RKC Snatch Test

After my successful attempts with the 40kg (below), I decided to follow in my wife's footsteps and complete the RKC Snatch test. Now I know watching my snatch is no where near as exciting as watching Yoana snatch 9 months pregnant, but what the heck. At least I will have it on my blog to look back upon to see how my technique has progressed. For my bodyweight of 168, I had to complete 56 total reps with the 24kg KB. No problem as I was able to do 30 and 30 on each side. Rarely do I do high rep snatches but every now and then it's nice to test yourself and see where you are. My 5 + years of using KB's allows me to pass the RKC snatch test without training for it. Most RKC's I know have ZERO problem passing this test at any time they desire. It's challenging , no doubt, but doable!

If you have't seend Yoana passing the RKC snatch test with both the 12kg and 16kg, go to her blog and watch her videos, very impressive!!!

www.yoanasblog.blogspot.com

TGU with 40kg

Today I wanted to test out our new camera and decided to have Yoana film me doing a TGU with the 40kg. I was pumped that I was able to get two sets of one on each arm (although the video only shows me doing one rep on each arm). I rarely do TGU's; only while teaching clients how to do them. And even then If I do them I show the exercise with a 8kg or 12kg. Just goes to show how you are able to maintain strength and even increase strength from doing snatches and presses with KB's. Excellent carry over! My training is usually very basic with presses, snatches, weighted pull ups, KB Squats and Lunge. Next I want to try the BEAST. I will post the video when I attempt it. Should be fun!

The Importance of Habits................Choosing the Narrow Path

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

-Robert Frost

With Christmas approaching and parties happening in full force, it reminds me of how important habits are. I mean come on, how many of us associate the holidays with sugar, candy, cookies, egg nog, and other fat promoting foods? I know I do. This has been the first time in my life that I have really taken a critical analysis of my behavioral habits and how they are related to foods. Like many of you know I have cut out sugar from my diet for the last 10 weeks. I never thought I could do it..........but I was wrong. I can do and have done it! Health is much improved.....energy levels are phenomenal!

So my brilliant insight for the end of 2007 is this........habits will form you character, dictate the level of success you attain and 100% send you in a very specific and intentional direction. In other words, every habit you make is taking you down a specific path, whether it be a good one or a bad one. Because we are made in the image of God, we have the free will to create good and the free will to create bad. We truly can make the invisible become visible. The challenge is when the invisible we are creating is destructive to our health. That means that we are completely and fully responsible for our success or failure in any endeavor. We are accountable for our actions..........enough said!

So at the age of 34 I have finally learned that the labels we put on ourselves (the scripts we think we have to play out) can be changed for the better. It's amazing how gaining success in an area that we once thought was impossible to change can foster new changes in other areas of life. It's kind of like a giant snowball that starts rolling down the hill; the faster it gets rolling and the more momentum it has it picks up more snow and gets bigger, bigger and bigger. Well, that is what life like. The question is, what do you want the snowball to be made of?

Training:

Not much. I have been doing handstand push ups against the wall and pistols daily. Body is feeling good though. I hopefully will be able to run some track meets this month and next month. Of course that will be influenced heavily by when the baby is born!!!!

Pistols, Hanstand Push ups, and One Arm Push Ups

(These pictures are from our trip to the big island of Hawaii back in June. I can't wait to back next year. At the Four Season's Resorts they have a trademark service by the pool: Evian water spritzes to the face. Maybe Pavel would call this "metro-sexual." In my book, de-stressing is very MANLY!. What do you think?)

Over the weekend I assisted at Pavel's Tactical Strength Seminar in LA for LE and Military personnel only! Great seminar and it was great to re-visit many of the drills that Pavel went over in the naked warrior. It got me thinking about how powerful bodyweight exercises are and what a great skill it is to be able to do rock bottom pistols, handstand push ups and explosive pull ups. The great thing about teaching these powerful BW movements is that they perhaps serve as the best assessment of muscular strength in the body. Try a rock bottom pistol with both legs and you will immediately learn which leg is stronger, which hip and ankle are tighter and which joints lack coordination. Same with the one arm push up. Now I must admit that I am but awful at one arm push ups.....geez...those suckers are difficult. Like anything else, one arm push ups are a skill and I know if I really dedicated myself I could get good at them. I would rather work on Pistols and handstand push ups..........they just feel better to me!

Whether you're a bodyweight exercise type of guy or not, there is no doubting the effectiveness of these methods. Get good at pistols, handstand push ups, one arm push ups and pull ups and you will be one strong dude..........or dudete!

It was great to assist with RKC's Paul Daniels, Dr. Mark Cheng and the petite package of power Sara Cheatham. The military and law enforcement attendees were all awesome.

TRAINING

I got my wife's cold two weeks ago and that pretty much did in my training. Time to get back to some type of training this week. Think I'll work on some bodyweight stuff this week and let my sinuses heal. Damn sinus infections.....don't like them at all!

Blessings to all! Hope everyone has a great Christmas Season!

Any Monkey can make someone work hard!

"To me, the sign of a really excellent routine is one which places great demands on the athlete, yet produces progressive long-term improvement without soreness, injury or the athlete ever feeling thoroughly depleted. Any fool can create a program that is so demanding that it would virtually kill the toughest marine or hardiest of elite athletes, but not any fool can create a tough program that produces progress without unnecessary pain."

Dr. Mel C. Siff

I thought this picture was funny. So true the quote by Mel Siff. Any Monkey can make someone work hard. Just invite somebody over to clean your back yard and they will "work" hard. Working hard is important...but when "work" becomes the goal how then do you know if you're making progress? Ultimately, as all of you know who are reading this blog, it's not the work load or how sick you felt after the workout, it's much more than that.

We undoubtedly live in the most exciting time in history within the health and fitness industry. There is a "renaissance" taking place within the fitness industry and so many cool ideas and methods are coming forth as well as lots of the old time exercises and methodologies coming back. Just think what has happened in the last 5 years in the fitness industry. Think of all the incredible certifications that have come to the forefront and claimed their stake in the "PIONEERING" pie you might say.

1) RKC for starters
2) Z-health
3) Clubbell certification
4) Paul CHEK cert's
5) Valery Federenko
6) Tim Larkin's
7) tons of great martial arts organizations
8) Chi kung and tai chi...
9) Gray Cook FMC
10) Gary Gray...

and so much more..........

We really are living during an "enlightenment" in the fitness industry and frankly, I am very excited to be part of it! What about you!


Wednesday Training

Incline Bench Press
155 x 3 x 3 sets

Bulgarian Split Squats
16kgs 5/5 x 3 sets

Single Arm Cleans
40kg 5/5 x 4 sets

Snatches
28kg 5/5, 5/5 10/10

Grateful!!!

What am I truly grateful for in my life?

Today I turn 34 years old. As like most birthdays, I like to take time and survey my life, both good and bad, and contemplate. After reading a Timothy Ferris Blog on Gratitude, it got me thinking. Here are things that I am grateful for in my life:

* I am grateful to be alive today....I've made it 34 years so far....many people in the world die way before that.

* I am grateful that I am married to an amazing woman who supports me, loves me and completes me.

* I am grateful that Yoana is Pregnant with our daughter who is due in 6 weeks :)

* I am grateful for my twin brother Keats and his kids, my mother and father, my sister, my friends, family and support system. I realize that I am blessed with amazing people in my life and that the network of people I know has given me tremendous opportunities (which a lot of people do not have).

* I am grateful to be in good health and to be able to teach people healthy practices for my profession.

* I am Grateful for my relationship with Christ and the Peace and hope this relationship gives. It truly is the POWER behind everything I do.

* I am Grateful to live in San Diego, to have a home of our own, and to run a profitable and completely fulfilling business.

* I am Grateful to live in this amazing country where freedom and liberty are cherished. We live in a country where anyone (literally anyone) can come here, work hard, and achieve their dreams.

* I am Grateful for all the amazing knowledge available today as well as my passion for learning and teaching. I love books and I love music!

* Overall I am grateful for the life God has given me!

WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR?????

Training:

Birthday Training:

Barbell Military Press
115 x 3
135 x 1
135 x 1
115 x 3 x 2 sets

Zercher's
135 x 5
185 x 3 x 3 sets

Weighted Pull Ups
28kg x 3 x 3 sets




Sunday: 20/20 snatches 24kg

Took Last week off from weights!!! My lumbar spine, which has felt great, was starting to feel a little weird.......so I didn't want to test it.

Thanksgiving Training:
Tempo Training at UCSD Track
10 x 100 yard sprints @ 70% intensity
Between sprints we did dips, pull ups, jumping jacks, jumping lunges, shuffles, mountain climbers, and push ups. Great training Session!

Tough Love versus Spanking!

Tough Love vs. Spanking

Most of Americas population thinks its improper to spank children, so I have tried other methods to control my kids when they have one of "those moments."

One that I found effective is for me to just take the child for a car ride and talk.

They usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our car ride together.

I've included a photo below of one of my sessions with my son, in case you would like to use the technique.



The above story I recieved in an e-mail from my twin brother Keats. I thought it was totally funny!

Just got back from Phoenix where I took a 3 day course on NMT coure on the cervical spine, jaw and head. Let me tell you that this course absolutely rocked! I learned so much and could not believe how important it is to properly and thoroughly examine and release the muscles, fascia, tendons and tissues in these areas. One of the benefits of going to these seminars is not only the hands on practice but the work that you receive in return from your partner. My jaw, neck and head have never felt better! The intra-oral work is insane but so darn effective! I have now completed 4 out of 5 Neuromuscular Therapy seminars and have one more to go. So far I have taken:

1) Lower Extremity

2)Posture and Gaiting

3)Torsi / Pelvis

4)Cervical / Cranium

Number 5 will be Upper Extremity and than I can test out and become nationally certified! These seminars are best seminars I have ever taken to learn you anatomy. A good NMT therapist will rival most doctors in anatomy knowledge because they have their hands and fingers in every muscle of the body. You learn the origins and insertions of all the muscles and learn them better because you are actually on the landmarks and on the tendinous insertions. I would highly recommend that any motivated strength and conditioning specialist / trainer / coach take these seminas just to learn your anatomy. Not only that, but who could't benefit from learning how to take people out of pain and restore function to the body? Who couldn't benefit from learning the anatomy and physiology better? I have always said the better you know A & P, the more you will be able to help people, especially those people with problems that people have not been able to help them with!

Training:

Took Friday, Sat & Sun off for the seminar. The next two weeks will be focused on less load and slightly higher volume and reps. Looks like the 3 weeks heavy is a little too much for my body. Two weeks heavy followed by two weeks light is the ticket!!!

Breakdancing

This stuff is unreal!!!! Look at the body control of these guys. I have always thought that elite level break dancers are some of the best athletes in the world!

Training Today
Incline Bench Press
135 x 5
155 x 1
165 x 2
165 x 3
165 x 3

Snatches
32kg x 5/5 x 4 sets = 40 reps

Weighted Chin Ups

24kg x 5,5

Is your Body Built on a Shaky Foundation?

Last Sunday was three weeks in a row on my ZERO sugar diet. I thought I could never do it since I have been a huge sugar eater my entire life. I must admit that it is not easy and that the first 10 days were brutal. I dreamed of sugar, meditated about sugar, WISHED I could have just a little bit. Thank God I did not give in and I must say that I feel a sense of well being that I have not felt in a long while (maybe never). The picture above represents the average American and what their cells look like when raised on a diet of processed food, junk food and sugar. A scary site for sure, but think about it; your cells can only rebuild themselves with the materials that you put in your body. In a weakened state, when the next virus, bacteria, fungus or parasite sets scope on your body, you go down for the count. It's like the tornado in the picture heading toward the wooden house about to fall apart. The BUGS have their way with you and destroy you because your body is weak and sick. Just think of the next time you stuff in a Krispy Kream donut down your mouth. Soon the donut will be the raw material that will build up your eyeball cells, your liver and spleen cells, and every other cell in your body. Do you really want to have the cellular integrity of a Krispy Kream donut?

We are living in exciting times as the amount of incredble health information available is doubling all the time. The problem now is not a lack of information, it is a lack of APPLICATION. So few people are actually eating whole foods and their health is taking a huge nose dive. I take myself for example; here I am arguably one of the healthier people in our country and represent a small minority of people dedicated to teaching and coaching people to optimal health. Well, even with whole foods in my diet I was becomming so sick from the sugar in my diet that it literally was starting to kill off my spleen and reak havoc on my blood sugar. Both blood work and muscle testing attest to this! The bottom line was that I was consuming too much refined sugar and it was starting to destory me internally. The take home points are this:

1) You must find what is stressing out your system and take it out of your diet, PERIOD! "But I like sugar and drinking my double frappachino at Starbucks." Tough! If you want to feel great and rebuild your body with optimal biulding blocks, start first by eliminating the sugar.

2) Take Wheat out of your diet and see how you feel. Most people eat way too much wheat and it destroys their ability to absorb nutrients. It also has the potential to cause your body to attack itself (sounds kind of like an auto-immune disease to me).

3)Being healthy, first and foremost, is about the quality of food you put in your body. How many of us know people that exercise all the time and never look any better or healthier? We all know these people and the reason they never look any better is because they are eating too much or are eating the wrong types of food. These people are NUTRIENT DEFICIENT! People must be tested to find out what foods are currently healthy for them and which foods are not. If people would just start by eliminating the foods that are causing them hidden food allergies and intolerances it would do wonders for their health.

4) Find somone who does NRT (nutrition response testing). I have recently begun to include this NRT with my clients and the RESLUTS are near AMAZING. If you are in the San Diego area and would like to be tested on foods do yourself a favor and come in and see me. It will be very worthwhile for you to find out which foods are causing your system problems and which foods are healthy for you to eat. The days of cookie cutter nutrition programs are gone. We must be totally specific with foods because foods truly are a drug. Just as the wrong prescription drug can kill you, the wrong foods can lead to premature aging and early disease.

We are entering a new era in clinical nutrition where practitioners will be able to keep people from becoming "MEDICAL WRECKAGE" early in life by finding the foods that are over stressing people's bodies and replace them with the healing whole foods that allow the body to heal itself. Whole foods based supplements will also pave the way for improved health as they can fill in the holes per say and get people the nutrients they need to stay healthy.

Monday Training
Barbell Military Press
95 x 4
115 x 4 x 4 sets

Zercher Squats
135 x 5
185 x 4
185 x 3
185 x 3

Weighted Pull ups
98lbs (missed 1 rep by 1 inch)
88lbs 1 rep
BW x 10

Saturday at the Track
Warm up - 15 minutes
Cone Drills (acceleration and de-acceleration around four cones in a box formation) x 6

Speed work
20 yards x 3
30 yards x 3
40 yards x 3
60 yards x 1

Speed Endurance Work
200 yards x 2

Last Friday Training - took off. Body felt weak and tires. Listened to my body!

The Refining Process of Wheat......

The following is taken from the Standard Process Webpage

Wheat kernel comprised of starch and nutrient-rich bran and germ Bran and germ are removed, resulting in primarily empty starch (flour). Processed flour is bleached to improve the appearance and texture of consumer goods. Bleached flour is enriched by adding in a few isolated B vitamins and iron in an attempt to replace what has been removed. Nutrient-deficient consumer goods that have the ability to sit on a store shelf for an extended period of time are the final result.

We eat plenty but we are still starving. As a nation, we eat poor-quality foods that have been stripped of nutrients. We do not consume enough fresh fruits and vegetables. Many of us get our whole grains from instant rice, refined wheat breads, pastas, and cereal. We eat a tremendous amount of prepackaged, pre-made meals. One-quarter of Americans eat at fast food restaurants each day. Americans are overfed and undernourished. The foods we eat are not providing our bodies with the nutrition it needs to survive and be healthy. We are starving our bodies and we are sick. We suffer from diabetes, heart attacks, obesity, and the list goes on and on.

Only whole food supplements complete the nutritional gap.
A word of advice: Not all whole food supplements are the same.

There is good news.

Given proper nutrition, the human body has an amazing ability to heal itself. If properly fed and given the right nutrients, the human body is designed to repair itself. To do so, we need to eat a healthier diet, exercise, and take high-quality supplements made from whole foods. Whole food supplements supply our bodies with nutrients we are not getting from our diet, all the vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, and phytonutrients that foods possess in a way that nature intended, in a whole food form. Whole food supplements are made by concentrating foods for use in supplements. When processed correctly, they supply a multitude of the plant's components. Foods provide nutrients that work synergistically. They work together to provide you with optimal nutrition for good health. Many whole food supplements available in today's marketplace range in quality. Companies are riding the wave of supplement popularity rather than focusing on commitment and quality.

- Standard Process Webpage

This is my third week on my structured training program and it feels great. The lack of sugar in my diet is improving my recovery big time. I am not getting nearly as sore and I have more energy. The Standard Process supplements I taking are helping big time as well:

- Multizyme (a pancreatic enzyme supplement to help take the stress off my pancreas)

- Zypan - (Betaine Hydrochloride - more an acid to break down proteins better)
- Spleen PMG ( A protomorphogin designed to rebuild my spleen)

- Zymex II - (an anti- parasitical/bug product to help remove the debris from a dying parasite)

- Catalyn - (Standard Process' whole foods based multi-vitamin - it really is just a bunch of freeze dried whole food - GREAT PRODUCT)

Wednesday Training
Incline Bench Press
Warm Up
160 x 3 x 3 sets

Weighted Chin Ups
40kg x 2 reps x 2 sets
20kg x 5 reps x 2 sets

Snatches
40kg Left side - fail Right side x 2 reps
32kg 5/5 x 1 sets
24kg x 10/10 x 1 set

Ben Stein on O'Reilly Factor about Intelligent Design

This Video is great! I think Ben Stein is one of the great Americans left in the entertainement business today. "Bueller...Bueller....Anyone...Bueller." (I hope some of you got that). Anyway, he is coming out with a movie called " Expelled:The Movie", a story about the growing debate against the Intelligent Design movement(or creationism). This has always been a hot button for me because I feel like the secular scientific community will not even allow you to speak about creationism or intelligent design. In their eyes Evolution explains everything and anything that does not have a naturalistic interprataion is unacceptable. School teachers who question Darwinism are getting fired all over this country. Give me a break! Since when did we trap science in a tiny little box and say "CLOSED", we can learn no more...we figured everything out!

Stein interviews some very respected scientists on both sides of the arguement and from what I can see does a great job on explaining the case for intelligent design.

Some of the greatest thinkers in history of believed in God; Einstein was a believer in God. He the design of the universe was to perfect. Newton beleived in God as did Darwin himself. One only has to look at DNA to see the incredible language that it used to make every living cell of every living organism on this planet.

If I saw a Ferrari washed up on the beach I wouldn't say, "Hey, this is amazing. Look at what billions of years did to this piece of matter, it evolved it into a Ferrari." Of course I wouldn't say that,becuase where there is design there had to have been a DESIGNER!

Monday's Training
Zercher Squats
140 x 5 x 5 sets

BB Military Press
95 x 5 x 4 sets

One Arm Chins with Bands
Green Band x 2/2 x 2 sets

Snatches
32kg x 5/5 x 2 sets

Yesterday's Training.........and Kicking the Sugar Habit

This week was my first full week of training in months. Full because I was able to do three weight training sessions plus one sprint workout. That should be the template for the rest of the winter, God willing with this baby on the way. My diet has been significantly better; almost two full weeks without any refined sugar. No cookies, no candy, no chocolate, no COLDSTONE ice cream on the weekend, nothing......nada........zilch.......ZERO! It has been tough but my goal is to extend this streak as long as I can. I have never been on a refined sugar fast...never. Always there has been ample amounts of sugar in my diet and my health and immune system have suffered from it. Now I am not one of the zealots that thinks you can never eat any sugar at all....that's not what I am talking about. But I do think that we all eat too much sugar and it destroys health if left unchecked. This is the right thing for me right now....my body needs a break............and I am still getting natural sugar from frozen berries and whatever else if found in whole unprocessed foods.

If you are anything like me, honestly, you must admit that you love sweets. Donuts, love them! Ice Cream...love it! Toblerone Chocolate...the Best! Pastries and hot chocolate....too damn good! I will admit it.........I am a sugar junkie. A couple of weeks ago I got some blood work done as well as some muscle testing done. Both tests showed that I was not responding well to sugar at all and that my fasting GLUCOSE leves were dangerously high for a soon to be 34 year old man. That is the great thing about blood work....your lifestyle will always come out in your blood. You cannot lie to your blood as blood is the vital sap of life that determines your health. With my daughter on the way (and with Type II diabetes in my family), I want to stick around on this earth for a long time to be part of her life.

As my wife says, having skinny genetics like I have can be a curse. Here's why; when you are thin and can get away eating alot of crap food without gaining weight, you erroneously conclude that you must be healthy. WRONG! Someone who has less the favorable genetics in the "get lean" department will eat sugar and gain weight. That is called INSTANT feedback. They immediately can see the negative consequences (gaining fat) from their bad eating while someone like me will not visibly see it in a rise of bodyfat. But ever more deadly, my harm lies in the background, almost invisible to me until one day I wake and find out that I have diabetes or some auto immune disease. Now don't get me wrong, I love being able to get lean quickly but , it can be a double edged sword because the INTERNAL damage can be asymptomatic for years until it's too late.

Lucky for me I am catching it early! I hope to be able to get a hold of my blood sugar levels quickly. In two weeks I must say I feel significantly better. I was poisoning myself everyday and my body was getting sicker and sicker. My cravings are still there......and I must admit it is very difficult to say no when all around you is sugar, all the time...everywhere you go. Now with holidays approaching I will be tested big time. I automatically link holidays (Christmas and Thanksgiving) with eating sweets. YIKES! Thank God for DISCIPLINE.

TRAINING (Friday)

Zercher Squats
135 x 5
185 x 3 x 3 sets

Barbell Military Press
95 x 5
115 x 4,4,4,3

Weighted Pull Ups
32kg 3,3,3

Coldplay

Love this song. Love Coldplay!!

This week has been my first semi-challenging training week in a while. Health is on the upswing - trying to eat zero refined sugar - tough to do, but I need to.

Wednesday Training
Incline Bench Press 155x3x3 sets

Snatches
32kg 5/5x2 sets
24kg 10/10 x 3 sets

Weighted Chins
20kg x 5 x 2

DBL KB Front Squats
20kgs 5 x 3 sets

Monday
Zercher squats 135x5x5 sets
BB Military Press 90x5x3 sets

Training Goals

(This was a whale that I saw this summer. My friend Frank caught it on camera while we were fishing off the coast of Mexico close to San Diego and turned into Black and White. It was was the biggest whale I had ever seen. Truly amazing!)

After about a year of doing mainly KB Presses, Squats, Snatches, Lunges and weighted pull ups and chin ups, I have decided to focus on the similar movements but with a barbell. Below are the following lifts I am going to focus on for the next 6 to 8 weeks depending on how my body handles it. I haven't done Zercher squats in years but having watched videos of many RKC's Kenneth Jay and Guardner doing them, it peaked my interest! So the two lifts I want to improve on right now are Military Press and Zercher's. I am going to follow a lifting protocol from Arthur Drexler's book "The Encyclopedia of Weightlifting" that my twin brother Keats Snideman turned me onto. The rest of the movements will be supplemental lifts

1) Barbell Zercher Squats

2) Barbell Military Press (and one day of incline Press)
3) Double KB Front Squat (same but different principle- I might also use Bulgarian Split Squats)
4)Weighted Chins and Pull ups (I love these and never take these out of my program)
5) KB Snatches and KB Swings ( I will keep these in my training program for now- but on more of a maintenance mode)
6) Off season sprinting (with my event being the 100 meters- season picks up in January 2008)

That's it! 6 simple yet effective movements to increase my full body strength, power and conditioning. I will also add in plenty of stretching and joint mobility work focusing on my hips, feet, ankles and upper back.

Last week's training

Sunday
sprinting at the track

Tempo runs 10 x 100 yards at 70% intensity
Dips (they had a dip station at UCSD which is great) 36 reps
Stadium sprints up the stairs @ 100% intensity - 6
Friday
Zercher Squats
135 x 5 x 2 sets
185 x 2 x 1 set
225 x 1 (PR)
235 x 1 (PR)

Military Press
115 x 3 reps x 5 sets

Too many Fires!

Southern California (mainly San Diego) as most of you know has been battling many wild fires that have allready destroyed more than 1500 homes. On monday morning we were ordered to evacuate from our home in Carmel Valley. It was all to sureal knowing that as we were leaving our house there was a possibility that it would be the last time we would ever see our home. It is now Wednesday and we have been allowed to return to our home. I thank God for his mercy and grace and for protecting our neighborhood. We know that the fire could have easily come our way if the winds had shifted in our direction. Sadly, may San Diegans are without a home tonight and must start their lives over again (from a material point of view).

Overall it has been amazing to see how awesome San Diegans came together to help each other. The supplies and aid that are available for more than a million people displaced and ordered to evacuate has been incredible. The good news is that more moisture is coming into the air causing the humidity to climb higher. Also, this weekend is supposed to bring fog which will further help in calming down the fires.

Please pray for San Diegans without homes and for the brave men and women who are fighting the fires, including law enforcement and medical practitioners.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." Isaiah 43:2

extreme break dancing

I have posted this on DD so many times it's a joke. I never get bored of seeing this guy breakdance, he is the best I've ever seen,period! Talk about joint mobility, yikes! enjoy!

Arnold Bodybuilding - Pumping Iron Tribute

Punch the Clock Workouts

" Not all workouts have to look like a scene from "Pumping Iron." In fact, I often argue that these moderate workouts...the punch the clock workouts...are the ones that make champions. Hell, everyone is willing to work hard the week of the State Championship: I think what separates champions is the willingness to just get "them"...the workouts...in."-Dan John

I have to agree with Dan John. For so many of us we think that we have to leave our guts on the floor every workout. Nothing could be further from the truth. As much as I love the old ROCKY movies, I think in a way they have prolonged the myth that a champion athlete always pushing the envelope so hard that he pukes every workout and is not satisfied unless he is excruciating pain from his training. Unfortunately I think all of us (women to) our guilty of this type of mentality. When you are younger and can get away with longer training sessions and to be honest, can get away (at least short term wise) with BONE HEAD TRAINING principles.

What really matters as Dan John says is consistently "SHOWING UP" and just getting in the training. Now that doesn't mean that you are not focused and motivated, it just means that you realize that the ebb and flow of life dictates that their will be periods of time when you are on the mountain top, full of energy, ready to conquer the world. It also means that there will be times when you are not on the mountain top and rather are in the valley and have less energy and strength. These are the times when (to quote Senior RKC Brett Jones) you develop DEEP INNER STRENGTH. When things are not going as well as you had planned is when you are vulnerable to losing heart and giving up. But just as the farmer must prune and cut back the branches of the trees, bushes and vines in order to allow a more plentiful harvest the following season, we must allow the "valley experience" to prune us of the dead branches in our own lives that our hindering us and holding us back.

So where am I going with all of this? If we can learn to change our perspective on training for longetivity and health, rather than ego and short term results, I know the ride and journey can be that much more fruitful. By applying the following principles we can sustain progress for a lifetime rather than a season.

#1 Think Long Term

If I had only applied this earlier in my career I would have saved myself alot of suffering in the terms of disc herniations, elbow probelms, wrist problems and sickness. It is so easy to think short term and not climb up the tallest tree in the forest to see where we are headed. By taking the long term view we can stop doing things that are destructive and harmful to our bodies and souls and set course in a healthier direction. Unfortunately when you are young you think you know it all. When you get older you realize that the more you learn how LITTLE you really do know. I may regret saying this in many years, but I am so glad to be out of my younger years. There is no substitute for WISDOM gained from life experience. I think if we knew then what we know now we would do many things differently. On the contrary that is how we learn.

#2 Just Show Up

Like Dan John says, just show up and get the work in. It doesn't alwalys have to be a PR session, and usually, especially the stronger you get, those PR sessions will be less, although more enjoyable. Consistently focusing on a motor quality like speed, strength, or flexibility requires years of focused effort and dilliegent consistency. If you are consistently focusing on whatever you goal is, the day will come when you are going to be amazed and how far you have come.

#3 Quality over Quantity

I am speaking to the choir here. Recently Geoff Neupert talked about the immense difference between training for QUALITATIVELY VS. QUANTITATIVELY. Long term all that really matters in the quality of your training session, or can we call them PRACTICE sessions. I for one have learned this one the hard way. Much better to focus on doing less things better and than more things mediocre. And this applies to all aspects of life.

#4 Be GROWTH oriented over GOAL oriented

This may be the most important principle for me. Have you ever reached a goal you had been trying to achieve for a long time, and then when you achieved you felt empty? Well you were empty because after you acheived the goal, it was over, done, finished. I know that has happened to me. One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard was from Leadership expert John Maxwell who said be a GROWTH DRIVEN PERSON, not a goal oriented person. A growth dirven person will always be striving to grow, learn, apply and mature for his whole life. There is no finish line in life. Often the goal oriented person has a finish line and once they achieve their goals, their motivation and drive to succeed is over because they met their goals. This leads to emptiness. If your goal is growth, their is never a finish line because your goal is always to grow.

Anyway, just some thoughts I wanted to get down on paper.

Training on Saturday - RKC Snatch Test w/24kg - 30L/31R

Training...slowly but surely!

Now that my health seems to be getting better..........although slowly....I have started doing some light training. I remember when Jeff Martone wrote an article a couple of years ago highlighting a very busy and difficult time in his career when he literally only had 10 minutes to train a couple of time per week. Well that is essentially what I have been doing. Three 10 minute workouts a week has been plenty and I can feel it even with that amount of training. It is forcing me to cut out the fat per say and just focus on the meat, or the BASICS.

When it boils down to it, focusing a couple of movements is the key to getting and maintaining your strength. Being a practical person, with a baby on the way, a very busy training business to run and manage, marriage, etc.....never has time been more important to me. The concept of focusing on doing LESS things BETTER sounds so much more appealing than doing MORE things worse.

Perhaps many of you can relate to my situation as many of you have incredibly busy lives, children, marriages and of course many fun training goals that constitute this thing called life. It's taken me many years to figure out that sometimes the best thing in your life you can do is to say "NO" to the things that are not important and to the things that interfere with the moral fabric of you life. As much fun as it is to be super young, I do enjoy the painstaking wisdom that comes with getting older. There are some things that only life experience can teach you! Amen to that!

The movements that seem to give me the biggest systemic effect for strength and power are:

1) Double Clean and Press
2)Weighted Pull Ups and Chins
3) KB Single leg Work (SL DL's, Lunges)
4) KB Squats
5)Snatches
6) Sprinting on the Track!

Keep it simple stupid, right? Because I don't see life getting less busy, for now these movements/exercises are a life saver. I am not gaining any muscle, that's for sure, probably because I am not doing enough volume. But the catch 22 is that because I am on my feet so much every day training clients, I have to be very careful not to overtrain as I am already doing a lot of movements with my clients whether in the form of catching MB's, stretching them on the table, or doing bodywork.Either way, I am learning what works for me; and HIGH VOLUME workouts fry my nervous system and my recuperative abilities.

Okay, that's it for now!

212 degrees - The Extra Degree

I found this video on Alwyn Cosgrove's blog. A great video about simple truths we all know but need to apply to achieve the great things we want to achieve in life!

RKC Snatch Test

I was looking at Yoana this morning (six months pregnant) and asked her "Do you think you can still pass the RKC snatch test six months pregnant?" She said, "Of course. Although I am heavier and that will put me into a new weight class where I have to complete more reps. Let's try it though."

Well, needless to say she passed with flying colors and she completed 54 reps with the 12kg. Remember that Yoana has done 130 reps in 5 minutes with the 16kg, so she is very capable of doing some impressive numbers with both bells.

I decided to test myself as well. My numbers were 56 according to my bodyweight. I ended up doing 30 and 30. It wasn't to bad except my lungs were highly taxed.

Power on! KETTLEBELLS RULE!

Changes................the different seasons of life

Summer is coming to an end and autumn is approaching. To be honest with you I am actually ready for autumn. Maybe because I have been rather sick this summer that I am looking forward to change. With a baby on the way my life has already changed, my priorities and the lens in which I choose to see the world through. It's all good though. I realize that life is much more than selfishly obsessing about my goals, my wants and my desires. Not that there is anything wrong with goals and desires, they are built into our human DNA and part of the journey. However, I do think you can get so caught up in "yourself" that you forget about what life is really about; RELATIONSHIPS.
This pregnancy has been good for both Yoana and I because we realize that life is more meaningful with deeper relationships in your life. And what relationship (apart from one with God) can be as meaningful as the relationship betweena husband and wife and their child?

Okay.................enough of that. Training wise I have been doing a couple sets of presses, pull ups, lunges and squats a couple times of week. Not enough or even structured to document it in my blog. Life is busy and with my health still not 100% I must just trying to find the balance between work, rest, play and family life. I can tell you one thing for sure, I need to work a little less and focus on RELAXATION , rest and PLAY.

September TSC......it was a GREAT one!

September is always a great time of the year. Kids are back in school, people are getting back into some type of work and training routine, football season starts and you can always count on a competitive TSC taking place. This one was no exception. Great competitors and a nice size crowd came to Revolution Fitness to experience this grueling yet fun day of pain.

First of all, here are the competitors and their results"

MEN Open Division

Jeff Cwalinski BW 257 DL 475 Pull ups 11 Snatch 116
Aaron Wilson BW 146 DL 395 pull ups 40 Snatch 122
Osvaldo Aponte BW 152.8 DL 315 Pull ups 29 Snatch 112
Mike LoBue BW 179.2 DL 405 Pull ups 35 Snatch 121
Christian Goodwin BW 169.2 DL 345 Pull ups 11 Snatch 68

MEN Elite Division

Phillip Davis BW 169.2 DL 405 Pull ups w/22.5lbs 16 Snatch w/32kg 114 (new TSC Record)

WOMENS

Jennifer Peters BW 150.2 DL 220 Pull ups 7 Snatch 139
Kristin Olafsdottir BW 144.8 DL 225 Pull ups 10 Snatch 123
Susan Atwater BW 134.2 DL 225 Pull ups 8 Snatch 86
Rhonda Fuller BW 148.4 DL 265 Pull ups 10 Snatch 131

Yoana and I want to congratulate all of the competitors for coming out an competing and giving it their all! It is so motivating to watch athletes push themselves to the limit!

We also want to thank Mike LoBue for bringing his SDSU athletes with him to the competition. He always brings great athletes and is one heck of a coach and motivator for talking them into competing, even if they are totally new to kettlebells, pull ups and deadlifts. Thanks again Mike!

Reflections.......................an Eternal Perspective

I hope this post doesn't come off sounding too dark, too negative and depressing. That is not my intent at all, I'm just sharing what has been on my heart for a while and more importantly it gives me a chance to write some of my thoughts down and reflect on them in a different way. For a while I have wrestled with my own mortality(the fact that I will one day die) and have tried to come to grasps with this fact. Death seems like such a foreign concept to me, to all of us. It seems as if it just shouldn't be and we live our lives and act and behave in ways that might prove that we think we are immortal, which of course is false. The fact of the matter is that life is not a dress rehearsal, it is the real deal. We only get one shot at this life, one opportunity to swing for the fences. Once it is over, our time here on earth is finished. As a professing Christian I believe there is an after life as reason and logic prove to me that this is true.

Atheists try to convince themselves that once" your dead, you are dead, that's it; that's the end of sensation." Yet the universal and overpowering conviction has persisted in every culture since the beginning of time that death does not end human existence. The fact that man is a spiritual being who survives death of the body in which he temporarily lives on earth is a basic human instinct that can be denied only with great effort. Moreover, even apart from scripture, the scientific validity of this universal belief is easily proved.

Death is a fate that we all imagine that we will somehow avoid, at least for a while. The fact is no matter how healthy one may be, we are always one breath away from death. This is a very UNPLEASANT topic that we do not like to talk about or think about. That is why I like what Moses says in the bible that we need God's help to fit our few days into an eternal perspective.

To quote Dave Hunt, "But modern funerals, with their beautiful flowers and kind rememberances of the deceased, seem almost designed to keep the mourning to a minimum in order to help the living remain detached from the unspeakable event that has drawn them together. we cannot bear, for ourselves or for others, to dwell upon the fact that death inevitably puts its terminating stamp on every earthly passion, position, possession and ambition."

Where am I going with all of this. Not sure! I just no that I do not want to waste my life away on trivial things. Coming to grasp with your own mortality is an important thing to do as I believe it can and should push you toward GREAT endeavors and GREAT vision. The very fact that we are mortal makes LIFE that much more significant and precious. So what are you waiting for (myself included). Swing for the fences, do great things. Love people, serve people, and challenge yourself to reach, strive and try harder.

Someone once told me that the only thing you can take from this earth (we certainly can't take any of our material goods) into eternity is the CHARACTER that you develop here.