Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope your holiday is full of warmth and happiness.

In light of the holiday weekend, we're taking a little time off. I'll be back on Tuesday with a brand new workout of the week!

Workout of the Week: Balls On

....in keeping with Saturday's video theme.

As always, refer to the video archive for instruction.

50 Wall ball
10 Ball Slam
40 Wall ball
20 Ball Slam
30 Wall ball
30 Ball Slam
20 Wall ball
40 Ball Slam
10 Wall Ball
50 Ball Slam


Mark your load and time.

Train Performance

Performance training for aesthetic gain is a concept that’s gotten lost in a sea of “perfect pushup” gizmos, hip swiveling hula chairs and a whole host of garbage pushed on us every day. However, performance training (in coordination with proper nutrition) can be used as a means to improve the way you look, not just a way for some pro to excel on the gridiron.

If you don’t have 6 or 7 hours a week to devote to working out, performance based training, as opposed to sets based on your biceps, traps or pecs, can be a massive key in setting up an extremely time efficient program with long lasting results.

If you’ve never though about anything beyond body building based training, here’s a couple of basic concepts to help you start putting together a performance program. This will help ensure the aesthetic results you want while also enhancing your coordination, injury resistance and overall fitness.

1. Develop single leg strength: Single leg strength is crucial to developing performance. If you’re already on the leg press, leg extension and leg curl, break it up. Get up off the machine and sub in some single leg drills . The addition of split squats, step-ups, and lunge variations will go a long way in developing your lower body muscle development, tone, power, speed, and balance.

2. Exercise selection: Performing exercises such as squats, dead lifts, military presses, pullups will lead to your quickest results. Multi-joint exercises allow you to hit multiple muscles at once, eliminating the need for bench flys and tricep extensions for example. Train more joints and muscles at once, gain functional ability and development and save a lot of time.

3. Training your core: Now, if you know me, you know how much I don’t like the way the “core” is marketed, packaged and sold. However, developing strong muscles around the spine is crucial to injury prevention. Throw out the ab rollers, bendy balls and b.s. Introduce some planks, full on situps and bridges into your workout if you really want to. But here’s the thing. If you’ve already got the dead lifting, squatting, lunging and overhead movements in your program, you’ve got all the “ab” exercises you’ll ever need built in. That “core” has to fire off so hard to stabilize you for those kinds of movements, you’re doing all the strengthening and toning you’ll ever need.

Tip & Technique Video: Triplex Throw & Sprint

I'm feeling a little medicine ball coming on. How about you?

Let's reintroduce some explosive speed and agility back into the equation.

North Jersey Kettlebell part II

I couldn't be there and was sorely sorry to miss it, but Mike Sanders threw his second girevoy sport competition last weekend. The stories and lessons coming out from the competitors is beautiful. Personal records were shattered on the floor and there was a big showing of some of the sports newest lifters. Welcome to the world of g.s. folks!

The results can be found here:

http://kettlebellsny.com/north_jersey_competition.pdf

Congratulations everyone! I can't wait to see you all on the platform next time.

Workout of the Week

Snatch Workout

I hope you've been practicing. Each of these is to be performed unilaterally, so with 1 dumbbell. You can switch hands at the midpoint of each set, or when you choose. There are demo videos for all of this, so please, go back and review.

3 Sets.

5 minutes, 3 minutes, 1 minutes of each of the following in this order.

KB Swing

KB Jerk

KB Clean & Jerk

KB Snatch

Tip & Technique Video: Kettlebell Snatch

Part 3: Kettlebell Snatch

Of course there's more to developing a successful and efficient kettlebell snatch, but if you can get these first two points down, you're setting yourself up with the solid kind of foundation it's going to take to keep pushing forward.

Step Away From the Nalgene Bottle!

Ok, so here's the link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33836605/ns/health-mens_health/

Yes, having a reusable bottle around for your water is a greener alternative to buying bottled water and it's a very healthy thing in that it encourages you to drink more water.

That being said, yet another study has come out linking BPA, a chemical used in the manufacturing of hard reusable water bottles, baby bottles, aluminum can liners and other such products, to impotence, e.d, and generally reduced sexual desire and satisfaction.

Go out and grab a stainless steel water bottle. They're everywhere. Just make sure you're not buying aluminum by mistake.

This is still a controversial subject in that different parties (mainly plastic manufacturers) still argue that there is, in fact, no connection what so ever. You want to be the one taking that chance?

Workout of the Week

Refer to last week's video for reference. Record your time and loads. Rowing intervals are to be completed on a Concept II (or similar) rowing machine. If you don't have access to a rowing machine substitute in a SumoDeadliftHighPull at a ratio of 10m per SDHP. All jerk numbers are per arm.

Advanced kettlebell/gs lifters, double your jerk numbers.

10 kb jerks

1000m row

20 jerks

800m row

30 jerks

600m row

40 jerks

400m row

50 jerks

200m row

Video Demo: Kettlebell Clean & Jerk

The first thing you're going to notice with this is the absence of the universal athletic stance, that neutral posture spine and hips tilted slightly forward. In kettlebell terms that would be considered more of a hard style lift. My purpose here is to allow you, the lifter, to operate under load for as long as possible. Therefore I want to incorporate as many muscles as possible into your actual lifting instead of simply depending on a couple of big ones to do all the work. Spread the work over more muscles and allow your body to function more efficiently over a longer period of time.

Like I said, this is just my take on things. So here you go. Keep practicing your swing too.

Apathy in America

30%, 1 in 3 American adults are overweight. An additional 30% of American adults are obese.

Now here's the kicker.

62% of Americans blame themselves for their overweight. That's a great start because it shows

that we're accepting responsibility for our own decisions.

60% want to lose weight. Fantastic!

30% are trying.

So 2 out of 3 people in this country are overweight and most of them know they need to make a change. Only half are actually trying?

In a global economy where we can't even keep our banks afloat, this apathy and lack of action is forcing us to spend $147 billion annually on medical treatment of obesity and conditions directly related to it. We only spent $98 billion to treat ALL cancers last year. We're spending 1.5 times the money on obesity than cancer just because we can't put down the damn Chili's Big Mouth Burger!

On average we're consuming 300 more calories each day than we did in 1980. It's little wonder why more and more children's clothing lines are expanding their plus size selections.

I think NBCs medical corespondent, Dr. Nancy Snyderman made a terrific point a couple of months back in a segment looking at our obesity rate. She asked how can we as a nation expect to regain a position of world leadership in the world if we can't even keep ourselves out of the hospital?

Workout of the Week

If you didn't hit last week's kettlebell swing workout, go back and do that.

If you did, while we're waiting for everyone else to catch up, here's a little extra credit.

As always, refer to the video demos for reference. Choose loads that are safe for you and be honest about your fitness level.

"Son of a Sprint"

30 thrusters

10 pullups

20 thrusters

20 pullups

10 thrusters

30 pullups

Suggested start point for advanced men is 95# bb. Advanced women 55# bb. If you can't do a pullup, then use the lightest assistance on the assisted pullup or the heaviest pulldown you can.

This a sprint. GO FAST!

Now MOVE!

Harder Longer Faster

It's training man. It's how we train.

Why? Because that's what works. I just had the opportunity to have this conversation again last week. I love having this conversation.

It's why my clients look at their programs and regularly see 50, 100, 200 or more repetitions of something and no predetermined rest.

Let's set aside my favorite aspect, the performance development side of things for a moment. Let's set aside the elevated quality of life through improved stamina and movement patterns too. Finally, let's set aside the improved safety through heightened proprioception and coordination. Let's go purely superficial. Let's go skin deep. "But I just want arms like ____," or "abs like ____."

Every last one of us has surface level aesthetic goals. Every single one of us wants to go to the beach and be able to take our shirts off without feeling embarrassed. We all want that body.

Who are these bodies everyone's lusting over and coveting for themselves? Maria Sharapova, Amanda Beard, Madonna, Becks, Kobe, Ryan Reynolds.

If not professional athletes, all of these people have widely known and documented training programs that emulate those of professional athletes.

Here's the point.When have you known any of these people to pull a Kirstie Alley or Tyra and blow up only to have to crash diet before their next shoot or event?

They haven't, because they approach their programs from an athletic point of view, not a reductionist, body building point of view. Aesthetics are a consequence of fitness. Train body part by body part, and sooner than later, you're going to let something fall through the cracks. Train the body as one system, in an athletically minded, performance oriented stance and make gains you can keep.

Aesthetics are a consequence of fitness.