Suggest a conditioning test for before and after Prowler.

[Bronan the Barbarian]

A little background: A few months ago, I came to the end of my linear progression. My unimpressive numbers were:

Squat: 322.5 x 5 x 3
Press: 155 x 5 x 3
Bench: 240 x 5 x 3
Dead: 345 x 5 x 1
Me: 6'1", 239 with a good 10-20 pounds of spare tire.

Then I did a halfhearted 5-3-1 for a few months while real life got in the way. Lost strength and weight for various reasons, none of which is an indictment of 5-3-1. This Sunday I squatted 315 x 2 x 2. Now that I have time again because I'm back in school, I'm about to embark on a CFWF/WFGPP program to gain strength and improve conditioning. My conditioning will consist entirely of Prowler work. Just ordered it and I'm pumped--and a little nauseous at the expenditure.

My question: Any suggestions for a conditioning test for a before and after the Prowler? One 800m sprint? 400m? Any other suggestions?

I will perform this test again, probably in a few months. I may also start posting to my log again.

[I realize there will be the confounding variable of increased strength, but let's ignore that for the purpose of this experiment. ]

[stronger]

why not just time yourself using the prowler the first day you get it? then you can compare apples to apples a few months down the road. Time it, take a video, write in your journal, etc.

[msingh]

Of course his time will improve that way, specificity and all of that. OP do Fran before and after.

[stronger]

just do both

[Bronan the Barbarian]

Of course his time will improve that way, specificity and all of that. OP do Fran before and after.

Well, I'd prefer not to thrust or kip. Also, my Fran time would be dictated more by my pullup strength than by my conditioning, so it's probably not the best test. I am leaning towards doing a Prowler-specific test and an 800m run to gauge transferability, if that makes any sense. Thanks for the replies.

[stronger]

as an aside where do you train? Primal?

[Paul Sousa]

I wouldn't do Fran unless pullups are a focus of my training. It sounds like you want to focus on strength while picking up some decent conditioning. I would suggest some sort of strongman/odd object type thing if you could put it together. Something like sandbag loading, or a tire flip/sled drag combo.

[msingh]

Yeah i didn't know what Fran was until i looked it up. My point was to take one of those crossfit metcon workouts and do them before and after. There's probably a better one than Fran for your purposes. The 800m sprint seems like a good idea too. Perhaps even a longer race. This should be interesting.

[Paul Sousa]

See, I don't think adding some prowler work into a strength program is going to really improve 800m and greater runs. If you want to test something running wise I would suggest maybe doing 10x100m sprints with 1 minute rests in between.

[msingh]

Isn't the usual argument that you increase your V02 max one way and it carries over to LSD type activities?