Run Mountains, Do Multi-Jointed Lifts, and Carry Heavy Shit!!

"Run Mountains, Do Multi-Jointed Lifts, and  Carry Heavy Shit"

       The question of which sport produces the best athletes is constantly debated on Internet blogs, sports talk shows, and everyday on social media threads. I have always said that out of the four major sports hockey produced the best overall athletes. Now, I'm somewhat biased in this field since I grew playing hockey and I am a huge fan of the sport and the athletes it produces.  Others argue that football or basketball produce the best athletes.  In some cases you could quickly agree with the argument that football produces the best athletes, seeing these monsters go after each other for four quarters of this brutal sport could quickly put to bed any argument, or the fact that the physical shape these men are in is superior to that of the average Major League Baseball picture just by looking at them. Basketball players can run up and down a court for four quarters pushing their large frames to the limits by jumping, posting up, and all while having the talent to sink a basket or slam a ball into a ten foot high net. The only drawback in my opinion is the fact that there are to many stoppages in play.  They have way to much rest time if you ask me. 

Now I'm not here to give you my final verdict as to which of the four major sports produces the best athletes. I'm writing this blog post to explain to you why I think that a new sport that only a small community of people know of produces the best overall athletes. Yup, if you follow me or have been friends with me for some time then you know where this is going.  

     The new sport of Obstacle Course Racing or OCR as we obstacle racers know it is crashing onto the fitness scene with no signs of slowing down. This is the only sport where you are required to be able carry seventy plus pound sandbags, swim through disgusting bodies of water, posses hand-eye coordination, crawl under razor sharp barbed wire,  have the grip strength of a rock climber, be able to run any distance from a 5k to a half marathon or more...all up and down a mountain...in mud...in any weather condition. 

      You have to have stamina, endurance, strength, agility, balance, flexibility, and the mental fortitude to endure the 45 min- 4+ hours of the beating your body is about to take, oh yeah and do it all over again the following weekend, for some the next day even. All for a chance at the glory of being a podium winner at one of these events and for some maybe even a paycheck. Since this sport is still very young the money aspect is there but its not all there yet.  Some sponsors have signed on and see the potential in it, there will be more coming. 

     In what sport are you asked to obtain all of these qualities?  At an elite/pro level which sport are you not only asked to obtain these qualities but also be great at all of these?  That's what this sport requires and there are many ways to get good at all of these.  Some have the gift naturally while some others have to work harder than others to obtain these attributes just like any other sport. Its the way that we, as obstacle course racers train that separate us from other sports. We get out there and run countless hours up and down mountains, we spend countless hours in gym lifting weights, and we focus on carrying heavy loads.  Those three components make for an elite obstacle course racers training routine.  Also mix in proper nutrition, yoga, and skill specific work and you have yourself a true jack of all trades in athletic fitness.  Producing a strong, fast, and flexible endurance athlete. 

     Weather you want to be an elite obstacle racer or your just a fun runner looking to get into your first OCR, your training should include running mountains (or simulate elevation gain ex. incline treadmill), a structured strength and conditioning program, and carrying heavy shit!!   Follow these basic training rules to up your game next time you step foot on the start line of an obstacle course race:

1. Run- Weather you like running or not be prepared to do some of it in an OCR.  Contact a run coach or a personal trainer that specifies in obstacle course training and can supply you with a solid run program to get you ready.  Try to do the bulk of your running on inclines.  At first you need to break into incline training slowly. I would not suggest going from running primarily on flat ground to cranking the incline on the treadmill up to its max incline.  Instead start in small incline increments. ex. start at level 3 and perform your run workouts on that level for 2 weeks then increase your level by 3 every two weeks.  Also get out there and take advantage of what nature has to offer.  Hiking hills and mountains is a good way to get your ankles and feet ready for the incline run program your about to start. 
2. Multi- Jointed movements- These movements can be body weight or weight baring. An example of a MJ movement would be deadlifts, squats,  burpees or a clean and press.  These are movements that are going to not only burn more calories than single jointed movements but they will also build that raw strength and power needed to lift heavy objects with ease. So start off with 2-3 days of strength and conditioning work and stick to your basic lifts in the beginning like deadlifts, squats, overhead presses, and lunges. 
3. Carry heavy shit: The only way to get better at sandbag carries up a black diamond ski slope is to actually carry a sandbag up a black diamond ski slope.  Same goes for buckets filled with stones.  The benefits of carrying awkwardly heavy objects include fat loss and conditioning, core strengthening,and grip strength to name a few. So get out there and carry that heavy ass shit up that mountain!!!

     With this sport growing so rapidly you can bet your bottom dollar that some really great athletes are going to be gunning for some top spots very soon. So if your looking to get on that podium or to try your first race out get a head start now and start to implement some of these training techniques into your routine.  Also if your in the New England area you can contact me via facebook messenger or email at brandondupont69@gmail.com for training routines, nutritional advice, one on one personal training or group training sessions. If your not in the New England area contact me via email for online training and nutrition programs.

As Always Go HAM!

-Brandon Dupont

How competition turned me into a pussy.

 
   " Get comfortable being uncomfortable....Get comfortable being uncomfortable...Get comfortable being uncomfortable" 

The year was 2011, it was mid January in Rhode Island on the beautiful sand of Scarborough Beach. The temperature was 15 degrees with overcast and 20-30 mph winds "Get comfortable being uncomfortable".  Those were the words I continued to say out loud to myself as I was doing flutter kicks in the 42 degree water wearing nothing but my T-shorts. "Dupont! you're the only one still in the water, everyone else quit, they got to cold! Your not going to quit on me are you?" Those were the words from my Navy Special Warfare mentors mouth. Here I am one of the oldest candidates in the group pushing 29 years old and I'm the only one still working.  All the other candidates were either fresh out of high school or a year or two out of high school.  Some were all state runners, swimmers, football or even hockey players and here I am the "old guy" 190 lbs, beard, strong, chiseled and refusing to quit.  Well I was so locked on and "in it" at that point there was no way I was going to quit.

By now your probably wondering what exactly was it that they had us doing on the beach on that January day. Well it was one of 3 of our weekly workouts that we met for with the Special Warfare mentors, except this was my first, my initiation.  All these other young studs have been in the program for almost 3 months or more and are about to ship off to boot camp and then eventually head to the Navy Special Warfare Training Center in Coronado, CA. Today's initiation included a nice group dynamic warm up, followed by a 4 mile beach run (in the soft sand), then finishing with some PT.  Instantly I felt out of place and that maybe this might have been a bad idea.  I knew I was in good shape and I had been training to blow all of the standards that I had to meet out of the water but seeing some of these young guys made me second guess my decision, in spite of that we got on with it and it was time to kick some young kids ass's to prove a point. The point?  That although I'm the oldest here I'm still a bad ass mother fucker and these kids should get ready!

So the 4 mile beach run was a complete success, I crushed it and finished with the fastest time.  At this point in my life I was not as good of a runner as I currently am.  But I was dead set on pushing it with everything I had to make a solid statement.  My mentor tells us all to grab a drink and to meet him back on the beach in 10 min.  Some of the other candidates were talking about what they were going to for PT and it sounded like a good workout. It included a log, some tires, a bunch of calisthenics and some more running.  So I said to them that it sounds like a good time, which they then laughed.  "whats so funny?'' I asked em.  They then said that workout was not for me, it was for the guys that are getting shipped out next week, me and the rest of the guys have to do our initiation workout. At that point I was not fazed by this, I have been torturing myself for months on end in preparation for anything the Navy could throw at me. I was not concerned.

I meet my mentor back on the beach with the 3 other newbies.  These guys seemed very nervous, I remember not being nervous at all, actually complete opposite.. I was psyched!  The mentor then explains to us that we are to do 50 push ups in the soft, then run the 50 m down to the water, perform 10- 4 count flutter kicks in the water, the low crawl back up to the soft sand.  Once you do that you will then do 49 push ups and repeat the whole process again he said.  We would continue to do that until we get to 1 push up left or until we quit.  As soon as he explained all of this to us I could see in the other candidates that they were defeated. I on the other hand loudly replied "Let's Fucking do this!"  I was a little overzealous evidently.  After 2 hrs of this the other 2 candidates were purple chested and already dropped out of this madness.  Here I am purple chested, frozen stiff, covered in sand and continuing on to the finish. At this point your not feeling anything anymore, no more pump from all the push ups, no more pain from the flutterkicks and no more cold in general thanks to the numbness.  I look like a sugar cookie dyed with purple food coloring.  I wasn't going to quit, I did not come here to quit and let anyone think I was a bitch.  So 3+ hrs later I had finished! I shouted my last push up rep out so loud that even the fish in the ocean could hear me.   I remember my mentor pulled me to the side and said to me "You are one bad ass dude" He then laughed, said we are done for the day.  We the proceeded to the car where he had some hot chocolate waiting and the rest of the candidates were there as well, waiting on me to finish.  They said no one ever actually finished their initiation. Guys usually quit after a few hrs of freezing and the mentors expect that to happen, that's the way the plan it.  Hearing that made me really happy, knowing that all the work that I had put in prior to this wasn't for nothing.  I made myself hard as nails, tough as rocks, I made myself...Unbreakable!

For the next few months while I was still in the SW mentor program I continued to push myself in ever aspect of fitness and mental preparation for SWCC school.  I would go out for very long runs that would take sometimes up to 6+hrs, I was in the pool 4 morning per week, I was doing massive amounts of PT, long rucks, you name it I was doing it.  I needed to be just as mentally strong as I was physically.  At one point I concocted a mini version of Navy SEAL hell week all crammed into 24 hrs.
The goal was to complete a certain amount running, swimming, biking, kayaking, rucking, pt, etc over the course of 24 hrs on no sleep. I did, it was tough but it was also incredibly stupid.  At 3 am in the morning I swam across the bay (1 mile), I PT'ed the shit out of myself for an hour, then swam back. It was at that point on the swim back that I realized that this was a bad idea.  I cramped up in the middle of the bay.  4:30 am pitch black and here I am just floating in the middle of the bay.  I managed to float it out until the cramp subsided and I swam it back into shore.  I finished my 24 hrs, but had a wake up call. I said to myself next time I do this kind of workout I will most definitely have a few people with me.

In the upcoming moths I continued to train like a god damn maniac as well as picking up boxing and starting to play in a pick up hockey league. I was working my ass off 7 days a week with little to no rest.  Then it happened, yup you guessed ...injuries. Yeah injuries started to pile up like std's on a hooker.  I broke my wrist sparring and the major injury happened when playing hockey.  I developed a sports hernia.  This is not like your typical hernia.  A sports hernia is a tearing of the tendons and ligaments in the groin area.  I was layed up with this injury for almost a year. I was unable to sit up when I would get out of bed in the morning, walking was a problem never mind running.  So just as I was starting to get in great shape and feel my best, everything happens at once. Over training had finally caught up with me and this time it really did me in.  I had to inform my mentor of the injury and that the recovery time was unknown.  So what that pretty much meant (and I didn't know it at the time) was my chances of going to SWCC school and becoming a SWCC operator were finished.  I was devastated by this.  All the hard work and hours of training I had put in was for nothing.

Fast forward to 2012,  I'm fully recovered and I do my first Spartan Race.  I needed to find some outlet to fill all the time I was out of it due to the injuries and this seemed like a good idea.  I remember how quickly I fell in love with Spartan Race and I knew right then that I wanted to compete and become better.  So over the next year I did my research, I joined a Crossfit gym and I started to add that into my already existing run program and I made it my goal to win a race.  So in 2013 I was still racing in the open division, not knowing what the elite division was.  I went to the Amesbury, MA Spartan Race and I told myself I am going to win today.  I get out there I run my ass off, I come across the finish line and I feel great.  I go and check my time and placing and it says first place overall. I pumped about this obviously but I knew it was still early in the day and someone could beat my time still.  At the end of the weekend my time stood up and I had registered the fastest time in the open heat for the entire weekend.  I was ecstatic.  My goal for 2013 had been reached.

Now everyone is contacting me saying I need to switch to the elite division.  I did not really know what it was all about but I knew I needed to step up my game if I was going to play with big boys.  So back the drawing board I go.  I realized that I had to shift focus from long grueling workouts that were probably counter productive and I had to start focusing on proper run for, run programming and lifting for the endurance athlete.  When I did that I got even better. I placed 7th in my first elite race then I placed 4th, then 2nd, then finally 1st! Once again I reached my goals of winning a Spartan Race.  But I lost something along the way.  I lost that toughness, that grit that comes from torturing yourself for hours on end in the woods, carrying heavy shit, swimming for hours, drown proofing yourself in the pool.  I traded that all in for calculated runs and carefully programmed workouts, along with proper rest days.  That all made me a better athlete for sure but I have put myself into a comfort zone, something I always said I would never do. This past weekends Worlds Toughest Mudder 2014 made me realize this.  I did not compete in this event but I followed it closely because I had so many friends involved in it.  What I took away from following this event is that there was no way mentally I could get myself through that event.  The training has not been geared towards mental toughness training for the past year as much as it has been about sport specific training and getting those podium spots.

Training for sport specific competition has made me a fucking pussy!  Not having to bear the elements of the heat or the cold because I can workout in a nice facility or I can run on a treadmill has made me soft.  It doesn't have to be that way.  You CAN train for specific sport and train for mental toughness (something I have always promoted).  You just want to make sure you learn from my past mistakes and do not over train!

This coming year its time to get uncomfortable again...Its time to stop being soft and being a little bitch....Lets GO!!!!!

Go HAM,
The Bearded Beast