|
FREE Strength
Training Tips and More
|
|
Preparation
and the
Ultimate Royal Court Challenge
This was my third time around competing for the title of Combat
Conditioning Athlete of the Year, a contest held at Matt Furey's annual
fitness seminar.
The first time through in 2006 I performed decently but was out
performed by others. After losing I was angry with myself because I
knew I had not given it my all.
The second time around in 2007 I was stupid. I assumed that the contest
would be the same. I was ill-prepared to meet the demands put on the
contestants and I failed. This time though, I had tried my hardest.
While I hated losing, I was even more committed to winning the next
time around.
Finally this year’s seminar was approaching. I knew that I didn’t know
exactly what would be involved in the contest. But I did have the
previous years experiences to guide me. Of course I figured the Royal
Court consisting of the Wrestler’s Bridge, Hindu Pushups, and Hindu
Squats would be a mainstay.
Therefore the majority of my focus was on these three exercises. Last
year’s final event which I didn’t even make it into was a 5 minute
Bridge, 500 Hindu Squats, and 100 Hindu Pushups. Since I expected it to
be tougher this year, I got it in my mind to more than double those
numbers.
Thus the Ultimate Royal Court Challenge was born. A 10 minute Bridge,
250 Hindu Pushups, and 1000 Hindu Squats. The goal was to complete this
in under one hour.
Each exercise is done non-stop. No coming out of the bridge. No
touching your knees to the floor on the pushups, and no breaks in the
squats, except to regain or change up your footing. You can rest in
between exercises.
I had been training in other manners leading up to the last few months
coming into the seminar. Slowly I started incorporating more and more
of these moves, along with a few others I expected to need in the
contest. As time went on I went to exclusively bodyweight exercises and
mostly the Royal Court exercises.
The challenge was my goal. I knew that would give me a damn good
foundation to help win. But working up to it was not easy. Various
efforts and building my numbers up were tried. Mostly it was one long
set done to failure or a goal number. I even did 6 days straight of
last year’s final challenge (5 min bridge, 500 HS, and 100 HP) mixing
up the order of the exercises. My best time doing this was 24:28.
On my first try at the challenge I had to quit at 200 Hindu Pushups. My
arms were fried and I collapsed to the ground. I finished off with 500
squats and called it a day.
The second time I went after the challenge I completed it. Don’t know
what exactly had happened but the pushups were much easier this time
around. I had found the groove, the most efficient way possible to do
them. I could have done more than 250 but I still had the squats to
complete. The squats were just a matter of pumping them out until
complete.
My time was a little slow at 1 hour, 3 minutes. I know I could do it
again and beat the hour mark but I don’t want to. It’s not a fun
workout. The important thing was I completed the thing, when during my
training I had some doubts if I‘d actually reach it. I don't think
doing it again would actually help me anymore than it already has.
I think these are great exercises. Doing them for this many reps though
is more than necessary in my opinion but certainly fit for a challenge.
Click here to read about the
Combat Conditioning Athlete of the Year Contest
<--Back to Articles
|
