5-6-11 The Algorithm of the Grizzly Shirt

It was Nick's last day at school and he finished it with a bang. He became the 7th person in the history of the school to earn the Grizzly Strength Training award.

Explaining how one goes about earning this award, however, is along the lines of explaining a cryptographic algorithm.

The sheet you see above is his Senior calculations. For four years, every year, his strength and conditioning class does each of the above exercises as a pre-test and then, at the end, as their max testing. The difference between the pre-test and max they do at the end is weighted and assigned points depending on the percentage of improvement.

Manage to earn 16-20 points, you get the 1 Paw Strength Shirt; 21-25 points is a 2 Paw; 26-30 earns a 3 Paw; 31-35 earns the 4 Paw.

And if you manage a total of 36 or more points, you have qualified for the Grizzly Shirt. Nick didn't even have to do the vertical jump and got to 37.

His final stats were 295 on the Bench Press, 265 on the Incline Press, 5 Squats at 375, 5 Hang Cleans at 231, 126 box jumps (in 60 seconds), Pro Agility is 20 yards in two turns in 3.95 seconds, the deadly Grizzly Shuttle in 57 seconds, and ran his 40 in 4.64.

The Grizzly Shuttle is a 300 yard shuttle run from the free throw line to the opposite base line on the basketball court and back 6 times. You must do it twice in a row with an exactly 5 minute recovery time in between before you must start running again. The two runs are then averaged together while you stagger outside to puke your guts out.

Sammi took Strength and Conditioning for just one semester and quit.

Nick has just finished his eighth semester.

Just finishing is amazing.

Being the 7th in the history of the school to earn the Grizzly? I am beaming with pride.

And just for fun, here is his 9th grade sheet for comparison: no paws earned.

9th Grade bench press was 175 (Senior 295)

Go Nick -- UNC awaits!