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

R8D34-36 – Empty House

My parents who were here for the last 2 weeks leave today which is sad in many ways, yet a relief in one way. I made a deal with myself that I wouldn’t stress about my workouts or my diet while they were here and I managed to do just that. In fact, my relaxed attitude enabled me to enjoy their company even more and although it seems illogical, I think I worked out just as much as I normally would have. The visit was a great break from work, I did a couple of 2 day weeks back to back which in itself is just as good as a rest! I am happy to report that the visit was a resounding success! It is a relief though to get back to the comfort of my usual schedule. Here is a brief list of what I did the last few days including the bootcamp class on Wednesday.

D34 – Bootcamp

Week 6 – Weights and Cardio

5 moves repeat 3x with 10’s at least.

curls
press
military push
double dumbbell jump
double dumbbell agility apart

high pull
alternate press
pushup and db pull
circle run
dumbbell jump back to front

curl and press
in and out shoulders
plank dumbell walk (one line to next fwd/back)
lunge walk
suicides

4xburpee
4xpushup burpee
4xpushup run burpee
4xpushup run in and out burpee

abs work for last 15
for 10’s
in and out
arx bicycles
scissors
jack and jill 1-5
leg up toe touch (half vsnap)
triple flat bicycle
Full rainbow
jack and jill 5-10

D35 – Abs with gym girls and single run through of above bootcamp (instead of 3x)

D36 – Olympic Lift compound move

Start with loaded barbell
Deadlift to standing
Clean to shoulder
Push press to extend
Lower to back of neck
Back Squat push press to extend
Lower weight to shoulder
Lower to thigh
Lower to ground

I planned on doing the same as I do for RKC, that is to say do 1 rep, do 1 chinup, 2 reps, 2 chinups and so on to 3 then 4 then 5 then 4 then 3.

That gave me a total of 6,10,15,10,6 reps plus pullups for a grand total of 47 reps with 115lbs. It was not tough all over, but it was hard on my back and the next day I was quite sore. However, it is a great compound workout for doing basically everything you need (especially once you add in the pullups to hit the biceps). It is also a good benchmark of my strength and something I can work towards as a whole body conditioning indicator. Maybe I should try and get back to 155 on the bar and try it again, but it’s not something I relish doing.

I think this week it’s time for an Insanity workout, seems like weeks since I saw Shaun T.

R8D31-33 – Variety Or Laziness?

Day 31 was Friday, as in the past weeks I took Thursday after bootcamp as a rest day. Friday I did a mini Fran with the girls at gym but instead of just thrusters and chinups they did:

10-15-10-15-5

Thrusters
Chin Ups
Push Ups
V Snaps

Saturday we were at a hotel out of town so I took my trusty 45lb kettlebell and did the following:

1 clean and press per side
1 snatch per side
10 swings

then followed with 2 plus 20, 3 plus 30, 4 plus 40 and finally 5 plus 50. I did the whole thing twice which netted me:
30 clean and press each side
30 snatch each side
300 swings

I had designed it to revisit my ability to do longer term swings. It was just as tough as I recall doing 40 then 50 swings and having my grip almost fail towards the end.

Sunday – off

Monday I decided I would run a 5k so with a pace that would probably make an arthritic dog feel fit I ran the treadmill to try and give my upper body a break. I didn’t even work out with the girls at gym Monday night, which I have to say I felt a little guilty about.

I am going to try and get back on track somewhat, it seems like forever since I actually put a DVD in the player and followed along. I feel like I am being lazy not following a program and improvising what I am doing. That and I also feel like I am not rotating the workouts properly either. I feel like my weight is going up, something that I am too scared even to confirm on the scale, but I know I am not wrong.

Time to get back to basics I guess.

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.