I forgot to get out my entry for Friday. I was dealing with Avery a little earlier than I anticipated. She got up WAY too early and it was trend that continued all through the weekend.
Today's workout was crisp and I managed to hit 40's all across the board. I did augment 2 movements. I got through in 2 rotations.
Workout: 35mins
Warmup/Dynamic Mobility: 8mins
Crunches: w/ 8kg x40
Russian Twists: w/ 8kg x40 (these seemed to be a logical sub in for the Windmill.)
Club Butterfly w/ 2lbs Clubs: x40
Squats w/16kg: x40 (struggled at 15 on the 2nd round.)
BO Row w/16kg: x40 (easy. Need to find a way to challenge this movement without making it insane)
Push Ups w/resistance: x40 (I have a resistance band piece that is setup for added resistance for push ups)
Swing w/24kg: x40 (these came easy.)
This was the half way point. 4 week in and 4weeks to go. This is going to prove to be the true test. Seeing if I change any more over the next 4 weeks.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Eating the Food that Food eats...
I was asked the question yesterday, "Why do you eat the food that food eats?" After glaring in shock at the person who asked me, I simply replied; "So I can eat all the food." I use to be this narrow minded. I scoffed at people who ate vegetables. Laughed and mocked Vegetarians and Vegans. Calling them "Pussies", "Weak", etc. It wasn't until I started to work at Whole Foods that I changed my tone. Its not that they created an environment that stomped out my ignorance, I was very fortunate to work with 2 Acupuncturists, a Master Herbalist, and have access to a very intelligent and accomplished Naturopathic Doctor. I first thought is was blind luck, but I realized I was there for a greater reason.
While there I met 2 Vegetarians who were Strongman athletes (500+ Bench Press for both men and a combined 1500+ of Deadlifting strength.) I met a Vegan Bodybuilder that was in such amazing shape, I would have done him if I was a gay man. It was there that I learned that Bill Pearl, one of the greatest Bodybuilders of ALL FUCKING TIME was a Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian (meaning he still ate Eggs and Cheese, no other animal proteins). My world was changed. But I personally was hard to change. I am stubborn man. My WHOLE family will tell you this. My wife will bitch about it some times. But its my stubbornness that has had a large part of shaping me.
Since then I have worked tirelessly to change my eating habits. Not because they are horrible or even bad, but because they could be much better. I now try to get 30% of my calories from raw food. Mostly vegetables, fruits and nuts. Occasionally I'll do raw meat (sushi doesn't count in my book) and raw milk (which I FUCKING LOVE!). The other 70% I do in cooked meals. I do my best to stay away from cooked grains since they bloat me (I do a lot of brown rice, which doesn't bloat me) but its mostly cooked veggies and meat. All of this is the name of longevity. I am looking at myself at 50. In 20 years I want to be able to move around and play like I do now. I want to be about at 60 to wrestle with my Grand kids. Sure that is a lot of years, but the knowledge I have of the human body has made me a very dangerous man. A man who has seen with his own eyes what happens to people who believe the vile poison being presented to us by the media, corporations, and even our own government in the name of health.
...the workout.
I stayed with the building block program with the minor tweak of a 5th movement. Despite my fatigued state when I woke, I had one of my best workouts to date!! My muscular control is coming back. I feel my torso pressurize and stabilize my back and hips as I did EVERYTHING today. I was a glorious feeling!! My breathing was strong, controlled and not labored. I even felt I could have gone another 15mins. This is good! My recovery during my workout is improving and my body is adapting to not just the workout stress but the daily stress that impacts it as well. I know that it is only a matter of weeks before I blow through this current workout with ease and hunger for more. I must show patience though.
Warmup/Dynamic Mobility: 10mins
Crunches: w/ 8kg: x40(my abs had little eccentric recovery from Monday. I had to give them a little break)
Windmills w/16kg: x40 (these are getting better. My obliques are doing more work and my shoulders are fatiguing as much)
Club Butterfly x50 (I am getting my 2lbs back soon)
-Squat w/16kg: x35 (I need to push to 40 total reps)
30sec
-BO Row w/16kg: x35 (same as squats)
30sec
-Push ups: x35 (I did narrow and wide hand positions today. I am going to stay with it for a couple of weeks)
30sec
-Swings w/24kg: x35 (these were crisp, powerful and comfortable)
30sec
Iranian Drumming w/10lbs: x35 (I let my breath take over this movement. I think that I ended up doing 45-50 because I lost count at one point. These felt great! They are following me to the next rotation.)
Finally the cat jumped off my lap. He was making it hard to type. He kept swiping at my hands.
Closing...I need to get my Pharm Tech paperwork out. I need to talk to the lady at the bank about student loans for school. I need to call the massage school close to my house and set up a sit down meeting with the director and drill him with the list of questions I have. I need to make a better life for my family.
While there I met 2 Vegetarians who were Strongman athletes (500+ Bench Press for both men and a combined 1500+ of Deadlifting strength.) I met a Vegan Bodybuilder that was in such amazing shape, I would have done him if I was a gay man. It was there that I learned that Bill Pearl, one of the greatest Bodybuilders of ALL FUCKING TIME was a Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian (meaning he still ate Eggs and Cheese, no other animal proteins). My world was changed. But I personally was hard to change. I am stubborn man. My WHOLE family will tell you this. My wife will bitch about it some times. But its my stubbornness that has had a large part of shaping me.
Since then I have worked tirelessly to change my eating habits. Not because they are horrible or even bad, but because they could be much better. I now try to get 30% of my calories from raw food. Mostly vegetables, fruits and nuts. Occasionally I'll do raw meat (sushi doesn't count in my book) and raw milk (which I FUCKING LOVE!). The other 70% I do in cooked meals. I do my best to stay away from cooked grains since they bloat me (I do a lot of brown rice, which doesn't bloat me) but its mostly cooked veggies and meat. All of this is the name of longevity. I am looking at myself at 50. In 20 years I want to be able to move around and play like I do now. I want to be about at 60 to wrestle with my Grand kids. Sure that is a lot of years, but the knowledge I have of the human body has made me a very dangerous man. A man who has seen with his own eyes what happens to people who believe the vile poison being presented to us by the media, corporations, and even our own government in the name of health.
...the workout.
I stayed with the building block program with the minor tweak of a 5th movement. Despite my fatigued state when I woke, I had one of my best workouts to date!! My muscular control is coming back. I feel my torso pressurize and stabilize my back and hips as I did EVERYTHING today. I was a glorious feeling!! My breathing was strong, controlled and not labored. I even felt I could have gone another 15mins. This is good! My recovery during my workout is improving and my body is adapting to not just the workout stress but the daily stress that impacts it as well. I know that it is only a matter of weeks before I blow through this current workout with ease and hunger for more. I must show patience though.
Warmup/Dynamic Mobility: 10mins
Crunches: w/ 8kg: x40(my abs had little eccentric recovery from Monday. I had to give them a little break)
Windmills w/16kg: x40 (these are getting better. My obliques are doing more work and my shoulders are fatiguing as much)
Club Butterfly x50 (I am getting my 2lbs back soon)
-Squat w/16kg: x35 (I need to push to 40 total reps)
30sec
-BO Row w/16kg: x35 (same as squats)
30sec
-Push ups: x35 (I did narrow and wide hand positions today. I am going to stay with it for a couple of weeks)
30sec
-Swings w/24kg: x35 (these were crisp, powerful and comfortable)
30sec
Iranian Drumming w/10lbs: x35 (I let my breath take over this movement. I think that I ended up doing 45-50 because I lost count at one point. These felt great! They are following me to the next rotation.)
Finally the cat jumped off my lap. He was making it hard to type. He kept swiping at my hands.
Closing...I need to get my Pharm Tech paperwork out. I need to talk to the lady at the bank about student loans for school. I need to call the massage school close to my house and set up a sit down meeting with the director and drill him with the list of questions I have. I need to make a better life for my family.
Monday, February 8, 2010
I seriously don't want to go to work today...
There is nothing right now that is motivating me to want to go to work today. This is partly due to the fact that I have spent the last 3 days with my daughter and I loved every minute of it. The other part is my declining patients for the ghetto mentality that I have to deal with daily. Not everyone is bad. I have been fortunate enough to meet some very nice people. Several of the people I work with are some really great people as well, but I have just about had my fill.
Enough bitching...
I went back to the basics today with my workout. I need to hold to my schedule of what I am trying to do which is establish a strong base for the more complex movements to come. I am still debating on what I want to do for the next cycle, but I have 5 more weeks to decide what that will be. So, here it is:
Dynamic Mobility Warmup
Rollouts: x25 (these were torture)
Windmill: x25 (I had to back off the volume because the Roll Outs were much more than anticipated)
Club Butterfly x50 (I seriously need my 2lbs clubs back)
-I didn't set my rest interval until after the Butteflies-
Squat w/16kg KB: x35
-30sec rest
BO Row w/16kg KB: x35
-30sec
Push up x35
-30sec
Swing w/24kg KB: x35 (these were more comfortable than usual this morning)
-30sec rest
Simple. Easy. Effective.
I am thinking of adding in a 5th movement on Mondays like have for Wednesday and Friday. Not sure yet what I want to do, but I'll play with some ideas and have something before next Monday.
Enough bitching...
I went back to the basics today with my workout. I need to hold to my schedule of what I am trying to do which is establish a strong base for the more complex movements to come. I am still debating on what I want to do for the next cycle, but I have 5 more weeks to decide what that will be. So, here it is:
Dynamic Mobility Warmup
Rollouts: x25 (these were torture)
Windmill: x25 (I had to back off the volume because the Roll Outs were much more than anticipated)
Club Butterfly x50 (I seriously need my 2lbs clubs back)
-I didn't set my rest interval until after the Butteflies-
Squat w/16kg KB: x35
-30sec rest
BO Row w/16kg KB: x35
-30sec
Push up x35
-30sec
Swing w/24kg KB: x35 (these were more comfortable than usual this morning)
-30sec rest
Simple. Easy. Effective.
I am thinking of adding in a 5th movement on Mondays like have for Wednesday and Friday. Not sure yet what I want to do, but I'll play with some ideas and have something before next Monday.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
In the absense of light...
...there is dark. Don't ask, it just sounded cool. I am sure I heard it somewhere, but for the life of me I can't remember.
I missed my Wednesday workout. I woke up physically tired and even though I have a long way to go, I didn't want to push myself beyond my means if my body isn't ready to respond. I got injured that way before.
This morning is a different story. The cat woke me up. He jumped up on my chest at 4am and proceeded to lick my nose. So, I got up, despite his best efforts to keep me in bed, and pissed. Came back and slept for another 40mins.
When I finally got up I was rather awake. No foggy feeling, but my legs, as they always are, weren't there yet. Too much tissue in my lower body so it takes time for my blood to circulate after I wake up.
I jumped off the path with my workout. On Wednesday I thinking of movements I haven't done in a while. 5 came to mind. 3 of them are a sequence of Eccentric loading abdominal exercises I saw done my famed Physical Therapist Gary Gray. They are done standing and you have to concentrate on locking your hips and lower half of your torso to execute the movements. Otherwise you'll either mess up your back or its not an ab movement with too much hip movement. There is also the option leg movement like stepping or hopping. These have been and will be my favorite ab movements. Rarely do you see intentional eccentric loading in Ab movements. Its usually done as an accessory.
...the baby will be up soon, and mom will be at the house in enough time for me to clean up and finish making my lunch/dinner.
Workout: 45mins (I actually stopped 2 mins shy)
-Dynamic Warmup: 10mins (this seems to be standard, and I am getting everything that I want to get done)
Gray FUN AB'S: X30
-20mins
-Turkish Get Ups w/16kg x5
-KB Clean w/ 24kg x5
*I continually alternated between these 2 for 20mins with small 30sec breaks in between*
--1min rest--
Push up x30
BO Row w/16kg x30
Iranian Drumming w/ 10lbs x30
*I didn't rest in between the movements, only after the first round. I knew this was only going to be 2 rounds*
My ab are SMOKED! I knew they would be. I am going to go at it again tomorrow. Hit the workout from Monday. See if I can get done in 30 mins.
I missed my Wednesday workout. I woke up physically tired and even though I have a long way to go, I didn't want to push myself beyond my means if my body isn't ready to respond. I got injured that way before.
This morning is a different story. The cat woke me up. He jumped up on my chest at 4am and proceeded to lick my nose. So, I got up, despite his best efforts to keep me in bed, and pissed. Came back and slept for another 40mins.
When I finally got up I was rather awake. No foggy feeling, but my legs, as they always are, weren't there yet. Too much tissue in my lower body so it takes time for my blood to circulate after I wake up.
I jumped off the path with my workout. On Wednesday I thinking of movements I haven't done in a while. 5 came to mind. 3 of them are a sequence of Eccentric loading abdominal exercises I saw done my famed Physical Therapist Gary Gray. They are done standing and you have to concentrate on locking your hips and lower half of your torso to execute the movements. Otherwise you'll either mess up your back or its not an ab movement with too much hip movement. There is also the option leg movement like stepping or hopping. These have been and will be my favorite ab movements. Rarely do you see intentional eccentric loading in Ab movements. Its usually done as an accessory.
...the baby will be up soon, and mom will be at the house in enough time for me to clean up and finish making my lunch/dinner.
Workout: 45mins (I actually stopped 2 mins shy)
-Dynamic Warmup: 10mins (this seems to be standard, and I am getting everything that I want to get done)
Gray FUN AB'S: X30
-20mins
-Turkish Get Ups w/16kg x5
-KB Clean w/ 24kg x5
*I continually alternated between these 2 for 20mins with small 30sec breaks in between*
--1min rest--
Push up x30
BO Row w/16kg x30
Iranian Drumming w/ 10lbs x30
*I didn't rest in between the movements, only after the first round. I knew this was only going to be 2 rounds*
My ab are SMOKED! I knew they would be. I am going to go at it again tomorrow. Hit the workout from Monday. See if I can get done in 30 mins.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Start of Week 2
Week 2 started slow. I woke stiffer than normal and a bit less energy than week 1. I took a safe approach and only did 3 exercises, but they were not 3 of my regular workout. I did a full club workout for the first time in about 6 months. My hands are toast right now!! I am going to need to do a lot of specific recovery for them. This is good though. You have to push the threshold in order to grow, and if I am ever going to show reasonable feats for hands strength I am going to have to push at some point.
I have no pearls of wisdom today, no rants to let loose (though that is not to say I am empty on both) but I feel like just enjoying the calm right now.
Workout: 40mins
Dynamic warmup - 10mins
Crunches/Roll Outs x 40 (the Roll Out looks like it will be my escalation to crunches)
Windmill x30 (I didn't have time for my normal 40)
*all done with 15lbs Clubs*
Dual Swipes x50 (these were easier than I expected)
Mill x45 (I could have pushed to 50 total, but my hands gave out at 20 on my first round)
Hammer Throw x25 (these were done each side for the same amount of reps. I didn't finish because my allotted time was up)
And that was it for Monday. NO frills, NO gimmicks. Just honest hard work. And sore hands.
I have no pearls of wisdom today, no rants to let loose (though that is not to say I am empty on both) but I feel like just enjoying the calm right now.
Workout: 40mins
Dynamic warmup - 10mins
Crunches/Roll Outs x 40 (the Roll Out looks like it will be my escalation to crunches)
Windmill x30 (I didn't have time for my normal 40)
*all done with 15lbs Clubs*
Dual Swipes x50 (these were easier than I expected)
Mill x45 (I could have pushed to 50 total, but my hands gave out at 20 on my first round)
Hammer Throw x25 (these were done each side for the same amount of reps. I didn't finish because my allotted time was up)
And that was it for Monday. NO frills, NO gimmicks. Just honest hard work. And sore hands.
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