IOL Strength and Conditioning

Have you ever heard the phrase “You can’t serve two masters at one time”? I think for the most part this is true, especially for those who have been training for an extended period. Beginners can make gains simultaneously in many areas of fitness: strength, cardio-vascular, flexibility, endurance - for untrained individuals it’s not uncommon to see results in all areas at once. When you hit a certain level of fitness, however, achieving goals like gaining muscle while losing fat or increasing strength while eating below maintenance calories become difficult if not impossible.

I read about an event called “Volkslauf”, which is a 10k obstacle course set up by a Marine Corps unit in Bakersfield, California, and decided to take on the challenge. The course has 75 obstacles which include mud pits, hills, ropes, walls, culverts, monkey bars, belly crawls, and a half mile trench filled with knee to waist deep water.

My conditioning level going into this was pretty solid, but I knew that in order to cover over six miles in one event I would have to adjust my training. The focus needed to be on endurance, but I also needed to maintain my base strength level in order to tackle the obstacles.

The first thing I did was recruit a virtual training partner, Leo Rios, known as Diablo on the Iron On Line (IOL) message boards. Leo and I each mapped out our own training strategies, but we had a common goal – take on the Volkslauf challenge and have as much fun as possible. In the end, we met our goals and surpassed our expectations.

I started my Volkslauf specific training six weeks from race day. This allowed me enough time to increase my endurance, practice negotiating obstacles, taper off, then rest. The race is unique so my training had to be also. With some help from my IOL family, I designed a program to increase my endurance and enhance my cardio system, with strength training being a secondary consideration.

Maintaining my current level of strength was necessary but gains in absolute strength were not. With this in mind I broke my training down to four separate workouts: bodyweight conditioning, running/fartleks, running combined with obstacles, and strength-specific work. I trained four to six days per week, with my ability to recover being the deciding factor on frequency.

Volkslauf participants are required to negotiate their bodies over, through, and around obstacles, so I wanted part of my training to reflect bodyweight only exercises. I designed a training day consisting of nine exercises done in circuit fashion shown as follows:

4-count squat thrusts (burpees with a jump at the end)
Push-ups
Scissor step-ups
Abdominal sit-backs
Squats to presses (Thrusters)
Supine rows
One-leg squats
Low back stabilizers
Force absorption jumps

Most of the exercises were done for a specific amount of time, with timed rest following each exercise. Push-ups, thrusters, rows, and force absorption jumps were done for a specific number of repetitions. A workout consisted of three circuits.

I built progression in by steadily increasing the time or number of repetitions per exercise and decreasing the rest period between exercises and circuits. Exercises One through Eight alternately work the whole body, upper body, lower body, and then core. The force absorption jumps were done off a small platform in order to practice soft landings when coming off the obstacles.

At least one day per week was devoted to just running or combining running with calisthenics, what I refer to as fartleks. Fartleks, in a strict sense, mean fast & slow; runners use this technique by alternating their running speed during training sessions. I used a variation that consisted of running a specified distance (1/2 mile) then performing push-ups and mountain climbers. Toward the end of my training I was covering 3.5 miles in this fashion. Progression consisted of increasing distance and increasing my running pace.

I had the most fun running what I call the RiverCourse. I live close to a regional park that has lots of playground equipment, benches, a steep hill, and is adjacent to a slow-moving river. I was able to map out a course that mimicked, as close as possible, the Volkslauf experience.

My River Course training looked like this:

.75 mile run from truck to playground equipment
8-10 skills/obstacles on equipment
.25 mile uphill run to “the hill”
Run up the hill, do 15 push-ups with head pointing downhill
.25 mile run to river
.25 mile upstream trudge (shin to waist deep)
.25 mile downstream trudge
.25 mile run to playground equipment

I started by running three circuits, then over time increased the number of circuits to five. This one was wet, dirty, and tiring. In other words, lots of fun! I got plenty of strange looks from park patrons; I’m sure most thought I was a lunatic, running out of the river, jumping all over the playground equipment, then running up and over the hill and back into the river.

I trained specifically for strength only once per week, and kept it simple but kept the intensity high. Each strength workout would start with sled dragging intervals to get the body warm and the heart pumping. When strength-training days are limited there’s no use messing around with isolation stuff. I worked only compound movements: deadlifts, power cleans, overhead presses, bar dips, chins, and bent-over rows. I didn’t include squats as I wanted to save my legs for running. Exercises were done in three to five sets with 80% to 90% of my 1 rep max.

The results of this training regimen were profound. My running form improved dramatically, work capacity increased steadily, and my running times dropped each and every workout. The skills training and force absorption jumps helped me get through the event smoothly and without injury; a number of people are taken off the course in an ambulance each year and I certainly didn’t want to be one of them. Most of all though, my conditioning level allowed me to breeze through the course and accomplish our number one goal: have fun. To top it all off, the week after running the course I set a personal best in the overhead press. I suppose I was able to simultaneously serve two masters but it wasn’t an easy road. It took a combination of proper planning, consistent training, and maximum effort.

Kyle Estle