Black Flag Fitness
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Run for your Life!
Most workout plans do not include running for your life. Mr. Lobo uses General Physical Preparedness (GPP) to explain why maybe they should...
In late February 2012, My wife and I found ourselves deep in the mountains of Utah on a backcountry ski outing. We had rented a snowmobile in order to access not normally open to skiers, or really, anybody in general. We found a great little slope to run laps on; I would ski down the run then grab the tow rope of the snowmobile and be catapulted back up to the top like our own private ski lift.
My wife was getting a lot more comfortable piloting the sled, doing jumps and highmarks on some of the steeper aspects. I also noticed she was getting dangerously close to rolling the sled. Being a good husband, I advised her to stop and, being a good wife, she ignored me.
On the next lap her luck ran out as she tried to make a turn on a steep grade—the sled tipped and rolled. All her experience in the Texas flatlands did nothing but keep her frozen in place and she was quickly pinned under the snowmobile.
Fortunately, I was prepared. I was able to sprint to my wife’s position, free her from underneath the snowmobile, and right the sled so that (after we cleared the flooded engine and salvaged the shattered plexiglass windshield) we could return home safely (My wife escaped with only a few bruises and a new respect for gravity).
A quick assessment of the situation:
• We were about 12 miles from the nearest person.
• Cell phone service in the valley of our location was spotty at best.
• I had no emergency medical supplies to stabilize on-site.
Still, the situation begs the question—what if we hadn’t?
What if her wounds had been serious, the sled had been totaled, and my only option was to sprint back up through the snow to the top of the mountain to call in a MEDEVAC? Or carry her out 12 miles to the car as fast as I could?
The fact of the matter is, most workout plans do not prepare you for this type of situation. How could they? Do 10 reps on the run-for-your-life machine?
No. A different approach is needed, something that disreagrds the conventional boundaries of what you call “fitness”…
Don't wait until you're out here to realize your workout program is a dud.
Enter General Physical Preparedness
General Physical Preparedness (GPP) is the workout plan (or lifestyle) that prepares you for everything. Sports, combat, life—it’s all taken into account, anything at any time. In my opinion, GPP is a bit of a misnomer because, if done right, this type of training creates an elite operator, an apex predator with nothing “general” about his/her fitness.
Here’s GPP’s basic principles:
1. Functional, full body movements.
2. High intensity, shorter duration; coupled with very low intensity, long duration.
3. All aspects of fitness—speed, strength, power, balance, accuracy, endurance, flexibility, etc – exercised across any situation in any environment with any apparatus.
4. A “ready state” mindset.
Here’s what GPP brings to the table:
1. The Functional, full body movements that make up the basis for GPP stimulate muscle growth and body fat reduction that no other exercise can do. All pillars of fitness are trained making you a contender no matter what life brings. The muscles you create will not be for show (although that is a positive side effect), they will be for doing work—pushing a car out of a ditch, fighting out of a bar, or running for your life.
Zabul, Afghanistan. A long way from any elliptical machine.
2. The continuous cycling of movements, exercises, and workouts breaks palteus and keeps fitness exciting. A lion does not jog a lap before he kills his prey. A mugger does not only jump you on Tuesdays. You no longer need to be a slave to your routine or the globo gym that doesn’t have a squat rack. GPP is about getting your training in by any means necessary—just like Black Flag Fitness, loyalty is only to the results.
The author, "getting stoned".
The time: Lunchbreak
The place: 6'x10' "Patio Gym" outside my apt.
The means: 175 lb Atlas stone
GPP means getting it done. Anytime, any place, by any means necessary.
3. The challenging nature of GPP sharpens your mental edge as much as your physical prowess. Your mental strength will boost both your training results as well as your response to life’s stressors.
Anyone can do it, everyone can benefit from it. There is no better time than here, no better place than now. After all, you never know when you might have to fight for your life.