Gymnastics / Bootcamp – Page 7 – Something Beats Nothing Every Time

R14 – It’s COW Time

Cardio, Oly Lifting and WODs. That is the nature of the next 3 months or so. I also have to take into consideration that there is winter weather on the way and I will not be able to stay in the garage much longer. My program will be mostly what I outilened a few days ago which looks a little like this…

I have been conscious of keeping a heavy bench day in there and also room for some specific bicep work that I can incorporate into the WOD. The light Oly / WOD days can also be bootcamp days since they are not too heavy on weights but provide enough muscular work to not be considered just cardio. The only issue I have is that I really want to increase my pullups again and as my weight falls (4lbs off this week! woohoo!) they will get easier but only with practice. I have already done day 1 and 2 of the program with Heavy DL work on Monday and Heavy bench for reps on Tuesday.

That’s a Belgian Blue BTW, not a steroid or GMO bull…

1. Heavy Oly	DL Clean
2. WOD	Reg WOD jumps and pullups or bench
3. Cardio	DVD Insanity
4. WOD / Light Day	Bodyweight WOD
5. Off
6. Heavy Oly	Clean Squat
7. WOD	oddball WOD stuff pullups wqllball rope
8. Cardio	Insanity or MMA
9. Light Oly / WOD	Snatch c&P biceps
10 Off

Monday in fact was the first time in ages that I have worked DL reps with 185. I am not sure when the last time was but this day was a full 75 rep workout which I am pretty sure is unheard of. Tuesday I did a similar thing with bench, using 225 as the working weight and managing just over 75 reps in sets of 10. That means today is cardio day and with a buffet of choices from P90X Plyo to P90X3 Accelerator to Insanity Pure Cardio and Insanity Asylum or T25 Alpah, Beta, Gamma. The worst thing is that I just can’t remember what they are all like so I can’t really make an informed choice. I will have to document them and try to make a chart of the differences. Since I have George St Pierre Rushfit (which I recall being awful) and TapoutXT and some kettlebell workouts a handy reference sheet would be good. If you already have one, please let me know.

Hitting My Stride – Finally

I think I am finally finding a way to satisfy my cravings for certain workout types and managing to put to bed my fear that my intensity and time are lacking. So far I have managed to integrate HIIT rope work with each workout, I have started to get back into kettlebell workouts and I am testing my bootcamp type workouts before coaching. This means I am generally doing the following:

3 bootcamp style workouts – bodyweight, jumps, abs and functional movement
2 barbell workouts, maintaining my bench press workout and a multiple movement Olympic lift session or two
1 cardio or true HIIT workout with chinups, med ball cleans wallball etc and a bit of sprint or running work.

The schedule is still a bit random but it is tied down by the days that I do the bootcamp workouts. I have to say that adding back the functional movements like chin ups, burpees, vsnaps etc has brought back that feeling of mobility and fitness that I was missing after slipping down the Gym Rat slope after starting Body Beast in the Spring. I have gained quite a lot of size and strength but also I admit a few pounds of fat. So in turning back towards bodyweight workouts and HIIT I am going to start whittling away at that extra stored energy and hopefully be left with additional strength as protection for my ever present back aches. I do need to get a few pounds off and the sooner the better.

I did toy with the idea of getting back into a P90X or P90X2 schedule as a base for my workouts but until the extra crap is out of the basement I don’t really have space in front of the TV in order to do that. Next move then, get rid of the extra treadmill (I think my wife may have already sold it) and clear some space in the gym to enable the winter workouts to start. It’s premature I know but I think it’s going to take a little more planning than I think, and maybe a flat screen on the wall…

In addition, I did make some more purchases for the gym last week from Fitness Avenue (who have moved down the street from where they were), including:

40LB Kettlebell
Adjustable plyo box – heavy and sturdy as hell, full metal construction 16″ to 28″ height
55lb 5o ft sleeved undulation rope
45lb dumbbell
55lb dumbbell

The rope is fantastic, I have been donig undulations with it but even better is hanging it over my chin up bar and pulling it through like you would pull a heavy sled. If you wrap it twice it’s incredibly hard to pull through, great for grip strength and full back pumps!

My Other Life – Gymnastics Coaching (Level 5 bars 2014-17)

In my spare time I am a gymnastics coach, I have been coaching for quite a few years now and up until now there has been little change to the way things were done. The past season brought a whole new angle to the game though, more concentration on basics, body shape and fine details with some complex movements made mandatory. In reviewing the documents for this season the instructions for uneven bars were particularly confusing and even though we probably won’t have any level 5 this year I still wanted to make sure I understood what we were supposed to be coaching.

I found a great article regarding the first part of bars for level 5 for this year. It’s located HERE.

I will occasionally put gymnastics stuff up here, I think it’s a good way to keep the content more interesting than just what I do in my basement and garage!

Back With A Plan

It’s the last day of the year for gymnastics coaching and the summer training starts on Wednesday, which also means in some form, the bootcamp workouts will be back also. Not because the kids need it (which they do) but I am committing to doing the workout at least once a week if not all 3 days.

Don’t you love it when I am enthusiastic?

It’s been the World Cup, work has been interminably painfully busy but I have been working the Full Monty and my modified 300 for the last few weeks but curiously staying where I am physically. So it’s time to add a bit of cardio / bootcamp HIIT and get this party started.

My Garmin Vivofit is telling me I am basically a sloth at work, that my sleep sucks and that I need to get my butt in gear. I knew that, could have saved $125.

I will have a detailed outline of what is to come, but I also need to start running the block if I am to do the Warrior Dash without having a massive cardiac event…

R11D80-86 – Squats Tried To Kill Me Plus The June Goals

I got called 2 weird things lately.

A cross between Chef Ramsey and Simon Cowell and from another person a mix of Shrek and The Hulk. Really? Really?? I’m not that big. Seriously.

So I haven’t posted in a few days because I have been in so much pain I can’t even explain myself. I did Body Beast Bulk Legs the other day and added some deep squats to the routine, something that I would have done in the garage last summer every week. For some reason, doing deadlifts and cleans does not extend the squat as fully as I had thought and after doing the full squats I developed massive knots in the top of my quads on both legs. I am mystified as to why this would happen I mean it’s not like I don’t do legs, but the reaction my body had was like “what the hell are you doing?”.

My past few workouts have looked like this:

79	Tuesday, 03/25/2014	63	Body Beast Bulk Arms	80%
80	Wednesday, 03/26/2014		off	0%
81	Thursday, 03/27/2014	64	Body Beast Bulk Shoulders	79%
82	Friday, 03/28/2014	65	Body Beast Bulk Legs – Squats killed leg	79%
83	Saturday, 03/29/2014		Off very sore leg	0%
84	Sunday, 03/30/2014	66	Body Beast Bulk chest 135-235	79%
85	Monday, 03/31/2014	67	Body Beast Bulk Back – Pullups and Deadlifts 50 per	79%
86	Tuesday, 04/01/2014	68	Body Beast Bulk Shoulders with press	79%

and I am happy to note that I am still almost at 80% even after 86 days. I will be officially finishing the R11 this week then but I will continue the Body Beast for probably another 30 days or so to get a good idea of what a full 90 would be like. Also you may notice that on back day I did pullups that means it was warm enough on Monday to get outside. It was in fact 14 degrees and doing pullups outside again was both exhilirating and worrisome since I became aware very quickly that my ability to knock out 20 pullups in a row was very far in the past. As soon as the weather is better I will have to modify y goals to add 20 in a row. In fact, now that the weather is improving a little I think I need to put down what I expect from myself by June 1.

Deadlift – 200lbs
Shoulder Press – Standing 185lbs
Clean – 185lbs
Clean and Press – 185lbs
Pullups – 20 unbroken with kip 10 without kip
Squat – 185lbs since I don’t have a squat rack and have to C&P the weight first
Ring Dips – 20 unbroken or 10 strict
I would also like to have my bar muscle up by the summer, I don’t think that’s too crazy. Or maybe ring MU.

Treating Myself (well deserved)

I have been out of the gym for several years now. I do home workouts, I improvise my own equipment and make do with anything I can to help me stay fit. Now with the Black Friday sales, it’s time to treat myself and get a couple of essential things for the house. One is a proper dumbbell rack, I have been using some OSB boards on my dip station to hold my dbs and it’s really not that safe. I also spent some money during the summer on a heavy bag which I used quite a lot in conjunction with Tapout XT and P90X Kenpo X. So I am finally getting a bag stand for it that will enable me to move my MMA workouts indoors for the winter. Also, my wife has been complaining about our treadmill being too loud. We looked at a decent one during the summer but it was just too expensive, and lo and behold on the Fitness Depot site today I find it’s HALF PRICE!!! our current treadmill is about 5 years old and it is very unhappy whenever I step on it. If I try to go slower than 3.5 miles an hour it judders and struggles no matter how well lubricated it or I am. So hopefully the new one which is rated up to 350lbs will be better. I figure if you have a treadmill for 5+ years and use it every week (which we probably have for at least 3 of those years) then getting a new one every once in a while is justified, especially at half price!

Add to that some on sale knobby rollers and smaller items and you have Christmas early at our house. Besides, what is a better Christmas gift than investing in your health?

Merry Black Friday everyone…

Last Wednesday I did my short bootcamp workout as outlined last post, Thursday is my daughter’s swimming class and has become a day of rest around here. Friday I did Olympic lifts again and on Saturday I spent a long time setting up the heavy bag holder and the dumbbell stand and then did a 30 minute heavy bag workout which is basically the same as the Mui Thai workout from Tapout XT. Lots of different striking, knees elbows etc. Sunday I did a Millennium workout which is 100 of 10 moves for 1000 rep total. Sounds easy but it’s a pain.
Front Kicks
Pushups
Squats
Crunches
Military pushups
V Snaps
Front lungesV Shoulder pushups
side crunch
Pop squats

It was a nightmare, seriously.

Update and detail on my “bootcamp” days

Friday I did a short bootcamp with the kids, if only to get them to do 45 seconds on non stop work. It was a bit of a farce but at least I had my CIT to keep an eye on them.
Saturday I busted out the Kettlebells and did a shoulder workout, so not a lot of swings but sets of:
High pulls
Front raise
Strict press – From unrotated position
Rack press – from rack position

Sunday I was planning to do something but time got the best of me and I decided to take the day off. That motivated me to do a heavier Olympic lift workout on Monday with 7 sets of each deadlifts and clean with deadlift alternating. I am working up to 135 still but it’s looking good for this week. At least I know I can go up to 200 for deadlift without much effort so that’s one thing. Tuesday I did Body Beast Bulk Chest which I am really enjoying. So much that I might actually dive in and do the whole thing with Oly lifting as a sub for back days.

What exactly is a “short bootcamp” that I keep referring to? Well, it’s a 20-30 minute workout that is bodyweight oriented and comprised of legs, abs, chest, arms and shoulders.

Here’s an example of what it would look like on a typical day:

Sets of 10, each section is non stop.

Pushups
Military
vsnaps
squats
front lunge

step out pushup
diamond pushup
power crunch
Pop squats
back lunge front kick

frog jump
clapping pushup
V pushup (shoulders)
bicycle switch
roll to boat hold

2-4-6-8-10-8-6-4-2 (50 reps)

pushup
squat
vsnap
lunge switch (MK)
military

Super 7 It Was…

Original Lucky 7 from Body Beast:

Push Up + Clean + Squat:
Deadlift + Bent-Over Row:
Skull Crusher + Press + Crunch:
Curl + Military Press + EZ Squat:
Delt Raise + Reverse Lunge:
Lat Oblique Twist:
Upright Row + Calf Raise:

Super 7 for the kids:

Pushup – shoulder touch – vsnap
Squat – MK Switch – front lunge
Military – squat – pullup
Frog jump- squat thrust – hop out pushup
(with weights bars – 14 and 24lb)
curl + reverse press
high pull + front raise
back squat + press

Tuesday I took off to rest for the upcoming few days I knew I would be working out. Wednesday I participated with the girls at gym doing some of the Super 7 workout above. On Thursday I was very short on time but I did another heavier Olympic workout involving Deadlifts and Cleans something like this:

DL – 5 5 10 10 10 10 5
Clean – 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

Today I am hoping to do some cardio bootcamp stuff at gym but I guess we will see, I am trying to have weekends as heavy Oly lift and kettlebell or bench days so maybe a lighter weight free night tonight will put me in a better position to get back to the 135lb cleans again. If my back holds up, I am hooping to get back to a 200lb deadlift and 175lb clean by the New Year. If I can get back to a bodyweight deadlift, bench and shoulder press with a reasonable clean I will be happy. Not so sure I can get back to a 235lb shoulder press but I guess we will see.

Lucky 7. Make That Super 7.

Body Beast is creeping into my life. I did the Lucky 7 workout a couple of days ago and yesterday I took off but I really wanted to do a BB shoulder workout.

Lucky 7 was actually pretty good. I did it without really knowing what I was in for except I needed a quick whole body thing.

Here is the workout, I apologize I stole this from somewhere but I have posted it whole so that the original owner can claim right and credit. I am going to make a similar workout for the gymnasts tonight since my assistant who has a concussion probably won’t be participating, it will be Super 7 since that’s our local lottery name around these parts.

Push Up + Clean + Squat:

For this sequence, you’ll use the EZ bar with plates. You may need to adjust your weight after you see how much weight you can handle. to begin, set the EZ bar on the floor. You’ll do a push up above the bar: first with one arm in front (other arm behind), then the other. Right away, you’ll grab your EZ bar, stand up, and do a clean lift up to your shoulders; then holding it in that position, you’ll perform a squat.

You’ll do this sequence in a pyramid set: 7 rounds. So what that means is the first time, you’ll do one rep of each move: the second time, you’ll do two reps each move; third time, three reps etc. You’ll keep going without a break until you get to seven reps each move. That’s a lot of reps!!!

Deadlift + Bent-Over Row:

Staying with your EZ bar, you’ll keep your legs straight, and perform a deadlift by lowering the weight down towards the floor while keeping your arms and back straight. Right away, you’ll bend at your waist (keeping your back straight), and perform bent-over rows by pulling your elbows towards the ceiling. Same pyramid as before: one rep each the first time, two the second, three the third all the way to seven!

Skull Crusher + Press + Crunch:

Laying on the floor, you’ll press your EZ bar above your head. Keeping your elbows straight up into the air, you’ll slowly lower the bar towards your forehead, then raise it back up. Next, you’ll do a press with the bar. Finally, you’ll hold the weight in the air, and perfom a crunch. And you know the drill: seven rounds, building up to seven reps!

Curl + Military Press + EZ Squat:

Using the EZ bar, you’ll stand and perform a curl to work your biceps. Without lowering the weight, you’ll immediately do a press with the weight above your head. THEN, keeping the weight at your shoulders, you’ll do a squat. Build up to seven!!!

Delt Raise + Reverse Lunge:

As Sagi prepares for this move, he makes a big deal about lowering the amount of weight you’re using on your EZ bar. I would listen to him if I were you 🙂 This move is NO JOKE. Get ready!

Keeping your arms straight, you’ll raise the bar up straight in front of you, keeping your palms facing up. Next, you’ll perform a reverse lunge, alternating legs. As you increase the reps for the pyramid, you’ll do all of the reps with one leg, before switching to the other. THIS IS TOUGH. Make sure you pick a weight that you can finish with!

Lat Oblique Twist:

You’ll keep using your EZ bar for this move; however, you’ll remove one weight, so that you only have a weight on one side. You’ll then stand the bar up on an end, keeping the side with the weight up in the air. You’ll stand with the bar vertical in front of you, the end with no weight on the floor. You’ll then lunge and hold to one side, hold it for a few seconds, then to the other side. As you increase up the pyramid, you’ll just hold it longer; you’ll only do 7 total reps on each side.

Upright Row + Calf Raise:

Put both weights back on your EZ Bar, and hold the bar in front of you. You’ll perform an upright row by gripping the bar in the middle, then bringing it up to your chin, keeping your elbows high. Holding the bar by your chin, you’ll then perform calf raises. Build that pyramid!!

Leaning Towards Body Beast and Longevity Revealed

I did another Body Beast workout last night, the Chest Build workout. It was pretty short, not that brutal and I managed to work in my bench to make sure I had heavy enough weight for the presses. I am not a huge fan of the guy who runs the workouts but as of now I don’t throw up in my mouth every time I see him any more, so there’s that.

After Millennium Bronze on Thursday I took Friday off so that my weekend workouts would be effective and also because at the end of training on Friday I was just too tired to attempt the Millenium Silver I had outlined for the kids. For the record, they got to round 5 in 25 minutes. It’s tough.

Saturday I spent a lot of the day cleaning up the house and the garage again getting ready for Christmas. Nothing exercise worthy so I did an Olympic lift session that involved DL, clean and high pulls going from 75lbs up to 115lbs in preparation to move up to 135 for my DL and clean again. I would like to workout with 155 or 165lbs for both DL and clean regularly, and then up the DL to 225 for heavy days. Sunday I went to Costco and bought a Christmas tree that has lights that can do all sorts of funky stuff so we took time to decorate that and then I did the Body beast Chest workout. Tonight is gymnastics, and I think I will run a bootcamp for 30 minutes to get a bit of cardio into them (and me).

Here as some food for thought is an interesting article on the whole “people live longer nowadays” thing. Seems like we all remember Grandparents who were tough old warriors, fact is, they were all like that, mostly due to their food and activity.

http://www.weedemandreap.com/2013/10/long-ancestors-live-eating-bacon-lard-whole-milk.html