Force Recon Day 1

Figured I'd try this for a few weeks. I normally have trouble sticking to a routine. It goes along with Dan John's statement that we don't have enough mental RAM to coach ourselves. Every time I try to set a routine for myself, it ends up turning into a completely different routine about three days in. So, despite all the great ideas I have for myself, they never work the way I want, because the plan always changes. You'll never make improvements unless you stick with something long enough to see a difference, and that takes mental tenacity. When you choose your plan yourself, there is always a way YOU can make it better...while never actually progressing with anything. As a trainer, exercise science student, and athlete, I am obsessed with the latest research, freshest ideas, old ideas, etc. So, every time I read about it, I want to try it. Well, I read everyday, so...:)
When I was in high school and I wrestled, working out was easy. All you did was what coach told you to do. Well, now I'm making it easy and doing what Pavel Tsatsouline told me to do:)

Weighted Pullups
35lb/5
25lb/5x4

Alternated with

Double Clean and Press
2x24kg/5x5

Front Squat
2x24kg/5x5

Snatch
32kg/6/6x5

Alternated with

Hanging Leg Raise
/2x5

That's it. Cold water douse in 35 degree weather, and then milk, cream and peanut butter blended. The snatches were hard in the first 2 sets, but got easier as the sets progressed. I haven't worked with the 32kg in awhile, and I think I needed a couple "refresher" sets. Otherwise, good workout. Took me about 50 minutes.

Quick Conditioning Workout

Life happens and sometimes you need to be quick with your workouts. Between school, the dog's appointment, work and my meeting with Mom for lunch, I had about 20 minutes to workout. Here's what I did:

With the 24kg Kettlebell-

H2H Swing x 20
Pushups x 15
Hindu Squat x 20
X 8 rounds, NO REST

It took me about 14 minutes to complete and I was pretty gassed at the end. My posterior is actually sore from yesterday's dead lifts, so the swings took more out of me than they normally would have. That's it...the dog awaits:)

Back to Training

I took a couple days off of training/eating...I was fasting, but that's a story for another blog:) So, after 4 days I am back. I decided to take this one to Muscle Inc. in Stroudsburg, PA because I wanted to go heavy with the dead lifts.

Deadlift
225/5
265/5
275/5 x 2
285/5
265/5

Barbell Side Press
55/5/5 x 2
60/5/5
55/5/5

Weighted Pullups
25lbs/6
/8
/6
/5
/4
/5
/6
BW/6
/6

Hanging Leg Raises
3x3

Thats it...

Power and Strength Endurance

I'm going to start the "Fighter Pull-up Program" from Pavel. The program is to increase my pull ups from about 12 total to hopefully over 20. It's a month long program, starting today...we'll see, 25 could be a nice Christmas present to myself:)

Pull Ups
/12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2

Used the 24's for this:

Double Snatch into a Military Press into a Front Squat
1 rep every minute for 30 minutes

I liked this:) Not as "cardio" as I would have liked, but I can appreciate the work capacity that I have at this point. If I can do 30 reps in 30 minutes, I should switch to doubles next time. I followed this up with a cold water douse in the first 10 inches of snow this season, and a nice ribeye steak with asparagus, mmmm:)

Philosophy of Living

I thought I should write a post about my philosophy of training/living for anyone who is interested. I'll start off by saying that a lot of what I do is within the "physical" realm of life, i.e. in the flesh. However, there is also a spiritual component to what I do. I will try to touch on both of those as effectively as I can, without confusing anyone.
I don't do a formal warm up when I workout. Most of the time I train, I am actually going into it quite cold, especially now that it's the cold and damp season (November). I do this because my training philosophy revolves around survival and performance. I am not a competitive athlete (at the moment) , but if the need ever arises to use my physical abilities at a moments notice, I want to be able to perform at full capacity without having to say "hold on about 10-15 minutes while I warm up". This "method" isn't something I invented, as soldiers do it in the military. Think about it: You are lying low in a foxhole somewhere in the sandbox and all of a sudden you come under heavy fire. You need to get the hell outta there. No one is going wait for you to perform your joint mobility and your static stretching after jogging in place for five minutes so you avoid "pulling a hammie". When I started moving toward the practice of not warming up, I gradually reduced my warm up time over a period of about a month.

My training revolves around full body movements that don't "isolate" any one part. Why? When is the last time you went to perform anything in real life that involved isolating your biceps? Even when you perform curls, your traps, abs, shoulder, chest, and a plethora of other muscles are involved. So, who's really isolating. Your body is ONE piece made up of many parts that WORK TOGETHER to complete ANY task. Treat it that way. Squats, deadlifts, pullups, presses, pushups, get-ups, leg raises, etc.....

My eating is low-carb. I eat a lot of saturated fat and a lot of meat. A lot of RED meat. I can hear it already: "But you will get high cholesterol and clogged arteries! You'll get fat by eating all that fat!". Bull. Calories make you fat, not saturated fat. A majority of my calories come from saturated animal fat. I get my arteries and heart checked frequently, because I have a heart condition. They are clear. My blood pressure is 116/80, and my resting heart rate is in the 50's. I have a cholesterol level well under the 200 mark ( which is a BS number to begin with), and my triglycerides are just fine. My body is fat adapted. I can use my own body fat for energy as effectively as any high carb eater can use his glycogen stores. And, you know what? I don't need to sip Gatorade every half hour to replenish my "energy stores". Also, I eat very light during the day, and I eat a huge meal at night. That's because I can. I don't suffer highs and lows during the day, and I'm always primed and ready to go. I don't feel sluggish after a big lunch and I can enjoy the benefits of a daily detox. At night, when it's time to relax and get ready to sleep, I enjoy my big meal with my family. It's a social event as well as a relaxing end to the day.. All the work is done and now I can be calm. I've gone up to three days without eating. I felt fine. This was mostly for spiritual reasons, but also to prove to myself that I wasn't physically limited by food.
I don't need to eat during the day, so I don't. There are physiological benefits to this as well. If you want to know more feel free to ask.
With all of this "taboo" practice, you'd think I'd be fat, out of shape. Nope. I weigh 165 pound on average, I carry between 5 and 8% body fat year round, and I have multiple physical accomplishments to brag about.
I am pressed for time right now, so I will have to save the "spiritual" side of this for another time. Please feel free to ask me any questions about anything I've stated above. Enjoy:)

Mid-day Strength Endurance

With the 24kg:

Clean + MP + Front Squat combo/ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 reps per arm

Snatch/5/5, 10/10, 15/15

H2H Swing/10, 20, 30

TGU + Windmill combo/1, 2, 1, 2

Did the whole sequence as I couyld, with as little rest as possible between exercises.

Finished with:

Calf Raises/12/12x3

Pull Up ladder
2, 3, 4, 5
2, 3, 4, 4
2, 3, 3
2, 3
2, 2
2
= 46 total

I followed the workout up with a cold water douse, and then some chicken with cheese melted on top and a couple slices of bacon. This workout was in the middle of the day to accommodate for my class and work schedule today. Hence, the eating during the day. Normally, I would have done the workout in the evening hours, after a semi-fast during the day, and then finished up with a big dinner. It was a good session though, because I used the 24kg all the way through. Last time I did the snatches with the 16kg. It took me about the same amount of time to complete as last time (around 20 minutes) so I guess all the conditioning work is paying off:)

Max VO2

Pull Ups
10x3

Alternated with

Push Ups
35x3

Snatch
16kg/15sec on, 15sec off x40

1-25: 7/7
26-40: 6/6

Hanging Leg Raises
3x3

With My BROTHER!

Dan doesn't normally work out, nor does he ever have the desire to. However, I need a case study for a school project, and he is it! He readily agreed to having me train him for at least a month, 3-4 days per week. He's a good athlete, but he needs to get in better shape. He does a lot of sitting around because he records bands, and plays in his own. While he is GREAT at what he does, that is not exactly the best lifestyle for physical fitness. Hopefully these workouts will become exciting for him and he'll want to continue to train even after the case study is done. This was our first workout. We did it together, but we each did different exercises. It was a weight circuit, with 1 minute breaks between each circuit.

Here's what I did:

HSPU x 6
Shifty Pull up x6
Pistol x 4 each
Deadlift 225lb x 6
TGU 24kg x 2 each

1 Minute break, then repeat x 5

Here's what Dan did:

Push up x 10
Bent Over Row 16kg x 5 each
Front Squat 16 kg x 8
TGU 25lb x 2 each
Swing 16kg x 15

1 Minute break, repeat x 5


Dan was hurting by the last round, but he finished it like a champ. I was extremely proud. He will definitely be in great shape after the month, doing something like this 3-4 days per week. I know that my rest periods went longer than a minute on a few of the sets because Dan was asking me questions on technique and such, and because I am his trainer, I need to deliver, even if it means sacrificing my workout time. No big deal, I don't mind at all:)

Cool Strength-Endurance Workout

Tried this and really liked it:

One arm Push UP
3/3x3

"Shifty" Pull Ups
5x5

Double Clean and Press with 24s
One rep Every 30 seconds for 30 minutes = 60 reps total

Hanging Leg Raise Hold
3x 20 seconds

Hindu Squats
x100

I really liked this workout. I wasn't sure hoe hard the C+P's would be toward the end, but I made it through the whole thing. I wasn't easy, but I think next time I will try for doubles instead of just one rep every 30 seconds. Judging by the way I felt with the singles, I probably wouldn't make the whole thirty minutes doing doubles, but that gives me something to shoot for:)
Followed it up with a cold water douse and a protein shake from BSN.

Max VO2 Workout

Tried this again and felt much better this time:

Snatch 15:15 protocol
16kg
7/7 x20
6/6 x 20

40 sets total

Push ups
35x3

Pull Ups
8x2
6x1
5x1
4x1

31 total


Followed up with a cold water douse and a Syntha-6 protein shake from BSN. I also had NO-Xplode about 45 minutes prior to my workout. I could definitely feel the energy during and after my training. I love that stuff! I felt really "in the zone," as cliche' as that sounds. Good stuff. The gym I work at got a box of free samples from BSN so I grabbed a few goodies. The protein shakes and the NO-Xplode were among them. I will definitely be buying a bucket of the NO-X very soon. I felt very pumped, but I was able to keep going at it with a lot of intensity. Good job BSN:)

Good Strength - Endurance Workout

I did this on my "strength" day of the week. I decided to make it more challenging by turning it into a quick strength - endurance session. Check it out:

Handstand Push Up/5

24kg Weighted Pull Up/3

24kg Hack Squat/5

225lb Dead Lift/5

Hanging Leg Raise/3

X 5

I did the whole series straight through with no rest. After the whole series was complete, I rested for 90-120 seconds, and then did it four more times, for a total of five. The series took me about 3 minutes to complete each time through. The whole workout was done in under 25 minutes. Chased it with a nice cold water douse in 37 degree weather and a low - carb protein shake from BSN. Good stuff:)

Ladder Workout for Conditioning

I did this ladder workout that was done at the RKC last year I think. I weigh 160 pounds, so I should have used the 16kg, but I've done that already and I felt like I could use the 24kg, so I did for most of it. All of the exercises were done back to back, with as little rest as possible between them.

Clean + Press + Front Squat combo
24kg/1, 2, 3, 4, 5 each side

Snatch
16kg/ 5, 10, 15 each side

H2H Swing
24kg/ 10, 20, 30

TGU + Windmill combo
24kg/ 1, 2, 1, 2 each side

I love this workout. It took me about 20 minutes to complete it. Ideally, I'd like to get my time down to 15 minutes or so. I didn't use a timer, I just based it on the number and length of the songs that played on the stereo while I was training. This is a great workout that hits everything with all the basic RKC exercises. I love it. Next time I'll try to use the 24kg for the snatches, or at least part of them. Feeling better about this conditioning stuff:)

Some Training...

Tried a morning workout about an hour after breakfast today...not so good.

Plank Push ups
5x5

Reverse Push ups
8x5

Pistols
25lbs/3x2
BW/3x1

Bent Press
24kg/3x3 l,r


Max VO2 Snatches, 15:15 protocol
16kg/7 l,r x20

Thats it, I was gassed. Very disappointing. I think the morning workout has to be GRADUAL. Or maybe I'm just out of shape...haha we'll see.