Category: Gymnastics / Bootcamp

Since the gym is dead, I now refer to the gymnastics club as the gym. This is the bootcamp, the workouts with the kids (which are also mostly crossfit inspired) and other gym related activities

R8D25-30 – Ketchup

Day 26 – Short Crossfit type workout at gym with girls:

x10:
5 pullups
10 sumo deadlift high pull with 25lb kettlebell
15 pushups
20 bicycle crunch

Day 27 – Olympic Lift Practice

5 deadlift
5 clean
5 hang clean
5 strict press
5 push press
repeat 3x with 65lb then 3x with 115lb
Finish with 30 squats at 115lb

Day 28 – off, drive to Hastings
Day 28 – Thanksgiving Monday – Chest and Back with gymnastics rings

This was a hell of a workout, I didn`t  anticipate that the rings would make that much of a difference but the next day I was extremely sore through the chest and shoulders. Not only that, my numbers for pushups were down by at least 30% for the workout. It was a real eye opener that I hope to repeat.

Day 29 – Tuesday, 34543 RKC
Day 30 – Wednesday, Bootcamp week 4 as follows:

I decided it was time for the bootcamp peeps to do some weight work. With the advent of some dumbbells at the gym and the few light ones I had at home we had enough to go around and do some HIT training with weights. I put together a full body workout with 3 basic and 3 advanced movements for each body part. The workout took the full hour and was really an introduction to weights more than a hard weight based workout. It went over very well, I was happy with the work rate and volume but have to be wary that the cardio component is missing largely due to the inability of most of the participants to move the weight efficiently and quickly.

It all shook out like this:
Legs:
Level 1
Shouldered weight squats
walking lunge
plie squat
Level 2
Thrusters
arms up lunge walk
plie high pull
Finish 20 air squats

Chest:
Level 1
Pushups
Military PU
Laying fly
Level 2
pushup on db with pull
military with db superman
fly with press
Finish 20 pushups
Shoulders:
Level 1
Shoulder press
2 way flys
shoulder burn
Level 2
swimmers press
2 way fly plus high pull
shoulder burn
Arms:
Level 1
curls
twist 1 arm curl
double kickback
Level 2
in and out curls
hold curl 16’s
overhead tricep extension
Finish 20 military pushup
Abs:
Level 1
chest weight crunch
side bend double db
turkish get up (DID NOT COMPLETE)
Level 2
Arms up crunch
plie squat side bend
plie squat twist
Finish 20 full sit ups

R8D23/4 – The Upswing. Does This Blog Make My Butt Look 28% Better?

Interesting that it has taken a lawsuit filed by the FTC for people to wake up and realize that Reebok lied their asses off about their stupid Easy Tone butt lift shoes. The commercial was certainly enticing but did people seriously think this was little more than an elaborate hoax? I have been asked about these things by several people and probably my facepalm gave away my thoughts before I spoke. I just hope that this will lead to a massive crack down on these late night infomercials that claim all kinds of ridiculous health benefits from useless equipment, pills and even clothing! I am not sure if refined carbohydrates lead to a diminished degree of common sense but it certainly seems that way!

Tuesday I decided to do my kettlebell workout but instead of sticking with the RKC ladders I branched out and took some pieces of the AOS Providence DVD and mixed in some pullups. It was a bit of a mashup but went something like this:

30 seconds each:
2 handed swings
1 hand right
1 hand left
1 handed release switch
20 pullups mixed in

5 cleans right
5 cleans left
4 cleans right
4 cleans left
3 cleans right
3 cleans left
5 cleans right
5 cleans left
singles 30s
20 pullups mixed in

30 seconds each:
squat right hand hold
squat left hand hold
overhead squat left and right

Clean and press 54321 each side with pullups

Swing with flip into squat – 2 minutes

3 min non stop snatches 5 each side

Took a little over 20 minutes and was a good alternate to my usual KB workout.

Wednesday was boot camp day and I decided on an Insanity themed cardio night. It went over well, there was plenty to do, and most people didn’t manage to complete every move. The variety was about right, and the pace seemed to work well since we were able to get into the gym for the whole class. Here’s what went down:

Week 4 – “Anything for 30 seconds”

Warmup – Cardio Blast

3 sets:
jog
jacks
heisman
123’s
3 sets:
knees
log jump 3+1
lunge switch
power jacks

**Stretch**

Chest and arms cardio
x10x3
Pushup jacks
Simple burpee
ski abs
Step out pushup

Level 1 insanity
x3
2 pushup, 4 run, 2 in and out
4 pushup 8 run 4 in and out
8 pushup 16 run 8 in and out

Basic Plyo
x2 60s
Frog jumps
hit the floor
suicide 3 step
horse stance 4 pulse 4 jump

Bonus Round

Basketball shoot both sides
baseball throw both sides
jab cross
jab cross hook uppercut

R8D20-22 – Resting Kind Of Feeling

Although I was scheduled to do a rest week, I had decided I wouldn’t. Seems like subconsciously I didn’t like that decision and kind of took it easy this week. By taking it easy I mean:

Thursday: Fountain of Youth Yoga with Tony
Friday: Killer Cage Abs with kids at gym (below)
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Fran (a disgrace) and Olympic lifting practice.

I had bought myself some real bumper plates last week and was dying to use them so yesterday I took my olympic bar up to the garage and set up my new bumper plates. I felt like a real pro with real plates I have to tell you, there is something vaguely emasculating about using those little 25lb plates. I did some strict pressing, deadlifts, snatch, clean and press and thrusters before launching into Fran. I am going to be deliberately vague here and say that Fran took me over 10 minutes to complete, partly because of my discomfort with the chin up bar in the garage and partly because apparently I suck.

Fran:
21-15-9

Thrusters with 95lbs
Chin ups

Killer Cage Abs:

4 suicides

on count:
in and out
switch bicycles
scissors
crunch hold

Full sit up
Full rainbow
vsnap no floor touch
Vsnap and pulse 4/8

R8D18/19 – Doing The Basics Right And Bootcamp 3

Day 18 was an RKC workout. I was speaking with a coworker (and in fact some of my fitness class peeps) about the benefits of kettlebell work and it’s really weird. When you try to describe it, it doesn’t sound hard or even interesting but when you actually do the workout it is such a great whole body workout that it keeps you hooked. It’s a very basic motion, a very basic set of movements but as any great athlete knows, the best and most skilled athletes are the ones that have mastered the basics.

My kettlebell workouts now are exclusively with the 55lb bell and I got through the following:

34543 ladders of Clean and Press with pullups and 20 swings between each set
2x 3 rungs of snatches without pullups

I have to admit the snatches with the 55 were a bit daunting, and even though I was outside and able to just let go of the thing if it got out of control it was still pretty scary the first couple of times. I got through it though so I was pretty happy with myself. Next time will be 55555 ladders, that’s a long workout!

Wednesday was no name bootcamp day. We still haven’t really come up with a good name for it, and I have writers block…

The workout (now is the morning after) wasn’t that tough, even though it seemed difficult. I am not the least bit sore today which is a bit of a worry that we didn’t do enough to really work our legs. It’s odd, because it is mainly a leg workout so I thought I would be really feeling it this morning. That said, I find that lately I don’t get sore until right around 24 hours afterwards rather than the next morning so tonight I may be crying into my homemade sausages.

Yes, I made more sausages. This time with 60% pork, 40% beef and lots of spices including cumin and chili flakes with a little dijon mustard for juiciness. They are yummy, and I am so happy I can now eat guilt free sausages knowing exactly what’s in there!

Back to the workout:
Week 3
Short Tony Warmup and Stretch

x2
Squat with knee lift cross touch x8
Squat with 4 hamstring curls x8
Point work front side back x8
hip flexor burners up ext hold pulse 8’s

x2
In and out x25
full bicycle x20
full sit up x10
Laying pulse up to weak vsnap – 4 full 8 pulse x 4

x20 x2
step ups (arms on head)
step switch (arms on head)
box jumps ( arms on head)
Squat to box jump

Agility x2
two foot hops sideways over line length
over and tap length
hop full line each foot
over line with jump half turn x8

x2
Run stance squats 16x each side
Single leg squat to hop x8 each side
Lunge walk arms up 8 per side
Frog jumps x8

The following we skipped due to lack of time… Maybe that’s why I am not so tired.

x10x2
Squat hold arms out, reach touch knees with elbows
Squat hold arms out, reach touch opposite toe with hand
squat hold arms out, reach touch opposite knee with elbow
box floor to shelf 8x 2 each side

Level 1 Drills Expanded edition
x3
Burpee x4
Burpee 4 pushup x4
Burpee 4 pushup 8 run x4
Burpee 4 pushup 8 run 4 squat thrust x4

Round 8 – The Shakeup

It’s time to address the changes.

I am going to move to a 5 day a week rotation with 1 RKC workout, 2 P90X and 2 Cardio workouts. If I need an additional day I will do FOY Yoga with Tony. The reason is coaching and bootcamp which I am going to count as one of my cardio days. If I follow this schedule I get Monday and Friday off which suits me fine, since I do like a light Friday! I may switch the Kettlebell day to Saturday, after my day off and go heavy, that way if I am off somewhere for the weekend I know the KB workout I take with me will be the scheduled day. We’ll see.

This is the beauty of these workouts and also a necessary part of self-coaching. You have to keep measuring your progress and adjusting what you do in order to stay fresh, engaged and to fit your fitness into your life in a symbiotic way. Your fitness regime shouldn’t prevent you from living your life, it’s supposed to make things better, not worse.

So here goes, the next 4 weeks or 20 workouts:

34543 C&P plus 5 TGU plus 123 C&P+Snatch
Chest, Shoulders & Tris, Ab Ripper X
Speed and Agility
Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Plyometric Cardio Circuit
34543 C&P plus 5 TGU plus 123 C&P+Snatch
Chest, Shoulders & Tris, Ab Ripper X
Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs
Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Vertical Plyo
55555 C&P
Chest, Shoulders & Tris, Ab Ripper X
Speed and Agility
Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Pure Cardio
34543 C&P plus 5 TGU plus 123 C&P+Snatch
Core Synergistics
Cardio Recovery
Core Synergistics
Cardio Core and Balance

R8D12&13 – The Plateau Is Over.Bootcamp Day 2

I admit for the last 6 months I have been coasting weight wise. I got into a plateau and watched my weight creep slowly in the wrong direction. I was in the biggest loser at work, I won and was at 232 for the final weigh in. I stayed there for a few weeks, and then slowly crept back up to 240. Since I have been back coaching and now teaching the bootcamp at gym I have managed (0ver the last 3 weeks) to get my weight back down to 232. This is a major achievement for me, being able to recognize a plateau and ride it out. Very often, fitness and weightloss are games of patience and persistence not necessarily who can eat the least or exercise the most. I seem to have found a balance again which is enabling me to lose and I know at this point my body has recovered from the shock of the 60lb loss and is once again reset and ready to go. I am hopeful that this means I will hit my goal weight of 220 by year end, but first I have to hit 230 by October 1.

Baby steps, as always.

Monday I took the day off from exercise, and I think I will have to do that with Mondays and Fridays due to coaching. The great thing is that I am happy to join in with the conditioning they do, I think it motivates them a little also to see me working not just sitting around shouting! 🙂
Tuesday I decided to do Shoulders and Arms with Tony and had a pretty good workout outside on the deck in the sunshine. The rings are making for some sore triceps doing dips but the change is welcome. I find shoulders and arms a pretty good workout, it’s extremely scaleable and substitutions work fine. I have said before that the tricep work leaves a lot to be desired so having the rings and a dip station is key for me.

Wednesday was day 2 of the bootcamp class at gym and I scheduled the list below. The participants said that last time they were sore but they all came back. It seems that the work load was almost right the first time out. We had a new participant this week in addition to the 4 from last time. The room once again was very hot but I think we can get the warmup done and one set of exercises and get out by half way through so that the rest of the class out in the gym is OK. As you can see from the list, there was a lot of work and the last 3 rounds were done very quickly with little rest. That is exactly how I imagined it would go, so the crescendo is the final set. I think they are having fun, I know it is a challenge, I know it is filled with tough skills they may not imagine themselves doing but I think we are all going to see some amazing changes in the coming weeks.

You Vs. You week 2 – The Whole 9

Tony’s Warmup and Stretch Top to Bottom

Jog, knees, heels, jacks, run lunge
neck, shoulder burn, cross palm front, cross grip back, reachers
ham middle, ham side, runner, twist
pumps prep for hindu pushup

Cardio warmup

Tabata 4 minutes per move
jump rope, Jacks, squat kicks

Arms round 1 10×3

Military pushups
Shoulder pushups
Hindu Pushups

Abs 10×2

Superman banana
Attack in squat
Butt lifts to shoulder

Mobility 1 x3

5 x Pushup to table – side or through
5 per side x Turkish Get Ups
5 x Pancake burpees

Plyo 10×3
squat jumps 3 with tuck jump 1
Single leg squat to jump knee lift
Frog jumps

Legs 10×3
Air squats
Super skater elbow to knee
arms up lunge walk

Bonus (NOT COMPLETED)

plank elbows to hands hold 15 or plank hold 60
squat shoulder burn
hip flexor burners

R8D8to10 – Busy Week, Bootcamp Kickoff

Wednesday was the first day of the fitness bootcamp I am running at the gymnastics club. I have to say that I have a new respect for Tony and Shaun T because trying to communicate and work out at the same time makes your head and lungs explode. I took the new members through a variety of stuff, a little cardio, mostly bodyweight work and gave them a general feeling of what it will be like once the program starts. We were allowed to use part of the floor in the gym for the last half hour which was great because the yoga room where we started got hot in a hurry! I think it was a success, it wasn’t so hard they won’t come back but hard enough that they know it’s going to be a challenge.

For myself, I got a pretty amazing workout trying to demo, participate and talk at the same time. Being with people pushes you harder, leading people makes you push yourself like a maniac. Thursday I opted for Chest Shoulders and Arms using the rings again for dips and Friday I was off since I am coaching 3 nights a week again now. Today I managed a Plyometric Cardio Circuit workout and my strained calf didn’t bother me at all, neither did my hip flexor so I think I can close the book on both those injuries. The plan for tomorrow is probably a P90X workout, maybe back and biceps or legs and back or I might opt to bounce forward to an RKC workout since Monday may end up being a day off due to coaching. I have to try and sort out what I can do on Monday and Friday, I suppose I could mark them both as days off, that would give me 5 of 7 as workouts which is fine given the intensity.

I’m watching The Only Way Is Essex on my Patriot Box. All I can say is wow, sometimes I am so glad I left England when I did. It’s like Jersey Shore for Britain but somehow more painful and, if possible, less substantial…

R7D85 – Test Week Day 1 – Chest and Triceps

Day 1 of my test week was going to be a fun day, I knew it would have to be at gym with my girls so we all did this:

Push To Shove

10×3
Military Pushup
Superman Pushups
dips
dip with leg raise
shoulder touch
hip touch
clapping pushup
plyo pushup

Bonus:
plank side reach (5 per side)
plank side reach pushup (5 per side)
arm circles (60 seconds)

It was a quick but decent workout for me. For them it was tough but doable, we all finished in under 20 minutes.

I feel like my body has started to give up it’s stranglehold on this plateau. Today I feel better, lighter, and hopefully this means my stubborn weight which has been around the 235 mark for a couple of months now will start to decrease once again.

R7D77/80 – Being Sick Sucks

It’ s my own fault, not taking care of the way I was cooking the meat, I made myself sick Monday night and spent all day Tuesday in bed.

Happily I had done a tricep blast with the kids at gym on Monday and I can do a plyo workout with them today BUT this week was supposed to be the big challenge week / final rest week and looking at the schedule I think it may qualify as the rest week alone. What I might do then is convert next week into a week of tests and challenges and then starting Labour Day get back into the hybrid for a second time.

As always, having a flexible plan is good, as long as you can stay a week ahead of yourself. being flexible doesn’t mean giving yourself permission to slack of or sub something easier just because you are a little tired, it means changing your plan according to your external influences to keep your total work load as high as it needs to be for the week. For me, this was supposed to be rest week but I complained about ending with a rest week on a couple of occasions and since I have a “spare” week next week maybe I can put it to good use.

I have a fit test from P90X, Insanity and Insanity:Asylum I can do. I have a crossfit total I can post for a baseline. I have a 1k or 5k run that I could pull off some time and looking back at my “achievements” post a while back, maybe getting weights and times for all those would be a good idea.

Here’s what I said in my last goals post:

I need to work on some personal bests for the following:

1km run
Deadlift
Shoulder Press
Barbell Clean
Clean and Press
Chinups
Weighted pushups
All the Fit Tests – P90X, Insanity, Insanity:Asylum
Crossfit WODs such as Angie, Fran etc.

At the same time, I had previously posted this which was the catalyst for my planning, however there are things here I am not willing to try again such as heavy squats, I spent a lot of my life doing them and with my back history, I don’t need to go back there again…

These are some of my CrossFit PRs

Baseline: 3:58
Fran: 7:18 (totally lame)
Jackie: 7:25
Back Squat: 235#
Strict Press: 115#
Deadlift: 315#
CrossFit Total 655#
Max Pushups: 40
Max Unbroken Muscles Ups: 5
Max Overhead Squat: 125#
Max Clean and Jerk: 160#
2K Row: 7:35

I probably should apologize to him for nicking his stuff but I need a little something to concentrate on and getting these numbers for myself is something I would like to do. Also, I think that his site may be a good read, certainly his “start here” page states some of the reasons I am frustrated with the medical profession.

So here are the descriptions of what those numbers mean:

Fran:
21 Thrusters 95lbs
21 Pull Ups
15 Thrusters 95lbs
15 Pull Ups
9 Thrusters 95lbs
9 Pull Ups

Jackie:
1000 meter row
45 pound Thruster, 50 reps
30 pull-ups

Back Squat – The basic regular squat we all love to hate
Strict Press – Shoulder press, from standing, front of shoulder (I prefer back of shoulder, but my body is weird).
Deadlift – I’m going to assume everyone knows this. Lift the bar from the floor until you are upright. Keep back discs intact!
Crossfit Total – Simply add the totals from the previous 3 lifts (with each attempted 3 times for max)
Max Pushups – Unbroken push ups, no rest, full range of motion
Max Unbroken Muscle Ups – Again, no stopping to max
Max Overhead Squat – 1 rep max for overhead squat, just regular squat with weight extended overhead
Max Clean and Jerk – Probably the most misrepresented, misunderstood and challenging lift of all.
2K Row – Get on a rowing machine and go until your lungs explode!

 

So I will work on a plan and post it later.

R7D30-35 – Warriors In Sickness And In Health

The week leading up to the Warrior Dash was not great. I coached Wednesday despite having a fever and after spiking over 40 degrees I was off work on Thursday and Friday with only some gentle walking on the treadmill and outside to count as exercise on Friday. My throat was extremely sore, and to me that is a serious issue, but Nicole apparently thought I meant I had a “tickle” in my throat because when she finally saw the white lesions back there she immediately suggested I go to the clinic. It’s been so bad that I can hardly eat, because swallowing anything is like inserting a stick blender into my throat. The clinic doc tells me it’s not Strep but it is a viral infection and it is both contagious and incurable. Great. Despite being weak from fever and feeling like my head is connected to my shoulders by a lit sparkler I wasn’t about to miss the Warrior Dash due to start 930am Saturday. Oh and one more thing that I neglected to mention, I burned the roof of my mouth on Friday so badly that I can’t actually bite into anything because the roof of my mouth HAS NO SKIN LEFT!

Of course I can’t sleep, so by the time 5am rolled around on Saturday I didn’t feel like I had rested at all in preparation for what was billed as “The Craziest Day Of Your Life” by the Warrior Dash peeps. We dropped off the baby and drove up to Horseshoe Resort in Barrie. The fact that this race was set to be hosted at a ski resort should have been my first indicator that it was going to take more than a couple of days running “hills” to train properly for this. It was too late for regret, and I would have to lean on my every day training to get me through. In reality, the course ran up and down ski hills with alarming regularity, and for at least 2 of the ascents we were on black diamonds I am sure (at least it felt, and looked that way). We were all pretty excited to get started, the feeling of the park was not unlike being a soph in university, all of the enjoyment, none of the drunken froshness. The place was flooded with participants even though we were some of the earliest waves to go (I would suggest doing that!) and even as we lined up to drop off our gear, there were plenty of people already finishing, caked in mud with a banana and a huge smile. I have to say that there were all kinds of people participating. It wasn’t just a bunch of crossfit and bootcamp knuckleheads, it was basically the same kind of crowd you would see at a 5 or 10k fun run, most look like they belong, some look lost and some look like they maybe should have thought this through a little better but kudos to everyone for coming out and giving it a shot!

We dropped our gear, took one last drink and headed to the start line and with the crowd buzzing, and cracking jokes it felt lke we were in line for a concert, not about to have our asses handed to us by a mean spirited and ugly 5k of hell. But we were blissfully unaware and as the countdown finally came and the flames leaped from the start gantry we were off! Naturally, the first few hundred yards were a laugh, everybody was talking and having fun, jumping over a small creek thinking that was a measure of what was to come. Funny thing is, there were people trying to get around the little creek not realizing that the first obstacle is knee deep mud from which there is no escape. By the time we got through the mud, there was a definite air of annoyance mixed with frustration and more than a couple of lost shoes. The fun run continued and for me that was the tough part, not being a runner, and also having a lingering malady to carry with me. Nevertheless I carried on with the hills getting steeper and longer (through woods at the start) and the pace being fairly respectable for an old guy! Second came the dark crawl, basically like going through someone’s tent at night, being too drunk to see and crawling out the other end. There were beams inside so you had to stay on your knees and since the ground was mostly gravel and rock it was a wonderfully refreshing experience! With knees smarting and heart screaming we continued on.

More to come…