Today was an exceptionally sore day. I woke up this morning and my whole body ached. Yesterday was a heavy lifting day and you always pay the price the following morning. The heavy lift was a 20 rep set of heavy squats, 5x5 sets of heavy presses, and 3 x 5 sets of heavy deadlifts. I love my heavy days. I'm not always a big fan of the day after. Although, the more I hurt the next day the more satisfied I am that I worked hard enough on my heavy lifts.
Right now I am integrating my heavy lift days into my 3 days on, 1 day off CrossFit schedule. It goes METCON, Heavy, METCON, rest, repeat. For my METCON (metabolic conditioning) days I just take a workout off the CrossFit site. For my heavy days I alternate workouts based on the Dinosaur Training method. Heavy workout 1 consists of squats, presses, and deadlifts. Heavy workout 2 consists of cleans, bench press, and heavy curls. I also do tough grip training on my heavy days. I've started getting great results from this METCON/Dinosaur mix.
The constant struggle I now face is finding the balance between hard work and over training. Today was verging on over training. Today I did a METCON that consisted of a 1 mile run followed by 2 minutes each of pushups, pullups, squats, burpees, and situps. The 10 minutes of bodyweight exercises started immediately after the run with no rest between exercises. The workout did not go well. My legs felt like they were made of cement during most of the run and my shoulders and legs were so sore that I couldn't do half the number of pushups and squats that I am usually able to perform. I was dragging so much that I really don't think I got a whole lot out of the workout. I got my heart rate up, but I wasn't able to push hard enough to really break a sweat. I may have to start replacing my post heavy day METCON with a long, slow run instead. Either that or I may just have to take an extra day off every once in a while.
No matter how, when, or if I choose to adjust my routine...I will always be sore. Sore is the name of the game. If I'm not sore, then I didn't put enough weight on the bar. I look forward to feeling sore the rest of my life. As I get stronger and become a more advanced lifter my body will probably get less sore, but the pain will be there. It will serve as a constant reminder that everything worthwhile comes with a price.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The Death Set
OK. I'm adding a new aspect to my workouts. I'm starting to do single, heavy sets in certain exercises. The single set consists of 20 reps of a very heavy weight. It is intended to push you past your limits and force your body into thinking that you are putting so much stress on it that it must grow stronger or die. Today I did a set of squats, press, and deadlifts. Here is basically how it went:
I step under the bar to begin my 20 reps of squats. I get my mind ready and lift the weight off the rack. The first four reps are heavy, but manageable. By rep five I'm starting to think there is a chance I won't make it to 20. I hit rep 10 and my legs are shaking. My body is telling me to stop and that there is no way I can drop into a full squat without falling over. I start to believe my body is right at about rep 13. I'm getting stuck at the bottom of the lift. Each rep becomes a drop into the full squat and then a 6-7 second battle to get the bar moving up again. My face is purple. I'm fighting hard to keep good form, but I'm losing control of my body. My grunts become full growls at about 16 reps. People are probably looking at me funny, but my peripheral vision is beginning to black out and I can't see anything but the wall in front of me. The last two reps seem like they take minutes each. When all is said and done the bar is back on the rack, but crooked. I don't have enough energy to fix it. I'm laying on my back looking at the ceiling tiles. My vision starts to refocus and after a few minutes on the floor my breathing is back to normal.
Needless to say I took about a 10 minute break before moving on to my next exercise. The press and deadlift sets were hard, but not compared to the squat. The funny thing is that I don't think I pushed myself as hard as I could have on the squats. I took a few seconds here and there to rest during the 20 reps. The hardest aspect of the set was overcoming my own body's desire to stop.
20 rep squats suck. They are agonizingly painful and mentally more demanding than any other workout I've ever done. I hate them. I absolutely despise them. I can't wait to try again next week.
I step under the bar to begin my 20 reps of squats. I get my mind ready and lift the weight off the rack. The first four reps are heavy, but manageable. By rep five I'm starting to think there is a chance I won't make it to 20. I hit rep 10 and my legs are shaking. My body is telling me to stop and that there is no way I can drop into a full squat without falling over. I start to believe my body is right at about rep 13. I'm getting stuck at the bottom of the lift. Each rep becomes a drop into the full squat and then a 6-7 second battle to get the bar moving up again. My face is purple. I'm fighting hard to keep good form, but I'm losing control of my body. My grunts become full growls at about 16 reps. People are probably looking at me funny, but my peripheral vision is beginning to black out and I can't see anything but the wall in front of me. The last two reps seem like they take minutes each. When all is said and done the bar is back on the rack, but crooked. I don't have enough energy to fix it. I'm laying on my back looking at the ceiling tiles. My vision starts to refocus and after a few minutes on the floor my breathing is back to normal.
Needless to say I took about a 10 minute break before moving on to my next exercise. The press and deadlift sets were hard, but not compared to the squat. The funny thing is that I don't think I pushed myself as hard as I could have on the squats. I took a few seconds here and there to rest during the 20 reps. The hardest aspect of the set was overcoming my own body's desire to stop.
20 rep squats suck. They are agonizingly painful and mentally more demanding than any other workout I've ever done. I hate them. I absolutely despise them. I can't wait to try again next week.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Become a Dinosaur
I got a great book in the mail yesterday. It's called Dinosaur Training , by Brooks Kubik, and it will change your life. After reading the first few chapters I realized that this book is perhaps the first truly honest, no-holds-barred book I've read about strength training. Kubik focuses on what he calls the Golden Age of strength training, which is basically the first half of the 20th century. This was the time before bodybuilding, steroids, and chrome plated weight machines became the rage of American fitness (or lack there of). This was the time where strength athletes accomplished amazing feats of physical performance through guts and a no-excuses training mentality. This was the time of the dinosaurs. Reading this book will not only inspire you and educate you with stories of the old school strongmen, but will show you how utterly ridiculous a lot of today's fitness ideas are when compared to the Golden Age. It will change the way you think and train.
Kubik shows you a lot of great ways to build strength, but he does not limit you to any training method. He focuses more on the mind set and training mentality you need to truly gain strength. You can read his book and decide to either use one of his suggested workout routines or apply his mentality to your current workouts. Either way, you'll be amazed at how awesome you'll feel and the strength gains you'll make. I personally have applied his hard core training philosophy to my CrossFit regimen, with amazing results. I didn't think CrossFit could get any better, but by tweaking it a little and focusing on very heavy weights I have taken my workouts to a whole new level.
Kubik's book isn't the only good read out there. If you want another great book, try Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. It is a great look at powerlifting and it gives in-depth lessons on how to properly perform the classic lifts. This is the book that taught me how to safely and effectively do squats, which led to great gains in total body strength. If you combine the technical expertise of Mark Rippetoe with the overall motivation and hard-core philosophy of Brooks Kubik, you will be on the right path to building gorilla strength.
I'm sure there are other old-school strength coaches out there that I don't know about. If you know of any, let me know. I am a firm believer in learning as much about the physical culture as possible. Never stop learning and never stop adding weight to the bar. huh. I like that phrase. OK, that phrase is officially mine. If you use it, you'd better quote me.
Kubik shows you a lot of great ways to build strength, but he does not limit you to any training method. He focuses more on the mind set and training mentality you need to truly gain strength. You can read his book and decide to either use one of his suggested workout routines or apply his mentality to your current workouts. Either way, you'll be amazed at how awesome you'll feel and the strength gains you'll make. I personally have applied his hard core training philosophy to my CrossFit regimen, with amazing results. I didn't think CrossFit could get any better, but by tweaking it a little and focusing on very heavy weights I have taken my workouts to a whole new level.
Kubik's book isn't the only good read out there. If you want another great book, try Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. It is a great look at powerlifting and it gives in-depth lessons on how to properly perform the classic lifts. This is the book that taught me how to safely and effectively do squats, which led to great gains in total body strength. If you combine the technical expertise of Mark Rippetoe with the overall motivation and hard-core philosophy of Brooks Kubik, you will be on the right path to building gorilla strength.
I'm sure there are other old-school strength coaches out there that I don't know about. If you know of any, let me know. I am a firm believer in learning as much about the physical culture as possible. Never stop learning and never stop adding weight to the bar. huh. I like that phrase. OK, that phrase is officially mine. If you use it, you'd better quote me.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
A woman of strength
My wife is a very active and healthy person. She does yoga and walks miles a day. I have been trying to convince her to add strength workouts to her routine for a while, but with little success. Not that I can blame her. If I had her body, I would look in the mirror and say "what I'm doing seems to be working pretty damn well." Like most women I've known, my wife hears the words "strength workout" and immediately thinks "I don't want to get big." I keep telling her that gaining strength is not going to turn her into one of those crazy female bodybuilders. Never think bodybuilders equal strength!
On a side note, I hate bodybuilders. I think bodybuilding is the worst thing to happen to the fitness community in the history of the world. Bodybuilders do not workout for strength, but for size. Pound for pound, bodybuilders are some of the weakest athletes in the world. On the other hand, power lifters and gymnasts are by far the strongest athletes. I'm not talking those fat power lifters who look more like meatballs than men, but real power lifters. The kind that weigh 180 and deadlift 400. Do female gymnasts and power lifters look like testosterone induced monsters? hell no! They are tight, lean, and super strong. If you want a lean and sexy body, train for strength. And remember, a vast majority of the crazy bodybuilders in the world owe their success to steroids. So avoid the juice and those worthless "pump" workouts.
OK, back to the real topic. I finally convinced my better half that she wouldn't become a super monster if she added some strength work into her life. Last night she took the plunge and I put her through her first strength workout. It was all body weight stuff. We did push ups, pull-ups, and body weight squats (box squats to help her knees). We did a tough circuit routine of 5 reps each for the push ups and pull ups and 20 reps for the squats. After 4 rotations around the circuit she had a whole new perspective on what strength means. She's gonna be sore today, but that's good. She has today to recover before the next strength workout.
For the next 5 weeks she's going to do body weight strength work on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She'll do yoga and a long walk on Tuesday and Thursday, and have the weekends off. I guarantee that 5 weeks from now she'll feel great. Knowing her, she'll probably be ripped after just 5 weeks....damn Mediterranean genetics!!! Hey, what am I complaining about? She's my wife! hellllll yeaaaaah.
On a side note, I hate bodybuilders. I think bodybuilding is the worst thing to happen to the fitness community in the history of the world. Bodybuilders do not workout for strength, but for size. Pound for pound, bodybuilders are some of the weakest athletes in the world. On the other hand, power lifters and gymnasts are by far the strongest athletes. I'm not talking those fat power lifters who look more like meatballs than men, but real power lifters. The kind that weigh 180 and deadlift 400. Do female gymnasts and power lifters look like testosterone induced monsters? hell no! They are tight, lean, and super strong. If you want a lean and sexy body, train for strength. And remember, a vast majority of the crazy bodybuilders in the world owe their success to steroids. So avoid the juice and those worthless "pump" workouts.
OK, back to the real topic. I finally convinced my better half that she wouldn't become a super monster if she added some strength work into her life. Last night she took the plunge and I put her through her first strength workout. It was all body weight stuff. We did push ups, pull-ups, and body weight squats (box squats to help her knees). We did a tough circuit routine of 5 reps each for the push ups and pull ups and 20 reps for the squats. After 4 rotations around the circuit she had a whole new perspective on what strength means. She's gonna be sore today, but that's good. She has today to recover before the next strength workout.
For the next 5 weeks she's going to do body weight strength work on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She'll do yoga and a long walk on Tuesday and Thursday, and have the weekends off. I guarantee that 5 weeks from now she'll feel great. Knowing her, she'll probably be ripped after just 5 weeks....damn Mediterranean genetics!!! Hey, what am I complaining about? She's my wife! hellllll yeaaaaah.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Attacking weakness
This morning my CrossFit workout consisted of seven sets of overhead squats. If you are not familiar with the overhead squat, it is a squat with the weight held over your head (yeah, pretty self explanatory). In the past couple months I have been focusing hard on the regular squat and have been making some good gains. However, I have been neglecting my overhead work. Well, that neglect showed today. As I went up in weight my shoulders where the first thing to give out. My legs and back had plenty left, but I just couldn't keep the weight over my head during the exercise.
So it's time to kick my overhead strength back into gear. One of CrossFit's points of emphasis is that if you work hard on an area of weakness, your overall performance will greatly improve. If you can't do pull-ups attack them with all your might and not only will you get better at pull-ups, but your push-up ability will probably improve as well. If there is one thing I have learned through reading fitness material and experience, it is that the body cannot be separated into different parts. Your body is a single working machine. The theory of isolation exercises is a joke. Your muscles are meant to work as a team. If you want to exert more force with your chest, flex the rest of your body. Just by tightening your back, abs, and legs your chest, shoulders, and arms will contract harder and exert more power. Try it. It works.
By attacking a weak muscle group you will make it stronger and allow it to aid other muscle groups during their efforts. So I am going to attack my overhead strength. It's time to go back to my overhead squats, handstands, and handstand push ups. I should never have let them slide in the first place. Overhead squats are the hardest type of squats, so I should have been doing them all along. Handstands are great for balance and overall body strength, and I dare you to find a pressing exercise more demanding than the handstand push up. So, if you run into me and my face is red you'll know it's because I've been spending a lot of time upside-down.
So it's time to kick my overhead strength back into gear. One of CrossFit's points of emphasis is that if you work hard on an area of weakness, your overall performance will greatly improve. If you can't do pull-ups attack them with all your might and not only will you get better at pull-ups, but your push-up ability will probably improve as well. If there is one thing I have learned through reading fitness material and experience, it is that the body cannot be separated into different parts. Your body is a single working machine. The theory of isolation exercises is a joke. Your muscles are meant to work as a team. If you want to exert more force with your chest, flex the rest of your body. Just by tightening your back, abs, and legs your chest, shoulders, and arms will contract harder and exert more power. Try it. It works.
By attacking a weak muscle group you will make it stronger and allow it to aid other muscle groups during their efforts. So I am going to attack my overhead strength. It's time to go back to my overhead squats, handstands, and handstand push ups. I should never have let them slide in the first place. Overhead squats are the hardest type of squats, so I should have been doing them all along. Handstands are great for balance and overall body strength, and I dare you to find a pressing exercise more demanding than the handstand push up. So, if you run into me and my face is red you'll know it's because I've been spending a lot of time upside-down.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Gym Social Hour
In the 82nd Airborne Division, we do physical training every morning from 6:30 to 8:00 am. Most people spend this workout time jogging down the street. I like to do as many workouts as possible outside, but I have to do my Olympic and power lifting workouts in the gym. The gym is usually fairly empty, except for rainy days.
Today was a rainy day. I HATE rainy days. Rainy days bring everyone inside to the gym. So today the gym was overcrowded with a bunch of people who use the gym as a social gathering, and not a training center. They spend an hour standing around in groups talking about god knows what. Every once in a while they may knock out a "super intense" set of concentration curls or something equally worthless. They take up space, air, and equipment that serious lifters could be using.
The worst thing about social lifters is that they try to distract you. They come over and try to start a conversation with you. I don't talk when I'm working out. I don't do anything that will take my focus away from the exercise. I used to complete my set and then talk to the person so they would stop bugging me, but that took away my concentration and my next set would suffer. Now I just avoid the whole conversation. I avoid it by looking very angry. Every time I work out in a public gym I put on the angriest face I can muster. The angrier people think you are, the less likely they are to come over and talk to you. If the angry face doesn't deter gym pests, then I resort to the "stare of death." My wife can attest to my exceptional ability to tell someone to go away with a single look.
Sure...People call me anti-social in the gym. Sure...people think I ignore them. They're right. I am anti-social in the gym, but while I'm pushing myself during each and every set they are standing there talking. Five years from now I'll be bigger, stronger, and faster. They'll still be talking.
Today was a rainy day. I HATE rainy days. Rainy days bring everyone inside to the gym. So today the gym was overcrowded with a bunch of people who use the gym as a social gathering, and not a training center. They spend an hour standing around in groups talking about god knows what. Every once in a while they may knock out a "super intense" set of concentration curls or something equally worthless. They take up space, air, and equipment that serious lifters could be using.
The worst thing about social lifters is that they try to distract you. They come over and try to start a conversation with you. I don't talk when I'm working out. I don't do anything that will take my focus away from the exercise. I used to complete my set and then talk to the person so they would stop bugging me, but that took away my concentration and my next set would suffer. Now I just avoid the whole conversation. I avoid it by looking very angry. Every time I work out in a public gym I put on the angriest face I can muster. The angrier people think you are, the less likely they are to come over and talk to you. If the angry face doesn't deter gym pests, then I resort to the "stare of death." My wife can attest to my exceptional ability to tell someone to go away with a single look.
Sure...People call me anti-social in the gym. Sure...people think I ignore them. They're right. I am anti-social in the gym, but while I'm pushing myself during each and every set they are standing there talking. Five years from now I'll be bigger, stronger, and faster. They'll still be talking.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
How I Started
In the last two years, my physical fitness and overall health have increased incredibly. I've been in pretty good shape since my high school days, but nothing compared to what I am now. My transformation began back in 2006 when I discovered CrossFit.
CrossFit is an incredible fitness philosophy that has swept across the military, police, and fire department circles in recent years. I could go more in-depth into what CrossFit is, but you'll get a much better answer here. Since starting CrossFit, I have seen almost non-stop gains in my physical performance and appearance. I feel healthier, stronger, faster, and more agile than ever before. If I could recommend one training method to you, it would be CrossFit.
Besides CrossFit, three people have shaped by life's hard routine. First, my wife. Diet has forever been the weakest aspect of my fitness. During my youth and (brief) bachelor period, I ate absolute crap. In fact, during the months that I was in Infantry Officer Basic Course, I ate nothing but Chinese delivery. I would order two large meals at night and the left-overs would become my breakfast and lunch for the following day. During that period, I was working out five days a week and doing military field training. However, despite my intense physical activity I constantly felt sluggish and heavy.
Luckily, my wife didn't let me continue down this culinary path of destruction. After only a few months of gentle "reminders" and "suggestions," my diet had improved greatly. I was eating home cooked meals and enjoying fresh veggies and fruits. I had a Chinese food session every month or so, but that was it. The difference this change had on my overall health and fitness was amazing. I felt fitter, lighter, and all around better.
I was so convinced about the importance of food that now I am the picky eater in the family. I hold myself (and my wife) to a very healthy standard and have even given up meat. I still eat plenty of fish, but the impact of no meat has been remarkable. What CrossFit did to my workout philosophy, my wife did to my diet philosophy.
The two other people who have shaped my hard routine are Pavel Tsatsouline and Brooks Kubik. Pavel is a former Russian special forces soldier who was instrumental in bringing kettlebell workouts to the US. Kettlebells are old style Russian weights that consist of a large iron ball with a handle. They are cheap in comparison to normal weight sets and brutally effective.
Brooks Kubik is the most recent contributor to my hard routine life. He has helped bring back the training techniques of the old-school strongmen. His program is called "Dinosaur Training" and it will set you on the path to brute strength. He is also a very motivational trainer. His lessons and stories have taken me to a new level of dedication and passion for my fitness. Whenever I feel like I'm losing focus or dedication, I turn to Kubik. Five minutes of listening to his "Dinosaur Mind Power" CDs and I'm back on the hard routine path.
These are the people and things that have shaped my fitness. Check in to future posts to see how they, and those like them, will continue to guide me in my quest to becoming an unstoppable beast of a man.
CrossFit is an incredible fitness philosophy that has swept across the military, police, and fire department circles in recent years. I could go more in-depth into what CrossFit is, but you'll get a much better answer here. Since starting CrossFit, I have seen almost non-stop gains in my physical performance and appearance. I feel healthier, stronger, faster, and more agile than ever before. If I could recommend one training method to you, it would be CrossFit.
Besides CrossFit, three people have shaped by life's hard routine. First, my wife. Diet has forever been the weakest aspect of my fitness. During my youth and (brief) bachelor period, I ate absolute crap. In fact, during the months that I was in Infantry Officer Basic Course, I ate nothing but Chinese delivery. I would order two large meals at night and the left-overs would become my breakfast and lunch for the following day. During that period, I was working out five days a week and doing military field training. However, despite my intense physical activity I constantly felt sluggish and heavy.
Luckily, my wife didn't let me continue down this culinary path of destruction. After only a few months of gentle "reminders" and "suggestions," my diet had improved greatly. I was eating home cooked meals and enjoying fresh veggies and fruits. I had a Chinese food session every month or so, but that was it. The difference this change had on my overall health and fitness was amazing. I felt fitter, lighter, and all around better.
I was so convinced about the importance of food that now I am the picky eater in the family. I hold myself (and my wife) to a very healthy standard and have even given up meat. I still eat plenty of fish, but the impact of no meat has been remarkable. What CrossFit did to my workout philosophy, my wife did to my diet philosophy.
The two other people who have shaped my hard routine are Pavel Tsatsouline and Brooks Kubik. Pavel is a former Russian special forces soldier who was instrumental in bringing kettlebell workouts to the US. Kettlebells are old style Russian weights that consist of a large iron ball with a handle. They are cheap in comparison to normal weight sets and brutally effective.
Brooks Kubik is the most recent contributor to my hard routine life. He has helped bring back the training techniques of the old-school strongmen. His program is called "Dinosaur Training" and it will set you on the path to brute strength. He is also a very motivational trainer. His lessons and stories have taken me to a new level of dedication and passion for my fitness. Whenever I feel like I'm losing focus or dedication, I turn to Kubik. Five minutes of listening to his "Dinosaur Mind Power" CDs and I'm back on the hard routine path.
These are the people and things that have shaped my fitness. Check in to future posts to see how they, and those like them, will continue to guide me in my quest to becoming an unstoppable beast of a man.
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