Run to Win

This week last year and two years ago was a busy one. This week this year I am on my way to Rhode Island to run a marathon. Have a good weekend!

• This week last year, I finished up the series on Mind Games by discussing how how your body controls your thoughts. In a reversal from what you usually hear, it’s matter over mind.
• I also asked how well you can you can estimate the duration of your runs when you head out the door. Getting lost is not such a bad thing, but it can be stressful for your loved ones when you don’t come back when you are supposed to.
• Asafa Powell came down with tendonitis and had to miss a few weeks of racing. This year hasn’t shaped up to be very good for him either, as he is out right now with pulled muscle in his chest.
• In other running and track news, Justin Gatlin worked out for the Buccaneers in an attempt to turn his track speed into NFL speed.
• I described (and showed a video for) how to do the “300″ workout, which was a right of passage for the actors in the movie. Very tough, and not something that you’d want to do regularly.
• This week two years ago, I continued my animated workout series with instructions on how to do a swiss ball bridge, continuing the discussion on swiss balls throughout the week with why you would use a swiss ball in the first place and the difference between balance boards and swiss balls. Discussion about the Coast to Coast book continued, with a few reminders about the contest to win a free copy as well as a review of Coast to Coast. There was also the first guest article here at Run to Win, written by the photographer on the Coast to Coast relay. I continued my thoughts on the New Rules with the sixteenth and seventeenth rules.

• This week last year, I concentrated on the Eastern States 20 Miler. The night before the race, I published my race plan, which I followed up with a report card on how well I followed the plan. It is a good case study for those interested in doing such things themselves.
• In other racing news, I offered a reader some advice about running sub-16 in the 5k after a few years off. I also pointed out how to bypass the Mount Washington lottery without having already won the race. One of these days I’ll have to try to get into that race; it only has 1 hill.
• Continuing with this month’s theme on audio, I offered up some podcasts for runners. As far as I know, most of them are still going, although I don’t listen to them very often.
• The movie 300 involved a lot of actors who had to get into really good shape. Before shooting for the film started, they had a workout that was a “right of passage” of sorts for folks working the film, called the 300 workout. It is pretty tough, and I haven’t managed to do it yet. I also haven’t really tried.
• This week 2 years ago, I continued the animated lifting series with a demonstration of how to do an overhead triceps extension using a pulley, and the weekly series about the New Rules of Lifting continued, this time exploring the fourth and the fifth rules.

I wrote a month and a half ago about the “300″ workout, which was a rite of passage for actors in the movie after they got in shape. The workout consists of the following exercises done back to back to back:

25x Pull-up +
50x Deadlift @ 135lbs +
50x Push-up +
50x Box Jump @ 24” box +
50x Floor Wiper @ 135lbs (one-count) +
50x KB Clean and Press @ 36lbs (KB must touch floor between reps) +
25x Pull-up

If you were curious exactly how to go about that, Craig Ballantyne of Men’s Health made a video demonstration.

(Source: Alwyn Cosgrove)

I read the other day about the making of a Spartan, where Chris at Strength News pointed out some articles about how the actors trained for the movie 300. This morning, Alwyn Cosgrove wrote about the 300 Workout, which is relevant as he was one of the trainers.

“The second misconception surrounds the idea of the Spartan workout, aka “300” [or the 300 workout], how frequently it was done or who actually finished it. “300” is a one-time test, an invitation-only challenge undertaken by those deemed ready for it. By the end of our four-month project 17 people had done the workout (Logan and I were two of them). This constitutes about 50% of the cast and stunt crew. We supervised every test, evaluated each rep for quality and only counted those that achieved our standards for form and range of motion. Like many workouts “300” is not hard once you’ve done it but the apprehension built up ahead of it – something we encouraged – was enough to make some guys fear it to the degree that performance was compromised. This workout was a crucible that some passed through and others still have hanging over them.

“300 Spartan Workout”

25x Pull-up +
50x Deadlift @ 135lbs +
50x Push-up +
50x Box Jump @ 24” box +
50x Floor Wiper @ 135lbs (one-count) +
50x KB Clean and Press @ 36lbs (KB must touch floor between reps) +
25x Pull-up
300 reps total”

(The actors and stunt men performed the workout against the clock).

That’s a helluva workout, and I doubt that I would ever bother myself to do it. I can understand how some of the actors built up a certain apprehension before attempting it.

That being said, the interesting part about Alwyn Cosgrove’s article was the methodology that they went to in order to get the cut look that the actors in the movie had. They did not give the actors a diet and work out regimen that they thought would lead to an aesthetically pleasing appearance; they gave them a diet and regimen that would get them strong and fit and let their bodies figure out what to do in terms of appearance. They wanted the actors to be able to perform great athletic feats, and not just look like they should be able to.

It is a great lesson, and even though most of us will probably never get paid nearly as much money to get into shape, we can still do our best to better our abilities. Skip the bicep curls the next time you are at the gym, and throw in an extra set or three of squats or deadlifts. They will give you more functional strength, if you manage to keep that up long enough will lead to having a better looking body anyway.

And don’t forget to check out Alwyn Cosgrove’s article if you are interested in seeing a before and after comparison of one of the actors.