300 Workout series - Round 2 Sandbag edition

Its been over 2 weeks. So lets have another go at this thing. Only this time lets bump up the intensity.

I've been having a rough time balancing energy with the new job and still getting some solid training in. Lately I've only been at it 2-3 times a week and usually am too gassed to get some of the more intense work in. Good news is my shoulder feels like its starting to heal. Back is somewhat ok. And I am down a whole 15lbs! Weighed in today at 245. About 2 months ago was about 260. So hopefully I can get a decent routine established, manage my energy (waking up at 4am is a bitch at first), and keep my diet in check and sufficient. But, anyways, onto the workout of the day...teehee- WOD.

300 reps

25 kb swings - 2x40lbs
50 sandbag squats - 45lbs
50 sandbag presses - 45lbs
50 burpees (seriously, fuck these)
50 sandbag rows - 80lbs
50 overhead sledge hits - 18.5lbs (threw a 2.5lb plate on the handle)
25 kb swings - 2x40lbs

Total time- 19:10
Damn thats embarrassing. The heavier swings using two kbs instead of one really set the tone and made an impact. I think that changed the everything for the worse. Not to mention presses were heavier, sandbag was almost twice as heavy, and sledge was 2.5 heavier than original bout.

...and fuck burpees. They can go to hell.

Quick, easy, but intense Kettlebell workout

I havn't put one of these up in awhile but this ones a doozy.

Setup:
-A few heavier kettlebells are needed. Or at least doubled up on the lighter weights.
-If you sweat a lot chalk may be a good idea

Exercises:
Swings (thats it)

Routine:
Perform 20 swings as fast and as hard as you can. Some know this as 'hardstyle'. I just refer to them as quick swings.
Rest for 1 minuter (60 seconds)
Repeat for 5 to 10 rounds.

Notes:
Check your pulse as you do this workout. Its pretty amazing to watch it spike as high as it will. Especially if you hammer a good weight throughout. I had to get the total weight to around 120-140lbs using a mix of 60's, 70's and a single 125lb KB to get some good results. So don't shy away from the heavy stuff.

If you only have the option of lighter KBs then use only pairs and if that doesn't work go with high swings instead or even snatches.

I wrote a brief summary on my first experience with this workout here - http://thebodyforgeaf.com/effects-of-kb-and-interval.html

Enjoy!

WTF are we doing in the weight room?

Its amazing how three capital letters can summarize how I feel sometimes when I see these programs that are put together for athletes.

Well lets back track a little. Im getting a quick lift in today. Have a big 7's rugby tourny tomorrow and need to make sure I still have some energy left in the tank. I happen to see the board and this is what I come across:

Chest-
Bench 15,12,10,8,6,4,2
Incline (same)
Incline Flys 4x8
Pushups x100

Shoulders
Lat and front raise 3x15
...and some other nonsense.

I actually took a picture but don't feel like linking it.

Anyways, heres my gripe with seeing this shit.

What ATHLETE needs this sort of training? And before you answer think of where Im coming from. An athlete needs to develop the muscularity to to become better at their sport. Now, I know exactly which sport this 'workout' belongs to but thats neither here nor there. The point Im getting to is how would this workout benefit any athlete in the existence of sport?

Got an answer yet?

I sure as hell don't.

Training chest and only chest, as far as Im concerned, is good for 2 people; Bodybuilders and those who only care about looking good naked. Thats it. This sort of workout should never touch an athletes regimen much less a high schoolers or jr. high.

Especially considering the sport, or any sport for that matter, an overdeveloped chest is usually more a problem than a good way to train. Try having a kid do a pullup, or a simple row, or hell even just walk upright for more than a few steps. Its difficult to find this outside of a gymnast these days. Piss poor posterior strength and shitty workouts.

So whats the fix?

Well for one no workout should just focus on one muscle group in athletics. Time is valuable and that time needs to be spent honing their abilities. If we train 1 or 2 muscles groups a day we WILL need to train 6-8x's a week to hit everything. Thats a lot of hours spent just doing isolation work when combo lifts and functional movements can clear that all out in a hurry. Unfortunately I still see this quite a bit. Apparently a coach or athletes reads a cute little article about their favorite bodybuilder or fitness buff and wants to do that workout. I usually goes something like this day to day;

Chest/tris
Back/Bis
Abs/cardio
Legs
Shoulders/arms

Once again if you're only concern is looking good naked then knock yourself out. Hell in another decade that probably will be my workout. But I figure until they cart me off the field and out of the ring on a stretcher that day is still a long ways off. So anyways back to the topic...

Stick to the basics! Especially with younger underdeveloped athletes. My favorite splits are like this;

Upper/Lower   (Squat, single leg, glute ham / Bench, row, pushups, pullups)
or
Push/Pull  (Bench, squat, pushups / Floor pull, row, pullups)
or
Combo (upper/lower same day all inclusive)

All of those splits are typically 2-4 days a week. You can make the split days up to 6 days but combo are best limited to 3 maybe 4 a week to allow a recovery day. Once again the point is that strength in the weight room should transfer to the game. Not just lift for the sake of lifting.

A good S&C coach from a long time ago once told me "You need to train to be good at your sport, not train to be a good lifter." This message apparently does NOT get around much.  Especially considering the workout I just posted at the beginning here.

Now if you go back to those splits I mentioned things can get a bit more complicated. Did you know that you can get stronger without just using conventional lifts? Oh yes, its true. It happens quite a bit actually.

An example to increase leg strength and power just simply do full intensity sprints uphill or bleachers. As long as theres sufficient rest and intensity is near max the body will adapt and grow stronger. Similar to doing things such as playing the game more or doing similar tasks that emulate the game situation. As long as these tasks are performed to full intensity with some rest the body will adapt and grow AND continue to develop USEABLE skills.Then theres the topic of plyos, jump training (yes they are two different things), throwing, playing, etc.etc. but thats for a later date.

So just think of this next time you're cranking out that 8th set of 45lb barbell curls with your 140lb buddy ask yourself "Is this shit really going to make me a better athlete?" If you even have to stop and think, without any doubt, hell, if you need to even ask that question, then the answer is more than likely NO. Everyday you put something together always check it with the question "will this make me better?". And at the end of the day if you dont feel like you have gotten something accomplished then you really need to get back on that drawing board.

Battling Ropes - Arms and Shoulders Conditioning

...because using 'normal' equipment is too maintstream.

Nah, but in all seriousness who like using dumbbells anymore when you can just swing around a 30lb rope? In this case its more a 25ish pounds of 1.5"x50' polyurethane punishment.

Which reminds me, quick shout out to http://www.contractorsrope.com/ for the awesome deals on ropes. If I had any place to recommend anyone to buy their new ropes I would definitely order from these guys. Not only are their prices cheaper but can't beat free shipping on orders of $300 or more. Saved about $60 bones just on that fact alone.

So, anyways, onto the workout-

This vid is me going through a quick circuit using the "Tabata Method" style of interval training.

Heres the skinny;
Each round is 20s of high intensity work with a very short 10s of rest in between.
The workout lasts a total of 8 rounds or 4 minutes in length.
You can do practically ANYTHING for the exercises but be warned there are some pretty exhausting ideas and workouts out there. Try squatting for example....bleack!

With this particular workout I just picked a bunch of random shoulder and arm movements with the rope that is looped around a weighted down box.

Atlas Stone Conditioning - "Pick things up and put them down"

A little while ago Im strolling up to the track shed with a box in hand and a truck full of cement when a few inquiring minds simply asked -
"wtf?"
 "Relax everyone..."

I just recently acquired my Slaters Stone Molds to create some awesome pieces of equipment. Although my first time through making them wasn't the best, bunch of air bubbles and rough spots, they still are doing the trick very well. You can check out my experience here -First Time Stone Making.

I wrote up a small workout a few weeks ago as well. I got to admit I felt much stronger than compared to now- I blame Memorial Day weekend on that one. BBQ bloat is a rough recovery amongst other things....anyways on to the workout which I now have video this time.

Just a warning my tech is crap so dont look for helpful hints on stone lifting. You won't find it here.




The workout broke down like this-
3 rounds 1 minute stone loading over a bar.
10 sets of single load @240lbs
4 sets of 8 shouldering and lifting 115lb then moved to the 170lb stone second set.

Im definitly investing in some tack next week if I am going to continue doing this to myself. Grip is becoming an issue and dust is screwing that up more. Plus if you notice a few minutes in I suddenly have a wrist wrap on my left hand. I dont know what the hell I did but the damn thing is hurting good right now. Even a day later as Im writing this is hurts to open my fingers and spread them apart. Probably not a good sign.

But hey at least my finger is feeling better. Nail is drained out and its still attached...for now.

Get Random

Sometimes its best to just do something different and say "Screw it lets shake things up a bit."

Yesterday was supposed to be a somewhat dynamic day of jumps, throws, lifts, and some minor GPP since Im still hurting from Wednesday's ME session. Those chains are kicking my ass lately and showing no sign of mercy. Have at it then.

Well that was the plan. Couple 'problems' occurred.
1- The weather, for once, is absolutely awesome. This is Ohio. Well versed in a schizo-bastard-dunno-wtf-im-doing weather area. Never been here? A sampling is that Friday and Friday evening it was in the low 50's. Saturday? Yea screw that. Lets break the heater and crank it to 80+.

2- It was Saturday. I mean, really, who trains hard on a rugby day anyways?

3- I just got out of a meeting with BAT Cage and guess what? Unofficial opening date of THE FORGE - Strength Systems is JULY 1st! Yea buddy. Im excited. So after this news it was a little hard to focus on the task at hand or at least focus on the plan of attack.

Ladder was thrown to the ground for some warmup contacts. Legs were stiff so I rolled and stretched before hand. Got my jumps in then got the tires out;
-Standard 'box' jump to two tires (I think the height is about 40-41")
-Jettison Jumps: 20lb dumbbells that are dropped after one jump, 2nd jump(or third), then up to tire
-Multi-Jumps outside; Bounds, long jumps, single leg hops for distance

This is about when I got bored. I just wanted to throw shit. Im getting the itch. So out come the kettlebells; 18, 26, 30, and 40 pounders. Then it just turned into a crap show of everything I could find, get a grip on, and throw for some distance. All of which included;
-150# tire
-20# chains
-Med balls up to 30#
-110# rock
-Bumpers
-Kettlebells up to 60#
-all fucks given that day



Worked out great actually. Worked on my tan somewhat AND got some decent conditioning at the end. Unfortunately what was also not included on the video is the end where I hit some MB throws and sprints. Battery died.

'Till next time. 

Atlas Stone - example GPP (conditioning, fitness, or whatever)

Well my workout was a bust today. Planned on getting some heavy squat work in and mess around with the chains but got into the weight room later than planned and next thing I know im running out of time before the bus leaves for the High School District meet. Instead I had to improvise and this is about what I salvaged in a 30minute block.

Weighted box jumps 5x5

First 3 sets with 40lbs of chain on 32" box (gotta throw those in somehow, right?)

Next 2 sets were on 24" box with a 80# sandbag on my shoulders

Stone workout- 9 pickups on the 240# on single rep lifts (too much dust to reset and hit again

3 sets x 8 lifts @170# and then shoulder carry 110# for a 20yard lap

And that was about it really. Wanted to do some other things but just ran out of time. Forearms are good and tore up and the workout felt pretty good. Im starting to get the feel for the 240# and its coming up much easier as long as I can get my grip set. I think its time to invest in a heavier stone and some tacky. When my arms get dusty its almost impossible to get a grip on the 240.

Kettlebell Full Body Complex #1

This routine hits it ALL. I mean in a bad way too. Most of my clients were pretty exhausted after finishing but finish they did.

Warmup 10-15 minutes (series of swings, tech work, stretches, etc.)

1.30 each - Push Press/ Cleans/ Half Snatch - Single arm
45s each - Swings/ Clean/ Long Cycle - Doubles. Rest 45s then repeat once more.

Lower Body- 30s each, 30s rest, 3 rounds
Goblet Squat/ Alt Lunge/ Kneel Downs

Upper- 30s each, 30s rest, 3 rounds again
x2 Kb Alt Row/ Alt Press/ Ribbons

Core- 1min each, minimal rest
1/2 TGU's/ Supermans/ Windmills

Finisher- 20 ON, 10 OFF each, x1 Kb, 4 minutes total
Swings, Burpees, Split jumps, Jack Squats

Cool down stretch


Yea...they were pretty quiet after this one.

Chain Lifting - Accomodating resistance at its finest. Part 2

Well this is the more 'legit' post for the day/week. If you already read my previous post about the chain ordeal (which is still to be concluded btw) then hope it gave you a laugh. If not at my own expense.

So, anyways, for something a little more constructive. I wanted to put the new chains through a workout to see how it went. I will be the first to say I havn't had a good upper workout like that in awhile. I tried to get in a pretty good variety and at certain points was just banging out reps trying to get a good pump. No matter what I did the chains worked well.

Heres a rough recap of the workout. Remember, I had several sets I just either went to failure, left 2, or was just playing around to see what would happen. Some exercises worked great while others not so much.

Bench press- Worked up to max effort for 3 reps with 80lbs total chain. Hit 245 for a trip. Puts it around 305 (some of the chain sits on the ground at lock).
Swiss bar Incline Press with fat grips (theres a mouthful)- hit 4 sets for 10-12 reps. Used 40lbs chain, narrow grip, and Grip4orce grippers on the bar.
Multi-grip pullups- This one I just sort of hit reps at whatever I felt like at the moment. I think my pride on the day was the triple I had with 80lbs of chain on me. Puts me close to 300lbs. So 3 pullups at that much is pretty good for me.
Multi-grip inverted row- Same deal just hit different grips. Mixed in chains (was awkward and clumsy) and used fat bar and cannonballs.
Arms and shoulders- Just started rocking curls and raises with the cannonballs. My biceps cramped pretty hard later on.

This is a pretty heavily edited video. Didnt want to bore everyone with EVERY single rep I did.

British Circuit - Crossfit crack

This is my template for a brutal and almost infamous workout amongst my athletes that quite frankly will send chills down anyones spine to whom I mention it to - The British Circuit. A circuit involving higher rep sets using Olympic lifts mixed with squats and choices of supplement exercises to induce a severe system shock. Sounds fun right?

Well lets get some background first.

A few years ago (few meaning around 8 or more) I attended a clinic for track that happened to have a popular guy named Jud Logan speaking. If you dont know this man you probably havn't done your homework. The topic was off-season conditioning and strength training. The big one that struck out amongst some of his other ideas was, as the title mentions, The British Circuit. Now mind you this came out LOOOONNNGG before Crossfit was even thought in any public sense. In fact I think 10 years ago there were only a handful of 'boxes' floating around the country compared to the thousands now...but I digress.

As Jud went on to discuss the circuit and I scribbled it got me excited to try it out. Sounded simple enough;
-Clean
-Squat
-Snatch
-Squat
-Overhead
-Core (a REAL core exercise...not some lazy crunching shit)
6 reps each with about 2-3 minutes rest between sets and start with roughly 55% of max in each lift.

So here Im thinking '55%? Sure whatever.' So I went home and next day gave it a go....<blurp> goes what little substance I had in my stomach by round 2. WTF just happened?!?! Jud was not joking when he said he puked his first time out as well. Damn was I not expecting that. So like any sadistic coach I immediately implemented it into my athletes workouts. Only one incidence so far of yack attack is when a shot putter a few years back thought he was hot stuff and went with 65%. He made it to the second round of snatches before I saw him dump the bar and run into the locker room. Another thrower/hurdler went at it pretty hard and afterwards didnt say a word to me the rest of the day. Good times.

So, anyways, fast forwarding to the present I have been playing around with that method and got some pretty nice results as far as off-season conditioning. Now, mind you, this is NOT a strength development program. And its tough to manage with a large group but is an excellent tool for strength conditioning and work capacity. Or just GPP for short (General Physical Prep).

Above was the original template I got but below I am outlining my variations and modifications I have made since then. Really its just about playing around with different equipment and reps/sets to see what works best.

This is the basic template. Further down are actual workouts we've done currently or in the past.
Each set 6-10 res for 2-4 rounds. Normally 2-4 minutes rest between rounds with minimal rest between exercises. Minimum of 6 complex movements with 1-2 core exercises. Advisable to start with 50% and work up. Its much tougher to start too heavy and work down.

-Pull (clean, dead lift, swing, swiss bar or log clean, etc.)
-Squat (back, front, box, single, squat jump)
-Fast pull (snatch, db snatch, kb snatch, med ball throw, tire flip)
-Light Squat (front, bulgarian, lunge, split jump)
-Overhead (push press, jerk, kb variation, mb push throw)
-Complex core (landmines, good mornings, curl ups, dragon flag)

There is definitly a lot of variety that can be thrown together. So its not just limited to oly lifts either although that was the original idea presented to me. Either way below is some ideas you can use to start off or just throw in your own!

BC for strength endurance/power;
6 reps each. 3-4 minutes rest between rounds. 55% of max starting week 1. Add an additional 5-10% each week or even each round to increase strength. Can be done 1-2x's a week.Continue for 3-6 weeks.
- Power Clean (or deadlift)
- Back Squat
- Hang Snatch (or tire flip)
- Front Squat
- Push Press
- Good Mornings
- Curl ups x15reps

BC for volume/hypertrophy/work capacity/stomach purging;
8-10 reps. 2-3 minutes rest. 50-55%. Add weight when desired. 1-2x's a week. 3 weeks continuous.
- Hang Clean
- Back Squat
- Hang Snatch (or close grip snatch)
-Front Squat (kettlebells or heavy bags/ stones work too)
-Dumbbell Push Press
-Romanian Dead Lifts

BC for SPEED
8-12 reps. 4-5 minutes rest. Relatively light weights.
-Trap bar deadlift (or dumbbells)
-Squat Jumps
-Swings
- DB Snatch (split reps- if doing 10 then perform 5 each hand)
- Split jumps
- Glute ham raise or Glute Bridge
- Reverse Hyper or Back Extension

BC for STRONGMAN
These numbers are up to the lifter due to the variety of the lifts. Continuous circuit stays the same. This is designed more as a conditioning circuit and speed endurance. 
-Deadlift
-Squat
-Stone to Chest
-Drag
-Axle Press
-Yoke Walk
-Hold (Ive used two cannonball handles attached to kettlebells for this one. works well)

BC for the kool aid drinkers
(honestly I just drew this up as Im writing this blog so try at your own risk! how many times can you get through?)
8 reps each. Continuous for 10 minutes.
-Power Clean
-Squat
-Snatch
-Walking Lunge
-Push Press
-Deadlift

Im sure if a Crossfitter saw this they can apply it to their own training with some different variations. My experience with the 'cult' is pretty minimal and unfortunately only a handful I've talked to left a positive image the rest not so much.

Enjoy!

Kettlebell Workout #1

So the other day a client of mine asked me if I could start posting workouts. No idea why I havn't done this sooner so here we go!
 Depending on rest this can go from 30-45mins
Warmup routine
 30s each and switch arms
Single Arm Swing, Cleans, Press with pause at top
Mobility and stretch
30s each 2-hand Swing,Cleans, Presses

Protocol;
30 seconds each exercise straight through then switch arms. Repeat for total of 2 rounds
Swings, Cleans, Presses
2-Hand Protocol; Long Cycle Competition reps against time.
10 reps each exercise Cleans, Front Squats, Push Press Repeat 3 rounds

Core; 1 minute each
Single Arm Crunch, SA Crunch, Curlup, Seated twist

Circuit fitness; 30s each continuous for 3 rounds.
2kb Bentover Row, Reverse Lunge, Romanian Dead Lift Cool down and stretch