In the opening minutes of the 2006 AFC championship game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer hurled a 66-yard pass to wide receiver Chris Henry. As Palmer released the ball, 299-pound Steelers tackle Kimo von Oelhoffen corralled Palmer鈥檚 left leg with his right arm, . The instant replay revealed a nausea-stirring inward collapse of the knee, which tore Palmer鈥檚 ACL.听

In the off-season, Dustin Grooms, an intern trainer with the Bengals, watched as the team frantically tried to rehab Palmer鈥檚 shredded ligaments and cartilage. Grooms was baffled by their approach, which included ice, elevation, soft颅-tissue treatment, and strength work. They had millions of dollars at their disposal, yet the techniques they were using, says Grooms, 鈥渨eren鈥檛 any different than what I鈥檇 seen done with college soccer players.鈥� What鈥檚 more, the standard rehab protocol rarely seemed to restore complete stability to the knee. Reinjury was common. Palmer, for instance, .听

Over the past few years, Grooms, now a 32-year-old , has published a series of studies suggesting that for all joint injuries, standard physical therapy isn鈥檛 enough because it fails to address neuroplasticity, the process by which the brain rewires damaged neural connections. If rehabilitation doesn鈥檛 address weak spots left by that rewiring process, returning to the field can be risky. Following typical therapy, the best many athletes can hope for is a joint that鈥檚 weaker than it was before the injury; at worst, it will eventually require more time under the knife鈥�.

The key to smooth and effective rewiring, says Grooms, is to apply a stress to brain pathways, which can improve a patient鈥檚 biomechanics. This involves things like sight-restricted lunges and targeted foam rolling, treatments you鈥檙e unlikely to get from most physical therapists.

鈥淲e鈥檝e become tissue-ists,鈥� says , a physical therapist whose clientele includes the New Orleans Saints, the U.S. Army鈥檚 Special Forces, Tour de France cyclists, and the San Francisco Ballet. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really good at knee surgery and managing tissues after surgery.鈥� Addressing motor patterns, Starrett argues, is just as important, but 鈥渋nsurance doesn鈥檛 incentivize a physical therapist to look at that.鈥� The result, he says, is that the bad mechanics of healing tissues are never corrected, and they remain that way despite rehabilitation, degrading per颅formance and making another injury likely.

There are a few clinical early adopters of the neuroplastic approach. Brad Cox heads the clinic outside Boston and works with runners, triathletes, and Spartan Race competitors. This year, Cox used a custom foam roller to fix the running mechanics of after a back injury. 鈥淚n the science literature it鈥檚 called neuromuscular repatterning,鈥� Cox says. This involves stunningly painful exercises in which you tense up your quadriceps while plunging a lacrosse ball deep into a hip flexor. 鈥淚t increases tension in larger muscle groups and along fascial lines,鈥� Cox says. The upside is that smaller, unused muscles get reactivated. The downside is enduring a program that can feel like torture.

Grooms is experimenting with less painful approaches, including disrupting vision to reactivate latent sensory pathways. In an article in the Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Performance Therapy, Grooms and his colleagues elaborate on how the brain inefficiently relies on eyesight to stabilize an injured joint and how the process of confusing this loop with strobe glasses while rehabbing with drills, jumps, and exercises forces adaptation. 鈥淵our brain lets go of using vision to stabilize the joint and ramps up input from the remaining sensors,鈥� Grooms says. As a result, the body relearns how to use muscles and tendons for stability.

It鈥檚 unlikely that insurance companies will cover this sort of rehab regimen anytime soon; the science on neuroplasticity is too new. But there鈥檚 interest from athletes鈥擥rooms鈥檚 calendar is filling up with presentations at sports-medicine conferences, and Starrett鈥檚 book, , is a bestseller. Perhaps clinics like Acumobility will eventually lead physical therapy out of the RICE dark ages. Below are some tools to aid your recovery.听

Foam Roller聽

础肠耻尘辞产颈濒颈迟测鈥檚听聽begins the rewiring process by assessing where the restriction is. In the case of a torn ACL, this could mean foam-rolling quads with full body weight. From that rather uncomfortable position, a patient flexes and extends the leg for two minutes with the surrounding muscles tensed. Sounds easy, but this is where you enter the pain cave. After two minutes, pay attention to any differences in how it feels to move and any range of motion you may have recovered.

Strobe Glasses聽

聽and his colleagues have produced good results by compounding movement therapies, such as聽multiplanar聽lunges, with the use of strobe glasses like those sold by聽聽($325). The intermittent visuals can decrease feedback to the nervous system, forcing the brain to 鈥渦pregulate鈥� the joint鈥檚 remaining聽mechanoreceptors, essentially bringing the nerve endings back online.

厂辩耻补迟蝉听

聽advocates a lower-tech approach. As soon as healing allows, he recommends daily body-weight squats, with a focus on perfect technique. 鈥淵ou can disrupt your vision鈥檚 involvement by doing one-legged squats with your eyes closed,鈥� he says. 鈥淥r do them while you wash dishes.鈥�

The post Everything We Know About Treating ACL and Tendon Injuries Is Wrong appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

CrossFit advocates are known for their borderline masochistic approach to fitness. Chains, tires, and loaded barbells are all part of a grueling training process in which athletes are constantly asked to push their physical and mental limits. But to many, it might seem like the constant quest for CrossFit greatness neglects a focus on fundamentals.

Unless you talk to the pros. They鈥檒l tell you that mastering the basic skills and techniques is the key to seeing real success over time (and staying injury-free). We asked five CrossFit diehards to give us the single move they think is most important to hone and perfect. Their advice may surprise you.

The Burpee

, 2008 CrossFit Games Champion and CEO of

What It Burns: This compound blend of a push-up, plank, and squat鈥攑erformed at high speeds鈥攚ill quickly humble the best, says Khalipa. The burpee builds endurance and strength all at once. It cranks up your heart rate and targets your entire core, as well as engages major muscles like your quads and glutes.

Why He Chose It: As a former CrossFit Games winner and CEO of global fitness enterprise NC Fit, Khalipa spends most of his time on the road. The burpee can be done anywhere you have a few feet of open space on the floor. In ten minutes, you get a highly efficient workout that ramps up your heart rate and fires up multiple muscle groups.

Pro Tip: 鈥淔ast transitions and constant movement are critical,鈥� says Khalipa. At the top of every minute, rep out 15 burpees. Use the remainder of the minute to rest before starting again.

The Air Squat

, 2014 CrossFit Games Champion and CrossFit HQ Seminar Staffer

What It Burns: You鈥檒l get a lung-scorching workout that makes your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and, surprisingly, your core work in overdrive. 鈥淭he air squat can crush even the best athlete,鈥� says Leblanc-Bazinet.

Why She Chose It: 鈥淓verything builds off the air squat,鈥� she says. You鈥檙e focusing on your base and zeroing in on the body parts that will drive every other moment. If you build good mechanics here, you鈥檒l be able to ramp up your workouts, performance, and results at a much faster rate.

Pro Tip: Master the move at tempo, and then pair the air squat with a weighted lift鈥攍ike a dumbbell thruster鈥攖o up your calorie burn and target even more muscles.

The Snatch

, Two-Time Qualifier for CrossFit Games Elite Division and 13 Years as a CrossFit Coach

What It Burns: This is a total-body exercise, calling on everything from your calf muscles to your delts and traps to move the weight up and over your head.

Why She Chose It: For starters, it looks hardcore. You explosively move a loaded barbell from the ground to overhead in full extension. Second, 鈥渢he neurological and physical demands are second to none, in my opinion,鈥� says Sakamoto. 鈥淪trength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, balance, accuracy鈥攜ou need it all to execute.鈥�

Pro Tip: Form is critical. Consult a coach if you aren鈥檛 totally comfortable with the movement, and don鈥檛 be afraid to start with lighter weights or dumbbells to perfect your technique.

Barefoot Jump Rope

, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist in Rowing and Coach

What It Burns: This will make your feet and lower legs stronger, faster, and more agile, says Cafaro-MacKenzie.

Why She Chose It: Cafaro-MacKenzie adopted a CrossFit Endurance conditioning platform to help her grab Olympic gold. She continually relies on the barefoot jump rope to learn how to 鈥渂e dynamic and feel connection with the feet.鈥� It鈥檚 the perfect cross-training for endurance athletes.

Pro Tip: Start on a softer surface like grass, soil, or a padded mat. It will lessen the impact absorbed by your ankle joints and feet.

Muscle-Up

, CrossFitter Since 2001 and Author of

What It Burns: Everything. It takes the sport鈥檚 highest pull-up and combines it with the sport鈥檚 lowest dip, so it requires huge range of motion, coordination, and strength to power you through the effort.

Why He Chose It: 鈥淭he muscle-up is a compound multijoint skill,鈥� says Amundson. 鈥淥nce you master it, you can quickly and potently introduce larger changes to the body and mind so that every other gym exercise or athletic sport comes to life.鈥�

Pro Tip: Prepare to be frustrated at the start as you struggle to string together two moves that you might be able to do as standalones. That鈥檚 normal.

The post Pro CrossFit Coaches Want You to Learn These Moves appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Even if you鈥檝e never stepped foot inside a , you鈥檝e likely heard of the CrossFit Games, the sport鈥檚 annual contest to find the 鈥渨orld鈥檚 fittest athlete.鈥� Every summer, 40 men and 40 women put themselves through the ringer to test 鈥渢rue fitness,鈥� using functional movements that aren鈥檛 announced beforehand and can鈥檛 be practiced.

Qualifying for the games is more or less a pipe dream for anyone unwilling or unable to make the sport their full-time career, according to , a five-time CrossFit Games competitor and CrossFit HQ coach who has watched the level of competition soar during his eight years in the global-fitness movement-slash-sport. 鈥淚t鈥檚 statistically impossible,鈥� he says.

According to Malleolo, the intensity of competitors has transformed them into full-time professional athletes rather than highly skilled or conditioned amateurs. 鈥淭he ferocity of experienced talent has driven up the bar of entry so that you鈥檇 need three years of obsessive training committed solely to CrossFit in order to reach a deep- and broad-enough level of fitness to theoretically make the cut,鈥� he explains. Examples of the fitness levels showcased at the games include a sub-5:30 mile, 70 unbroken pull-ups, and 275-pound snatches.

But the counterbalance to the newfound exclusivity of the CrossFit Games is the unbound openness of the , accessible to any CrossFit athlete from around the world. The games season starts with the open, a five-week test in which anyone who participates鈥攎ore than 330,000 athletes this year鈥攊s theoretically eligible to qualify for the games later that summer. From there, top performers move on to 17 different regional contests. Finally, the invitation-only CrossFit Games whittles down this massive pool to a field of just 40 women and 40 men to compete in the final test.

For the everyday CrossFitter鈥攁lready more serious than many amateur athletes鈥攕uccessfully finishing the open is a major goal, says Malleolo. It鈥檚 a sign that the body has been effectively conditioned to reach a high level of fitness and is capable of enduring tests that challenge every modality rather than just allowing you develop one area of expertise. Malleolo often gets asked what skills you need to gamely jump into the open.

To start, the open demands CrossFit experience by way of testing the sport-specific . Think a muscle-up, handstand push-up, double under, and basic competency in Olympic lifting. Yes, being super-fit will help, but the skills show off your body鈥檚 ability to move dynamically and functionally, a major goal of the method. The early stage CrossFit Open workouts to measure things like the number of burpees you can complete in seven minutes. As the weeks progress, the program requires more technical ability, especially if you want to find a place on the virtual scoreboard in your box, city, or region.

The next critical component needed to truly compete in the CrossFit Open, and maybe even place in your locality, is your conditioning. It needs to be at a high level for you to make it past your first clean and jerk. Malleolo suggests trying these benchmark workouts before signing up to see where you stand.

Cindy

Cindy is a 20-minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) workout. Shoot for 15 to 20 rounds of the following exercises without stopping.

What You Need: A bar for pull-ups.

Exercises

• 5 pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 15 air squats

Helen

Helen is a 鈥渇or time鈥� workout, which means you鈥檙e judged based on how quickly you can complete each round. Consider yourself 鈥渙pen ready鈥� if you can perform three rounds of the exercises below in eight to ten minutes.

What You Need: A 24-kilogram kettlebell and a measured 400-meter running route or treadmill.

Exercises

• 400-meter run
• 21 kettlebell swings
• 12 pull-ups

Jackie

Jackie is also a 鈥渇or time鈥� workout. A single thruster is composed of a front squat and a push-press. Aim to complete the following moves in seven to ten minutes.

What You Need: A rowing machine and a 45-pound barbell.

Exercises

• 1,000-meter row
• 45-pound thruster, 50 reps
• 30 pull-ups

The post Do You Have What It Takes to Compete in the CrossFit Open? appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Periodization is fundamental to exercise physiology and coaching. The concept is simple on its face:聽pick a single day sometime in the future, like the day of your big race or event, then devise a聽long-term聽training聽plan,聽consisting聽of聽various聽phases聽of聽emphasis,聽that聽gets you in prime聽physical聽condition by the time you reach the starting line.听The聽strategy聽has聽been聽around聽for聽a聽century,聽but聽classic聽periodization聽science is chiefly credited to researchers who ran the聽Soviet Union's sports schools in the聽1950s聽and聽1960s. Today, many coaches and athletes use the technique,聽whether training to qualify for the Boston Marathon or win an Olympic medal.听

When Greg Glassman founded CrossFit聽in 2000, the training philosophy behind the now-popular workout was essentially the polar opposite of periodization. Imagine you鈥檙e a cop, sipping coffee on foot patrol one minute and breaking up a street brawl the next. In that scenario, there鈥檚 no date circled聽on the calendar to allow you to prepare. There鈥檚 no forecast as to what mix of skills and endurance you鈥檒l need to be ready. There鈥檚 no聽time to study your opponent, which means there鈥檚 no telling what mix of strength, speed, and metabolic pathways you鈥檒l need to tap into. 鈥淭he CrossFit ideal,鈥� Glassman wrote in 2003 on the CrossFit blog, 鈥渋s to train for any contingency.鈥� As a cop remarked in the early days of CrossFit, one workout reminded him of the anaerobic turbulence of a 鈥渇ight gone bad,鈥� a phrase that became a聽benchmark “workout聽of the day” (WOD).听

Until the creation and corresponding rise of the , now held annually in July in Carson, California, CrossFit methodology was tuned more for the unexpected鈥斺�渦nknown and the unknowable鈥� is a popular mantra within CrossFit.听

Yet one of the interesting effects of the CrossFit Games is that an unknown has been stripped out of the equation. Those who qualify to compete might not know exactly what they have to do during the week of the games, but they do know it鈥檚 going to happen in July. As a result, many of them have begun to use聽periodization, just as聽traditional athletes have used it for decades.听

When asked in 2011 if he periodized his training to peak for the CrossFit Games, Rich Froning,聽the reigning champion with four consecutive 鈥淔ittest Man on Earth鈥� titles to his name,聽said no, but then tripped into saying maybe.听

鈥淐rossFit prepares you for real life,鈥� Froning replied. 鈥淵ou have to be ready for everything. There are different opinions on the whole peaking thing, but doesn鈥檛 that go against what we teach?鈥� Then Froning shifted gears. 鈥淭he games are a great test of fitness at that time,鈥� he added. 鈥淣ot a great test of fitness throughout the year or throughout life.鈥� He blinked for an instant, as if trying to sort out what he鈥檇 just said, then added,聽鈥淵ou know what I mean.鈥澛�

Even if Froning doesn鈥檛 use a yearly periodization plan to prepare for the games, plenty of others do. Jami Tikkanen, coach of two-time CrossFit Games champion Annie Thorisdottir, believes the practice聽is common in the elite ranks.

鈥淔or the very elite CrossFit athletes, we know that they essentially need to be at their best two times a year:聽once for the regionals and once for the games,鈥� Tikkanen told me. 鈥淭his gives us a time frame of when to develop and improve physical qualities and when to transform these qualities into sports specific applications.鈥澛�

I put the question to two CrossFit coaches in San Diego who have been serious students of CrossFit programming methods:聽Leon Chang and Paul Estrada, co-owners of CrossFit Elysium. 鈥淕iven a games-level athlete knows well in advance when game day is, they can plan out their training accordingly to peak at the right times,鈥� Chang said. 鈥淪ince they can, they most definitely should and are.鈥� Estrada agreed, adding that the periodization models differ. He says there鈥檚 a lot of experimentation happening within various schemes. Programs like the Outlaw Way focus on strength but never cut out metabolic conditioning鈥攕tructured work and rest periods that elicit some desired response from the body.听Whereas聽CrossFit New England鈥檚 Ben Bergeron聽omits metabolic conditioning at certain times of the year while heavily increasing it in other times of the year.听

Considering that the CrossFit brand is composed of more than 11,000 affiliate gyms around the world, and that the CrossFit Games are聽the brand鈥檚 public face, this brings up a legitimate question about the brand鈥檚 methodology: Do the best CrossFitters in the world actually adhere to true CrossFit training?聽

This question has stoked heated arguments between CrossFitters and their detractors. Glassman鈥檚 words聽from 2003聽were used in an online thread about whether periodization should have any part in CrossFit at all:聽鈥淰ariances in effort, intensity, enthusiasm, and performance are an inescapable part of life. The belief that these natural variances can be planned for months in advance in order to optimize performance at a later date is hogwash.鈥�

But critics聽like Mark Rippetoe, formerly a CrossFit HQ specialty seminar instructor and author of the book聽, says CrossFit鈥檚 signature weakness is that lack of聽periodized structure that zeroes in on a big target.听

鈥淐rossFit is not training,鈥� Rippetoe wrote in an essay attacking what he believes is a fatal flaw that prevents improvement over the long haul. 鈥淚t is exercise. And exercise鈥攅ven poorly聽programmed random flailing聽around in the floor for time鈥攃auses progress to occur, for a while.鈥� Rippetoe argues that once CrossFitters聽pass聽through the beginner stage, they鈥檙e in danger of聽stagnation聽unless they start striving for hard-to-reach, specific targets. 鈥淥nce the low-hanging fruit have been picked, you have to get a ladder, and then you might need a helicopter,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淥nce a person has adapted beyond the ability of random stress applied frequently under time constraints to cause further improvement, progress stalls.鈥�

Another former CrossFit HQ instructor-turned-critic聽is Greg Everett, author of . Everett agrees with Rippetoe with undiluted words: 鈥淚f you have no plan with regard to your training, you鈥檙e an idiot.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檙e no longer CrossFitters,鈥� Ben Bergeron聽said聽at a talk several years ago on how to train for the CrossFit Games. (Bergeron uses periodization.)聽

Bergeron was specifically addressing the months of April and May, when his athletes prepare for the second qualifying round, the CrossFit Regionals. Unlike the CrossFit Games, all of the regional competition workouts are announced ahead of time. 鈥淲e specialize in those workouts,鈥� Bergeron said. 鈥淲e know them inside and outside.鈥�

鈥淭he advanced athletes who win and place at the CrossFit Games do not use CrossFit website programming to achieve advanced levels of the strength and conditioning necessary to perform at that level,鈥� Rippetoe wrote.听鈥淣one of them.鈥�

Bergeron鈥檚 periodization cycle starts with resting聽post-games recovery where it鈥檚 鈥渙kay to have a beer or two on the weekends.鈥� Then the training begins with a two-month strength focus where athletes favor packing on muscle and power and let their metabolic conditioning slide. They then cycle through a speed-strength phase, and in the middle of winter start attacking weaknesses. If you suck at rope聽climbing聽or muscle-ups, you drill them into strengths. Then comes the metabolic conditioning period鈥攍ots of hard, long stamina workouts to finish off the base of preparation. Lastly, sharpening for the CrossFit Regionals in May聽and the final ascent to a competitive peak for July.

The director of the CrossFit Games is Dave Castro, a former Navy SEAL who staged the first games in 2007 at his family鈥檚 ranch in Aromas, California.听

When asked if the periodization techniques being used are antithetical to CrossFit methodology, he said absolutely not. But Castro also believes that periodization 鈥渋n the traditional sense鈥� has been adopted by relatively few elites. Rather, they bias their training on occasion to stamp out weaknesses that may trip them up in the games.

鈥淲hat is happening here is that they are identifying weakness and want to strengthen those areas.鈥� Castro firmly believes that periodization isn鈥檛 necessary to compete well at the games. 鈥淏ut some do it, so oh well. They just really like to have more structure to their CrossFit workouts. It鈥檚 still CrossFit.鈥澛�

Jon Gilson, a former CrossFit HQ instructor and the聽CEO of Again Faster, a company that sells CrossFit equipment, believes the argument being waged has to do with semantics, not substance.

鈥淥f course the games athletes want to be at their best in July,鈥� he told me. 鈥淚t would be absurd not to want that.鈥� But Gilson, like Castro, argues that long-term planning and goals are congruent with the foundations of CrossFit training. From his perspective, the kind of periodization being used for the games is more aligned with Glassman鈥檚 methodology then critics are acknowledging.

鈥淪omeone could watch some of the events at the CrossFit Games and assess that it鈥檚 all just randomly selected workouts, that they鈥檙e just doing a bunch of random shit, and from there they extrapolate that Glassman鈥檚 methodology is based on randomness.鈥� Gilson聽mentions that the聽CrossFit聽Level One certificate course underscores the difference between randomness and variance, a CrossFit-approved聽practice of聽constantly changing workouts.听鈥淚 know it鈥檚 there because of how many times I鈥檝e given the programming lecture,鈥� he says. 鈥淐onstant variation is not randomness. Constant variation is a way to attack weaknesses.鈥�

A good coach identifies those weaknesses in the athletes, and then creates a training plan that systematically attacks them. In other words, whatever you want to call it, quality CrossFit programming involves a long-term calendar.听

鈥淵ou can pursue metabolic conditioning鈥攖he building of the engine鈥攚hile you try to shore up your weaknesses,鈥� Gilson says. 鈥淪o don鈥檛 get caught up on a word like periodization.听It鈥檚 a 13-letter word that has become a four-letter word.鈥� He wanted me to know that the pursuit of excellence at the CrossFit Games is not as unnatural to the foundations of CrossFit as some try to make it out to be. In his mind, any CrossFit affiliate that isn鈥檛 having a dialogue聽with their clients聽about training targets鈥攂e it weight loss, or preparing for boot camp, or getting ready to play in an adult soccer league鈥攊sn鈥檛 deploying the CrossFit method.

As for Castro, he聽thinks there's nothing behind the聽periodization debate. 鈥淭he CrossFit Games athletes are the minority, not the majority. The CrossFit community is made up of millions of normal, everyday people who practice CrossFit to be healthier,聽to go from being obese to fit. The games athletes are .005 percent聽of us. So they are not the sole representation of CrossFit. The millions doing CrossFit are CrossFit.鈥�

T.J. Murphy is the author of , a book about CrossFit. Follow him on Twitter .

The post The Secret to Winning the CrossFit Games appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

I was a multisport burnout, searching for a new challenge, when a Web trawl served up a fitness program I鈥檇 never heard of: , a civilian version of the infamous that the Navy uses as a grueling test of the men who hope to serve as SEALs. Kokoro is run by coaches working for a company called , based in Encinitas, California. Most of them are active or former Navy SEALs, and for $1,595 they put you through a rugged training regimen that鈥檚 spread out over three days. In exchange for your effort and money, you鈥檙e promised a painful, supremely difficult, and ultimately transformative experience.

鈥淜okoro Camp is designed to help you discover the deep power of your resilient spirit over your mind, and your mind鈥檚 control over your body,鈥� the Sealfit site explains. 鈥淵ou鈥檒l be pushed to your limits, because that鈥檚 where the biggest breakthroughs happen. That鈥檚 also why this is not 鈥榮omething you try.鈥� 鈥� You must have a deep and powerful reason for 鈥╝ttending this camp, and be ready to pay the price for the ultimate freedom you鈥檒l gain by the end.鈥�

It sounded menacing, if a little out there. Later I learned that a friend who lives near my hometown of Palo Alto, California, , had done a Kokoro in 2011. Amundson is locally revered as a CrossFit god, but he鈥檚 also a former SWAT team member and a retired officer with the Drug Enforcement Administration. He told me, emphatically, that Kokoro is for real. 鈥淏rother,鈥� he said, shaking his head, 鈥渋t鈥檚 legit.鈥�

I鈥檇 been drawn to the camp because, after a quarter-century of running marathons and triathlons as an amateur, I was bored. My last triathlon had been Ironman France, which I did in 2005 when I was 43. Climbing into the mountains and pedaling through the medieval villages of the C么te d鈥橝zur was a treat, but the 26.2-mile run consisted, in part, of a series of three-mile out-and-backs on the Nice promenade鈥攁 treadmill next to the Mediterranean. With a gimpy foot and a bad sunburn, I lurched over the finish line of my fifth Ironman. I shrugged and considered what, if anything, was next.

Over the past ten years, two divergent offerings have been added to the menu of come-one-come-all endurance events. The first is a rebranding of traditional road races into mobile parties and moveable feasts. The Rock and Roll marathon series features live bands at every mile and luxurious VIP tents. Then there are the Hot Chocolate races鈥攆ondue awaits you at the finish line!鈥攁nd the so-called happiest 5K on the planet, the Color Run series. Every half-mile or so, you鈥檙e doused with Hippie Powder.

In the other direction are the sufferfests: obstacle-course events, all barbed wire and blood, like Spartan Race and Tough Mudder. Roughest of all is a brand of extreme endurance challenges that aren鈥檛 races at all, modeled instead on rigorous military training. , created by a former Green Beret named Jason McCarthy, is a nonstop, two-day beatdown that involves heavy load-carrying and endless rounds of calisthenics. Kokoro Camp, created by a former SEAL, 51-year-old , is a similar composite: intense physical and psychological torment compounded by exciting extras like sleep deprivation and full immersion in ice-water baths.

As I realized when I learned more about Divine, pain and sacrifice had definitely been transformative for him. In the 1980s, he was a mild-mannered Wall Street accountant with soaring career prospects. But he wasn鈥檛 happy with his life, so he took up Seido karate to stave off the drudgery, earning his black belt. His teacher used a memorable phrase during a class鈥斺�淥ne day, one lifetime鈥濃�攁nd that was it. In 1989, Divine chucked his job to try out for the SEALs. The move shocked his family and his boss, but Divine was never happier. He served six years of active duty as a SEAL, then downshifted to the reserves. In 1996, he opened a brewpub near the SEAL training base in Coronado, California. In 1997, he bought the URL and started an e-commerce business selling tactical clothing and gear.

[quote]The guy below me was worse off, groaning as if he was being crushed. Cerrillo paused for a beat and listened to the pain, then leaned into his megaphone. 鈥淭his is what you paid for, you idiots!鈥漑/quote]

A crucial moment for Divine occurred in 2004. He was studying yoga in Encinitas鈥攚hile pursuing a Ph.D. in leadership studies鈥攚hen he was called up and sent to Iraq. During a C-130 flight into a combat zone, Divine felt nervous. He found space next to a cargo net and started doing sun salutations and deep-breathing exercises, provoking odd glances from a Marine general who was also on board.

While stationed in Baghdad, Divine would often set aside his M4 and perform 90-minute workouts of yoga, squats, and kettlebell swings鈥攁ll while the occasional mortar shell whistled overhead. The routine purged the stress of wartime, focused his mind, and drenched him in sweat. He knew he was on to something.

Divine went into the fitness business in 2006, leasing an office building in Encinitas that featured, in a central plaza, what he calls the grinder鈥攁 small, old parking lot that he uses to grind athletes down with brutal calisthenics. Divine began playing with the mind-body ideas that eventually became Sealfit, and that same year he put on his first intensive camp. The idea was to create a setting where people can experience kokoro, a Japanese word meaning, roughly, 鈥渢he merging of heart and mind into spirit.鈥�

The Navy鈥檚 Hell Week happens early during a SEAL鈥檚 training and lasts five and a half days, with round-the-clock physical exertion. Candidates are permitted only four hours of sleep the entire week. The purpose is twofold: to wash out all but the most committed men and to build strong loyalty to the team among those who survive it.

鈥淜okoro Camp is different than what the Navy does,鈥� Divine told me. 鈥淣avy training is designed to find the few who already have the mental toughness needed to become a SEAL. The purpose of Kokoro is to help you reach a psychological benchmark of what is possible.鈥�

As with SEAL training, Divine says, chances are good that you won鈥檛 make it. But if you do, you鈥檒l have passed into a different mental and physical realm. Or, as he puts it: 鈥淟ife after Kokoro just gets easier.鈥�

Kokoro campers are expected to have met rigorous fitness standards before signing up鈥攆or example, you need to be able to march 20 miles with a loaded pack in under six hours. Even if you exceed these, Divine says, his coaches will find a way to push you to the point of breakdown. Every attendee is forced to rely on teammates. 鈥淣o one gets through Kokoro alone,鈥� he says.

Derek Price, a former Detroit Lion who started doing Ironmans after he retired from the NFL, did a Kokoro in 2010. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 believe what they were putting us through in the first hour,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淚 thought for sure it had to let up. It never did.鈥� I ask Price if the camp was as hard as playing pro football. 鈥淜okoro was the hardest thing I鈥檝e ever done,鈥� he says.

鈥淲e had eight people enter our first camp in 2007,鈥� Divine says. 鈥淢ost were special-ops candidates.鈥� The original camp was downright wimpy compared with the show he puts on today. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know how far we could push the envelope,鈥� he says. 鈥淓very camp, we turned the dial up a bit more and pushed harder and harder.鈥�

Word of the camp spread beyond the armed forces. People with no military aspirations began to trickle in, and Divine started offering five Kokoros a year. As the participants kept coming, with roughly 40 men and women per camp, the ratio tilted toward civilians. These days, only one in five campers is from the military. The rest are CrossFitters, business people, and endurance freaks in search of something else.

For me, identifying that something else was a puzzle. Divine emphasizes that if you鈥檙e going to do a Kokoro, you have to have your 鈥渨hy鈥� squared away. Obviously, I had no plans to become a SEAL鈥攁t 50 I was two decades over the age limit. Bragging rights can be a motivator for doing a marathon or an Ironman, but nobody I knew had even heard of Kokoro. As Price would later tell me: 鈥淒o Kokoro and no one is going to care. What happens inside you is the only thing that matters.鈥�

[quote]Derek Price, a former Detroit Lion who started doing Ironmans after he retired from the NFL, did a Kokoro in 2011. It was 鈥渢he hardest thing I've ever done,鈥� he told me.[/quote]

In more than 30 editions of the camp, not once has everybody in a group made it through, and I was told that only a handful of 50-year-olds had managed to succeed. So I had plenty of fearful motivation as I trained in advance of my Kokoro, which happened last June.

I put together a regimen combining CrossFit, distance runs, and what SEALs call grinder P.T.鈥攍ong sessions of push-ups, sit-ups, burpees, leg lifts, and the like. I also started doing ruck marches鈥攃arrying a full pack uphill at a fast pace, with a 35-pound plate thrown in to make it even heavier. I used to find new workout ideas, like the Fat Angie Sandwich: 25 burpees, 100 pull-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 squats, and another 25 burpees, all with a loaded rucksack on my back.

Over a period of 20 weeks, I burned off about 15 pounds and was feeling strong. In the nineties, I had been fit and fast as a runner鈥擨鈥檇 done a 2:38 marathon and a 15-minute 5K鈥攂ut now I felt like I was in better all-around shape than I鈥檇 been since I was a teen.

The thirty-second Kokoro Camp began on a vintage SoCal day: dry and hot, under a cloudless sky the color of faded jeans. I was standing in the middle of Divine鈥檚 training compound with 16 other people鈥�14 men and two women鈥攊n a two-line formation.

We were wearing white T-shirts stenciled with our last names, black tactical pants, and lightweight combat boots. We each shouldered a black canvas rucksack and carried a dummy rifle鈥攁 length of capped PVC pipe filled with sand. We鈥檇 just done a one-mile run to the beach and back. We stood at attention, breathing and sweating under the noontime sun as the coaches circled us, doing a remarkable imitation of hammerhead sharks. I counted seven, including Divine, making a two-to-one camper-to-coach ratio.

It was nerve rattling, for sure. Divine, with his military flattop and diamond-cut features, is built like a decathlete, scorched of body fat and radiating a potentially violent combination of speed and power. He spoke quietly and encouraged us to breathe deep and slow.

I didn鈥檛 see him walk away, but suddenly a coach named * stood in his place and started cursing through a megaphone. Cerrillo is a square-shaped former instructor in the Navy鈥檚 , the punishing six-month training course that transforms recruits into active-duty SEALs. In SEAL-speak, Kokoro is broken up into segments called evolutions. The first evolution is called a breakout, and it鈥檚 meant to create the kind of panic and chaos that combat does.

Cerrillo used his megaphone to share his thoughts about what spoiled candy-asses we were. 鈥淵ou idiots!鈥� he yelled. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 need to buy a new plasma TV! You don鈥檛 need a new car! You are stupid sheep that I and others like me have to risk our lives to protect.鈥�

He had us drop on our backs and hold our feet six inches off the ground. Before long I got a bucket of water dumped on my face, and it went into my sinuses. During the foot raise I held out longer than some, but after about four minutes I gave up and my heels hit the ground. A different coach put a megaphone to my ear and whispered, 鈥淭here鈥檚 nowhere to hide. We see everything.鈥�

We were then ordered to build a cabin using our bodies as the logs. I was on the second layer off the ground. As the others climbed on, somebody鈥檚 forearm jammed hard into my throat. But the guy below me was worse off, groaning as if he was being crushed. Cerrillo paused for a beat and listened to the pain, then leaned into his megaphone.

鈥淭his is what you paid for, you idiots!鈥�

The main lesson from Kokoro is this: teamwork is superior to individualism. That idea is central to the SEAL code of conduct, but it didn鈥檛 come naturally to me. Teamwork is contradictory to the time-trial nature of an Ironman, and the very notion of racers helping other racers鈥攂y drafting one another during the bike leg, for example鈥攊s forbidden by the rules.

Divine thinks the lone-wolf style is too easy. 鈥淭raining with others makes you accountable to others,鈥� he told me. The ideal mindset is to feel like a member of a team on a mission. You aren鈥檛 caught up in your own drama; instead, you鈥檙e focused on helping the buddy next to you.

In my preparations for Kokoro, I mostly trained by myself, aside from a few visits to a CrossFit gym in Palo Alto. Looking back, it was a mistake to directly apply what had worked during my preparations for solo races. As Divine warned, I should have found others to train with and arrived with a firmer sense of why I wanted to do a Kokoro. I didn鈥檛, and I got in serious trouble on the first afternoon.

At around two o鈥檆lock, we were broken into teams of four and given a 250-pound wooden log to lift, as a group, over our heads. Then we circled a 600-pound tractor tire and lifted it to our chins. The coaches thought our lifts looked sloppy, so they made us do it more than a dozen times. To put more force into my lifts, I was contorting my back like a rabid dog, but I could feel myself fizzling. There was no sign of a break coming soon. A two-word daydream wafted through my mind: Snickers bar.

Later, I found myself alone in the parking lot, lugging 53-pound kettlebells in each hand as several coaches stood side by side, egging me on with abuse. One told me to farmer-carry the bells to the gym; another hollered at me for not bringing them to him. I was running toward the gym when things went black and I passed out, still carrying the weights and going down hard.

I came to moments later and was guided to a bench in the shade. My heart registered 70 beats per minute, apparently a sign of low blood sugar. I downed two cartons of Muscle Milk and rejoined the others on a march to the Encinitas beach. Single-file, we moved down a wooden staircase, passing beach-goers who seemed to wonder why a paramilitary unit was doing drills in a town known for surfing and yoga. Descending the steps, we were teased by a light ocean spray and the sparkling aquamarine waters of one of the area鈥檚 prime destinations.

First up for us was 鈥渟urf torture,鈥� in which you lie down in the shoreline breakers and get whapped in the face. Then we swam out far enough that we had to tread water. After about an hour of this, I was struggling to stay afloat and slurring my words. I was ordered back to the beach.

Sitting under a sandstone bluff, I watched campers come out and fireman-carry each other across the sand. I pondered my status. Kokoro coaches reserve the right to drop a trainee for performance problems, but no one had said anything. They were leaving it up to me. If I decided to quit, I would have to own it all.

So I did quit. I hated to, but I worried that I was taking a serious risk. The only thing the Sealfit doctor offered was sarcasm, suggesting that I hadn鈥檛 trained right. On the way back to the compound, one of the campers, Michael Israelitt, tried to talk me into hanging on.

鈥淲e鈥檒l get you through,鈥� he implored, and his generosity hit me hard. We鈥檇 only met that morning, yet he was pledging to carry me for the rest of the camp, multiplying his own suffering. I thanked him, saying that, unfortunately, my only contribution to the team would be 185 pounds of dead weight.

Mark Divine offered words of genuine compassion, then said, 鈥淵ou鈥檒l have to find a silver lining.鈥� I stuffed my gear into a duffel bag and unceremoniously walked out of the compound into an alley. The final insult: I couldn鈥檛 remember where I鈥檇 parked.

I went to the hotel, showered, bandaged my cuts, and ate a turkey sandwich. Then, like some fanboy of pain, I went back to Sealfit HQ to watch the rest of the camp unfold. By the end of the first 30 hours, two other people besides me had dropped out. The coaches rotated back and forth as they kept pushing the remaining 13 campers through epic CrossFit workouts, additional surf torture, and a dusk-to-dawn ruck march on Palomar Mountain.

It was inspiring to watch people tough it out. Danielle Gordon, a 35-year-old local CrossFitter who works in marketing, flew through the camp until early Sunday morning, when she tripped and fell during the Palomar descent, slamming her head. She got no sympathy from the coaches鈥攐nly a warning not to stew in self-pity. She kept going. Garrett Dietrich, a 32-year-old salesman from Pearland, Texas, suffered what felt to him like an asthma attack, compounded when he got severe chills in an ice bath. He finished the camp wrapped in a space blanket. Peter Feer, a 53-year-old executive coach from Basalt, Colorado, injured both legs on the first day but managed to finish.

And in a moment that won鈥檛 be soon forgotten, Jon Hofius, a 27-year-old mechanical engineer from San Francisco, was sitting in an ice bath鈥攁fter being dunked by a coach named Adam Stevenson鈥攚hen a blob of saliva and mucus started rising in his throat. His dilemma: Do I spit it into the water or onto the pavement? Which will earn me the lesser penalty?

Hofius chose to burst out of the water and cough the blob onto the pavement. Stevenson鈥檚 glare surged with menace, and Hofius figured he鈥檇 blown it. So, in a Hail Mary to buffer the coming punishment, Hofius snorted the spit off the ground. It was a rare moment in Kokoro history: a trainee went further than even a coach would have asked.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 believe you just did that,鈥� Stevenson said.

On Sunday around noon, the group was getting hammered in a final breakout. They were ordered to do 450 burpees鈥攑enalty burpees, imposed on everybody because a few campers had fallen asleep during the van ride back from Palomar. Then they were divided into two groups and assigned physical training using logs. Coaches came out with water hoses and buckets. As the campers hoisted the logs over their heads, they got hosed while Cerrillo laid into them. Divine, with his arms folded across his chest, watched carefully from the perimeter. Then he took over the job of yelling commands.

As I watched campers move around under the logs, it was obvious that a transformation had occurred. In only two days they鈥檇 become cohesive鈥攖here was fatigue in their eyes, but they were working efficiently and in unison. Divine was satisfied with what he saw. 鈥淐lass 32,鈥� he said, 鈥測ou are secured.鈥�

It was over, and the 13 campers who made it all the way whooped and hugged each other in euphoric relief. Nobody seemed to care about all the cuts and abrasions on their arms, legs, and backs, their skin ravaged by crawling through thorns and sand.

Divine had told me that when successful SEAL candidates emerge from Hell Week, there is a new look in their eyes, a gleam of inner knowledge. I could see something like that in my former teammates. At long last, I may have found the answer to my original question. Before, when Divine talked about the Kokoro spirit and his belief in an integrated, holistic training program, I was leery, and in the first few hours after quitting, I bitterly pledged never to return. But now I could see what he was talking about and what had been missing for me at Ironmans. There, if things go bad, you just slow down. No such option exists at Kokoro, forcing you to scour the depths for some hidden, stronger self.

But will I actually go back? My plan is to train to a level where I know I can finish鈥攁ssuming that鈥檚 something I鈥檓 still capable of. Then I鈥檒l decide.

*The print version of this story misspelled Dan Cerrillo's mame. 国产吃瓜黑料 regrets the error.

T.鈥塉. Murphy () is the author of , about the rise of CrossFit.

The post The World’s Most Intense Fitness Program appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

1. A FULL WETSUIT: “Full” meaning complete coverage of your torso, arms, and legs. A more buoyant suit鈥攍ike 2XU‘s Team 0 Suit鈥攚ill save you energy in the water ($249; ). If this will be your only tri, a surfing suit will do (but expect a less comfortable swim), or look into Xterra’s rental program (from $39; ).

2. LAYERED SWIM CAPS: Two caps is the standard for keeping your head warm in the Bay, but you’ll get just one in your goodie bag鈥攎ade of latex or silicone鈥攁nd you’re required to wear it. Bring two extras鈥攐ne latex, like Tyr‘s Latex Swim Cap, and one silicone, like the company’s Wrinkle-Free Silicone Cap ($3 and $10; )鈥攕o you can wear a second without mixing materials: Latex and silicone slip off each other.

3. TRI SHORTS OR RACE SUIT: Having to change from wetsuit to biking shorts, then biking shorts to running shorts, will cost you time. Instead, start the race with Pearl Izumi‘s Tri Shorts ($55; ) or Zoot Sports’ Tri Racesuit ($100; ) under your wetsuit. Both are quick-drying and provide a chamois for cycling as well as a chafe-free design for running.

The post What to Wear in Your First Triathlon appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.