How To Beat Froning: Steps 2 & 1

This is one of those posts that I should have finished a while back. Sorry. It be’s like ‘dat sometime. So quick to the point. These are the final two steps to beating Rich Froning:

2. Put In The Time… At Least 10,000 Hours

The 10,000 hour rule has been known for a long time. Scientists discovered that a common denominator of people who had achieved excellence in certain cognitive fields was they seemed to put in years of deliberate practice dedicated to their field. Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Outliers, reignited interest in this concept. This concept seems to carry over to the sports world, although some would argue differently. The popular notion is the best athletes are just gifted with speed or size or strength. And while it is true you can’t teach height. And folks like Steve Prefontaine probably rolled out of bed running a sub 4 minute mile. And guys like Rich Froning are just naturally good at burpees and power cleans. Sure there are those folks who are naturally physically gifted. But I’ll ask you, why aren’t all 7 footers in the NBA? The answer seems to be some practiced more than others.

In an article for the New Yorker magazine, Gladwell wrote:

No one succeeds at a high level without innate talent [but], I wrote [in The Outliers]: “achievement is talent plus preparation.” But the ten-thousand-hour research reminds us that “the closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play.”

Success in the sport of fitness seems to be a result of a combination of a body built for endurance or intermittent endurance (innate talent), a background in a complimentary sport like wrestling, gymnastics, or middle distance track and field (most of the 10,000 hours), and a lot of time spent practicing the elements of the sport. I had the pleasure of having dinner with Jason Khalipa (and Pat Barber) after they taught a Level 1 at our gym. Khalipa, who incidentally was a football player and gym rat in his younger years, gave a hint on what his training day was like. He said he might spend 3 to 4 hours in a block of time training and recovering on various elements. (If you’ve seen some of the NCLab stuff, this gives a good view as to what he does.) He also gave his insights on what he knew about Froning’s training. He said Froning does a similar amount of volume in a day as he, only Froning might train in morning, midday and evening sessions.

So there you have it. If you want to be this good, you’re going to have to make it a job really. Several hours a day with an allotment for recovery in between. Oh, and have some genetics conducive to endurance sport and a background in a complimentary sport to build on.

1. Follow Black Star

Not kidding. Follow this site. Or hire me to personally program for you. I’m confident that if you follow the previous steps of 2 through 8, a well thought out program like this is the missing link. Of course, this isn’t the only program that will work. But what I’m confident will not work is winging it. Or blindly following the programs of elite athletes whose programs may not be right for you. Bottom line is do something that makes sense for the sport and your goals. This is one of those programs.

Olympic
snatch: 20 minutes to a max for the day
clean and jerk: 20 minutes to a max for the day

rest > 3 hours

Accessory
NOT for time:
3 rounds
12 GHD sit-ups w/ medball
12 “Hug-A-Twinkie”
3 skin-the-cat

rest > 30 minutes

Conditioning
3 rounds of:
2 x 40:20 ME deadlifts @ 225/150#
2 x 40:20 ME handstand push-ups (plates and Abmat)
4 x 40:20 row @ 90% of RPE
rest 2 minutes

Note: One round of this sequence will take 8 minutes. Thus subsequent rounds will start at the 10th and 20th minutes.