, how the hell are you?  Maybe a little beat up from the new phase?

Wellllllll, Fury Thursday is back again, and it’s quite possibly just what you need…  I’ll let Fury take it from here

A few years ago, I was fighting some pretty serious lower back pain. Despite having limited ability to move and lift, I was attached to be involved in several certifications that required technique and strength tests. My strength started to decline drastically over the course of four months. I started to ask myself one big question:

“If I’m relatively strong by many standards and have good technique, why does my back hurt?”

Let’s take a step back before I answer the question.

I’ve known Original Strength Co-Founder Geoff Neupert since my first RKC in 2010. Tim Anderson (OS Co-Founder) and I met while assisting at a kettlebell certification a couple of years later. Having known Geoff, I was aware that he had been pretty banged up from years of Olympic Lifting, and hearing him discuss how OS had helped him caught my attention. Seeing Tim crush a snatch test using crawling as his main training tool blew my mind.

I read the Original Strength book and set up a workshop in NYC. Something in my gut told me that OS was going to be good for me, but that workshop was months away.

This brings us full circle to my back issues. Having finally completed my last strength test for a course in December of 2013, I asked Tim to program for me, which he did, and it completely changed how I train and program.

Original Strength also answered why my back was hurting.

I had learned how to be very good at using high tension strategies to lift weights. What I didn’t have was a strong base of reflexive strength. The tension tactics were becoming compensations for where my stabilizers were not firing properly. Over time, these compensation lead to an extremely overworked and pissed left QL.

Three weeks into Tim’s program I realized that my back didn’t hurt. I had pressed reset and started to rebuild my reflexive strength and reactive core.

Tim’s program was the simplest one I had ever seen. Aside from OS Resets, it usually only had two movements a day. Fury Thursdays for Phase 2 is based on one of those days.

Approach your crawls as you would a casual walk or light jog (pronounced yog). Move around and play. When you start to feel like your going into a high tension threshold,
switch to baby crawl and keep moving until you’re ready to pull the knees off the floor again. Don’t gut check this. Crawl and get it done.

For the carries, don’t use crushing weight. Use a kettlebell or an Ultimate Sandbag you can hold for a longtime but don’t be afraid to put it down and switch holding position or arms. Carry with good form, but I also don’t want you to be a walking plank. Tim calls this “farm work”. Simply focus on doing the work.

Press Reset at the end and peace out!

After four weeks on Tim’s program I was pain free and hit several PRs, including a 10 minute straight Leopard Crawl and 124 pound Human Getup with no warmup.

When I reached out to pay Tim for the program he refused money.

It was his Christmas gift to me.

And now, I’m sharing that gift with you.

Have fun, Faction!
 
-Fury