R5D27 – The Return Of P90X Plyometrics.

plyoI started my rest week yesterday with a return to the Plyometrics DVD from the P90X series. I had expected that I would experience it the way I did when I went through the program “properly” the first and second times.

I was mistaken.

If there was ever a time when I needed validation, this was it. I have complained incessantly about not doing enough work, feeling like I am not as fit as I was or bitching about only having to work out 20 minutes a day. Well, I was wrong. I apologize unreservedly and I will cease and desist immediately. Plyometrics was a walk in the park. It is a good thing I decided to call this rest week because as Tony related his story about hiring “Hot Shots” to do the video who were unable to keep up, little did I know I would be thinking the same of him a few minutes later. In fact, I got annoyed at the length of rest he was taking, irritated by the breaks and amazed at how little work he seemed to be doing. Not only him, but his cronies as well. When the video first started, rather than silence Tony I chose “NORMAL” from the choice screen. Normal indeed, it’s amazing that I seem to have exceeded the X in P90X! I finished the workout feeling like a thoroughbred that had been loaned to a six year old for a birthday party and forced to trot around a corral instead of being allowed to gallop through the fields. It was, in a word, frustrating. It was also exhilarating to know that my fitness level is higher than it was when I finished P90X even without the hour long workouts. Maybe HIT works after all?!

I am not going to lie, it was refreshing to follow along and not think about the workout. It brought back lots of memories from the early days and the times when I crushed the workouts and felt so proud of myself. I never did rock star hops, they were always too hard and I could never keep up with Dom during the tuck jumps. Not so today, I crushed them both.

Colour me proud.

R5D25-6 RKC, Breakfast Of Champions, Partial Rest Week.

eat_more_fishFriday I was still recovering from the swings and so I decided to bust out a lighter KB and do some TGU. I did 5 a side with the 25lb KB and then, since I was feeling adventurous, I did another 3 a side with the 45. I remembered I had weaseled out of the cleans and C&P the day before so again I set my sights on doing something extra. I did 5 Clean, 5 Clean and Press and 5 snatches with each arm with both the 25lb and 45lb KB. The snatch with the 45 was, if I am honest, borderline dangerous but I think with the 25 I am getting the hang of it.

Saturday I ended up doing around 30 minutes on the treadmill in the morning to try and stop my back from aching which worked out fine. I was supposed to do deadlifts and so I set up the 25, 45 and 70lb behemoth and decided I would do 3 tabata sequences (12 minutes total) deadlifting each KB with a high pull (or upright row) after each DL. The 25 was easy, although seemed longer than 8 sets. The 45 was a challenge and since I was still doing a high pull with each one, it was very taxing and my shoulders were on fire. The 70 just sat there like a fat pug smiling at me struggling with the 45 but out of sheer determination I gave it a shot anyway, it was only 70lbs, right? The High pull didn’t last long, I think I made it through one of the 8 sets. By the time the last set came around I was wheezing like an asthmatic goat and begging for someone to kill Tabata, whoever he is.

Sunday we went out to breakfast with an old friend from work with whom we had worked a few years ago to get her weight down. She brought her charming fiancé and while we caught up on old news the conversation inevitably turned to weight loss. Now I am not a preacher by any means but if someone is asking for advice I am happy to help. I tried in vain to explain my Paleo findings from the last 6 months to them but in the end it all started sounding a little too Conspiracy Theory. I often say that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that people do what I do but I do encourage people to follow a similar path and to do their own research. The conversation was an eye opener for them, and I think a good opportunity for me to sort out in my own head where I am with my diet and exercise. Maintaining this blog has been a way for me to monitor my progress, attempt to safeguard me from being too extreme and to keep up with recent discoveries in the world of fitness and nutrition but also it gives me the opportunity to help other people to start discovering their own potential. By potential, I don’t mean physical potential, I am talking about the potential to take control of their lives by erasing everything they know and starting over from a new place.

Starting over is never easy, in fact, making small adjustments is never easy and with that in mind I am going to shake up my life a little by entering into a 7 day rest week. I am going to maintain my RKC swings and other lifts but I think a sprinkling of P90X and Insanity may do me the world of good as a break. I am already on a fish kick to restart my weight loss, since I discovered the real reason for my plateau this weekend during our breakfast. “I’m happy where I am” I admitted. I am comfortable with my weight and my abilities at this point, but I think I may be even happier further down the road. So I am revamping things a little in order to get the engine started again.

So here goes:

Day 1 – Monday – P90X  Plyo or Insanity Cardio Plyo
Day 2 – Tuesday – RKC 50 Swings
Day 3 – Wednesday – RKC TGU plus Clean, C&P, Snatch practice
Day 4 – Thursday – P90X Kenpo or Insanity Pure Cardio
Day5 – Friday – RKC 50
Day 6 – Saturday – Same as Wednesday
Day 7 – Sunday – Fountain Of Youth Yoga or Yoga X

Plus… More fish! (But not less bacon…shhhh!)

R5D24 – 50 Swings, 25 Cleans, 25 Clean And Press (or not)

RKCEagleThat about covers it. The swings that are supposed to last 12 minutes are overflowing into 15 or more. I keep wanting to keep the number of sets up, I did 3 sets of 40 swings last time and wanted to aim for 3 sets of 50 this time. It’s not the total that is the problem here, it is the fact that my heart is trying to escape from my chest once I am done. Next week (maybe after a P90X/Insanity rest week) it’s the ladder. I know nothing about it, but I have a feeling I am not going to enjoy it!

So I was wiped out by the swings, only remembering after that I was supposed to practice my cleans and so on. I figured I would do thet next workout before the TGU since it warms up my shoulders nicely. The 50 swings were a surprise. I was fine up to 30, by 40 I was getting tired but suddenly after 40 my legs started to get wobbly and I had a burning through my whole quads. It was the same for all 3 sets and my heart rate was really high by the time I finished all 3 sets. It was a great accomplishment getting them done but I am not looking forward to doing that again. I was surprised at the work my legs were doing and how my back did not seem to get any more work than usual. Once you are doing 50 swings it gives you a lot of time to scrutinize your form too so I was constantly reminding myself to snap the hips, pull the shoulder, tame the arc!

It’s not exactly a long workout so I don’t really have much else to say about it other than I have really enjoyed getting to this point and I can’t wait to start the next phase of the RKC!

Tony Horton – Off The Vegetarian Deep End

The Facebook update from Tony today was preambled by this:

“I eat fish and chicken but 90% of my diet is plant based.” That in itself is really not that shocking, although the percentage may be scrutinized to provide enough protein and fat however, the site he is promoting goes on to say this:

“The feature film Forks Over Knives examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.”

If you watch the preview, it makes some valid points, and exposed the correct issues, however, it draws the wrong conclusion, that the solution to everything is “plant based foods”. While I agree that plant based foods are part of the secret, the bigger piece is animal based protein. We are going to see a lot more of this now, people rising up against what is popular but at the same time rising up against the common enemy which, I think by now, most people are aware is refined carbohydrate and sugar. However, with the increase in popularity of the Paleo lifestyle, we are going to see more vehement vegan idiots coming to the fore telling us that we are herbivores, we aren’t designed to eat meat, and that meat rots in your colon. I was going to put links to all the contrary evidence here but let’s be honest, if you really think that being a vegetarian (or worse, vegan) is the way to go about your life, go ahead. Please don’t tell anyone, don’t try to push your ideals on anyone, you are just going to tire yourself out. And don’t try to lift that chip on your shoulder, you don’t have the muscle mass for it.

So it will be an interesting movie, but I can already tell that it’s sole purpose is to promote vegetarianism as a lifestyle solution which I have to say, for my own sense of justice, is not the right thing to do. I just wonder how far it will go to prove a point against the Paleo lifestyle or indeed if it will avoid it all together just in case someone notices the man behind the vegetarian curtain.

“the first generation that lives less than it’s parents”? they already are living less… and that is the previous generation’s fault for teaching poor choices, allowing their kids to be lazy and fostering a permissive lifestyle. More choice doesn’t mean less responsibility, it means more vigilance and higher awareness.

The comments section of  the post is already filled with vegetarians Vs Paleoists. It’s a fun read, both sides are equally passionate and almost as persuasive as each other, except when the vegetarians say that the human body wasn’t designed to eat meat. It should be legal to hunt and eat vegetarians… they would taste like grass fed beef but look like you were eating a giant chicken wing…

Forced Rest – My Aching Body and What The Kids Do

I had a busy day, not only was work a bear with a bizarre domain expiry causing havoc for our domain name but also I was asked to sub for 2 people meaning after a long day at work I rushed home, got changed in the foyer of the house and rushed to the gym with seconds to spare. I then coached until 9pm and although I got a lot accomplished (my kids did really well) I was completely exhausted when I got home. As I lay in bed trying to get to sleep I realized I was having a hard time because of how sore I was. I am not sure if it was just because I was relaxed and pain seems more severe at that point or if I was actually incredibly sore. I thought for a while about it after I got up today and realized that I need to pay more attention to this. I think it may be a function of not getting enough sleep, even though I now sleep in 2 days a week getting an extra 2 hours kip. Not only that, but pushing towards 240lbs has meant I am slightly down on calories and being a former fat guy, I never really noticed before how not having quite enough calories can affect your performance and well being. Anyway, I am sounding like a broken record so let’s review what the kids did last time out. Last night I introduced them to the Skills Ladder, it is a spreadsheet of common gymnastics skills that they should have and it occurred to me that I should have the same thing for myself, give me something to aim for, not only in number but also in the development of new skills.

I also think what I am discovering is something that a few great teachers have discovered, that variety in not only movement but intensity is important. I think my body does it naturally, only because I have been training hard for so many years I am used to what it tells me but I think that I need to make a bigger effort to recognize that each week or two cycle needs heavy and light days just as I used to have during my gym rat days. There is no reason why I shouldn’t take this Crossfit inspired / RKC mashup any less seriously and maybe it is time I actively worked in not only rest days but also light and heavy days. The RKC kind of makes me do this with 5 minutes of TGU being the only work of the day, but I have been bastardizing it with extra work in order to satisfy my own feeling of accomplishment. More work to do… it never ends.

I also put together a version of Filthy Fifty for them, in name only, it really bears no resemblance to the famed Crossfit workout. However, it does consist of a nothing-short-of-epic 655 movements. I am not talking about crunches here either, it’s a mix of everything from chin ups to pancake burpees to inversions on the rings. By the way, Pancake Burpees are simply burpees where instead of a leg extension to front support at the bottom, the athlete is required to lay flat on the ground (not to be confused with the push up burpee or the hands off burpee where the hands are lifted off the ground while laying or the clapping pushup burpee). I also want to state for the record that I do not give the kids anything that I haven’t tried in full for myself. I may be slower at getting up, and I may need db’s to allow me to burpee properly but I test all these routines myself. The kids, in an amazing turn of events are getting fitter, more capable and more enthusiastic. Now if I could only get the lazy ones to show up more than once a month…

R5D23 – Chest Blast

arnold-chestI hit a couple of walls today during my workout which was really weird. I think I was a little short on calories during the day and ran out of juice for my bench workout. Oddly enough I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be up for benching my weight but also wanted to try something a little different.

The Plan:
5x 135# for 10 reps plus 10 dips

The Reality:
3x 135# for 10 reps plus a very sketchy 10 dips

Followed by:

3x 10 regular bench + 10 close grip bench @135#
20 push ups every minute on the minute

I managed to struggle through the bench even though it was only 135lbs and was still feeling a bit frustrated with my obvious lack of strength (couple that with the fact I weighed in a couple of pounds up this morning which only added to my psychological discomfort) so when I got to the push ups I decided I would go until I failed.

That took 8 rounds.

Colour me unimpressed with myself today, however, I feel like I got a great workout, even if it took until I couldn’t get off the floor to get there.

Be A Cheater! (But Learn To Earn It)

Cheating on your diet can be good for you. We all acknowledge that we “cheat” on our diet the only problem is that for most people, their diet isn’t clean enough to warrant cheating. However, if you are eating clean, Paleo or whole foods then you deserve a break – even if you think you don’t. Cheating is important because it reinforces our choices and prevents gradual slippage. If you have been really good for the week and you cheat with a cinnamon bun it means that you are less likely to bend the rules again until the next time. Don’t be regimented about your cheating either, set a low threshold and once you make it past, allow yourself to feel when your best time to cheat will be.

Want to know more? Here are 2 guides for “Eating Dirty”, eerily named Part 1 and Part 2.

Soy? No Thanks, It’s Not Healthy (and other interesting facts)

Soy, Like Wheat. Bad!
Soy, Like Wheat. Bad!

Junk food makes you stupid…

I’m not a soy fan, never have been and since going Paleo I don’t really worry about it. For the same reason that I stay away from tomato and peppers (nightshades) due to the gaseous effect they have on my digestion, I find that soy is as bad or worse. Not only that, it’s massively GMO and is as guilty as wheat and corn for promoting the agricultural rape of our meat raising pastures. But don’t take my word for it, read all about why soy is bad. As long ago as 2004 soy was thought to have ill effects for men due to the estrogen factor, the same reason men should stay away from whole wheat by the way. However, those crazy vegans have pointed out that a little soy isn’t bad for you at all, but it all seems to point to the fact that if you want to clean up your diet, stay away from soy, it will mess you up. And by mess you up I mean you will grow man boobs and go insane. So if you are looking for Biggest Loser type transformations, be careful what you put in your mouth and if you can’t gather it and eat it raw or kill it and BBQ it, leave it be.

Snow season is well and truly here, but the New York Times seems to think that if you are over 50 and male, you should be by the fire with your slippers on waiting to die instead of out there shovelling the driveway. I say, stay active, maybe you won’t have to give up living when you reach 50!

By the way, don’t let your kids eat the food at school, you are asking for trouble. Seriously, don’t you care about your children? When I was a kid, school dinners as we called them was typically meat, or meat pie, 2 veg and no dessert. I think occasionally we got a piece of white bread too but there was never french fries, most things were boiled and dessert was something you got at home IF you had done your homework before dinner. Of course that was back in England in the 80’s when childhood obesity was a thing of the future, we went out at night and rode around the neighbourhood on our bikes for a few hours instead of playing video games and we hung out outside most of the time getting fresh air and hanging out with our friends IRL!

At least NYT has good things to say about salad dressing.

For those of you who think I am picking on the NYT today, well, it’s either that or stories about drunk English Teens stamping on other drunk women and blinding them with stilletos at bars or how Canadians are using religion to try and legalize their pot habit. Or you can read about YET ANOTHER healthy runner dying at the finish line of a marathon. When are people going to learn?

The English have discovered that junk food makes you stupid. Go figure!

It’s a crazy world out there, but eating soy is even crazier!

R5D22 – TGU And Revisiting My Plan

So I had originally outlined Round 5 as the following 8 day rotation:

Day 1 RKC Minimum Swings (The RKC Minimum is 4 weeks, then transition into Rite Of Passage)
Day 2 RKC TGU and WOD
Day 3 Bench and dips (Chest, shoulder, tri)
Day 4 Cardio or stretch or Yoga

Day 5 RKC Minimum Swings
Day 6 RKC TGU and WOD
Day 7 Deadlifts and Squat (Legs and Back)
Day 8 Cardio or stretch or Yoga

Somewhere along the line I declined to do the cardio and set about making 2 x 3 day rotations looking like this:

Day 1 RKC Minimum Swings (The RKC Minimum is 4 weeks, then transition into Rite Of Passage)
Day 2 RKC TGU and WOD
Day 3 Bench and dips (Chest, shoulder, tri)

Day 4 RKC Minimum Swings
Day 5 RKC TGU and WOD
Day 6 Deadlifts and Squat (Legs and Back)

I am, however, not convinced that skipping cardio all together is the greatest idea. You see, I am sore much of the time which is not really a problem per se, however, I find that I am skipping days when I am not up to the grind where I could definitely do a cardio workout instead. So since I have been at this Round 5 lark for coming up to a month now I think maybe I will inject a little cardio back into my weeks and see how I feel.

R5D21 – New Bells, New Day, Clean Deck, More Snow

70lbkbOn the way back from Costco today we stopped in at FitnessSource to purchase some new Kettlebells. I needed a slightly lighter one to get my snatch ready, I needed a heavier one to progress to and I wanted to get Nicole one to get her started. We ended up getting a 15lb, a 25lb and a 70lb. The 15 is a cute blue, the 25 the same vinyl dipped black as the 45 I already have and the 70 is pure metal, no frills, just heavy as hell. Apparently 70lbs in the weight that the Russians use as the Rite Of Passage to becoming a man. Once you can snatch a 70lb KB, I guess you can graduate to drinking vodka and growing your own potatoes.

While Nicole went to the gym, I busied myself clearing almost 2 feet of snow off the upper deck. It was just out there, silently bothering me and since the sun was out and we were obviously done with the snow, I decided to clear it off. An hour later, I could BBQ if I wanted to! By the time Nicole got back she told me it was snowing and I should go out and shovel the driveway. WTH?? So as the evening closed in on my decision not to work out, I went out and shoveled the driveway which took about 15 minutes after which I thought since I was already warmed up I may as well do the RKC for the day. So using the 45 I did 3 sets of 40 swings followed by 5 cleans 5 clean and press and 5 snatches per arm. I did the snatches with the 25 since I am not really comfortable with how to get the thing back down once it is overhead. The 70 is still in the hallway where I dropped it once we got back home from the store, silently bothering me…

I want to encourage Nicole to get started with KB work. Her present routine has her doing some KB swings without any formal training or support and zero direction which I find reckless on behalf of her trainers. It’s just as bad as asking someone to go and do deadlifts or squats without training them on proper form first. I am happy it is in the regimen, just disappointed that it has been given no respect. So I will try to encourage her to do part of the RKC, starting with swings and moving up to the other complex moves. I am so taken with the RKC that I think it is the greatest training method I have discovered since I stumbled on P90X for the first time. I know I have knocked it in the past, but for what they are, P90X and Insanity are the greatest tools for anyone, athlete or not, to revitalize your workout, attitude and body! RKC is the same, it opens your eyes to the possibility that there are things out there that can really help to improve your physique and at my age, I am looking for every little bit of help I can get!

Speaking of help, I am inching towards 240 at a rate that is embarrassing. I need to do something about that.