Becoming an Athlete

We've all heard the old saying: If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you  there.  I'm finally crystal clear on where I'm going, so it's become incredibly easy to stick to the right road. My goals are: Build respectable clean & jerk, and snatch 1RM Get stronger in the big 4 (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press) Get as lean as possible at 215lbs Get my arms to 18" Means to the ends: Clean / Snatch: I start every workout with some version of a high pull or partial Oly lift.  Once every few weeks I work up to a heavy single in the full lift Big 4: 5x5 or 5,4,3,2,1, with accessory work at 5x10.  Great progress thus far Get leaner: Ending each session with a MetCon. Bonus here is I feel much better, and my veins are getting veinier 18" arms:  Decided to do arms in the evenings, same day as big lifts. Now I'm hitting arms 3x a week, and getting more recovery days.  Holding at a solid but unimpressive 16"....

Let's get honest for a second.  People who follow crossfit with dedication get a more balanced improvement in performance and body composition than people who follow periodized training plans.  I've pretty much always followed a basic periodization schedule: strength, size, definition, repeat. Here lately, I've been leaning a bit toward the crossfit model, but still programmed for the long haul. There is merit in training several physical qualities in a single workout. At any given moment, I can sign up and do a 5K, obstacle race, or Highland Games, all while remaining relatively lean. For the next 2 months, my training block looks like this: Monday: Power focus: Olympic lifts progressing from 4x8 to 4x4 depending on the day and week Stength focus: squats, presses, pullups - alternating weeks between 5x5 and 5,4,3,2,1 Hypertrophy / conditioning circuit: This is so money! ;-) Bodybuilding movements for the same movement patterns as Strength Focus.  3 circuits of ...

I'm training with two other friends.  Man!  What a motivational difference!  I don't need motivation to lift heavy, but doing cardio with a couple friends definitely helps me push myself.  We did three stations, fixed distance for time. Stepmill: 30 floors for time:  6:03 Concept2 Rower: 2000 meter row for time: 8:48 Treadmill: 1 mile for time: 9:11 This wasn't very high total cardio output, but the intensity was fantastic, and doing each station for time motivated me to push harder.  I love knowing the harder I push, the sooner I'm done.

I'm stronger by any measure.  I've forced myself to do the things I hate and as a result I am in the best shape of my life and continuing to improve. The game-changers for me have been: Foam rolling and stretching before each workout.  Seriously!!  Who knew the impact would be so profound! I feel great and my nagging pains are going away slowly but noticeably. Starting each session with Olympic lift variants.  Just a few sets every day and my forearms, traps, mid back, spinal erectors, and glutes have added a ton of new size and density.  yes I said my glutes have size and density.  lol Conditioning circuits.  Though I hate CF as a sole training modality, hitting brief but intense MetCons after core lifting has done amazing things.  I'm leaner, more vascular, and have an improved work capacity. Cardio interval finishers.  This is the sugar free icing on the fat-burning cake.  5 rounds of 1 min high effort and 1 min low effort. ...

We are all guilty of taking on too much too soon and burning out or getting overwhelmed.  The most successful selling fitness and weightloss programs are the  ones that are marketed as the most extreme. Lately, there has been a trend towards truth in advertising: extreme efforts will produce extreme results. That's great, but I've chosen a path of consistency.  I see my progress over the last decade and I am happy to say I am not the same man.  Most of my progress has come in the last 2 years, and much of my transformation has been spiritual and cognitive.  Christ has been growing his roots deeper and deeper into my heart, which has allowed my thoughts to become different. Panic, anxiety, and self destruction are no longer my go-to choices or reactions. Consistency of prayer has led to consistency of spirit, whcih led to consistency of thought, which led to consistency of action.  I no longer fear success or failure.  I fear only God, in the healthy ...

That's how a friend of mine greeted me on Tuesday night at the gym.  I think I look the same and have a further ahead of me than behind, but that comment from a friend at the gym (whom I haven't seen in about 2 months) reminds me that I'm my own worst critic, with one or two exceptions. I'm still hovering between 205 and 208 and need to hit 195 ASAP for Highland Games on 11/07, but I'm every bit as strong as I was in 2011 weighing 235 pounds.  My deadlift is up to 475, my squat up to 385, and my overhead press up to 180.  I haven't maxed on bench press in a long time, so I have no idea where that's at.  I'm stronger, leaner, and lighter. I just hope I can turn this strength into performance on the field.  I've been doing a ton of cleans and snatch grip high pulls to work on my explosiveness, but I have been more worried about making weight than sport-specificity of my training.  I don't expect it to come together for a peak till San Antonio i...

Last week I ran into a friend at the gym and we both happened to be doing legs.  I had been warming up for a while and he walked up and just jumped in.  I lost count of how many sets I did, but my method was wave loading: A work set of 5 reps, followed by a heavy single A heavier set of 5, a heavier single I worked up to 5 reps with 295 and a single at 365.  I tried for 5 reps at 315 but got dizzy at the second rep. Yesterday, Sunday 27 SEP, I did the same on my own with new-found confidence and worked up to 295 for 5 and a single at 385.  I really happy with those numbers but I feel it in my knees today.  I'm working diligently to shift the pressing to my heels.