Train With Pain #20: HYROX Prep Begins

At The Top Of A High

The training journey is always dipping in and out of highs and lows. Right now, I'm at the top of a high.

I'm looking forward to every session, I feel stronger in all of my lifts, I'm at the start of a new running block and I genuinely love the vibe around the gym at the moment.

I've always said that motivation helps, but it will always go up and down. You'll have periods where you can't wait to train and other times where getting yourself through the door feels like hard work.

Habits are what transform training from moments in time into something you do long term. I also think having a place you genuinely enjoy training makes a massive difference.

It's why building a supportive, friendly and fun culture has always been our NUMBER 1 priority at IAC. I want someone walking into a gym for the first time to feel just as comfortable as someone who has been training for 20 years.

You guys have built exactly that.

There's plenty of hard work going on, but there's also plenty of chatting & laughing. That balance is important and it's exactly what I want this place to be.

Saturday Fitness

So good seeing some new faces last Saturday.

See, it wasn't as scary as it seemed!

For the last five weeks, we've been gradually increasing the difficulty of our EMOM structure. EMOM stands for 'every minute on the minute' and gives us a really simple way of controlling the amount of work and rest you're getting.

Last week looked like this:

Minute 1 = 50 second run

Minute 2 = 10 kettlebell swings + 8 burpees

Minute 3 = 12 cals on the bike

Minute 4 = 30 seconds farmer carry + 30 seconds rest

We repeated that for 10 rounds.

How many of you have just looked at that and thought, hell no?

'I can't do burpees.'

'I can't run for 50 seconds.'

'I'd be dead after three rounds.'

This is exactly why we build the programme so it can challenge someone who is extremely fit while still being completely manageable for someone at the start of their fitness journey.

The run might become a fast walk. Minute two might be kettlebell swings without the burpees. The bike calories can be reduced. We can change the weight, reps, movement or work time very easily.

You're still doing the same class and getting the same training effect. The dose is just different.

The idea is to get you working harder than normal and challenge your cardiovascular system, but not to the point where you're fighting for your life.

I want more of you coming along.

Don't be afraid of it. We'll guide you through the whole thing.

If you can start getting this session in alongside three good strength sessions during the week, you're covering a lot of bases.

You've trusted us with the strength work.

Trust us with this.

I also celebrated my 40th birthday last weekend.

Thank you so much for all of the messages in my card. Reading through them made me feel incredibly proud and loved.

I'm very grateful for you guys and everything IAC has become 💜

Deb & Nadia - The Faces Of Our Next Marketing Campaign

Last week we had the wonderful Deb and Nadia come in to help us with our next marketing campaign.

The majority of you who currently attend the gym probably saw one of our adverts on social media at some point. Those ads are important because they give us an opportunity to show people who might be struggling with pain, strength or their health that there's another way of approaching things.

For our new campaign, we wanted to create a brand video that does a better job of showing the whole journey.

Walking through the door.

Getting assessed.

Starting training.

Building confidence.

Getting stronger.

And eventually reaching the point where the gym just becomes a normal part of your week.

That's difficult to communicate in a 30-second video, but I'm excited to see what the team comes up with.

And I'm looking forward to seeing Deb and Nadia become the new faces of IAC.

If the adverts hit well, we might have to get them some personal security.

HYROX - Dec

My next event is HYROX Pro Doubles, which is now around 10 weeks away.

For those who don't know much about it, HYROX consists of 8x 1km runs, with a workout station after each kilometre.

You'll be moving between running, SkiErg, sled push, sled pull, burpee broad jumps, rowing, farmers carries, sandbag lunges and finally wall balls.

The Pro category keeps the same overall race format, but some of the stations use heavier loads than the standard Open category. In doubles, you run all eight kilometres together but can share the work at the stations between you.

So being able to run well is going to be a massive part of our performance.

That means I'm dialling back into a proper running programme again.

I'll have three dedicated running sessions each week, plus our conditioning class on Saturday:

Thursday = intervals

Friday = easy run

Sunday = long run

Last Sunday I headed to Albert Park and completed 16km.

The first 11km was easy before dropping the pace to around 4:40/km for the final 5km.

I'm starting this block in a much better place than I expected.

The final 5km felt really comfortable and I actually had to stay disciplined and stop myself from dropping the hammer.

There was no benefit in turning a controlled training session into a race against myself just because I was feeling good.

I'll build on that session over the coming weeks.

The target for HYROX is to be capable of running each 1km section somewhere around 4:00/km. That's a very different challenge to simply running a standalone kilometre at that pace. By the later stages of the race we'll have already pushed and pulled sleds, done burpees, rowed, carried weights and accumulated plenty of fatigue.

The running programme therefore needs to get me fit enough that 4:00/km doesn't feel like I'm redlining every time we leave a station.

I think it's achievable.

Let's see how the next 10 weeks go.

Strength

Another four strength sessions in the bank this week.

Wednesday's session was my favourite and easily the most taxing. I was fried by the end.

Heavy paused squats, B-stance hip thrusts, suitcase curtsy squats, calf raises and some midline work to finish us off.

Plenty of volume for the lower body.

One movement I wanted to talk about is the curtsy squat because it probably looks like we're just making you squat in a weird direction for the sake of it.

Rather than moving purely forwards and backwards, the curtsy takes us across and behind the body. That changes the position of the hip and gives us a really nice way of loading the glutes, particularly the muscles around the outside of the hip that help control the pelvis and femur.

The suitcase loading adds another challenge because the weight is held on one side. Your trunk and pelvis then have to work to stop you being pulled out of position while the working leg controls the movement.

That combination makes it a useful exercise for building single-leg strength, hip control and stability in a position we don't get from our traditional squats and deadlifts.

And that matters because life and sport don't happen perfectly forwards and backwards.

We run, turn, step sideways, change direction and end up in all sorts of positions. Having strength available outside of the movements we traditionally train gives us more options.

You'll also notice that some people in class have a beautiful deep curtsy while others have a much smaller range.

That's fine.

Hip anatomy, mobility, strength and training history are all different. We're much more interested in you controlling the range you have than forcing yourself into a position because the person next to you can get deeper.

If you've done them properly this week, your glutes probably don't need me to explain where you should be feeling them anyway.

Christmas BBQ

Save the date: Saturday 19th December, 10:30am.

We'll have a big class at 9:30am, followed by a BBQ afterwards.

It'll be a great chance to get everyone together, have some food and celebrate another massive year at IAC.

Save the date and book on via 'Courses' in the app.

Chat next week,
Craig