It seems like it has been a while since I have posted and perhaps longer than that since I have posted anything useful.  Today I want to review Ross Enamait's Full Throttle Conditioning program.   Some  of you may be familiar with Ross's stuff.  His background is in boxing and now he mainly coaches others.  I blogged about his book Never Gymless several months ago.  I found that book to be an excellent manual for training in non-traditional settings with things like bodyweight exercises, rope climbing etc.  Perhaps this stuff is best geared toward individuals in the combat sports where conditioning is paramount and a lack of it will keep you from winning no matter how superior your other skills may be.   This  is a theme Ross continually reinforces in his latest work.  He compares a fighter's skill set to a tool box and conditioning is necessary to access that box of tools.  If you don't have conditioning you can't get in the box so it doesn't matter what might be in there.  Even if you are not a combat athlete conditioning is important.  The benefits are obvious regardless of the sport.  The definition of sport however is subject to question.  I have seen billiards and world series of poker on ESPN for example.  I will also go to my grave swearing up and down that golf is not a sport for most people,  neither are bowling, darts, poker, skeet shooting, bass fishing, or stock car racing.  Now that I have angered at least 60% of the population (NASCAR fans)  I will stop short of  losing my European  fans.  I am leaving Formula 1 out of this.   My (probably flawed) definition of a sport is some activity which may be competed on a team or individual basis which involves at least one of the following attributes:  speed, strength, endurance, physical skill.  At the same time it incurs demands on the physical being in which the heart rate is elevated at least 20% above resting baseline (this cannot be merely due to anxiety or nerves, it must be secondary to motion).  Someone may point out as an apparent contradiction to my definition the divers reflex in breath-hold diving (heart rate slows down to extreme lows down around 10 BPM)  however I believe there is a compensatory increase on resurfacing assuming shallow water blackout does not supervene.  So by this definition ping pong is a sport, bowling is a game.  Rowing is a sport, bass fishing is a game.  If you are Tiger Woods golf is a game, if you carry as much weight as say John Daly it is a sport.

Back to Full Throttle conditioning...  This training package features a 90 page spiral bound manual and a DVD of about 1 hour and 40 minutes in length.  There is quite a bit of redundancy between the two sources and I like that.  First of all people learn in different ways.  Some retain what they read while others are better at retaining what they hear.  The important points are covered in both the book and the video.  The book goes into a lot more detail.  It is thoughtfully written with over 20 references to peer reviewed journal articles.  Ross did his homework on this.  The topics covered include a review of physiology as it pertains to energy systems and fat loss.  Also discussed in detail are interval training, sport specific drills, and program design with a variety offered depending on your goals.  Ross does a great job discussing how to taper and how to get ready for an event.  Sample workouts are discussed in detail.  The manual as I said is 90 pages with no filler bullshit that you might come to expect from other publishers.  The type is ideal size and the manual is not difficult to read.  Ross is a good writer and he gets his point across quite well .  This manual could almost stand alone.  On to the video.

The quality of the video is good.  I have seen much worse.  Ross is a dynamic speaker and he keeps the viewer engaged and interested.  As I said the video addresses many of the issues covered in more detail in the book but it offers demonstration of the techniques.  There is good stuff here on rope work, bag work, odd object lifting (water balls, sandbags, kegs), stretch band work and of course bodyweight drills.  This is information packed and all useful.  I like the combination of a book and a video because often you may want to reference something and it is a lot easier to get it from a book than to peruse a video.  One nice thing is that the book and the video reference Ross's website which has a ton of free information about things like making your own equipment and performing different drills.  That website has more information on it for free than probably any other fitness-related site I have seen.  

There really isn't anything I dislike about this package.  I feel like I stole it for the price I paid.  Of course that is another thing.  All his other products are well- priced in fact they are inexpensive considering all you get.  This package cost me $25 plus about 5 for s/h  I received it two business days after ordering.  Ross's website is www.rosstraining.com

Everyone can improve their conditioning and Ross gives a nice rationale and a blueprint for doing just that.  The best part is you don't need an expensive set-up.  Hell, given all Ross's tips, one trip to Home Depot and $100 later you could have yourself a home gym where you could get a better workout than you might at a $1000 per year health club.  Plus you won't have to deal with all those strange old guys who like to stand around naked in the locker room.  There is nothing worse than some dude sitting bare assed on a locker room bench drying off his feet.  It happens all the time and it's wrong.

In summary I think this is a good choice to put on your Christmas list.