Getting Hyper-Fit

I'm interviewing Sean Burch for an article I'm writing, so I did a little research on the guy.  This vid sums it up pretty well:  mountaineer, adventurer, pioneer on the frontier of What's Humanly Possible, and inspiration to zillions of couch-potato types like you and me. 

In his book, Hyperfitness, Burch makes a point I've tried to drive home in this space a number of times:  that cardio and strength training really shouldn't be separate endeavors:  using the muscles makes the heart pump faster; if you're working hard enough to make the heart rate soar, you're working hard enough to challenge and build muscle.  Ideally, it's not either/or but both/and.  So Burch's programs consist of numerous exercises done back-to-back, which, combined, challenge the whole system.

Another point that's worth underscoring:  bodybuilding ain't fitness-building.  Machines and single-joint movements are for isolating muscles; no one except bodybuilders needs to do that because in life, in sport, in everywhere except a bodybuilding workout, muscles work together.  The body's a whole single unit, with every part affecting every other part.  So Burch's workouts make the same demands on your system (those frog-jumps across the basketball court look brutal!).

The bodybuilding image has, in many ways, usurped 'fitness'--that is, a guy with a bodybuilder-type physique looks "fit" to most people even though a guy with Burch's longer, leaner lines can most likely kick his ass in nearly any test of fitness.  I submit that muscle isolation is popular in part because, well, relatively speaking, it's EASY.  The alternative--full-body, mad-dog sweating, heaving, and pushing to the limit--is way, way more than most people want to endure.

The best bodybuilding coaches are starting to integrate real-world training techniques and metabolic work into their programs.  But it's rarely what you see in the gym.