VO2 Max and the Fear Factor

I recently bought the book "Viking Warrior Conditioning" by Kenneth Jay, Master RKC as well as his DVD on the subject. Excellent work on both I must say! Buy them now at http://www.topnotchpersonaltraining.com/educationalmaterials.htm . Last Saturday I went through his 15/15 protocol pre-test and came up with my target number of 7. So I felt I was prepared for today even though I dreaded it, almost to a point of fear in a way.

Started with 20 minutes of Z work and then some work on pistols (I have yet to nail one). Joe Pavel has me doing some band work (JumpUSA) and some other protocols to get my tight ankles used to the "down" position. Then did a quick 1-5 ladder on pullups (15 reps) and finished with two singles at 12K (hard!). I had been doing chinups for a long time because they tested well but my left elbow has been bothering me as of late. A quick test on chinups resulted in much pain - but thankfully wide grip tested fine! The pullups seemed a little harder today, and I was wondering if it was due to any visual issues. It was early Saturday AM so I had my glasses on (I'm blind as a bat due to staring at a friggin PC all day). This may have hampered my form a bit - we'll see next time.

Now I was ready for the 15/15 protocol, or I thought I was. If you have tended to go for more strength work (i.e. low reps) you tend to hate cardio work. I am no exception. You want the pain to end quickly, and with a shot of adrenaline induced rage you can pound out a couple quick reps no problem. This protocol is no such animal. By the 6th minute I was already cursing Kenneth Jay's descendants (if he has any). My hands were hurting and my heart was beating out of my chest. Seems that sitting at a desk all day is not conducive to excellent cardiovascular health!

But I made 10 minutes/20 rounds of 7. While I only used the 16K, 140 reps in 10 minutes is really cool! While it is hell going through it, when you are done you feel so darn good - maybe its because you are done HA! But really, high intensity CRF work gives a totally different feeling than a single max attempt, and better I might add. Of course this all depends on your adrenal type and all sorts of factors. More on that later.

I will keep you posted on my progress with this excellent program - remember, simplicity is the highest form of complexity. When you read Jay's book you will see how much work he put into this and the science behind it all. And all I have to do is 80 sets of 7 to move on to the next torture of a program........60 to go!