Subject: Our oldest and our shortest!

First of all, both these titles Mrs. Garzia proudly wears. I honestly had my doubts that she was even 5'. Would have bet 4'11" and change. So after her finish yesterday I broke out the tape measure, and she is a  fraction above five feet. So on an inch by inch basis Emy (her name is Emilia, so the gringo pronunciation would be Aimee) is jumping on a box that proportionally would be 41" for Blair.
 
So 5 feet tall, 46 years young and bodyfat in the mid teens, our little Filipino warrior did the following yesterday.
 
105 lb deadlift x 100 (8:07)
Push-up x 100 (8:49)
Box jumps 24" x 60 (6:59)
65 lb squat press x 50 (9:09) 5 a minute
Rope climb x 6 (3:59)
1500 meter row (8:18)
 
Total 49:09
 
How cool is that?
 
No rockin fast times anywhere, but an impressive end result, second only to Marisol & Shelley for a Gorgo debut. She did it by being solid across the board, and minimal time between elements. Mrs. Garzia has run two marathons, so needless to say she is well conditioned. Her strength is her lack of any weakness. And as you all know, I called her out in the last newsletter and she delivered. If you cannot do it under pressure you can't do it right?
 
Quite the diverse group of athletes on our wall.
 
Congrats again Emy. Way proud!
 
Have a great day,
Paul

Paul Timmons NSCA-CPT
www.thefirmfitnesscenter.com
Discipline Makes the Difference

Emy's Words:

Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement. It is a major milestone and an awakening for me.

To Paul:

My impression of myself was that I was living a fairly “active and healthy lifestyle”. I was delusional. In actuality, I was not athletic or active as a child or teenager. Sad to say, I was a couch potato. I had only started jogging/running at 30 yrs old and it was never done regularly. However my efforts helped me finish a ½ marathon. Fast forward to 43 yrs old, this delusion caused me to incur bilateral rotator cuff tendonitis and serious left knee injury in my quest to train for my first sprint triathlon and first marathon. At the time, I did not think it an unreasonable quest since I was “active and healthy”.  [Little did I know that this was my wakeup call regarding my health].  I knew I needed help if I was ever going to see my dream of finishing a race realized.

When I approached you, 3 years ago, I certainly presented a challenge. I had serious doubts of success.  I was in the process of rehabbing my injuries. I had no clue about lifting weights. Terms like squat press, dead lift etc, were all alien to me.  In fact, lifting beyond 5 lbs was a foreign concept.  And although I professed that I was “eating right”, close analysis revealed that suffered the “eat like a rabbit” syndrome. Brainwashed early on to believe that protein and all fats were bad and salads were all that I needed.

That’s how I started my journey.  With your help and the encouragement of Fernando, I surpassed my expectations.  The 2 marathons, learning to swim beyond the edges of the swimming pool, bicycling beyond 50 miles, and the self-confidence I gained, were just icing on the cake. The true prize was a better quality of life.  Gorgo is a milestone for me because it reflects that I have finally arrived. A healthy and active lifestyle is no longer a delusion. I am living it every day with weight training, conditioning, Pilates [with Marisol] and healthy eating. I get it!!!

 I reflect today and speculate my outcome had I not awaken. Most certainly my quality of life would have gotten worse. Possibly suffer an unrecoverable heart attack at the age of 50 as my father did.

Words cannot express my gratitude. Thank you.

Emy

With good health, the possibilities are endless. Age is just a number.  

Hello Gorgo nation! (March 2010)

More time than usual has passed since our last newsletter, and we have had only half of my projected six finishes in the month of March. Blair and Dan finished within hours of each other on the first week, so March certainly did come in like a lion. However no more big girl finishes until yesterday morning.

This edition is as much a thank you to all of you as anything. You may recall after a baby gorgo finish a month or so ago, I stated that was enough. My primary focus is in the water right now. And even though I am having a blast with all our reindeer games, many a scheduled big swim day turned into a recovery swim day due to me being bashed sore.

Having said that, so many of you have delivered truly inspirational performances, and made such progress that I could not resist the temptation for one more shot before I become a specialist. However, a lot has changed in the last 15 months. Number one, I am way down the list of finishers. I do consider it an honor that so many amazing athletes have taken on my little project, however being stupid competitive, I would be lying if I were to say that was a non-issue in my head. In addition, I have truly enjoyed training all of you for the last year and change with Gorgo being the end goal. What I did not expect was how much I learned from all of you and that paid dividends yesterday.

The last time I went after this imposing challenge I was 12 lbs heavier and Gorgo was my primary focus. Five weeks of being wheat & alcohol free, and swimming 15,000 yards a week has me in the low 150 lb range. Generally lighter is better, but I have lost some of the good stuff on the way down and am not nearly as strong. We know the strength / conditioning pendulum never stops in the middle, some strategy would be in order to maximize strengths and minimize the damage done by weak links. The beauty of gorgo is that there is nowhere to hide, any weakness will be exposed. I was running some potential numbers through my head a few days ago, and I came across the following passage by Mark Twight on gymjones.com. It could not have been more timely.

" The great mistake in climbing (and perhaps all things) is to anticipate the outcome of the event. Do not consider whether you will succeed or fail. Allow nature to take it's course. Your training, preparation and awareness will allow you to act at the right time and apply the appropriate force to resolve any problem. Many of us have the habit of pre programming failure points into our performance. Do not decide beforehand! Be present, intend, act, respond, allow."

I know this and have preached this, yet here I was thinking to myself, "I am not as strong, and the squat press is going to bury me, you need to allow 12 minutes for it." Excellent pre programming of failure! In my mind, to use another of my favorite Twightism, "everything costs something." My enhanced conditioning has cost me strength, and I am a better puller than pusher on a good day. However all that I have learned from you allowed me to turn weakness into strength yesterday.

The break down and commentary:

135 lb deadlift x 100 (4:19) Calm and conservative, remembered how Dan pulled back his deadlift just a bit on his second go around, and how Ted never walked away from the bar. You can't win the triathlon in the swim, but you can lose it there.

Chest to the floor push-ups x 100 (3:54) The return of the push-up! These have been very mediocre in training, 45 reps to open, and held sets of 10 for longer than I anticipated. Watching Regan, Derrick and Billy battle for 100 rep supremacy has been very valuable. Knew it was going to be a good day after the first 5 reps.

24" box jumps x 100 (5:57) Gorgo record. Had to go after these, maximize strengths. All done with the jonescrawl lock out standard, and were borderline comfortable. Marisol's words after her second finish were in my head as well. You can never feel wasted at any point. I could have gone faster, but knew this would be fast enough. Wanted this record.

95 lb squat press x 50 (9:24) Game time! Personal best for me. Five a minute and held the schedule. Mr Repasky was the first member of our club to incorporate a schedule. Mike's finish always impressed me, he just showed up and put his name on the wall. And several of you have gone down this road since. It works! Was worried this would destroy me and went sub 10 mins for the first time in Gorgo. Probably could have done 10 reps to open, but opted not to do so.

Rope climb x 10 (3:19) The 12 lbs is big here. These feel easy. Conservative pace, and was recovering from the squat press on the fly. When Jenn broke Dana's baby gorgo record, most of her splits were actually slower. However, she took less time between elements. First rope climb came less than a minute after the last squat press.

1500 meter row (5:44) 1:54 and change per 500. Gorgo record. Held back a bit for the first 1,000 than took off in the last 500, 1:46 for the last 500. Major thanks to Dale, Ted, Blair and Ed. Our rowing club this winter put me in some very dark places on the concept2. Most painful training I have ever done, but feel at home on the rower.

Total 36:13

Thanks so much to Marisol and Ted for their help yesterday. We know one cannot do this alone, and they were the perfect combination of Fire and Ice.

I sent Dan a text yesterday morning. "36:13 and honored to be second only to you." I do mean that, Mr. Matta is world class. Yesterday, was a very gratifying day and made me appreciate what he has done even more.

So where are we going from here? Lots more on deck in the near future. Emy has turned into a little monster, and has a Gorgo date on the book in early April. She pushed her March date back a week, just for more prep. Barring anything unusual, she will finish and finish well, which would make her our oldest (got her ok before mentioning that) and littlest finisher. Regan is on track to go again and will go faster. Philip has a sub 30 minute baby gorgo to his credit and is knocking out 10 rope climbs under 3 mins, which puts him in the top 5 in the gym on the rope. Mr. Livingston has made huge progress since asking me, "What do I need to do in the the gym and outside of the gym to finish gorgo?" Just a matter of time.

Thank you again, I said this in my first Gorgo email, I am honored that all of you gifted people have chosen me to be your personal trainer.

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend,

Paul

Our elite club has another member!

Yesterday afternoon Mr. Derrickson became the ninth man to finish Gorgo.

First and foremost the numbers:

Deadlift 135 x 100 (6:57)

Push-ups x 100 (2:45)

Box jumps x 100 (11:48)

Squat press 95 lbs x 50 (9:29)

Rope climb x 10 (11:21)

1500 meter row (7:43)

Total time: 59:07

This was certainly one of the most gratifying finishes for me. No one has been more committed to achieving this lofty goal than Regan. Yesterday was the culmination of 8 months of focused training, with a place on the wall being the primary objective. And more drama is always created when the outcome is still in doubt on the rower. The pace Regan maintained for the first 500 meters of the row would not have been fast enough. So he had to dig and go faster for the remaining 1,000 meters. We all know that is no easy task.

Regan has gotten leaner and stronger throughout this journey, but this process always teaches us something about ourselves. Regan sent me a text last night comparing Gorgo to achieving a black belt in fitness. I love the comparison. We know that is a process that takes years, not months. However, all of you have trained for years. Perhaps not with this specific objective in mind, but years have been spent going down this path. How long would it take the average deconditioned american with no training if they were to just stroll through the door today?

And once again we always learn about ourselves, and something really cool always happens. On Regan's 10th rope climb fatigue was beginning to take a toll and he swatted at the beam on number 10. We have all been in that place, I said count it and was headed to the rower. Regan hesitated, I said to him, "Did you touch it, because only you know?" He replied, " I am not sure." It appeared to me that he hit it. If you say it counted, then it counts, I replied. So instead of heading for the rower, Reagan went back to the rope. 50 plus minutes into the day, massive amount of work already done, and he is doing another climb. Obviously far from a given he can do one more climb. We all have gotten stuck right? 60 seconds off and he definitively touched what may have been number 11.

How cool is that? Ultimately we are all competing against ourselves. And if there was even the slightest doubt in Regan's mind, his achievement would have been tainted. I never would have mentioned it again, his place on the wall would have been secure, and obviously his finish would have been faster. And it would certainly have been a lot easier to just go and row. Quite the honorable move Mr. Derrickson.

So here we are nine men and four women on the pink sheet. Average finishing time for the men 47 mins, and for the women, 41 mins. Dan may be able to turn the sheet back to yellow in the near future, but it may not stay there.

Congrats again Regan,

Hello all,

It has been awhile since our last update. And we have not had any finishers since Jenn on 8/4. However this is not to say that we have not had a great deal of activity. There seems to be a next generation of Gorgo trainees in the works. We are over 10 months since the initial launch and yet our girl is still very viable.

The biggest news to report is that the women's world record has since been lowered. Marisol took a 6 week break from marathon training to shift the emphasis to higher intensity running  and Gorgo prep. The objective was to break Shelley's record of 32:03. Both Shelley and Marisol are freaky physical specimens, just from different perspectives. As fast as Shelley's time was concerned, I did think it was beatable by the right woman.

We know Marisol will lose time in the squat press, anyone would. Shelley has proven she can squat press 95 lbs for 50 reps, so the 65 is just silly. However, Marisol's push-ups will be significantly faster. So do the pushups and the squat press cancel each other out? So level playing field for Deadlift, box jump, rope climb, row? If so that will get very interesting. And it did. So can the first woman to finish Gorgo be back on top of the pink sheet? The data is below. The second spilt is Shelley's.

Marisol 10/02/09

Deadlift 105 x 100 4:49 / 3:39

Push-ups x 100 1:33 (yes, 90 freakin seconds for 100 push-ups. We train to the floor, so the water bottle is a partial rep for Marisol.) vs Shelley's 5:19

Box jumps x 60 3:33 / 4:02

Squat press 65 lbs x 50 8:08 / 5:37

Rope climb x 6 1:31 / 2:47

1500 meter row 7:27 / 6:58

Total time 30:08 for a new women's world record by almost two minutes! Marisol knew that it would be close and she pushed to limit time between movements, which we know can add up in a hurry. Wow, so Shelley was faster on 3 elements, and Marisol was faster on 3 elements. Talk about an even matchup.

The women still rule on the pink list. We now have 3 women in the low 30's and only two guys under 40 mins. I still feel good about both versions being comparable. The women are just better to this point gentlemen.

Matt Sprenkle is going later today. Matt was on the original list and was singled out from day one as a good candidate. Matt is very well conditioned, strong and climbs well. He and the squat press are not friends however. If If I had to place a wager, the safe money is on a sub 60 min finisher today at 2:00. I was going to combine these emails. However, you break a world record, you get your own email. So details to follow.

Congrats Marisol! First woman is back in first place.

Shelley Slams Gorgo & the Record Sheet is PINK AGAIN!

Ok, I totally blew this one. It was my expectation that this would be close today and it was not. This is the third summer I have had the privilege of being Shelley's personal trainer, and I know what she is capable of doing. However, even I did not see this one coming. Dana and I were talking the other day about what the mortal human threshold would be for Gorgo. We both agreed that 35 mins may be it. Perhaps, that would be doable. Well, this just happened.

Deadlift 105 x 100 (3:39)

Push-ups x 100 (5:19)

Box jumps on the 24" x 60 (4:02)

Squat press 65 lbs. x 50 (5:37)

Rope climbs x 6 (2:47) Another shocker!

1500 meter row (6:58)

Total: 32:03!

Am still pretty much speechless at this point. Does this stand forever? Wow. The finishers sheet is back to pink until a guy goes faster.

Congrats Shelley!

Brad Takes on GORGO...

So I have been wondering for the last few days how I would feel when inevitably my friend and 10 year training partner, breaks the Gorgo world record. Would my happiness for his success be tempered at all by the fact that I created Gorgo and now someone else has gone faster? Really did not know the answer until now.

I can honestly say that I could not be happier for Brad and what he did in here a few hours ago. My project was more than validated today. Initially I thought this could be done under 40 minutes, but I had not been able to do it.

Great day in here today, it was just the two of us. And it was my intention to put major heat on Brad by telling the world yesterday. If you cannot do it under pressure, you cannot do it right? I was confident that would only serve to motivate him even more. Mission accomplished.

The numbers pretty much speak for themselves:

Deadlift 135 lbs. x 100 (5:05)

Pushups x 100 (2:51)

Box jumps x 100 (7:10) *

Squat press 95 lbs. x 50 (6:20) *

Rope climb x 10 (2:42) *

1,500 meter row (6:17)

Total 38:25

The day went pretty much as I anticipated. Brad's ridiculous squat press will make this one tough to beat. Dana had the previous best split with a 7:09. However, Brad's rope split of 2:42 is also a gorgo best and surprised me.

So we now have 6 men's finishing times and 3 women on the wall. The list is locked down yellow for the short term.

Will this hold up? I am out until November, but Shelly, Jen, Blair, Alex and Eli are all in the final days of preparation. Lots of noise on the gorgo front of late. I am honored that so many gifted people are training with this in mind. Something tells me that this one may not be over yet.

Congrats again Brad for raising the bar crazy high.

Paul

//thefirmfitnesscenter.spaces.live.com/default.aspx

WE HAVE FIRST WOMAN!http:

In order to maintain as much objectivity as possible this Gorgo report will be all about the numbers. And I promise they speak volumes.

Marisol's year:

Feb 08 deadlifts 245 lbs. @ 116 lbs. and 17% bodyfat to break the Delaware state record.

Nov 08 Runs a 4:08 at the Rehoboth marathon @ 95 lbs. and 9.6% bodyfat.

12/26/08 Gorgo in 43:15 @ 91 lbs. and 8% bodyfat

Deadlift 105 x 100 (7:12)

Push-ups on a water bottle x 100 (2:05)

Box jumps on the 24" x 60 (5:15)

Squat press 65 lbs. x 50 (12:13)

15' rope climbs x 6 (3:15)

1,500 meter row (7:13, 2:23 per 500)

Total time: 43:15

Wow. I will say that I put a great deal of thought into making Gorgo comparable for men and women, using formulas, pre-existing standards and my personal opinions. So it is supposed to be the ultimate compliment when the student surpasses the teacher right? Still struggling with that one a tad.

So thanks to Marisol even the boys have a new standard to go after. I will take one more shot at this before I make a shift in focus, and may get close. However she can go faster, and the 40 min threshold is breakable for Marisol. Not so sure about yours truly on that one. Major congrats to our 91 lb. warrior!

Still way up in the air regarding who will be the next woman, and the first in the non fitness professional division. However, several very well conditioned women are getting very close.

Congratulations,

Paul

Outstanding ladies!!  I can’t wait to torture myself with this, but I am glad there are some people who went first.  Your numbers were great and they will only get better after a second attempt as we found with Paul’s great efforts! (yes, I said a second attempt!!)  good luck to anyone else who pushes themselves enough to tackle Gorgo.   I have been in a ton of Gyms throughout the country including assisting strength and conditioning coaches at major universities. There are very few people that are attempting and accomplishing the things being done at the Firm by the people on this list.  Kudos to you all and special thanks to Paul for being the motivation for us all!