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Strong and Fast
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I’ve tried almost everything to see what my body is capable of…
In just over a decade, entrepreneur Eric Hinman went from a former college basketball player and occasional gym goer to a world-class triathlete with finishes in IRONMAN competitions around the globe, including the world championship in Kona Hawaii in 2013 and 2014. He owns two thriving businesses (Urban Life athletic facility and Original Grain healthy fast food restaurant in Syracuse, NY), trains twice a day six days a week, and is currently focused on qualifying for this year’s CrossFit Open in August. He’s that guy. The day-seizing, goal-smashing doer with the same hours in the day as the rest of us, but a work ethic that puts him on a different level.
A typical training day includes a two-hour morning session of Olympic lifting, gymnastics, and a series of Metcons, plus an hour-long afternoon workout focused on body weight conditioning like burpees, box jumps, double unders, pull-ups, and more. The specific elements in his workout are constantly changing, but the basic recipe—refined through constant iteration and lessons learned from past injuries—is always equal parts aerobic fitness and strength training. For Eric, the two disciplines piggyback on one another and add up to next-level fitness. “At times, I’ve trained excessively in one capacity and suffered for it. I lost lean muscle mass and strength through too much endurance training, or did too much strength work and increased my muscle mass to the point that I was getting injured,” he says. “Strength training helped me prevent injury in triathlon from all the repetitive training. Endurance training gave me an amazing engine to compete on longer body weight workouts in CrossFit.”
For low-energy mornings Eric relies on cardio for a jump start, but says the best possible motivators are passion and purpose. “Pick something to work towards,” he says. “Aim to lose weight, get a race on the calendar, or set a goal for something you want to achieve.” Or, take a note from Eric’s playbook and find momentum in, as he puts it, “the never ending quest to discover what your body can do.
Created By Eric Hinman
Equipment Required: Standard Gym/CrossFit Box Equipment
Strong And Fast includes 8 tests that have been compiled to test body weight strength, sheer strength, mobility, durability and aerobic conditioning, anaerobic conditioning and endurance. Achieving a good measure on all of these would mean you have the physical capacity of a world class crossfitter and endurance athlete.
Complete these maneuvers in any order over time to test your sheer strength.
To test your max, build up slowly. Normally, I start with air squats before putting a barbell on my back. After warming up with some more dynamic stretching, I start with the barbell and do 5-10 reps to begin perfecting the movement pattern. I'll then typically load 135# on the bar, and perform a set of 5. Then 185 for 5. Then 225 for 5. Then 275 for 1-2. 300 for 1. Then 315 for 1. 350 for 1. I rest around 90 seconds between sets. See it.
To test your max, build up slowly, and warm up properly. I'll normally start with good mornings with a pvc pipe, then a barbell to warm up my lower back. After warming up with some more dynamic stretching, I start with the barbell and do 5-10 reps to begin perfecting the movement pattern. I'll then typically load 135# on the bar, and perform a set of 5. Then 185 for 5. Then 225 for 5. Then 275 for 5. 300 for 2. Then 315 for 2. 400 for 1. I rest at least 90 seconds between sets. See it.
To test your max, build up slowly, and warm up properly. I'll normally start with good mornings with a pvc pipe, air squats, and push press with a pvc pipe. Then an empty barbell, repeating the same movements. After warming up with some more dynamic stretching, I start with the barbell and do 5-10 reps to begin perfecting the movement pattern. I'll then typically load 135# on the bar, and perform a set of 2-3. Then 165 for 2. Then 185 for 2. Then 205 for 1. 225 for 1. Rest at least 90 seconds between sets. See it.
To test your max, build up slowly, and warm up properly. I'll normally start with air squats with a pvc overhead - doing overhead squats. After warming up with some more dynamic stretching, I start with an empty barbell and do 5-10 reps to begin perfecting the movement pattern. I'll then typically load 95# on the bar, and perform a set of 5. Then 115 for 5. Then 135 for 2. Then 155 for 2. 175 for 1. Then 185 for 1. 200 for 1. I rest around 90 seconds between sets. See it.
1 mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats, 1 mile run with a weight vest. Pace it! The first mile run, shoot for a sub-7 minute mile, but not much faster than that! Do butterfly pull-ups to save your shoulders - I break them into sets of 10, with 10 seconds of rest between sets. For the push-ups, I break them into sets of 20 in the beginning, then sets of 10, then sets of 5! Shoulders start really burning here! The air squats I'd pace after 50 or so - a brief pause at the top. The last mile run, hang on for dear life! Whatever you have left - you may have to walk, and that's fine! Just keep moving! This is a true test of how durable your body is! See it.
This is an all out effort. My max heart rate is 180. I typically race a 10k at an average hr of 175. No pacing on this one, just 35 minutes of hurt!
Pacing is key! My max heart rate is around 180. Typically, I would run a half marathon at an average hr of 160. I'd shoot to negative split it - starting a little slower than my goal average pace, and slowly building to my goal pace, then finishing a little faster than my goal avg pace. The last mile, if anything is left, I'd raise my heart rate to 165. Anything over an hour in length, you have to pace - you only have so many "matches" you can burn when racing aerobically. Generally, I wouldn't need any nutrition during the race. Race morning I'd eat a banana, oatmeal, and a little peanut butter. I'd have 2 coffees - around 150 - 200mg of caffeine. Pre-race, I'd have another caffeinated gel - about 120 calories, and 40mg of caffeine. This is a true test of your endurance, and durability.
