Last weekend we did an adventure race that took us the better part of 5 hours. In my eyes, that would constitute an endurance event, would you agree?

So what training should I do for an endurance event?

• 20km on the bike 2 – 3 times per week
• 5 – 10km run 2 – 3 times per week

I can honestly tell you that this is not what I did and if i did, my joints would not like me and I would be very bored.

So, here’s what I did do.

• My CrossFit workout of the day which generally lasts between 10 – 20 mins as listed on www.crossfitkensington.com.au
• Cycle 2km’s to and from work at full pace every weekday

And that’s it! You don’t need to train for hours on end to be able to perform for hours on end. That is the point of CrossFit, it will get you fit for any type of fitness that you require.

You need to build a strong aerobic system, you need to build a strong anaerobic system and you need to build endurance and stamina into your muscles. Once you have that, you can sprint off a start line for 600m at full pace, run for 4km’s, get on a bike and cycle 7km’s, run 4km’s, cycle 6km’s, kayak 3km’s, run 1km, kayak 1km, swim 300m, run 1km, cycle 2km, run 3km, cycle 5km and feel really good when you have finished because you are fit enough to handle any of that.

Do I think endurance training is good? No. I think it is bad on your joints, time consuming, boring and completely unnecessary.

Now, ask me how much running I did to be able to handle to 13km’s or so of running in this race? Well I said I did a 10 – 20 min workout a day, so I guess that would be up to 5km’s a day?

The longest run I did was 1 x 800m run. I did a handful of 200m runs and a few 400m runs over the course of the month leading up to the race. I did those runs at full pace and I did weights to build stamina and endurance into my legs

So, ask me again if I think endurance training is necessary?

CrossFit is the only necessary type of training!

Have you ever looked like this after 12 mins of training? Or does it take you 60 mins to not get even close to this much fatigue? Work harder and smarter in less time and get better results!

Check out our workout of the day – www.crossfitkensington.com.au

Why do I think CrossFit is the future of exercise?

Because it makes sense!

Walking into a gym filled with 10’s of thousands of $$ of useless machines, being bombarded by people in suits trying to sell me memberships and lying to me about what each wonderful machine will do for me does not make sense.

Walking into a gym where I can pick heavy things up, lift my own bodyweight up, get more balanced and coordinated and work my cardiovascular system without wasting hours on a treadmill does make sense.

CrossFit will get you ready for what life has to throw at you, be it picking something up, sprinting for a bus, getting up off the ground if I fall over, pulling myself over a fence, jumping over a puddle, running away from a mugger or anything that life can throw at you, because life is unpredictable.

I have heard it said that “CrossFit teaches you not to suck at life!”

So…

The basic description for CrossFit is Constantly Varied Functional Movement at High Intensity.

Breaking that down;

Constantly Varied – One of the main points of CrossFit is to specialise at not specialising. Become good a everything, thus building great overall fitness.

Here are the 10 avenues of fitness as defined by CrossFit;

1. Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance
2. Stamina
3. Strength
4. Flexibility
5. Power
6. Speed
7. Coordination
8. Agility
9. Balance
10. Accuracy

What other fitness program covers that many bases?

With the constant variety you receieve a broader experience thus creating better General Physical Preparedness!

Functional Movements – Real functional movements, not standing 1 legged on a wobbleboard with a medicine ball in one hand and body blade in the other…

Functional movements are;

1. Natural. Its ingrained in our brains and bodies to pick things up, move things around and move our own bodies at any angle and in any direction. 
2. Compound movements, yet irreducible. Multi jointed. 
3. Core to extremity. Core training is midline stabilization. Extremities are your arms and legs. Strong core, moves larger loads.
4. Essential to Independant living. Picking things up, putting things on shelves, playing sport
5. Safe compared to non-functional movements. How often we hear of injuries from the pec dec and the leg extension…
6. Can move large loads, long distances, quickly. This is one of the main points of the program.

High Intensity – Putting it simply, this is the independant variable which will either get you fit or not. You get out what you put in!

Power = Intensity

What is power? 

Force x Distance / Time = Power

Ok, so away from the science lesson. Lets say Force is your body weight and Distance is you standing up. Now, Time is how long it takes you to stand up. So power is how long it takes you to get your body from the ground up.

Simple and it makes sense.

Am I fit if I can bicep curl a weight in my hands 15 times x 3 sets then sit and chat in between sets without raising my heart rate?

or

Am I fit if I can do 120 squats in 4 minutes and have my heart rate through the roof without stepping foot on a treadmill?

Make sense?

I have so much to say, but I don’t want to bore you, so I will finish with one more comment. Nutrition is at the base of what you can do to your body by training correctly. Train hard and don’t nourish your body with the right food and you are wasting your time.

I will expand on many aspects of the program in future entries, but for now focus on training large movements at high intensities, regularly and in different ways combined with a diet rich in protein and vegetables, avoid sugar and you are on the road to success.

If you have any questions, please enter your comments and I will get back to you asap.

For more info straight from the horses mouth visit www.crossfitcom

Yours in Fitness

Troy Shipsey

Your favourite Personal Trainer in Randwick and Centennial Park