By Laura McAlister
Journal Editor
For some people, running a 10K would be on life’s to-do list, but for Sean Dickson, that’s a Tuesday – and it’s just a warm-up to his daily workout.
Sean is owner of Combat Fitness Training Facility in Hoover. The former Army Special Forces medic challenges clients daily with what he calls “functional fitness with a tactical twist.”
Describing a typical workout would be almost impossible, because Sean’s routine changes daily. But one thing is for sure – it’s always challenging, both physically and mentally.
“What we do here is fitness that mimics life,” said the John Carroll Catholic High School graduate. “It’s designed from what I did in the military.”
Sean served in Afghanistan with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. He joined the military for the challenge; after returning from his service in Afghanistan in 2008, he wanted another challenge, so he opened Combat Fitness about a year later.
Don’t expect treadmills or spin classes at this gym. Here, it’s just the basics — some mats, lots of weights, gymnastics rings and rowing machines.
“And those buckets you see over there,” Sean joked, pointing to a corner in the building, “they’re not for mopping.”
Sean, 33, trains right along with his clients, so if the day’s workout calls for a 5K run up the hill leading to the gym on Valleydale Terrace, followed by 210 reps with a weighted ball and maybe even a few algebra problems in between, Sean takes part in all the drills. The only advantage he has is that he plans all the workouts.
“I’m the only one who knows what we’re going to do,” he said. “I’m the wizard behind the curtain.”
The tables will be turned on him this summer, though, when Sean takes on a new challenge, one with a simple yet unnerving warning: “You may die.”
In June, Sean will head to Vermont to compete in the Death Race, a two-to-three day adventure race that tests competitors with grueling tasks for the mind and body.
Sean doesn’t know how long the race will last or even when it will officially start. He just has to be in Pittsfield, Vt., by noon on June 25. The race has a 10 percent finish rate, Sean said, and to finish is to win it.
“That’s the deal. It can last forever and be like a Dante’s Inferno, but you can always walk away,” he said. “You can quit.”
But quitting just isn’t something in this sergeant’s nature. “Special forces don’t quit,” he said.
It’s that training he received in the special forces that makes Sean think he will be in the 10 percent who finish the Death Race.
Sean joined the Army in 2000. At the time, he didn’t expect to see combat.
But then came the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He was in training during the attacks, serving with a recon scout platoon with the 82nd Airborne Division.
He of course wanted another challenge, so he tried the special forces. He’s a graduate of the Army’s Airborne School and Ranger School and eventually became a special forces medic.
In 2007, he was sent to serve in Afghanistan. It was there that Sean realized all the training he had still didn’t prepare him for the real-life situations of war.
“Three days within the invasion, I was exhausted,” he said. “When you go out on patrol, whether it’s in the military or as a police officer, you never know if it’s going to be normal.”
After completing his tour of duty, Sean returned to Birmingham, and about a year later he opened his gym – which trains police officers, soldiers or just about anyone to prepare for the unexpected.
He trains almost every day with some mandatory rest, and the training is always different, targeting different muscles.
Combat Fitness Training Facility has been open almost exactly a year, and of course, Sean is ready for the next challenge.
“I started with a few options,” he said. “It was either to run the entire Appalachian Trail or the Death Race.”
Assuming that the Death Race will last only about two to three days (no one except the planners knows for sure), the race won out.
During the months leading up to the event, Sean said he will be training vigorously and competing in local races.
“I’ve got six before the Death Race,” he said. “I’m training as much as I can. They always say you can never be too prepared.”
That’s especially true for a race like this one.
Though all the Death Races are different, Sean said the examples he’s heard are pretty brutal.
“Once they sent them 10 miles up a mountain, and when they got to the top, they had to name the first 10 presidents,” he said. “Then they had to run down again and at the bottom name the first 10 presidents in reverse order. It’s mental agility training.”
Those who couldn’t recite the presidents’ names correctly were sent back up the mountain to try and try again.
It’s that mental aspect that really appealed to Sean.
“What we preach here (at Combat Fitness Training Facility) is your strongest asset is your mind,” he said. “At all times you have to stay sharp. That’s why sometimes during the hardest weight training, I’ll pull out an algebra problem for them.”
So far, about 200 people nationwide have signed up for the June Death Race. While Sean knows the odds are slim, he expects to be among the 10 percent who finish. He won’t get any cash prize or even a trophy, but that’s not what the Death Race is about.
“It’s about finishing,” he said. “There are no times listed or anything like that. Just the names of those who finished.”
Those names, as well as information on the Death Race, are posted on the event’s website, appropriately named www.youmaydie.com.
