Becoming an Athlete

We did a 14 mile bike ride. I was gassed by about 3 miles in, but gutted it out. Turns out I had a low grade fever. Ah well. At least I slept well!!!!!

Russians are evil evil people! The method I used today is from a Russian " Kettlebell guru", Pavel Tsatsouline . Take a strength move and use Ladders to drive your work volume up. This Ladder Combo taxed EVERYTHING! 1A. Clean: 135 x 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1B. Front squat: 135 x 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 My boxing partner got here a little late, so we did this instead of boxing because we only had 30-40 minutes or so. We did this in "I go - You go" fashion. no real rest periods to speak of. I wanted to get some heavy bag work in too, but work got in the way. :(

I like to train using whole body workouts, but today I had to break it up because my traps, lats, glutes and hamstrings (AKA Posterior Chain) were still smashed from the 101 reps of ghetto-bell swings. This is still better than nothing. I'll have to use 18 MAY as a chance to hammer way on my legs and upper back. 1. EZ bar curl: 75 x 3, 5, 8, 8, 10, 8, 8 (45sec rest interval) 2. Hammer curls: 35s x 5, 6, 8, 8, 6, 7, 8, 5 (45Sec RI) 3. Bench press: 205 x 3; 225 x 3; 230 x 3; 135 x 18 (un-timed RI) 4. Overhead press 135 x 4; 115 x 9 Like I said, this is admittedly unbalanced, but I'll make up for it today with fight training and an evening workout that will be one to tell your grand kids about!!!!

It was an awesome Saturday morning. My wife and daughter were working on the heavy bag in the garage and I was setup on the driveway. it was kind of amusing to see the looks we got as people drove by. My workout was brief but exhausting. I set a time limit of 15 minutes and went for as many reps of T-bell swings as possible. My t-bell weighs 63lbs. I was able to get 101 reps before the time limit. Afterwards, I thought I could do 15 minutes of front squats with 155 lbs. I was painfully mistaken. My glutes , hips, and traps were exhausted, so stabilizing the weight was difficult. I got 45 reps in 15 minutes. That's just SAD!!!! Summary: 1. T-bell swings for 15 mins : 101 reps @ 63lbs 2. Front squats for 15 mins : 45 reps @ 155lbs

I didn't have a lot of available time, so again, I dropped the ancillary stuff and just pounded the key lifts. Wide grip pullup: 5, 3, 5 Medium grip pullup: 6, 5, 4 Close grip chinup: 5, 4 Overhead press: 135 x 5; 145 x 5; 150 x 5* *OH Press @ 150 x 5. Unless I'm mistaken, that's a new personal record for me. I don't recall ever doing that many reps with 150!!!!! I have my new goal set of 185 x 10. That is probably 6-12 months away, but it is a line in the sand none the less. On a side note, I was reminded that getting below a certain degree of body fat% is genetic. I worked out with a long time friend of mine. he and i were training on and off a year ago, and it have been easily 6-9 months since he trained. Despite all that, he is probably at 8% BF!!!! Without even training, he has razor-edged lines seperating his delts from biceps and triceps. I can see where his traps end and his rhomboids or lats start. Sure, he has lost some s...

Yes, Combat training, not fight training. This goes way way back to when I was 18 and training with some guys at the Air Force Academy. Forearm conditioning : about 10 minutes We had what is essentially a mallet handle; a hardwood rod. We used that to beat eachother's forearms to get them used to being a striking implement. The bones of my forearm are a little sore today, but no bruises on the soft tissues at all. Flank (thigh, obliques, ribs) conditioning : >=10 minutes Start from a left lead stance. Fighter-A kicks Fighter-B in the thigh 5 times, then in the obliques and ribs 5 times. Rotate. After a few sets of 5/5 kicks to each fighter, switch to a right lead stance and kick each other in the right side of the body. Chest and stomach conditioning : mins We used the driveway as our measure. Start at one end. Fighter-A push kicks Fighter-B till you reach the end of your measure, which is about 30-40 feet. Fighter-B push kicks Fighter-A back to the start. As you progress in ab...

4 miles in 40 minutes at 9:00 PM. Nothing spectacular, but a great fat burn.