Workout of the Week

50 Seconds of work / 10 seconds of rest & transition to the next movement. 5 complete circuits. Mark time and loads.

Deck Squat/ballslam ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
Pullups ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
Wallball ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
SumoDeadliftHighPull ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

Thursday Night Blowout

Thursday Night was on summer break last week. I'll see everyone this coming Thursday at West River. Call or email me for reservations.

Tip & Technique: Deck Squats

You know, I just had another conversation with a gym goer yesterday. I've never seen and don't know that there exists a better abdominal development movement than a regular old situp. Given that you're not in a rehab focused program, just get down on the ground, go through the whole movement and teach yourself to do a real situp without sticking your feet under the couch! Grow. and challenge yourself to be strong enough not to pull yourself up with your hip flexors.

But I digress. I'm going to go on the assumption that you've already incorporated situps into your routine or have at least heard of them. Let's take it a step further; complete abdominal development with posterior chain strength & anaerobic endurance....Sounds like fun yeah? Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I give you the Deck Squat.

Foundation VII

Don't Limit Yourself to the Gym.

Get outside. Get some fresh air. One of the great fitness pioneers and one of the strongest men ever to walk the earth, Arthur Saxon himself, was a huge proponent of getting out in to the fresh air. "Outdoor work helps to develop this (pure) energy, and such sports as wrestling, swimming, walking etc. etc, keep the muscles in order and give enduring strength which steads the lifter in good stead..." (The Development of Physical Power, 1906) There were very few things he valued as much and there currently are very few things I believe allow us to connect out routines and programs to our actual lives.

Practice doing the things you enjoy doing or find yourself doing every day. Take your regular afternoon walk, but wear a backpack with a few pounds of books in it. Take the dogs for a jog instead of a walk. See how many times you can squat down and lift that 2 gallon jug of olive oil you got at Costco from the ground back up into the trunk before you have to rest. See if you can make it all the way across those monkey bars.

Make your fitness plan real and immediately related to your routine.

When you make tasks in every day life harder, the rest is cake.

Workout of the Week

3 Rounds:
5 minutes of each, 3 minutes of each, 1 minute of each

Partner Row
Kettlebell swing
Box Jumps at 18" tp 24"

If you don't have a partner, go make new friends. If you still don't have a partner, set the load on the cable row at your gym to an appropriate resistance for this kind of endurance movement. Attach the rope tricep handle to the cable and go to town.
As far as the kb swing, men try starting with 40#, women 30#, but adjust from there depending on your
own fitness. The same goes for the box jump. Adjust to whatever height is most appropriate for your fitness level. Do not rest in your comfort zone. Push yourself, but be safe.

Thursday Blowout

Thursday Blowout went on summer break last week. We'll see everyone this Thursday at 8pm. Email me or post to comments to reserve your space.

Tip & Technique: Partner Row

Here's one for you and your workout buddy. Partner row. We're talking about serious anaerobic endurance training. The key here is that you are providing the resistance and load for your partner.

Sit facing each other, feet braced against your partner's feet. Loop a couple of towels around each other you hold both ends of one of them so you're linked with a towel chain. Pick which one goes first, and go. Lean back as you row your hands to your chest or arm pits. Your partner should give you enough resistance to allow you to move, but just. When you've finished your row, return the favor man. Resist your partner to just enough to allow them to move.

Start practicing with 20 or 30 rows each. Progress to working with time goals. What does it take to finish 10 minutes of those? 15 minutes? How many could you do? How are those forearms doing when you're done?