US Bobsled Team: Are you Fit Enough to Hang?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ben Crookston

Ben Crookston is the Founder and CEO of TrainHeroic. Prior to finding his home in the tech world, Ben ordered the Sampler off the career menu, teaching, coaching, and writing. He has an incredible family and back squats 500 pounds A2G.

Watching the Bobsled in the Winter Olympics can be a bit perplexing for the average viewer. Four burly dudes driving a rumbling sled-torpedo down an ice snake looks about as logical as stuffing your hard earned checks in a pneumatic tube at the bank and expecting them to safely enter your checking account. Frankly, there’s a good part of you that doubts they’ll ever make it out the other end in one piece.

The US Bobsled Team is one of America’s crowd favorites in this year’s games in Sochi. These fellas work hard and are cream-of-the-crop athletes whose unique combination of speed, power, and insanity perfectly suit them to cuddle up into a sled and plummet down an ice chute toward victory.

The 4-man team, headed by Steve Langton, takes on the competition on Feb 22nd, while the 2-man team just claimed America’s first medal in the event’s history by clinging onto 3rd place and taking the Bronze back to the Land of the Free.

While their feats are no doubt impressive, keep reading to see what it takes to become one of these daredevil Adonises.

Steve Langton demos the incredible powers of Bobsled training. After a month on our Explosive Athlete program, you’ll be able to navigate 3 mobile devices at once…and have gigantic, vascular biceps.

// US Bobsled Team: What it Takes

The chart at the bottom outlines the US Bobsled Team’s combine tryout standards. When you dig into the table, you’ll see some impressive numbers for sure. To be competitive for a spot on the team, you’ll need to have NFL running back worthy speed and power.

What it breaks down to is that athletes will need to be EXPLOSIVE, with heavy Olympic Lifts, solid 3RM Back Squats, and track caliber sprint times in short distance events.

// US Bobsled Team: How to Train

Hit the BIG Lifts Hard

Olympic Lifts: Snatches and Cleans (Power and Full)
Deadlifts
Squats
Presses (Shoulder Press, Push Press, Bench Press)

Build Burst Speed

You’ll need to have standout start times, burst capacity, and speed up to 60M to be competitive for a spot. With the times necessary to claim a spot, you’ll also have to be a bit of a technician and optimize your running form so you wipe out inefficiencies in your stride and make sure every step counts. To do so, practice speed skill-work just as much as you would practice shooting free throws if you were a basketball player.

If you’re looking for all-around training support, fantastic daily coaching, and a killer program to follow, use Train Heroic’s Explosive Athlete Program, where a major focus is on developing the powerful hip drive, fast turn-over, and punishing strength you’ll need to contend. The program is 4 days of strength and power training per week and has a steady dose of speed and conditioning as well. You can start today for FREE, get daily coaching from top pros, and have all of your results tracked so you can see your progress toward your goals along the way.

// US Bobsled Team: Where to Test

You can’t make the team if you don’t know where to try out. Below are the four locations hosting this year’s combine. Train hard. Show up. Test out.

June 10-12, 2014 (Lake Placid, NY)

July 8-10, 2014 (Lake Placid, NY)

August 2, 2014 (Greenville, SC)

August 26-28, 2014 (Lake Placid, NY)

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Be Your Best,

TrainHeroic Content Team