Trying to Pack on a Little More Bulk

Getting stronger all around never hurt anybody, and though I've been focusing on strength training for quite some time now and seeing solid improvements, I'm still reasonably light for a strength athlete.

I decided I would do another cylce of 20 rep squats to try and pack on a few pounds of lean muscle. I've had good success with this routine in the past, usually making it throough the six weeks cylce a few pounds heavier and with noticable gains in strength almost all around.

I've decided that I'll modify the routine from the original a bit to still be able to focus heavily on my other goals. I'll do the 20 rep squats twice a week and train grip and with k-bells twice a week to keep making progress toawrd the CoC #3 and achieving 200 k-bell snatches in ten minutes.

Today was the first day of the 20 rep squats and all went very well, by the end I was exhausted and had very little left in the tank - for me that's one of the signs of a good workout.

New Article Up on BMF Forum

Yesterday I put up part 3 in my series of endurance training articles for BMF Sports. Yesterdays peice gave some insight as to the potential benefits of strength training for cyclists.

The Strength to Endure Part III

Thanks for stopping in and I hope you enjoy!

New Article on TSB

This weeks discussion is about the joys of training with one of the worlds most effective tools - the keg!

From Ultimate Party Animal to Physically Fit like an Animal

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy.

No get up, get out and get moving, because no one else can do it for you!

A Much Needed Day Off

Not for training - from the day job. My wife works every other weekend (including this one) and now that my daughter is off of school I wanted to take a day where we could go out and do something as a family - get out and play.

Last night's workout focused on V-bar, Macebell and some k-bell juggling.

Started with the heavy weight

V-bar
96 X 6 Right, 6 Left
141 X 3 X 3
166 X 2 X 1
191 X 1 X bomb
201 X 1
211 X 1
216 X bomb

Macebell Swings
X 50
X 35
X 35

K-bell Juggling 16k

Freestyle (same hand flips, hand to hand flips, etc.) 3 sets X drop. The first one felt like it lasted forever, the second and third not so much.

This morning I got up early and hit some "quad squats" from the CST system and worked on some mobility movements. I feel great and am looking forward to the day ahead!

Couple Decent Workouts

It's been a few day since updates - I apologize, work's been hectic, I've had articles to write and there's been training to do!

Last night it was all snatches - a post from Josh - The World's Strongest Librarian - got me back on track with the goal of 200 snatches in 10 minutes with a 24k bell (The Secret Service Snatch Test), but since I've only currently got a 16k bell (the 24 is supposedly on its way) I put in some work with that.

I did 180 reps then noted my progress on my FB page (to which I'm apparently addicted now) then as I wrote it I realized just how big of a jump it's going to be working with a 24k bell - so I went back and hit another 80 reps.

Today was all about grippers (I still want that number 3 closed from a CCS by the end of the year). During lunch I warmed up then worked to singles with my HG300 and finished up with some negatives on the CoC #3 - then after dinner I worked the Vulcan a little before doing some strap holds with my HG250 until failure - forearms are nice and fried!

Whatever your goals are - keep at them. If you need motivation, go get it and get your butt moving, NO ONE ELSE WILL DO IT FOR YOU

Good Weekend

Hope all the Dads out there had a great Father's day - in anticipation of a busy Sunday, I moved my regular workout to Saturday night. I was looking to get in and out and get the best workout I could in a short window of available light outside before the rains were due to fall again.

I opted for Macebell Circuits

50 swings
50 Gravediggers (switch sides at 25)
50 Lateral Hops
30 Hindu Squats

Repeated the circuit three times with about a minute rest between, then I cleaned up the workout with some K-bell BUP's - 3 X 10 with each hand.

Sunday was my rest day - We took the kids, the in-laws and my Mom to the Philadelphia Zoo (my bro, sister in-law, god-daughter and brother-in-law also came along for the trip). It was a great day to be outside, the clouds kept the sun from beating down on us and it was cool enough to not be oppressive with all of the walking - everybody seemed to have a great time.

New Article Up on TSB

Hey All - there's a new article up on TSB for this week. This one gives my pick for what this summer's fitness trend/craze will be and where to get yourself the best possible programs if you want to reap the rewards.

Don't Call it a Comeback

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

Good Workout and Too much Time on the Computer

So - I'm on Facebook now, have been for about two weeks or so and I must say that I've been pleasantly surprised thus far. If someone had told me the level to which the strength community over there had grown and how much all of these incredible athletes were willing to share with one another I would have thought they were greatly exaggerating - but in two short weeks I've become "friends" with more than forty of the most innovative and influential people in all of "real world" fitness. I've learned quite a few things and was actually inspired to do an impromptu workout last night based on a few of the things that I saw on FB yesterday.

Started out with V-bar (this wasn't from inspiration on FB, I just want to get back to training this lift on a regular basis)

51 X 5 X 5
96 X 5 X 5
141 X 3 X 3
166 X 2 X 2
191 X 1 X 1
201 X 1 X Fail
211 X 1
216 X 1 (this was pretty close, didn't get it on video, but it felt like it cleared the two inches by a reasonable amount)

Most of the rest of my workout (with the exception of a few pulls on my homemade 11olb thick handle DB) was performed with no weights. Lots of push-up complexes and lower body combinations (squats, lunges, pistols, etc.) Much of what I did here was based on things that I saw in the promotional video for Zach Even-Esh's "Body Weight University" video series that was released yesterday. Admittedly this portion of my workout could have been much more structured, but it was ridiculously intense.

I used a few rounds with the heavy bag as a finisher (inspired by reading Kira Robert Clarke's workout log - he's thefightgeek on Straight to the Bar) in his log yesterday there was lots of sparring and mitt work, and it occurred to me that I hadn't hit anything in a while.

I did three 3 minute rounds using both arms and legs for striking - no rest during rounds, constant movement.

It was a fantastic workout, and I partially have Facebook to thank - Go Figure

New Article on BMF Sports

I put up part two of my series on strength training for endurance athletes over on the BMF Sports forum:

The Strength to Endure Part II

Thanks for stopping in and I hope you enjoy!

New on TSB

Well, I played around a bit with my homemade Macebell - all I can say is Holy Sh*t. One hundred swings - killer.

Anyhow, like the title says, there's a new piece of mine up on TSB.

The five best pieces of Training Equipment that will fit in the Trunk of your Car

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy.

Good Workout and a New Toy in the Making

Today's workout pretty much focused solely on k-bell juggling. I did circuits of:

10 same hand flips one each hand
10 hand to hand flips
25 two-hand flips

I waited about 60-90 seconds in between circuits and if the bell dropped I immediately picked it up to complete the desired number of reps.

I performed six of the above circuits before moving on to 3 sets of 25 anchor pulls and 3 sets of 6 TGUs on each side.

After my workout was done I set out on making a new tool to add to the repertoire. I recently read an article from Steve Maxwell about making your own Macebell on the cheap - since I don't have the $200 to lay down on an "authentic" Macebell, I decided to give Mr. Maxwell's advice a try.

Here's a picture of the homemade Macebell setting up, should be ready to use in a few days. All it took was a heavy-duty shovel handle, a bucket of Quickrete and a mini basketball. I already had the b-ball, so my total investment was about $14.00 and maybe twenty minutes - can't wait to give it a try!

This Week on TSB

New piece up on TSB, this week I talk about trying to make sense of all of the confusing information handed out on the internet regarding your diet. Check it out here...

Making Sense of it All - The Diet Edition

Thanks for stopping in, and I hope you enjoy!

Inventory Sucks but Stomach Viruses are Worse

I've got "physical inventory" coming up at my day job this week, those of you who've ever had the pleasure of working in a warehouse or retail establishment probably know my fate all too well.

It's days of prep followed by hour after hour of monotony, counting thousands and thousands of pieces of thousands and thousands of items - it promises to put a proverbial damper on my Thursday and Friday evenings (maybe very, very late evenings) and, worse case scenario, much of my Saturday afternoon as well. It wouldn't have been so bad but for Thursday being one of my intense training days - which could have been transitioned to today - enter the dreaded stomach virus...

My son (just under two, and visible in both my more recent card tearing and my most recent bending videos), came down with a nasty stomach bug yesterday evening. Poor little guy threw up more than half a dozen times since the first.

Knowing that a normal training session would be impossible this evening at home with my wife at work I opted to make my lunch hour a training session of sorts.

I managed two hundred Hindu Squats, one hundred push-ups and somewhere around thirty pull-ups before my time expired - tonight I'll hit some grippers and if time allows after I get the kids to bed maybe even a few k-bell snatches.

Sunday's Workout & New Video

Sunday was beautiful in my neck of the woods, so my workout was done completely in the backyard, and pretty much entirely with k-bells and some grippers.

30lb k-bell
100 snatches switch hands every 25 reps
100 swings switch hands every 25 reps
60 cleans switch hands every 10 reps
60 high pulls switch hands every 10 reps

16k bell
3 X 10 Bups each hand
3 X 10 snatches
3 X 10 C & P

Fifteen or so minutes of juggling - same hand flips, hand to hand flips, two hand flips etc. I finished up the k-bell portion of my workout with some BUP tosses from hand to hand and caught it on video...



Finished up the workout by hitting some sets for max reps on my HG200, working my way to 100 reps on each hand.

Good workout!

New Article up on BMF Sports

We've breached new ground over on my second home - BMF Sports now has a section devoted to endurance sports training. I know much of my training now involves feats of strength and borderline crazy activities, but I certainly spent my time in the trenches with endurance sports.

I put together a little piece on cross training, but not in the sense that most people think of it. In most cases when cross training is mentioned it's primarily in terms of strength or skill athletes working on their "wind" - in part because it's widely known that many endurance athletes don't want any parts of weight training.

Well, in The Strength to Endure, I discuss precisely the reasons that more endurance athletes should hit the weight room, have a look and let me know what you think.

Hope you Enjoy.

Good Workout Yesterday! + Tried Protyme protein powder

My hands were a little bit burnt from the recent gripper/kettlebell work, so I decided to not really do anything that would directly effect them yesterday. I opted instead on doing a bit of a variant of the old "Squats and Milk" routine, sans the milk.

I performed pretty much everything in one giant circuit with virtually no rest between the individual exercises, the weights were really nothing special but they weren't necessarily intended to be. I wanted to work intensely and quickly without stressing my hands, and I wanted to do something completely different from what I've been doing lately.

Warm-up
Squats 155 X 20
Dumbbell Pullovers 35 X 20
Stiff Legged Deadlifts 175 X 15
Dumbbell Pullovers 35 X 20
Dips bodyweight X 15
Axle Rows 90 X 12
Dips bodyweight X 15
Axle Rows 140 X 5
Dips bodyweight X 15
Axle Rows 120 X 6

Was in and out of the dungeon in about thirty five minutes, feeling great.

I'm normally not a huge supplement guy, aside from ACT energy drinks, I haven't really been taking anything, but when my sponsor BMF released Protyme protein powder I had to give it a shot. At 110 cals and 26 grams of protein with zero fat, Protyme certainly fit the bill in terms of keeping in line with my diet. I've tried a number of protein powders in the past and haven't really been a huge fan of any of them - most either didn't taste very good, or were a royal pain to mix without the use of appliances.

I was pleased to find that Protyme mixed up super easy in a simple water bottle, after just a few seconds of shaking - no lumps (that's a first from my experience.) Protyme actually tastes good as well, really good in fact - it was smooth and left no aftertaste - and for the first time that I can remember, I didn't have to force down the last of the bottle.

Props to BMF for putting together another incredible product, that delivers exactly what it promises on the label.

Thanks Bud!

Grippers and Prasara

Worked grippers for the last two nights in a similar scheme to my previously posted gripper workout:

HG150 X 100 each hand
HG200 X 50 each hand
Some Vulcan Play

I think I'll continue with this schematic through the rest of this week and then graduate to the HG200 for my initial volume set and the HG250 for the secondary volume set.

I've been practicing some poses from the Prasara Yoga book and I've learned one very important thing - when your mobility sucks yoga is a hell of a lot more difficult than it looks! I've focused on my breathing and on fluid transfers between poses that I can actually do and I am noticing a bit of a difference - my mobility is still in the toilet, but getting a little better and I don't seem to be as easily stressed at work, sothings are looking up on that avenue!

I also put in a request for a price on a twenty pound clubbell from one of the gents on the gripboard (the clubbell is another genius training modality from Prasara Yoga man Scott Sonnon), if the price is right I just may add that to my ever growing collection of grip/conditioning toys.