Rope Training

Power Rope training is highly challenging and conditions the body is a vary unique way. Strength coach John Brookefield came up with this style of training while watching the ocean waves. The objective is to produce waves of all sorts. Not only are the waves difficult to produce, the rope itself is heavy. 20 to 30 seconds full blast is enough to absolutely wipe you out!

Wednesday Workout: Mahler's 3 x 3

I have decided to use Mike Mahler's 3 x 3 program for a couple of weeks. I love the fact that with this type of trianing, sessions are short and intense. Only quality.

Incline Bench Press

155 x 3 x 3 sets
s/s

Weighted pulls ups

24kg x 3 x 3 sets

Hanging Windshield Wipers (for abs)

5 reps /side x 3 sets (I'm still sore from this one 2 days later - I love it!)

Sunday Run in Santa Monica

We visited some of Yoana's sisters up in Santa Monica this weekend, very nice time. Sunday morning Yoana asked me to go on a run with her through some of Santa Monica's nicest neighborhoods ending up with a beautiful run by the ocean. Now let's get something straight, I am no distant runner. I am a SPRINTER. What the heck I thought, I'll give it a shot. The run was a little over 5 miles and I made it through the first 35 minutes with no problem. It was around the 40 minute mark that my heart rate started beating too fast, around 185, I think I was just trying to keep up with Yoana and she's WAY better than me at the distances. Overall it was lots of fun being outside in the beautiful So-Cal weather with my wife. Now I know why I'm not a distant runner. Fun times!

Time to get back to the track for some sprinting!

Tuesday workout

Needed to get some snatches in. I am going to assist at the June RKC so I need to keep my endurance in the snatches decent, as they will test me as an instructor too. I need to get 52 reps with the 24kg KB. Shouldn't be much of an issue but I don't want to embarass myself either. Better to be in shape going into the Certification.



Snatches

24kg x 5 / 5 x 10 sets rest 1 minute total = 100 reps (felt great)

TGU

24 kg x 2 / 2 x 3 ets Always makes my back feel better & more stable (I think it's due to the unilateral loading. I do better with unilateral work for legs and upperbody in terms of back pain. Now why don't I listen to my body more? This works for me!

Barbell Bent Over Row

95 pounds (felt light) x 10 reps x 3 sets

Great workout - high quality, minimal fatigue(which is nice) and a nice sweat!

Sunday workout

Quick yet effective workout:

Push Ups on the Rings
3 sets x 10 reps 1 minute rest

Weighted Pull Ups
24kg x 3, 28kg x 3, 32kg x 2, 40kg x 1

KB Single Arm Clean and Press
28kg x 3 (L+R), 24kg x 5(L+R), 20kg x 5 (L + R)

Short and sweet. Felt great to lift some load on the pull ups. I have been doing bodyweight pull ups for too long. need to get back to some loading.

Tuesday Keg Workout

Right I now I'm really enjoying using the Kegs. Inventing some pretty fun exercises when Ihave the time.

KEG WORKOUT w/50 pound Keg

Circuit One: Three sets / rest 1 minute between sets

Clean and Press 5 reps
Shouldering 3 reps/shoulder
Overhead Lunges 5 reps/leg
Bent Over Row 8 reps

Circuit Two: Three sets / rest approx. 1 minute between sets

Shouldering Squat 5/5 R / L
Overhead Keg Farmers walk 30 seconds (Keg held vertically)
Backwards Keg Drag 30 seconds
Bear Hug Squat 5 reps

Man - I was tired today. Glad I worked out. Tomorrow is a day off! Need a massage! Mentally I was not very tough today. Been working on a lot of othe projects so my mind is fatigued. I love KEG though, they rock!

Sunday Workout

Yoana and I woke up and decided to go to Revolution and train. It's nice to train there on Sundays because it is empty of we are able to focus on training rather than the pressures of work, deadlines, and phone calls.

Circuit One: 4 sets

Pull ups 5 reps
Keg Shouldering 3 reps per side w/70 pound Keg
Walking Lunges 2 x 16kg x 10 reps/leg
Keg Military Press 1 x 80pound x 3 reps, 4 x 70 pound x 5 reps

Circuit Two: 3 sets

MB Shouldering 100 pound MB x 3 reps/shoulder
Tire Flips 235 pound tire x 6 reps
Sledgehammer chops on Tires 20 sec/L + R

This workout was Brutal. My glutes are still sore 3 days later, ouch. I loved it though. A very thorough workout with all systems challenged. The only challenge I have with the heavy MB's is that it hurts by left elbow, almost as if there is too much laxity in the joint. It is not a muscular pain as much as it is joint pain. Need to really take care of my elbows by getting soft tissue work on my biceps, tricep, subscapularis, forearm extensors and flexors. Need to take care of my hands too, they hurt considerably with too much grip work.

Friday Deadlifting & Rate of Percieved Effort

Decided to test my Deadlift today since I hadn't deadlifted for almost a month. My PR in the deadlift is 415 which I pulled last Novemeber. Since than I've really tried to allow my lumbar spine to heal and the time off has really helped. Overall I feel healthier physically and mentally but I do miss lifting heavy.

DEADLIFT


Conventional Stance warm up

135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 5
295 x 2
335 x 1

SUMO STANCE
375 x 1
405 = failed

375 is a far cry from 415, but for not having deadlifted consistently since November, I'll take it.
My legs and especially my low back feel weaker but what can I expect from not training. Frankly I'd rather have no back pain and a weaker Deadlift. The goal of course is to deadlift heavy without pain :) Some days weights just feel heavy and other days they feel light. This is where experience and intuition come into play.

Mel Siff talks about RPE, which stands for Rate of Percieved Effort while training. My twin brother Keats recently posted on this topic on the Revolution Forum. Here is what he posted.

"Great discussion guys! This is such a valauble topic and makes me think of the importance of what the late Mel Siff termed "Cybernetic Periodization." The basic premise (which most of you probably know already), is to guide your training not just based on objective measurements like load used (% intesity), reps and sets (volume, tonnage), but also by how a particular load "feels" on any given day."

This leads to the importance of using a "RPE" or Ratings of Perceived Exertion scale in your training t0 guide the next rep, set or workout. Below is an example of such a logbook:

Name:
Date:

Exercises: Sets 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 RI RPE RT
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.


If you go to www.revolutionlajoll.com and click on the forum you will find a discussion called Sustainable Progression. One of the last posts has his log in a much easier and cleare format.

Wednesday - Sore from the Track!

I can feel yesterday's track workout. Unfortunately my low back is a little sore. I think it was the explosive acceleration sprints starting from a lying position. Today I needed to lift legs and some pushing and pulling movements decided to lift rather light, keeping the volume ultra low.

WORKOUT

Single arm overhead static lunges
40kg x 8/8 x 3 sets 1 minute rest between sets

Pull ups (Bodyweight)
5/5 x 3 seconds pause on top x 3 sets / 1 minute rest between sets

Swings
24kg x 20 x 3 sets 1 minite rest between sets

Got the blood moving, felt much better after the workout.

Tuesday Workout at the TRACK

TUESDAY TRACK WORKOUT

Went to the La Jolla High School track today with Yoana and her client Ernie(very fast guy!)
The emphasis of the workout was acceleration and reaction from the start.

WORKOUT:

2 length of the field strides - very easy
Karioka 80 yards x 2
A Skips - 40 yards x 2
Skipping with bilateral shoulder rotations x 80 yards
High Knees 30 yards x 2
Butt Kickers 30 yards x 2

Joint Mobility:
Hips / Shoulders

Dynamic Flexibility:
Hip Flexors / Adductors /

Acceleration + Deaccleration Drills / Multi -directional Conditioning

Cone Drills = 4 cones spread equally apart (10 yards)
Forward sprint / lateral left / backpedal / lateral right x 2
Forward sprint / lateral right / backpedal / lateral left x 2

Diagnal sprint / lateral left / diagnoal backpedal / lateral left x 2
Diagnal sprint / lateral right / diagnal backpedal / lateral right x 2

That felt great. As a 100 meter (straight away sprinter) I need this multi-directional agility work. I can feel how hesitat my body is to move laterally and in various angles. I MUST continue to do work on multi-directional agility.

THE MEAT AND POTATOES
Prone Lying Reaction Drill= this exercise is great. All of lie down on our stomachs and we pick one person to be the designated starter. What that means is that if we pick Yoana to start, she gets up and runs as Ernie and myself react to her movement. Clearly she has the advantage as she get to move first and we have to react off her initial move. So the way it worked was that at each distance we each got a turn to move first.

20 yards x 3 reactions (prone)
40 yards x 3 reaction (supine)
60 yards x 3 reaction (prone + supine)

Wow - this was very fun and very difficult. Just ray power and acceleration. Really improves reaction ability and the DRIVE PHASE of the sprintng.

GPP:
We finished with some medicine ball throws + running. In other words, push press the MB as far as you can, run to the ball and throw it again.

12lb MB throws + running x 100 yards x 5
s/s
12kb KB H2H drlls (DARC Swings, flipping, rotation - anything with the bell in the air)

1 sets of STANDING TORNADO BALL chops against a cement wall. As many hits as you can get in 10 seconds.

We were all fried and ready to wrap up the workout. Workout + warm up was exactly 1 hour.

Sunday workout!

Decided to get a short recovery workout in. Felt stiff from my drive up to LA the previous day.
I did not end up running in my track meet. When I got up there I realized I had the dates wrong as they were not even running the 60 meter dash. The meet was a RELAY meet with very few individual racing. Oh well, next time I better pay a little more attention and get my dates correct.

Sunday Workout:
KB Military Press

36 x 5/5 x 1
53 x 5/5 x 1
62 x 2/1 (left side felt very weak) x 2

Chin Ups

BW x 8 x 1 (3 seconds pause in the top position) + slow negative
BW x 5 x 2 (3 second pause in the top position) + slow negative

Swings

53 x 20 x 1

That was it. Felt good to move, but I felt very weak in the press. Just needed to get the body moving!

MONDAY WORKOUT
Steel Log Clean and Press

90 x 3 x 5 sets (1 min rest between sets)

Single Arm KB Rows

88lb KB x 4/4 x 5 sets (1 minute rest between sets)

KB Snatches

53 x 5/5 x 5 sets (30 seconds rest between sets) felt very good on the snatches

Great workout, Not too heavy. In fact, this week will be a light week due to the fact that I'm starting to run on the track. Hopefully my lumbar spine can handle the stress. Must modify my training if it starts to hurt.

Friday workout!

Tomorrow I have a competition in Long Beach. I will compete in the 60 meter dash and enter myself in two different heats. Last night ate way TOO much Braziliian Meat at a local Brazillian Steak House so needed to get in a workout to move the body (kind of a pre-meet tune up).

I decided to take Yoana's 9:30am class and asker her if I could design the class (sounds kind of selfish I know, but needed to do specific exercises to help me for tomorrow).

Here was the class:

1st Circuit
Single Arm Over head dynamic Front Lunge 20kg/8/8 for 3 sets
S/S
DARC Swings 20kg / 20 for 3 sets
S/S
TGU 20kg / 2 for 3 sets

2nd Circuit

Renegade man Maker w/ Single Arm clean 24 kg/ 6 reps for 3 sets
s/s
Windmill 20kg/2 x 3 sets
s/s
70 meter sprint - 80% x 3 sets

And some Agility Ladder moves!

Felt gret, nice sweat! Look forward to tomorrow!

Yesterday's Training

Yoana and I went to sell a keg to a Russian guy named Demetri who owns a gym in the San Diego Area. Well, we thought we were going to stay just 5 minutes and we ended up staying almost 2 hours. To make a long story short, both Yoana and I are SMOKED today. This guy Demetri, a GS competitor and very EVIL trainer, put us through some torture. Here is a list of some of things he made us do:

#1)He made me pick up a 170 pound MB from the floor. Very awkward, and very heavy, but I managed to get it to my right shoulder. Then I did a couple of more MB shouldering with 150 pound and 125 pound MB. Challenging!

#2) After that he tested my "pinching" strength to see if I could pick up a softball size MB that weighed 20 pounds, BRUTAL. I surprised myself and him that I was able to do it, especially since I do not have large hands.

#3) With the same 20 pound MB, he tested for 2 minutes passing the MB around my body as fast as I could for 1 minute in one direction, 1 minute the other direction. His record is 52 reps one direction, 52 reps the other direction in two minutes. First minute I got 54 reps, for I'll beat him I thought. As soon as I switched directions for the second minute, I hit a wall. Much harder the other direction, I ended up with 39 reps. Forearms, wrists, fingers and my core were FRIED. That is an awesome conditioning exercise that I must use with clients. AWESOME!

4) Then he tested my GS style with the 32kg (offical competition bell that feels alot different than the Dragon Door KB). My pace was to be 15 reps per minute with a pause at top. Difficult but not too bad. Completed 1 minute x 15 reps on the right, then 1 minute x 15 reps on the left.

5) From there he and I did single arm high pulls with the 40kg KB, that was the worst. Making me hold it just in my fingers, I felt that every rep I might lose the bell. Tweaked my left bicep tendon a little bit. Very sore today in the biceps. Completed 2 sets x 15 reps on each arm. Sweating and nauseated, it took me over 90 minutes to come down from that. It was more than difficult.

6) Now the grand finale! I lay on my back with the 170 pound MB on my stomach for time. I wanted to quit from the first 10 seconds. Never have I tried anything like this before. BRUTAL!!!!!!!!! Everything hurts, most of all my neck and head.I think the pressure created from the heavy weight causes you to tense beyond normal. I made 2 minutes and 15 seconds. Great internal ab work but questionable to give to some people. I liked it even though it hurt more than anything I did that day.

7) Yoana was tested in a MB exercise. The exercise requires bringing the MB overhead and then smashing it on the ground and immediately catching it and bringing it back over head for 100 reps straight. She used a 25 pound MB. She did 100 reps in 3 minutes 14 seconds. Yoana is in phenomenal condition and she was turning GREEN at rep 70. Her whole body was starting to shake. She is one tough customer to get through that punishment.

We are both fried today but you know what, we LOVED it! It was something new, challenging and made us both get way out of our comfort ZONE. Look forwarding to using these new exercises with ourselves, our clients, and in our classes!

Today I think I will rest, might be a good idea. Stretching and mild joint mobility are needed today! Thank God we both have a massage on Friday!

Damn those CRAZY RUSSIANS!