Becoming an Athlete

I was tired, but bored, so I decided to work the heavy bag again. The basic rule I always follow is a slow warm-up, then work on crisp clean form. Once my form is spot on, I gradually pick up the pace. After a few rounds of fast paced work with crisp form, I work on power. Normally I end with a conditioning drill, but i was too tired today. 8 rounds (3 min work, 1 min rest) Rnd1: Straight punches while circling the bag Rnd2: Lead kicks and round kicks while circling the bag Rnds 3, 4, 5: All forms of punches with emphasis on head movement (ducking, slipping, rolling) Rnd6: Power kicking drills (lead, rear, side kicks, back kicks,). Reset at each kick and focus on speed and power Rnd7: Power punching drills (mostly hooks) Rnd8: punch-kick combos

11:30 AM: 5K intervals - Warm-up: ~1/2 mile walk, 30 yard walking lunes, 10 rotational pushups, 10 pushups with trunk twist - A lot of jog-sprint-walk intervals the whole distance around Lake Pflugerville 2:00 PM: Indoor rock climbing for over an hour I'm whupped!

This is a must read for anyone who is interested in old-time training for wrestlers and fighters. http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Burns/lessons/lesson01.htm

Another strength workout, this time focused on deadlift and overhead press. 1) Deadlift: 205x5; 225x5; 245x5 2) Dumbbell step-ups: 20s x 10,10 (per leg) 3) Single leg calf raise: 20 x 15,11 (per leg. left still weaker) 4) Overhead press: 125x5,5; 135x5 5A) Chin-up: 2, 3, 4, 3 5B) Upright row*: 55 x 12, 12, 12, 12 *Upright rows: I haven't done these in years as I heard they were bad for your shoulders. but now my upper back is lagging, and these work faster for me than shurgs. Combining these with deadlifts and chin-ups makes for an on-target "pulling" workout!! I'll bump the weight up next workout to 65lbs. I was just feeling it out at this workout.

I finally hung the heavy bag back up!!! YEAH! To my suprise, my over-all conditioning is better. My technique has suffered a bit, in the areas of balance and flexibility. But speed, power, and endurance are GREAT!!!!! Warm-up: Bill "Superfoot" Wallace warm up*: 10 minutes Heavy bag (2 min work, 30 sec rest) Rnd 1: Slow build-up of [jab-cross-jab], [double jab], [double jab-cross] Rnd 2: Mostly [jab-cross-hook] and [jab-cross-hook-shovel hook] Rnd 3: Left lead kicks Rnd 4: Right round kick Rnds 5, 6: Lead and Round kicks (still loosening up) Rnd 7: Knees Rnd 8, 9: punch kick combos Rnd 10: Double lead kicks Rnd 11: Double round kicks** Rnd 12: Burn-down*** * Bill Wallace has an incredible, if somewhat dated book called Dynamic stretching and kicking. The kicking techniques aren't appropriate for MMA, but the warm-up is spot on. Buy this book! ** Double lead kicks are a bit easier than round kicks. The Thai round kick generates so muh momentum that a miss requires ...

Holy cow! This is harder than I expected. It is about 12 hours since I trained and I am SORE!! 1) Barbell calves raise: 245x25, 25 2) Squat: 205x5; 225x5; 235x5 3) Bulgarian squat: bodyweight x 10, 10 per leg 4) Bench press: 155x5; 175x5; 185x5 5A) Barbell curls: 65x12; 12, 10, 10 5B) Dips: 8, 6, 7, 6

Last week was bad. My fiance was out of town, and with it being the last week of summer break, my kids were staying up till 11:00 most nights. I only worked out on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Now I'm ready to finish this rest period (i.e. lazy spell) through Sunday, and start on Monday as if it were week 1 of the current phase. On the menu for this coming week: Mon PM: Strength workout A1 Tue AM: easy jog Tue PM: Kickboxing skills & drills Wed PM: Conditioning workout Thu AM: easy jog Thu PM: Strength workout A1 Fri PM: Conditioning workout (1 mile timed run!!)

So I didn't even come close to finishing my workout last night. Now I'm on the fence. Do I finish the workout today, or do more sport specific conditioning? If I lift, it'll be mostly dips and rows, with some curls as well. Sounds boring already I'm leaning toward a boxer's workout. I don't even know what to call it. I suppose you could sum it up as Perpetual Motion. The start is just a standard warm-up and skills&drills: 2 rounds of jump rope (3 min work, 1 min rest) 2 rounds of heavy bag, hands only (3 min work, 1 min rest) 2 rounds of heavy bag, kickboxing (3 min work, 1 min rest) Conditioning: Change movements every 30 seconds, and repeat for a full 3 minutes. Each 30 second segment performed at maximum speed, and no rest between movements 4 x 3minute rounds: Shadow box (30 seconds) Squat jumps (30 seconds) Hindu pushups (30 seconds) Side barrier hops (30 seconds) Ab wheel (30 seconds) Knees to heavy bag (30 seconds) This looks great on paper, bu...

I had a crappy workout. Many interruptions and distractions. Throw in a little hunger, some fatigue, and a completely off-kilter schedule, and you end up with a workout like I had. 18 AUG 1) Barbell calve raises: 225 x 25, 25 2) Squats: 205x5; 215x5; 225x5 Nothing else. I just sort of quit. Queue disappointed trombone: Wa Wa wa waaaaaawawawa

The plan was to do a whole series of sprints, but we got a late start, and the lights were off at the track. So we did a spontaneous workout that was quicker and harder. 1) Swiss ball step-off: 5, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 per leg 2) Swiss ball crunch: 11, 15, 20 3) Partner leg throws (an ab exercise): 15, 20, 20 4) Car pushing: 2 laps in the parking lot. We used my fiance's Hyunadai. The 'lap' we followed was about 70-80 yard long by 15-25 yards wide. My estimate is that each lap was about 200 yards. I did this MUCH faster than last year. My whole body is much stronger making the pushing easier, and my conditioning is better so I was able to sustain a faster pace throughout. My fiance was able to do two laps as well. She's a juggernaught! I've never met anyone who refuses to quit as decisively as her!!!

You have probably heard of DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) but I think I just invented IOMS (instant onset muscle soreness). After the heavy workout on Sunday, I tore down the garden and had to level it to make way for the shed we are getting. I tilled it by hand with a pitch fork, then used the shovel and rake to level it out. Thankfully, my fiance was helping as she always does. It was very hot, so I kept hosing myself off to stay cool enough to continue working. Before I even finished, my whole body was getting sore and crampy. As I was shovelling, a funny thought occured to me. There are so many flavors of crossfit. Standard Crossfit; Crossfit Endurance; Crossfit Football; CrossPit, etc. It struck me as odd and somewhat arbitrary. Why not Crossfit Farmer? "Today's WOD: Till and relocate 5 cubic yards of dirt; no time limit"

My fiance had missed a few workouts because of her job travelling, so i put us both through a slightly higher volume session. This one hit us both hard!!!! My results: 1) squat: 135x10; 185x10; 205x5; 225x5 2) pullups: 5, 6, 6, 5 3) bench press: 135x10; 155x10; 185x5; 190x5 4) single-arm t-bar row (L,R): 50x(10,10); 60x(10,4); 65x(5,5); 70x(5,5)

This was just for fun. My buddy and I got together for just over an hour of climbing at Main Event in north Austin, on Saturday morning around 10:30. I could have climbed much more, but I skipped breakfast, so by 11:45 all I could think ab9out was eating. My grip strength is great, but my vertical pulling (as in pullups) endurance has stalled. I'm glad the training phase that starts on Monday will incorporate much more chin-ups and pullups.

So here is the basic premise for why i do what I do. I want to kick ass in all situations and circumstances. I don't want to get a strong as possible as fast as possible at the expense of other athlitic qualities. Same for size; same for aerobic fitness and anaerobic endurance. They way I see it, I need to slowly but consistently increase each of these 4 attributes. To that end, I came up with what is an ideal training framework for me. In brief, "A" represents a strength workout, and "B" represents a conditioning workout. Depending on the phase, A workouts can range from developing solely limit strength (as in1 rep max), or explosive strength, or hypertrophy (muscle mass). B workouts are much more varied and can include sprints, long distance runs, fight conditioning circuits, or anything my sadistic mind concieves or steals from others. On odd weeks, the schedule is: Monday: A Wednesday: B Friday: A On even weeks, the schedule is: Monday: B Wednesday: A Friday...

This is my second to last strength workout before the REAL work begins. The next phase is much harder, and will last for 9 weeks. I'll write more about it later. For now, here is what I did: 1) Goodmorning: 115x8; 135x8; 140x8 2) Overhead press: 115x8; 120x8; 130x8 3) Front squat: 155x8; 175x8; 185x8 4) Plank row: 10s x8; 15s x8; 20s x8 5) Reverse curl: 75x10, 10, 4 BONUS round: 1) medium grip barbell curl: 50x10; 65x10, 10, 5; 45x14 2) Close grip barbell curl: 45x12 3) Chin-up: 4, 4, 4

I'm using the term "sprint" loosely today. My plan was to sprint 6 x 400, but my legs were jelly after the 4th "sprint" times for each lap: 1. 2:00 (warm-up pace) 2. 1:45 3. 1:52 4. 1:53 The rest periods were 2:00; 2;30, and 3:00. My total run time for all 4 laps was 6:50. My fiance came in at 6:52. I'm getting REALLY embarrased by this 2 second gap!

The workout on 6 AUG was very hard, and I should have taken Saturday off, but I tried to workout anyway. I was crushed by my fatigue, but had a decent showing anyway. Lesson learned: Stick with the plan. Your body can only progress so fast. 1) Goodmorning: 95x5; 105x10; 115x10,10 2) Overhead press: 115x10, 10, 4 3) Front squat: 155x10, 10 DONE!!!!! I'll do the plank rows and curls today, but my posterior chain and core are done for at least 2 more days.

Now THIS was a solid workout! I'm not sure what i did, but somewhere during the second circuit, my nose started bleeding. I thought it was just runny till I saw the blood dripping on the garage floor. Hell yeah! And I didn't even have to get punched in the face for it. My workout, as prescribed by me: - 5 rounds for time of: A) B urpees : 10 B) Swiss ball step off: 10 C) Dumbbell swing: 35 x 12 D) Ab wheel: 15 I stopped a little short, but was apparently still pushing hard. As performed: - 4 rounds for time of: A) B urpees : 10 B) Swiss ball step off: 10 (5 each leg) C) Dumbbell swing: 35x 10 D) Ab wheel: 10 My time: 14:26 Burpees are still the hardest movement known to (this) man.

I got a nice mountain bike on monday and have racked up quite a few miles already. So far, they have been neighborhood rides with my family. I rode in the evenings of 4 AUG and 5 AUG. Tonight will be a tough conditioning workout.

1) Goodmorning: 95x8; 125x6; 135x6; 145x6 2) Overhead press: 115x6; 125x6; 135x5 3) Front squat: 155x6; 175x6; 185x6 4) Reverse curls: 65x8; 70x8; 75x8 That's the most I can recall ever doing in goodmornings!!! Hopefully the newfound lower-back strength will get me through the next phase where I'll be doing deadlifts and back squats in the same workout!!!!

Just a road ride today around Georgetown, TX. There were plenty of hills to climb, and now my legs are VERY tired. Goodmornings will be tough on monday

This was a simple one courtesy of Crossfit. I had to scale it for my abilities As RXed by crossfit: - 3 rounds for time of: Squat thrusters: 95 x 21, 15, 9 Pullups: 21, 15, 9 As performed by me: - 3 rounds for time of: Squat thrusters: 85 x 21, 15, 9 Pullups: 10, 8, 6 my time: 6:51 When I can complete in under 4 minutes, I'm going to increase the number of pullups.