 Our next caller is Dan from Alberta, Canada. Hey, what's up, Dan? How can we help you? Hey guys, um, I'm calling to ask you guys, I've got a fitness test and about So we're gonna be between five to seven months and I've passed it for this will be my third time doing it and For it. I've got to be strong and fast So I'm wondering what's the best way to balance strength and performance when training for Competitions basically the results have to be competitive. Well more specific. Yeah, what kind of competition are we doing? It's a fitness test for fire fighting. So okay, it's like a seven-part fitness test over three hours Okay, well, okay, so I'm not familiar with the tests that they might that they do in Canada But I'm somewhat familiar with the ones that they tend to do down here So I'm assuming they're similar where you're gonna be doing you're gonna have to climb over things carry a heavy bag for some distance You know that kind of stuff is that is that sound similar? Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, that's a lot of sudden burst of a Movement and then yeah some ladder climbs and like I said dragging heavy weights. Okay What do you struggle with the most now? Is it the strength? Is it the stamina? Is it the speed? It's definitely the speed for myself I've got the endurance down pretty well and the strength as well, but I can't do it fast Okay, so here's the deal and you said you have three to five months. So here's what I'm gonna recommend for you Anytime you're training for something specific and let's say you're you're far out from that competition like you are three to five months This training you do now can be more general The closer you get to your competition the more specific your training should get okay so in your case, what does that look like if Speed is the issue. I would do explosive style training now. So this is where you can do Box jumps lateral jumps you might do some snatches or cleans when you get close to the competition Your best bet is to literally practice the things that they're testing you on you want to practice those and get good at doing those Because a lot of what you're doing is going to be based on skill I mean, I'm a pretty strong guy, you know Justin strong and fast But if you throw us in a test or a competition that we're not familiar with the skill How are you not gonna? We're not gonna perform a station. I'm sorry. How are you not gonna add me? I'm strong Adam looks strong So what about what about maps performance? I mean I would run performance until probably the last four to six weeks And then I would get very specific what you're saying Yeah, and it actually works perfect because you work on that explosive strength initially I mean phase three itself is like completely Tailored towards what you're trying to achieve in terms of moving quickly and like getting that fast twitch response But then the last one is more geared towards endurance in phase four But yeah, I would run that pretty much all the way up leading into your competition Yeah, just make sure you do the specific stuff, you know at least three to four weeks Well, that's what I would so if you do that during your mobility sessions He knows the test so I would run a maps performance program Through leading up to the competition But then all I would do is I would pull out one or two exercises I feel are the least applicable to what I'm trying to do and add in things like drag bag drags or things or climbing over a wall Specific in your training but as far as the program is concerned that is that layout is pretty perfect for somebody like this Yeah, Dan, do you have access to maps performance? I do yes, I do have mass performance perfect, and you know just you know more commentary on this I think and I see this quite a bit. I fell prey to this myself years ago where people will train for a specific sport and They'll want to work out in the gym to train for the attributes that they need so they'll think to themselves and say I need strength. I need power. I need speed So I'm gonna do strength power and speed exercises in the gym And there's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but if you compare that person to somebody that just practices the sport a lot Oftentimes the person practicing just the sport a lot is actually gonna perform better Because the the skill is so important the technique is so important So I can't stress that enough with you especially the four or five weeks before your competition Even if you just practiced, you know four days a week just practice the test You know segments of the test and getting good at that you're gonna get so much carry over to the actual test Well, that's key I mean like like towards the end like towards like a month say leading into you know your Competition I would really hone in and focus on the skill of it but laying down the the foundational Movements and strength movements that you want to carry into the competition like that's gonna be the groundwork that you're gonna build off of And that's why I think the program itself kind of lays that out But then sprinkle in you know the days in between with our mobility focused You can work your skills within those days to keep them sharp, but still build strength You know like in the beginning Sweet. Yeah seems pretty straightforward when you guys put it like that. All right. Awesome. Thanks for calling Dan Dan Thanks for the opportunity. Yeah, it's a common Challenge especially gym rats gym rats who love working out the gym will and they're like oh I want to get good at this sport, but then the sport is like, you know 25% of the training that they do and they spend 75% doing stuff in the gym and then they wonder why their sport performance hasn't improved as much as their gym Performance is yeah Well, I mean on the other end of that you also see people trying to emulate those movements in the gym Which I think is hilarious to me right yeah, which is a waste of time So if you're gonna be in the gym the gym the tools that are there are there best used for strength Yes, so that's why we want to use that for strength and then we want to use skill You know adjacent to that. I feel like there's like a common theme in these questions right now It's like everybody's asking these sport or competition type specific Training and it's like you need to just whatever that is whether it be rock climbing or whether it be for getting ready for a firefighter test You the stuff that you need to do for both those things is what you should be doing 80% of the time and then the rest of time that you're putting the work in to build strength leading up to all that Yeah, I again, I know I try go already referred to you know things. I've learned when I did you know judo and jujitsu But I remember trying to build stamina and I was talking to a very high level competitor And he's like well, you know, I'm like man, I need to build more stamina. He's like, what are you doing? I'm like, oh, I'm doing these like Circuits in the gym with kettlebells this and that and he goes. Why don't you just do more jujitsu? Yeah I was like, oh, yeah, I mean like a light bulb obviously and that's what I did I got way better way faster. Well, it's like yeah, I think we've talked about this on the show before There's there's some carry over to that right doing those circuits You're gonna build a little bit more of a gas tank and it sure we can't help but nothing will help more Than just getting really good at rolling for longer It's just like if you took somebody who is a badass swimmer and all of a sudden you had to compete against somebody Who's a cyclist and they're always cycling all the time even if you're a good long-distance swimmer And your chances of beating the guy who's always cycling all the time Even though both of them require cardiovascular endurance, they're different dude if your your skill is so important It'll make you use less energy and exert yourself less because you're more technical if okay if you've ever and I know you both Experiences if you've ever gone to work with people who are you know do like physical labor Go work go to a construction yard. Hey a mix cement. Yeah be a badass in the gym You work out you lift weight a CrossFit champion or whatever go do roof You know put up put roofs up for all day long with a bunch of dudes in the sun and the dude with the pot Belly who's eating the hot pocket for lunch is gonna he's gonna bury you crush you he's gonna crush you So it's there's so much skill is so important with the with the sport that you're involved in that getting better at the Skills got way more pay payback than you know building general strength. Well