Becoming an Athlete

I have a minor cold. Nothing like the Avian Hoof and Mouth SARS that Plieb caught, thank God!!!! I may do a small workout today (10 DEC). I find taxing my metabolic systems to be more demanding /draining than taxing a few muscle groups. That being said, I'll have a good excuse to do 4 sets of 12 of stupid body builder movements. It'll be a nice change and something I can easily recover from.

Spiderman walks: 17 (getting easier!!!) Deadlift: 205 x 10, 10 10 Jump lunge: 27, 23 Wall squat: 10 Pullup: 3, 3, 3 Support prone raise: 10s x 15, 13, 10 Overhead press: 105 x 10, 10, 8 pushup w/trunk twist: 12, 10, 2 I was gassed! I skipped biceps and abs.

After an 8 mile hike, I had enough in the gas-tank to do some lifting: Spiderman walks: 9 Hindu squat: 40 Back squat: 205 x 6, 6, 6 3-position claf raises off a step: 20-20-10 (one set with no rest between positions) Dips: 8 Pushup w/trunk twist: 7 each Incline bench press: 155 x 6, 6, 6 Support prone fly: 10s x 17, 15, 12 Chin-up: 3, 4, 3

My girlfriend and I walked 8 miles through Barton Creek Greenbelt. My feet and ankles were SORE!!!

Spiderman crawl: 9 :( Bulgarian (AKA Split) squat: bodyweight x 10, 10 (each leg, so 4 sets total) Front squat: 135 x 15, 7 Standing calves raise: 185 x 30, 30 Upright row: 75 x 9; 65 x 12, 12 Inverted row: bodyweight x 12, 6 Bench press: 185 x 8, 8, 8 Hindu pushup: 4, 5 Incline dumbbell curl*: 20s x 12, 12, 6 * Going light till my right elbow feels better. The pain in my right bicep / forearm is pretty bad.

I read an article called Core Training for Smart Folks yesterday. Since it was so damn cold outside, I figured I'd just do a little of this inside instead of my planned workout. The basic synopsis of this article is that lower abdominal and transverse abdominal strength lead to a stronger back and can help correct or prevent excessive lordosis in the lumbar region of the spine, as well as pelvic tilt. A suggested test is to see how well you can lower both legs without allowing your lower back to come off the floor. I got to about 5 inches off the ground, but doubt I could do any better unless I lost some 'backside'. Of all the suggested exercise, the only one that offered a degree of difficulty was the single leg lowering. The off-balance nature of this seemed to target an injury I sustained to my groin last year during jiu jitsu sparring. Prior to this injury, I was doing "dragon flys" as well. Hopefully I can progress back to that level in 4-5 months of eff...

Ramblings: I was very sore from Monday's workout, but after a few rounds of a boxing workout, the soreness went away. I can tell my overall power is up from from any point in the past, but I feel glued to the ground. My foot speed is atrocious. I'm hoping that doing more agility drills will help, but the bigger issue are my calves. They tire quickly. My Wednesday workouts will push calve endurance, but unless I get in sore serious roadwork, I don't think they'll get to the level of stamina I want. The Workout: 12 rounds total: Each round set at 3 minute work, 1 minute rest My girlfriend and I performed a 4 round circuit, and repeated it 3 times 2 rounds of heavy bag 2 rounds of double end bag We finished off the workout with a 1 minute burnout drill. That's basically punching as fast as you possibly can for one minute without any rest. Instead of double end bag, my girlfriend was doing one round each of shadow boxing and jump rope. My legs were so shot from Monday...

Ramblings First: I've noticed my training has been focused on the sagittal plane of movement. This is basically a plane in which forward and backward movement takes place, such as squats, deadlifts , lunges, etc. As a result, my lateral speed and kicking speeds have started to suffer. So I'm incorporating a lot of rotational and otherwise odd movement drills for the next 4 weeks. For the next 4 weeks, each workout starts with " Spiderman Crawling". This is INSANELY difficult. I could feel my lower adbominals , my hips, my spine, and my pushing muscles firing in patterns I'm unused to. I lifted this from Men's health Urbanathlon training program ; courtesy of The Crunch . I'm not doing their workout, just this movement. The workout - 01 DEC 2008: 1) Spiderman crawls: 8 :( 2) Deadlift : 205 x 8, 8, 8 3) Bodyweight Jump lunges: 20, 24 4) Skier Squat (1 & 1/2 reps): bodyweight x 5 5) Pullup : bodyweight x 5, 5, 4 6) Supported prone fly; 10s x 10, 10...

I've had some great workouts but have not made the time to post them. I've run 4 times since my last posting, had numerous weight training sessions, and probably 3-4 fight conditioning workouts. Its time to start logging it again and keeping track of progress. My back is 100% again and I've been able to perform straight leg deadlifts with respectable weight (185) for respectable reps (16). I'll get my maxes and bodyfat posted before the end of November. I'd estimate my 5K time at 30 minutes. I did 27:41 about two months ago, but there have been many calories between then and now. :(

As my buddy Plieb pointed out, most of what I'm doing has little carryover to fight training, but Mondays are pure fight conditioning We did a 3 station circuit: 1) heavy bag, 2) conditoning drills, 3) recovery Rounds: 2 minutes Rest: 30 secounds total cricuits: 4 1) heavy bag: first two rounds focused on technique and balance. We progressively raised the intensity to 100% effort on the 4th round 2) Conditioning drills: 10,9,8,7...... Burpees 25lb medicine ball slam Swiss ball crunch In two minutes, i was barely able to complete 10 of each. I think I need a lighter medicine ball to be able to repeat more often in 2 minutes. We finished off with a 1 minute burnout drill on the heavy bag. One minute of jab-cross-jab-cross-jab-cross........

My new schedule looks like this: Monday: AM: Run 5K PM: Variety of heavy bag work, and fight conditioning drills Wednesday: AM: Run 5K PM: I run a workout for my buddy. I only do some core strength lifts, and maybe some abs. Friday AM: Run 5k So how did I do? 1) Skier squat: 25lbs x 7 2) Walking lunge: 50lbs x 7 each leg 3) Deadlift: 185 x 7 rest for 1 min 4) Standing calves drop set: 245 x 17 225 x 15 205 x 8 5) Chinup: 8 + 1 negative 6) Prone raise: 15lb dumbbells x 6 7) Side raise: 15s x 10 + 1 static hold to failure 1 minute rest 8) Incline bench press: 145 x 10 9) Barbell curl: 75 x 8 10) Knee raise: 20

Mondays are proving to be a consistent group of three. My girlfriend, my friend, and me. The workout structure was simple: 1) Heavy bag: 2 minutes, 1 min rest 2) Core circuit: 2 minutes, 1 min rest 3) 1 round off - Repeat this three times The minute between round proved to be too long, so we dropped it to 30 seconds. The core circuit was TOUGH! A) Swiss ball russian twist: 10lbs, 10 reps per side LINK > B) Medicine ball squat + overhead throw: 25lb, 10 reps C) Medicind Ball situp: 25 lbs, 10 reps. After all of this, did a drill for 3 minutes, which required us to circle the heavy bag, change directions on command, and keep our arms up around the bag all three minutes. My calves went NUMB!!! THEN, we took turns pushing my truck. I got about 45 yards.

CALVES CALVES CALVES!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy moly I need those. Since I ran on Friday, 10 OCT, then deadlifted on 11 OCT, my lower body was already taxed. So on Sunday, 12 OCT, I used roller blades and did about 2 miles as fast as i could. I was actually doing this to give my dog some exercise, but it was pretty tough for me too! The lateral motion is quite a different feel than running. Later that evening, I tried to run my normal 5K loop, but my body quit from the knees down. I can tell my calves are going to respond well to this new frequency and volume of work.

I didn't have a spotter, so I just maxed on two lifts: deadlift and overhead press Deadlift: 345 lbs. I pulled 365 up to my knees, then bailed when i felt my back get a little odd. Since I hurt my back doing squats about 2 months ago, i decided not to risk it and just stayed with 345. I feel i could have gotten 355, but why risk it. Overhead press: 175 Same issue as with deadlifts: lower back posed some limitation. To keep my form solid, I performed the press while seated. This was as much weight as my lower back could stabilize. I'll get Bench max this week, but will hold off on squat for 3 weeks when I attempt all 4 again.

Well, its been a while since I ran a 5k. I used a stopwatch and timed myself. My goal was 27 minutes, which is roughly 9 minute miles. Sadly, i got 27:41, or 9:14 minute miles. You can bet I'll be doing my runs through out the next 12 weeks! Goal 1: 27 even by 01 NOV (9 min miles) Goal 2: 26:15 by 01 DEC (8:45min miles)

I'm a huge fan of periodized training . For me, it is simply a means to add some structure to variety; to organize without pigeon-holing myself. After getting back to some hard core HIT workouts, I've realized a few things: 1) The cardio -conditioning required is incredible! 2) The impact on hypertrophy is great! 3) The improvements in strength is OK Since I hurt my back going so heavy on squats (triples and doubles), I think its time to move back towards the "generalist" type of training. I plan to alternate between two distinct modalities for the next 12 weeks: 1) 3 week phases of HIT style workouts, three times a week 2) 3 Week phases of Crossfit training, four times a week * During both phases, I'll fill in the gaps with basic running and some Cross PIT workouts to keep my sport-specific conditioning intact. Crossfit is awesome for conditioning and building generalized athletic abilities. I'll do my best to do the WODs , but I may cherry pick some of ...

Sometimes the simplest things are the best things. in this case, doing a true High Intensity Training style workout with as little as 9 exercises had me totally wiped out! The idea is to lift as much weight as you can handle, using the strictest form, then do a few forced reps or negatives when you reach failrue. Move on to the next exercise with little to no rest. It equates to about 15-25 minutes of gut wrenching work. 1) Skier Squats* (1&1/2 reps**): 25 lbs by 8 2) Walking Lunges: 75 lbs by 6 - about 1 minute rest 3) Chin-ups: 6 + 1 negative 4) Supine Grip Bent Row: 115 x 12 5) High Pull: 135 x 9 6) Overhead press: 95 x 11 - about 1 minute rest 7) Bench press: 165 x 10 8) Barbell curl: 75 x 10 + 1 negative 9) Weighted Swissball crunch thing: 20lbs x 15 * Skier Squat: Not only is this a good explaination of the Skier's Squat, its also a great article. LINK ** 1 and a half reps: For the skier squat you lower yourself all the way to the bottom position, pause ...

We didn't have any subs, so I ran the whole hour. It was painful to say the least, but an incredible opportunity to push myself. My legs and lungs were equally spent afterwards.

This would have been my 3rd day in a row of exercising, but my body was just too sore to do anything. All I did were some swiss ball crunches and side deadlifts.

Pullups: 10, 10 Inverted Row: 12, 9 Bench Press: 160 x 15, 13 Seated Overhead Press: 100 x 9; 85 x 12 (shoulders tired from bench press) Romanian Deadlift: 95 x 16, 15 (going light to strengthen my lower back) Front Squat: 115 x 18 Barbell Curl: 70 x 15 + 4 negatives Nothing fancy, but we pushed hard on every set, going to or near failure.

We did a really nice 3-movement circuit, repeated 3 times. I only went through the circuit twice, as my main workout is planned for 9/30. Circuit: a) 25lb medicine ball squat + overhead throw(AKA wallball ): 15 reps b) 20 lb dumbbell plank row: 10 reps c) 95 lb jump shrug: 10 reps After this we did heavy bag work, with emphasis on rotational movements, such as hooks, Thai round kick, and knee to liver 3 rounds: 2 min work, 5 minute rest* *Normally there wouldn't be so much rest, but we had 3 people working on one heavy bag.

Because I had lifted the day before, and because my girlfriend was tired, we did an HIT style workout. High Intensity Training (HIT) is all about brief, infrequent whole body workouts taken to complete muscular failure. Forced reps, drop sets, and partial reps are some of the intensivesness enhancing techniques used to make sure you take the set past the normal stopping point. I don't train this way exclusively, but its a nice change when you are feeling mentally ready but your body has less than full capacity. HIT advocates are usually about as "preachy" as CrossFit advocates. They are on the polar oposite ends of the training spectrum, but both are producing great results for their target audience. In any event, give HIT a look-see: http://www.drdarden.com/ Because my back is still less than 100% from the squat-induced injury, I'm still going light on deadlifts and squats. 1) Swiss ball crunch: 28 reps 2) Deadlift: 165 x 9 (weak lower back still) 3) Front squat:...

My buddy Chris asked if we could start lifting together. Today was focused on core strength and correcting some structural imbalances. We ended with a little body weight circuit for time. What I have Chris doing is: Core circuit x 2 1A) Weighted Crunch thing* 1B) Left Side Deadlift 1C) Weighted Crunch thing* 1D) Right Side deadlift Structural work 2) Snatch grip high pull from ground: 4 x 8 Endurance circuit for time 3A) Hindu Squats: 50 reps 3B) Pushups: 25 reps 3C) Inverted Row: 25 reps All I did were the last two portions Snatch grip deadlift to high pull: 135 x 8, 8, 8, 8 Endurance circuit for time: 2 minutes, 30 seconds. * Weighted crunch thing: This is a great abdominal exercise. Lay across a swiss ball with your hips near the top of the ball. Have a partner snatd on your feet so you don't roll back. With a dumbbell in each hand, hold your arms vertically. Perform a normal crunch, minimizing hip involvement and be sure to keep your arms vertical throughout the movement.

Another tough but do-able workout. 1) Side deadlift: 95 x 10 (on each side) 2) Front squat: 125 x 12, 10 (WEAK!!) 3) Bent Row: 115 x 15, 9 4) Dumbbell side raise: 10s x 15, 15 5) Bench press: 165 x 13; 155 x 10 6) Barbell curls: 75 x 10; 65 x 15 7) Barbell Complex: 1 set of 75 x 6 reps - Each "rep" is comprised of (Clean - 1 rep) (Push Press - 1rep) (Alternating Lunge - 1 each) (Straigh leg DL - 3 reps) (Pushup - 3 reps)

Sadly, I was goalie on Monday night's game. I just started playing indoor soccer, 5 on 5. This was my second time to ever play soccer. I didn't even know the full set of rules on what a goalie can and can't do. I must have blocked about 15 or 20 shots and let about 10 by. The cool thing about it is the reaction time it requires to actually block a shot. The down side was I didn't get to do nearly enough running.

At 8:30 AM, my team at work ran a volunteer event with Habitat for Humanity. I spent 3 hours tearing down sheet rock, scraping off roofing, loading and unloading wheel barrows of the stuff into dumpsters. Evening workout: Deadlift: 185 x 6,8 (back still less than 100% post-injury) Jump lunges: 10,12 Wide grip bent row to neck (AKA High Wide Bent Row): 75 x 15,15 Negative-only chin-ups: 30 seconds, 40 seconds Bench press: 155 x 15,15 Overhead press: 95 x 7 I was EXHAUSTED!!!!!!!

Dips: bodyweight x 10, 12 Bench press: 165 x 11, 13 Inverted row: 12, 12 (feet elevated on bench) Barbell pullover: 65 x 10,10 Side deadlift*: 115 x 10L, 10R, 5L, 5R Side deadlifts are simple but even harder than reagular deadlifts. Stand sideways next to a barbell, and grab it with one hand. Simply stand up and go back down as you would for regular deadlifts. The off center loading make it a great core workout, plus a good way to bring balance between your left and right legs. After that we went to the parking lot and pushed a car again. This time a Hyundai Accent. My total efforts were: 2 tries of 75 yard (slight uphill slant) 1 try of about 200 yards. This one killed me!

Sunday was incredible. We had great temperatures and low humidity, so I was eager to do as much as possible. Noon-ish workout: Front squats: 115 x 2 x 15 Overhead press: 105 x 2 x 15 Pullup: bodyweight x 2 x 6 Bent Row: 95 x 2 x 15 Swiss ball crunch: 20, 10 2:30 - 4:00: Hiking for 4-5 miles through some moderately difficult terrain. The hike was nice. We broke a good sweat and kept the pace very brisk. 11:20 PM: Indoor soccer HOLY COW!!!! This is like running 20 yard sprints non stop and in every conceivable direction for an hour. INCREDIBLE!! We had enough players for subs, but I still got a lot of time on the field.

3 rounds of jump rope (3 mins, 30 sec rest) Scaled version of Arlene's 9/11/08 WOD 4 "tabatas" -bicycles -pushups -round kicks 4 rounds sparring It was a solid workout.

100 pushups 100 bodyweight squats My 5 year old son did the squats with me. He rocks!!!!!!

My legs were shot from pushing the truck the day before, so I jogged a brief 2 miles. .....Slowly

Total reps for time: Dips: 44 Chin-ups: 44 Barrier Jumps: 44 We then took my truck to the high school parking lot and took turns pushing it around. It was late at night, and noone was there, and the lighting was good. It was an ideal spot. My truck is a Dodge Ram Megacab!!! It weighs 6529 lbs, according the Dodge's website! Three tries of this and my hamstrings and calves were GONE! Each effort was roughly 60-75 yards. I was impressed that my 5'2" girlfriend could move it at all!

So I started with afternoon sparring and conditioning. Later, the kids rode their bikes and I roller bladed with them to a park to play some soccer. I did some pullups and such on the playground while they played. Late that night, I did a workout that almost made me puke. In least amount of time possible: 1) Pushups - 100 2) Hindu Squats - 100 3) Inverted Row, feet elevated - 50 I was able to manage sets of 20 on pushups for the first 3 sets. After that it was whatever I could get; 12, 10, 4, whatever! I did it all and it felt like maybe 20 minutes. I had the shakes and wanted to puke for about 30 minutes afterwards.

Gosh its been a while since I did some hard core conditioning!!! My thighs were weak coming in from the train sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday. My friend Andy is the "ring leader" of our sparring group. He was so eager to get to it that we skipped right over warm ups and just started banging! 6 rounds of sparring (3 mins on, 30 seconds rest) Then we did conditioning which was scaled down from AJ's 8/28 WOD: http://arlenescrosspit.blogspot.com/2008/08/wod-82808.html Workout: 40-20-20-10 reps. each of: box jumps sprawls dumbbell swing (30 lbs) I BARELY got two circuits of 20. 40 was just not happening today!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Fartlek, which means "speed play" in Swedish , is a form of conditioning which puts stress mainly on the aerobic energy system due to the continuous nature of the exercise. The difference between this type of training and continuous training is that the intensity or speed of the exercise varies, meaning that aerobic and anaerobic systems can be put under stress. Most fartlek sessions last a minimum of 45 minutes and can vary from aerobic walking to anaerobic sprinting. Fartlek training is generally associated with running, but can include almost any kind of exercise. I took my kids and their bikes, my girlfriend, and dog to the park. We started with sprints across the parking lot for the baseball park. My dog gets top honors for acceleration. My daughter on her mountain bike just edged him out in top speed, though. We then jogged / rode across a few dirt trails before we ran out of trail and headed back to the paved trail. every no...

02 SEP was my first real workout since hurting my back. My goal was to perform 50 reps each of dips, chin ups, and drop lunges for a measured amount of time. I couldn't find my stopwatch so instead I did this: Chin-ups: 40 reps Dips: 40 reps Drop lunges: 60 reps Jog: 2 miles. I like this workout and will do it a few more time over the next 2-3 weeks. I can tell my endurance has dropped significantly, and this will get it back up.

The workout started well enough 245 x 8 255 x 7 265 x 6 275 x 5 285 x 4 295 x 3. This is where it ended On the 3rd rep I felt my torso falling forward, so I used considerable force in my lower back to get my torso vertical again. When I did that, the elictric sensation of pain kicked in and I was done. I finished the 3rd rep and was done. I'm thinking this will be a good opportunity to focus on dips and chin ups and give my spine a break for 1-2 weeks.

I have to say, this bodybuilder crap is SOOOO boring. I prefer the constant change within a single training session. But since I want to get a little more mass, this is the right thing to do. The session was: 1A) Pullups: 6, 6, 6, 5 1B) Incline Bench press: 155 x 6, 8, 9, 6 2) Inverted Row: 10, 10, 9, 10 3) Flat bench press: 135 x 10, 10, 10, 6 Nothing fancy, nothing special.

Its hard to accept that sometimes our bodies aren't as ready to go as our minds are. Yesterday was one of those days. No matter what I did, I just couldn't get my body in gear for a workout. But today I was rewarded with a solid workout and lifted more weight than I had planned!! Squats 225 x 8 235 x 7 245 x 6 255 x 5 275 x 4 (I skipped 265 and went for 275!!! All subsequent sets 10 lbs heavier than planned!) 285 x 3 295 x 2 305 x 1 Keep in mind these are all rock bottom (butt to the ground) squats!

I got a late start, and mid way through, my son woke up crying so that ended my workout prematurely. Supersets: A) Incline Bench press: 155 x 5, 10, 10, 10, 6 B) Pullup: 5, 6, 6, 6, 1 Had my son not woken up, I'd have done the next supersets of flat bench press and bent rows.

215 x 8 225 x 7 235 x 6 245 x 5 255 x 4 265 x 3 275 x 2 285 x 1 The first two sets were the hardest.

I painted the fascia on my friend's 2 story house. It isn't an ordinary house. It was built in 1904 and the roof of the 2nd floor is about 30 feet up. For 3 days straight I assembled and disassembled scaffolding three sections high. Each frame weighs about 80 punds. Carrying them up by myself and bringing them back down was exhausting!!! My back, traps, shoulders, arms, and hamstrings were sore for 2 days!!!

I felt really strong that day 205 x 8 215 x 7 225 x 6 235 x 5 245 x 4 255 x 3 265 x 2 275 x 1 I was going to rock bottom (hamstrings against my calves) on each and every rep. I did about 5 sets of single leg calves raises too

I've been busy and haven't posted each day. Front squats: 155 x 10,10,10,10 Non-lock back squats: This is a normal back squat but with no pause at any range of motion. It produces continuous tension on the thighs. OUCH!!! 155 x 16

Today was my first "arm and shoulders" workout. I have to say, it is every bit as boring as I thought it would be. 1) Shrug-Pull-Snatch compound set. This is awesome for developing explosiveness and leads to nice size gains in the traps and upper back. Do 4 shrugs, 4 High Pulls, then 4 Hang Snatches without rest. That comprises 1 set. 115 x 4 sets x 4-4-4 reps 2) Seated side raises: 15s x 4 x 10 3A) Zottman curls (MUCH harder than I thought) 20s x 10 x 10 3B) Dumbbell Skull Crushers: 20s x 10 x 10 The Zottman curls hurt. The weight was too light for my tricep work, but I want to achieve a bit more balance between my tricep and bicep strength, so I'm limiting myself to the same weight for each movement.

I always go a little lighter on the first session of any new phase, but the weights felt lighter than I expected. Squats: 185 x 8; 195 x 7; 205 x 6; 215 x 5; 225 x 4; 235 x 3; 245 x 2; 255 x 1 Next week I'll start with 205 x 8 Barbell calves raise: 225 x 20; 245 x 20; 275 x 10; 315 x 10; 225 x 40, 19

I'm starting a 12 week mass phase that will be broken into two 6 week phases. For this first mass phase, I'll be lifting four times a week with no cardio . I want to give my shins a real chance to recuperate before I start running again. The plan is structured like this: Monday: Leg strength day Tuesday: Shoulders and arms Wednesday: Off, with at least 20 minutes of stretching Thursday: Leg volume day Friday: Chest and back Monday is an old 1950's IronMan workout. The idea is to do 10 sets of squats. With each set add 10 pounds and decrease one rep starting weight(lbs) x 10 reps +10lbs x 9 +10lbs x 8 +10lbs x 7 +10lbs x 6 +10lbs x 5 +10lbs x 4 +10lbs x 3 +10lbs x 2 +10lbs x 1 Because I'm not a 1950s Ironman , I'm going to start with 8 reps and work down to 1. I'll also be doing 6 sets of calves Tuesday: " German Volume Training ". This is another old school mass workout. 10 sets of 10 reps for opposing muscles. I'll be adding in traps and shoulder...

I got a late start, so I tried to make this hard and short. A basic strength circuit: A) Mixed grip chin/pullup The mixed grip pullup was fine. I was able to perform sets of 8-10 B) Deadlift I felt weak on the deadlift. I could barely get 295 for 2 reps, so I dropped to 225 for setx of 6. C) Dip Dips were OK, but not spectacular. I got anywhere from 6-12 reps. I'll be goofying off with whatever I feel like the rest of the week, then starting a hypertrophy phase on Monday.

Triple digit heat will suck the life out of your workout FAST! I went through no less than a half gallon of water during my workout. 1A) Barbell calves raise: 305 x 13, 11, 12 1B) Standing Press: 125 x 8; 130 x 6; 135 x 4 2) Bench Press: 155 x 10, 10, 10, 6 I cut this short because of the heat and having out of town guests. That and I need to remotivate myself. :(

Today was a solid workout with more conditioning and less sparring Shadow boxing / kickboxing: 2 rounds Burpees: 2 x 20 Jab-cross-hook burnouts: 2 rounds Superset: A) Hindu squats: 2 x 20 B) Spiderman pushups: 2 x 5 Kicking drills from Orthodox stance: A) Right (rear) thigh kicks: 2 x 20 B) Left (front) thigh kicks: 2 x 20 Sparring: I think we did about 5 rounds today.

Strength Circuits 1A) Pistol Squats: 8, 10, 8, 6 1B) Pullups: 8, 8, 6, 4 1C) Dip: 10, 10, 7, 7 2A) Deadlifts: 225 x 5, 4, 6, 7, 8 2B) Alternating curls: 35s x 10, 10, 12, 12 Pistol squats are essentially single leg bodyweight squats. The neural factor is through the roof. They don't get my lungs going, but my legs just shut down after 4 or 5 per leg. I'm hoping to build up enough strength to do 10 per leg, but for now, four sets of 5 each would be just dandy!

The wind was so bad Friday night that we decided to run 200s. That way we would fight the wind for the curve, and end with it at our back for the straight. After 3 of these the pain in my shins was so severe that walking was an accomplishment. I'm going to lay off sprints for at least 2 weeks. Thankfully, my kids are fast on their bikes, so roller blading along side them will have to suffice for a bit. After two weeks, I'll start back with aerobic paced jogs.

A lot of light sparring today. One of the guys had a hurt leg, so we just boxed. The last round was great. My partner and I were both completely spent. All told, it was probably 6-8 rounds of sparring. We ended with Circuit 1: 50 jumping jacks as fast as possible 30 squat jumps 10 cross-over pushups 15 jab-cross-hook combos Circuit 2: twice 10 Box jumps 10 Single leg lateral box jumps In about 4 hours I'll be running 4 x 400s, and ending with 3 x 100s. I'm going to have the biggest nastiest Banana Split I can get afterwards!!!!

I was sore from the previous day's bodyweight workout and sparring, so I felt exceptionally weak. 1A) Barbell calves: 275 x 10; 295 x 10,10 1B) Overhead press: 115 x 8; 125 x 6; 135 x 1 2A) EZ Bar curls: 80 x 10,10,8,4 2B) Front squat: 135 x 8,8,8,8 (the squat rack was in use so I had to clean it from the ground at the start of each set) 3) Bench press: Sadly, I could only muster 135 x 10,10,10,10 I planned to do bent over rows next, but my back was sore, so instead I did 4) Supported dumbbell rows from an incline bench: 20s x 10,10,10,10

Only one other guy showed up today. We did a warm up round on the bag. I won't even call it a heavy bag. because it is our work gym, its some lame-o bag that LOOKS like a heavy bag, but weighs about 20 lbs. I had us doing tons of plyos, switching from upper to lower body. We tried 100 hindu squats, but crashed at 50. We kept moving between plyometric pushups, tuck jumps, crossover pushups, toe touching jump, medicine balls passes and slams, then hindu pushups. After about 30 minutes of unstructured but constant movement, we decided to spar for 2 rounds. All in all a good workout. Until I get a REAL heavy bag at our gym, I'll have a hard time doing these workouts during lunch: http://arlenescrosspit.blogspot.com/

Yesterday's session was 4 x 400 meters. It is only one mile, but it hurts like nothing else. My shins and lower calves still hurt pretty severely, but rubbing them down afterwards with my ice-filled pipe is helping. On the 3rd run, I did something that I haven't done in at least a year. I quit. At about 200 yards into my sprint, I just shut down and walked. It was horrible. Sure my body hurt, but my mind just flipped the "Wuss Out" switch and I stopped running. I finished the 4th with a great deal of pain, but I finished. I have promised myself that I won't ever do that again.

I'm not a crossfit guy, but I do like the standing shoulder press. Crossfit total is the sum of your 1 rep max for squat, deadlift, and standing shoulder press. The rest of the world (ROW) uses squat, deadlift and bench press. Last night I maxed out on all four exercises. Squat: 325 lbs Bench Press: 245 lbs Deadlift: 365 lbs Standing Press: 175 lbs Crossfit total: 865 ROW Total: 935

"Its like hiking, but with all the amenities" That's how I described it to my girlfriend after our stop at REI to cool off. We parked at Auditorium Shores on Riverside and 1st. We wound our way back and forth to the state capital, then over to Lamar and had a short break to watch the dirt jumpers at the 10th street bike park. On our way down Lamar we stopped at REI and Bicycle Sport shop to let my dog cool down for a few minutes. He really liked the Mago-Strawberry energy goo! We made our way down to Oltorf and headed to San Jose church for a peacefully moment. We then continued south on 1st Street to Cumberland, and stopped at Havana restraunt for a HYOOG Cuban Sandwich and about a gallon of ice water each. My dog really likes their roast pork!!! We stopped at the Great Outdoors for a while, then headed back up Congress to Town Lake. All told, we "hiked" 9 miles through Downtown and South Austin. It was an awesome excursion!!!!! Thank goodness for the ...

I was able to muster up the mental strength to sprint 2 laps. my times are solid, but my lower calves (soleus) and shins are in bad shape. About 20 yards into my 3rd sprint, the pain was unreal, so I stopped there. I decided to make my own recovery tool. I went to home depot and bought a 1.25 inch steel pipe that is 12 inches long and threaded on both ends. I filled it with water, and capped both ends. I froze it then used this insanely cold device to smash up all the soreness and adhesion in my calves and shins. The steel transfers heat very well, so it feels exceptionally cold. I will continue to use this daily in hopes of being able to sprint with less pain.

Bad news for this bear. I got my bodyfat assessment and it was up significantly since I had it last done in july. I'm not sure the reading was very accurate, because I can still my abdominals outlined very easily, except for the lowest segment. In any event, I decided to add a supplement to my regimine because recovery has been slow after sprints. Alpha Male is just a great name for a purported testosterone booster. The ingredients are all backed by numerous studies, but the whole supplement industry is still hasn't eveolved much from its "snake oil" roots. Some of the pclaimed benefits include: faster recover times faster strength gains increased fat loss Alpha Male is made by one of the better companies, Biotest. Feel free to read about the supplement here: http://www.t-nation.com/productInfo.do?id=1054351 At the end of this 4 week phase, I'm going to do another BF% assessment, along with baseline my Crossfit total and rest-of-the-world total. I took my f...

A bunch of guys were supposed to meet me around lunch time for a fight conditioning session. I was the only one that showed, so I made it short 3 rounds of jump rope (3 mins per round, 30 second rest) 1 round for stretching 3 rounds of shadow boxing 3 rounds working the heavy bag It wasn't the hardest I've ever worked, but it is better than nothing.

The first realization: I need to lift the day BEFORE running 400s, not after. I was spent when i stared the workout Single leg calves off a step: 35 x 10,10,10 for each leg. I don't have any dumbbells heavier than 35. Barbell calves: 205 x 20,20,25 A) Pistol Squats: 10, 10, 6 B) Pullups: 8,6,5 C) Dips: 6,8,8 I was too tied to hit all the reps I wanted, and WAY too tired to attempt deadlifts. I did get in some dumbbell curls: 35s x 10,10,10 for each arm.

Who knew 1 mile could be so hard! I did sprinted 4 laps last night aroun 8:30. My rest inetrval was roughly 90 seconds. I'm not exactly sure how long my rest intervals were or my times because I don't have a stop watch. The most suprising thing for me was how quickly I was recovering between laps. But after lap four, my legs were too fried to even think about running my three 100 yard sprints. Including warm lap and stretching, the whole thing was less than 30 minutes.

Man, oh man. I'm not looking forward to this, but I know it is the right next step. My shins and calves have been absolutely devastated by sprinting so many 100-120 yard sprints. Now its time to work further into the lactic acid threshhold by bumping it up to 400 yards. These make me puke pretty regularly, but its been YEARS since I sprinted this sort of distance. I'm sticking to the same schedule, with a 5K added in on Wednesdays. Monday: Sprint Tuesday: Lift Wednesday: 5k run Thursday: Sprint Friday: Lift When I run 400s, its more of a heel-to-toe gait as compared to 100s, where I'm on the balls of my feet every step and my heels never touch the ground. I'm hoping this will be a little less stressful on the shin splints I've started to develop and will allow for the added cardio run on Wednsday. The sprints aren't much of a progression this time, as I know it'll take me longer to adapt to the distance: The Tuesday workouts will be a pain: Fridays will be ...

This evening, my two kids, ages 8 and 5, my girlfriend and I went to a lake that has a 5K trail circling it. The kids were on bikes, so the idea was hat my girlfriend and I would essentially do 5K worth of intervals as we tried to catch them, at which point we'd slow down for a while together. That worked OK for about 2/3 of a mile; then my kids got tired. The rest f the way was spent alternating between a jog, and me alternating between pushing my son and my daughter on their bikes. We had lots of breaks, and it took us nearly 45 minutes, instead of the planned 25, but it was fun and my kids got an aerobic thrashing. My girlfriend and I got a good sweat, but not the sustained level of intensity we'd hoped for. Either way, I got in two workouts today. Tomorrow is going to be bitch of a weight session.

I'm not sure how long we sparred, but five of my coworkers met this afternoon for kickboxing sparring. I usually get a nice clench and work knees to the body and few fake knees, and work towards a throw setup. Since we meet in a room that isn't padded, I never throw anyone. Today we did a lot of mitt drills and kept the pace high, with very light sparring for the last 30-40 minutes. We call this tempo-sparring at my martial arts school. Its just going for speed, technique and position. So no breaks, and no excessive levels of force; just hard work for a long time!!! Tonight I'm running sprints, so hopefully this has drained me too much!!!

I didn't start lifting last night till 9:30 PM. I started with barbell calves. 3 x 10 @ 265. Next was single leg calves off a step, 3 x 20 for each leg. Close grip Chin-up: 4 x 6 reps with bodyweight Supset: a) deadlift: 3 x 10 @ 205lbs. On the 3rd set I only got 7 reps b) incline dumbbell curl: 3 x 10 @ 30lbs each hand Barbell curls: 4 x 5 @ 95 Superset: a) bench press: 3 x 10 @ 185 b) inverted side-to-side row: 3 x 10

Let me start by saying I'm not a fan of direct bicep work. I find it boring and of limited value to the world of sports performance. But, as ridiculous as it is, so many people judge strength on the size of your arms and how much you can bench. So I'm doing direct bicep work for a while. After phase 2, you won't see nearly as much upper arm work. A good grip is worth far more in "ground and pound" than bicep size. I'm ending the 1st 4 week phase that introduced sprints for the first time this year. Monday: Sprints Tuesday: Lifting Thursday: Sprints Friday: Lifting The actual sprint progression was this: I took week 3 off of sprinting due to my groin and shins being so beat up, but yesterday was solid! Tonight's workout: Friday will be the end of phase 1! Friday's workouts have been: After this, its time to start sprinting further and doing barbell complexes!!!!!

My good friend Jacob got me interested in blogging this. He's currently doing a Crossfit experiment to see what kind of results he gets by sticking to it exactly as planned, including the diet. I train to improve my fighting ability, and to create general capability. I rock climb, kyak, hike, and playt with my kids, so I have to be able to do more than just three 5-minute rounds. On July 4th I'll be doing a 5K in Georgetown, TX. Since I pulled my groin a few months ago and haven't rested and allowed it to heel, I'll be lucky to reach I don't follow any one fitness expert's advice or one fitness system. The thing I've learned is that the body adapts to any type of stimulus over time. At first, the adaptive response is the increase in strength, or mass, or any of the other desired effects. But after a certain amount of time, which is defferent for nearly everyone, the body become efficient at handling the type of stress you apply, so the training effect is ...