All the talk over the movie 300 and the workouts they performed got me thinking. What would be the perfect warrior if you had to go into battle in hand to hand combat?
Let's imagine a scene. 100 men against 100 men. Let's take weapons out of the equation since with weapons you'll have a certain amount of technique. This is simply about physical prowess in a battle that could last for a whole day or more. With that in mind I have had a hypothetical look at some of the most popular training methods out there today. I have tried and trained in many of these myself so although this is my opinion it's also based on real life experience.
Crossfit
Let's begin with the Crossfit guys. These guys are conditioning junkies with some nice skills and excellent bodyweight strength. The best Crossfit guys look to weigh around 175lbs or less. The workouts they perform are painful and varied. My only concern is a lack of physical stature and overall bodily strength, particularly in the lower body.
Endurance - 9
Toughness - 8
Speed - 7
Strength - 5
Overall - 7.25 (total divided by 4)
Crossfit has built up some excellent athletes with superb gyms like this.
Strongman
Top strongmen are huge! Terry Hollands is a massive man at 6ft 6" and roughly 30 stone or 400lbs in bodyweight. Mariusz Pudzianowski may not be as tall but he just as huge. Mariusz is probably the best there has ever been. Imagine an army made up of guys like Terry, Mariusz and past champions like Jouko Ahola, Gary Taylor, Jon Pal Sigmarsson and Bill Kazmaier! Frightening to look at and certainly the most daunting opposition physically to see coming at you.
These guys are fast over short distances. Their strength levels are off the planet. I'm not sure they would really enjoy going hard for more than an hour though with little or no rest. Their huge muscles would fill with lactate acid fast and slow them down to a walk. Unless you had 100 Mariusz's of course! This may be their only weak point though.
Endurance - 5
Toughness - 9
Speed - 7
Strength - 10
Overall - 7.75
Near perfect? Mariusz Pudzianowski looking incredible as usual.
MMA
Could the MMA guys be the perfect warrior? They certainly have all the credentials. Their endurance is incredible. Wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, ju jitsu, weight training, conditioning, plyometrics is all in a days work for these guys. Their strength is better than the Crossfit guys but certainly not at the the level of our top strongmen. Some of these guys are fast too with lightning strikes and take downs. Plus they don't come much tougher than be able to take punches and kicks to all parts of the body and then wrestle till near exhaustion whilst fighting for a submission at the same time. These guys are good!
Endurance - 10
Toughness - 10
Speed - 8
Strength - 8
Overall - 9
In the 90's Ken Shamrock epitomized the look of the ultimate warrior.
Gym Jones 300 athletes
These are the stuntmen and actors that trained in the style of Gym Jones with the 300 workout and much more. From what I have read they did a combination of routines similar to Crossfit but with more emphasis on body composition for the look required for filming. I would put these guys in a similar category to the Crossfit guys but with the added skills of stunt work which means coordination and the ability to take knocks day in and day out.
Endurance - 9
Toughness - 9
Speed - 7
Strength - 6
Overall - 7.75
Canadian stunt performer Stephane, looking lean and mean.
On this 'evidence' and remember this is a just an article to get you thinking, nothing more nothing less, the MMA guys come out on top. Not surprisingly since they are the ones who are actually going into battle hand to hand.
From my experience I believe that the strongmen could be adapted to be the most troublesome to our MMA guys. I can adapt to Crossfit type training very quickly. Within a few weeks I can put up decent times in many of their workouts. However, I doubt that many Crossfit guys could hit big squat numbers or carry 300lb Farmer's Walks without years of work. The 105k Strongmen would come close to the ideal because they are faster and have better endurance than the heavyweight strongmen whilst still possessing excellent strength. (Although I am sure many top heavyweights would disagree!)
In essence that's what I believe Beyond Strong is. Greater than average strength levels combined with excellent endurance, maximum speed recruitment and a toughness to compete with the best in the worst situation. If you add that combination to ANY sport you are going to do very well indeed.
So what is the best?
If you cross Mariusz's strength, power and endurance with Randy Couture's iron will and stamina would you have the perfect athlete? How about the power and speed of Mike Tyson in his prime with the devastating strength of Andy Bolton and the athletic ability of 200m and 400m Olympic Champion Michael Johnson?
Who knows.
In the end this is purely a theoretical view of what 'could' be achieved but... if nothing else, it's cool to think about this stuff!!
Nick
