Do you feel out of place, like you don’t belong? Are you having a hard time sleep walking at night? Do your clothes make you look silly? Are you slowly starting to forget the specific heat capacity values for many of the transition elements?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, maybe it’s time for you to Pursue Courage. Don’t take this lightly. This workout will, without a doubt, break off the out-of-shape “crust” that has slowly been growing on your body.
I have been doing this workout every Wednesday evening for several months now with Dan Madden and John Wankner for a sand training workout. If I wasn’t for my teammates, I would have probably stopped doing it after two weeks. Accountability has kept us all pursuing. That been said...
Here are some important Team concepts behind this adventure:
-This workout is ideal for a team of three. Two people will work, but three will give you just the right amount of rest time.
-It is your responsibility as a teammate to keep each other accountable to do it each week and to work hard while pursuing.
-When you achieve courage (more to come on this), a group hug is all the celebration you will need.
There are two phases to the Pursuit of Courage. The Steve Cahn Pursuit of Courage is named after The Matsa, a grizzled Navy Veteran who spends many of his days challenging anyone to games of various derivatives of volleyball... using his “altered rules,” of course. This pursuit embodies the fortitude of the athlete. The Yariv Lerner Pursuit of Courage is named after a man who is an ambassador for the "beach volley dream.” He has put a roof over the heads of many players who were once up-and-comers, and who today, are top-tier players.
On to the workout. After each description, I have added a video to demonstrate a single round for each phase. Remember, you will do each phase (Steve Cahn and Yariv Lerner) three times.
Components Needed
- One Poison Ball (we use a 20 pound medicine ball with handles)
- The Conclave (Beach Volleyball Court lines set up in the sand)
- Jumanji (A circle drawn in the sand roughly 5 feet from one of the poles)
- Timer (must be able to record laps)
- Determination
Steve Cahn Pursuit
- First person starts on the ground beneath the net on one sideline. When the timer begins, bear crawl backwards to the endline, bear crawl forward to the starting point, sideways bear crawl across the court, and sideways bear crawl back to where you started.
- Grab the poison ball (which will be waiting in Jumanji) and complete 10 Earth-to-Sky Poison Thrusts. (Squat, touch the med ball on the ground, stand and press the ball to the sky 10 times.)
- Sit down and complete 20 Jumanji Ab Twists. (Butt on the sand, feet 6 inches off the ground, knees slightly bent, twist side to side and touch the sand with the poison ball 10 times on each side.
- Stand back up and complete 20 Poison Ball Hip-Hops. (Jump forward and backward over the med ball 10 times and side to side over the med ball 10 times)
- Finish this round with a round of conclave agility drills. (With the Poison ball, start from the pole next to Jumanji. Side step to the endline, ski hops back and forth over endline to other sideline, side step in the other direction to other pole, back peddle to opposite endline, criss-cross footword across other endline, and sprint back to jumanji to drop the poison ball and hit “LAP” on the timer.
*When you drop the poison ball in Jumanji, the next person starts the round.
For a reference point, a really good time for a single round of the Steve Cahn Pursuit would be in the range of 1:15 to 1:30. The first time I did it, my time was in the 2 minute range. Everyone’s time will be different. The goal is to try to beat YOUR best time for a round every time you pursue. This is the key to removing the “crust.”
Each person will do the Steve Cahn round 3 times. When everyone has completed all three rounds, it’s time to begin the Yariv Lerner Round. There is no break time between the finish of the last person’s Steve Cahn round and the first person’s Yariv Lerner round.
Yariv Lerner Pursuit
- This round begins with Conclave agility drills (with poison ball) that are slightly different than the Steve Cahn round. Start from the pole next to Jumanji. Move laterally with feet hopping over line (forward and backward with feet always on opposite sides of the line) to the endline, two footed leaps to other sideline, move laterally with feet hopping to the other pole, launch poison ball to opposite endline with two hands from a squat position, launch poison ball again to other endline, and launch poison ball again back towards Jumanji.
- Return poison ball to Jumanji and do 10 Poison Plyo-Pushups on the ball. (Right hand on the ball, left hand on the sand and PUSH. Then left hand on the ball and right hand on the sand and PUSH.)
- Then do 10 reverse Jumanji lunges while holding the ball above your head.
- Then do 10 Ooptie-Oops in each direction. (Hold the poison ball out in front of you, arms fully extended and draw figure eights in the air.)
- Go to the net and do 5 poison drops. (Jump as high as you can with the poison ball and try to drop it over the net. If you can’t drop it over, jump and throw it over without it touching the net.)
- Finish the round with 4 Conclave rippers. (from outside the court at the net, sprint around the outside of the lines until you reach the net on the other side, then turn around and sprint back... that’s two)
- Press “Lap” and catch your breath. Only two more Yariv Lerners.
For a reference point, a really good time for a single round of the Yariv Lerner Pursuit would be in the range of 1:45 to 2:00. Again, everyone’s time will be different. The goal is to try to beat YOUR best time every time you pursue.
How do you achieve courage?
The answer to this question varies from team to team. For us, we set a goal that if we accomplish the workout in under 30 minutes, then we would have successfully “achieved courage”. This was very challenging and it took several months before we reached our goal. On May 5, 2010, we got a time of 29:54. The celebratory group hug was literally all we could muster. Actually, we could lay on the sand panting like dogs too.
I am assuming that next time I see any of you, I will probably mistake you with Heman or Sherah.
