest apologies, you are a hyper-responders and do show increases in blood cholesterol as a result of your dietary intake. Just tread carefully, and get regular blood work done. I would not wish an entirely egg-free diet upon anybody.

So what about the three eggs a day part? Another published study, also out of UCONN’s Department of Nutritional Sciences, found that men eating three eggs per day for 12 weeks showed a 30% increase in HDL (the good) cholesterol levels. At the same time, these subjects also experienced decreased waist circumference and a nearly 40% drop in triglycerides. In fact, 15 out of the 18 subjects who were classified as having metabolic syndrome at the start of the study, no longer met that criteria by the end of it.

Let me leave you by saying  30% may be a minority, but is by no means a small percentage of a population. This blog is by no means a permission slip to go tell all your friends, family, colleagues, and clients that eggs have finally been solidified as the miracle health food we all suspected they were. Do your homework.

References:

Mutungi G, Ratliff J, Puglisi M, Torres-Gonzalez M, Vaishnav U, Leite JO, Quann E, Volek JS, Fernandez ML. Dietary cholesterol from eggs increases plasma HDL cholesterol in overweight men consuming a carbohydrate-restricted diet. J Nutr. 2008 Feb;138(2):272-6. PubMed PMID: 18203890.

Fernandez ML. Dietary cholesterol provided by eggs and plasma lipoproteins in healthy populations. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2006 Jan;9(1):8-12. Review. PubMed PMID: 16340654.

Tags: spartan coaching

Burpee Equivalents:  Understanding Junk Food in terms of Your Favorite Exercise

by Dr. Jeff Godin, Ph.D., CSCS, & Spartan Coach

Occasionally we slip up with our diets and sneak in some junk calories. When we do, we have to pay the price…In Burpees!  At Spartan Coaching HQ we have been conducting research to quantify energy expenditure during the Burpee exercise.  Here is what we found:

First we calculated the amount of work being performed during the Burpee. We calculated work as:

-  Work (w) = force (f) x distance (d)
-  f = weight of the individual in kilograms
-  d = distance from the floor to the maximal height of the head during the jump in meters.

Example:

Male Athlete A:

-  Height: 71 inches (1.80 meters)

-  Weight:  180 lbs ( 81.8 kg)

-  Average Vertical jump during 5 minute Burpee test:   5 in. ( .12 m)

-  Total vertical displacement from the floor to maximal jump height:  1.92 m (height plus jump height)
-  work = 81.8 x 1.92
-  work  = 157 kg/m
-  Given:  1kcal = 426.4 kg/m
-  Thus, 0.368 kcals of mechanical work per Burpee

External mechanical work or the work that is being performed does not equal the amount of work that is being produce internally, humans aren’t 100% efficient.  Efficiency during running and cycling is about 25%, thus for the body to perform 25 kcals of external work, it must produces 100 kcals of energy internally. That means that the body has to produce 1.47 kcals of internal energy to produce 0.368 kcals of external mechanical work per Burpee repetition.

We can also calculate energy production during the Burpee exercise by measuring oxygen consumption with metabolic cart.  We had several athletes perform the Burpee exercise at a constant rate for 3 minutes while wearing a portable metabolic measuring system that continuously measured oxygen consumption.  The average Burpee rate was 10 Burpee repetitions per minute and average oxygen consumption during the last minute of exercise was 35 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute (ml O2/kg/min). We found the measured oxygen cost of a single Burpee repetition to be 3.5 ml O2/kg/Burpee.

To convert oxygen cost to energy expenditure we did the following:

Example same athlete as above:

-  Total oxygen consumed during a single Burpee is calculated as the product of body weight (kg) and O2 cost in ml/kg/.min
-  81.8 kg X 3.5 ml O2/kg/Burpee =  286 mlO2/Burpee or .286 liters (l) of O2/Burpee.
-  One liter of oxygen is equivalent to about 5 kcals.
-  0.286 l O2 X 5 kcals/l  = 1.43 kcals/Burpee.

As you can see , there is good agreement between the 2 methods (1.47 and 1.43 kcals/Burpee respectively).

Founders Breakfast Stout is one of my favorite beers. If this athlete had 2 beers at 250 kcals per beer he would need to perform 349 Burpees to burn off those calories.

2 slices of Domino’s pizza = 600 kcals or 419 burpees

Pint of Ben and Jerry’s Cookie Dough = 980 kcals or 685 burpees.

Use the chart below to figure out your Burpee equivalent of junk food calories.

Example –  for a 140 lb person:

2 slices of Domino’s pizza = 600 kcals

600kcals/ 1.11 kcal per Burpee = 540 burpees

You can have your cake and eat it too, but be ready to pay in Burpees!

Tags: Spartan Coaches, spartan training

8 Reasons Warming Up is Vital

by Robert DeCillis

Warming-up is one of those aspects in a training session that people either do on a consistent basis or do minimal movements or none at all. Many people feel as though they warm-up effectively but many actually do not do what is necessary to get the body ready for the work that is about to take place. How many times have you seen an athlete just go through the motions of a warm-up?

Warm-ups have improved over the years. I remember a time when you would do a couple of stretches, some would pretend to actually stretch, run a few laps around a track and get into whatever practice or training you needed to do. Still today you will see many gym goers do some quick stretches before they are off to the races.

If you are going to compete or even if you are just doing a Spartan Race for fun you will need to warm-up.

The main reason we warm-up is to prevent injury. Now many of you are thinking, I never get injured. Most people think of injury as something big, even if you get a small tweak in a hamstring during training you have injured yourself. These small injuries are usually overlooked until they become bigger problems down the road.

Warming-up properly will ensure that you are ready to go not only before your training session but also prior to your races. Besides the prevention of injury, the warm-up can serve several different purposes. These are in no specific order but are of importance nonetheless.

The purpose of the Warm-Up:

1. To Increase Core Temperature: Getting a little sweat going in the warm-up is a great way to start off a training session. Most times people train cold. A warm-up will get the muscle ready for the work to come.  Muscles will fire or contract much quicker when they are at a higher temperature. This obviously leads to a better training session or competition.

2. Increase Heart Rate: When performing a warm-up it is key to get your heart rate up. I have completed warm-ups where my heart rate has been between 130-150 BPM. You will see in the warm-up below how fast we can get your heart rate going and waking up your body. Here is a piece of advice that will help tremendously with your training, go out and buy yourself a heart rate monitor. Your heart rate will be your guide to how well you are progressing especially in your conditioning.

3. Introduction to New Movements: This warm-up may introduce you to new movements that you may not have performed before. As part of a warm-up I have included movements that will target weak area in many people. These movements will allow the athlete to improve on their weaknesses, which will help reduce nagging injuries later.

4. Increase Strength: Not only will the inclusion of new movements improve your weak areas, but you will also have the great side effect of training, which would be getting stronger in many areas.

5. Increase Aerobic and Anaerobic Capacity: Once you get the movements down of the warm-up presented here you will see how you will begin to flow from one to the other. This will allow you to increase your heart rate that will also help increase your aerobic capacity. The sprinting at the end of the warm-up will also get you anaerobic capacity fired up.

6. Become More Flexible, Mobile and Stable: Our bodies are meant to be flexible in certain areas, mobile in other and stable in yet others. But as time goes on our bodies seem to lack all of the qualities above. A lack in these qualities will eventually lead to an injury. During the warm-up you will be able to see where your weaknesses are. The different ranges of motion performed in the movements will allow your body to improve on its mobility, stability and flexibility. By performing the warm-up you will see how all the qualities will improve and you will become a better athlete.

7. Improve the Function of the Central Nervous System (CNS): The warm-up acts as a wakeup call for the CNS. The connection between the CNS and the muscles become strengthened during the warm-up. If you are doing the movements the right way each and every repetition you will see how easy it will be to acquire new skills as well as become more coordinated with the skills you already possess. If your CNS is firing on all cylinders you will be that much more prepared to perform well in the training sessions or the race that follows.

8. Improve Focus: During a warm-up is a great time to get your head in the game. Obstacle course racing and training are very similar. Your head needs to be in the right place to achieve a high level in either one. The warm-up is a perfect time to begin to focus on the task at hand. During training you not only train your body but your mind as well. While warming-up, focus on positive things and leave all distractions at the door. There is no room for negativity creeping in during training or a race.

Robert DeCillis is a strength and conditioning specialist and a Spartan Group X coach. He coaches athletes from different sports including those preparing for obstacle races. He operates the site http://obstaclecoursetraining.com and is the owner of Training for Warriors Long Island.

Tags: Spartan Coaches, spartan training