This group’s biggest challenge was the mile run, which faced them after going through a few obstacles first. So, we had to concentrate on increasing their cardiovascular system so their endurance would excel, which would allow them to run the mile and then some their second go around. We simply started them off by running around the park twice at first and then every time we met after that, we either added a lap around the park or we had them start to run down the street. When we started running them down the street, we watched their form so that they were not wasting energy.
The reason behind this is because if one puts energy into places they don’t need to be putting energy into they are wasting their time. What I mean by this is, if they had tight fists, shrugged shoulders and were clenching their jaws this is energy being put in places not needed. All the energy should be put into the lower extremities (the legs.) Making fists, shrugging shoulders and clinching jaws takes energy and fuel away from the legs, this also makes the participants run stiff and can cause cramps faster and slowing them down. this could eventually make them stop or go to a walk. So, we were always on their cases telling them to have loose light hands, shoulders and faces. In the beginning all of them had to stop and walk and one almost quit and really walked the whole second half of the first part of the mile run. We eventually had them all running over three miles!
When they were first in the accident they had to sprint around the vehicle quickly and pull debris out of the way to get to their loved one. When they reached their loved ones, they had to pull and drag their loved ones body carefully for so many yards. All the crunches, Marine-Corps push-ups and Sun Gods took care of making their upper body and abdominal (core) much stronger. The second time it was much easier to rip away the debris that was barricading their loved one in the car, because of the in place exercises we made them do.
