R4 D75 – Improvisation

squat-deadlift1So I have been short on time lately, with the baby getting into new activities and the wife wanting to spend 2 hours at the gym I find that I am having to squeeze stuff in when I can. Yesterday I felt like I should work on my deadlifts and chinups so I organized a quick 25 minute workout like this:

5 rounds of:

5 deadlifts, 10 chin ups, 15 pushups or dips

It wasn’t a killer, but since these were my first real deadlifts since way before my back surgery (we are talking over 1o years here) I thought it best to take it easy. I was using 135lbs and I have to admit, even though the technique was a little rusty, it came back fast but I didn’t feel all that comfortable doing them. I think it was because I have a tendency to lift my butt first like most novices do and while that was OK before my back problems, now not so much. If I hope to get my deadlift weight up, I am going to have to remedy that slight break in form otherwise I am going to defeat myself with fear. For those of you who have never pinched a nerve in your back or herniated a disc, I can’t explain the pain other than to say that once you feel it, you will wish you never had. That’s probably why I won’t ever squat again…

I also wish I had been able to do bench instead of push ups but since I only have 1 Olympic bar at the moment, that was not possible. Even though push ups are great, they are not taxing enough when you are looking for a HIT workout.

So I am all set for my fit tests this weekend and I have to hash out the details of my next round before day 1 on Monday (hopefully).

R4 D74 – Beginning of the End

Since without a plan, nothing ever happens, here is the push to the end for Round 4.

W 74 – TGU plus WOD
R 75 –  RKC Swings
F 76 – P90X and Insanity Fit Tests
S 77 – 5K run
Y 78 – off

M 01 – Round 5

That should about do it. I am at Wednesday now and the way I figure it I should be able to put round 4 to bed and get Round 5 ready to go by Monday. It’s going to be a bit weird, since my workouts have been somewhat sporadic over the last 2 weeks but I think there is still some value to doing the fit tests anyway. For what it’s worth, my weight is down, my back seems to be bothering me much less and my feet seem to enjoy doing everything barefoot so all in all I suppose I am reaching my goals of general fitness and as Tony puts it, “less vulnerable and more durable” out in the real world. The question is, what is my fitness goal for the next round? I think I am at the point where I need to start documenting weights again. Much as I wanted to get away from that particular facet of working out, I think at this point I need to see my reps and max weights increasing in order to justify my efforts. Moving away from following a DVD schedule means you are vulnerable to coasting and losing sight of the goal at hand. Since I will be moving towards more Olympic style lifting and Crossfit type work, I guess note taking will be par for the course.

R4 D73 – RKC Is Taking Over

treadmill-catsHappy New Year everyone, and I hope now we are 4 days in that your renewed commitment to health and, for some, beauty, is intact!

I am at a bit of a crossroads at this time. Being the start of the year, it is a logical time to start anew and get things rolling in the right direction. Even though I am only on day 73, the fact is that I had only planned on an 84 day program anyway and the last week (79-84) was slated as a testing week. So I think what I am going to do is to do a couple of Crossfit and RKC workouts, get the fit tests done while I build the next phase plan. The thing about the RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge) workout to start is that it is really only 4 days a week, 2 of which are just 5 minutes of Turkish Get Ups. So I think I can use the swing/clean days as a full day workout, and add the TGUs as a start or an end to an existing Crossfit or compound lifting day and that in itself would give me a 4 day split. The problem would be working in the lifts and skills I want to do to the program.

I figure I need the following as a minimum to maintain my current skill level:

Deadlifts
Squats / Power Leg Training
Pull ups
Bench
Some form of compound shoulder press (not military press)

Mostly these would be covered off by the WOD I would hope (except the bench), plus I can work some in as the Active Rest during the RKC. I will stick with an Insanity workout I think but I feel like for the first time I will be stepping back from P90X as a staple. It’s not that I don’t like it, or don’t believe in it but I think that I am a little worn out with it and really my skills have outgrown the methodology. As far as Insanity goes, I enjoy the workout and the structure is still entertaining to me. I know I don’t need it for aerobic stress, but rather for a mental break.

As far as Day 73 went, I did the first day of the RKC again with the swings and the active rest. It is by far the toughest 22 minutes I have encountered to date! Looking at my final week, I think I will still do the P90X and Insanity Fit Tests and the timed 5K run (just to run the 5K run would be a big improvement!) but that will only be 3 workouts. Add to that 1 more RKC and 2 WODs and I have 6 active days and maybe 2 rest days until I will need to start the next phase. Better get to work!

By the way, I hit my goal, albeit a day or two late.

2494

R4 D72 – Russian Kettlebell Challenge. Even My Chin Up Bar Is Scared.

I took a peek at the first phase of the RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge) and decided it would be fun to give it a try since I am figuring out what to do when phase 4 ends and it’s a slow time around the house and work giving me lots of creative juices to put towards my plan. I discovered that the KB work is not just about the KB but it works in with what is called Active Rest which is another name for Keep Working Comrade! The day looks like this (taken from the RKC Kettlebell Workbook):

RKC Monday Phase 1As you can probably see, the KB swings are alternated with something else, and as noted, you can swap that out for anything you want as long as you do the 12 minutes of work. I opted to do Jumping Jacks, Pull Ups, Dips, push ups and knees up running at which point the time ran out. That is a good thing because my next three sets were vomiting, passing out and coma.

This workout, 22 minutes total, completely destroyed me but I felt utterly amazed and proud of myself once I was finished.

In case you are curious, the exercises for the warmup are as follows:

Halo.
Halo, Pump, Mountain Climber.
Wall Squat.

For the record, I managed to do 5 sets, that is 5 swings followed by 5 active rests. I felt like my heart was going to explode but I didn’t feel any tweaking in my back and even today, the next day, my back is not sore. I guess my posture must have been good. I do have some tightness in my ITB and hips however which I can only assume is normal given the flexibility and strength that is required through the hips girdle for these exercises.

So am I a convert, we will have to see. All I know is that P90X workouts are fading fast as is Shaun T and much like an ex girlfriend, I don’t hate them, in fact I am grateful to them for getting me to where I am and for helping me become who I am.

Forget What You Believe. Find Out What You Need To Know. Then Change (Now With Links!).

Comrade, I Have New Hero. His Name, Pavel Tsatsouline.

pavelETKI picked up a kettlebell and it may turn out to be the best thing I have done in years. Well, that and going Paleo along with my discovery of High Intensity Training. You can’t help but love Pavel, and you can check out a review of his Enter The Kettlebell here.

It’s tricky trying to accept things that we believed to be unalterably true. Sometimes it’s almost impossible especially when you have spent half your life telling other people the wrong thing. But we are all here to learn, to adjust and to judge what is the best for us.

As Pavel says, “If you don’t have good judgement, why don’t you stay on the machines you big sissy?”

Eating 5 or 6 smaller meals is physiologically better. Not true. It may help you to snack less since you have no time to do it, but it’s not based on scientific evidence. It may help with digestion, something which I am sensitive to but as long as the caloric amount is the same, the time doesn’t matter.

Spending time on cardio machines is hurting you, not helping you. That’s because the calories burned vs time spent is pitiful and it’s making you hungry so you overeat. Try higher intensity, shorter duration instead such as Crossfit inspired Olympic Lift workouts.

Want 10 reasons why that elliptical 30, 45 or 60 minutes is no use? Here you go.

How about the myth of skipping meals slowing your metabolism? More bull. Just check out any writing about IF (intermittent fasting) to find out why skipping meals can be good for you once you get the refined carbs out of your life.

BMI? Bullshit Medical Information. I know this being a muscular dude, but it’s true for everyone.

Let’s not forget the overwhelming evidence that carbohydrate not fat is the reason for the obesity epidemic. There is too much info to list here but authors like Gary Taubes, Mark Sisson and good link pages like this are a great place to start. Any information on the Paleo movement will help, as may reading the free version of “The Vegetarian Myth” over at Amazon.

You can also go to Whole 9, paleohacks (for great tips and general info from Paleo people) or The Paleo Diet.

Sadly, starting here may lead you on a journey that makes you uncomfortable, frustrated and confused. Keep at it, and slowly but surely you will come to see the new truth about fitness… The so called experts don’t always know what they are talking about but the truth is out there.

Eat bacon!

R4 D71 – Nice Turkish Get Up

For my North American pals, a get up is an outfit in English

I was planning to take today off, since the last 2 days of kettlebell exploration have left me sore in some curious places. I thought it would be a good idea to try the Turkish Get Up skill that so many people exalt as a wonderful full body exercise. I had toyed with the idea once before but shyed away from it due to the fact that I believed it would be an exercise in futility. After all, if I have trouble getting up after a burpee, why would this be any easier. Well, I am happy to report that I was completely wrong. The skill, although difficult given my large frame and small flexibility was eminently possible. In fact, I shocked and delighted

turkish_delight

(you knew that was coming) myself by being able to do both sides the first time I tried. It really is not that hard of a skill however, the work required to complete the skill is mind blowing. I had started out thinking that I was just going to see if I could do it and try to perfect my form however I ended up doing 3 sets of declining numbers:
2 sets of 3
2 sets of 2
2 sets of 1

This was done on each side giving a total rep count of 24 reps. Before I am accused of lying by omission I did not use my new 45lb KB for this, that would have been impossible and reckless, instead I used a 25lb DB from the basement and did the skill on the hardwood floor in front of the computer watching the demo. That is not something I would recommend, by the way. By the time I was finished, my body was well worked, I could tell that the core requirements for this skill are intense and that curiously the hardest part for me was not getting to my knees but standing from the kneeling position. I guess doing lunges with a weight overhead is not something I have done before. Also, I suppose if I had done overhead squats before now I would have had less of a challenge balancing a weight overhead as I try to move about. I added 5 sets of 5 pull ups just for fun since it feels like forever since I did pull ups and they felt great! The workout in all took about 25 minutes with rest and almost falling down. Long enough to cook sausages… 5 minutes Turkish, 5 minutes. By the way this short clip contains several of my favourite quotes from Snatch, most notably “Protection from what? Ze Germans?” but it is probably nsfw…

R4 D70 – In The Swing / Weight Achievement (32.2lbs)

goalslolLet’s get to the weight first, since that is the most interesting.

This morning, the scale said I was 250.6 which is a total loss of 32.2lbs. I was hoping to get under 250 by the New Year and I think I will but it wasn’t until I got to putting the numbers into my documentation that I realized something quite amazing. I am currently at my lightest weight since my back surgery in December of 2002. Not only that, I have no record of me being under 250lbs at all. I know I was back in 2001 when I went to Australia but I also know I was in the gym for about 3 hours a day back then just so I could get my weight down which really makes it artificially low. In fact, I have not been this weight without the help of a crazy workout schedule since I was at Western and weighed around 200lbs. I have long been a victim of the notion that in order for me (me, personally that is) to get my weight lower than let’s say 260lbs I had to work out like the Tasmanian Devil and eat nothing but oatmeal and salad. I was convinced that my weight was tied to my workout schedule with no room for error. How foolish I was! I remember times when I was spending 2 hours a day EVERY DAY in the gym. Times when I would do 4 day splits of 3 hours with cardio on top. It was nuts! At least now with the baby and our new life, my new schedule makes sense and is working. So congratulations to me, job well done, so far!

Day 70 was more kettlebell work. I decided I should try to perfect the swing technique and without really knowing what was a lot of reps I set out to do around 30 minutes. I have to say, the smallest difference in the height of that swing makes a world of difference in the effort department. I ended up doing 10 sets of 5 single arms each side and 5 doubles for a total of 150 reps. I still don’t really know if this is enough but the timing was about right and the effort level seemed OK and ultimately I am just learning so I was concentrating more on the hip snap and the proper form to worry about total work. I have to admit, this kettlebell thing is pretty addictive. It is a decent whole body workout and it really the epitome of functional fitness. Now to work it into the schedule properly… It is now the 29th, I need to get through this week and once everything settles down after the New Year it will be time to move onto Round 5. The big question is, what to do? Something I will have to address while I am battling through the last few days of this phase.

How Great Are You? The Winners Paradox.

I’ve been there. I have been the guy on top, the winner, the best at that time. I have also been the runner up, gone home without the trophy, been hurt, knocked around and beaten down but I am proud to say that I never stayed down. There is a philosophy of winning that goes against the notion of the top prize and that is to say that in order to win, you don’t always need to come first. It is true, there will be a winner, of that there is no doubt, however on any given day there may be one person out there who is better than you. So how do you reconcile that loss with your psyche? How do you continue to rise after each fall and as a coach how do you help your athletes to realize that winning isn’t about winning at all but about striving to be the very best you can be with no regrets? It is paradoxical to say that winning isn’t about winning. After all, there is a trophy and a payday for the winner, there is a place in history for the winner. Nobody knows who came second to Lance Armstrong during his 7 Tour De France wins, nobody remembers who lost to Michael Jordan during his 6 NBA Championships and you would be hard pushed to find anyone who could tell you the runners up who followed Michael Schumacher to the podium during his 7 Formula 1 World Championships. However, in the end, there can be only 1 and that leaves no room for error. So in order to keep ourselves motivated, in order to make sure that we have something against which we can measure ourselves winning becomes secondary. It takes a back seat to the individual struggle and victory over ourselves. There is a saying I used to repeat to my rugby players and to my gymnastics athletes that there is always somebody somewhere who is working hard enough to beat you and it is your duty, your responsibility to yourself to disappoint them. But it doesn’t always work out that way and when it doesn’t, there is only one thing that matters. The ability to look yourself in the eye, to look at your teammates, parents, children and friends and tell them that you did everything you could. There is no greater pain in the world than knowing that you could have done more. But in contrast, there is nothing that will comfort the sting of defeat like the knowledge that you worked as hard as you could, and gave it everything you had.

You may not think that you are a hero. You may not think that what you do on a daily basis matters in the grand scheme of things but you are wrong. Each time you do anything that challenges you, each time you take part in a project, a game or a workout that pushes you, you are taking stock of yourself and either building yourself up or tearing yourself down. From a fitness perspective, every time you cut your workout short you hurt yourself both physically and psychologically. Each time you finish the last set and wonder how you made it through you add to your stock as a person. You owe it to yourself to do your best, if for no other reason that at the end of the day you can look at yourself in the mirror and be proud. So pick yourself up one more time, push through the pain one more day and trust that in the end, victory will be yours.

Believe me, you don’t want to be in a place where you can’t look yourself in the eye because if you can’t be proud of you, nothing else matters.

R4 D69 – I Can’t Count But I Can Kettlebell

ChristmasBell
ChristmasBell

Going forward:
68 Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X
69 OFF
70 WOD with Pullups
71 Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
72 Max Cardio
73 Chest, Shoulders & Triceps, Ab Ripper X
74 OFF

Since I can’t seem to get the days straight EVER on this site, I will just go with the flow and call this day 69. It was listed as being day 68 but with a day off I probably won’t take it should all line up again tomorrow.

For Christmas my adorable wife got me, among other things, a 45lb kettlebell. This was exactly what I wanted since I have 35lb dumbbells but nothing heavier. I have wanted to get into the swing of kettlebell workouts for a while and this was my big chance so I decided to check some video on the internet and get right into it.

I opted for cleans, clean and press, high pull and two handed swings. I did a quick warmup set of 5 each making a total rep count of 30. It was at that point that I realized this was going to be harder than I thought. I plugged away, doing another set of 60 total reps, 10 of each and then finished with another 5 count set. That gave me a total workout of 120 reps which doesn’t sound like much but for a beginner doing 45lbs I think it was plenty. I had started off by trying to perfect the form before I began so it actually ended up being a 40 minute workout. The most difficult thing, as it turned out, was trying not to bash my forearms on the clean and the clean and press. I found a great youtube piece which solved that for me and I was all set. Some of the videos that were the most helpful are from kbellqueen including the tip that helped me protect my forearms. Her website lists her as a level 1 and 2 Kettlebell instructor and ACE certified among others. Funnily enough, I find many of the male kettlebell instructors on the web have a distasteful elitist attitude, probably because the skill is new and in demand. However, since these videos came up most often for the searches I did, I think she deserves the credit. By the way, listen to what she says about starting with the thumbs back and twist early to avoid painful forearms.