Batman By 40

Merry Christmas readers of the Budo Blog.

Well, it’s that time of the year again when everyone starts making new years resolutions.  I don’t usually follow crowds, fitness is a year round commitment.  But I have decided to tweak a thing or two, and it just so happens that I am tweaking them this time of the year, so I thought I would share them (the tweaks) with you.

The super soldier project has worked very well for me.  Increased strength and mass with injury free training.  The flip side of the project was that to help assure the injury free requirement over all activity decreased (caloric intake did not) and not all of the mass that was added was muscle.

That is fine I am not a bikini model.  As long as I can do all the things I love to do well and exceed all the fitness standards required by my profession, I can walk around with a couple of extra lbs.  I mean I just ran a 8:15 mile on my most recent PT test.  That might not be great but it is the fastest I have ever run a mile.

So, if it aint broke why fix it?  Why make any tweaks at all?

I was looking at the fitness portion of military.com and came across the Spec Ops fitness challenge

http://www.military.com/military-fitness/fitness-test-prep/special-operations-fitness-test

I can exceed all of the minimum standards….except run 5 miles in 40 minutes.  I have to bust my ass to run one 8 minute mile, much less five of them in a row.

That did not sit well with me

Fuck that noise, I am the Gorilla King – I can do any thing!

So I decided that I’m going to beat the Spec Ops fitness challenge.  It won’t be easy but nothing worth doing is.  In order to achieve that I’m going to have to tweak some things.  Basically I am going to have to become Batman.

So I started adapting the Super Soldier Project into operation……

Batman by 40

I figure a lighter frame will be easier to move 5 miles in 40 minutes, and Batman is so ripped you can see his abs through his body armor.  So part of the Batman by 40 project is drop from my current 255 down to a lean 225.

In order to do that intelligently, activity has to increase and unnecessary caloric intake needs to decrease.

Increased activity:

Several times when I have been revved up about a project like this, determination has led to over training and set backs.  So I need to be smart about this from the beginning.  Also, although I have set a running goal, I am not primarily a runner, nor do I want to become one.  I want that 40 min 5 mile to be a reflection of my overall higher standard of fitness rather than becoming a wanna be marathoner.

So I need to increase cardio activity to burn calories and help make running easier with out over training or being detrimental to other necessary (Operational) skill sets.  I also need to be able to do this before work with out giving up a bunch of restorative sleep.

That is a big order, this is what I came up with

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)

I can work specific martial arts skills sets (striking, evasions, ground movement, Kenjutsu) and get my heart rate up.  The work outs last 20-30 minutes and kick my ass.  Best of all I can do them in my basement in my underwear (don't go falling in love) so all I have to do is crawl out of bed and go down stairs.  

Much higher success percentage than having to wake up even earlier bundle up in winter exercise gear brave the Minnesota winter and run outside.  Plus I’m much less likely to slip on the ice and wreck my self in my basement (injury free mandate)

I developed 3 AM cardio workouts (changing it up prevents repetitive use injuries and makes it more fun)

1 Heavy Bag and Jump Rope

2 Suburi and animal crawls

3 Fundamental motions Tabata

Ok, so activity increased in a way that won’t lead to over training.  What about calories decreased?

First things first, I like to eat obviously.  So I figured eat lots of good stuff so I won’t have room for not so good stuff.  Keep it simple drink more water drink less Diet Dew.  That will be tough for me because I’m hooked on the Dew, but if it was easy everybody would be Batman

Not all that much different than what I am doing now except cutting down (if not entirely out) cheese, egg yolks, and red meat.  Don’t go crazy I still love America.  I’ll will still be eating red meat.  Just not every meal, every day

Mostly the tweak will be in consistent monitoring of intake.  You don’t have to be a weirdo writing down every thing you eat to monitor this any more.  With the my fitness pal app just look it up or take a picture of the bar code and it does the math for you.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

Will I be perfect, no.  Will I have a cheat every now and then to stay sane, fuck yes.  But having a plan, knowing roughly what your max intake limits are make it easier to keep to your nutritional goals.

Running 5 miles in 40 minutes

With time restraints placed on running by work and other types of training (AM cardio, strength training, Martial Arts, Firearms etc…) , and to maintain the injury free mandate I can only commit to running 2x per week.  One on a treadmill during the work week and one out in nature on the weekend.

On treadmill days I have developed an interval program.  If my plan works I will increase the speed roughly .1 mph per week over the next 78 weeks.

Bat Man By 40 Summary:

Goals:

• 225lbs
• 40 Min 5 mile
• 6 min 1 mile
• 15 pull ups in one minute
• 60 push ups in one minute
• 60 sit ups in one minute
• 20 dips in one minute

Program (action plan)

• AM cardio
• 1 Heavy Bag and Jump Rope
• 2 Suburi and animal crawls
• 3 Fundamental motions Tabata
• Suspension Body Weight Strength Circuit Training
• Goal Oriented Running Program
• Monitoring nutritional intake

I post this her so that anyone interested can also try to be Batman.  I didn't go into much detail beacuse the training is specific to me.

If you want to figure out a program for your goals I suggest checking out "The underground guide to warrior fitness" by Ross Enamait

And lastly just a warning after I crush the spec ops fitness challenge and am totally shredded I will be unbearably cocky and rarely wear a shirt.

Kind of like this 

Train hard, Train smart, Be safe