Tuesday, May 25, 2010

“Hyper-formance”

There are in this world a group of people I refer to as High Performance people, people with the characteristic of “hyper-formance”.
These are the individuals that push the limits of human endurance, strength and tenacity; the hyper-milers, the cyclists, soccer players, Iron Men/Women, gymnasts, the strong men, those that would attempt the Ultimate Triathlon;
(Swim the English Channel, cycle the Tour de France, run the Marathon des Sables, all in sequence).
As of this writing I don’t know if the above is a recognized triathlon but each leg does exist and one individual did try to accomplish this very daunting task, Mr. Chris Pountney (2007-2009; Search Ultimate Triathlon).
The challenge,
(The Marathon des Sables is a 240-km foot-race across the Sahara desert in which competitors must carry all food and kit. It is often described as 'the toughest foot-race on earth.'
The Tour de France is a 3,000km, 3-week bike race through Western Europe which even many elite riders are happy just to finish. The route changes each year but always takes in some intense climbs through the mountains.
Swimming the English Channel is an incredibly difficult 35-km swim in cold water which takes months of daily training to prepare for, and on average 14 hours to swim. It is regarded as the pinnacle of open water swimming
.)
These are amazing people with amazing endurance and some of these “hyper-formance” people train at the local gyms in our fair city.
One, arrives early every day, stays late, trains people, exercises with the power lifters, leads Spin Classes, supervises and participates in Boot Camp, choreographs Power Pump and somewhere in all of this attends to the activities of daily life and family.
A few of the die-hard “Boot Campers” attend two sessions of Camp on the same day interspersing lifting or Power Pump between the Camps. These same people attend multiple Spin Classes and find time to put in several hours or miles on the treadmill many times a week while holding down jobs, raising children and even cutting the grass.
Others spend hours a week, like “Superman” or the “bench presser” (looking to best a 400+ pound bench press), both training for upcoming competitions.
The power lifters squat with bars loaded at 400 to 600 pounds.
Dumbbells flys with 100 pound weights are not uncommon.
The early risers, “the 5:00A.M.club”, that gather three time a week for aerobics and strength training also gets a big nod (my wife can be counted in this group) because I am sure that even my blood pressure is not up at 5:00A.M.
The doctor in me wants to measure the aerobic capacity and study each of these people but if I instead accept them as role models, given time and a lot of sweat equity, I may yet achieve “hyper-formance” and discover my own Ultimate Challenge or extreme limit.
Has anyone ever Circum-Polared the globe on a bicycle or survived on a fiber bar a day?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You already are a hyper-formance person, but in a different field. It is called medicince. It involes getting up before five a.m., and sometimes going in at 1a.m. to assist a dying patient, or to stop another one from dying. It means spending years upon years in schools, and libraries working out your brain to the point of almost breaking. I know, because I broke. There are women and men who do this and still manage to keep a family together, mow the lawn etc. You are one of them. I think it is great that you are discovering another hyper-formance route, and if you don't forget the first one you took in life long ago, you will be an amazingly balanced, and ultra hyper-formance man.
Love you Dad!
Katrina