I’m sure most of you reading this blog are aware of the other side of the Wild Geese. We’re not just about strength, conditioning and general fitness, no, we are also involved in the overlapping worlds of Security and Martial Arts.
Overlapping?
Yes. You see the Wild Geese founding members both grew up practicing martial arts, this led them to learn about conditioning training to be better able to compete. And then both instructors found themselves working in the security field, where again having strength and endurance can be life saving.
Our boy in Africa is no different. Wild Geese founder, Paul Cox, met Samir (Sam for short) in the Gambia when Paul was away working. The two became friends and it turned out that Sam was as passionate about the martial arts as Paul is. Over the course of a few years, Paul would travel over and stay with Sam and they would train. Eventually Sam earned the title of Wild Geese Representative. A coveted honour that has only be handed out to 4 people in the world, and we took it back from one of them.
Well it seems Sam has been doing well for himself. He’s training many of the Gambian security forces in unarmed combat, but now they want him to train them to be stronger and tactically fit.
You can imaging that in Africa, Gyms are hard to come by.
So Sam got on the phone and called up Paul’s for help. Paul came to me. We sat and had a think, here’s what we thunk:
We have already sent Sam a copy of No Equipment, No Excuses, the Bodyweight Manual. But this failed to impress the Gambians as they want all the shiny gear that they see on the telly. So we have to do something else.
We sent over links to some other peoples sites, people like Josh Henkin and Ross Enamait. People that like ourselves, use basic equipment, and they both strongly advocate the use of the sandbag.
The sandbag is the ideal substitute for a gym. It’s easy to change the weight, but it always feels heavier than the equivalent weight on a barbell. Plus it offers movements that are just not possible with a bar, moves that for a tactical or combat athlete are vital.
So Sam convinced his boys this was the way to go. Over the next few weeks Paul and myself will be creating a program based on the Sandbag and Bodyweight drills to turn the locals into unstoppable warriors.
We’re giving you guys the opportunity to follow along, all the resources we send over to Sam will be made available, via or shop page. Plus there will be plenty of information posted right here for no charge.
In fact heres a favorite session of mine right now:
Based on a Density style program, set a timer for ten minutes. You will perform as many sets fo 3 reps as possible in that 10 minutes. Record the total number of reps and attempt to beat it next time by adjusting the reps and rest.
Here’s the workout: 1A – Hindu Press Up x 10 mins Rest 3-5 mins 2A – Sandbag Clean & Press x 10 mins Rest 3-5 mins 3A – Sandbag Zercher Squat Total training time including rest periods and warm ups should be no more than 45 mins.
Here’s the Sandbag Clean & Press in action: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRmXti-ylBg&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Regards
Dave