Percieved aerobic fitness

In this industry the words cardio, fit etc are thrown around without much thought. I love fitness and cardio strength.

What bought this up was a new client I had train for the first time on Saturday. He is a PE teacher at a private school. He runs a lot as his goal is to run a marathon, he has already run a half marathon.

He is 65kg and very lean, he has been doing Crossfit and a Crossfit instructor gave him my details as he's looking to get stronger as well.

He squatted, jerked, cleaned and then we finished with The Bear.

He only used 40kg, I asked him for 2 reps, I thought he was going to die. His breathing was so laboured he couldnt talk to me for a couple of minutes afterwards.

Now I totally understand that he had never trained like that before, but he trains, and runs, every day, for fitness.

He had made the assumption that he was fit. I know Crossfit use machines like rowers etc, but if you eliminate fitness with a BB or KB, you are really missing out.

I currently have a complex that the clients do to end their session. I didnt ask the new guy to try it, he's not fit enough.

Its called The Yellow Bar Complex.

Hang clean
Military press
Front squat
Pushpress
Squat
Hang clean & press
SLDL
High pull
Good morning

The lifter simply chooses how many reps they do, say 5, and do 5 with EVERY exercise. Sounds simple?

The bar weighs 28kg, it has a 40mm diameter, its filled with iron shot, the ends dont rotate, and the bar cant touch the ground or rest on your thighs for the duration.

Mick is currently leading with 11 reps. Nina and Annie are getting around 6-7 reps. The limiting part for girls will be the Military press, as there is zero leg drive.

This is a great cardio complex, will hit your cardiovascular fitness, muscle endurance and grip strength, will burn extra calories as well for those looking to tone up lol

You can do it with a regular bar, but it will be easier, so up the poundage. So you guys know, there is no I got up to the blah blah blah, you either finish or you dont. Start with 1 rep if you have to, but you must finish. We add 1 rep per session, which doesnt sound like much, but its 9 total reps.

I will film someone doing it and post it up to show you guys a great way to get fit in 2-3 minutes.

Here is the lab-based theory stuff to back Markos up, most people will want to ignore it

The technical difference here, as I'm sure Markos knows, is lactate tolerance. When you go for a run, you find that you're a bit leaden for the first five minutes, but after that you get your "second wind" and find a nice rhythm and it's easier.

That's because your body has three energy systems. It has the phosphate system, which is basically the energy stored in your muscles, and which lasts just seconds. Then there's the lactic energy system, that kicks in after a few seconds and keeps you going for a minute or so. After that the aerobic system comes in.

During a run, in the beginning you're using the lactate energy system, your limbs get full of lactic acid and the muscles don't work as well which is why they feel leaden, but after a few minutes the aerobic system really kicks in (it's always there, it's just that it takes a few minutes for it to become really important), clears out the lactic acid, and you move more freely.

Being able to handle and clear out lactic acid in your body is very important for weight training, for obvious reasons - you don't get the five minutes for the aerobic system to kick in, after a couple of minutes you've stopped.

You can learn to tolerate lactic acid in your body. This is what Tabata, a bear complex and the rest do. It strengthens your heart, and makes those runs easier - many people give up in the first five minutes, so if you can make those minutes easier you're more likely to keep going.

The simple truth is that just because you learned to do well at one kind of physical thing doesn't mean you'll be good at another. A creative trainer can always find a way to make you cry, and Markos is very creative

If Markos complex is too hard core you could scale it back to a softer CrossFit version - "Linda" comes to mind.

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of
Deadlift 1.5xBW
Benchpress BW
Clean .75BW

or

"Grace"

30 reps of a 75kg Clean & Jerk

YouTube - PTCFrankston's Channel

We went otside and quickly shot Max doing it with just 5 reps to give you guys an idea.

Thanks for that Kyle, most want to know why they fail at something, nice post.

Those Crossfit complexes seem very good, thanks for that.

Impressive.

Lol is that you in the chair Markos?

Doing what I do best.....observing

what would you recomend as a starting weight with a standard bar?

Well the girls use the 28kg 40mm bar and can do 7 reps.

I suggest 5 reps and a 35kg bar as a starting point. Even 30kg if you want.

Whatever weight you use, keep it constant and add reps, thats why I chose a non adjustable bar.

When the client needs to do the drill, if he's feeling off, he can alter the weight to adjust the effort.

Here the weight stays constant, and you HAVE to do one extra rep, so the effort is ALWAYS greater.

Example, your best is 30kg x 10, you adjust it to 40kg x 4, which is harder?

No guess work my way, restrict the variables, increase the effort.

To PB - I deleted your post.

Something I forgot to mention, dont make this the core of your work, which is Crossfits biggest flaw. We squat big, pull big and press big, then do this as a finisher in the last 2 minutes of our session. Its generally done AFTER your session when the next group is in the gym. Nobody has done this complex at PTC during their session, its always after they finish. Doing it fresh would produce huge reps.

This is fluff compared to what they do earlier.

Doing it fresh would produce high reps... in that, but then the strength work would be smashed

That was one bit I remember being shocked at Holmesglen, a teacher saying, "of course you can do strength work after cardio." I think she never did serious strength work.

there is some good crossfit workouts, i cant remember all of them but plenty have left me shattered.

Ill have to try 'The Bear' after AD.

Absolutely, but their focus is not on strength, you would need to be a twit to not realise that, look at their name.

This new guy came to me because Crossfit dont focus on strength, its why his Crossfit instructor sent him to PTC.

For the record, the Crossfit instructors name is Angus, I dont know him but if anyone here does, thank him for me.

Crossfit wants to be a sport.

lol. They do have the "Crossfit Games' for the super fit. Theyre nuts the people in that.

Thanks for that Andy.

Well then their training makes perfect sense.

Train how you plan to compete, just as powerlifters do, Olympic lifters do.

I train all my clients so they can do well at PTC comps.

Crossfit obviously do the same.

Markos, you indeed have your head screwed on.
I need to visit.

Yes you do, and if you come during the comp, you'll meet a host of other members, who indeed want to meet you