wormholes

        Airdyne, jumpsquat, doublejump, and some other lower body brutality.  Yeah, I need to get my lower body endurance up quite a bit, I didn't do weighted squats at all this week.  Actually, I only really lifted twice this week, which is kinda bearfacepalm...

Really bro? Arms again?
        Higher rep armwork didn't actually feel like a waste of time though, I think just recovering will be good.  My brain is totally broken right now, it's been a bit of a long week.  I actually had some thoughts I was going to put into some semblance of coherent(?) wordiness but I don't even know where I thought i was going.  I think they were actually fresh thoughts too, not a rehash of something reworded!  I know, exciting!  Alright well, here are some numbers, maybe I'll remember what I was going to discuss whilst i'm posting and formatting these.

• EZ Bar Curl: 65x15, 75x12, 95x12, 105x8, 65x20+2 Negative
• Rope Extension: 70x15, 75x12, 80x10, 75x10, 70x15
• Hammer Curl: 20x15, 22.5x12, 20x15, 25x15, 30x10, 30x8, 30x8
• Unilateral Reverse Tricep Curl: 30x15, 40x12, 45x10, 60x8, 60x8, 30x20
• Cable Curl: 60x15, 65x12, 80x10, 80x8, 80x8
• Stiff Pushdown: 150x12, 130x15, 90x20, 90x20

        Hear me people of earth, if you do one thing for yourself, find a good training camp!!  Zombies are coming, but I think it's going to get worse amongst the rank and file of humanity first.  Defending yourself against humans open handed is much easier and probably more effective than defending against zombies since you lose the element of shock...unless you get really good at one hit head sploding or decapitations?  Hmm...a new martial art is born!

        Ok, I really can't think of that thing I was going to write here but I have some other thoughts about family and training and values, but I'll save that for Sunday.  I think I might actually go to the gym again, do some farmer's walks, all sorts of insanity.

Today's TrainingTune: Chameleon - UX

change in pace

Last month I got a new job, and moved down to the bay. In a nice coincidence, it was around the same time Seth got his job at Crystal Dynamics, so we started doing kajukenbo together.

It's been a kick getting back into martial arts, I haven't been part of a good club in about 10 years. It's been so fun adjusting.. some of the moves come so naturally I don't think about it, others are taking a considerable amount of muscle re-wiring, and way more yet is just plain ol' new material. "uppercut? Hook? Knee? Why would you... ooooooooooooooooooooh" There really isn't anything like being a white belt, I love starting from scratch in a new style. I'll admit it, the first two hours of Civ 4 are always my favorites.

Classes go 6 days a week (and like an opportunist, I can't miss) so that's put a pretty effective end to my dancing. I'm still going to keep on with pole, but only because it doesn't cost anything and I can do it from home. I was trying to fit fabric dancing classes in on Sunday, but it's a bitch of a communte, and the same cost as a week of kaju.

No videos this time, but I do have pictures :)

civil war

        I'll post a bit more when i'm less smoked, right now i have to go cook dinner for a very hungry lady...Tonight's CrossPit workout:

Warmup:

• A1. Jumprope 2x3min
• A2. Jog 2x1min

Main:

• B1. Airdyne x1min
• B2. Kettlebell Swing x1min
• B3. Jump Squat x1min
• B4. Situp x1min
• B5. Heavy Bag Punch x1min
• B6. Sit-to-Stand x1min
• B7. Heavy Bag Kick x1min
• B8. Bench Dip x1min
• B9. Jumprope Double Jump x1min
• B10. Rest x1min

Repeat for 2 rounds, 20 minutes total

Blastout:

• Tabata Cage Situp

the day we rise

         Man, I am LOVING this whole CrossPit thing.  This is always what I've felt Crossfit should be, specific focus.  Not that I do or don't like Crossfit, I'm just a huge fan of specificity, or at least a degree of it.  I know, i know, children training for the pros at age 9, blah blah, hence the qualifier "a degree of it".  

        I dunno, totally snobbish of me, but I always get annoyed by people who just "work out" because they "want to be in shape" with no real definition or goal beyond that.  Granted that's just me, and I'll admit, it's easy for me to take the view I have since my training life has always been about some purpose.  When I started lifting weights in high school, it was to get better at swimming, when i returned to lifting later in life it was to get better at capoeira, now I do it to get better at lifting and of course to keep supplementing martial arts.

        To me, the end result of training should always be play.  Go play something.  Do Crossfit, Do P90X, Do Insanity, Do Whatever it is that's out there, but for god's sake, don't just do those workouts to get good at those workouts.  Get outside and play, get in the gym and play, get in the pool and play, get on the mats and play, hell, get in the park with your dog and your kids and PLAY.  In the end, it's just better for everyone.

  
Alright, now give me a jab-hook-hook...

      I need to really make a concerted effort to get my steady state cardio back in.  Now that we have some summer-ish weather here in the bay, Tribull is tossing in a Saturday outdoor conditioning class, which I'm thinking I might every other with Saturday Kajukenbo.  My main goal right now is to get the fat off and get back to fighting weight.  Almost there, the CrossPit classes at least feel good, i've only been doing them for about 2 weeks, so we'll see what the effect is in another 6 weeks or so.  Trying to tweak my diet out a bit too and still get to the gym, but lifting is taking a tiny bit of a backseat.  Need to figure out how to slot it in properly, it's easy enough, just need to make sure I get into the office early enough.  If i made any resolution this year, it's that i'm done crunching.

• Barbell Bentover Row: 135x5,155x5,165x5,185x5,185x5,185x5
• Dumbbell Bench Press: 60x5, 70x5, 75x5, 75x5, 75x8
• TBar Row: 115x8, 120x8, 120x8, 120x8
• Incline Dumbbell Bench: 60x8, 65x8, 65x8, 65x8
• A1. Midpull w/Hold: 45 3x12
• A2. Lateral Raise: 17.5 3x12
• Dumbbell Snatch: 60x5, 70x5, 70x5

        This ended up smoking me a bit more than I thought, which made CrossPit all kinds of brutal fun.  Great workout tho, got revved and slept awesome...

• Warmup: Jog, Pushup, Jog, Crunch
• A1. Heavy Bag Spin 3x60s
• A2. Sprawl To Ground and Pound 3x60s
• A3. Shoot (length of the mat, down and back) 3x60s
• A4. Hip Escape ( " ) 3x60s
• A5. Bag Punch 3x60s
• A6. Bag Kick 3x60s
• B1. Knees x60s
• B2. Double Knee x60s

        Crazy shit, can't wait till Thursday...

Today's TrainingTune: 12 Hundred - Mushroomhead

I'll raise you a leg...

...or two or three.  Punished the legs over the weekend, setting in motion my third week of eight going high reps with medium weights.  I've changed things up a bit the last few months due to an aggravated shoulder injury from once upon a time ago and lifting heavy for many years...so after a trip to the doctor, then the ortho I find myself in a position where I can not do any upper body press work for a year or so.  So that means heavier work on the lower body and some really creative work on the upper body.

So that means a new look to the workouts, high reps, high speed, medium weights with little time between sets.  It's a power burn method I learned long ago from Mr. Pacific Northwest 1994 John Taylor.  I will say I've seen noticeable drops in the body fat percentage in the few weeks I've been on this.  The goal...10% by summer.  At 5'9"/215 I'm currently in the 15% - 17% range, been a while since I've had it checked, so I've got some work to do.

I do workout with my wife (who's on a different rep set) and my buddy Brett, a county deputy who enjoys my punishment at the local 24.  Now while I'm a huge fan of squats I tend to not do them too often due to a low back injury I suffered a long time ago in a land far far away, but I do return to them now and again...so this journey starts at the squat rack.

135 - deep knee (legs parallel to the floor) max reps 1 min - I finished 33 reps.
135 - heel box (heals on a step pad or similar) max reps 45 seconds - I finished 24
Leg press - 2 sets
240x50
420x35
Knee up lunges on Smith Machine (deep knee lunge then bring lunging knee up as high as possible to chest)
90x20
90x20
Leg Extensions - 2 sets
75x50
75x40
Leg Curls - 2 sets
105x50
105x40

Break between sets is however long it takes for your partner to finish his/her set or 45-60 seconds.

Man on a mission following Seth thru the dungeon!!!

10 years gone

This one's for the fighters, Fitocracy does need a bit of a better way to log circuits:

• A1. Jump Rope: 2x4min
• A2. Shadowbox: 1x4min
• B1. Squat Jump x12
• B2. Bag Head Kick: x25
• B3. Bag Punch: x100
• B4. Jump Rope: x200
• B5. Pullup x10
• B6. Burpee x10

Repeat for 20 minutes, no rest.

in the name

        It's always fun to do something you haven't done in a few years from a different perspective.  Case in point today, leg presses, leg extensions, and takedowns.  I haven't done any of these things in a minimum of about 6 months and it absolutely showed.  No excuses about how I slept horribly last night because of something I ate, no, I pretty much just sucked out loud today because I'm out of practice.  But then, that's why I'm doing things i haven't done in years, like not working weekends anymore.


Your "skills" mean precisely dick, sir.

        It's an interesting exercise to really start living the life you want to live, esp when it somewhat conflicts with what you do for money.  But you know, it's probably good, I must admit I've lacked a tiny bit of professional discipline the last few years because I wasn't holding myself to any sort of schedule outside of work.  Seems kind of an odd thing, I know.  It's only week 2, so it remains to be seen how this experiment is actually going to go, but I'm pretty committed to seeing this work, so it's all about staying constant, err, CONSTANT.

• Squat: 225x5/245x5/245x5/255x5/275x5
• Leg Press: 415x8/505x8/595x8/595x8
• Leg Extensions: 120 4x5

        It was a tiny thing, but you know it was alright.  I was trying to keep some in the tank for class tonight, and not a bad thing.  The joints were starting to creak a little bit, but nothing some good stretches didn't handle.  You know, no resolutions for this year, but I am absolutely going to stop making jokes about how I'm old, no more of that nonsense.

Today's TrainingTune: Blasphemie - Incubite