I did a bunch of research on “Controlled Fatigue Training” (CFT), an Ori Hofmekler innovation. In essence, a lot of my training falls into his paradigm, but I wanted to see the specifics of his program. He goes into the principles of it in his book Warrior Diet, which introduced me to the concept of intermittent fasting. I got it several years ago; I really hated the name of the book, and when it first came out, it was widely derided for the usual reasons (new paradigm), but also because the first edition was not well put-together. It had interesting arguments and information, but definitely seemed amateurish and needed some better editing. I saw a sample of the new edition on Google Books, and it seems waaaay more put-together.
In any case, once you read it and understand that it’s really about freedom and survival leading to fitness, the principles in the book I think make some sense. I don’t necessarily follow his eating plan every day to his spec, but because it’s really about freedom, then actually I do. Sort of a paradox. But usually I end up with a day or two per week using his controlled fasting principles (really, “undereating”). After dealing with some other body builder type diets, it really is nice to not freak out about the effect of missing meals on your “anabolic state.”
Although there are many substantial differences, a lot of it matches up with Art De Vany’s Evolutionary Fitness. They both espouse unprocessed foods and intermittent fasting, but Hofmekler is much more hung up on the timing of the meals, whereas De Vany is more about controlled randomness of meal missing (as well as all of life).
Functionally, their workouts differ somewhat but both emphasize intensity and brevity. Ori’s “Controlled Fatigue Training” is intended to be grueling and make you tougher, and attempts to mimic flight-or-fight hormonal responses and adaptations, and push your VO2 max and lactic acid thresholds. His method is a three-tier system that has you pre-exhaust (“Pre-Fatigue”) your system with some cardio using light weights, then the core of the workout which is heavier-weight oriented (“Core”) and intended to be functionally oriented, and emphasizes back and joint strength and health, followed by the cool-down, or “Post-Fatigue” phase. Here you do some other light exercise, again to train to you function under fatigued conditions, push through and capitalize on your fat-burning state.
I would link Art’s “Best Workout,” but he moved that over to his paid subscription site. It’s basically an ascending ladder that goes from lighter weights many reps (say, 15) to heavier weights, fewer reps (3-5) (you can read a version of it here, if you look down through the interview). His idea is also mimic flight-or-fight response hormones, to trigger each muscle-fiber type, and to try to raise your lactic acid threshold, and not go to failure. After the brief, intense portion of the workout, he wants you to continue to capitalize on your fat-burning state by engaging in some fun, playful activity, such as hoops, or frisbee, running around with the kids, etc.
About the only difference that each makes in the weight training portion is that Ori uses and “upside-down pyramid,” where you start with the heaviest weight first and do it for low reps, then work to medium weight higher reps, as opposed to Art’s ascending ladder or pyramid. Both have you go through the workout with virtually no rest sets, if at all possible. Again, this becomes cardio training as well as strength training almost by default, and Ori specifically uses the term “Sustained Strength,” which he’s more interested in than just pure power.
Over the years, I’ve found that that’s how I train anyway. When I was in Okinawa, I would do a three or four K run through the canefields on my base, finish off with a sprint to the finish, then hop over to the gym, where I would weight train. I don’t know if that’s something I read, but that’s what I did, and it seemed most effective. I wouldn’t even practice the PRT (then change to “PFT”, then whatever it is now), but got “Outstandings” on the score. But I had motivation, too. If you got an “Outstanding,” then you didn’t have to PT with the rest of the unit. Not that I wasn’t a team player, but I simply didn’t like to be beholden to someone else’s way of exercise. 🙂
So, yesterday I did a bunch of web research to see if I could find out more method of Ori’s CFT and finally (*sigh*) ended up buying his CFT and “Super Muscle” ebooks (which came as a bundle). Was it worth it? Well, I don’t know. His book Warrior Diet contains the meat of the program anyway, which is why I had a hard time deciding to buy the ebook. But–the ebook did have some more specifics on the pre-fatiguing phase with some exercise suggestions and timing of the intensity sets.
I’ll see about his Super Muscle ebook. It’s basically intended to be the advanced form of the CFT. I’ll let you know how that works out, though his discussion about ape and chimpanzee muscle structure seems a bit… wonky, as of my first quick scan-through.
So, naturally, after sucking in all this info, I had to try it out. Turned out to be a good workout. I could tell I was hitting my VO2 because as soon as I was part-way through the first set of weights I could feel the “buzzing” in my front teeth. That may sound weird, but I’ve noticed that when I’ve been working out hard and breathing heavy trying to keep up with a fast-paced workout, I get a “buzzing,” almost like when your leg falls asleep, in my front gums and teeth. I think that indicates that I’m a little hypoxic and am really pushing my VO2 max.
In this case, it pretty much continued thoughout the workout, but was manageable. I never went into severe nausea, and didn’t really have to slow down, though I did pause to catch my breath in-between cycles in the Post-Fatigue section.
And just as naturally, my tool of choice for the Core section were my kettlebells. He pushes the idea of using dumbbells in the workout and emphasizes shoulder work and the clean and press. What could be better than kettlebells than that! 😀
My workout looked something like this:
The first five minutes were the Pre-Fatigue phase. That was running intervals (in place in my basement) at good pace for 30 sec with my hands up in a “defensive position,” (hands up at eye level, like a boxers guard), the 30 sec hands and arms extended overhead, 30 sec in defensive position but at a lower running intensity, 30 seconds of arms extended overhead at the lower intensity, the back to 30 sec defensive position at high intensity, etc. You see the pattern. Do that for five minutes, with actually goes by pretty quickly. You can add weights for this portion as well, but being my first time, I didn’t.
I followed that with the Core phase. Again, this is a timed phase, so I started off with the 32kg bell and did LCCJ for one minute left hand, then one minute right hand, then immediately switched to the 24 and did the same, then backed down to the 16. Felt good. And compared to the extended timed sets I’ve done with the kbells, this also seemed to fly by.
After that was the Post-Fatigue phase, where I did “frog jumps” which is a jump you start off by being in a low squat position. Again with the upside-down pyramid, five jumps to the left side and then to the right side, five forward, and five backward. Repeat with a set of four, then a set of three, two, then one.
Then I finished off with some abs; a couple hanging leg raises followed by 15 reverse crunches, then 15 crunches. Stretching followed.
Adapting my usual table:
Pre-Fatigue
30 sec defensive position, high intensity
30 sec arms overhead, high intensity
30 sec def pos, low intensity
30 sec arms overhead, low intensity
30 sec def pos, high intensity
30 sec arms overhead, high intensity
30 sec def pos, low intensity
30 sec arms overhead, low intensity
30 sec def pos, high intensity
30 sec arms overhead, high intensity
Core
1 minute each arm, LCCJ (32 kg)
1 minute each arm, LCCJ (24 kg)
1 minute each arm, LCCJ (16 kg)
Post-Fatigue
5 frog jumps left
5 frog jumps right
5 frog jumps forward
5 frog jumps backward
4 frog jumps left
4 frog jumps right
4 frog jumps forward
4 frog jumps backward
3 frog jumps left
3 frog jumps right
3 frog jumps forward
3 frog jumps backward
2 frog jumps left
2 frog jumps right
2 frog jumps forward
2 frog jumps backward
1 frog jump left
1 frog jump right
1 frog jump forward
1 frog jump backward
4 frog jumps straight up as high as possible
2 hanging leg raise
15 reverse crunches
15 crunches
Stretching and cool-down
All-in-all a good workout.
[…] out a good little session–I did my CFT Variation 1. Minus the extended Post-Fatigue portion. I was running hot by that point, breathing pretty heaving […]
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