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An Endurance Explosion
Unpacking the Explosive Growth of Endurance Sports
Between 2003 and 2009 the participant for half marathons grew by 80% to 35,000 total. In 2016 a huge number (250,000) applied for the London Marathon, only 39,000 of those would make it to the start line. This figure shows why the UK now has over 807,000 running events…
IRONMAN participation numbers doubled from 2008 to 2018 where a reported 64,000 men and 15,000 female athletes heard the start gun. What's interesting is in both genders for IRONMAN racing the ratio of male to female has remained the same, but for running events such as the London marathon, 43% of total applicants in 2017 were female.
The above makes for a pretty good argument that in the past 20 years, there has been an endurance explosion!
So why? Well, it isn’t because we are getting fitter! Although between 2003 and 2009 HM participation grew by 80%, finishing rates dropped… Plus we all know the obesity story… This leads me to think further into it, made me think back to conversations I have had with first-time runners or non-runners‘ doing it for fun’. Then that word jumped out to me, fun!
Running races, somewhere along the way became fun… No longer only about being your local club champion or hitting a certain time, it became about enjoyment and the race organisers and sports brands knew it! Celebrities suddenly started endorsing races or taking on races as ‘challenges’ to raise money for charity, they would grimace through their pain to show everyone how much they loved it. Corporate entries became hugely popular! Office chat stopped being about how expensive Sky TV was and became about how much they were shitting themselves for the weekend… This saw the rise of 'celebrity trainers’ who then got exposed to wider audiences and showed that because Davina McCall can do it, you can too!
While this was going on, there was another crowd, the ‘OG’s’, the ‘yeh I remember my first marathon in 1970…’, ‘No I don't use a GPS watch, that's not for pure runners like me’, ‘I won’t use nip tape, I like them to bleed through my 19yr old cotton vest’. All this would be said with a taste of resentment, now anyone could do what used to be their special trick, they were no longer seen as being ‘mad’. So what did they do? They stepped up their ‘mad game’.
Ultra marathons blew up, 50k races every other weekend. 50k not hard enough? No problem, there is the toughest foot race on earth in the Sahara desert called Marathon De Sables. It began in 1984, a similar time to the first IRONMAN but only 1 and 4 participants (respectively) were on the start lines, in 2019 MDS hit its peak participation of just over 1000 athletes with many more being denied and as said earlier more than 80,000 people participated in IRONMAN last year alone.
All this raised the participation bar and I for one love that it did. It helped uncover new talent, it has helped people to realise they can achieve way more than they ever thought, it has raised Billions and Billions for charities all around the world and it has ultimately given me and many other a career and passion in life. It may have been an explosion but the ripple effects are very much still going strong!
If you have found endurance sport has impacted your life, remember it isn’t the same for everyone but it is never too late. Encourage people to join you, go looking for undiscovered talent and help your friends, family and colleagues to find fun in endurance, however that may look. The money pumped into endurance sport set off the explosion but the makeup of it is you the participants.
To listen in to an interview we did with Olympian Sir Brendan Foster on how much running has grown, click here > https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/endurance54561/episodes/2020-06-23T23_19_21-07_00
To listen to an interview with the impact endurance can have on your life and the impact you can have on others with Andrea Talmacsi click here > https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/endurance54561/episodes/2020-02-26T04_53_58-08_00
To reach out to me, send me a mail on tw@innerfight.com
ENGINE
Double Mikko’s Triangle. We’re doubling the time and aiming to double the calories. Can you match your pace and hold on?
GYMNASTICS
Tuesday morning, we're diving into all things handstand push-ups with both strict and kipping variations, plus some fun progressions to challenge your upside-down game. Expect overhead strength work and spicy core finishers, too.
Toes-to-bar will take centre stage on Thursday evening with drills on the low bar and rig to sharpen your skills. Then we’ll move on to capacity work before wrapping it up with core and lat work to boost strength, control, and coordination.
HYROX
Build the Upper body strength you need for HYROX with a focus on sled pulls, farmers carries, push-ups (to power through your burpees), push presses (for stronger wall balls) and SkiErg conditioning.
MOBILITY
We have been quite dominant with mobility for the lower body; per request, we will stick with the flows, but make sure we hit the upper body harder this weekend. This session will be aimed towards the people that have shoulder niggles.
PURE STRENGTH
This week's pure strength session marks the start of the deadlift cycle, following high-volume RDLS. We also have some heavy box squats and volume reps to finish up on Monday. On Wednesday, we will start a paused bench press progression, incorporating some overhead presses and barbell rows as accessories.
WEIGHTLIFTING
This week in weightlifting, we are focusing on developing the split jerk technique. Followed by a classic complex of clean + front squat + jerk.
Monday Ride
A ride dedicated to group riding skills and some fitness. Coach Rob Foster leads this ride, if you'd like to join email Rob Foster
Start time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1.5 hour
Location: The Loop Cafe, Bike DXB
Track Tuesday
Our weekly on track speed session! For any level of runner looking to build their run speed, threshold and Vo2max fitness and run with the best running community in Dubai.
Time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1.5 hour
Location: Dubai Sports City Sports Park
Friday - Coffee Run
Our weekly tempo run. Sessions are built on an RPE scale and accessible to all levels of runner. We start together, run hard then finish together and chat about it over a coffee and breakfast.
Brief time: 05:54 am
Start time: 05:59 am
Start Location: Common Grounds
Saturday - Long Ride
Our weekly endurance ride.
Please email Rob Foster for more details.
Time: 05:59 am
Location: Bottom of the Stick, Al Qudra.
Monday
Time: 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: LRC Tempo
This week will be dialling into that Tempo effort (7/10 RPE) for 8 mins blocks. You will take a 3 min recovery after each block and repeat the sequence 3x.
Tuesday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Dubai Sports City Sports Park
Session: Track Tuesday
This is your chance to run fast with the wider IFE community and coaches. This week we will be running 200s and 600s at 3km and 5km pace. We will help you identify the best pace group for your ability at the session.
Wednesday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: LRC Intervals
Today we have intervals in the morning and evening. We will be running1km at effort, into 4 x 400s and then back to 1km of effort. Push hard on the 400s, these should be a 9/10 RPE.
Friday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Common Grounds
Session: The Coffee Run
This week we will be running
10X
1min @ 9/10; 1min @ 3/10
5mins easy jog
then,
4X
4mins @ 7/10; 1min @ 1/10 (easy jog/walking)
Coffee post session at Common Grounds at 7am.
Monday:
We start the week with some single-leg deadlifts into a power clean front squat complex, followed by a leg-focused workout that is sure to set the tone for the week.
Strength:
A) Every 2:30 x 5 6/6 Single Leg Deadlift
B) Every 90secs x 5 2 power clean + 2 front squat
Conditioning:
17min AMRAP
3 Power Clean (60/40)
6 Front Squat
9 Box Jump
Tuesday:
On Tuesday, it's all about push and pull in the strength work, with pull-ups, bench press, gorilla rows, and some static overhead strength.
Strength:
A) EMOM x 6 - 15-20 sec UB kipping pull-ups
B) Alt EMOM x 10 - 8 DB Bench Press / 12 Alt Gorilla Row
C) Alt EMOM x 9 -M1 - 30 Sec Dual KB OH / 30 sec hollow hold / 30 sec arch hold/rock
Conditioning:
4 rounds for time:
16 Alt KB STOH
1 Lap Car Park Farmers Carry
10 Burpees Over KB
30 Double Unders
Wednesday:
On Wednesday, we will start with some heavy squats, followed by work on both the GHD hip extension and the GHD sit-up, and then a tough interval workout.
Strength:
A) Every 2 mins x 6 - 3 2 2 1 1 back squat + 1 set AMRAP @ 80% of top single
B) Alt EMOM x 12 - 5/10 GHD Sit Ups / 30 sec Pallof Press L&R / 10-15 Hip Extensions
Conditioning
In a 3-minute window:
15 TTB
30 wall balls
AMRAP cal row
Rest 2 mins x 3
Thursday:
On Thursday, we have some bodybuilding in the strength work, followed by a real test of grip and capacity in the workout with high-volume dumbbell snatches.
Strength:
A) Every 2 mins x 5 6/6 DB Strict Press
B) Alt EMOM x 9 - 30 sec banded tricep extension / 15-20 DB Lateral Raise / 15-20 Barbell Bicep Curls
Conditioning:
For time:
120 DB Hang Snatch
Every 3 mins
15/12 Cal Assualt Bike
10 Hand Release Push Ups
Friday:
Finally, we conclude the week with an awesome partner workout that combines aerobic work with strongman exercises.
Strength:
EMOM x 5 6 Sandbag Over Bar
Conditioning:
In Pairs for Time:
800m run together
20 Sandbag Over Bar
100 Cal Ski
Park Run Together
20 Sandbag Over Bar
80 Cal Ski
Half Park Run Together
20 Sandbag Over Bar
60 Cal Ski
Car Park Run (Together)
20 Sandbag Over Bar
40 Cal Ski
Between 2003 and 2009 the participant for half marathons grew by 80% to 35,000 total. In 2016 a huge number (250,000) applied for the London Marathon, only 39,000 of those would make it to the start line. This figure shows why the UK now has over 807,000 running events…
IRONMAN participation numbers doubled from 2008 to 2018 where a reported 64,000 men and 15,000 female athletes heard the start gun. What's interesting is in both genders for IRONMAN racing the ratio of male to female has remained the same, but for running events such as the London marathon, 43% of total applicants in 2017 were female.
The above makes for a pretty good argument that in the past 20 years, there has been an endurance explosion!
So why? Well, it isn’t because we are getting fitter! Although between 2003 and 2009 HM participation grew by 80%, finishing rates dropped… Plus we all know the obesity story… This leads me to think further into it, made me think back to conversations I have had with first-time runners or non-runners‘ doing it for fun’. Then that word jumped out to me, fun!
Running races, somewhere along the way became fun… No longer only about being your local club champion or hitting a certain time, it became about enjoyment and the race organisers and sports brands knew it! Celebrities suddenly started endorsing races or taking on races as ‘challenges’ to raise money for charity, they would grimace through their pain to show everyone how much they loved it. Corporate entries became hugely popular! Office chat stopped being about how expensive Sky TV was and became about how much they were shitting themselves for the weekend… This saw the rise of 'celebrity trainers’ who then got exposed to wider audiences and showed that because Davina McCall can do it, you can too!
While this was going on, there was another crowd, the ‘OG’s’, the ‘yeh I remember my first marathon in 1970…’, ‘No I don't use a GPS watch, that's not for pure runners like me’, ‘I won’t use nip tape, I like them to bleed through my 19yr old cotton vest’. All this would be said with a taste of resentment, now anyone could do what used to be their special trick, they were no longer seen as being ‘mad’. So what did they do? They stepped up their ‘mad game’.
Ultra marathons blew up, 50k races every other weekend. 50k not hard enough? No problem, there is the toughest foot race on earth in the Sahara desert called Marathon De Sables. It began in 1984, a similar time to the first IRONMAN but only 1 and 4 participants (respectively) were on the start lines, in 2019 MDS hit its peak participation of just over 1000 athletes with many more being denied and as said earlier more than 80,000 people participated in IRONMAN last year alone.
All this raised the participation bar and I for one love that it did. It helped uncover new talent, it has helped people to realise they can achieve way more than they ever thought, it has raised Billions and Billions for charities all around the world and it has ultimately given me and many other a career and passion in life. It may have been an explosion but the ripple effects are very much still going strong!
If you have found endurance sport has impacted your life, remember it isn’t the same for everyone but it is never too late. Encourage people to join you, go looking for undiscovered talent and help your friends, family and colleagues to find fun in endurance, however that may look. The money pumped into endurance sport set off the explosion but the makeup of it is you the participants.
To listen in to an interview we did with Olympian Sir Brendan Foster on how much running has grown, click here > https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/endurance54561/episodes/2020-06-23T23_19_21-07_00
To listen to an interview with the impact endurance can have on your life and the impact you can have on others with Andrea Talmacsi click here > https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/endurance54561/episodes/2020-02-26T04_53_58-08_00
To reach out to me, send me a mail on tw@innerfight.com
Monday Ride
A ride dedicated to group riding skills and some fitness. Coach Rob Foster leads this ride, if you'd like to join email Rob Foster
Start time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1.5 hour
Location: The Loop Cafe, Bike DXB
Track Tuesday
Our weekly on track speed session! For any level of runner looking to build their run speed, threshold and Vo2max fitness and run with the best running community in Dubai.
Time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1.5 hour
Location: Dubai Sports City Sports Park
Friday - Coffee Run
Our weekly tempo run. Sessions are built on an RPE scale and accessible to all levels of runner. We start together, run hard then finish together and chat about it over a coffee and breakfast.
Brief time: 05:54 am
Start time: 05:59 am
Start Location: Common Grounds
Saturday - Long Ride
Our weekly endurance ride.
Please email Rob Foster for more details.
Time: 05:59 am
Location: Bottom of the Stick, Al Qudra.
Monday
Time: 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: LRC Tempo
This week will be dialling into that Tempo effort (7/10 RPE) for 8 mins blocks. You will take a 3 min recovery after each block and repeat the sequence 3x.
Tuesday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Dubai Sports City Sports Park
Session: Track Tuesday
This is your chance to run fast with the wider IFE community and coaches. This week we will be running 200s and 600s at 3km and 5km pace. We will help you identify the best pace group for your ability at the session.
Wednesday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: LRC Intervals
Today we have intervals in the morning and evening. We will be running1km at effort, into 4 x 400s and then back to 1km of effort. Push hard on the 400s, these should be a 9/10 RPE.
Friday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Common Grounds
Session: The Coffee Run
This week we will be running
10X
1min @ 9/10; 1min @ 3/10
5mins easy jog
then,
4X
4mins @ 7/10; 1min @ 1/10 (easy jog/walking)
Coffee post session at Common Grounds at 7am.
Monday:
We start the week with some single-leg deadlifts into a power clean front squat complex, followed by a leg-focused workout that is sure to set the tone for the week.
Strength:
A) Every 2:30 x 5 6/6 Single Leg Deadlift
B) Every 90secs x 5 2 power clean + 2 front squat
Conditioning:
17min AMRAP
3 Power Clean (60/40)
6 Front Squat
9 Box Jump
Tuesday:
On Tuesday, it's all about push and pull in the strength work, with pull-ups, bench press, gorilla rows, and some static overhead strength.
Strength:
A) EMOM x 6 - 15-20 sec UB kipping pull-ups
B) Alt EMOM x 10 - 8 DB Bench Press / 12 Alt Gorilla Row
C) Alt EMOM x 9 -M1 - 30 Sec Dual KB OH / 30 sec hollow hold / 30 sec arch hold/rock
Conditioning:
4 rounds for time:
16 Alt KB STOH
1 Lap Car Park Farmers Carry
10 Burpees Over KB
30 Double Unders
Wednesday:
On Wednesday, we will start with some heavy squats, followed by work on both the GHD hip extension and the GHD sit-up, and then a tough interval workout.
Strength:
A) Every 2 mins x 6 - 3 2 2 1 1 back squat + 1 set AMRAP @ 80% of top single
B) Alt EMOM x 12 - 5/10 GHD Sit Ups / 30 sec Pallof Press L&R / 10-15 Hip Extensions
Conditioning
In a 3-minute window:
15 TTB
30 wall balls
AMRAP cal row
Rest 2 mins x 3
Thursday:
On Thursday, we have some bodybuilding in the strength work, followed by a real test of grip and capacity in the workout with high-volume dumbbell snatches.
Strength:
A) Every 2 mins x 5 6/6 DB Strict Press
B) Alt EMOM x 9 - 30 sec banded tricep extension / 15-20 DB Lateral Raise / 15-20 Barbell Bicep Curls
Conditioning:
For time:
120 DB Hang Snatch
Every 3 mins
15/12 Cal Assualt Bike
10 Hand Release Push Ups
Friday:
Finally, we conclude the week with an awesome partner workout that combines aerobic work with strongman exercises.
Strength:
EMOM x 5 6 Sandbag Over Bar
Conditioning:
In Pairs for Time:
800m run together
20 Sandbag Over Bar
100 Cal Ski
Park Run Together
20 Sandbag Over Bar
80 Cal Ski
Half Park Run Together
20 Sandbag Over Bar
60 Cal Ski
Car Park Run (Together)
20 Sandbag Over Bar
40 Cal Ski
ENGINE
Double Mikko’s Triangle. We’re doubling the time and aiming to double the calories. Can you match your pace and hold on?
GYMNASTICS
Tuesday morning, we're diving into all things handstand push-ups with both strict and kipping variations, plus some fun progressions to challenge your upside-down game. Expect overhead strength work and spicy core finishers, too.
Toes-to-bar will take centre stage on Thursday evening with drills on the low bar and rig to sharpen your skills. Then we’ll move on to capacity work before wrapping it up with core and lat work to boost strength, control, and coordination.
HYROX
Build the Upper body strength you need for HYROX with a focus on sled pulls, farmers carries, push-ups (to power through your burpees), push presses (for stronger wall balls) and SkiErg conditioning.
MOBILITY
We have been quite dominant with mobility for the lower body; per request, we will stick with the flows, but make sure we hit the upper body harder this weekend. This session will be aimed towards the people that have shoulder niggles.
PURE STRENGTH
This week's pure strength session marks the start of the deadlift cycle, following high-volume RDLS. We also have some heavy box squats and volume reps to finish up on Monday. On Wednesday, we will start a paused bench press progression, incorporating some overhead presses and barbell rows as accessories.
WEIGHTLIFTING
This week in weightlifting, we are focusing on developing the split jerk technique. Followed by a classic complex of clean + front squat + jerk.
Between 2003 and 2009 the participant for half marathons grew by 80% to 35,000 total. In 2016 a huge number (250,000) applied for the London Marathon, only 39,000 of those would make it to the start line. This figure shows why the UK now has over 807,000 running events…
IRONMAN participation numbers doubled from 2008 to 2018 where a reported 64,000 men and 15,000 female athletes heard the start gun. What's interesting is in both genders for IRONMAN racing the ratio of male to female has remained the same, but for running events such as the London marathon, 43% of total applicants in 2017 were female.
The above makes for a pretty good argument that in the past 20 years, there has been an endurance explosion!
So why? Well, it isn’t because we are getting fitter! Although between 2003 and 2009 HM participation grew by 80%, finishing rates dropped… Plus we all know the obesity story… This leads me to think further into it, made me think back to conversations I have had with first-time runners or non-runners‘ doing it for fun’. Then that word jumped out to me, fun!
Running races, somewhere along the way became fun… No longer only about being your local club champion or hitting a certain time, it became about enjoyment and the race organisers and sports brands knew it! Celebrities suddenly started endorsing races or taking on races as ‘challenges’ to raise money for charity, they would grimace through their pain to show everyone how much they loved it. Corporate entries became hugely popular! Office chat stopped being about how expensive Sky TV was and became about how much they were shitting themselves for the weekend… This saw the rise of 'celebrity trainers’ who then got exposed to wider audiences and showed that because Davina McCall can do it, you can too!
While this was going on, there was another crowd, the ‘OG’s’, the ‘yeh I remember my first marathon in 1970…’, ‘No I don't use a GPS watch, that's not for pure runners like me’, ‘I won’t use nip tape, I like them to bleed through my 19yr old cotton vest’. All this would be said with a taste of resentment, now anyone could do what used to be their special trick, they were no longer seen as being ‘mad’. So what did they do? They stepped up their ‘mad game’.
Ultra marathons blew up, 50k races every other weekend. 50k not hard enough? No problem, there is the toughest foot race on earth in the Sahara desert called Marathon De Sables. It began in 1984, a similar time to the first IRONMAN but only 1 and 4 participants (respectively) were on the start lines, in 2019 MDS hit its peak participation of just over 1000 athletes with many more being denied and as said earlier more than 80,000 people participated in IRONMAN last year alone.
All this raised the participation bar and I for one love that it did. It helped uncover new talent, it has helped people to realise they can achieve way more than they ever thought, it has raised Billions and Billions for charities all around the world and it has ultimately given me and many other a career and passion in life. It may have been an explosion but the ripple effects are very much still going strong!
If you have found endurance sport has impacted your life, remember it isn’t the same for everyone but it is never too late. Encourage people to join you, go looking for undiscovered talent and help your friends, family and colleagues to find fun in endurance, however that may look. The money pumped into endurance sport set off the explosion but the makeup of it is you the participants.
To listen in to an interview we did with Olympian Sir Brendan Foster on how much running has grown, click here > https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/endurance54561/episodes/2020-06-23T23_19_21-07_00
To listen to an interview with the impact endurance can have on your life and the impact you can have on others with Andrea Talmacsi click here > https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/endurance54561/episodes/2020-02-26T04_53_58-08_00
To reach out to me, send me a mail on tw@innerfight.com
Monday
Time: 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: LRC Tempo
This week will be dialling into that Tempo effort (7/10 RPE) for 8 mins blocks. You will take a 3 min recovery after each block and repeat the sequence 3x.
Tuesday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Dubai Sports City Sports Park
Session: Track Tuesday
This is your chance to run fast with the wider IFE community and coaches. This week we will be running 200s and 600s at 3km and 5km pace. We will help you identify the best pace group for your ability at the session.
Wednesday
Time: 5:59am & 5:59pm
Location: InnerFight
Session: LRC Intervals
Today we have intervals in the morning and evening. We will be running1km at effort, into 4 x 400s and then back to 1km of effort. Push hard on the 400s, these should be a 9/10 RPE.
Friday
Time: 5:59am
Location: Common Grounds
Session: The Coffee Run
This week we will be running
10X
1min @ 9/10; 1min @ 3/10
5mins easy jog
then,
4X
4mins @ 7/10; 1min @ 1/10 (easy jog/walking)
Coffee post session at Common Grounds at 7am.
Monday:
We start the week with some single-leg deadlifts into a power clean front squat complex, followed by a leg-focused workout that is sure to set the tone for the week.
Strength:
A) Every 2:30 x 5 6/6 Single Leg Deadlift
B) Every 90secs x 5 2 power clean + 2 front squat
Conditioning:
17min AMRAP
3 Power Clean (60/40)
6 Front Squat
9 Box Jump
Tuesday:
On Tuesday, it's all about push and pull in the strength work, with pull-ups, bench press, gorilla rows, and some static overhead strength.
Strength:
A) EMOM x 6 - 15-20 sec UB kipping pull-ups
B) Alt EMOM x 10 - 8 DB Bench Press / 12 Alt Gorilla Row
C) Alt EMOM x 9 -M1 - 30 Sec Dual KB OH / 30 sec hollow hold / 30 sec arch hold/rock
Conditioning:
4 rounds for time:
16 Alt KB STOH
1 Lap Car Park Farmers Carry
10 Burpees Over KB
30 Double Unders
Wednesday:
On Wednesday, we will start with some heavy squats, followed by work on both the GHD hip extension and the GHD sit-up, and then a tough interval workout.
Strength:
A) Every 2 mins x 6 - 3 2 2 1 1 back squat + 1 set AMRAP @ 80% of top single
B) Alt EMOM x 12 - 5/10 GHD Sit Ups / 30 sec Pallof Press L&R / 10-15 Hip Extensions
Conditioning
In a 3-minute window:
15 TTB
30 wall balls
AMRAP cal row
Rest 2 mins x 3
Thursday:
On Thursday, we have some bodybuilding in the strength work, followed by a real test of grip and capacity in the workout with high-volume dumbbell snatches.
Strength:
A) Every 2 mins x 5 6/6 DB Strict Press
B) Alt EMOM x 9 - 30 sec banded tricep extension / 15-20 DB Lateral Raise / 15-20 Barbell Bicep Curls
Conditioning:
For time:
120 DB Hang Snatch
Every 3 mins
15/12 Cal Assualt Bike
10 Hand Release Push Ups
Friday:
Finally, we conclude the week with an awesome partner workout that combines aerobic work with strongman exercises.
Strength:
EMOM x 5 6 Sandbag Over Bar
Conditioning:
In Pairs for Time:
800m run together
20 Sandbag Over Bar
100 Cal Ski
Park Run Together
20 Sandbag Over Bar
80 Cal Ski
Half Park Run Together
20 Sandbag Over Bar
60 Cal Ski
Car Park Run (Together)
20 Sandbag Over Bar
40 Cal Ski
ENGINE
Double Mikko’s Triangle. We’re doubling the time and aiming to double the calories. Can you match your pace and hold on?
GYMNASTICS
Tuesday morning, we're diving into all things handstand push-ups with both strict and kipping variations, plus some fun progressions to challenge your upside-down game. Expect overhead strength work and spicy core finishers, too.
Toes-to-bar will take centre stage on Thursday evening with drills on the low bar and rig to sharpen your skills. Then we’ll move on to capacity work before wrapping it up with core and lat work to boost strength, control, and coordination.
HYROX
Build the Upper body strength you need for HYROX with a focus on sled pulls, farmers carries, push-ups (to power through your burpees), push presses (for stronger wall balls) and SkiErg conditioning.
MOBILITY
We have been quite dominant with mobility for the lower body; per request, we will stick with the flows, but make sure we hit the upper body harder this weekend. This session will be aimed towards the people that have shoulder niggles.
PURE STRENGTH
This week's pure strength session marks the start of the deadlift cycle, following high-volume RDLS. We also have some heavy box squats and volume reps to finish up on Monday. On Wednesday, we will start a paused bench press progression, incorporating some overhead presses and barbell rows as accessories.
WEIGHTLIFTING
This week in weightlifting, we are focusing on developing the split jerk technique. Followed by a classic complex of clean + front squat + jerk.
Monday Ride
A ride dedicated to group riding skills and some fitness. Coach Rob Foster leads this ride, if you'd like to join email Rob Foster
Start time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1.5 hour
Location: The Loop Cafe, Bike DXB
Track Tuesday
Our weekly on track speed session! For any level of runner looking to build their run speed, threshold and Vo2max fitness and run with the best running community in Dubai.
Time: 05:59 am
Session Length: 1.5 hour
Location: Dubai Sports City Sports Park
Friday - Coffee Run
Our weekly tempo run. Sessions are built on an RPE scale and accessible to all levels of runner. We start together, run hard then finish together and chat about it over a coffee and breakfast.
Brief time: 05:54 am
Start time: 05:59 am
Start Location: Common Grounds
Saturday - Long Ride
Our weekly endurance ride.
Please email Rob Foster for more details.
Time: 05:59 am
Location: Bottom of the Stick, Al Qudra.
Between 2003 and 2009 the participant for half marathons grew by 80% to 35,000 total. In 2016 a huge number (250,000) applied for the London Marathon, only 39,000 of those would make it to the start line. This figure shows why the UK now has over 807,000 running events…
IRONMAN participation numbers doubled from 2008 to 2018 where a reported 64,000 men and 15,000 female athletes heard the start gun. What's interesting is in both genders for IRONMAN racing the ratio of male to female has remained the same, but for running events such as the London marathon, 43% of total applicants in 2017 were female.
The above makes for a pretty good argument that in the past 20 years, there has been an endurance explosion!
So why? Well, it isn’t because we are getting fitter! Although between 2003 and 2009 HM participation grew by 80%, finishing rates dropped… Plus we all know the obesity story… This leads me to think further into it, made me think back to conversations I have had with first-time runners or non-runners‘ doing it for fun’. Then that word jumped out to me, fun!
Running races, somewhere along the way became fun… No longer only about being your local club champion or hitting a certain time, it became about enjoyment and the race organisers and sports brands knew it! Celebrities suddenly started endorsing races or taking on races as ‘challenges’ to raise money for charity, they would grimace through their pain to show everyone how much they loved it. Corporate entries became hugely popular! Office chat stopped being about how expensive Sky TV was and became about how much they were shitting themselves for the weekend… This saw the rise of 'celebrity trainers’ who then got exposed to wider audiences and showed that because Davina McCall can do it, you can too!
While this was going on, there was another crowd, the ‘OG’s’, the ‘yeh I remember my first marathon in 1970…’, ‘No I don't use a GPS watch, that's not for pure runners like me’, ‘I won’t use nip tape, I like them to bleed through my 19yr old cotton vest’. All this would be said with a taste of resentment, now anyone could do what used to be their special trick, they were no longer seen as being ‘mad’. So what did they do? They stepped up their ‘mad game’.
Ultra marathons blew up, 50k races every other weekend. 50k not hard enough? No problem, there is the toughest foot race on earth in the Sahara desert called Marathon De Sables. It began in 1984, a similar time to the first IRONMAN but only 1 and 4 participants (respectively) were on the start lines, in 2019 MDS hit its peak participation of just over 1000 athletes with many more being denied and as said earlier more than 80,000 people participated in IRONMAN last year alone.
All this raised the participation bar and I for one love that it did. It helped uncover new talent, it has helped people to realise they can achieve way more than they ever thought, it has raised Billions and Billions for charities all around the world and it has ultimately given me and many other a career and passion in life. It may have been an explosion but the ripple effects are very much still going strong!
If you have found endurance sport has impacted your life, remember it isn’t the same for everyone but it is never too late. Encourage people to join you, go looking for undiscovered talent and help your friends, family and colleagues to find fun in endurance, however that may look. The money pumped into endurance sport set off the explosion but the makeup of it is you the participants.
To listen in to an interview we did with Olympian Sir Brendan Foster on how much running has grown, click here > https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/endurance54561/episodes/2020-06-23T23_19_21-07_00
To listen to an interview with the impact endurance can have on your life and the impact you can have on others with Andrea Talmacsi click here > https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/endurance54561/episodes/2020-02-26T04_53_58-08_00
To reach out to me, send me a mail on tw@innerfight.com
Between 2003 and 2009 the participant for half marathons grew by 80% to 35,000 total. In 2016 a huge number (250,000) applied for the London Marathon, only 39,000 of those would make it to the start line. This figure shows why the UK now has over 807,000 running events…
IRONMAN participation numbers doubled from 2008 to 2018 where a reported 64,000 men and 15,000 female athletes heard the start gun. What's interesting is in both genders for IRONMAN racing the ratio of male to female has remained the same, but for running events such as the London marathon, 43% of total applicants in 2017 were female.
The above makes for a pretty good argument that in the past 20 years, there has been an endurance explosion!
So why? Well, it isn’t because we are getting fitter! Although between 2003 and 2009 HM participation grew by 80%, finishing rates dropped… Plus we all know the obesity story… This leads me to think further into it, made me think back to conversations I have had with first-time runners or non-runners‘ doing it for fun’. Then that word jumped out to me, fun!
Running races, somewhere along the way became fun… No longer only about being your local club champion or hitting a certain time, it became about enjoyment and the race organisers and sports brands knew it! Celebrities suddenly started endorsing races or taking on races as ‘challenges’ to raise money for charity, they would grimace through their pain to show everyone how much they loved it. Corporate entries became hugely popular! Office chat stopped being about how expensive Sky TV was and became about how much they were shitting themselves for the weekend… This saw the rise of 'celebrity trainers’ who then got exposed to wider audiences and showed that because Davina McCall can do it, you can too!
While this was going on, there was another crowd, the ‘OG’s’, the ‘yeh I remember my first marathon in 1970…’, ‘No I don't use a GPS watch, that's not for pure runners like me’, ‘I won’t use nip tape, I like them to bleed through my 19yr old cotton vest’. All this would be said with a taste of resentment, now anyone could do what used to be their special trick, they were no longer seen as being ‘mad’. So what did they do? They stepped up their ‘mad game’.
Ultra marathons blew up, 50k races every other weekend. 50k not hard enough? No problem, there is the toughest foot race on earth in the Sahara desert called Marathon De Sables. It began in 1984, a similar time to the first IRONMAN but only 1 and 4 participants (respectively) were on the start lines, in 2019 MDS hit its peak participation of just over 1000 athletes with many more being denied and as said earlier more than 80,000 people participated in IRONMAN last year alone.
All this raised the participation bar and I for one love that it did. It helped uncover new talent, it has helped people to realise they can achieve way more than they ever thought, it has raised Billions and Billions for charities all around the world and it has ultimately given me and many other a career and passion in life. It may have been an explosion but the ripple effects are very much still going strong!
If you have found endurance sport has impacted your life, remember it isn’t the same for everyone but it is never too late. Encourage people to join you, go looking for undiscovered talent and help your friends, family and colleagues to find fun in endurance, however that may look. The money pumped into endurance sport set off the explosion but the makeup of it is you the participants.
To listen in to an interview we did with Olympian Sir Brendan Foster on how much running has grown, click here > https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/endurance54561/episodes/2020-06-23T23_19_21-07_00
To listen to an interview with the impact endurance can have on your life and the impact you can have on others with Andrea Talmacsi click here > https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/endurance54561/episodes/2020-02-26T04_53_58-08_00
To reach out to me, send me a mail on tw@innerfight.com
One-Hour Workout: Revving Your Swim Engine
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