10.38 – Bootcamp Cardio / Sweaty Mess

It has been hotter, but even so, I was reduced to a sweaty pile of twitching nerves and muscles after this one. Being fit is fun!

D9 4.5.1 Cardio and Abs

2x section
20 block plank run
10 block burpee
20 block plank run
10 block pushup jacks
20 block plank run

4-8-12-16-12-8-4
jacks
mary katherine switch
knees up
heels up

2x section
10 step up and back
10 step up and over run around
10 block jumps
10 block jumps up and over run around
10 clear jumps run around

2x section
10 side to side step up and over tap
10 side jump up and down far side
10 grapevine up and back increasing speed
10 grapevine round the world

1x section
10 lenghtways step up step down run back
10 lenghtways jump up jump down run back
10 4 box jumps, jump up and over run back
10 4 box jumps with 4 jacks jump up and over run back

foot tap around the block each way
20 jacks
10 burpee hands on block
24 foot tap, 24 jacks, 12 burpee
12 foot tap, 12 jacks, 8 burpee
6 foot tap, 6 jacks, 4 burpee
12 foot tap, 12 jacks, 8 burpee
24 foot tap, 24 jacks, 12 burpee

10.37 – Century Club Nightmare And Tanita Explains Itself In Pictures

Last night was a nightmare workout, no wonder one of my kids feigned a foot cramp to get out of it (you know who you are!). It started innocently enough with my clean and press workout the other day where I figured out that if you did 1-10 then 9-1 reps you get a total of 100 reps so I set out the workout pretty simply.

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps

The question was, what exercises to put in there. I called it Century Club since I have such fond memories of playing Century Club back in University  where the aim of the game was to drink a shot (2oz) of beer every minute for 100 minutes. That would be equivalent of 6 liters of beer or the rough equivalent of 18 330ml cans of beer. I remember the game well, but I don’t remember feeling this bad when I woke up the next day! This morning I had a hard time getting out of bed and I can only assume that the workout was a touch too long.

I decided on The Quad as the name, and the following exercises:

Chin Ups
Squats
Tricep Dips
V-Snaps

Maybe I should have stuck with The Tripod or The Twins. I suppose that the Quintuple will have to be shelved! Thankfully it is cardio tonight so my aching traps and lats will get a rest, however my butt which still aches from Thursdays squats and Sunday’s cleans will have to wait until tomorrow for respite.

Moving on, the graphic above relates to yesterday’s post and is Tanita’s attempt at explaining their BC549 scale’s weird classifications. Apparently according to them I am pretty much average for my age except for the fact that I have large bones rating a 9.2 lbs of bone mass. I was a little surprised to see the healthy ranges for fat levels which are noted below next to the list from yesterday.

Date June-30-12 July-01-12 July-02-12 Healthy Ranges
Weight 232.6 231.2 231.2
Fat 19.4 19.5 19.4    11%-22%
Water 54.2 54.1 54.2    50%-65%
Muscle 178.2 177 178.2    Lean Mass
Rating 6 6 6    4-6 (Higher is better)
BMR 2512 2594 2511    Calorie Req’s
Age 29 30 29    Metabolic Age
Bone Mass 9.2 9 9.2    5.9-8.1
Visceral Fat 9 9 9    1-12 (out of 59!)

I am treating this as a long term experiment so we shall see where my numbers go this summer as I try to keep my participation above 70% and try to hit that 220lb level.

10.33 -10.36 – The Weekend Of Pain

It must have been the bootcamp, and if not, then surely the stretching and mobility we did on Thursday after bootcamp. Personally my money is on the plate weighted squats and lunges that we did. Whatever it was, my hamstrings and quads were on fire on Friday and Saturday. So much so, in fact, that I took Friday off and resorted to doing Fountain of Youth Yoga on Saturday. By Sunday my legs were OK and so as a bit of a cardio workout I decided to do some barbell clean and press with a light weight but large volume. I managed to count up to 10 reps and back down to 1 again making it 100 clean and press with a 95lb barbell. Sore? My shoulders and traps are sore today and of course it’s WOD day at the gym with potentially some more strength work this evening. No rest for the wicked I guess. Since I really don’t have much to say since the workouts are pretty self-explanatory I will show you what my new scale tells me.

It’s a Tanita BC549 Ironman Body Composition Monitor and basically it claims to produce all kinds of measurements when you step on the thing including:

Features and Specifications:

  • Weight
  • Body Fat %
  • Body Water %
  • Muscle Mass
  • Physique Rating
  • Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
  • Metabolic Age
  • Bone Mass
  • Visceral Fat Rating

Now I have long suspected that my old Tanita which just did bodyfat % was thrown off by hydration and that the cure for that would be to get a scale that does hydration levels too. I was sadly disappointed. If I step on my old scale before and after a workout I can have lost up to 5% body fat which of course is ridiculous. My thought was that the new scale would reflect the same bodyfat after the workout but a lower hydration level. I was not right to assume that. I did it with my new scale and the same thing happened, a massive drop in body fat and a slight drop in hydration. Anyway, I am not here to bash the scale for extreme conditions, I am going to do a long term study of my stats and see what my hydration and fat levels are like as I try to drop to 220lbs.

The first few days results are here:

Date June-30-12 July-01-12 July-02-12
Weight 232.6 231.2 231.2
Fat 19.4 19.5 19.4
Water 54.2 54.1 54.2
Muscle 178.2 177 178.2
Rating 6 6 6
BMR 2512 2594 2511
Age 29 30 29
Bone Mass 9.2 9 9.2
Visceral Fat 9 9 9

I am not sure exactly what some of the numbers mean, but as I stepped on the scale after my workout to see the hydration level effect I was told my age was 12… Interesting.

I will try and go over some of the definitions tomorrow…

10.31/2 – Day Of Rest Plus Bootcamp Weights

D8 4.4.2 Weights (plates)

15 Plate curls
15 Plate shoulder Press
15 free Dips
15 Sumo high pull
10 chin ups

10 Squat plate curls
10 Squat plate press
10 weighted dips
10 squat sumo high pull
10 chin ups

no weight
20 in and out
20 ARX bicycles
20 full situp
20 russian twist

16 lunge walk (hug plate)
10 suitcase with floor touch each side
10 Halo each way
10 kneel downs each leg
10 chin ups

with plate
10 squat 3 calf raise
10 squat half bounce
10 squat knee raise
10 squat hop

20 air squats
10 each proposal squat
10 each lunge front no step
20 each weighted calf raise
10 Scapular Retractions

20 plate air squats
10 each plate proposal squat
10 plate each lunge front no step
20 plate each weighted calf raise
10 Scapular Retractions

10 Laying chest plate press
10 Laying chest plate pullover 2 way
10 Shoulder fly front to overhead
10 Shoulder fly front with high pull
10 halo

BONUS
10 chest to bar chin ups

10.30 – Bootcamp Bodyweight And Reflecting On Cardio

The one question I get most often, or the comment I hear most often from people trying to lose weight is how much cardio should I do? Either that or I get people who rely on 15-45 minutes on the treadmill or worse, the elliptical to get the job done and wonder why they are not losing weight. Or, if they are losing weight, why they feel so weak and have no strength.

Let’s take a quick look at the model of maintaining a muscular physique. Why? Because that is the goal for everyone, whether they realize it or not, their goal is to be more lean and less fat. Taking that model to the extreme (drugs and other issues aside) the person you need to look at is the professional bodybuilder. I know, I know, nobody wants to look like that, women tell me all the time they “don’t want to get all bulky” blissfully ignorant of exactly how much blood sweat and tears goes in to building muscle tissue. But on the logic side, the bodybuilder is only an extreme version of what we all want, lower bodyfat, higher lean mass to prevent bone loss, encourage healthy hormone production and the ability to move around in the world with efficiency and reliability. Now before you all get up in arms about professional bodybuilders being restrictively inflexible or mobility challenged due to their mass, I agree, to a degree. We are only talking about modelling a behaviour to get the results you desire. Ask any professional bodybuilder what they think of cardio and they will tell you it’s a muscle killer. The reason that bodybuilders put on as much mass as possible during their off season is because they know the second they start to do cardio to pull the liquid out of their system and to lower their fat levels to dangerous levels they will start to burn muscle tissue. Ask them how much cardio they do during the off season and for the most part they will tell you very little. There is good reason for that, and without going into details here, I will refer you back to the posts I have written in the past regarding the dishonour of cardio and the dangers of stressing your body on the treadmill.

The short version is this, if you want to lose fat, increase your lean mass. You can do this by moving your body effectively and often, sometimes with added weight, but that is absolutely not necessary. Take a look at any gymnast’s body and you will see the effectiveness of bodyweight training. Also, ask any competitive gymnast how often they are on the treadmill… I think you can guess the answer. Long slow “fat burning” cardio sessions were popularized in the 80’s and the fallacy has continued to linger but the new research shows that effectiveness in training comes from intensity, not duration. That’s why programs like Insanity are so good, it’s high intensity interval training with bodyweight movements thrown on top.

Kettlebells – Don’t suffer on the treadmill
Forget what you believe, find out what you need to know
Sorry for the rant, I will get back to the regular program now, with a listing of the class from last evening.

D7 4.4.1 Bodyweight

Balance and coordination

10 regular pushups with shoulder touch
10 military pushups with hip touch
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 pullups

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 with shoulder touch
10 military pushups with hip touch
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
10 Hindu Pushup

10.26-29 – The Long Weekend

It was Canada Day here this past weekend and so that meant a long weekend and an extra day off from coaching. After Bootcamp cardio during coaching on Thursday I took Friday off and took Saturday as an Olympic lifting day in order to try and work a little on my shoulder strength and mobility. It’s a little foggy now but I think it was something like:
25 Shoulder Press
25 Squats
25 Clean and Press

Although I was only using a light weight to dedicate my concentration to my form it was still a bear to get the mechanics of the press correct without compromising my lower back.

Sunday I took in an X2 Yoga class, which was actually very enjoyable and although I do like the Fountain of Youth Yoga with Tony, it’s a little dry. At least with X2 you have others to watch and emulate.

Monday was a DIY WOD out on the balcony, I decided to take a familiar apporach and do things I enjoy but also get some pullups in since I am disappointed in my ability on the chin up bar recently.

10 rounds:

5 Pullups
10 55lb kettlebell swings
15 Pushups
10 Full Squats
5 Ring Dips

It was a satisfying workout, I am still a little disappointed that  I didn’t get in a RKC workout this week but I can always get that done next time.

Tuesday will be bootcamp bodyweight day, a return to the shcedule!

10.24/25 – Rest and Bootcamp Cardio (That’s Not Too Complicated, Is It?)

Last night was warm again, I suppose its a little redundant since summer in Toronto has seen weeks over 30 degrees in the past. It was 34 in the shade yesterday, that’s about 93 degrees for those from the 70s. It was cardio, and although we have been avoiding doing real cardio classes due to the heat and rather doing abs workouts I decided today was a return to the core cardio we love. You would be amazed at how challenging the people still find the stability ball work, it’s a little freakish actually.

This is what we did:

D6 4.3.2 Cardio

Enough Abs, time for cardio hell

STABILITY BALL
5 SB burpee with ball
20 SB plank run
5 SB pushup boing
20 SB elbow plank run
10 SB plank jacks

10 SB burpee with ball
40 SB plank run
10 SB pushup boing
40 SB elbow plank run
20 SB plank jacks

10 hit the floor
5 Suicides
2 lengths knees up no cross
10 in and out abs

20 hit the floor
10 Suicides
4 lengths knees up no cross
20 in and out abs

4x burpee with jump half half
10 frog jump
8 horse stance jacks with pulse (4+8)
10 vsnaps

8x burpee with jump half half
20 frog jump
12 horse stance jacks with pulse (4+8)
20 vsnaps

3 suicide lines (1,2,3)
3 suicide lines with pancake
3 suicide lines with pancake tuck jump
10 ski abs

3 suicide lines with backwards (1,2,3)
3 suicide lines with backwards with pancake
3 suicide lines with backwards with pancake tuck jump
10 ski abs

2x section
10 frog jumps
10 frog jump half
10 tuck jump
10 tuck jump half
20 plank jacks
10 plank jacks with in and out

Bonus leg burners

10 squats
8 squat 2 tuck -repeated due to non compliance
6 squat 4 tuck
4 squat 6 tuck
2 squat 8 tuck
10 tuck jumps

Summer Warmup 2012

I though I would post the up to date copy of the warmups we are doing, so the kids can have it at home, and so I have a reference to look back on once all the tweaks are done!

Warmup Summer 2012

2 laps each: running / skipping / heels up / knees up / 5 corner sprints
5 minutes foam rolling (Concentrate on large muscle groups, quads, hamstring, hips, calf)
5 laps running during which: 10 burpees / 10 pushups / 10 squats / 10 chinups

Stretching:

15 wall sliders
15 floor sliders (on floor beam)
10x Slot machine pull each arm (Liza)
10 Reverse pole grab, elbow stabilize, slide down pole to extend shoulder (Liza)
10 min ball work (lacrosse ball to loosen upper back)
5 weighted pullovers
5 skin cat hold 15s
5 bridge / elevated bridge 15s
5 wall walk to bridge

Splits cycle:
Kneeling reverse quad stretch x5 hold 10 (go to elbows down if possible)
Knee to ankle against wall vertically, other leg out in front, open hip towards floor (Emma)
Right, left, middle 10s each
Right, left, middle 30s each
Right, left, middle 60s each

Scorpion back stretch (assisted)
Back manipulation / inversion table / individual back stretch

Handstand Cycle:
10 handstand against the wall
5 handstand against the wall 10 shoulder touch
5 Cartwheel to handstand against wall with rollout
10 handstand pivot (5 1/2, 5 full)
10 handstand pop onto stacking low mats
10 free handstand hold for 10
1 full walk

10.23 – 70% and Bootcamp Weights

I finally made it back to 70% participation, however it will dip as I take today off to rest but I assure you by next week I will be comfortably in the sweet spot! Last night was bootcamp weights and I threw in some stability ball sitting to get the core working and to prevent the small cheats I tend to see when standing using dumbbells. It was not a hard class, but it was a varied and challenging class…

Something I am eating is pushing my hydration out of whack. My hydration scale can’t arrive soon enough! I hate it when you can’t find the culprit however I think it is the assorted spice mix I am using since our pepper mill gave up the ghost.

D5 4.3.1 Weights

Huggers
Twists
World’s Slowest Burpees
Inch Worm
Worlds Greatest Stretch
Groiners
Scorpion

Sitting on Stability Balls –  All reps are 10
x2
Laying fly face down
Laying Fly face up
Sitting press
Sitting curl
Double Tricep extension
10 Pullups

x2
Plank row
Floor laying chest fly
Low kneel shoulder press
kneeling single arm curl
football throw extension
10 Pullups or chest to bar pullups (5)
x2
Face down front fly
face up overhead fly
alternating shoulder press
alternating bicep curl
Single tricep extension
x2
High Pull
Incline chest fly
Halo
Hammer double curls
Soccer throw single db

Single Arm x1, Double arm x1
10 Clean
10 Swings
10 Clean and Press
10 Swings
10 Snatch
10 Swings

10.22 – Monday WOD and My Aching Achilles

Monday evening came around and at the moment I really look forward to the coaching hours. We are working on mobility and flexibility at the moment and are really seeing some valuable results. Not only are the girls reaping the rewards of my increasing knowledge but I too am starting to work on my own flexibility and since my body has had a hard life and is currently one notch above tin man I have a long way to go. I just wish I could be looser in the hips and hamstrings and so that is my goal. We started with 90 minutes of mobility and stretching and handstands, on the way we discovered the weakness that had gone unnoticed in one of my athletes whose tight quads and hip flexors are preventing an effective back walkover. Up until now we had assumed it was tight shoulders and a slight back curvature that was the culprit. Not so! Thanks to our new comprehensive work up we have now found a new area to work and improve. For our conditioning we started a bench press max workup and discovered that strength is nothing without good joint control. We only made it up to 35lbs this time, we have a long way to go! After the 5×5 bench we did a Mandy workout which is short but tough. We finished in under 10 minutes which may indicate that Mandy should actually be Mandy².

Mandy
20-15-10-5

Pullups
Double Block Jumps
Pushups
v snaps

Maybe starting at 25 would be enough, but I think 2 rounds may be the ideal solution for it being a little too short.

That said, I was so determined to keep up with the girls that I think I strained my achilles during the box jumps, the next day I was very sore but thankfully after a little lacrosse ball work it seemed to loosen up a little. I have to credit (once again) MobilityWOD for assisting in the right way to hurt myself…