Its 10am on Sunday morning and my friend Lulu Weasel has organised a little visit for us to The Commando Temple in Deptford.

Years in the making, Proprietor Rob Blair says, ‘The Commando Temple is unlike any strength training space you have seen or heard about.’

 

The Commando Temple he says is, put simply, ‘is a playground for Strength and Fitness enthusiasts using the best training equipment and systems known to man! 

We currently have several World class coaches and athletes training within the space and are educating the members to move, lift and groove stronger!

Currently we offer, gymnastics, kettlebells in both hard style and kettlebell sport, weightlifting, strongman training, injury rehabilitation, BJJ, Primal Move and a host of one off events to build superior strength and conditioning!! 

If you are looking for a safe, strong space to train like a professional athlete…pay us a visit. ‘

We arrive At the Temple and are promptly greeted by our trainers, Fritz and Mayyah as well as the Temple’s owner Rob Blair, all of whom enter the gym, as one does, via a fireman’s pole from the office. Just this alone lets me know this is going to be something special!

Forms are handed out to check we are fit and healthy, but more importantly, to collect any emergency contact numbers to inform our next of kin where to collect us if things don’t go as planned.

As a training enthusiast, walking into the Commando Temple is like entering a training version of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory. It has everything you could possibly imagine regarding strength and conditioning equipment. I’m like a kid in a sweet shop!

Introductions are made and Rob, Fritz and Mayyah make us all feel very welcome.

Within this introduction, past training reputations are pulled out and assurances of being able to go the distance are made. But I’m not so sure. At this stage I’m worried, but I’m allowing myself to be carried on the reputation of how I performed at my teams last meet, but I know it’s not the me of today.

My training has been basic the last few months, with 2-3, 45 min sessions being the staple regime just to get me back to lifting, after a training related injury. No cardio to speak of either really, other than some super sets.

I initially believed today’s workshop was going to be on how to lift certain objects, maybe an atlas stone or an anvil with the correct form.

But it’s becoming worryingly apparent this is not what happens in what I now find out is one of Robs infamous ‘Atomic workshops’, which translates to four plus hours, of pretty much nonstop, strength and conditioning training.

Also in today’s class, as Rob kindly mentions in our pre session talk, each of us in the room is not a novice. We all come from a training background and had years of experience under our belt. No one was a beginner, so the bar was going to be set high. And with those years comes either a personal reputation, an expectation from others because of heresy of your last accomplishment, or simply a false belief in our own capabilities.

Because of this, already the sort of training going on today has to be up a few gears to cater to the cliental. It make the pros look like novices simply because of its diversity. There is nowhere to hide. Weaknesses will get the spot light treatment and egos will be popped.

A new ‘this is where I currently am line’ is about to be drawn in the sand over the next few hours.

The thinking behind this sort of training is not that you will necessarily become great at all these disciplines. There’s simply not enough hours in the day to master them all. And it’s not about it getting easier.

As another sadist coach of mine likes to say, ‘it never gets easier, we just get stronger. We walk in Strong and crawl out stronger.’

None of us had had the luxury of not knowing all the facts about today and what was involved in Rob Blairs Workshop. Well we had some facts….the wrong facts!

As I mentioned before, I initially believed I was going on a course to learn correct form in lifting things like atlas stones and other strongman equipment. This was my first mistake. Second mistake was not having a month in advance to train for what was about to be unleashed!

I’m already having the internal discussion that says ‘I should not be here today’, and had I known the truth, I probably wouldn’t have. But that’s sometimes the beauty of not knowing. As Churchill said ‘if you are going through Hell, keep going’ and this was going to be apt words.

In hindsight, not knowing about the day’s events was actually a bonus for me. When we know something unpleasant is coming up, we tend to find reasons to put it off. We look for reasons why we will do it sometime soon, but really, hopefully never.

But the real nugget that I could have been missed, is being acquainted with the part of myself that I’m not fond of. That part that we hate to meet. The part that wants to quit. That part that wants to run away.

Had I prepared a month in advance, I could have blended in, but I would have missed out on some important lessons about myself and how we think.

I have a strong passion for physical exercise, but my real interest lies in how our mind works, or more importantly what it does to sabotage our efforts and how we can override our default settings to avoid the current pain.

The mind definitely is responsible for so much for our success. Its default, as I mentioned in Part 1, is to protect us and keep us away from pain, be that real or envisaged.

It’s a constant battle, training your mind to do what it really doesn’t want you to do.  It’s easy when you are motivated and fresh, but I’m interested in how we operate during the times we are down, shattered and when real life’s beating down on us and what really works then that can enable us to keep going.

We start off todays Atomic Workshop with Fritz giving us a warmup session. This in itself gives the shoulders a little taster of what to expect from the day’s events.

Then we are off to do a selection of human ‘primal’ movement relays, from walking like a crab, or a monkey, a crocodile and a few beasties in-between. The pace is quick, but for Rob, 20 minutes or so into the session, it seems weakness is already creeping in, and attention is waning.

 So to get everyone focused a pep talk is not what we get. Instead we get 30 bastard burpees. These would continue be the punishment of the day for lack of concentration or bad time keeping.

If we had 30 seconds to get a drink that’s what Rob meant and failure to keep to this ended in every second we were over, equating to a bastard burpee. Strangely enough it always seemed to be 30 of the bastards!

After primal movement, we went onto holds like press up position with sand bags or chains for a time, a time I think that was decided in the moment. However, by using time keeping this way I believe it gives us some other valuable feedback about how we operate under pressure.

Something that many athletes struggle with in training is knowing when to hold back and when to give it their all. When we do not know the specifics of a session or the set, we are less likely to go all out. Coaches know all too well that an athlete who believes they can do no more, can usually muster more strength when they are told ‘come on this is the last one’ or come on hold it, just 10 seconds left. If the mind has not got specific information to focus on, it tends to panic and we often give in before time. Again with introspection, we can examine what we do personally when we give in to early, and learn to override it.

Side planks and core work followed for time.

All the way through, the team came round and corrected our positioning.

This is fundamental to the Temples teaching, and correct form is King no matter how long that takes to master.

 

 We go from here to another room and due to me not getting my shoes on in the time, we all get another 30 bastards to perform.

I’d be happy to finish now but the nightmare is just about to begin.

100 metre dash, jump over two plyometric boxes, monkey crawl over a pommel horse and repeat 5 times comes next.

 

 

I have nothing left. My cardio is badly down. It reminds me of the rude wakeup call I got during County Cross Country trials, where I experienced the hard way, what was needed to compete at this level.

I was last in, and time had run out for me to finish the indoor leg, and I was gutted. I felt like a loser. But there’s no pity at the temple for me.

I constantly battle with the work I do as a mind coach. Despite loving the theory and ideology of what is possible, the reality of making changes, of breaking away from painful or negative thoughts and behaviours can be really tough. There are a lot of the nice ideas regarding what we can do to counteract negative thoughts, but the reality is they just don’t hold up when you are hanging out of your ass!

I now feel sick and can’t breathe, which is not an ideal time to be introduced to the commando runs.

My memory is a little hazy over the order of things in this hour but basically the commando run is about a 600 hundred metre run round the block, some of the block being the high street. We do 3 laps of this for a warm up, but I’m already sweating and some of the guys here are sprinting rather than warming up!

I often say to my clients, if I could simulate myself into how you feel when you are suffering, I believe I could find you a solution. The reality is I cannot do this simulation.

However whenever I find myself in a place like I did today, with my mind screaming quit! This is stupid! You’re not ready! Go home! – I begin to empathise with how my weight lose clients tell me they feel during exercise classes. In those moments, I am them. I’m slow and in pain. I’m carrying too much weight for this distance and pace. I want to quit. I hate being last by more than 50 metres and because we are out of time I’m also not allowed to finish the circuit.

I practically know all the techniques available to combat negative thought patterns. What we are supposed to say to ourselves, the techniques we should use to think constructive thoughts and eliminate the negative ones.

But that’s all great when its theory, when you are fresh. Try using these techniques when you are broken and only half way round the course. Climbing a rope is easy. Try climbing it after carry a sandbag 100 metres and it becomes a different animal.

I’ve spoken about this before and the reality of what works and it’s unglamorous and unmarketable because it’s bloody basic!

Today it was ‘just put one foot in front of the other. If it takes all night that’s fine, but don’t quit.

I hang onto how I felt in the past when I’ve given up and how it eats away at me.

I make those painful memories override my current one.

I think of my overweight clients and am in a weird way I’m grateful to be in this situation, to experience first-hand how I imagine it must feel. I can empathise in those moments and get busy finding out what to do mentally to get me over the line and still returning the next day. For me this is the authentic information I can share.

 Just before I can crawl away home, we are stopped and told to collect kettlebells to do a lap of the run again.

Pairing up with someone, I bite off more than I should and my partner and I take two 48kg kettlebells for a walk round the Commando run. And it’s not good. When I can’t go any further my team mate does a section and so forth.

Once this is done we take the same partner, in my case, a six foot plus chap called Matty G, who I have to say, was a life saver and picked up my slack on these events, and we proceeded to do piggy backs runs round the same circuit.

The last leg saw me head down, teeth gritted and Matty G’s feet barely off the ground as we entered the temple. All of this adding to Robs amusement!

Then the infamous 512kg tyre is pulled out and we are divided into our teams. Our biggest two guys go on one side and the other three of us go the other and we start flipping the beast over for as many reps as we can for time.

Again I’m not sure as to the science of the time keeping, but if Rob thinks there’s a little more juice in our tanks, well, he wants it!

It turns out this first run is the warm up and now the comp is on, so we go again.

I like this stuff. My hearts still pounding but I’m occupied, so my mind can’t tell me to quit like the runs, which is pretty much a solo effort. In a team it’s not about me and my mind doesn’t want to quit. I can get tribal, shouting and yelling, whether it’s COME ON! Or LIFT IT! 1,2,3, LIFT! It all fires me up.

 

After this we go to the monkey room to do a jungle gym type competition involving climbing a rope, muscle ups, climbing across monkey bars and for the most resilient up and down a Jacobs Ladder used by climbers to improve finger strength.

Fritz leads the demonstration, but most of us struggle to give such a Stirling performance. We are shot! But we are still loving it!

Rob then gives us a metal bolt, bending demonstration. He does this I think, not to just show he’s the boss, but also to lure us into a false sense that this will be easy enough.

After three big blokes attempt to bend the same bolt and barely making a bend, we realise it isn’t.

But this isn’t about humiliation or ego and it’s greeted by the group with excitement and intrigue…because what seems impossible is, with practice and training, possible.

And we are all capable of doing it to some degree. Certainly more than we think.

At the end of the workshop, we had over run by a good hour, which is testament to how much Rob and his team love what they do, rather than just a commercial money making machine.

Time had basically run away with us because, insanely we were still loving it and enthusiastic to learn more!

And despite going over time, Rob almost pleaded with us to stay so he could finish the session like a true pro with one of his unique warm downs.

A couple of us stayed and in true Commando Temple style, we got pulled and stretched about, which let us know that these areas had been neglected for a long time!

My arms couldn’t straighten properly beforehand and my hands also could not open out perfectly flat.

A few pulls, bends and thumbs dug into flesh and hands splayed like chicken butterfly breasts at Nando’s, seem to do the trick!

Despite how it might sound I left the Commando Temple on a high. The team were amazing as were the people I trained alongside.

As well as this I felt like I had just done an authentic session. We had given it our all. It’s in these sessions that you don’t feel the niggling feeling that you have let yourself down or that you have held back. You feel like you have been worked hard.

I have done several tough Mudder type Races in the past, but I only hang one medal in my room and that’s for the ‘Nuts Challenge’ because it’s the only one that drove me every inch of the way to nearly quit.

It was winter, I was frozen and hated every minute. It was a physical and mental battle, but it’s in these times I learn something about myself, my weaknesses and my strengths and what I need to do to keep going.

This is what offering yourself up as a physical sacrifice to places like the Commando Temple does.

To hand yourself over to someone else who will take you to the places you simply can’t or won’t go voluntarily. The places you get to meet yourself and whatever happens, you know you have got that bit stronger.  

And even if you believe you have failed, or even if you quit, it doesn’t have to be the end. You can decide in these moments to pick yourself up knowing that this is simply your new starting point.

Now get down and give me 30 Bastard Burpees for taking too long to decide!

 

The Commando Temple Trainers can be contacted on 020 81274545 (The HQ) between 7am and 9pm Monday-Friday

8am-5pm on Saturdays, closed Sundays.

Please leave a message if we are on the gym floor and cannot pick up 

 General enquiries at info@bestronger.co.uk

 You are welcome to send us a message via our Facebook page here

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Commando-Temple/424974020914175

We aim to reply to all emails within 24 hours or you can send a txt

You can write to us at the following address

 Commando Temple

Units 14 – 15 – 16 Resolution way

London SE8 4NT