This is my first year back in Alabama. The weather is outstanding, which makes me want to stay outside all day. This brings me back to some of the activities that I have abandoned the last couple years. Five Fingers Jogging, Mountain Biking, and yes.... Skateboarding. These are all really great conditioning exercises that I will incorporate into my strength training this summer.
The wrong way.
The right way to run barefoot or in your Vibram Five Fingers
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
11 Days off
Just got back from my trip. Had a really good time and got some good conditioning done. Yesterday and today I got back into the gym lifting heavy. I started right back up where I left off even though I lost 5 pounds. I'm sticking around a 200 pound body which is where I want to stay. I still have not reached my goal of squatting 315lbs. for sets. This is my current goal along with Power Clean and Jerking 205lbs. I'm on a slow track of accomplishing my squat goal in about 3 months. I made a massive jump in a short amount of time the last couple months. Now that I have had some decompression and recovery time I'm going to go down the same road but at a little slower pace.
Oh, if you've never had beer boiled brats..... go buy a pack of bratwurst , boil them in beer for about 10 min., throw them on the grill, and eat immediately!!!! Accompanied with your favorite beer of course. This will guarantee to increase your squat by about 100lbs.
This video is priceless.
Oh, if you've never had beer boiled brats..... go buy a pack of bratwurst , boil them in beer for about 10 min., throw them on the grill, and eat immediately!!!! Accompanied with your favorite beer of course. This will guarantee to increase your squat by about 100lbs.
This video is priceless.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Out of Town
I'm out of town this week, so I wont have a gym to go to. Good opportunity for me to do some conditioning. Jumprope, hill sprints, biking, swimming, Bulgarian T-handle work, dumbbell snatch, etc. I don't have a gym but I did bring a couple tools with me.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
New Program
I keep running into a wall with my current training program and can not put my finger on why it is happening. My caloric intake is high, focusing on taking in a lot of protein. My squat and deadlift have become very inconsistent. I do not like this. Physiologically I am shutting down potentially because I am overreaching. If I keep going down this road I will burn out. This means that I will quit lifting and this is definitely not my goal. I know that this will happen because I have gone through it before. I just figured I had lost interest and didn't want to lift anymore. What I think may have happened before, and I am close to doing now is:
"Overreaching. This term has been described as the cumulative effects of a series of workouts, characterized by a short-term decrease in performance, feelings of fatigue, depressed mood, pain, sleep disturbances, and other miscellaneous effects that require up to two weeks to recover from. Certain hormonal changes such as a short-term reduction in testosterone and increase in Cortisol occur at this level (these are among the factors that produce the positive systemic effects of barbell training). A significant problem with this definition is that it differs from that of overtraining only in that "overreaching" can be recovered from with approximately two weeks of reduced work or rest—a rather arbitrary distinction—whereas recovery from overtraining takes longer." (Rippetoe, Kilgore, Pendlay, 2008)
Overreaching from the book Practical Programming defines a lot of what I have been feeling and going through. This gives me a great relief knowing that it is something that I am sure happens to quite a few athletes at some time or other. With all of that said this is completely self diagnosed and it could all be in my head. I do not have a coach to confirm that this is what is happening to me. Regardless, I am decreasing and lightening my work load for two weeks to see how I feel afterwards.
"Moreover, the concept of overreaching defined as a negative effect misses the point. Overreaching simply represents the target stress necessary to disrupt homeostasis, intentionally breaching the maximal workload the trainee has adapted to in order to induce supercompensation. It is more relevant, practical, and understandable to discard the term and simply use the term "overload," since it describes both the load and the stimulus for inducing adaptation in all trainees, regardless of advancement level. Every fitness or performance enhancement training program should include periods of overload, as is required by any practical application of Selye's theory, and these periods should be understood as adaptive, not detrimental. Judging this level of effort can be difficult and requires vigilant monitoring, as a rapid descent into overtraining can occur if loading is too severe or recovery is inadequate." (Rippetoe, Kilgore, Pendlay, 2008)
New Program:
Mon.
Squat 5x3
Pull Ups 10x3
Tue.
Power Clean and Jerk 1x5
then
Condition
Wen.
OFF
Thur.
Squat 5x3
Press 5x3
Fri.
Deadlift 5x1
then
Condition
"Overreaching. This term has been described as the cumulative effects of a series of workouts, characterized by a short-term decrease in performance, feelings of fatigue, depressed mood, pain, sleep disturbances, and other miscellaneous effects that require up to two weeks to recover from. Certain hormonal changes such as a short-term reduction in testosterone and increase in Cortisol occur at this level (these are among the factors that produce the positive systemic effects of barbell training). A significant problem with this definition is that it differs from that of overtraining only in that "overreaching" can be recovered from with approximately two weeks of reduced work or rest—a rather arbitrary distinction—whereas recovery from overtraining takes longer." (Rippetoe, Kilgore, Pendlay, 2008)
Overreaching from the book Practical Programming defines a lot of what I have been feeling and going through. This gives me a great relief knowing that it is something that I am sure happens to quite a few athletes at some time or other. With all of that said this is completely self diagnosed and it could all be in my head. I do not have a coach to confirm that this is what is happening to me. Regardless, I am decreasing and lightening my work load for two weeks to see how I feel afterwards.
"Moreover, the concept of overreaching defined as a negative effect misses the point. Overreaching simply represents the target stress necessary to disrupt homeostasis, intentionally breaching the maximal workload the trainee has adapted to in order to induce supercompensation. It is more relevant, practical, and understandable to discard the term and simply use the term "overload," since it describes both the load and the stimulus for inducing adaptation in all trainees, regardless of advancement level. Every fitness or performance enhancement training program should include periods of overload, as is required by any practical application of Selye's theory, and these periods should be understood as adaptive, not detrimental. Judging this level of effort can be difficult and requires vigilant monitoring, as a rapid descent into overtraining can occur if loading is too severe or recovery is inadequate." (Rippetoe, Kilgore, Pendlay, 2008)
New Program:
Mon.
Squat 5x3
Pull Ups 10x3
Tue.
Power Clean and Jerk 1x5
then
Condition
Wen.
OFF
Thur.
Squat 5x3
Press 5x3
Fri.
Deadlift 5x1
then
Condition
Monday, April 5, 2010
Week Off
I took last week off. Did a lot of hiking and biking since the weather was so nice. I haven't taken any time off for quite some time so I figured last week would be a good one. I'm really excited to start back this week. I'm going to work a program that incorporates more outdoor activity such as high repetition of 12oz. curls with a goal of working up to 16oz. curls. I really want to focus on proper form here. This can be accomplished by standing next to a grill wile listening to your favorite Metallica album. If you follow this formula you will be on a successful road to blasting your guns in no time.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Achieving Goals
These last two weeks have been outstanding. I reached a long term goal of deadlifting 405lbs and ended up doing it 3 times. I am also back up to squatting 280lbs. 3 sets 5 reps after having a hip flexor issue. I'm feeling very solid and can see 315lbs. right around the corner. I increased my squat by 55lbs. very fast. This put a pressure on me to continue increasing my lifts at this same speed. I had to remind myself why I was lifting and it took the pressure back off. I am not competing or training to compete in anything. This is something that I would like to change in the future but for right now there is no need for me to push my limits to the point of my body shutting down, mentally and physically. So take a step back and remind yourself why you are lifting in the first place.
In the last month I have taken on learning Olympic Lifts. This is a pain in my ass to learn by myself. The video camera is my friend. I am pretty positive that I am developing bad habits, but I am not really too worried about it right now. Clearly my goal is not to have bad form with the Clean & Jerk or the Snatch but I am using very light weight and doing my best to analyze form. If anyone has any coaching tips or good book suggestions suggestions I would appreciate it.
I had talked about Wright Exercise a couple posts ago. I had an issue with the 10lbs. bumper plates with the steel insert coming lose from the rubber. I was practicing Snatch technique with just 10's on each side and dropping them from overhead. This was not a weight that demanded it to be dropped but I wanted to get use to the idea of dropping weight since this is new to me. Well they ended up breaking the seal between the steal insert and the rubber. So I called Wright, told them the issue, they mailed me off a new pair over night, no big deal. Really great service and would recommend them to anyone. The great part about this story is that I talked to two different employees because the first one did not respond to my email. I ended up emailing the same person again to make sure he had gotten my information and see if he had already shipped the new plates. He had gone on vacation and an auto reply message directed me to his associate. I forwarded this person the same email I gave the original employee and he said that he would send them off right away. A couple hours after all this emailing was going on I receive a package in the mail, it was the plates. I thought there was no way he sent the plates same day and figured that the original employee had sent the plates before he went on vacation and the other guy would catch this if he hadn't already. I was wrong and the second employee sent me another pair that I receive the next day. Being the guy that I am, I called Wright and told them about the mistake and they apologized (not really sure why, I'll take free equipment any day) and told me to keep them, it was there mistake.
As far as quality is concerned, the 10lbs. bumpers from Wright might not be the best to drop from overhead but they will replace them with no problem, and if you're lucky they will send you a couple pair. The 45 and 25lbs plates work very well, no issue there. All together great company, great product!!
Really nice Gym!! Wish I had a facility close by that had a nice set up like this...... OH wait I do!! At Suck University where they wont let you drop the weight, or use chalk, or throw out a man growl when its necessary!! Way to suck Suck University!!
In the last month I have taken on learning Olympic Lifts. This is a pain in my ass to learn by myself. The video camera is my friend. I am pretty positive that I am developing bad habits, but I am not really too worried about it right now. Clearly my goal is not to have bad form with the Clean & Jerk or the Snatch but I am using very light weight and doing my best to analyze form. If anyone has any coaching tips or good book suggestions suggestions I would appreciate it.
I had talked about Wright Exercise a couple posts ago. I had an issue with the 10lbs. bumper plates with the steel insert coming lose from the rubber. I was practicing Snatch technique with just 10's on each side and dropping them from overhead. This was not a weight that demanded it to be dropped but I wanted to get use to the idea of dropping weight since this is new to me. Well they ended up breaking the seal between the steal insert and the rubber. So I called Wright, told them the issue, they mailed me off a new pair over night, no big deal. Really great service and would recommend them to anyone. The great part about this story is that I talked to two different employees because the first one did not respond to my email. I ended up emailing the same person again to make sure he had gotten my information and see if he had already shipped the new plates. He had gone on vacation and an auto reply message directed me to his associate. I forwarded this person the same email I gave the original employee and he said that he would send them off right away. A couple hours after all this emailing was going on I receive a package in the mail, it was the plates. I thought there was no way he sent the plates same day and figured that the original employee had sent the plates before he went on vacation and the other guy would catch this if he hadn't already. I was wrong and the second employee sent me another pair that I receive the next day. Being the guy that I am, I called Wright and told them about the mistake and they apologized (not really sure why, I'll take free equipment any day) and told me to keep them, it was there mistake.
As far as quality is concerned, the 10lbs. bumpers from Wright might not be the best to drop from overhead but they will replace them with no problem, and if you're lucky they will send you a couple pair. The 45 and 25lbs plates work very well, no issue there. All together great company, great product!!
Really nice Gym!! Wish I had a facility close by that had a nice set up like this...... OH wait I do!! At Suck University where they wont let you drop the weight, or use chalk, or throw out a man growl when its necessary!! Way to suck Suck University!!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
What's Stopping You?
Ross Enemait is constantly posting videos that are completely inspiring. What is stopping you from following your dreams? For me it is fear of rejection, not good enough, I'm gonna wait until I have better training, maybe a financial risk, and the list goes on. These are all excuses that will stop me from achieving my goals. What makes a person strong? Is it how much weight they can lift? Marc Herremans is a great reminder not give up on yourself, and to not let obstacles deter you from doing something great.
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