What burns calories best? Should I run 3 hours a day to burn fat? Why are you making us work so hard? All valid questions from my little proteges at gymnastics. Being as it is that I am their Strength and Conditioning coach, they often come to me looking for (simple) answers. Running 3 hours a day vs working out 30 minutes a day? Sounds like the stuff I tell my wife about wasting her time on the treadmill. Once again, the interwebs come to the rescue.
The study to show HIIT (painful, hard workouts) beats lower intensity longer cardio sessions (A bit, well, dry)
Yet more information about why not to eat grains including rice!
In honour of the benefits of HIIT, I literally drove myself into the ground yesterday.
Using a 90lb barbell and a 18″ box (due to height restrictions in my basement):
10 Box Jumps
1 Sumo Deadlift High Pull
9 Box Jumps
2 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
8 Box Jumps
3 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
7 Box Jumps
4 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
..and so on until…
1 Â Box Jump
10 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
I collapsed and I think I set a new HR record of 166 bpm which for me is pretty good. I usually peak at 160 and I really felt those extra 6! I don’t really know why I was so tired after, however, I also did my RKC 5 TGU per side so that may explain it.
I shouldn’t complain, my competitive girls work harder than I do… I make sure of that!
Being at home with the baby is a unique set of challenges in a lot of ways, not least of all when it comes to working out. I had to do my bench sets with the baby looking on with an even stranger look than when I did the RKC the other day. It is a little disturbing however I managed to get through the following:
So as you can no doubt tell, I did kind of bail on Round 4 leaving with about 2 weeks left to the 3 month mark. However, the timing was problematic, with Christmas, new weights, new methodologies creeping in I thought it was finally time to move along. I am coming to the realization that this time around, P90X, the reason for starting this blog in the first place, may not actually have a place here. It’s a little sad, and since I am going to commit to having a cardio day during my workout days then a revisit to Kenpo or Plyo may be in the cards. However, the days of following Tony along through mind numbingly boring set after set of curls or pushups are gone. That and his unbearably inane commentary. So what next you ask? Well, as you can probably guess it will involve kettlebells, Olympic Lifts, WODs and a dab of cardio. Here is the plan for the first month, more to follow later as I get into the schedule for the RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge). I am also going to try and stay within a calendar time frame rather than a set 90 days, I would like to finish Round 5 around the start of April when my parents and sister come to town to see the baby. Once the weather is nicer, I will have more flexibility in what I can do using the deck outside as a workout platform, so things will change by necessity.
So I have been short on time lately, with the baby getting into new activities and the wife wanting to spend 2 hours at the gym I find that I am having to squeeze stuff in when I can. Yesterday I felt like I should work on my 

Let’s get to the weight first, since that is the most interesting.