The Holy Grail of Training

Being in the Navy allows you to meet a lot of interesting people with different backgrounds, training experience and skills sets.  One thing that you come away with when interacting with people who are doing the tough, physically demanding jobs that Hollywood makes movies about is that there is NO one way to train.  I know the fitness industry is dominated by people that would like you to believe that there is ONLY one way to train, theirs.  These people would also like you to believe that they are the sole gatekeepers of this information and for a nice entrance fee you too can also learn their so-called “secrets.”  However, when you talk to people who have “been there and done that” you realize that there are MANY ways to train and when someone shows you something it is merely A WAY to train.

 

Unless something is unsafe to do, then it probably has intrinsic value.  Now, whether it has value to YOU depends on your goals and aspirations.  I LOVE going to Bud Jeffries and Logan Christopher’s Super Human Training Workshops!  I am constantly researching and experimenting with my OWN ideas, and when I go there I always get more ideas to experiment with and hang out with an AWESOME group of people. 

Would a marathon runner benefit as much as me from these type of seminars?  Probably not, a marathon runner’s skill set would benefit more from endurance work and recovery strategies rather than bending steel and advanced grip work.  However a marathon runner’s goals and training would still have value to him regardless of what you or I think about it.  I only have respect for ANYONE who can run 26.2 miles in a row, even though I wonder WHY they would ever WANT to do it.

There is only ONE Holy Grail and that is YOU!  You are the one who will know exactly how to structure your training depending on what fuels your internal fire.  In the beginning you need the help of coaches and mentors if you are learning a new skill set, but after achieving proficiency you NEED to start experimenting and developing your very own and unique style of fitness, just like Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do would be different for each individual depending on their specific bodytype, strengths and weaknesses.

 

Now in building YOUR Holy Grail you benefit greatly from exposing yourself to as many talented people as you can!  Whether it be through books, DVDs, seminars or my personal favorite, PERSONAL INTERACTION, you can come away with the tips, training ideas and insights to take your training and RESULTS to a whole new level.  Those that were at the last Super Human Training Workshop benefited greatly from Bud’s teaching on isometrics.  Six months later I am still implementing them into my training!  Did you know that the Genesis for this was a PERSONAL INTERACTION that Bud had with the legendary Steve Justa?  One personal interaction led Bud to explore an idea and by the time the seminar had come he had honed his idea to the point where it could produce results for anyone who was PAYING ATTENTION.

I personally find that doing weighted isometric wall sits after any leg workout actually INCREASES RECOVERY!  Also, the toughest thing you can do after training the upper body is to do an isometric pullup hold in the UP position.  After a tough and demanding heavy double kettlebell workout for upper body that ran close to 45 minutes I decided to finish with 50 seconds of the isometric pullup hold.  I had to put forth more effort and willpower on those last 50 seconds than in the previous 45 minutes!

 

So learn all you can, absorb what is useful and drop what is useless.  A great analogy was when I hung out for a while with the All-Navy MMA team at Whidbey Island.  The coach was very cool and patient with any type of talk about this martial art or that martial art being the best, his only reply was, “Get in the ring and prove it!”  That’s the best approach to training, try it out in the ring of personal experience, do battle with it, and become the grizzled training veteran that only YOU can be!  That is the Holy Grail of Training!

All my best, Eric Guttmann

PS – Guys, make sure you check out Eric’s book, Extreme Military Fitness Basic – click below!