Foundation IV

Complex Multi Joint Movements

This is going to sound familiar if you've been paying attention. The body is one piece. TRAIN IT THAT WAY!

"How can anyone expect to possess co-ordination in active work when his muscles have never worked together in groups?" Earle E Liederman 1924, early 20^th century strongman.

Think about your body and goals in terms of sustained success through improved performance. Where is an arm curl going to get us? How will a leg extension give us the lean mass gain or trunk stabilization required to boost metabolic function and protect our spines in the course of our daily life?

Train movements, not muscles.

Now think about a dead lift or throwing motion. Thing about how many more joints are required to accomplish those tasks. Now think about the energy demands, the demands on your coordination and propreoception. Which seems like a better use of our time in pursuit of our fitness goals? Time spent lifting through a larger number of joints simultaneously, using greater amounts of energy, developing greater coordination, an efficient sequence of fire in the muscles and an overall elevated level of performance is time spent efficiently.

Remember, we're training movements, not muscles.

Workout of the Week

Email me or post to comments to reserve for this week's Thursday Blowout.

4 rounds:

10 Burpee C&J (see Saturday's video)

10 Ball Slams

400m sprint

Time:

Load:

MB weight:

Proceed through this workout and choose loads according to your ability! Push your personal envelopes, but be safe.

Thursday Blowout

We're going to call this week's workout "Find Your Own Way." What started out as Juggernaut 2, evolved and grew right along with our athletes this week.

I'm usually a stickler with my clients. I've done the homework on a program or a workout, designed it as efficiently and effectively as possible to accomplish what my clients are looking for. Baring any morphological issues, the program should be accomplished as it's written. It is what it is for a reason. Thursday was something else entirely.

Our Juggernaut workouts are exactly what they sound like, huge. You have one task. Here's as much time as you need. Your one goal; finish. And every single person did. Every single person returned to the well time and again to draw out more, to keep going. As wells began to run dry, the workout began to change. Out of necessity, in order to simply keep moving and accomplish the goal. Explosive movements gave up their explosion and gave way to movements that enabled the maintenance of speed and momentum. These same high velocity movements melted into purposful, structurally strong movements that emphasized keepingh form and strengthening the body, all while the energy stores were being looted.

In rounds 9, 10 and 11, burpees shrank to body weight squats briefly interrupted by a pushup or two. Decksquats morphed into deliberate but determined weighted situps. Clean and press melted into sumodeadlifts, which, in turn, were ground down into a straight forward romanian deadlift. By the 12th round and 74 minutes into the workout all four athletes had found their own road, their own path up the mountain. When I called out the hour, half expecting someone to ring the bell and and tap out at the end of what was supposed to be our one hour together, the only response I got was the sound of focused breathing and medicine balls slamming against the wall.

Each athlete: One body, one system, accomplishing one mission, one goal. Finish. Bravo.

12 rounds of the following.

12 repetitions of each movement equals one round.

Burpees

Kettlebell clean & press (12 each arm)

Med Ball Deck Squat

Kettlebell high swings

Wallball

Tip & Technique: Burpee Combos part III

Next in our little burpee series, Burpee C&J. This is a logical progression from last week. We're simply adding in the jerk at the end of the sequence. So, follow the pattern from last time, barbell burpee into the clean. We're looking at a push jerk here as opposed to a split jerk. So, the feet don't move sagitally (front and back). After the catch there is a very slight and very fast flexion and extension at both the hip and knee. Shoot the weight up over your head and dip down slightly underneath it as it continues to rise. Stand up to full lock out, bring the bar down, rinse and repeat.

Remember that warning about taking it a step at a time, using only loads you know will be safe for you at first? Yeah that one. Watch it. Take your time. Be honest with yourself and have a blast!

Now MOVE!

Foundation III

Free Weights

Dumbbells, barbells, sand, kettlebells, old tires, grocery bags full of heavy books and 5# bags of rice...I don't care. When, in the course of your day, are you required to repetitiously push or pull an evenly loaded weight along a fixed linear path only to retrace that path and gently set that weight back where it came from while seated in a comfy supported position?

Build off of Foundation II, stand up on your own feet, find some object in space, pick it up and move it. Gradually work to moving it an ever greater number of times. Maybe you make it a little heavier and then move it. Whatever. Just continually up the challenge to your system. We need to progressively train our bodies to handle demands we encounter every day. Sitting in a padded seat pushing the handle on an overhead press machine has never equate to the demands of playing with your niece or nephew & lifting them up off the ground in the back yard.

 And no, a smith machine is not free weight. It's an over sized paper weight.

Photo copyright EFC Madness 2009. All rights reserved. Image may not be reused or published without the expressed consent of EFC Madness.

Workout of the Week

Email me or post to comments to reserve a spot in thie week's Thursday blowout.

Refer to Saturday's video post for instruction & technique.

As much as possible, do not put the bar down to rest. Find recovery in the catch position on the clean or in the locked out over head position.

20 Burpee cleans

5 OH barbell squats

15 Burpee cleans

10 OH BB squats

10 Burpee cleans

15 OH BB squats

5 Burpee Cleans

20 OH BB squats

bb weight:

time:

Press straight from your last clean into the overhead position. I suggest going a little lighter than you may thing you need with this one. Take stock and be honest with yourself. You decide just how intense or challenging this is. Push yourself, but know your limits and be safe.

Now MOVE!

Four Over Thirty

There are now 4 states with obesity rates above 1 in 3. Let me say that again. There are 4 states in which more than 30% of all people are obese. Meanwhile there is only 1 state, Colorado, in which less than 1 in 5 is obese, only 1 state below 20%.

It's time to take responsibility. 20% obesity rate while good in comparison...dude, it's still 1 out of every 5 people. That's horrible.

We have to take responsibility for this. At some point we have to quit it with the f'n self deception and say, "You know what? This is sick. This has got to change," and accept that it's up to each one of us to make the change in our own lifestyles.

When does that happen? When we're at 50% obesity? 60%? When your 12 year old is diagnosed with type II diabetes? After you have your second stroke?

How about before your kid has to learn how to self administer a finger prick? How about now?