Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Jim Wendler Interview

Click here for an interview from Jim Wendler. Keep in mind that Jim Wendler doesn't censor himself.

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Sots Presses

Sled Drags

Barbell Complex
Complete 3 Rounds of 6 repetitions of the following resting 90 seconds between attempts.
Hang Snatch
Overhead Squat
Back Squat
Good Mornings
Row
Deadlift

Post loads to comments

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Alex was nice enough to name our Prowler the "Red Demon".

Pocket Hercules



Stone Work

Split Jerk
8x2 @ 65%

Double Alternating Tabata
Conditioning Rope
KBS (Men use 32k/Women use 24K)

Score is lowest completed KBS. Rope cannot stop moving.

Post loads and scores to comments.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Strongman Training

t may not be for everyone, but strongman training might have a place in your routine, whether you are a powerlifter, bodybuilder or just a general lifter. EFS sponsored athlete Josh Bryant has one such story to prove how vital it was to his transformation.

“I had positive changes in my physique with no changes in my diet,” Bryant said. “I got leaner and my biceps were better, just because of picking up stones and fickle fingers. It just shows that compound exercises are the ones that make you grow.”

When Bryant was living in California, he was searching left and right for training partners, finally finding some capable ones 100 miles away.

In addition to squatting, they were also into strongman training, so Bryant gave it a try. At first, he couldn’t lift a 200-pound stone, but within a week he was doing a 400-pound stone with ease.

“It was all technique work,” Bryant said.

Read the rest here at Elite FTS

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He's not sunburnt on his face, he's just PR'ing on the Press.


Box Step Ups

Overhead Squats
3x5

Curls
3x3

Rest 5 minutes then
5 Prowler Pushes

Pick a weight and GO!!

Post loads to comments

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This is key to improving leg strength.

Rob Orlando

"Rob Orlando doesn't weigh and measure. He eats the souls of those he has bested."

"Rob Orlando swallowed a thousand souls, then unleashed their screams when he clean and jerked 300 3 times at the Regionals."


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30 Minutes at 245#


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We all remember our first time with the Prowler


PNF Hip Flexor Stretch and T-Test

M.E. Shoulder Press

Rest 5 minutes then

5 3 Minute AMRAP cycles of

3 Power Cleans (Men use 155#/ Women use 103#)
6 Clapping Push Ups
9 Jumping Squats

Post loads and total rounds completed to comments

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Ocala Scottish Highland Games

In 1057 King Malcolm Ceanmore began his reign, and was credited with initiating crude forms of the Scottish Highland Games' athletic competition that we are see today. He developed them as a means of improving the abilities of his military. Scottish men have tested their strength against each other at Highland gatherings for centuries. By the sixteenth century the games had become festive occasions drawing large crowds of spectators. Even though they had become crowd pleasers they were still utilized for leaders to find the best of the best.

The evolution of the equipment currently used for the Highland Games began with items locally available to the early Scotsman. The woodsmen produced the Gaelic or cader (tree) for their event. While the blacksmith's hammer or mall for driving fence posts was what is now called the 22 pound hammer. Steelyard weights weighing 28 pound and 56 pound were used to throw for height and distance. The agricultural region is likely the origin of the sheaf toss. The clachneart stone was originally derived from a rounded riverbed stone.

In today's Scottish Highland Games athletes combine strength, skill and endurance to compete in these time-honored events. In the spirit of the affable Scot, these competitors combine the attributes of the athlete with the fellowship of clansmen to promote and perpetrate the heart of the Scottish Festival, the Highland Games.

Read the rest here. Let me know if you are interested in competing for fun, I am.


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We're working up to tall buildings in a single bound.

400m Med Ball Run

Turkish Get Ups

Rest 5 minutes then
3 Rounds for time
10 Muscle Ups
10 Burpees

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Alwyn Cosgrove



One Arm Farmer's Walk

Kettlebell Squat Jumps
10x2

Push Up Challenge
From a standing position drop down and do 1 push up
Stand back up, then drop down and do 2 push ups
Repeat until you get to 10 push ups.

The goal is less than 2 minutes

Post times to comments

Bonus: Row 500m

Monday, June 21, 2010

Dots



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Sine waves in the rope = sore shoulders and arms

WoD:
Weighted Box Jumps

Weighted Dips
3x2

Rest 5 minutes then
3 Rounds for time
10 Strict Pull Ups
10 Swings (Men use 32K/Women use 24#)
30 Double Unders

Post loads and times to comments

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Arete

Arete (Greek: ἀρετή; pronounced /ˈærəteɪ/ in English), in its basic sense, means goodness, excellence, or virtue of any kind. In its earliest appearance in Greek, this notion of excellence was ultimately bound up with the notion of the fulfillment of purpose or function: the act of living up to one's full potential. Arete in ancient Greek culture was courage and strength in the face of adversity and it was to what all people aspired.

Read the rest here at Wikipedia

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4,600 total pounds moved

WoD:
Conditioning Rope

M.E. Snatch

Rest 5 minutes then
Tabata Front Squats (Men use 95#/Women use 63#)

Score is total number of reps completed

Post loads and times to comments

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Face Pulls

The face pull may be the most underrated exercise in all of strength training. It falls into the horizontal pull category, but where rows potentially promote a downward scapular rotation syndrome and internal rotation of the shoulder joint, the face pull can do just the opposite.

Because the shoulder is either flexed or abducted 90 degrees throughout the face pull, the scapula is in upward rotation to some degree. Right away this gives us greater activation of the upward rotators, especially the upper and lower trapezius. The upward rotation offsets the pull of the downward rotators and helps prevent the development of the downward rotation dominant imbalance.

Now let's look at face pull performance. Traditionally, the face pull is performed with a rope handle or strap and a pronated grip.

Read the rest of this article here. Look 3/4 of the way down the page for the write up on face pulls.

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Joel carrying "Judy". I'm somewhat partial to this exercise for some reason...

WoD:
Face Pulls
3x10

20 Rep Squats

Rest 5 minutes then
2-3-5-10
Clean two Kettlebells once and press for the specified reps
Rest briefly between attempts

Post loads and times to comments

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

"A bigger engine does not make the car go slower" - Mark Rippetoe

So you wanna put on some lean muscle mass. And you want to do it within the context of the Primal Blueprint, but aren’t sure where to start. It’s a common question and it’s about time I addressed it head on.

As I’ve made pretty clear, our ultimate goal is to achieve positivegene expression, functional strength, optimum health, and extended longevity. In other words: To make the most out of the particular gene set you inherited. These are my end goals, and I’ve modeled the PB Laws with them in mind. But that doesn’t mean packing on extra muscle can’t happen with additional input. After I retired from a life of chronic cardio and started living Primally, I added 15 pounds of muscle, while keeping low body fat levels without really trying, so it’s absolutely possible for a hardgainer to gain some. The question is how much and at what expense?

I’d be the first to tell you that lean body mass is healthier than adipose tissue. Generally, the more lean mass a person has, the longer and better they live. But to increase mass at the expense of agility, strength, or speed is, in my opinion, counterproductive. What would Grokdo – go for enormous biceps or the ability to haul a carcass back to camp? Unless you’re a bodybuilder (nothing wrong with that, mind you; it’s just not my focus), I can’t advise simply packing on size without a proportional increase in actual strength. Those bulging biceps might look good on the beach, but then again, so does the body that comes with keeping up with the younger guys, knocking out twenty pull-ups in a row, and lifting twice your bodyweight. Form is best paired with a healthy serving of function. The two are quite delicious together, and, luckily, following the PB allows us to get both without sacrificing either.

Read the rest of this article here.

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Vivi's first of many box jumps.

WoD:
"Judy"

Rest 5 minutes then

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Swings (Men use 24k/Women use 16k)
Ring Dips

Post loads and times to comments

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Explosive Power



WoD:
Max Effort L-Sit

Hang Power Snatch
10x2 @ 60%

Rest 5 minutes then
5 Rounds for time
5 Box Jumps (Men use 28"/Women use 22")
10 Clapping Push ups

Post loads and times to comments

Monday, June 14, 2010

Lessons From A Wino

**Only if you are of legal age. This information is provided only for health purposes.**

The medical profession has recognized the healthful and nutritive properties of wine for thousands of years. Hippocrates recommended specific wines to purge fever, disinfect and dress wounds, as diuretics, or for nutritional supplements, around 450 B.C. A French doctor wrote the earliest known printed book about wine around 1410 A.D.

Most of the pathogens that threaten humans are inhibited or killed off by the acids and alcohols in wine. Because of this, wine was considered to be a safer drink than much of the available water up until the 18th century.

Wine is a mild natural tranquilizer, serving to reduce anxiety and tension. As part of a normal diet, wine provides the body with energy, with substances that aid digestion, and with small amounts of minerals and vitamins. It can also stimulate the appetite. In addition, wine serves to restore nutritional balance, relieve tension, sedate and act as a mild euphoric agent to the convalescent and especially the aged.

Read the rest of this article here


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Alex refusing to be a "Boisclair".

WoD:
Powermetric Pull Ups
2x8

Rest 5 minutes then
"Southwood High School Complex"
3 Sets of the Complex in descending order 8-6-4
Power Clean
Shoulder Press
Front Squat

Rest 90 seconds between each set

Post loads to comments.

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Fighting through the Muscle Up progressions.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

"Do This, Not That!"

The little dude sitting beside me at the Dan John seminar looked like he'd just been spanked by his mommy with an extension cord.

Poor guy had raised his scrawny arm like a kid in an elementary school classroom and asked Dan a question about NO2 supplements. Dan took a deep breath and, in his very best you've-really-disappointed-daddy voice, gave the kid The Lecture.

The Lecture can be summed up like this: "Don't even ask me about THAT unless you're first doing THIS!"

Turns out the kid didn't even know how much protein he was getting per day, an issue he should have taken care of before worrying about any ancillary supplement, especially one as questionable as NO2.

Read the rest of this article here

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"Holy s#%t, that's only a third of it."

WoD:
Knee Jumps

M.E. Overhead Squat

Rest 5 minutes then
4 Rounds for time
Run 400m
5 Muscle Ups

Post loads and times to comments

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Curls...Do Them

After years of discounting the practice, I’m about to do something I didn’t think I’d ever do. I’m going to do a public about-face and not only endorse but encourage direct biceps work as an integral component of your training, irrespective of your goal. And no, I haven’t been hanging around the Jersey Shore.

But first, a preamble…I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve called John Berardi a brother, mentor, best friend, and business partner for the last ten years. I work in a market segment that’s growing in number and girth, and I’ve grown up and now practice during a period of robust exercise study, theory, and application.

It’s a painful irony that the world continues to get fatter, sicker, and less fit as we get better at what we do, but our grasp on creating whole body transformations has never been more effective. And I fortunately fell in love with the field just as the grip tightened.

Read the rest of this article here at EliteFTS



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Practicing the Turkish Get Up with a shoe teaches proper shoulder/arm position

WoD:
Reaction Ball

Thrusters (Not timed)
10-20-30
Pick a weight for each don't set the bar down.

Curls
2x6

Post loads to comments

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

High Fructose Corn Syrup




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A demonstration of a proper Front Squat to a box. Weight is on the heels, knees are tracking over the second toe, shins are vertical, elbows high, the bar is across the clavicles with the fingers open, and the back is arched.

WoD:
Med Ball Passes

Turkish Get Ups

Rest 5 minutes then
4 Rounds
Broad Jumps
5 Handstand Push Ups

Post times to comments

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Fighting Fitness

  1. You can't out condition the dinner table.

    If you don't believe this, try the following experiment.
    Eat your favorite snack (junk food). Time yourself to see how long it took to eat, most likely 2-minutes. Then check how many calories it is, Say 250. Now get on a treadmill and see how long it takes to burn those calories. I think you will agree this is not a viable method to get rid of excess calories, so start your exercise by pushing yourself away from the dinner table and save your energy for more productive training.

  2. Joint mobility comes before flexibility or agility.

    Before you can be truly flexible you have to be able to get your joints through a full range of motion. Start your days with super joints.

  3. Pure strength or what Pavel calls "slow strength".

    The ability to generate maximum tension over a given period of time. I think this is the missing link in 95% of the strength and conditioning programs being used by fighters. The programs that they do use should be called conditioning and more conditioning routines, because they never work on pure strength. Whether you use your bodyweight, a barbell or kettlebells the protocol is the same. Slow grinding movements with maximum resistance in a low repetition range with a long rest interval.

  4. Spinal decompression.

    If you are performing these heavy grinding lifts you should finish your training session with a spinal decompression exercise.
    You can hang off a pull up bar or hang by your feet with inversion boots. I can't give you the scientific reasons behind the effectiveness of this drill, but I can honesty say it has helped every single athletic I have shown it to.

  5. "Grease the groove".

    This the most effective method of strength training for a fighter. In my opinion the only productive way a fighter can effectively increase his overall strength without over training. (See The Naked Warrior —Ed.)

  6. Flexibility.

    You only need slightly more flexibility than your sport requires so forget the 104-degree yoga class.

  7. Power.

    Is strength times speed, so unless you are already super strong, don't talk to me about plyos.

  8. Never work out, instead practice.

    Webster's dictionary defines practice as repeated exercise to improve a skill. Sweat is a by-product of practices not the purpose, try to remember this the next time you are training.

  9. The ladder

    The best way to increase exercise volume without it turning into a mindless workout. (See Enter the Kettlebell! —Ed.)

  10. More is not better, it's just more.

    Focus on what you need to improve on not what you like to do, they are rarely the same things.
I'm not quite in agreement with some of these, but it's still good.

Read the rest here at Dragon Door


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The parachute is a double edged sword. It forces you to run faster while slowing you down.

WoD:
Box Hurdles

Front Squat
2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2 @ 65%

Rest 5 minutes then
3 Rounds for time
5 Deadlifts (Men use 315#/Women use 208)
10 Alternating 1 Arm Swings (Men use 24k/Women use 16k) *Juggle if you dare
15 Knees to Elbows

Post loads and times to comments

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Danny fighting through his first Burpees

Monday, June 7, 2010

Human Weapon

Good luck to everyone trying out on the SWAT Assessments tomorrow!



WoD:
Parachute Sprints

Weighted Dips
2x4

Rest 5 minutes then
5 Rounds for time
5 Push Jerks (Men use 135#/Women use 88#)
10 Burpees

Post loads and times to comments

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Box Squats, A Love Affair.

Box Squatting

By: Louie Simmons

Box squatting is the most effective method to produce a first-rate squat. This is, in my opinion, the safest way to squat because you don't use as much weight as you would with a regular squat.

Let me say first that, no, they won't hurt your spine, you don't use1000 lbs. on a 25 inch tall box, you don't rock on the box, you don't touch and go, and there is no need to do regular power squats before a meet. No knee wraps are worn nor are the straps of the suit pulled up.

By doing sets of 2 reps for at least 8 sets with short rest periods, you will get about a 200 lb. carryover to your regular squat. Two of our lifters finished their lifting cycle before a meet with 8 sets of 2 reps with 505 lbs. off a slightly below parallel box, and both squatted 700 for a meet PR One was competing in the 242s and the other as a 275. Two years before, in his first meet, our 275 pounder squatted 465 - quite an improvement!

Read the rest here. Taken from Louie Simmons' Westside Barbell training articles.

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Our resident ballerina

WoD:
M.E. Clean

Rest 5 minutes then
5 Minute Snatch Test
Men use 24k/Women use 16k
The goal is 100 repetitions

Post loads and reps completed to comments.


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Release your inner Chi

Thursday, June 3, 2010

"Why Should You Not Swing Higher Than Your Chest?"

"Why not swing higher?-Because many sports (boxing, martial arts, football, shot put, etc.) demand that you project your force forward. And because inexpert high swings encourage injuries by the way of jamming the shoulders through a lack of thoracic mobility, aggravating the neck, hyperextending the lower back, etc.

Project your swing proper forward, like a straight punch to the solar plexus. Look at the horizon, not the ceiling.

And if your sport is Olympic weightlifting or Highland games-snatch. 'The snatch is an exercise in elevating the energy, the swing is an exercise in projecting the energy forward,' clarifies Brett Jones, Master RKC. 'If we want to elevate-we will snatch." - Taken from Dragon Door's HKC manual.

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Joel's first taste of Good Mornings.

WoD:
Single leg Deadlifts

Shoulder Press
5 @ 75%
3 @ 85%
Max Reps at 95%

Rest 5 minutes then
Double Alternating Tabata
Swings (Men use 24k/Women use 16k)
Hindu Push Ups

Scores is the sum of lowest reps completed from each

Post loads, reps and scores to comments

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Active Hips



WoD:
Band Jumps

AMRAP 20 minutes
Run 400m
21 Deadlifts (Men use 155#/Women use 103#)

Post rounds completed to comments.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Strength Training and Physical Performance



WoD:
Depth Jumps

Push Presses
10x2 @ 70%

Rest 5 minutes then
Barbell Complex
3 Cycles of 6 reps of each
Power Clean
Press
Back Squat
Good Morning
Behind the Neck Press
Bent Over Row

Rest 90 seconds between Cycles

Post loads to comments