A bit of disclosure: The “minimal” footwear movement is not that new to me. Participating in wrestling for 25 years of my life, and hence wearing wrestling shoes, gives a pretty good grasp of using the muscles of your feet and lower legs to grip, push, and pull during activity. Even when I was much younger, I could never quite understand why people wore clunky “cross” training shoes or even large heeled workboots when lifting weights. All that ever did was give me a back ache!

So, over the last month I have wore the FiveFingers exclusively when CrossFitting, Kettlebelling, C2 rowing, and running intervals on the treadmill. Results were great, and the weird looks kept to a minimum! Today was the first day of spring around here it seems, with most of the snow gone and 45 degrees it was a perfect day for a run outside. Having left my actual “running” shoes a couple hours away recently, I had no choice but to “lace up” the Vibrams and hit the road.

Following the CrossFit Endurance protocol, today called for an hour run. Having not run longer than 20 minutes, and that being on the treadmill, in the Vibrams had me a bit worried how my legs would react. My fears were put aside quickly once I began. I was feeling great after sucking down a “Focused Recovery” shake from Wilderness Athlete, and sticking to the soft margins of the road kept the asphalt pounding to a minimum. My pace was slower than normal, only knocking out 6.5 miles in 60 minutes, but I am definitely looking forward to hitting the trails soon with the FiveFingers!

Co-Authors: Dan Staton MS, CSCS Sportsman’s Fitness Jerod Fink Back 40 Outdoors

JEROD: “The legs feed the wolf”. That statement was getting repeated in my head over and over during the last stages of my most recent 50 mile triathlon in the wilds of northern Minnesota. Fatigue had consumed every cell in my body and I was running on pure grit and mental determination. When I finally crossed the finish line, I knew I was one step closer in my evolution towards becoming the complete sportsman.

While training for the triathlon and trail-running season, I ran across Dan Staton. After a few email exchanges, we realized we had similar goals for hunting as well as a similar fitness philosophy. Dan described his fitness methodology by coining the phrase “HYBRID Athlete,” which was both of our ultimate outcomes from our fitness programs. Dan describes a true HYBRID Athlete as having numerous facets of strength such as relative, maximal, functional and endurance strength. This means a HYBRID Athlete was proficient at resisting fatigue for hours at a time performing aerobic activity all the while was able to keep up with any anaerobic event like weight training, Olympic lifting, or Power lifting. Having the best of both worlds will enable the sportsman to attack the mountains with a very diverse fitness portfolio…Perfect.

Having wrestled from the time I was age five years old through my collegiate years, I had been exposed to wide variety of training methods that would help me stay in shape for the wrestling mat, let alone the mountains. Dan, on the other hand, has specialized his education and experience towards the role as a strength and conditioning specialist. It seemed to me that we could combine forces to erect a fitness program that would demand results for the everyday sportsman.

DAN: The following program is one that Jerod and I have compiled in aims to prevent injury, strengthen energy systems, and to encourage the most strength possible for our body weight. We feel this formula will help you become a more complete sportsman and enhance your outdoor experience. The specialty of the HYBRID Athlete program, is that there is no specialty. It is designed to foster terrific results for the aerobic and anaerobic systems of the body. The base program is very intense, but can be adjusted to adhere to your individual areas of opportunity. The HYBRID Athlete program is six days on and one day off. It may appear to be a randomized approach, however this is not the case and the results will speak for them self, or you can have your old body back.

DAY 1: INTERVALS Run 1 mile (light pace) 200m, 400m, 800m, 400m, 200m Run 1 mile (light pace / cool-down)

DAY 2: PUSH-PULL W/STRONGMAN Dead lift or Squat Bent-over rows or Bench Farmer Walks

DAY 3: “Flush” Day Bike 30-45 minutes at low to medium heart rate …or Hike 60 minutes plus DAY 4: Cross fit Day (circuit continuously for 20 minutes and note the number of rounds) Power Press Burpee’s Ring Dips Pull-ups

DAY 5: LSD (long slow distance aerobic) 45 – 90 minute trail run Or 2 hour bike ride (road or mtn. bike)

DAY 6: Kettle bell Day Kettle bells are quickly becoming my favorite way to weight train. A secret of Soviet and Eastern Bloc athletes for decades, they have only recently been gaining ground in the United States. While a whole book can be written (and has, see “Enter The Kettle bell” by Pavel) on their use, I encourage anyone tackling the Kettle Ball to visit www.russiankettlebells.com for more information on their use and where to find them.

The basic routine for kettle bells we use is: 21 Swings 10 Presses per arm 5 Turkish Get-Ups per arm

OR: Set timer for 10 minutes and perform as many rounds as possible of: 10 swings 5 presses per arm I can promise that after the kettle bell work, you will be toast!!

DAY 7: REST!!!! As we can see from the above program, every system in your body is getting at least one intense workout per week. The program also provides adequate rest for these systems, which is extremely vital in developing them to the fullest. The beauty of our program, is you are not over stressing any one system of the body. Too much of any one thing (i.e. running) can lead to strength imbalances in the body and over-use injuries. Another thing about the program is it can be tailored as you see fit. For example, my goal is to run in a trail running series next year. The races are anywhere from 5k to 30k. I can adjust this program accordingly to match my racing goals. I can replace a workout here and there with another run, or bike, or whatever happens to be coming up on the racing schedule.

But of course, what the end result will be is a guy with a pack on his back, bow in hand, ready to tackle anything the woods, mountains, or tundra can dish out! GOOD HUNTING!