Are You Chasing the Wrong Fitness Goal?

Are You Chasing the Wrong Fitness Goal?-DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training

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Sometimes obstacles are really blessings. That is what I have come to terms with in regards to some tough injuries I have suffered over the years. While at the moment, they seem anything but a fortunate event. The truth is reflecting upon what they have taught me and maybe what they prevented from doing was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.

Some may mistake my lack of emphasis of discussing weight as I don’t believe weight you use in your fitness is important. NOTHING could be further from the truth! However, I think far too many people nowadays are chasing numbers of maximal lifts rather than probably a more important concept strength work capacity.

Now, you may notice that I said “strength” work capacity and not just work capacity. If you aren’t familiar with the term “work capacity” it might just sound like just another cool way of saying conditioning and well, you aren’t completely wrong. However, it is a bit more encompassing than just running yourself in the ground. According to renown strength coach, Robert Dos Remedios, work capacity actually is made up of….

Core strength
Muscular endurance
Aerobic and anaerobic capacity
Body composition (% body fat)
Joint mobility (range of motion, durability) 

Athletes from all sports are finding DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training to be an answer to their fitness demands like these tough MMA women fighters!

This is an important distinction from JUST running yourself into the ground with endless burpees, running, etc. But how does this all relate to my comment about injuries and weight? 

There are those that may not know that I was a competitive strength athlete in both Olympic weightlifting and Strongman. Due to my injuries though I couldn’t train like most in either sport. A bad back prohibited me from chasing the big lifting numbers that other would strive for only a daily basis. No, I had to be very deliberate whenever I pushed myself to such levels and could only do so once in a long while. 

Building more of strength work capacity I was still able to remain competitive with those both younger and not suffering from the same limitations as myself. In fact, winning my first Strongman competition was proof that I was onto something. 

Now, is this a better approach? After all, you might not have such injuries or concerns, so why address this at all? As I watched most of my competitors (who often were also friends) go after the big personal records I also noticed that over time they broke down more and more often. They struggled with this constant chase for records and big numbers. Injury, burn out, and just flat out plateauing were often just a few of the struggles they faced. 

I believe strength work capacity can be a solution for a lot of people, I am not the only one! According to strength expert, Jan Dellinger, strength work capacity can be one of the most important attributes of anyone serious fitness and strength enthusiast…

“Most trainees fail to recognize that expanding one’s fitness base (overall conditioning) exerts very positive influences in other area of human functionality. For instance, there is a clear relationship between an athlete’s absolute (maximum) strength output and his muscular endurance (conditioning) quotient. This explains the continual buzz about upping one’s work capacity in the strength and athletic communities.”

Done right, building strength work capacity makes you stronger, more resilient, but also more functional. As Mr. Dellinger continues to describe the benefits of building strength work capacity…

“More bluntly, a distinction is made these days in many quarters between one-rep strength and “real world” strength. Not that the physical strength garnered from low-rep training is useless, but whether in an athletic sense-combat-oriented pursuits are the personification of this-or in performing physical work tasks, there is clearly a repetitive endurance dimension involved.”

Coach Dos’ athletes are known to be able to outwork just about any competitor!

This is consistent to what DVRT Master, Troy Anderson, that grew up on a farm in Wyoming has relayed to me on many occasions. Coach Anderson would explain to me that everyone has experienced that athlete that just seems crazy strong and has unrelenting “go” to them and often times they grew up on the farm. However, on the farm they didn’t do maximal effort tasks rather hours and hours of sub maximal work. In other words, improving their strength work capacity. 

Of course it is actually pretty easy to just focus on hitting big lifts and getting an extra 2.5 or 5 pounds. That is the truth, nowadays most people ignore their work capacity because well, it is tough! There are many think that building work capacity is just about running you into the ground with body weight exercises, running, jumping, etc. However, to build work capacity to your strength and being more well rounded you have to use load. 

That is where DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training comes into play. Coach Remedios, Mr. Dellinger, and Coach Anderson all believe that sandbag training can be one of the best ways of to improve strength work capacity. Due to the wide array of movement patterns and no two repetitions being the same, DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training improves strength work capacity pretty much better than anything else around today. Even current research is showing this by demonstrating using an equal weighted Ultimate Sandbag to dumbbells actually causes more work being done by the body. 

Of course just obliterating yourself with DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training strength work capacity workouts can cause burnout, I recommend you alternate high intensity work capacity days with strength days and follow with a recover workout like in our DVRT Resiliency program. This allows you to develop an all around fitness like you may have never experienced before! Try these DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training workouts to see what I mean and you can find out more HERE