Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Eggxactly
SMART FUEL
People like to use eggs in words like eggscellent, eggxactly and eggstatic.
Poor eggs. I recommend using them in your meals instead – and think beyond breakfast on occasion. Eggs are slowly regaining favor after their Humpty-Dumpty fall during the whole cholesterol paranoia of the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
We know that they contain valuable protein, vitamins and minerals: stress-busting selenium, antioxidant E, and eye-healthy lutein among them.
Because I am an egghead (sorry), I’m proud to bring you the latest findings from a study Mark pointed out to the Bees in the Journal of Nutrition. In a study that was randomized (good), controlled (great), and cross-sectional (nice), scientists found that a daily egg gave people’s eyes a boost with lutein and zeaxanthin (an antioxidant from the carotenoid family) and didn’t raise their serum cholesterol. Not that we worry too much about cholesterol anyway. That’s right – we don’t lose sleep over cholesterol! Just one of the many MDA ongoing health debates you might want to check out in the forum.
Taken from Mark's Daily Apple
58# TGU
Weighted Box Jumps
Box Squats 3x10 @ 70%
Goblet Squats 2x5
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
Pull Ups
Clapping Push Ups
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
RKC Advanced Strength
Back in ancient Greece, in the days of the battle at the Hot Gates, the human race had superior genetics compared to us in this lifetime. A couple of years ago an experiment was conducted across history. Exercise physiologists, engineers and historians from several universities across Europe set out to determine the level of conditioning these heroes of ancient times possessed.
By an historical analysis of information on these men’s training, ability to sail their ships and cover great distances by foot it was shown that the cardiovascular endurance and strength of the “average” man would be hard if not impossible to find a match for today—even when recruiting from the ranks of world level athletes. The scientists wrote: “It would be hard today to find enough world class athletes in the entire world to row a single copy of an ancient battleship at the same speed and for the same duration as the men from the past were able to do. Today we would not stand a chance against these men”.
Read the rest of this article here.
Thrusters
8x2
Kettlebell Complex
3 Cycles, 6 Reps per side
Side Pressx3
Front Squat
Clean
Push Press
Snatch
Two Hand Swing
Thursday, August 19, 2010
10 Things We Should Already Be Doing
Throughout my years in the fitness industry, I’ve seen many things both good and bad. Working at a commercial gym for two years, I tend to see more bad than good.
Below is a checklist I came up with to help you determine whether you’re truly training or just wasting your time.
#1 Are you squatting or deadlifting regularly?
Hitting 3–4 sets of 135 lbs for 10 reps doesn’t count. You should be performing heavy deadlifts or squats at least one time per week. I’ve found that a heavy deadlift day and a squat day in the same week generally doesn’t work because it’s way too taxing on the body. Unless you’re doing these two exercises regularly, don’t come to me asking how to put on more muscle.
#2 Do you perform body weight movements?
My number one upper body movement is pull-ups, either body weight or weighted. If you don’t perform pull-ups regularly, get out of my gym. You’re wasting space. On top of pull-ups, there are hundreds of body weight movements that should be utilized in any training program. If you can’t move your body weight fluently, what good are you? And no, I don’t care if you bench press 500 lbs or more.
1 Minute of Deadlifts
Try to get between 10 and 20.
If you get less than 10, you went too heavy.
More than 20, too light
Sumo Deadlifts
3x3
5 Rounds
10 Pull Ups
25 Jumping Squats
A Day With Your Bells And The Red Demon
"Correct technique is the most efficient display of strength."
5 Minute Snatch Test
Full Recovery
6 Minute Long Cycle Test
Full Recovery
Prowler Bear Crawls
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Pavel and Dan John Seminar
Call-in number: 218-486-1400
Passcode: 27247#
Bear Crawling through the jungles of my front lawn.
Sled Drag
Weighted Pull Ups
8x2 @ 50%
Side Presses
Barbell Complex
3 Rounds of 8 reps each increasing weight each round
Power Clean
Push Press
Overhead Squat
Behind the Neck Press
Good Mornings
Bent Over Rows
Your Attitude
Then there’s another group who likes to arrive late. The team lifts at the start of the hour, but this group shows up five minutes late. They walk in, announce their tardiness, leave, return, leave, and then are promptly told to get out. My time is valuable. Suffice it to say, there are 10 – 30 other teammates who seem to manage their time effectively. When a few can’t, I don’t have the patience to catch them up. This group has become significantly smaller in the past three weeks.
I call the final group the gym sponge. They will perform the lifts completely half-assed, and they tend to sit and talk more so than anything else. Again, they don’t last long and they tend to either change their game or leave. This can either evolve immediately or over the course of a week. Either way, the attitude changes or they don’t last.
Read the rest of this article here
Knee Jumps
Koji Front Squats
3x5
Pistols
2x2
3 Rounds
5 Handstand Push Ups
10 Tire Flips
15 Kettlebell Swings
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The Iron...
Getting full extension on the jumping squat
Snow Sleds
Turkish Get Ups
5 Rounds of :45 work followed by 15 seconds of rest
Kettlebell Holds
Planks
Ring Dips
Score is total Ring Dips completed
Alex sprinting, it's good to have him back in the garage. We're still on the lookout for the other MIA's.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Andrea Du Cane Teaches The TGU
36" Box Jumps
Hang Power Snatch
2x2
Shrugs
2x10
5 Rounds
5 Front Squats (Men use 155#/Women use 103#)
10 Clapping Push Ups
Sunday, August 8, 2010
The Stetch Reflex
Many people refer to the stretch reflex as the key to explosive training. How it is applied, however, is frequently misunderstood. This article takes an in-depth look at this action and how you can better utilize it in any or all aspects of your training.
The need for variety in the training program has been well established. This includes not only the need to modify and change the exercises being used but also how the exercises are executed and how the training regimes are used. When you use different rates of speed in weight training exercises, you can develop greater strength and muscle mass than when using only one rate.
Because bodybuilders and athletes are using increasingly heavy weights with high training volume, the speed of the movement is becoming slower. This is effective in maintaining maximum tension on the muscle through the full range of motion. However, using less resistance and increasing the speed of execution is also effective for muscle mass and strength, especially for the faster contracting (fast twitch) muscle fibers.
Read the rest of this article hereDeveloping the ring dip through the use of bands
Shoulder/Hip Mobility Drills
M/E Overhead Squat
Kenneth Jay's cMVO2 Test
Men use 16k/Women use 25#
1st Minute: 10 Snatches, 1 per 6 seconds
2nd Minute: 14 Snatches, 1 per 4.2 seconds
3rd Minute: 18 Snatches, 1 per 3.3 seconds
4th Minute: 22 Snatches, 1 per 2.7 seconds
5th Minute: All out, as many as possible
Score is your reps completed in the 5th minute
Friday, August 6, 2010
Recovering From Overtraining
If you read interviews with top athletes, especially powerlifters and bodybuilders, a favorite question seems to be whether or not they made any mistakes in their early training. Most will say that they spent too much time overtraining early in their careers. Many of these athletes feel that if they hadn’t overtrained, they could’ve reached their current levels more quickly or maybe they could’ve been even better than they already are.
Overtraining is a result of training stress in addition to the rest of life’s stresses exceeding an athlete’s ability to recover. This results in stagnation or even injury. At a minimum, it’s inefficient, meaning the athlete won’t improve at his optimal rate. If overtraining is so bad and it’s easy enough to fall into, what can you do about it? Well I’m glad you asked!
Read the rest of this article here.Windmills
Weighted Ring Dips
3x8
Superset with Tricep Extensions
Barbell Curls
2x6
3 Rounds
30 Kettlebell Swings (Men use 32k/Women use24k)
50 Double Unders
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
"Alejandro"
Monday, August 2, 2010
How To Pass The 5 Minute Snatch Test
Then the Snatch test changed to one snatch for every Kg of body weight with a max of 100 reps, a 5min time limit was imposed but multiple hand switches was allowed. One could even set the bell down and have a smoke as long as they hit their required reps in 5 min.
The 3rd evolution and current Snatch test is all candidates must complete 100 reps in 5 min. Here are the rules http://www.dragondoor.com/certification_44.html
For myself and for most of the people I train grip seems to be the big factor in putting up solid snatch numbers. So lets start by taking grip out of the equation. I am a big fan of the SAID principle (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand) in training. If you want to increase your grip strength for snatching the 24kg then snatch the 24Kg.
Read the rest of this article here
Justin not being an "Alejandro".
Weighted Box Jumps
Rack Jerks
2x2
Litvi-Sprints
8 Front Squats (Men use 205#/Women use 138#)
SPRINT 400m
Strongman events aren't just clever names