Foundation VI

I want to start the post with a quick recognition and show of appreciation. For our athletes at F.E. Warren and Dyess Air Force Bases, we're proud to have you and are eternally grateful for your service to our country. Thank you.

Vairety

More often than not, people accept that you go to the gym to get stronger, or in other words, to lift heavier and heavier weights over time. But don't get hung up on load. When training the body like we're talking about here, as opposed to isolated muscles, we're training performance. Performance doesn't just mean heavy weights and big biceps.

Maybe you move similar weights, but decrease your rest, this training endurance on the anaerobic level. Maybe you start looking at power development and moving that load, or just yourself, through space as fast as possible. Maybe you change up the complexity and move two lighter objects instead of one. Now, I'm not advocating that we never lift heavy. Lord knows I love lifting heavy. But we have to move beyond just lifting heavier.

Find where you can add that variety into your program. Your body, and your sustained results, will thank you.

Workout of the Week

Refer to Saturday's technique video for instruction

4 rounds:

4x KB Windmill, OH Squat & Turkish each side

.25mi sprint

Be safe. Be responsible about your load and your recovery. Take as little as you need, but take as much as you need.

Now MOVE!

Thursday Night Blowout

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, and in class, there's little chance of anyone getting out without said acceptance...

If there was a common theme this week, it was the theme of built in rest...with a catch. 5 for 10. Five barbell front squats each minute for ten minutes. So once you finish your reps, you've got the whole rest of the minute to rest until the next time. The catch is that you rest. The weigth doesn't. At no point can you rest the barbell on anything other than your body. So the test becomes, how can you work with, around, over or under the weight to take as much pressure off your muscles and rest the load on

your frame between sets. Learn how to work with your body. It's the most advanced and versatile tool you'll ever use.

Then into the court for "Hellion 1." You're going to make five trips

through the circuit, performing each movement for 50 seconds before moving on to the next. six stations, five rounds. One of your

stations is specifically a rest station. Every 6 minutes, you get one minute recovery. With 50# of sand, kettlebells, and a couple of our other choice greatest hits movements in the mix, and your only having one solid minute of rest in every six, you have to focus in part on slowing your heart rate and reoxygenating as much as possible during the ten second transition into the next movement.

In any movement, sequence, complex or combination, there are

those minute moments that you can recover, there are those unlikely positions and postures that allow different batteries to charge while others take over for a bit. Learn to look for them and exploit them for all their worth. It can make a huge difference in your experience and results.

Great job guys.

Tip & Technique: KB Complex

Here's a fun little one. I'm going to get into the intricacies of kettlebell technique later on, but for now have some fun with this. I've thrown a few of the movements from previous videos into this one complex. Enjoy.

Foundation V

Train With Complexity

If you look at most strength training programs, they use both arms or both legs at the same time & push/pull a weight in front of or below you. It's a good start, but the key is to move beyond.

A significant portion of our days are spent using one side of the body at a time, turning, twisting, reaching at odd angles.

Our training should reflect that. Again, build on the previous foundations with this. Stand up in your space. Reach across your body to pick something up off the ground. If you don't have the range of motion to perform this safely, then reach across to a low table or chair. Stand back up straight with the object. Feels pretty natural doesn't it? That's because we spend most of our day doing that. Now ind something a little harder to pick up and keep practicing.

Remember, when you go to the gym & make normal life harder, everything else is cake.

Workout of the Week

I know you're looking forward to this one...

For those of you that didn't catch the Cirbie, refer to last Saturday's video post and practice before attempting this workout.

2 Pullups

40 Cirbies

4 Pullups

30 Cirbies

6 Pullups

20 Cirbies

8 Pullups

10 Cirbies

10 Pullups

If you can't do pullups, substitute in Gravitron pullups or lat pulldown. The bottom line is to challenge yourself, but to be safe. Same goes for the load on the barbell you're using for the Cirbies. Train hard, but train safe.

Now MOVE!

Thursday Night Blowout

To see someone fighting to lift their body up off the ground one more time, simply through sheer force of will even though the muscles have clearly drained their tanks dry, to see someone hurling 20lbs through the air with every last pound of force they possess in preparation for another round when it seemed no less than a miracle that they caught the ball in the first place, to witness someone looking back over their shoulder at their partner as they hurtled across the floor, knowing that every moments delay meant that much more work to be born by the other...this is to know....Dude, you're going to want to ice that sh*t down!

I'm not sure I've seen a performance that embodied such a sense

of selfless abandon and a whole hearted sense of giving ones self over to a workout as we saw this week. When the system began to breakdown, for began to suffer, "...it's a product of my not stepping into a gym in the last 4 years..." Well, yes, if you're not accustomed to this kind of work, it's going to be hard, but let's not confuse that with a lesser degree of fitness. Fitness doesn't just exist in the gym. Some would even argue that real fitness doesn't exist in the gym at all. It exists in the rest of our lives. The gym is merely prep work.

Running, jumping, climbing, sailing, pulling, just plain moving, all of these are hallmarks of fitness. We are merely conditioned to the demands most regularly placed upon the body. I'd never last an hour with some of the rock climbers I know at my gym. My forearms would probably divorce themselves from the rest of my body in sheer protest after a mere 20 minutes or so. These folks lasted 70 minutes the other night. What's not fit about that?

Tip & Technique: Burpee Combos part IV "Cirbies"

Ok, last one. The dreaded Cirbie. The video is pretty self explanatory. Keys to success here, you're no pushing this weight up with your arms. I'll say it again. This is not an overhead press. You are throwing the weight ballistically with your hips. As the weight is ascending, allow your body to sink under the bar. This allows you to achieve lockout in your arms and keep the majority of the lifting shifted into the huge muscle groups in your legs. Bigger muscle groups = ability to lift heaver loads.

Have fun and train safe!

Now MOVE!

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?

Tip & Technique: Burpee Combos part II

Building on last week, we're cranking up the complexity on the burpee combos. This video is in 2 parts. Part one, burpee high pull. This is a direct descendant of the SumoDeadliftHighPull. The repetitive high velocity high pull is broken up with the burpee motion. So we're taking all of the benefits of a rowing motion and combining the with the core strengthening, stabilization and explosive pushing of a burpee.

Part two is the burpee clean. Technically, for those of you keeping score, we're talking about a power clean. You've already gotten the high pull out of the way, which in this case is essentially your first and second pull, so now we're taking the next logical step. Add in the catch and you're there.

To catch the bar, as soon as your hips hit full extension, allow them to flex again so you begin to sink back towards the ground. Simultaneously scoop the elbows under the bar to catch it at shoulder level. **Remember, all the while, you need to keep the bar as close to your body as possible.**

Now get to it. MOVE.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July everyone!

Foundation II

Feet Planted Firmly on the Ground

Where do most of your most physically challenging moments occur? Where do we spend most of our lives? Standing on your own two feet. Hence, this is where the majority of your training should occur.

When you sit down, especially in a position that's supported with a back pad, you've already shut down most of the muscles needed to perform the simplest tasks at work or around the house, your stabilizers. You've moved into more non functional, body building based reductionist training. By standing up and keeping the muscles around our spine firing full tilt, we’re efficiently using our body as the machine, the complete system it is meant to be. Remember, the body is and functions as one piece. Stand up and train it that way.