So in the wake of leaving a job very close to my heart, I finished my last few days soldiering in the very first place I started this time 8 years ago and I forgot what an absolute nightmare of a place that is! I love travelling, culture, meeting new people and trying new things, after all variety is the spice of life, but as beautiful as the jungles of Central America are, don’t let them fool you! As soon as you step into ‘The J’ every known creature within a 5km radius wants a piece of you and the list really is endless, sandflies, botflies, mosquitos, spiders, aggressive territorial Fur De Lance snakes, boa constrictors, crocodiles, scorpions, howler monkeys, tarantulas, jaguars every conceivable nightmare is out to get you. That on top of the relentless terrain, rolling mountains, cliff sides and steep valleys, coupled with the unforgiving heat and humidity made my instant problem clear… How in this savage paradise was a 5S coach meant to keep all his hard earned gains?!
2,000 rounds worth of live firing made for good range time…
Clearly I wasn’t in Belize on a happy camping trip, more like aggressive camping, but I was there conducting business. I was in command of a team of experienced Snipers, later on I had Recon attachments added to that list. A good group of elite, well trained operators, few of whom had already done a stint in ‘The J’ before and if its one thing I quickly remembered, it was just how hard it was coping with the scorching heat. Our initial training consisted of long patrols, through rivers and up massive features, some that steep and rocky you had to get on your hands and knees to scale. So like the intelligent, resourceful, well trained coach that I am you’d think straight away I’d leave the legs out due to fatigue and just develop my upper body for the remaining 5 weeks right? Wrong. I absolutely destroyed my legs in a session I’d later regret. I managed to acquire two robust, thick resistance bands to aid me in my ironless training, because 5,000 miles away and not a squat rack in sight was nightmare enough for me. Everyday, before the river wash in the day I would punish my lower half like the next day was a rest day. Minimum reps I’d start with was around 160 with a thick resistance band, done in sets of 30. The first day hurt. The day after I’d increase the rep range by 20/30 depending on how I was doing and it would continue like this all the way to 300 reps.
5s Coach Jim grinding hard with the resistance bands…
I was fully aware I needed to leave room in the tank, couldn’t be seen crumbling on the long days work in front of the men, but that amount of full depth squats with the resistance bands producing over speed eccentrics with no easing off at the top put me in a new place of pain! Clearly the tighter the band gets, the more external forces required to stretch it further, so unlike traditional exercises where you have easier areas of the lift compared to others, the bands keep that steady tension through out the full range of motion, thus recruiting more muscles fibres, in turn creating more damage! Now with my legs it was hard because of the workload on them the next day, sure they adapted as they do but I continued to push them past the point of comfort with extra reps as you would with basic periodization. My upper body was in for a treat. I used a much similar fashion with band resisted press ups but I could be much more creative. Using the bands for shoulder presses, lateral raises, shoulder shrugs, bicep curls etc… Your truly limited by your imagination. Doing the press ups on the jungle floor was interesting, especially with beasts like this racing about…
If that doesn’t put you off your workouts, you know your dedicated!
So what was the end result of a hard 5 week long training graft in the jungle? Well I lost a lot of weight, a lot of strength and after R n’ R, a lot of dignity. The losing size part was inevitable, you have to be in a massive calorific surplus to increase muscle size, I was doing the damage without the food to support that and the food that I did have, lets just say the rations are nothing short of terrible! Mostly empty sugar calories, with low protein sources and plenty of carbs to keep you going. So the size was always a loss, what about strength? This is my first week back and everything feels 10 times harder than what it was. By all means my body is still recovering from confused time zones, new routine, lack of sleep and just a tired, beaten body that’s had the worst fuel ever for the past 5 weeks. So my central nervous system has well and truly had enough, but yeah strength has dropped. All in all I had a hate/love relationship with the jungle, had a great time with great operators and better friends and managed to chisel my abs back out in the process! Now its time to build on our new facility and drive forward, oh and also pack a bit more muscle on this lean frame. As for my dignity, that’s a whole other story…