I HATE MY GYM BOSS!!!!

There are days when you know you want to train heavy. Then there are days like today, when I have to tell myself not to. The reason is simple your body needs change and so does your mind. So today was a fast and furious session. These are the days when I hate this little timer called the Gym Boss. It's a dual interval timer that will run on auto until the batteries die or you shut it off. I set a work interval at 40 seconds and a rest interval at 20 seconds. This seem to work well for me. Each round = 60 seconds and you can blast out a session in 10 to 20 minutes. Let me tell you today was a killer.

Here is the circuit that a buddy and I did four times in a row.
24kg get up sit up
double 24kg in the rack walking lunges
24kg swings
squat thrust jump into pull up

That's it 16 minutes. I had a little dry heave on my last set of rack lunges, but all was well.

What a difference a day makes.

My Monday session was rough but today I felt pretty good.

40kg MP 4x3 L,R
32kg windmill 3x3 L,R
Dragon flags 2x3
hanging knee raise 2x5

I felt that things need to be heavy today. I don't really know why I get these feelings they just bubble up to the surface. Simple workout good rest between sets. I felt great when I was done. I'm long past the days of having to feel beat to think that the session was good. Don't get me wrong, I still will smoke myself on a regular basis but not everyday. Mentally you cannot keep that kind of drive going for long periods of time. Your body will shut you down! There is a need to change levels of intensity and work done to keep moving forward.

TIme of the day means a ton

I trained a few clients this morning and then did my training. I usually train at 4:00pm on Mondays, today it was 9:00am. Not that this is early just much different for me. It made a huge difference. I felt weak and sluggish. Here is how it went down

24kg snatches 3x 10/10/10/10/10/10
32kg MP 5x5 L,R
16kg pull ups 2x3

It always amazes me how your body deals with different training times. I felt much better at the end of the session compared to the start. Happy Memorial day

Start slow finish in PAIN!

Needed to get some dead lift work in this week. My groove is feeling much stronger each week. Nice and easy the weight will come. That is all I keep telling myself. I have been relearning the dead lift, because I suck at it. so today's training went like this.

DL 225# 3x3 easy with good form
DARC swings 48kg 2x10 L,R
Atlas stones on to a 3 foot box. I'm only 5'7" so the box might as well be 5 feet
120# 1x5
175# 1x3
220# 1x2
250# 1x1

Jandas 3x3

I haven't use my stones in some time. They really fry your nervous system. My body was done after four sets. The 220 and 250 have a couple of ruff spots so you always leave some skin behind, you can always grow more.

How do you train?

I get this question several times a week. I have done power lifting and bodybuilding training in the past. In 2002 I bought a classic set of KBs and they changed my whole outlook. There is no longer back and bi day. No more tricep kickbacks or preacher curls. Nothing isolated or concentrated. That seems so long ago. It was fun, but not all that practical.

Now my focus is strength, endurance and flexibility. In the past I only had strength. I didn't really care about the rest. It was all how much weight can I lift and how big are my arms. The strange thing is I'm as strong as I have ever been and about 40 pounds lighter. The best of both worlds! How cool. All with out a pec deck or preacher bench. How is that possible? KETTLEBELLS!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't follow any hard and fast training schedule. I tend to rotate between heavy, light and endurance days. What I am feeling that day is what is next. Today is a prime example.

Pull ups 5X5 with a jump stretch monster mini band attached to my waist.
Double 32kg front squat 3x3 followed by see saw press 3x3 L,R
Battling ropes 2x20 seconds of each of the following
overhand alternating waves
underhand alternating waves
two hand overhand waves
two hand underhand waves

Training pull ups with the mini band is killer. The closer you get to the bar the harder it pulls. Boy do those suck! Front squat see saw combo was easy. The Battling Ropes are brutal. If you have never used them check out the site.

To answer the question from the title. I train for strength, endurance and flexibility. Everything Else is just gravy.

Press on

My obliques were fried from yesterday's bear crawl madness. I had planed to do some weighted pull ups but had a tough time creating the tension that I needed to do them right. Time for plan B. MP it is!

24kg MP 10x10 L,R

That's it, done for the day! This weight is easy for me, until set 8-10 it got a little harder. Form was very clean and tight.

Short on time

Man Mondays really suck. I have a crazy schedule on Mondays, tons appointments. So today I had little time to train myself. So it went down like this.

bear crawls 32kgs 10x50'
TRX atomic push ups 3x10

That's all forks! Time for bed

WOW

I was at the Olde Time Strongman picnic yesterday and saw some crazy stuff. The Human Vise, Pat Povilaitis did some wild feats of strength. Here is a link from you tube link to see The Human Vise in action. He broke a wooden bat over his head, tore a 2" phone book while hand cuffed, and stuck his hand in a cougar trap. Andrew Durniat juggled a 130 pound barbell it was unreal.

Roger LaPointe of www.Atomicathletic.com, put the show on for the second year. It was a great place for a bunch of mutants to show up and play around with some of the very unique lifting implements that Roger sells. Thanks Roger I'm looking forward to next year.

Feeling good

Today was a good day. All my clients were upbeat and things went very well. So when it was my turn to workout all was good.

24kg snatch 1x40 L,R
GTG DL 205 3x3
24kg military press 5x10 L,R
Hanging leg raise ankles to the bar 2x3

I haven't trained snatches for reps in some time so I thought I would bust out a set. My pace was crazy fast. I finished the set in a little over three minuets. I'm going to blame it on the sweet Alice In Chains CD I had on. Thank god I wasn't planing to do the secret service test, I would have crashed and burned. The groove for my DL gets better every time(Thanks Rif). MP were easy. Leg raises to the bar always suck if you do them right, Naked warrior style.

I am heading out to the Atomic Athletic Olde Time Strongman picnic tomorrow so I should have some good stuff to post.

A new gym

I went and checked out a new gym in the area today. I have a buddy that has just started personal training and this is his first job, I wanted to show him my support. It's your typical gym tons of those things you run on, plate loaded stuff, dumbbells and stuff. We always workout together on Thursdays at my gym. But I wanted to check the place out. After the tour I figured out what we were going to do. It just so happened that I had a pair of 24kg KBs in my car. Coincidence?
So it went down like this.

One arm olympic bar military press
45# 1x5 L,R
65# 1x5 L,R
75# 1x3 L,R
85# 1x3 L,R

Double 24kg snatch 2x10
Double 24kg front squat 3x5
24kg bear crawl 2x60'
Get ups 24kg 2x3 L,R
Windmills 24kg 2x3 L,R


After it was all said and done the owner came ove to talk to me. I thought for sure that he was going to tell me not to bring the KBs back. Wrong, he offered me a training job. Not what I was expecting to hear. If I didn't have my own gig maybe.

Diet or Lifestyle?

This is the million dollar question. To me A diet is something you are going to stop when you reach your goal. The problem with that is most go right back to the habits that led them to diet in the first place. So when people ask which diet would be best for them I have to ask. Diet or lifestyle change? Lifestyle changes make a greater impact over the long run. Diets are quick fixes that are extreme and difficult to stay on for long periods. People need to remember they didn't get fat overnight so it isn't going to come off that way either!

I have played around with tons of meal plans over the years. Most recent have been the Warrior Diet which I loved ( more in a minute)! Precision Nutrition and currently Zero Tolerance. Here are my thoughts on all three.

Warrior diet: under eating phase during the day/overeating for dinner
I 'm not going into all the details but here is why I liked it. Great sense of freedom during the day. I have a very hectic training schedule one after another hour after hour. Not having to stop and eat was great. After the initial 2-3 weeks the hunger was gone during the day I had tons of energy and great workouts. At the end of the day I would head home eat a huge salad a pile of meat and carbs of choice. When I hit the sac I would be out like a light. I followed this plan for 5 years loved it. LIFESTYLE

Precision Nutrition: 5-6 feeding opportunities a day, protein and veggies at every meal, carbs only after workouts.
I like the idea behind the whole thing but ran into a timing problem. No matter how I worked my clients I was having to eat a meal or drink a super shake(which are awesome) during their session. Did my clients care? No. Did I care? Yes. They aren't there to watch me eat chicken and asparagus at 7:00a.m. After the first two week I felt good and training was going well I just didn't like the timing of the whole thing. Could the become a lifestyle for me? No. For my Clients yes.

Zero Tolerance: 3 whole food meals a day and three amino acid loads a day plus an amino load before and after training. The first 14 days protein and veggies only, days 15-28 three carb meals a week after training only. Repeat
Three meals a day a very easy to space and amino loads can be done while training clients and I don't miss a beat. This is what I am currently doing. I am very happy with this plan. It always keep my metabolic rate going and the two week switched are great way to stay motivated. LIFESTYLE

If you have any questions or want more details on any of the above let me know.

PS OFF DAY NO TRAINING

Needed to sweat

Today was a day I need to gut it out and sweat hard. It went like this.
Gym Boss 40 seconds of work 20 seconds of rest.for each of the following.

Squat thrust jump into pull up
48kg swings
48kg Get up sit up left
squat thrust to pull up
48kg get up sit up right
deck squat pistols
squat thrust to pull up
48kg clean transfer clean
deck squat pistols
squat thrust to pull up
deck squats
static knee raise
squat thrust to pull up
floor wipers
knee raises
15 minutes total
followed by
double 24kg rack walk
double 24kg farmers walk
double 24kg overhead walk

all three done one after another 150 feet each

Sweat accomplished!

Grind away

Time to practice. Today was an emotionally draining day as a trainer. One of those days when all your clients are having big issues outside of the gym. I don't mind clients puking there problems during the session. I actually like the fact that they feel that comfortable with around me. I try not to offer much in the way of an opinion, but to offer them a place to vent. Days like today fry my brain. So I wasn't to jazzed about my training.

swings 24kg 3x20 to get the blood moving.
DL 3x3 195 EASY
40kg hack squats 3x3 Kept good tension all 3 sets
BW pistols 3x5L,R

The DL is killing me mentally. In the past I have done 365 for reps, but my form was trash. The weight is not the problem just need to grease the groove. PATIENCE!!!! ARRRRR!!!

Friday Fun

I haven't done much in the way of heavy KB military press for some time so Friday was the day.
Military press
24kg 1x5 L,R
48kg 3x1 L,R
24kg 10x10 L,R

Pull ups
16kg 3x3

TXR body saw w/knee tucks 2x10 www.fitnessanywhere.com

I haven't even touched the 48kg in two months so I was happy with the results. I need to play around with it a tad more. It makes for cool party tricks.
The rest of the work out felt great. The knee tucks w/body saw on the TRX system is killer on the mid section.

OH THE PAIN!

Today was a day I needed to bang it out. Simple and brutal.
Used my Gym Boss interval timer.
interval #1 40 seconds(work) interval #20 seconds (rest) = 1 round

Overhead sledgehammer strikes into tire for 40 seconds
20 seconds to run over to my 155 pound indoor tire and flip end over end for 40 seconds

Went through 10 rounds total

rested for one minute

5 minutes of Get ups 32kg

Total workout time 17 minutes covered in sweat and loving it.

Great Day to train

75 and sunny, it's about time!!! Had a good session today.
Practiced my DL groove and weighted pull ups
DL 3x5 190# easy groove is feeling much better
Pull ups 4x3 with 16kg
24kg core combo one after the other repeat 3 times
pull over sit up 5 reps
get up sit up 5 l,r
hot potato 30 reps


It felt good to do the pull ups again. I injured both elbows rock climbing about a month ago. This forced me to take time off to heal up. They felt really strong today. Which was the first time for a long time thank goodness.

I have been following the Zero Tolerance diet for about a month now. I will give the details when I have time.

Start of a new week

One of my trainers bought a body fat% scale over the weekend, so we did some comparisons. Here is what I noticed. It was high on me because of my height. 5'7" and 185 pounds seems off as far as the scale is concerned. I had my % done before I got on the scale and I came in at 12.07%. The scale had me at 16.4%. She thought that she had purchased a piece of junk, but I don't think so. It gives you a number to start with. Is it high? In my case yes. Does it mean you can't use it to measure fat lose? NO. It will still measure a lose of % and that is all that matters. People tend to worry about the number to much. Instead they need to focus on making that number smaller.

Toady's work
Double 24kg clean and jerk 90 reps in 9 min.
Military press with a 6kg stacked on top of a 24kg 2x3l,r

The clean and jerks took a ton out of me I haven't trained them for a long time

Friday's work

I have never been a good deadlifter, it would always turn into a stiff legged dead. Great for the hams, bad for the back. As a result I stopped doing them long ago. So now I have decided the I am going to work on my DL. First things first check the ego at the door. Easy for me to do since I train by myself and in my own gym. MISSION: find my DL groove.
so it went like this
DL 5x5 185# This was easy,but that was the point.
Get ups 32kg 5 min
Overhead sledgehammer strikes into tire 2x20 l,r

The DL was easy, but that is the point. If you can't find your groove with a light weight your form just gets worse as the pounds increase. Also you can make any weight heavy if you grind the whole movement. So there I was fighting every little inch with a weight that I could have just popped off the ground. If you would have just seen the tension in my in my body you would have thought I was lifting the world. So I really worked wedging myself between the bar ands the floor. It was so powerful what a great feeling. I will add weight slowly and take my sweet time and get my groove dialed in.

Short and sweet

Yesterdays workout was a short and sweet one.
double 32kg bells front squat 3x3
double 24kg walking see saw press 50' x3
double 24kg windmill 2x3l,r
floor wipers 2x5l,r holding two 24kg
get up sit up 32kg 1x3l,r

Obliques were fried after, this felt great!

Last weekend's RKC

Well last weekend has made me think long and hard about where I am and where I would like to go. David Whitley and I had a great conversation about training and life. It is always great to get another persons point of view on life and work issues. Some times it takes a person outside of your life to tell you things that you already know. Funny how that works.

So I headed into the weekend thinking about the things Dave and I had discussed. I love teaching at the RKC!! To watch everybody struggle and bond through the pain and becoming a better man for it (including the women), what an incredible thing to be a part of. I remember being in their shoes not to long ago, and what the RKC changed in my life and hopefully it did the same for them.

So look for new things from me in the future. Until then KEEP SWINGING THAT KB!!!

Doug