Finally, Kettlebells Come To Bootcamp

I have been trying to get this workout to Bootcamp forever but since we don’t have any KB at the gym I had to bring 2 of mine and one participant had her own so it was time! Why are kettlebells so good? Partly because of the extended leverage the bell gives, partly because they are handy and easy to transport but mostly because they are simply awesome.

Pavel Tsatsouline calls them the “Strength Secret Of The Soviet Supermen” and promises that with the simple kettlebell you can outperform almost any other gym full of equipment. My all time favourite quote from him goes like this:

“You are next. You are now in Soviet Territory and you are becoming a better man. If you don’t know how I will teach you. If you don’t want to, I’ll make you!”

Suffice to say, once I heard that it was game on and I devoured the Russian Kettlebell Challenge and was amazed at what an incredible workout you can get for such a simple lump of iron.

Last night it was the turn of my bootcamp participants. I have to admit, it’s not often that my heart rate goes over 170, but last night was one of those times!

Here is what we did:

5.11.2 Kettlebell Weights

x10x2
Sumo deadlift
SDL High Pull
Halo
Wallball
Chin ups or turnarounds

x10x2
double Swing eyes
pass around
Sinlge legf deadlift
Single alt press
Chin ups or hand turns

x10x1
clean
dbl Swing overhead
clean and press 5ea
Dips on pbars or dip station
leg lifts

x10x2
Dbl sumo high pull
single swing row
Laying chest press
Laying pullovers
Halo

10×2
Clean and Press
Burpee
Clean and Press
Clap Pushup
Pullups

x10x1
Double swing
1 leg squat
Single swings
Sumo DL
Horse Stance Hold 30

Bootcamp Cardio Agility

Cardio Legs and Agility

10 Air Squat
10 Jump squat
10 step over fwd and back with tap
10 jump over fwd turn and fwd

20 air squat
10 horse stance jacks
10 over and run around back
10 jump over and run back
walk stairs 10 times
Sideways

10 pop squats
10 super skater elbows each side
10 toe touch knee raise
20 frog squats no jump
walk stairs 10 times

10 squat jump over
10 super skater cardio jump over
10 single leg squat jump over
10 frog jump over
10 Sissy squats against wall

10 double squat jump over
10 super skater doubles with elbow touch
10 double single leg squat jump over
10 frog jump followed by jump over
10 sissy squats against wall
Walk stairs 10 times

Adding skills

5 jacks then jump over x10
5 MK switch then jump over x10
20 side to side jump
5 pushups 5 jumps x5

10 single burpee with jump over
5 jacks 5 jumps x5
10 single burpee with 5 jumps
5 sphinx to plank 5 jumps x5

Any time left?

25 in and out
10 roll to boat hold
25 in and out arms up
50 crunches
25 side crunch each side
25 floor leg lifts butt up

7 Days Work Plus 12 Hour Shifts = Cranky Caveman

Working 12 hours shifts is nothing i am familiar with nor something I would like to get used to but for the upgrade to our systems this past weekend that was exactly what I had to do. That meant that after my Olympic lifting session on Friday that I had to improvise and do an RKC workout with 20 floors of stairs and 20 minutes on an elliptical. It also meant a wicked arms only workout on Sunday pyramiding from 15lbs all the way to 45lb dumbbells and back down for curls and tricep extensions. It’s now Monday and I have to teach bootcamp tonight which I think will be bodyweight and of course 2 hours of coaching after that.

I’m tired, I am a little frustrated with my weight and I think I am going to try and reduce my carbs a little to see if I can shift a few more pounds. I mean I am not even thinking about my carb load any more and I just calculated an average day when I coach and I was amazed to see the basic elements stack up like this:

Calories 3,099
Fat g 122.7
Carbs g 310.5
Protein g 193.7
The interesting thing is that 210g of those carbs came from bananas and coconut water.
no more bananas for me, and I am going to closely monitor my fruit intake and replace the nuts I shunned a few weeks ago. The goal is to shift my profile from carbs to fat with the same amount of protein and see what happens. My inkling is that I will start to see some weightloss again since my biggest losses came with a HFLC diet when I started Paleo.

Wednesday Bootcamp – Abs Focus

I brought the kettlebells again.

Actually, let me be clear about that.

It was 40 mintues before class, I couldn’t find my KB workout sheet so I thought I would print one off. I couldn’t find the list since it was on my pc at work. I remoted into work to get the list, halfway through the remote connection closed because our Citrix admin hasn’t licensed our remote connectivity software properly and so it cuts you off, leaving you with a distasteful licensing note and an inability to reconnect for 2 minutes… I finally managed to reconnect and find the list and email it to myself. Once done, I tried to print the thing only to find that when I turned on the printer 8 thousand sheets of my wife’s printouts from the last week were queued up first causing the printer to run out of paper. I finally got the printout done with only 15 minutes left until class, rushed into my car and halfway to gym realized I had forgotten the kettlebells. I turned around, just yards from Tim Hortons where I could see the drive through was empty as usual. I sped back home, grabbed the kettlebells and went back to Tims. Three cars in line? No problem. However, car #1 was apparently ordering a la carte and having the duck salad with au jus since it was taking them forever to take the order, never mind serve the person. Driver 2 took 3 minutes just to open her window to talk to the simpleton behind the speaker who then commenced to fill 3 screens of information with her order. Finally I got to order my coffee only because I couldn’t reverse out of the drive through and escape. As the drivers ahead moved along the start time for class came and went, and since I had been in line for over 7 minutes as soon as I got to the hole in the drive through lane I made my escape presumably leaving a spotty teenager confused holding my coffee that I can presume with confidence was probably wrong anyway. I got to the gym only to find out that the person for whom I had made all the effort and missed out on my coffee was AWOL second week in a row.

Colour me unhappy.

I searched my bag for a replacement workout and the coffee stained (yes, I appreciate the irony) paper was an abs workout that went like this:

5.10.2 Bodyweight Abs

x2
10 full crunch
10 regular pushups
10 side crunch
10 curl up to bar
10 pullups

x2

20 leg up med ball crunch
10 military pushups / med ball pushups
10 mb situp double twist
10 pullups
10 hanging leg raise

x2
10 side plank leg raise / toe touch
10 spider each side
20 MB shelf stacker 10 per side
10 front lunge
40 side rocker runners each side

x2
40 running backs each arm
10 clap pushups
10 leg cross under hip touch floor each side
10 pullups alternate hands
20 wall sit mb

x2
10 falling towers mb under butt
10 plyo pushup
30 second superman plank each

Biggest Loser – About To Commit Crimes Against Children??

It’ s all over the news about The Biggest Loser having kids between 11 and 17 on the show this season and while I am sure (at least I hope) that the approach will be radically different than that of the adults I still think that this is a very dangerous ratings grab. Much of my feeling is echoed by the following article but my overwhelming feeling is that these kids are going to be taught, purposefully or not, that exercise is something that takes work, dedication, pain and long term suffering. That’s simply not the message we should be sending. Although I agree that if these kids are obese and sedentary, they should be shown that there is a price to pay for their lifestyle, I am just not so sure that Ms. Michaels is the one to tell them. I am afraid that from a coaching perspective and someone who has coached kids 11-17 for many years that this could be TV’s next great trainwreck. Let’s hope for the kids’ sake it isn’t and that rather than using the treadmills and weights that these kids are out playing in the outdoors and having fun while learning that movement is preferable to watching TV. I would hate for the first exposure to exercise for a child would be a treadmill and a body bug.

http://www.athleticrevolutionsouthshore.com/biggest-loser-to-train-kids/

Monday Bootcamp Agility

Last night was bootcamp agility again, we used 5 hoops this time and a lot more pushups than usual. My heart rate was extremely high a few times but I think this may be a reflection of my lack of cardio training rather than the actual difficulty. The problem with doing so much Olympic lifting is that the WOD/Cardio aspect doesn’t get as much work. I am starting to think that adding something, whether I stick with Tapout or something else at least once a week will be a smart move.

5.10.1 Cardio / Agility – 4 hoops run backwards

30s each
Jog
Heels Up
Knees Up
Heisman
Jumping Jacks
123 Heisman

3 way pushups – 1 each move hands
Regular – Military – H2H 15 total

Pushups through 4 hoops (11)
Pushup doubles inside hoops only (4)
Squat thrust through 4 hoops (11)
Spider each side inside hoops only (4)
Front in and outs through hoops 4x with backward run

10 plank step over and back with pushup
10 shoulder touch with pushup
5 burpee on floor with sphinx plank
Front in and out both legs jacks

10 air squat
10 squat jumps
20 super skaters cardio version no jump
side jump in and out 4x

10 frog jumps
10 tuck jumps
10 jump 180s alternating floor touch
side jump in and out 4x

10 side plank arm balance
10 superman 3 counts
5 burpee star jump
front facing in and out 4x

10 pushup arm balance
10 superman knee to elbow
5 burpee tuck jump
front facing jumping jacks 4x

20 Super skater cardio with jump
10 3 jacks with burpee
20 MK switch
front facing bunny hop fwd and backwards x4

10 Hindu Pushups
20 leg under hip to floor
20 MK switch with hop
front facing bunny hop fwd and backwards x4

10 pushups
10 Military pushups
10 Sphinx to plank
step in and through tap

10 Military pushups
10 Clapping pushups
10 Plyo pushups
step in and through tap

Single Hoop Punishment

Foot tap 360 x4
Foot tap inside out 360 x4
20 jacks into circle
20 bunny hops into circle
20 alternate in and out sideways
20 alternate in and out forwards
20 bunny hop in jack out buynny hop out

Bootcamp Weights and Stability Plus Future Rumblings

I had made up a nice kettlebell workout for tonight but since the one person I had designed the workout for didn’t show we ended up modifying an old weights session with stability balls instead. It was based on this workout with some minor changes which I can’t really recall to be honest. It was a shoulder blast, that is for sure. I was a little frustrated at last week thinking that I should have busted out some P90X2 workouts and so in that vein I have serched for someone to loan me either Tapout XT or Body Beast, the newest workout from our friends at Beachbody.

The best thing about being a Beachbody coach is that if I like the product I can get it for cheap. The other great thing is that I can also sell it to others at a discount so if you are interested, hit me up! That said, I have found a person who will loan me the dvd’s to check out for  a few days and I may even be able to produce a review or two. I know it’s probably possible to get the stuff off torrent sites but if there is one thing I have learned about fitness and health, if it works, it’s worth paying for. I am proud to say I have paid for every Beachbody product I own and I encourage you all to do the same.

Here’s that workout.

10 Clean
10 Swings
10 Clean and Press
10 Swings
10 Snatch or clean and press
10 Swings

Sitting on Stability Balls Sets of 10 each
x2
Overhead pullover
Laying Fly face up
Sitting press
Sitting curl
Double Tricep extension
x2
Plank row
Floor laying chest fly
Low kneel shoulder press
kneeling single arm curl
football throw extension
x2
Overhead pullover alternating
face up overhead fly alternating
alternating shoulder press
alternating bicep curl
Military pushup feet on ball
x2
High Pull
Incline chest fly
Halo
Hammer double curls
Single bent over tricep extension

Bootcamp Bodyweight and Balance

What I think I look like on the stability ball:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I feel like on the stability ball:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those of you following along at home, here you go.

Balance and coordination
x2 in a row
10 regular pushups
10 military pushups
10 sphinx to plank step or drop
10 pushup side raise
10 pullups

20 in and out row
10 roll to boat hold 3 count
20 bicycle with leg extension
20 side crunch per side
10 bent leg roll up
x2
10 SB pushup boing
10 SB Burpee lift ball
10 SB Plank to sphinx
10 per SB elbow plank side raise

Feet on SB

10 regular pushups
10 military pushups
10 sphinx to plank step or drop
10 pushup side raise
10 pullups

20 Crunchy Frog
20 vsnap
20 laying triple bicycles
20 full situps

Arms on SB 20 360’s
Arms on SB plank to sphinx
10x feet on SB walk out and back
20x feet on ball face down roll ball in to chest
20x laying hamstring pull

20 laying leg lifts
10 per rainbow leg lifts
10 per scissor hold on count
25 per side to side scissor rapid

BONUS ROUND!!

10 military pushup
10 diamond pushup
10 Hindu Pushup
30s crane

How Do I Start?

I received a familiar request the other day, to help someone who is a little overwhelmed about starting to lose weight after the birth of her baby. Although maybe a little heavy handed, this was my response and it’s pretty universal.

The first thing that you have to do is make a decision. Not a decision that you can go back on but a final decision to change.
Second you need to set your larger goal. Your larger goal is nothing to do with losing weight or any of the challenges you have, your larger goal is to be honest, true and faithful to yourself. If you can commit to being honest with yourself and not accepting the old excuses then you are on your way.
Third, stop listening to yourself, you are only confusing the issue.
There is a voice inside your head that wants to derial you. You can either try to change the voice then change your life or you can simply stop paying attention to it until it starts to help you not hurt you. You are smart enough to know the right thing to do but that voice always finds a way around it.
What is better? Food you make at home from simple ingredients or fast food? You already know the answer. What is better, spending an hour watching a tv show or 30 minutes working out and 30 mintues making your food for tomorrow? Same hour, different results. What would you think of someone feeding a can of coke to a baby? Why would you treat your body with any less importance? Six months from now you will be 6 months older, but will you be different? That’s the big question. If you really want your life to change then you have to make some changes in your life. Here they are:
1. Find 30 minutes every day to exercise. Walking is not exercise. If you want to count walking it had better be up and down a flight of stairs.
2. Drink only water and if you have to, coffee.
3. Eat food with one ingredient. If it has more than one ingredient, you don’t need to go near it.
4. That means lean protein, fruits and veg, nuts and seeds (in moderation) and if you want to, a little dairy (yogourt is allowed with no sugar).

Understand that when it comes to fat loss everyone wants a magic pill or fix. That’s why the diet pill industry is doing so well. Well, here it is. Your body creates a substance that forces your body to store calories as body fat. How would you like to turn that process off? It’s not magic, it’s insulin. Eat less sugar and grains and your weight will come off.

Lead by example for your child. What you do will mould who she becomes. Kids learn directly from their parents in EVERY aspect. Be a good role model for yourself, for her and for the people around you who will eventually come to you and ask how you did it.

But do it now. You didn’t start six months ago, if you had, you wouldn’t be reading this.

Due to Halloween, Wednesday’s bootcamp didn’t happen. Instead I opted to do a little Olympic lifting and for the first time since my back went out I did the whole thing with my usual 135lbs. It was the pretty standard 80 reps but with 20 KB swings added in after every round. That kind of threw my week off a little and this was probably one of the times I should have dragged out the P90X2 DVDs and done a pre-programmed workout. Thursday I decided that 100 pullups and 200 pushups would be good since I felt like it had been a while since I had done pullups and I can feel my competence fading. So I did 20 pushups with 10 pullups for 10 rounds after a short warmup with the 55lb KB. Friday I coached and since I had only one athlete who required some extensive stretching I joined in and ha d a good 40 minutes of lower body stretching which felt amazing. Saturday I was a little adventurous and did my Cleans, Clean and Press and Squats with 135lbs for sets of 10×3. Then I decided I would increase my deadlift to get me closer to my goal which is bodyweight. I know, it’s not exactly spectacular but with my history it’s as far as I am willing to go at the moment. That said I managed sets of 5 x 2 with 135, 155, 165, 185 and 205. I was pretty happy with the results and the following 2 days did not produce much in the way of soreness or compromised mobility. That said, I knew that there was only one thing I should do to end the week and promote my recovery and mobility ready for bootcamp Monday so I busted out the Fountain of Youth Yoga with Tony and worked out all my kinks and crunchy bits. It was a good week all in all, maybe not the toughest I have ever had but doing Yoga really made my week.

Ya, shocking.

Ten On – Stats

Following on from the success of 11 days working out in a row my body decided to revolt by being, well, revolting and I have spent three days with my head or other body parts in and around the toilet. I tell you, I am having a hard time getting back up to speed but Monday saw one of my girls and I basically freestyle our way through a 45 minute abs and weights workout. I can’t even remember what we did but there was plenty of crunch work and standing, sitting and stability ball weights work. It’s now Halloween and I am still working on getting my stats back to where they were before my 2 week hiatus for my injured back. Speaking of stats, here is what my scale has said about me lately. My goal is to get back under 19% body fat ASAP which is proving tricky. I have been able to get back from the brink of being 240lbs which was scary to say the least. As far as the other measurements go, I am not too concerned other than I used to rate as below 30 years of age and I am now significantly over that threshold.