Becoming an Athlete

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.