The Nick Bare Podcast - 079: Training for HYROX Dallas: The Next Fitness Challenge

Episode Date: August 12, 2024

I discuss my new training journey for the HYROX competition set for November 23, 2024, in Dallas, Texas. I'll talk about what HYROX is, how it differs from CrossFit, and detail my current training structure and dietary adjustments. Also, I'll touch on my motivation for entering the competition, transition from strength training and marathons to a hybrid athlete lifestyle, and the importance of staying a student in the fitness world. This update will cover intense workout routines, team involvement, and the critical role of proper nutrition in this new endeavor.CHAPTERS0:00 Introduction to HYROX Training01:42 The Decision to Compete04:19 HYROX Race Structure and Categories08:19 Training Regimen and Birthday Workout11:59 Why Compete in HYROX?18:40 Learning from Past Experiences32:35 HYROX vs. CrossFit36:29 Current Training Structure47:50 Diet and Nutrition Adjustments55:21 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsStrength, endurance, and wellness supplements to fuel your performance. SAVE 10% at BPN Supps:https://bit.ly/nickbare10audioFollow:IG: https://www.instagram.com/thenickbarepodcast/YT: youtube.com/@nickbarefitness

Hi rocks. High rocks. That's what I'm training for next. And what I want to do in this episode is I want to talk about, one, what is high rocks? Why did I decide to compete in this new competition, or at least newer in the U.S.? What makes it different from CrossFit? My current training structure, what has changed, what I've learned so far, and how I'm changing my diet in preparation for this race, this competition, which is in Dallas,

Texas, November 23rd, 2024. Now, one of my goals in this episode is not to say high rocks a million times because we recently launched the first YouTube video for the prep for this competition. that's coming up, like I said, November 23rd, 2004, Dallas, Texas. And I saw one of the comments on that YouTube video was every time Nick says high rocks, you get 1% off your next BPN purchase. And I know I said it a lot in that YouTube video because it just naturally fit in the context of what I was talking about. So that's what I'm training for.

I'm training for a high rocks competition. This has been on my radar for a few years now. And I've found it interesting, but I was never influenced or extremely encouraged to sign up for, commit, and train for this style of race. But I am interested. And I'll tell the story about actually how I've decided to do this high high. Irocks before we talk about what it is because I'm sure some of you guys listening might be familiar. For some of you listening, like this might be brand new and you're just unfamiliar with what this new race is. But a few weeks ago, I was getting my haircut by Simon who works

here at BPN. He cuts the BPN team members' hairs before work, sometimes during work, sometimes after work on the weekends. He's a really good barber. And Simon has recently joined the BPN team. He works in operations as a material handler in the warehouse. And as Simon was cutting my hair, you know, we're talking about our love for strength training and running and the hybrid athlete lifestyle and just the combination of the two.

And he starts sharing about how he has competed in these high rocks competitions. a few times. And he loves the style of it. And he thinks that it would play to the strengths of my cardiovascular endurance aerobic-based background and the success that I've seen in progression, my marathon times, for example, but also just my love for the gym, strength training, power output in my background there. And I was sitting in the chair, getting my haircut by Simon for probably 30 minutes. And from the beginning of that conversation towards the end, he convinced me to sign up for high rocks Dallas come November 23rd.

And I was sold. And for me, when I decide I'm going to do something, when I commit, that is the trigger. It can go from, yeah, let's talk about this. Let me learn. Let me explore. I might be interested in this. but when I make that active decision,

when I say yes, when I choose, it is literally a switch. It's a switch that is flipped in my mind, in my emotions, in my daily thinking, in my physical training, everything.

I was all in after that conversation. And I signed up for and I've committed to this race. So we're in prep right now. We are deep in prep. And I'm really enjoying it. So what is high rocks? Okay, let's go over this.

In the YouTube video, the first YouTube video for this prep series that we launched, I believe I made the mistake and I said that it started in the UK. And I was corrected by many people. It launched in Germany in 2017. So not that long ago. Seven-ish years ago, it launched in Germany. And it's a competition that combines running in functional workout stations where participants run one kilometer, followed by one functional workout station, and you repeat this eight times. And these races are hosted in these indoor expansive expedition halls.

I mean, if you go on their website or their Instagram, YouTube channel and you watch videos of these races, I mean, it is like, it is an event. It is very well put together and done. And it's a growing sport. It's a growing race and competition series that started in Germany over the last couple of years has moved its way over to the U.S. And I've been seeing all these different people doing these races and these competitions and falling in love with it. So there's there's multiple categories. There's an open, pro, doubles, and relay.

Now, I believe the difference between the open and the pro, if you sign up for one of those categories, open has lighter weights, pro has heavier weights. Doubles is where you get to do the entire event or competition or race with one other person. And then relays is with a team of four people. So I have signed up for the pro category, the heavier weights. And like I said, it's eight rounds essentially.

Each round starts with a 1K run and then a functional movement. The functional movements are a 1K ski erg, 50 meter sled push, 50 meter sled pull, 80 meter burpee broad jump, which is of all these my least favorite, I'd say, the least sexy, in my opinion. 1K row, 200 meter farmers carry, 100 meter sandbag lunge, and 100 wall balls. So you do your 1K run, 1K ski erg, 1K run, 50 meter sled push, 1K run, 50 meter sled pull. you do those eight workout stations or those eight rounds and then the race is complete. And you get sent out in heats with multiple people or a handful of people in your heat at once in this big competition hall on this floor where people are in the stands watching you compete.

The energy just feels and looks very intense, very high. and that's what Hirox is. That's what I'm training for right now. Something different than I've trained for and competed in over the last couple years. You know, my background, obviously I started in strength training and falling in love with bodybuilding and powerlifting. And that evolved into running,

which has taken me through the process of marathons and Iron Man, triathlons, ultra trail races. And this is the next thing I'm training for. Now, this does not mean that I'm abandoning running. I'm abandoning strength training. No, I'm still running, and we'll talk about what my training looks like right now. I'm still strength training. I'm still doing a lot of bodybuilding movements because, to be honest, I love bodybuilding movements.

I love bodybuilding training. but I'm adding some different circuit style training and some more emphasis of different movements that are more specific to this style race. And the volume and intensity of my training has changed significantly. Like we did a big, yesterday was a big training day, which we'll get to. I'm definitely feeling the fatigue from yesterday's big training day.

Yesterday was actually at the time of this recording. yesterday was my birthday, 34 years old, and I created a birthday workout that the entire, not the entire, but a lot of the BPN team did, which I was extremely impressed by how many people completed it. It was a big session. And what I ended up doing yesterday in the morning, I woke up, I ran eight miles to kick off my birthday, 713 minute per mile pace. Started that at 5 a.m. and ended right before 6 a.m. before the family was up.

And then my afternoon birthday workout with the team, the BPN team, it was four times 1K run with 60 seconds rest in between each 1K. And I was holding roughly 3 minutes, 30 seconds for each 1K. Then 50 wall balls with a 20-pound medicine ball. Then four times 1K row with 60 seconds rest in between each 1K row. 50 wall balls. Four times 1K ski erg with 60 seconds rest in between each 1K and then 50 wall balls. And this workout took me one hour, three minutes, 44 seconds.

I was wiped after this one. But I came home to a beautiful, beautiful birthday dinner that Steph made. We had, I'm getting a little off track right now, but I swear I'm bringing it back to high rocks and what's going on, but I got to share this dinner with you that Steph made. We had Gouda and apple stuffed pork chops. Delicious. I love a good pork chop.

Growing up, I wasn't in love with pork chops because I always just thought pork chops or naturally dry. But if you cook a pork chop right, juicy and delicious, almost as good as a steak, in my opinion. We had Parmesan, rosemary smashed potatoes.

We had sauteed broccoliini, rosemary lemon homemade, sourdough facacia. Steph makes the best faucacia also really good sourdough. She had a a nice bottle of Stag's Leap Petit Sorrah, which is one of, if not my favorite wines.

And then she made a high protein using BPN, fudge chocolate, weight protein, high protein, clean ingredient, fudge, brownie for dessert. Delicious birthday meal. And I just crushed food after a big training day yesterday. But that was a big aerobic day. Now, why did I decide to compete in high rocks? Well, I share the story. Simon convinced me.

He talked me into it. And to be honest, I've been thinking about what it is that I want to train for next. I was actually thinking about this on my run this morning. Now that I'm back in a prep, I love being in a fitness prep for some sort of race or competition. I love that. I feel like I have a lot of purpose in my life in regards to my family, being a father, being a husband, I have a lot of purpose in my business, leading BPN and the team, the organization and everything we're doing here within the business.

But there's another part of my life that I like to and almost need to have direct purpose in, and that is my fitness. And I love maintaining a healthy diet. I love training, but I like training even more when I'm training for something. When I have something on the calendar, when there's a goal, a specific goal, a race, a competition, and I'm in prep, that part of my life, my cup is filled when I have something I'm working towards. And over these past couple months, the previous year, I guess, in 2023, I did the bodybuilding competition.

And then I did last man standing at Pylent Farms, Maine, where I ran 100 miles for that race. And then I set a marathon PR at the California International Marathon in December at 239. And now moving into 2024, I have some half marathons and full marathons on my radar. But jumping into another marathon prep or even a half marathon prep, I don't want to say it didn't get me excited. But I wasn't like, let's go. I wasn't ready to jump into another half marathon or full marathon prep because I'm familiar with this structure.

And it's kind of comfortable. I don't want to say the workouts themselves are comfortable because no matter what marathon you're prepping for and trying to hit a new goal or PR, the training is going to be uncomfortable, but it's predictable. I know what weekly mileage I need to accumulate and what workouts at what paces I need to hit

to achieve a new marathon PR. And if I was going to go into another marathon prep right now I would be working with my running coach Jeff Cunningham and I've worked with Jeff for multiple races the past couple years and we work really well together and we know what the workouts are generally going to look like going into a prep. We'll make some modifications to paces and splits and mileage and, you know, a few of those variables, but it's pretty predictable what it's going to look like. And that, to be honest, just didn't get me very excited. And as I've thought about what I wanted to train for next.

What I keep thinking back to was 2019, in 2020, when I really stepped outside of my comfort zone and I trained for, I signed up for and trained for my first Iron Man triathlon. That was Iron Man, Florida, and that was November of 2020. no, that was November of 2019. And that whole journey, that entire process, that experience was so rewarding because it was new. It was unfamiliar. It was like walking for your first time. I was learning things all over again.

I was, I was a student. I was a kindergarten, first grade, elementary, student in this new sport and this new competition where I was learning. And it was so rewarding learning something new every day, trying different workouts, learning about a new sport and a new space and being humbled daily with what I didn't know and what I was learning. So first off, why did I decide to compete in cross, or why did I decide to compete in high rocks after Simon convinced me. One of the main reasons is comfortability kills. And I was getting a little comfortable in the goals that I was setting in my fitness and the way that I was training because it was very

familiar. Two, I read books, listen to audiobooks, listen to podcasts every single day. And for so much of my life and what I do, my philosophy is never stop being a student. When it comes to my fitness, I believe the same thing. And over this last year, I'd say I stopped becoming a student because I was training for things that I was already familiar with and didn't know everything, obviously, but I knew a lot about. And I wanted to be a student again. I wanted to be an elementary student once again. I wanted to be humbled.

I wanted to embarrass myself. I wanted to be the new guy. And that's what I am right now. I'm the new guy trying something that is unfamiliar with me, learning what works, what doesn't, learning from people who have done it before and who are doing it right now and doing a really good job. And I never want to be afraid to be the new guy. And I hope that as you're listening to this, you apply that same philosophy to your life. Don't be afraid to be the new guy.

because you're fearful of how uncomfortable it may be, how dumb you may look. Trust me, I've been there before and I'm going to do it again. I was thinking about my first Ironman prep in 2019, like I was saying. And some of the things I did early on that I just looked like a rookie. looked like a noob because I was. I remember walking into the bike store for my first time after signing up for this race because I signed up for the race, I signed up for my first Iron Man before really understanding or knowing what an Iron Man was and what I was going to have to do in preparation for that race. So one of the first things I did is I walked into a bike shop

here in Round Rock, Texas. And I was looking at bikes. I was a little intimidated by the shop and the people there. And this guy saw me looking at the bikes and he goes, hey, can I help you? I was like, yeah, I'm looking for a triathlon bike. He said, oh, like, what race are you doing? You signed up for one? I was like, yeah, I signed up for Iron Man of Florida in November. And he goes, have you ever done a triathlon before? Or he goes, have you ever done an Iron made before? And I said, no, this is my first one. He said, have you ever done a triathlon before? I said, no, it's my first one. So he kind of took me under his wing and he talked. And he me some things that I needed to know about the bike and bike maintenance.

And I remember going out on one of my first rides because I used to ride my long bike rides on the weekends on this road out here in central Texas that had these big shoulders and it was pretty safe and not much traffic. And I remember getting some flat tires and I had these little CO2 cartridges in the back in my pack that were like emergency fillups. And I would fill up my tires with CO2 until I could get back to the house and change the tire around. And I thought you always just pumped up your tires with CO2 cartridges.

I didn't even think of using like a hand pump. So my tires were always going flat and I kept filling them up with these CO2 cartridges. And I shared like this one on YouTube series that was filming at the time. And I went back to the bike shop a few weeks later. I was like, hey, man, like my, I brought my bike in. My bike tires keep going flat. I have no clue what's going on. And he's looking at it.

He's like, I can't find any like holes or anything. There's no problem with the tires themselves. I was like, yeah, I've been using these CO2 cartridges to fill the tires up every day. And I wake up the next morning and they're flat again. He's like, oh, man, like CO2 cartridges. That's just for emergency. You got to put air in there. So I was trying to constantly fill my bike tires up with CO2 because I was the new guy.

I just didn't know. But learning lesson. And then I remember trying to learn how to swim and going to like a public pool and going to open water. You know, growing up, we spent a lot of time in the water in swimming pools, but never like swimming distance. or competitively or in lanes. So learning how to swim, competitive swimming, fast swimming for triathlon, was this whole new thing for me.

And I was in the pool with this coach, and she's like holding my hips up because my legs are sinking to the bottom of the pool as I'm trying to muscle my way through the water. And just people in the water staring at me and looking at me, I'm thinking, ah, man, I'm that new guy. And that's okay.

that's okay. Also, in the triathlon world, one of the biggest things I learned is, you know, there's certain things you wear and you don't wear on your bike. And I swear that every prep series video that I launched on YouTube during my Iron Man prep, I was learning what socks to wear, what socks not to wear, what size socks, how high they should go up your calves, how they have to match certain things that you're wearing, how to wear like your race suit and all these things. I made every mistake on how to dress like a triathlete while in Ironman prep.

And everyone let me know. It was great feedback. It was great feedback. But my takeaway there is it's okay to be the new guy and to learn. You're not going to have all the answers right when you get started. And that's one of the reasons I want to and am competing in high rocks. I want to learn. I want to be a student again.

I want to improve and expand my knowledge and capacity and experience in fitness, in different areas of fitness, not just lifting weights and not just running ultras and marathon or triathlon. but here's a new style of fitness that I can do and practice and learn from and then implement into this big bank of knowledge that I'm acquiring over my lifetime. What I am attracted to high rocks about and four is I have found that it does really favor a background and foundation of running or at least cardiovascular conditioning and aerobic foundation. Because it's a big aerobic race. I mean, you have 8K of running, 1K of ski, 1K of row. You're doing these functional movements, but it will play to a strength of aerobic capacity.

and I believe and I know that I have a strong foundation there. And there's also a strength element involved in this sport, this competition that I also believe I have a strength in. Now, it's going to be refining those two modalities and strengths of fitness to compete in this race. But it does seem to fit right in the middle of endurance and running in strength and conditioning and power output and musk endurance. It's right there in the middle, which seems like a perfect setup for what I love to do. What I also love, and I've heard a lot of the pros talk about this, and I've reached down to some of these pros. For example, Hunter McIntyre has been in this space for a while, and I believe he has the world record and does amazing things in this sport and trains really, really hard.

I reached down to Hunter to come down to Texas and when he has the opportunity, come on the podcast, teach me how to train in a way that's going to benefit me for high rocks. And I just want to learn from them. I want to learn from people who are and have been in this sport and are doing it well because, again, I want to be a student. And I want to learn from people who are doing it at a high level and doing it very well and have been doing it for a significant amount of time, or at least as popular as this sport has been in the last couple of years.

And what I've heard a lot of these pros talk about, as I've listened to some of their content or podcast, race recaps, and just watched from a distance how they're training, what they're training, what they're doing. There's so many different ways to train for this competition and this sport. I mean, you can include a broad range of different cardiovascular conditioning exercise. You can do different volumes and intensities of running and cycling, rowing, ski or all of these things.

The goal is to build that aerobic capacity. There's many ways to do that. And there's many ways to build strength. and what exercises you're focused on, whether that's your traditional multi-joint compound movements in the gym, like barbell squats, bench press, shoulder press, dead lifts, or really just focusing and refining the functional movements that you're going to be doing come race day.

And then finding a way to fit in some of this more intense, higher-end anaerobic capacity work, threshold work of these circuits and a lot of the ones that I've been doing recently where it's above your aerobic zone two, zone three conditioning and it pulls all these different aspects of training together to work more threshold level and capacity. So there's so many different ways to train.

There's not like this blueprint. There's not this playbook. There's many different ways to approach this. And that gets me super excited. Because me personally, I was also thinking about this in my run this morning. I like working with a coach when there's predictability in the workouts. I know, I love working with Jeff because I know the way Jeff works and it's very collaborative. And I look forward to these different track workouts or tempo workouts.

or just mile accumulation, but they're pretty predictable. There's only so many ways to cut and sew a marathon prep, if you will. I love working with a coach like Jeff for a prep like a marathon. But I like having control over my training. I don't like working with coaches personally where the workout, the prep, it's unpredictable. I like being very involved in the process.

So for this event itself, this high rocks, I will not be working with a coach one-on-one. I will be reaching out to and learning from and having lots of conversations from people in the sport. I will definitely be doing that. For example, next week, there is a really talented US rower

coming in, and she is teaching me how to improve my rowing form and efficiency and output on the rower itself. I've spent more time on the rower these last couple of weeks. I feel like I'm getting more comfortable, but I would love to learn from someone who is an expert in rowing to teach me how I can get better, what I can learn, and then I'll be sharing all of those tips and tricks and cues with you guys. So if you are rowing or you want to get better at rowing, you can then implement all of those things as well.

So that's why I've decided to compete in high rocks come November. All of those things is why I want to do it. And it feels like just the right time for me. A lot of these decisions are just based off of gut intuition and a feeling. And what's been really fun that I honestly did not expect to happen. But now that it is, it's very, very rewarding. So when I announced that I was doing this race, I obviously told the entire BPN team. And we opened it up to the BPN team.

A lot of the guys and girls here are going to be going to Dallas with us in November to compete. So everyone's, not everyone, but a lot of people are training for it right now. So we use Slack in our business for communication. And in Slack, I will put in the general Slack thread, I'll put the workout that I'm doing for the week or I'll write them in the board in the gym

and then the team will do that they'll do that before work they'll do it after work they'll do on the weekends they'll either do it solo with a partner in groups and it's been really fun and cool to see

going to the gym after work and seeing groups of people pulling the ski erg, the rower the wall balls, kettlebells the sled out setting it up to do stations and hitting a workout together and just bringing people together with a workout in fitness and seeing people really push themselves

and then write their time or the round they do on the board after they're done, that's been really cool to see from a team's perspective. Now here's one of the questions I've seen come across frequently. And it's what makes Hirox different from CrossFit? And I'm going to try to explain in my best opinion and ability, but I'm not necessarily an expert here. A few years ago, I actually dabbled into CrossFit for a few months. And I got really interested in it.

And then I just lost the passion and joy for it, mainly because I could not fall in love with Olympic weightlifting. I didn't enjoy the movements. I couldn't do the movements very well. And I just didn't want to keep pursuing that skill that was required for that sport. And I really just wanted to lift weights and run more. So I've tried CrossFit years ago, but just it didn't stick. I didn't fall in love with it. Now, what makes High Rocks different from CrossFit?

one, high rocks workouts and competitions are usually longer in duration compared to CrossFit workouts. Right, some of these workouts that I'm doing, these circuit workouts are anywhere from 30 minutes to 90 minutes. Now, the competition itself, I want to say the world record, don't quote me on this, is around 50, six minutes, like 53 to 56 minutes, somewhere like that, I've been told that sub one hour is very, very, very good. Now, I don't necessarily have a goal right now for my time and I'll have a goal as I kind of get more acclimated and adapted to some of this training and we start doing maybe some actual competition simulation workouts. But high rocks, workouts and competition are generally longer in duration than CrossFit.

The major focus in Hirox is conditioning as opposed to CrossFit is more so power output. In Hirox, there's a high predictability. You know what exactly they train for because the workout is the same every competition. CrossFit, it's not. If you know anything about CrossFit, all these workouts are different. If you sign up for the open, which I've never done. But if you sign up for the open, you never really know what the open workouts are going to be until you go and do them. The CrossFit games, the competition, the events, the workouts change every single time.

But with high rocks, it is high predictability. You know exactly what you're training for because the workout and the race, is the same every single time. It shows eight stations. Each one starts with a 1K run, followed by a functional movement. There is a low level of skill required in Hirox, so there's no Olympic weightlifting.

And Hirox favors more of an endurance-adapted individual or athlete. So all that being said, Hirox removes all the things that I didn't like about CrossEd. removes all of that refines their race and so much of that is why I've been like okay I can keep running I can keep strength training

I can add and incorporate these circuit workouts to build my engine and my capacity and learn a new style of race while still doing the things I love I'm in sign me up Now, my current training structure, I'm running about 45 miles per week.

And that does not include the running. I'm doing some of these circuit workouts. So I'm running six days a week. I'm doing one dedicated either tempo or track workout per week. So these last two weeks, two weeks ago, my workout was two mile warm up, one mile fast, one mile easy. One mile fast, one mile easy. One mile fast, one mile easy.

So it was three fast miles. Each one of those fast miles, I held sub six minute per mile pace. So it's in tempo work. I'll keep doing that. This past week, I was on the track. I did a two-mile warm-up and I did eight one-k repeats with 60 seconds rest in between in a one-mile cool down. And I was holding roughly like a,

a three minute, between a three minute, 20 second, three minute, 30 second, one K repeat. So I'll keep running in the mornings. And then, like I said, one dedicated tempo or track workout per week. I will have four to five dedicated to strength workouts per week. And then a Metcon or a Hirox focused workout every other day. So some of these days, some of these afternoon workouts, I'll do like say 30 minutes of strength and then go into 30 to 45 minutes of circuit. So like the workout I did the other day, I got this log.

What I'm going to do for this entire prep. I have it in front of me right now is I have this training log and I'm going to write down every workout of every day in this prep. And then I will share this entire journal with you guys. in the BPN training app after this prep is done. But I'm writing these down, one, to have a resource to share after this prep, but also reflect back on my training and then monitor volume and intensity accumulation throughout the prep so I can peek and taper at the right time.

So last week I had this workout. It was five miles in the morning at a 719 minute per mile pace. in the afternoon was a lower body strength plus circuit workout. So the first 30 minutes was strength. I did leg extensions, leg curls, and they did barbell squats. I had 315 on barbell squats. I did a five by five. So five sets, five reps.

And then after that, I moved into a 37 minute, 55 second circuit, to how long the circuit took me. 37 minutes, 55 seconds. I did this circuit twice. 1K run, 1K row, 1K run, 1K ski, 50 wall balls. So doing that after already hitting extensions, curls, and barbell squats, I was doing that circuit on compromised legs, which is something that I want to do for some of these workouts,

is I want to get used to running on compromised legs because that's how it will be during the actual event itself. I'm not going to be running each K on fresh legs, I'm going to be running on legs that are compromised from the functional movement before and the volume and intensity accumulation throughout the race. So that's just like some of the style of workouts that I will be doing throughout this prep. I'll share some other ones with you guys right here. Like I said, I'll be doing a Hirox or Metcon workout every other day.

So today, for example, because I hit a big one yet, I ran seven miles this morning and then this afternoon's workout will be chest, core, and triceps, more strength focused. So here's one from last week, seven miles in the morning at a 721 minute per mile pace. And then the circuit, which took me 50 minutes, 49 minutes, 25 seconds to be exact. It started with a 1.5 mile run. This was a really good workout. Now, 1.5 mile run, then a thousand meter ski. That was the buy-in. And then it was four rounds of the following.

40 wall balls with 20-pound medicine ball, 40-meter sled push with 200 pounds. Note on that here in a little bit. And then 40-meter lunge with 65-pound sandbag. So did that set four times. And then the cash-out, 1,000-meter row, 1.5-mile run. So those are some of the style of workouts, but current training structure, 45 miles running per week with one dedicated tempo and track workout and then 45 dedicated strength workouts in a MECON or Hirox workout every other day. Now, like I said, I'm constantly wanting to be a student and I want to learn, but I also want to teach you what I'm learning.

I want to be a guide in this process. Here's what I've learned so far. Now, this has nothing to do with high rock. or training. But Donald Miller is one of my favorite authors, entrepreneurs, and speakers. And he made this post the other day that said, Amateurs want praise, professionals want feedback. Amateurs want praise. Amateurs want a pat on the back. A pat on the back.

Professionals want feedback. They want constructive criticism. You don't have to be a pro to start acting like this. one, though. You don't have to have some professional status to ask for and invite and encourage feedback and constructive criticism. I get unsolicited constructive criticism all the time. Some of it I ask for. A lot of it I don't, but that's okay. So some things that I've learned so far. My running form, I'm not running form, sorry, my rowing form on the rower, can improve.

So one of the things is I've connected with a coach. She's coming out next week. She's going to help me with my rowing. And I'll make improvements and modifications to my rowing form to be more efficient, to be faster, to have a faster 500 meter split. Because I know my rowing could improve. Wall balls.

I know that I'm not going deep enough on a lot of my wall balls. will be considered no reps in the competition. So when I do these workouts, no matter how fatigued I am, I have to make sure that I am breaking parallel to get the full rep counted for. Like one of the things I've talked about, compromised running needs to be trained. Now, it's one thing to wake up in the morning, go knock out,

1K repeats, go for a nice, easy run, uncompromised. but doing a workout on compromised legs is critical going into this race. So being able to do 1K repeats or run really hard after doing 100 wall balls or pushing the sled, a really heavy sled, rowing, skiing, all these things. Running on compromised legs is something that I'm going to have to train for. I have not been putting enough weight on the stage.

or using the correct form. So we have been putting like 200 pounds on the sled. We need like 200 kilograms on the sled, much more. So now we're training with eight plates, 8 45 pound plates on the sled. And I've changed up my form so that I'm using more of my shoulder and arm to brace the arms of the sled as opposed to using my hands and my arms fully extended. because using my hands and my arms fully extended with that much weight on a turf floor that might not move as well as our turf floor does come race day, I have to be ready for.

And a lot of this prep, a lot of this race is all about energy management. So just like in anything running wise or racing, you don't want to go out too hot where you burn out and then you're just dragging and holding. on for the remainder of the race. So it's doing these workouts to increase this threshold capacity, building, building, building, and strategically pacing yourself throughout the race to have energy management to make sure you start strong and then you end strong. But emptying the entire tank as you cross the finish line after competing and completing all of the eight rounds.

So energy management is a massive discipline that I had to learn through running and marathon preps. And then I've just learned that you've got to treat this just like a marathon prep. Or there's a build. You build volume, you build intensity. You have these different training blocks where you're focused on different things. Like one training block might be focused a lot on rowing and skiing. one part of the training block might be focused on a lot of 1K repeats.

One part of the training block might be really focused on wall balls or sled push. So you have this build. You have a peak where volume and intensity is at its highest. And then you taper into the competition. So you shed that fatigue. You're still holding all of your fitness, but you're as fresh as possible. So I've always responded well to like a 10 to, to, 12-day taper, maybe 14.

I really don't like much more than 14 days, but say 10 to 14-day taper. We'll see how I'm feeling when we get into November. 10 to 14-day taper to make sure I come into the race as fresh as possible, but really managing this build, peak, and taper for the event itself. And then changes to my diet. So it's pretty obvious that there's just, there's more energy expenditure going on in this type of training environment. You know, I want to do really well in November. I want to do really well at the competition.

So I'm putting in a big prep. And it's been really fun. These workouts have been tough. But because they're different and they're new, it's refreshing, it's been a lot of fun, especially because I can still run. I can still lift, and now I'm layering on this new style of training that I haven't done in quite some time. But as volume has increased, as intensity has increased, I'm expending more calories and energy. I require more calories and energy.

Yesterday, again, clear example, as I've already talked about what the workout was for the day plus my run, I ended last night tanked. I was tanked. And then even, you know, waking up today in the first half of the morning, still feeling that fatigue. And you can't ignore those signs. I mean, there's times for sure to push. But if you push too much, too often for too long, you will actually have negative effects on your fitness and your recovery in the build. So it's being very self-aware of how you're feeling.

I'm monitoring how I'm feeling after some of these workouts. That's why today it's just easy run in the morning. I'll do some strength in the afternoon, but it's not going to be this high volume, intense, high-rox circuit. So I am loosely tracking macros again, which I rarely do, but I'm doing it so that I can ensure I'm eating enough. So I'm using my fitness pal again. Most of my meals day-to-day are the same,

but I'm still loosely tracking to make sure sure I'm eating enough. I'm not ever concerned about eating too much because I keep my diet very dialed in. But it's easy, in my opinion, in my experience, to miss on your fats and carb goals just based off of your hunger levels, training sessions, and like what you're eating. Protein, I never have an issue. I'm always very consistent with protein. So right now I'm aiming for.

at a minimum, 225 grams of protein each day, 450 grams of carbs, and 120 grams of fat. And that's 3,780 calories. Now, some of these days, based off the workout that I'm doing, carbs will be 500. Fats might be a little higher. I personally don't like carbs super high, just because I start feeling a little uncomfortable

when they're too high. 450 grams is a sweet spot for me. If I need more calories, I'll add some more fats in, and my body just does very well in that range. But that's what I'm aiming for right now for performance and recovery optimization. Carbs for these style of workouts are like your best friend. When I go into some of these bigger circuit training workouts like yesterday's before going

in. I had my pre-workout meal about two hours before the workout. And then right before the workout, I had a scoop of G1M sport and I had a go gel. So I had 44 grams of carbohydrates and 450 milligrams of sodium right before starting that workout. And I'll sit being on electrolytes throughout because I was sweating like crazy. We threw those garage stores up and the BPN gym. And once you start training some of these circuit workouts, it is like, it's a faucet. There's been so much sweat accumulation in that gym since people have started doing these workouts.

I swear I walk on the turf sometimes and I can feel and hear sweat and water squishing under the turf. But it is a faucet in there during these workouts. So you got to stay on top of carbohydrates and especially. electrolytes and hydration, but calories overall. This level of effort training where it's not like this really easy zone two aerobic conditioning. There's some higher end threshold work, zone three, zone four. Sometimes you're really put out a big effort.

Those carbs are going to be the fuel source that your body requires to get through those workouts and maintain a level of effort that you are proud and satisfied with. So diet, I'm being very intentional and dialed in with how much and what I'm consuming, but I don't want to go into any of these workouts underfueled. I want to make sure I have enough of one calories, but carbohydrates in my system, carbohydrates and electrolytes around the workouts, and then ensuring after each one of these workouts, getting in a post-workout meal, a big meal,

to feel good for the next day, the next training session. One of the things that I've started to do is before going to bed, having another meal to get more calories, more carbs in. I'm not always hungry after dinner before going to bed, but I know after doing this for so long, I'm like, I will just know, I'll be laying on the couch, getting ready to go to bed with staff. I'm like, I just feel like I need to get another meal in. I need some more carbs, need some more fats.

I'm probably good on proteins, but I need to get another meal in based off the work I did today and the work that I'm going to do tomorrow. I want to feel physically prepared. I want to feel mentally prepared because it's not only being able to show up physically for the workout, but it's being able to show up mentally throughout the day for your work, for your job, your family, for the training session itself. So staying on top of nutrition is so critical. And that's one of the biggest changes I've made to my lifestyle overall,

since this new training approach and style, is just making sure, one, I'm tracking loosely again. But keeping those carbohydrates high, keeping calories high, and if I need more fuel, if I need more food on top of those 3,780 calories, getting in because it's better to be fueled than underfueled for performance and recovery, especially with these big workouts going into a big prep and a big build. So G-W&M Sport, electrolytes, go gels, go bars. They had been my best friends.

They were my best friends during marathon prep. They're my best friends for all my training, but they are my best friends specifically around these high rocks workouts. because it's a lot of work, it's a lot of volume, but it's also bigger intensity that I haven't been doing for quite some time. So that's the game plan, guys. That's the new prep that I'm in right now.

Hi Rocks, Dallas, November 23rd, 20204. About to put it in a big prep, some big volume, lots of intensity, and I'm ready to be a student again and teach you and share with you what I'm learning throughout this experience in this journey. So thanks for tuning in.

We'll see you in the next episode.