Monday was a nice mix of back and chest. Machines, free weights, cables, bodyweight. I used some good functional movements such as finger tip push ups as well as some ‘vanity’ movements such as cable crossovers. A nice solid workout at a different pace after Sunday’s Crossfit style beatdown.
For me, variety is greatly needed. I cannot do 20 minutes of puke inducing work everyday, just as I cannot do muscle isolation everyday. Exercise must be fun and interesting….
Which moves us on to today…
Peter and I met up at the local sausage party gym spot and worked out on cables, free weights and more, mixing in dips, curls, pushes, etc. We then took it to the upstairs floor and worked on deck squats, some ball pushes, more bicep curls and finished it all with the Panos4Time drill. It was my first time through it and this is a real killer. If you are not familiar with the protocol, scroll down a few posts and check it out. I hit it in 1:35, setting a new mark. The jacks are no problem, the burpees hit you, the kb swings almost knock you out and the lateral drills finish you to the floor. It felt a lot like racing a half mile. Fast and painful but full of benefit and a good measure of mental toughness.
Modified Fight Gone Bad (My fathers day gift to myself)…
5 rounds for rep total.
Do all exercises consecutively for one minute each, resting exactly one minute in between rounds for a total of 25 lactic acid filled, on the edge of puking fun filled minutes.
1. 75 lb. sumo dead lift with high pull (weight goes to floor, dead lift up and pull weight to chin) 2. 24″ bench jump (get a solid 2 foot object, jump up to it, hop down, repeat) 3. 75 lb. overhead push press (bar goes from chest straight up over head and back down) 4. Burpees (yes, really…)
(The full version of this starts with an exercise called ‘Wall Ball’ where you take a 2o lb. and toss it up to a mark at a height of 10′ on a wall, catch, squat, stand and throw. The gym didn’t have either a good wall spot nor a 20 lb. ball. Also, in place of burpees, Crossfit uses one minute on a rowing machine. I think burpees kick the behind a bit more and since I only included four exercises, I opted to kick the tukus.)
I had the idea going into this that I was going to do ‘a little more’ after I was done…funny one tough guy. Legs were shaking, lunch was begging to come up, and I was doing the trademark waving off motion that happens involuntarily when things get ugly (usually a side effect of burpees).
It’s almost an hour gone and I’m still high off of it, still shaking a bit. My walk through the grocery store was veeeeery mellow as the endorphine rush kept right on going. Chugged down a Naked protein juice smoothie in less than 5 seconds. Time to relax and enjoy game five of the NBA finals.
Here is a link to my favorite new protein. Jay Robb Whey Protein I had cut whey out of my diet for a while as almost all of it contains some sort of artificial sweetener. Acesesulfame Potassium sounds like something that might be good for you. It is in fact an under tested artificial sweetener that has led to cancer in mice. Check your protein, you are more than likely getting this or sucralose in your product. FRIDAY
ONE
29 lb. weighted back pack pull ups x5 rest one minute 29 lb. weighted back pack chin ups x5 rest one minute 29 lb. weighted back pack mixed grip pull ups x5 rest one minute 29 lb. weighted back pack mixed grip pull ups x5 (mixed grip is one hand palm facing away, the other palm facing toward)
TWO “Five Rounds with Baggy Boy”
Rounds are 3:30, whatever time you don’t use is rest. Total time 17:30
You will need a 100 lb. object. We use a heavy bag.
-Bag flip to wall is the first movement. The heavy bag rests about one foot from the wall. Trainee grabs the bag and flips it with a squat up and push out motion, bag hits wall, trainee grabs bag and flips if back to the ground, repeat x10
-Bag squat is the second movement. Bear hug the bag and sumo squat to thighs parallel position. repeat x10
-Bag hop are the third action. Get up and over the bag with feet facing parallel to the bag. x20 double leg x10 right leg x10 left leg
-Knees is the next action. Hands and elbows on the bag, drive knees into bag at full force x20.
-Last, quickly mount the bag and drive forearm blows into it as hard as you can x20
My times ranged between 2:20 and 2:30, will shoot for 2:10 next time and cut it to 3:00 minute rounds.
THREE
Pull Work
10 Tennis ball pull ups
10 side pulls (grab bar like a baseball bat, with body perpendicular to bar pull up, bringing inside shoulder to bar)
10 rounds, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off for a five minute total. 50 burpees total.
FEEL THE BURN!!!
Jumped in the car and went to Legion Park and played three games two on two, managing to sprain my right big toe in the process when the slow guy defending me stuck his foot right in front of mine as my foot landed in a full blown sprint. As Peter says, “Basketball is a dangerous game.” I think he means that in a bad way?
Perform these in order until done. Rest for 1-2 minutes. Repeat for 5 revolutions. Record your time.
50 jumping jacks 10 burpees* (*modify if needed to complete due to stiffness in the back half of your body. You could do this by performing a double knee tuck from a plank position followed by a double leg extension followed by a push up for 15 reps. Perform in a smooth manner combining moves.) 20 KB swingswith 30lb kettle bell. A dumbbell may be substituted. 10 lateral cone touches. Cones are set at 8′ apart. Use any 12″ object as substitute. ( 1 rep is a completion of 2 cone touches)
Posted client times ranged from under 2 minutes to just over 3 minutes. Experienced clients should be able to score under 2 minutes. This can be used as a warm up or as an early a.m. client noted, an “I am awake now” workout. She had planned on going to nap after our 8am session. She did not follow through with that after our session. Who needs coffee?
95 lb close grip bench x25 135lb. bench press x15 rest for Pete’s set 135 lb. bench press x15 rest for Pete’s set 185 lb. bench press x7 rest for Pete’s set 185 lb. bench press x6 rest for Pete’s set
Ring push up with full flexion (drawing hands together at bottom of motion) x10
This shake will satiate and provide energy. Definitely not for the late night hours if you are trying to lose weight but good for an earlier daytime boost, perhaps for your pre workout meal.
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries 1 1/2 cup soy milk 1 cup orange juice 1 scoop protein powder
Place all ingredients in a blender, blend well and enjoy.
calories:399 total carbs: 57.5 g fiber: 5.5. g sugars: 47 g fat: 7g protein: 24 g sodium: 497 mg potassium: 959 mg
Wednesday
Last night I did my pre shower routine that I use every time I take a shower that is not directly after a workout…
For time: 10 push ups/10 squats x10=200 reps 3:45 Personal record for the Shower 100 is 2:53, done in 20’s.
Finished with… One arm push up x3 each arm followed by negatives (one arm down, two arm up) x3
rest two minutes
Negatives x6 each arm
Wednesday…. Sticky hot out. Did our class…Sprints, push ups, jumps, ladder drills, long jumping, more sprints, pushing the picnic table, and a good long stretch. Sweat drippin’ off.
One game hustle, one game two on two, one game three on three.
Got in the car and drove to another court and did 10 suicides (Sprint to free throw, return to baseline, sprint to half court, return, sprint to far free-throw, return, sprint to far baseline, finish) and worked on dunks. Legs were dead but got up over a double rim with force.
Suicides:
1.Forward
2.Forward/backward
3.Forward
4.Defense shuffle
5.Karaoke (foot behind, then in front)
6.Forward
7.Forward/backward
8.Defense shuffle
9.Forward
10.Forward
The last two were done double style, hitting each line two times.
Rest for ten long deep breaths between each repetition.
Your legs will be heavy, your lungs will burn but you will never be beat to a loose ball due to lack of hustle. Stretch quads, hamstrings, hips, calves.
I find more and more that most people will get their mind in shape faster than their bodies. It is easier to make the decision that you are going to work more than it is to lay out a plan, do the work day in and day out, stick to it and indulge in the results of a long period of serious and intense exertion. One day of hard work will not do it. Nor will one week or one month. What is a true fitness goal? Is it to look better? While that is a start, I feel one of the best goals to have is to strive to be the best, feel great and to be able to do things with your mind and body that you never thought reachable until you did your first pull up, muscle up, back flip, rope climb, 10 mile run, 100 burpees or all of them in a row. But why, why are you doing this? There always has to be an answer to that question, a reason to go back to that place, push through lactic burn and meet your goals no matter the challenge, physical or mental. Physical appearance will not be the answer you need, it will eventually betray you, whether before you reach ‘ripped’ or after, it will fail you and your goals. Physical appearance should be a side effect of fitness, not the main goal.
Fitness is much more than ‘getting ripped’. It is the ability to swing your grand kids around, to pick up all of the groceries in one trip, walk around the city all day, or play the sport that you love all day the same way you played as a child…free of pain, worry or fear of injury.
Take a look at professional athletes…how many of them are ‘ripped’ according to modern standards? Basketball players? Not usually, yet the best of them run the court for forty minutes and maintain the ability to shoot, jump and sprint. Marathon runners? Certainly not. With huge amounts of slow twitch muscles these athletes are thin and gangly, yet world class marathoners can run for 26.2 miles at a sub five minute per mile pace. Mixed martial artists? Certainly some of them are in tip top shape visually, yet the athlete many consider to be the best in the world (heavyweight Victor Emalianinko) carries a gut and is not the usual picture of fitness, yet has the ability to fight continuously for several five minute rounds. Tennis players? While many of them have stepped up their physical regiments to include weight lifting and other resistance movements, they are not bulging with muscle, and because of that can play matches that last for hours. Golfers? Well, the best has embraced a weight program and is reaping the benefits, but the elite carry many shapes and sizes.What does this tell you? It tells me that while training for hypertrophy may allow you to look in the mirror and flex and enjoy the narcissism, the real life benefits of a well balanced fitness plan do not need to contain lifting for shaping or hypertrophy unless your goal is only physical appearance, in which case I can almost universally guarantee burn out and drop out.
Saturday
20 pushups, 20 squats, 20 sit up warm up
5 single arm dumbbell swings, 5 single arm dumbbell clean and press, 10 burpees
Three and a half minute sets (2:20 working, 1:10 off)
Set one=40lb.
Set two=55lb.
Set 3, 4, 5=60 lb.
17:30 total.
Last two sets of burpees should really burn.
And then…
Jump Squats (same as a regular squat, upon reaching bottom of movement explode upward jumping as high as possible)
85 lb. x10
105 lb. x10
125 lb. x10
Protein, stretch, water.
Sunday-REST
Monday
circuit three rounds:
Dumbbell Lat rows x10 each side 40lb/60lb/70lb
Bodyweight rows on rings x20, x19, x15
Beer Barrel Rows x15, x15, x15
Slow drop pull ups on rings (3 seconds up, 5 seconds down) x5, x5, x5
Lateral shoulder raise x10 full range, x10 short range 15 lb. two sets Front deltoid raise x10 full range, x10 short range 15 lb . two sets Rear deltoid flies x10 25 lb two sets Shrugs x10 70 lb two sets
bicep curls with barbell wide grip x7 natural grip x7 close grip x7 twice with 75 lb.
Squat 185 lbs x 20 reps Bench 185×20 Dead lift (Russian-bent knees) 185×20 One arm DB row-Left arm 70×20 -Right arm 70×20 Walking lunge (70lb DB) 140×20 Overhead standing Bar press 115×20
We did the bodyweight 500 today and the competition drove it to a new PR. Peter flew in at 12:28, I came in just behind at 12:32. I’m pretty confident that now that we’ve done it that way it can be pushed below 10 minutes. The goal of this routine is to be able to move through all of the movements with no stopping, no breaking up sets. Right now the trouble is with pull ups and rows. I complete the first set but get stuck at 10 pulls and 15 rows the second time around. I’m almost tempted to make this a daily ritual…
Anyway… BEHOLD! THE POWER OF THE BURPEE!!!
TAKE THE 100 BURPEE CHALLENGE AND WIN AT LIFE.
Your form will invariably suffer,I’ve found the stretch of 30-70 to really not be fun. The first 30 is all optimistic “I’m going to get a PR” territory… Then the “Oh, this…I forgot about this…” in the 30-50 session, Followed by “Why am I doing this again?” in the 50-70 range. 70-100 is all lactic build up, mental toughness and seeing the finish line on the horizon.
