My Heavy Metal Strength Meditation

February 26, 2013

Guest blog post by Eric Guttmann, U.S. Navy Officer, Author, Fitness Enthusiast and More!

Its amazing what you can pick up when you are paying attention. At the 2012 Super Human Workshop I overheard Bud Jeffries tell one of the participants that if she wanted to get conditioned to work up to 50 tire flips. That was over a year ago, but I remembered. I then had a conversation with Bud Jeffries were the subject came up and he mentioned again that if you had to do only ONE exercise to get both strength and conditioning that Tire Flipping would definitely be it. This spurned in me the desire to focus single mindedly in this endeavor, just like a meditation. Some regard breath counting as a meditation, I decided to do Tire Flipping as a strength meditation where I count the reps instead of breaths, and since I listen to high energy music when I train, it became my heavy metal strength meditation!

My plan is very simple and I will see what happens when the upcoming Navy Physical Readiness Test rolls around and how my body performs. Originally I was going to work up to 50 consecutive tire flips. On my first workout some of the staff members at US SOUTHERN COMMAND, where I am currently stationed, saw me and asked me about it. When I mentioned my 50 tire flips, they said, “Oh yes, we use to have a General that loved tire flipping and he would do 100 tire flips.”

Well, if some General can do 100 flips, then so can I! So after my first workout and that comment 100 tire flips became my new goal.

Here is my three pronged plan of attack:

GOAL 1: Perform 100 tire flips in one workout broken up in sets of 5 reps

GOAL 2: Perform 50 consecutive tire flips

GOAL 3: Perform 100 consecutive tire flips

OK, since I have never flipped a tire except at that Super Human Workshop over a year ago, I am starting slowly and methodically. My first workout was 10 sets of 5 repetition with a 250lb tire. I am currently doing 15 sets of 5 repetitions and next week I am looking to increase it to 20 sets of 5 repetition to achieve my first goal of 100 tire flips in one workout.

Believe it or not the limiting factor is your forearms. If you are strong and conditioned enough you could probably do 100 tire flips on the first go. At least I felt I had the strength and conditioning to do this in the first week except for ONE detail, and that was that after 50 reps my forearms where blasted and I could feel it was time to STOP. When I mentioned this to Bud Jeffries he mentioned how tire flipping trains you in the open hand position which is something we RARELY do, most training is done gripping a bar, dumbbell, kettlebell, etc. Even if it is a “thick-handled” implement it is not the same as the open hand position used in tire flipping. Hence the workout is built up methodically to allow your forearms to catch up.

Of course if you are deconditioned or have not trained in a long time then you are better off starting with Extreme Military Fitness Basic to achieve the basic levels of strength and conditioning before attempting the 100 tire flips:

What I have noticed is that I go through two stages. In the first stage the body gets accelerated for tire flipping. Heartbeat goes up and it is demanding (fun, but demanding). As the Russians say, “every exercise is a breathing exercise” and I am applying the same rules to my tire flipping experiment. I slowly get up to the tire and get in that meditative state where I match breath to movements. Inhale as I slowly lower myself into perfect position and get my grip. Explode as I exhale and get the tire up to chest level and then a short inhale and another explosive exhale as I forcibly push the tire. Take one breathing step to the base of the tire and repeat.

After about 25 reps I get something like a second wind or I just get in the flow or something, because I merely focus on the breath and then it gets EASIER. It is almost as working through the effort of matching breath to movements with your heart beating faster during the initial reps that builds a groove and then it becomes a literal STRENGTH MEDITATION! Again, what will probably stop you is your FOREARMS if they are not trained and strong enough in the open hand position. Hey, I am the first to admit it, and that is why I am building nice and slow, like a another General here at SOUTHCOM says “easy peasy…”

I will train tire flipping EXCLUSIVELY until I achieve GOAL 2 of 50 consecutive tire flips. At that point I might add sledgehammers or something, but until that point ALL MY WORKOUTS ARE ALREADY DECIDED! All I have to do is flip the tire 2-3x a week until I achieve my goal. I love having this singularity of focus in my training. Reminds me of that “chop wood, carry water” analogy. If you have the strength and conditioning (and an available tractor tire) try this with me and let me know your experience.

All my best,
Eric Guttmann

PS – If you want to increase your recovery so that you can improve faster then I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you add my FULL Mobility program to this experiment by CLICKING HERE NOW! 😉

Read Eric’s complete bio HERE.

Jon

Jon Haas, "The Warrior Coach" has been training in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu for more than 25 years and is currently ranked as a Kudan (9th degree black belt) under Jack Hoban Shihan. He has also trained in Okinawan Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Russian Systema, BJJ, Krav Maga, as well as Internal Martial Arts of Yiquan and Aiki.He is a certified Underground Strength Coach-Level 2, a certified Personal Trainer as well as founder of Warrior Fitness Training Systems. In 2008, Jon wrote the book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts, and since then has created numerous other online training and coaching programs helping people around the world become the strongest, most capable versions of themselves!