More Pics!

Back from Hawaii.....what a trip!!!

Our week voyage on the Big Island of Hawaii came to end on Monday as we returned to the mainland. For those of you who have never been to the big island, you must go. It is gorgeous, volcanic and has fantastic weather. We were able to completely detach from work, stress and the daily routine. However it took me a couple of days to stop checking my e-mail on my cell phone and to de-stress. I am so used to going, going, going that it is often hard for me to slow down and chill. But the energy in Hawaii gets to you and SLOWS you down to the ALOHA pace of life. We stayed at the Hualalai Resort, part of the Four Seasons. WOW! This place is as nice as it gets. Our most difficult decision every day was deciding which pool we were going to go to, which beach, and which Spa/gym we were going to train at? Yeah, yeah, I know, super tough decision making, right?



We had a blast and are already planning our next trip there. As much I love vacation it is always nice to come back home and get back to work, training, our dogs, etc. I love that life that we have here so that always makes it fun to come home to. Training wise we were able to train every day and one of the gyms (Kukio)even had dragondoor kettlebells. It amazes me that on vacation I can train every single day but at home I can train 3 to 4 days per week maximum. When you have no stress and are relaxing all day, your recovery ability is beyond phenomenal. Now I now why pro athletes can train every day because they don't have to be on their feet working all day. When they are not training they are relaxing, or doing something to enhance recovery.

Overall a great trip.

Ready for Vacation!

Well, Yoana is finally starting to feel better from the pregnancy. She passed the 3 month mark last week and did a very thorough food allergy and food sensitivity evaluation with CHEK Practioner Aaron Wilson. He absolutely dialed in which foods were causing her problems and also figured out which organs and glands were being over taxed. Now she feel so much better. I to did the same testing yesterday and found out I had a whole bunch of things going in my body. Thank God I am on the road to improving my health and knocking out a virus and bacterial infection in my gut that have been bugging me for a while. Very Exciting!

On monday we fly to the beautiful BIG ISLAND of HAWAII for a week of vacation together. We are both exhausted from a brutally busy first half of the year and one week in KONA is just what the doctor ordered. We are so ready for this!!! YES!!!!!

Saturday Sprinting Session with my client Brett

* Yoana and I took 2 of our classes outside to La Jolla Cove on the Grass. Outside classes rock !! We will be doing this more often in the future

Warm Up

Full Speed sprints on grass

3 x 20 yards
3 x 30 yards
2 x 40 yards

Suicides with 5 cones spaced 10 yards apart
4 intervals at 70% intensity

Thursday Training

Snatches w/20kg
7 sets x 10/10 = 140 reps ( I was going for 10x10 but left hand blister went crazy)


Tuesday Training

Weighted Pull Ups w/16kg
5,5,5,5,5,5

Double Military Press (no clean)
20kgs 8 sets x 6 reps

Assisted Pistols
4 sets x 3/3

TAKE CARE! We are off to Hawaii! May God bless you all!!!!

Impossible is nothing!

The following is from an Adidas add in ESPN Magazine:



"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an oppinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."

Anyway, I thought this was pretty cool. Hope you enjoy it!!!

Saturday's Training

A-1 Chin ups w/12kg KB
8,8,8,6,5,5,4,3,3,2 = 52 reps

B-1 Single Arm KB Military Press
20kg 8/8 x 6 sets

C-1 Pistols with stretch Band
3 sets x 5/5


Thursday Training
A-1 Double KB Front Squats
12kg's 5 sets x 8 reps

B-1 Pull Ups w/ 24kg
5,5,5,5,5

C-1 Single KB Press w/24kg
5 sets x 6/6

Tuesday Training
A-1 Pull Ups w/16kg
5,5,5,5,5

B-1 Double KB Military Press
20kg's 8 sets x 6 reps

C-1 Pistols w/ stretch band
2 x 5/5

Ouch!!!! Dropped KB on my toe!

Much to my surprise, I managed to drop a 20kg KB on my left big toe two days ago. Let's just say that I am going to lose my big toe nail, and lose it quickly. Damn it! That means no track meet today which is a real bummer because I was looking forward to competing in the 50 meter dash at Cal State San Marcos today - oh well! Just like Pavel says, if I get injured "IT'S MY FAULT." Now it means nothing but wearing my MERRELL sport sandals all summer. Well at least the weather is nice and warm and I'll look and be ready for the beach :)

Instead of track meet / I decided to train:

Snatches w/24kg KB
12 sets x 5/5 = 120 reps

Chin Ups w/ 12kg
8,7,7,7,7,6,6,

Military Press (no clean)w/20kg KB
8/8 x 4 sets 6/6 x 1 set

Fun workout today. Really enjoyed it! Off to LA for the weekend with my Yoana right now.

Priorities!

Having priorities in training and in life are obviously a good thing. Training wise I have narrowed down my goals to the following:

1) Maintain stability in lumbar spine and continue to heal from my Disc herniation last year.

2)Continue to sprint at least once per week and run as fast as I can. My goal is to return to running the 100 meters in less than 11 seconds (my PR is a 10.72). I would be very happy getting to a 10.8 again. Two meets ago I ran a 12.2 (worst race of my life) and then followed it up with an 11.7 (still slow, but much better than the 12 second joke). As long as my back tolerates it well I will continue to sprint. If there is pain, I will take a break. I would rather function well and feel great than sprint and live with pain. So far so good.

3)Get damn strong at pull ups and pressing. Pull ups with the BEAST (2 reps) and 2 reps with the BULLDOG on the Press. I'm close to getting one with the BEAST on the pull up (a couple of inches away from my chin.) My press is pathetically far away. Although I was very encouraged by what Kenneth Jay said at the June RKC, in order to Press Heavy you have to press all the time, and not light either. I have my work cut out for me on the press. I am naturally a much better puller than presser. I feel that the heavy pull ups will help my pressing.

4) Be able to do some pistols again. A couple of years ago I could bang out 5 reps on each leg with a 40 pound weight. Now I can do 1 rep with the 24kg on the right and ZERO reps with any weight (even bodyweight ) on my left. Since my back injury I have developed quite a left hip weakness that I am still trying to figure out. The jump stretch bands seem to be a nice help as it allows me to at least get down into the bottom position. My left psoas is tight, rigid and weak, I can feel it.

Tuesday Training

A-1 Weighted Pull Ups
24kg 5,5,5,5,4 = 24 reps (these felt really good - powerful pull!)

B-1 Clean + Squat + Press
32kg 3/3 x 5 sets

Excellence is always a choice!

Although this is a "training blog" it's impossible for me to segregate my life into chunks and not integrate all other areas as well, whether it be spiritual, family, professional, etc. The way I see it, training is as much a character and moral challenge as it is a physical one. Where am I going with all of this? I can now see after being in the training profession for over 11 years that one of the most important factors that determines success whether it be in training, my marriage, or even as a strength coach, is my determination and will to be committed to EXCELLENCE. I must admit that after super long days and weeks of training clients sometimes my commitment to excellence in my training takes a back seat as just showing up to do the workout is a success for me. Like Coach Dan John says, most world class champion athletes built their foundation on "punch the clock" workouts. However, that does not take me off the hook. If I am not always committed to excellence that I am in deep weeds.

Having just recently returned from teaching at the RKC certification I am even more convinced of the simplicity of Pavel's take home message of "Strength is a skill."
Because strength truly is a skill we must absolutely ensure that our training is done properly or in an EXCELLENT manner as to develop our skill of whatever it is we are trying to do.

Here is a great quote from one of my favorite Christian authors and teachers Chuck Swindoll:

"Competetive excellence requires 100 percent all of the time. If you doubt that, try maintaining excellence by setting your standards at 92 percent. Or even 95 percent. People figure they're doing fine so long as they get somewhere near it. Excellence gets reduced to acceptable, and before long, acceptable doesn't seem worth the sweat if you can get by with adequate. After that, mediocrity is only a breath away."

The take home message for me from that is to PRACTICE not TRAIN. Instead of doing workouts, perform practice sessions. All it is a change of perspective and to REALLY FOCUS ON TECHNIQUE rather than exercise stimulation. Easier said than done, but it is and must me our focus in whatever we decide to do. For me it means raising the bar and raising my standards in every area of my life. It means doing less things but doing them well. Rather than being a jack of all trades, master of none, I want to be knowledgeable about many things, but master of ONE. You must decide what your ONE thing is.

Thursday / Speed Day at the Track ( I have a track meet on June 30th)
Warm Up

3 x 10 meters (95%)
3 x 20 meters (95%)

Wednesday
A-1 Double Clean and Press
24kgs 5 x 5 sets

B-1 Pistols
Left leg - used Stretch Band 3 x 3 sets
Right leg - 12kg 3 x 3 sets

* The left leg is much weaker as I am not able to perform a pistol at this time. Much practice is needed!

C-1 Weighted Chin Ups
16kg 8, 5, 3 = 16 reps

Summer is Close!

Yoana and I have been walking alot on the beach the last couple of days which is nice because she has not been feeling well at all. The fact that we can get her outside moving is a huge blessing (for both of us). Summer has to be one of my favorite times of the year, isn't it for you to? I love the beach, the sun, the sound of the waves crashing down on the ocean floor, and just being outside. Life seems so simple when you lie down a beach towel, soak in some rays, listen to the waves, the sounds of seagulls flying overhead and take a nap. Thank God I am self employed and can schedule my day to where if I want to escape and go the beach with Yoana I can. That's what we did today and it was heavenly!!! Warm and sunny and not a cloud in the sky. Okay, enough of the sentimental stuff....

Training Today

A-1 Weighted Pull Ups
20kg 5,5,3,3

B-1 Clean + Squat + Press
24kg 5/5 x 5 sets

Short and Sweet!

Friday
A-1 Snatches
24kg 5/5 x 10 sets = 100 reps

B-1 Single Leg Deadlift
40kg 5/5 x 3 sets

Wednesday
A-1 Double Clean & Press
24kgs 5 x 5 sets

Monday
A-1 Single Clean and Press
24kg 5/5 x 5 sets

Just back from the June RKC....

Congratulations to all the new RKC's! They worked their butts off and earned their certification!


What a weekend? This was my first time as a Team Leader, 5th year in a row that I've been back, and I must say that the RKC system just keeps getting better. It was great finally getting to meet Rif in person and to meet and see Kenneth Jay talk. Kenneth is as nice as they come and his teaching and explanations are rock solid and very powerful. Rif is one of the most passionate and knowledgeable teachers I have ever met. He truly has been there and done that and has earned his stripes. His teaching style if full of energy and just makes sense. Brett Jones was great with his militant disciplinary approach and his style of teaching just seems to get the point across so effectively. San Jose strength coach Chris Holder was awesome as well and his teaching on the clean was very fantastic.

Pavel, well.......Pavel was Pavel. What a powerful teacher! He's the one who started this whole thing so we really have to give thanks to Pavel for all he has done. He is a leader of leaders and runs a top notch program. Seeing John Ducane and Dennis Armstrong is always great and what would we do without their guidance, wisdom, and work ethic. Also getting to meet the assistant instructors was great. The Assistants on my team Spencer and Greg were awesome and I couldn't have asked for better assistants. I also got to meet Brad Nelson which was cool as well as Joe Pavel. Seeing Jon Engum again as well as Doug Nepodal was awesome, such cool people!

I also have to give props to my wife for her awesome job as an Assistant considering she is 11 weeks pregnant. She is a trooper that's for sure. She was scheduled to be the team leader at the June RKC but we asked Pavel if we could swap just in case she didn't feel too well. Either way it worked out great because we both got to go and teach in some capacity!

There is so much to say about this program and the positive impact it has on people's life. It gives them hope and a sense of direction in the chaotic and information saturated fitness industry. To use a quote from Jesus, the RKC is a "light in a dark, dark world." It despenses from all the fluff and all the nonsense that people get involved with and gives people solid results producing techniques and principles. Without a doubt it is the best program and certification I have ever been involved with.

My group:
Will, Dave, Diane, Eric, Mark, Brett, Fran, Mike, Chad and Steve - great group! Period!

This was the first time in 5 years that everyone in my group has passed. Everyone passed the snatch test and everyone passed with flying colors on the technique testing and victim instruction. Great job guys!!!!

Probably like everyone else who attended the RKC last weekend, they are still flying high. I for sure am still riding the roller coaster high as the energy was contagious and the motivation factor was high. I am so grateful to be part of this program and what it means to me and Yoana in our lives. I can only hope that many more people will see the benefits of the RKC and will experience the life enhancing benefits that we have experienced over the last 5 years.

Rock on!

If you want to be a better trainer.......

...therapist and strength coach, you must know and understand "Anatomy and Physiology." At a recent NMT Lecture I took in Phoenix in April, this is what Don Kelley (NMT Instructor) kept emphasizing. I completely agree with Don, 100%. The level of knowledge of the average trainer and fitness professional is appalingly bad, and frankly, I don't care to ever be put into that category. These NMT seminars are igniting a new level of commitment and passion for learning much more in depth the amazing principles and anatomy that are the human body. For those of you reading this that really want to increase your knowledge about anatomy I highly recommend the seminars put on by NMT Center, started by Judith Delaney Walker. Two must have resources explaining the Neuromuscular techniques written by Judith Delaney Walker and Leon Chaitow are:

Clinical Applications of Neuromuscular Techniques Volume 1 The Upper Body

Clinical Applications of Neuromuscular Techniques Volume 2 The Lower Body

On a similar but different note, if you want a crash course in anatomy and physiology do yourself a favor and see the BODIES exhibit. Talk about an amazing exhibit!!! We went with Yoana's family last weekend in San Diego to see the exhibit and we were totally blown away. Real bodies, real organs, and reaaaalllllyyyy good information. What helped me was the fact that I was able to see four cadavers in Phoenix in April. It gave me a first hand look and touch of what the anatomy looks like pre-disected. And the Bodies exhibit gives you that same advantage, even though you cannot touch these bodes. Either way it gives you such a real persective about how amazing the muscles are, yet alone the rest of the body.

Training

Tuesday

Track Day / Tempo Running
Warm Up

8 x 100 meters (@70% effort)

MondayA-1 Double Clean and Press
24kgs 5 x 5

B-1 Weighted Chin Ups
24kg 5,4,3,2,2

C-1 Single Leg Deadlift
28kg 5 x 6/6

Saturday
Tempo Runningy May 26th

10 x 100 yards (@75% intensity)

Off to Palm Desert this weekend for some R & R with Flaca (my wife)!

Posture Seminar: The Gravity Game

Just got back from an incredible seminar from NMT Center in Phoenix called the "Gravity Game", a comprehensive seminar about postural assessment, the effects of biomechanical stress in the body, gravity, the feet and gait. Overall it was very good and the part on the foot and how to assess foot function was OUTSTANDING! This year has been especially cool for me as I have new found passion to study human anatomy and take my comprehension of functional anatomy to a new level.

One of the first laws you learn about in the Bible is the law of sowing and reaping. What you sow you reap. This principle applies to every aspect of life and especially your career. If you are a trainer for your profession or are in the health and wellness industry what you sow in terms of study and self growth you will reap. It's funny, since I have started taking these Neuromuscular Therapy Seminars I have started attracting so many new clients and with complex orthopedic challlenges that I would have never been able to help due to my lack of knowledge is various areas. Well, I can tell you first hand that the law of sowing in reaping applies big time when it comes to expanding your business and becoming a person if influence in your community. Those of you who are avid self growth junkies and actually put into action the material you learn can attest to the truth of what I'm talking about. The day you stop growing is the day you start going backwards, both spiritually and professionaly. I am so excited with the new direction in my business as it has BREATHED NEW LIEF INTO ME!!!

BOTTOM LINE: Keep learning, keep growing, ask questions and don't be one of those people that thinks they know it all. For the more you learn the more you truly learn how little you do know.

Monday Training

A-1 Reverse Lunges
2x20kg's 4 x 6/6

B-1 Clean and Press
28kg 5 x 2/2

C-2 Bent Over Rows
28kg 2 x 6/6

Pleasure, Ease and Comfort!

One of the interesting topics we talked about during the NMT(Neuromuscular Therapy) Seminar last month in Phoenix was that the body's primary goal is to move toward pleasure, ease and comfort. If you think this through you will find that what I'm saying is totally true. The body will do everything it can to avoid displeasure, pain and discomfort. What I'm talking about here are the autonomic functions of the body that we do not consciously control. You never have to tell you body to bring blood into an injured area or to remove lactic acid completely from you muscles within 45 minutes after a workout. Because of this we have to learn how to work with this principle and use it to our advantage. That is why trigger point therapy such as NMT, myofascial release, foam roller work, joint mobility and other modalities are so important. They assist your body in moving toward ease and pleasure which allows you to train and function at a higher level.

Let's look at the reverse thinking of that principle and apply it to attittude and character. Now when it comes to attitude and moral issues, staying in our "COMFORT ZONE" is a huge mistake. The only time you really stretch your moral fiber is when you put yourself in uncomfortable situations and grow. In fact, you can never really grow in a comfortable place. I have found that some of the biggest and most important lessons in my life have come from very difficult situations which at times seemed hopeless. As my client Bob says (who by the way is multi-millionare and unbelievably successful) "adversity is a tool that can be used to make you better." He even says that truly successful people will bring self-imposed adversity into their lives when things get to easy or the sailing is too smooth. If life is too comfortable you may be in a dangerous place.

That is how I look at strength and conditioning: SELF IMPOSED ADVERSITY.

You are intentionally putting load (adversity) on your muscles and structure so that it builds itself up and becomes stronger. If you never expose your muscles and structure to this adveristy, you never get stronger or fitter. You become less healthy, more fat and less prepared for the trials and potential tribulations of life that come your way.

Please share me what you think about ADVERSITY and how you have used it to overcome obstacles in your life....


Thursday Training

A-1 Barbell Front Squats
95lbs 5 x 5 (1 min rest on the GymBoss)

B-1 Dead Snatch
28kg 5 x 5/5 (1 min rest on the GymBoss)

C-1 Weighted Pull Ups
20kg 5,5,3,3,3 (1 min rest on the Gym Boss)

Wednesday:
Tempo Running at Track
Warm up
9 x 100 yards sprints @ 70% intensity (hamstring is feeling better!)


Monday Training:

A-1 Reverse Lunges
2x16kgs 4 x 6/6

A-2 Double Clean and Press
24kgs 4 x 5

B-1 Alternating Cleans
2x20kgs 1 x 10/10

An UNHURRIED Life

"Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil." - Carl Jung

"Superficiality is the curse of our age." - Richard Foster

Why write about this? Because I feel that always being in a hurry has caused me to miss out on many of life's most simple joys. Owning your own business, keeping a healthy vibrant marriage, training, reading, studying ,self growth, and family all require a certain amount of time in order to be fruitful. The challenge is in learning to keep all of these in balance without forgetting what is truly important in life. My tendency is to get my schedule so busy with clients that I barely have time to train, study and spend quality time with Yoana. The hectic pace leaves me absolutely smoked and in a chronic state of mental and physical exhaustion. Perhaps some of you have experienced what I am talking about?

Perhaps it's my personality but I have tend to be fear driven with alot of anxiety. I feel that keeping ultra busy with my work will keep me and my family financially secure, but at what expense. Starting in January I really started noticing how much my physical, mental and spiritual health has been impacted from my hectic "HURRIED" pace of life. I honestly cannot say that I have cured this problem, but I am 100% aware of the problem and the negative impact it has had on my life. My training has suffered. An amazing book I read by John Ortberg called "The Life You've Always Wanted; Spiritual Disciplines for Ordinary People" really awakend me to the ideas I am writing about in this post. I know I am not alone; hurry sickness is the disease of the modern 21st century. Perhaps you have seen people do these things or you yourself do them"

* talk on the cell phone while driving
* Check your e-mail on your cell phone while driving or while eating
* Check your e-mail or answer phone calls while eating with your family
* Multi -tasking (driving, eating, talking on the phone, listening to the radio)
* Accumulating Clutter
* Constantly speeding up daily activities
* Superficiality

One of the things I have started doing is intentionally slowing down my day. Rather than speeding around everywhere as fast as possible, I am purposely driving slower or picking the longest line that the grocery store rather than the shortest one. Beleive me, it is not easy, but it is giving me more peace and less stress. I am also trying to find time for more solitude. Going for walks by the ocean or going and practing putting has been great for me in many ways. It slows me down, gets me into nature as well. Another thing that Yoana and I have started doing is hiking on the weekends. Just getting outside and hiking up mountains has brought so much joy into my life I can't believe it. I feel like a kid again when I do things like hiking.

Anyway, my point is that Life does require alot of work, but we can do our work is a slower, more mindful state of mind. Trying to do everything rushed rarel works, and the quality of our work is mediocre at best. Here is a quote from the book,

"The deeper truth is that we live is a lethal environment. American society is filled with ideas and values and pressures and temptations about success and security and comfort and happiness that we will not even notice unless we withdraw on occasion. Thomas Merton wrote that the early church fathers places such an premium on solitude because they considered society to be a shipwreck from which any sane perosn must swim for his life. These people believed that to let oneself drift along, passively accepting the tenets and values of what they knew as society,was purely and simply a diaster."

Powerful stuff. Are you passively accepting things in your life that are destructive you your soul? Only you can answer that question.

My hamsting is still healing as I feel some pain upon stretching. I think I'll start doing some light tempo running next week. I have a track meet in late June and plan on running in the 50 meter dash. Hopefully my hammie will be ready to go by then.

Training this week: I am taking this week off. True to my nature and habits, I overdid it last week and am smoked. I ran myself into the ground and need a week to recover. You would think I would start to learn from my mistakes, geez!

Imperfection Training.........Have you tried it?

My twin brother Keats wrote a article called "Imperfection Training" for T-mag a couple of years ago. The basic premise of the article is that in our quest for the holy grail of strength and fitness, training PERFECTLY or safely is not always to our advantage. In other words, mixing your training by using barbell that are unevenly weighted on each side, performing your exercises blindfolded or even having someone unexpectedly bump and push you while exercising can have tremendous benefits. So rather than always mixing up our movements so we never make any real progress, we take Pavel's concept of the "SAME BUT DIIFERENT" and tweak the current exercises we currently do.

Well that is what I did today during my Single leg deadlifts, I used a blindfold and man was it difficult. Talk about a nervous system cocktail!!! If you have not tried it, do it, you will be shocked how difficult it is. So go ahead and try to spice up your current training program my using the "Imperfection" technique.

Is safe always better? Not always!!! Is your posture always perfect in a sporting environment? If a lineman tackles you are worried about posture? Questions to ask yourself. I am all for posture and maintaining integrity in your structure during training but I think we can get carried away with it. Read my brother's article for a more indepth discussion!

Training:

A-1 Pistol on Bench (to rehab the left hammie)
8kg 3 x 5/5

B-1 Single Leg Deadlifts (blindfolded)
24kg 5 x 5/5 (left hammie is feeling better. I'm Pummped I could even do this)

C-1 See Saw Press
24kgs 5 x 5/5

D-1 BW Chin Ups
12,12, 8

E-1 Farmers Walk
2 x 20kg 90 yards x 3 sets

Great Weekend.....7th Wedding Anniversary

My wife and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary over the weekend. We took from Friday noon until today OFF from work and it felt great. It's amazing how stopping on friday and not working on Saturday makes you feel like you have much more of a weekend. We always work saturday mornings and frankly, I think we're done working weekends. Now don't get me wrong, I love what I do, much taking time off to recuperate and enjoy life is what it is all about. The highlight of the weekend were two incredible hikes up Cowles mountain, San Diego's tallest peak. What a workout and what an incredible view. Yoana and I are hooked!

Today

A-1 Clean and Press
28kg 3/3, 2/2, 1/1
32kg 2/2, 1/1, 1/1

B-1 PVC Pipe Elevated Push Ups (feet on bench)
BW 3 sets x 10 reps

B-2 Single Arm Bent Over Row
28kg 3 sets x 6/6

C-1 MB slams
12lb MB 4 sets x 25 reps

D-1 Farmer's Walks
2 x 20kg 3 x 90 yards

Friday

KB Snatch
24kg 10/10 x 6 = 120 reps

Pull Ups
32kg 2/2/2/2/2 = 10 reps

Hamstring is still healing. It definitely feels much better than it did last week although I still cannot use my left leg explosively,

Thursday Training and a VIDEO of the Captain

Still rehabing the Left hamstring. It is functioning better. Thank God for my active job as it is allowing me to actively rehab it training clients. I couldn't imagine sitting behind a desk for 8 hours a day. God Bless those people that have to, ouch!

Training

Single Leg Deadlifts (Right leg only)
28kg 8 sets x 5 reps
S/S
KB Double Military Press
2 x 20kg 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1

Farmers Walk 90 yards
2 x 20kg x 3 rounds

Chin Ups (BW)
2 x 10

Here is a video from the Gym Jones website featuring Vincent, who played the captain in the movie 300. Talk about a transformation in 8 weeks, WOW!

VIDEO

100 meters

Last weekend I competed again in the 100 meters as well as the 200 meters at the UCSD Triton Invitational. The good news was that I won my heat in the 100 meters and substantially improved my time. Two weekends ago in Phoenix I ran a pedestrian 12.04 in the 100 meters. This meet I ran an 11.74. Although rather slow compared to my PR of 10.72 seconds in 1999, for not having seriously trained for 8 years I will take it. I can feel my speed coming back and feel I can return to the days of running 10.9 or 10.8 seconds.

The challenge came when I strained my left hamstring (semi-tendinosis) in the 200 meters. My start was great and I passed the first two guys in lane two and three. As soon as I hit the straight away I felt hamstring pull violently and I immediately stopped running. PAIN! The funny thing was that I wasn't even planning on doing the 200 meters but I felt so excited after the 100 meters I decided to enter the 200. They stuck me in lane 1. For those of you who have experience in track meets you all know how tight of a lane it is because it is the innermost lane on the track. My hamstrings and calves were already fatigued after a hour and half warm up and the 100 meters. I should have stopped there but my damn EGO got the best of me.

Major lesson learned: Start small and think baby steps. Take it one step at a time and don't try do things you are not prepared to do.

This week is a recovery week as I am icing and rehabing the muscle strain. Walking is difficult but getting better every day. Thank God I stopped as soon as I felt it because it could have been way worse.

Tuesday:
Pistols (right leg only) 3 x 5 (research shows that if you train the well limb there is carry over to the injured limb)
See Saw Press 24's 5 sets x 5/5
Explosive Pull ups to sternum 5 sets x 5

Weekend in Phoenix.....Cadaver Lab....NMT Seminar

I Went to an amazing seminar in Phoenix last Weekend:

Neuromuscular Therapy / Care of soft tissue pain and dysfunction (American Version developed my Judith DeLany NMT. The course was LOWER EXTREMITY

In the late 90's I took a couple of the Paul St. John's NMT seminars but in many ways this seminar was more digestible, easier to understand and taught in a very precise yet clear format. You can't go wrong either one but I have decided to go ahead and take all 5 of their courses and become certified through them.

Friday: Friday morning was a cadaver lab which was optional but I decided to do it since I have never studied on a cadaver. There were 4 different bodies and I must admit that initially it a little creepy. I changed my mentality, focused quickly, put on my gloves and morphed into scientific mode. The bodies were predisected so that muscles of the leg and pelvis were easily accessible and easy to seperate. I must say that seeing the muslces and touching them without the skin is the BEST way to learn anatomy. Talk about a visual. Here a couple of things that really surprised be about general anatomy that I never realized.

1) I never realized how small the quadriceps actually are. When you think of legs you think of hams and quads and how they provide the bulk of muscle in the legs. WRONG! The quadriceps are not even close to being the biggest muscles in the leg. It may appear that way because they are the most superficial. The biggest muscles in the leg are the addcutors, and mainly the ADDUCTOR MAGNUS. The Magnus is so thick and once you pick it up in your hands you get an appreciation of how powerful and big this muscle is. The Magnus is what gives you the girth and thickness. The instructor for the course, an amazing teacher named Don Kelley,says that the Vastus Lateralis and the Adductor Magnus are in competition with each other for the biggest muscle in the leg. Either way, both the lateralis and magnus are big honking muscles.

2) The hamstrings are puny little guys as well. I always thought they were these giant muscles, not so. Perhaps they can be but they just do not have the bulk or size of the previous two muscles we talked about.

3) I was shocked on how big the GLUTE MEDIUS is. In fact it the glute medius that gives the butt the rounds shape. The glute maximus in thick but doesn't have the attachments high on the illum like the medius does. What I never appreciated before was how low on the femur the distal portion of the glute maximum attaches to. To fully treat the maximus you have to go fairly low on the femur to treat it.

4)The Sciatic nerve is fricking big. You could almost pick up the entire body by pulling on this nerve. I didn't realize how big it actually id.

5)Remeber this acronym; VAN. Veins, arteries and nerves. They almost always travel together in the body and seeing that in a body drives the point home.

6)We always hear about how fascially wrapped muscles are in the body but I never knew to how great of an extent that is true. Your body, organs, muscles, ligaments and tendons are so wrapped in fascial connective tissue that it showed me how essential fascia is and what a forgotten component it is in therapy, exercise and stretching.

Overall the seminar was a life changing for me. I am so excited to be re-learning my anatomy because I am in a time in my life where my focus is much better. I plan on doing as many cadaver labs as I can in the next two years and hopefully next year I will travel to Florida to do a week long course in cadaver disection where each team gets a fresh body and gets to disect layer by layer for one week. I would recommend any therapist and strength coach to get into some cadaver disections to REALLY learn the anatomy. It can only make you a better coach and therapist.

The rest of Friday was a lecture on the principles of NMT.

SAT and SUN: These days we went over all the routines for the lower extremity.
The Routines:
Anterior Thigh
Medial Thigh
Pubic Attachments
Pes Anserinus
Anterior Leg
Lateral Leg
Lateral Thigh
Lateral Hip
Hip Rotators
Posterior Thigh
Posterior Knee
Posterior Leg
Achilles Tendon
Plantar Foot
Dorsal Foot
Structure and Examination of the foot
Osseous Structures of the lower extremity

Track meet Results 100 meter - 12.04 seconds - 4th place in my heat

Overall the track meet was fun. My time was a second slower than I usually run but I think the lack of training and focus on high tension exercises the last 4 years has really slowed me down. I am axcited to start sprinting more and focus less on high tension exercises and more on ballistic (high rate of force development), stability exercises and mobility movements. I have another track meet this weekend at UCSD - The triton inviatioan - one of the biggest meets in the country. Should be fun.

God bless all those souls who lost their lives yesteryday in the Virginia Tech Shootings. May God's holy spirit minister to the families who lost children and to the Virginia Tech students!

Be well, enjoy life..it is short!

Revolution Newsletter

If you haven't read the interview we have with Dr. Eric Cobb, do yourself a favor and read this incredible article!

Newsletter # 17

Cortisol...overtraining...burn out!

I took last week off completely from training as I felt trashed. My training the last month had been good but with a very busy work schedule my body was in a chronic state of overtraining and adrenal exhaustion. And with elevated levels of CORTISOL you can experience some pretty bad symptoms that lead to poor health. I have discoverd that with a busy work schedule I need to limit my volume and my intensity. What are some of the signs of adrenal exhaustion? Here is are some:

* Poor sleep at night
* Poor immunity
* Constant soreness in muscles
* Negative response to all intense exercise
* High resting heart rate upon rise
* General Malaise, depression and hopelessness
* Apathy and an overall negative outlook on life

The bottom line: too many stressors in your life lead to higher cortisol levels and that leads to disastrous results. Read below!

The following info is taken from www.biodia.com

Physiology
Cortisol, which is best known for stimulating gluconeogenesis, is essential for normal glycogenolysis. Cortisol affects the heart, vasculature, blood pressure, water excretion, and electrolyte balance. It mobilizes protein stores in all tissues except the liver; it mobilizes fatty acids from adipose; it is the precursor of cortisone and acts as an anti-inflammatory; and it is the primary hormone directing immune function. Cortisol can stimulate or inhibit gene transcription, promote apoptosis, and affect bone metabolism and calcium dynamics. It affects behavior, mood, neural activity, and a variety of central nervous system biochemical processes. Cortisol affects the eyes, gastrointestinal tract, reproductive function, and the production and clearance of other classes of hormones. It is a major marker of the complex control loops regulating the sex hormones. The general effect of excess cortisol is usually stimulatory and catabolic; a deficiency of cortisol usually results in a slowing of physiology.
The salivary free fraction of the adrenal cortisol output is reported because of its high clinical correlation to accurately assess adrenal function. To determine the cortisol circadian rhythm, four individual cortisol levels is taken at specified intervals throughout the day: in the morning between 6 and 8 a.m., between 12 and 1 p.m., in the late afternoon around 4 or 5 p.m., and at nighttime between 10 p.m. and 12 a.m.

In the presence of stressors, the body almost immediately attempts to increase cortisol levels. This increase is associated with both endocrine and autonomic responses in preparing the body to defend itself normally. However, elevated cortisol levels for extended periods negatively affect virtually every aspect of physiology. For example, it becomes more difficult to maintain proper blood sugar levels; to slow down for rest, recovery, and repair; to get good quality sleep; to balance other hormones; to maintain mucosal immune integrity; to maintain bone mass, to produce effective general immune function; to effectively regulate inflammatory processes; or to detoxify the body. Without proper intervention, continued high adrenal stimulation can lead to adrenal exhaustion and lowered cortisol levels. Eventually adrenal or cardiac failure can occur.

DHEA is the major precursor of testosterone and the estrogens. It becomes active at puberty. In this profile, the more stable, sulfated form of DHEA, DHEA-S is measured, providing a more reliable measure of DHEA levels than measuring DHEA directly. DHEA is an important modulator of many physiological processes. It promotes the growth and repair of protein tissue (especially muscle), and acts as a counter-regulatory agent to cortisol, negating many of the harmful effects of continued excess cortisol. When increased demand for cortisol is prolonged, DHEA levels decline. DHEA then is no longer able to balance the negative effects of excess cortisol. Depressed DHEA levels serve as an early warning of potential adrenal exhaustion. In fact, adrenal exhaustion is evidenced by an elevated ratio of the sum of the four cortisol measurements to the DHEA-S average. (The ideal level of the aforementioned ratio is 5 or 6:1)

A chronic imbalance between adrenal stimulation and cortisol and/or DHEA output is associated with a multitude of both clinical and subclinical systemic disorders. Chronically depressed DHEA output results in an imbalance in sex hormones. Abnormal cortisol and/or DHEA values (either elevated or depressed) result in a decrease in the activity of the immunocytes that produce secretory IgA (sIgA). SIgA provides a mucosal first-line immune defense against virtually every pathogen, including parasites, protozoa, yeasts, fungi, bacteria, and viruses. SIgA also provides a normal immune response to regularly encountered food proteins. Dysfunctional mucosal immunity is associated with an increased risk of infections and of adverse food reactions.

Clinical Use
The degree and timing of cortisol imbalances provide the healthcare professional with valuable insights into the nature of causative stressors, and allow the practitioner to formulate remedial protocols (refer to BioHealth's Adrenal and Metabolic Interpretive Guide). Readily identifiable inducers of increased adrenal stimulation include stressors such as tissue damage, inflammation, pain, and mental or emotional stress. Other significant physiological stressors can be subclinical, and include intolerance to the gliadin fraction of gluten protein, lactose or sucrose intolerance, glycemic dysregulation, delayed food sensitivity, and infection with viruses, bacteria parasites and/or other pathogens. Additional testing may be necessary to rule out the possibility of these and other factors interfering with digestion and absorption and creating inflammation and stress on adrenal glands. These types of problems could impede absorption and assimilation of essential nutrients, and the maintenance of normal blood sugar. Chronic dysfunction of any of these processes is a sufficient cause of adrenal exhaustion. Physiological pathways, organs, or systems identified as being the major cause of some other disorder may concurrently serve as causative agents in adrenal exhaustion. In most cases, regardless of the priority given to another pathway, organ, or system as being dysfunctional--and virtually regardless of the condition identified--adrenal exhaustion resulting from excessive stress must be addressed and rectified in order to restore normal physiology or function.

Conditions Assessed
Conditions that may be assessed include adrenal exhaustion, often misdiagnosed as hypothyroid, but may include a hypothyroid condition as well; systemic hyper- or hypo-excitability, whether of suspected neural or hormonal origin, including suspected thyroid, pancreatic, and sex hormone disorders; states of immunodeficiency; and states of abnormal physiological response to any of a variety of stimuli including foods in the normal diet.

That is some serious reading if you got through it.

Going to focus less on weight training for now and more on track work/sprints.

Competitions coming up: This Friday and next Saturday. I will be competing in the 100 meters. It has been one year since I have competed. We'll se what happens as it should be fun.

That's it!

The Old School Dumbbells

Yoana and I have a friend named Enrique Hernandez, a former world champion Powerlifter, who owns a used fitness equipment store in Chula Vista, CA. The cool thing about his store is that in the back he has a "dungeon" gym; no mirros, no fancy equipment, just hardcore weights and iron. He has an old set of the round circus looking dumbbells from the turn of the last century. Just walking into his gym makes you feel stronger. He had a set of 150 pound dumbbells that I picked up one a time; damn those things were heavy. I imagine the feeling I get walking into Enrique's gym is similar to what I would get when I walk into Westside or all the other powerlifting underground dungeons in the rest of the world. You know that when there is GIANT bowl of chalk that there is some serious lifting going on.

Amen to the DUNGEON gyms that are out there. No fluff, just serious, hardcore training!

Saturday

I decided to take Yoana's saturday morning class and it was a cooker. It was right out of our book and DVD's the Revolution KB Fat Loss Program.

It was the Level II, Routine A:

Double Attack Jump + Double Clean + Double Military Press 5
Windmill 3/3
Single Bent Over Row 8/8
One Arm Swing Ladder 1,1 2,2 3,3 4,4 5,5

x 3 sets

Prone Bear Walk with KB's 6/6
Single Leg Deadlift 5/5
Farmer's Walk down the block
Star Jumps 5
Triceps (didn't do these - didn't want to)

x 3 sets

I used the double 24kg's on all lifts - very challenging. I forgot what a butt kicker these workout are from our program.

If you have not bought our book and DVD, what are you waiting for. These workout will absolutely get you into AMAZING shape and with summer right around the corner, why wait. You can get the book and DVD by clicking this link:

Revolution KB Fat Loss Program Book and DVD

The Hierarchy of NEEDS

Found this diagram in a T-nation article by Chris Shugart. It basically outlines the hierarchy of NEEDS for athletes and bodybuilders. As elementary as this information may be to those of you reading this right now, it's nice to come back to the basics and realize what truly is essential.

DIET - The foundation for life and for training must start with diet. If you disagree with me, OBVIOUSLY you have not spent alot of time in gyms or working with clients. Some of the most overweight and FAT people I know workout seven days per week, often many times per day. Are they fit? Perhaps. Are they healthy - hmmmmm - don't think so. If your diet sucks and you're living on processed crap...who cares who fancy your training program is...it doesn't matter.

TRAINING - Training would be the second level or need that is required for optimal results and an awesome functioning body. If you don't train....you will never reach your potential...never. Train intelligently and eat well....then you can get somewhere.

LIFESTYLE - To me lifestyle is almost as important as the first two. If you are totally stressed out, depressed, overwhelmed and SLEEP DEPRIVED, you are not going to put on muslce. You will never look and feel your best if your out at bars all night picking up on chicks. Get your sleep, keep your stress levels down, and have some down time to relax and de-stress.

SUPPLEMETS - Supp's would be the peak of the pyramid because they are just there to "supplement" your diet, training and lifestyle, not the other way around. I think many teenagers and younger athlets fall prey to the marketing vultures of secret formulas and magic potions. Can supplemetns help? Sure. But are they the holy grail of health....? I think we all know the answer to that one. Supplemets are can be useful only when your DIET, TRAINING and LIFESTYLE are in check.


Thursday Training

Feeling a bit overtrained this week. Lots of stress this week and work schedule is very busy. Therefore my training load is way down.

A-1 Reverse Lunges
2x16kg 3 x 8/8

B-1 See Saw Press
2x24kg 3 x 5/5

C-1 Pull Ups
16kg 2 x 5

D-1 Snatches
24kg 10/10/10/10

Eric Cressey Info...

Found this in one of Eric Cressey's article. It outlines the primary joints of the body and what that part of the body needs in terms of training, either mobility or stability. I agree with him and believe that all strength coaches and trainers need to memorize this list.

Ankle/Mobility
Knee/Stability
Hip/Mobility
Lumbar Spine/Stability
Thoracic Spine/Mobility
Scapula/Stability
Glenohumeral (Shoulder)/Mobility/Stability

Most of you who have been at this long enough will see similar patterns with clients. Although these are generalizations, they more often than not are true.

Monday Training

A-1 Double Clean + Squat + Press
2x20kg 5 x 5 (these felt great - awesome cardiovascular effect)

B-1 KB Snatches
24kg 5 x 10/10 (1 min rest)

C-1 Pull Ups
16kg 3 x 5 reps

Saturday Sprinting Sessions

10 min warm up
2 x 60 meters on track with spikes
2 x 100 meters on track with spikes

Felt great!

God Bless This Great Country! Yoana became a US Citizen Today!

Today was a great day; Yoana was sworn in as a United States Citizen along with 1525 other people. It was amazing to see how emotional and excited these people were. I think as a native born American it is easy to take for granted the incredible liberties and freedoms that this country offers. Alot of these people from other countries appreciate the liberties of this country because life in their countries is often very, very VERY DIFFICULT! It was incredibly touching to see my wife and all the other people become US citizens. I was so happy that I was able to support my wife on such an important and monumental occasion. Seeing this ceremony made me realize how awesome this country is and how awesome freedom is. We are so blessed to live in this country and for those of you who have traveled oversees, you can relate. As fun as it is to visit foreign countries, it is always so nice and comforting to return to the United States.

Thank you God for this country. May You continue to bless and protect this country!

Thursday Training:
Stretching

A-1 Snatches
24kg 6 sets x 10 reps (left hand only)

B-1 Double KB Dynamic Lunges
2x20kg 5 sets x 5/5

C-1 Jump Rope
3 x 1 min

Tuesday

A-1 Clean + Squat + Press
20kg 10 sets x 6 reps (left arm only)

Double KB Front Squats

PIC of Yoana's Saturday Morning Class. Yoana let me take her class out to the track; big fun!

I have a new favorite exercise; the double KB Front Squat. Although it can put alot of load on the spine, I find that with a reasonable and smart weight it gives me the perfect balance between my quads, hamstrings and glutes as well as the spinal erectors. This "Big Bang Exercise" really should be a staple in most people's program in my oppinion. The fact that you are stabilizing and keep two seperate weights close your chest and shoulders requires a tremendous amount of core strength and endurance. RKC Team leader Ken Black really taught me the importance of digging in equally with the entire foot, and man has it made a difference. My pee wee herman legs are starting to look a little better and more importantly, they feel STRONGER.

A-1 Double KB Front Squats

24kg's 4 x 5 reps

B-1 Weighted Pull ups

32kg 2,2,2,2,2 = 10 reps

C-1 Reverse Lunges

16kg's 3 x 8/8

Saturday: Speed Day at the track

Warm up = 15 minutes

3 x 40 meters

1 x 100 meteres (flying - meaning that I started from a running start)

1 x 150 meters

This was the first time that I had put my spikes on all year. Felt Great!

I have a track meet coming up next month in April so time to get used to the spikes.

I loved it, felt awesome!

Nutrition Expert Lyle McDonald

Recevied the following information from Lyle Mcdonald's great nutrition newsletter.

Feature Article - Dieting by Percentages Part 3

Last week, I looked at some problems with using percentages to set up diets, you can read it in the archive. This week I want to finish up by looking at several other ways that focusing only on the percentages of nutrients in the diet (or in a meal) can be misleading and inaccurate.
It's quite common to see statements of "Such and such is a high-fat diet and hence bad." or "High-protein diets are bad", things of that nature. Most commonly, those statements are based on the percentages of a given nutrient in a diet. For example, diets containing 30% or less total calories from fat are generally considered 'low-fat' while, by definition, higher fat intakes are considered high-fat. But this can be terribly misleading as well as misused. Here's an example.

Let's say we have a person who's currently eating 2000 calories of which 150 grams (600 calories) are protein, 176 grams (707 calories) are carbs, and 77 grams (693 calories) of fat. Using the math from the last chapter, this yields a diet that is 30% protein, 35% carbohydrate, and 35% fat. Most would refer to this as a high-fat diet and deem it bad because it contains 35% fat calories. They would probably also call it 'low-carbohydrate' and 'high-protein' based on the percentages.

Ok, so let's say we add 200 grams (800 calories) of carbohydrates (let's use table sugar just because) to the diet without changing anything else. Total calories now go to 2800 and the percentage of calories from fat drops 35% to 25% (protein drops from 30% to 21%, carbs increase from 35% to 53%), even though the total fat intake in grams hasn't changed. By typical naming conventions a 'high-fat' diet has now magically become a 'low-fat' diet and nobody will have a problem with the protein or carbohydrate intake, based on the percentages. Of course, total fat intake in grams didn't change. Neither has protein intake in grams. All we did was skew the percentages by adding 200 grams of table sugar to the diet. And I don't think anybody would argue that adding 200 grams of table sugar to this diet is particularly healthy. Yet many clueless folks would automatically assume or claim that the second diet (25% fat) is healthier than the first (35% fat) because it's a 'low-fat' diet even though both diets contain the same number of grams of fat.

On a related note, many food companies will use this strategy as well. By simply adding table sugar to a food, to increase the caloric content, they can drive the percentage of calories from fat downwards below 30% and call it a low-fat food. You can make vegetable oil (100% fat calories at 14 grams fat/140 calories) a low-fat food if you add enough table sugar to it. Does that make it healthy because it's now 'low-fat'? Obviously not. Or perhaps not so obviously because some folks fixate so hard on the percentages that they miss the forest for the trees. Using the same starting diet from last week, say we decide to take all of the carbohydrates out of the same diet. Now it contains 150 grams of protein (600 calories), zero grams of carbs, and 77 grams of fat (693 calories) and 1293 total calories. Now it contains 46% protein and 54% fat. Most would call this a high-protein, high-fat diet and go into an apoplectic fit even though it contains the exact same number of grams of protein and fat as the previous diet. By simply changing the total carb and caloric content, we can skew the percentages. But we haven't changed a damn thing in terms of absolute protein or fat intake.

Or an even more extreme example, let's say we decide to move this guy to nothing but protein (an approach called a protein-sparing modified fast or PSMF). Now he's eating nothing but 150 grams of protein per day. That's a 100% protein diet, which most would call 'high-protein'. First they'd freak out, then they'd tell you that his kidneys are going to fall out of his ass. Except that it contains no more and no less protein than the previously two described diets; once again, by manipulating the total caloric content of the diets we've changed the percentages even if we really haven't changed the gram intake. On that note, this is a common criticism of 'low-carbohydrate' and/or 'ketogenic diets'. Most will call them high-protein and/or high-fat because the percentage of total calories from protein and fat is very high. But this can be misleading because ketogenic diets are also commonly low in total calories. Studies typically show that total protein and fat intake change very little when people move to ketogenic diets. Rather, total calorie and carbohydrate content come down, and the percentage from fat and protein go up. Nitwit diet critics will look at the high fat percentage and condemn the diet, without looking at the actual gram intake.

Another example: one of the popularly referenced studies by lower-carbohydrate diet advocates refers to a group of athletes given only 40% of total calories from carbohydrates, who are able to maintain performance. This is frequently used (by low-carbohydrate diet proponents) to argue that a diet of 40% carbs is sufficient and/or that 'high-carb' diets are unnecessary. Here's the problem: because of the extremely high total caloric intake in these athletes, 40% of total calories still yielded in excess of 400 grams of carbohydrates per day (a far cry from the 150-200 grams/day you might get on a typical lowered-carb diet). So even though it was 'low-carbohydrate' by percentage standards, it was still high-carbohydrate relative to their bodyweight needs. Even at only 40% total calories, they still got close to the 5 g/kg value listed above needed to sustain glycogen stores. Once again, the percentage had absolutely no relevance to the actual gram intake.

And, finally, here's a rather humorous example from my college days. At some point or another, during a nutrition class, a professor of mine had made the rather common statement that "As long as you don't eat foods with more than 30% total fat calories, you will be fine" something to that effect. It seemed like a logical extension of trying to get total fat intake below 30%: make sure no individual food contains more than 30% fat calories and you should be safe. At some later date, I took him a cookie recipe of mine that contained approximately 20 calories/cookie and 1 gram of fat (the cookies were mostly air, with a little sugar and some chocolate chips). My professor bristled, because these cookies contained nearly 50% of calories from fat (9 calories out of a total 20). Well, yeah, but they still only contained 1 gram of fat/cookie. ONE GRAM. A cookie that was 200 calories and 30% fat (70 calories) would contain 8 grams of fat even though it's below the magical 30% cutoff point. Yet he would have considered the second a better food choice based on just the percentage even though it had 10 times as many calories and 8 grams of fat vs. 1. Go figure.

Making my point

Looking simply at the percentages of a given nutrient contained within a diet or food can lead people down entirely incorrect paths. Whether it's in setting up a diet, on interpreting a given diet, looking at the percentages alone is a mistake. A 15% protein diet might contain too much protein if calories are absurdly high, and far too little protein if the calories are very low. And a diet which contains 'only' 40% carbohydrate may contain more than enough actual carbohydrates by grams as long as the total caloric intake is high enough. A diet which was considered 'high-fat' by percentage can be made 'low-fat' by simply adding carbohydrates/calories/sugar to the diet but that's not necessarily improving anything.

As I pointed out last week, daily nutrient requirements are (generally) based on bodyweight, not the percentage of that nutrient in a diet. If someone requires, say, 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, they need 1 gram per pound whether it represents 10%, 50% or 100% of their total calories. If someone needs 5 g/kg of carbs to maintain performance, that's what they need whether it's 40% of their total calories or 60% of their total calories. If they need X grams of fat (X not really having been established at this point except for minimal essential fatty acid requirements), they need X grams no matter the percentage. Are we clear now on the different between percentages and total grams? I certainly hope so.

My Training

Tuesday

Tempo Running 8 x 100 yards @ 65% intensity

Wednesday

A-1 Reverse Lunges
2 x 16kg's 4 x 6/6

B-1 Snatches
20kg 5/5
24kg 4 x 10/10 = 80 reps

Felt good.

Friday

Bikram's Yoga

The Healing Power of Cinnamon

Every winter I usually have a "perpetual" cold that last for months. This has been the only winter that I have only been sick once. One of the things I have done differently is take large amounts of Cinnamon in drinks and my morning oats. I have never felt such a dramatic immune response or "BOOST" from taking cinnamon. There is a little science behind it so I know it's not all in my head. Read the following short article from Dr. Mercola.

The Health Benefits of Cinnamon

So go ahead and start eating your cinnamon!

Monday Training...Damn I love ipods!

Yoana and I recently got Ipods. I never knew how awesome these things were. Not only is having alot of your favorite music in one location efficient, now I can download educational Podcasts from so many cool sources. For those of you that have them, I'm sure you can relate.

Pull Ups

24kg 1 rep

40kg 1, 1, 1

Double Front Squats

24's 5, 5, 5

short and Sweet!

Single Arm Jerks

24kg 5/5 5/5
40kg 1/1 1/1

Video of USC Trojan Chris Penrose hitting a 3-pointer

Sometimes the fairytale ends right, and this one did for sure. My former client Chris Penrose Jr, a senior at USC on the Trojan basketball squad, hit the most amazing 3 point shot at the end of the game versus CAL last Saturday night. What is special about this is that Chris is a walk on, has never really played much at all in his four year career with USC. He has been the "Rudy" of the team, the practice player who gives 110% every time he plays and pumps all of his other teammates up during every game & every practice. Even though he doesn't play, he is a fan favorite because he is small, white and well......not your typical division one basketball players.

Well, this one ends great. He was one of 3 seniors to walk out on the court before the game that night to be honored for his hard work and effort throughout his playing career. His whole family was there to cheer him on, and little did they know that they were in for a surprise. Picture yourself in his shoes and how amazing it is to end your career like he did, sinking a three at the buzzer. Rumor has it that in the last 5 minutes of the game the entire student section started chanting "WE WANT PENROSE, WE WANT PENROSE, WE WANT PENROSE."

Check out this clip. AWESOME!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngo-KkToNCE

Questions to ask yourself about the Snatch!

Finding an efficient and powerful groove in the snatch is essential if you want to make long term progress and keep your body healthy. You must find a technique that allows you to safely progress without trashing your hands, wrists, forearms, shoulders and back. Like any other exercise, the snatch can be abused if done incorrectly and with lack of focus.

Here are some tips that have helped me in my quest to find the ultimate snatch technique for my body. I was initially intrigued by the RKC power snatch (the more ballistic explosive type) rather than the relaxed and loose GS style. Having watched Federenko, Steve Cotter and other RKC's perform the GS version of the snatch I naturally started to include the more relaxed and "hip hinging" style. The challenge is that with my goals of maintaining some of my explosive ability to further enhance my sprinting ambitions, the PURE GS form doesn't quite work the explosive quality I need. At the moment I have tried to successfully combine both Hard Style and GS styles into one blended style. Effective? I think so. Of course doing this combination style doesn't really improve the extreme ranges of strength endurance as in GS or enhance Speed and Power as in the Hard Style Snatch.

The secret to having a great snatch is to ask yourself the following questions:

1) What is your primary objective in my training; Strength Endurance or Explosive Power/Speed? And if you are a competetive athlete, what dominant energy system do you need to train, AEROBIC or ANAEROBIC?

2) What are the current demands of your daily routine/job? If you are a Strength Coach/Personal Trainer and are on your feet on all day working with clients, ask yourself hwow resilient your body is by the end of the day? Do you have the endurance to withstand the stress of stretching clients, picking up weights through out the day, and actively teaching exercsies when needed?

3) Where are you weakest? Hip extensors? Quads? Your overall legs? Maybe it's your grip and shoulder stability?

4) Is your main goal just maintaining General Fitness? Fat Loss? Overall health?


Depending on how you answered the questions, let me suggest that you start by outlining your primary goals of training and design your training accordingly. Keep in mind that stagnation may occur quickly if your weak links are not strengthened. In my personal case I always know that my left shoulder is weak and unstable. If I completely forget about pressing, pullling and other accessory exercises, old injuries can rear there ugly head. You really do have to find what works for you by experimenting with different strategies, almost like a scientist would do trying to prove his hypothesis.

Is GS the holy grail for you? Maybe, maybe not. Is hardstyle KB NIRVANA? Maybe, maybe not. If your goal is GS, go for it. If you goal is more short, explosive power, I cannot see how GS would be a wise choice. There seems to be a storm brewing in the KB industry where the GS'ers are dissing the HARDSTYLER's and vice versa. What a joke. Get over it! There are numerous people that have benefited from doing both styles, so for all of you who are picking sides, get a life. Both have merit. If people would learn to THINK CRITICALLY and intelligently they would understand that choosing a snatch style depends on many factors. It depends on the learning ability of the clients as well as their orthopedic health and medical history. I for one think beginning KB students have no business doing 5 or 10 mintue snatch tests. Most of them cannot complete 1 good rep in good form, so what's the point of doing 10 mintues of it. Okay, RANT IS DONE!

Wednesday

Bikram's

Monday

A-1 Double KB Front Squats
20kg's 3 x 5

A-2 Pull Ups
12kg 3 x 5

B-1 KB Reverse Lunges

Sunday

Bikram's Yoga

Friday (GPP DAY)

A-1 Reverse Lunges
16g's 2 x 6/6

A-2 Double Snatches
20kg's 2 x 6

A-3 MB Shouldering
100lb 2 x 3/3

A-4 Rope Waves
50 foot rope 2 x 30
16kg's 3 x 6/6

Tuesday Training

After reading one of Rif's posts on the dragon door forum about being consistent, it really got me thinking about how important simplicity is in training. So often people(including myself) are so bamboozled by fancy complicated programs that we forget that at the end of the day the only thing that matters is doing something, and doing it well. A simple and effective program design that is actually applied will always beat out the fancy schmancy program that is too complicated and technical where one ends up burning themselves out or just getting too overwhelmed. Slow and steady is the name of the game. It reminds me of what told myself aftet I blew my lumbar disc out for the second time; THINK LONG TERM! If I cannot tolerate the training load, intensity and frequency, than how I am going to tolerate it over the long run? This is something I constantly battle with. My stupid ego gets in the way and I think am better than I am, big mistake.

I have the tendency to go too hard, too quickly which always leads to overtraining and in my case an orthopedically screwed up body. Slow progressive increases in training load and volume are essential if one wants to stick in this training game for the long run. God, please help me remember this post down the road. Don't overdo it Franz, you knucklehead!

Tuesday Training

A-1 Double Clean and Press
2 x 20kg 1 x 5
2 x 24kg 5 x 5

B-1 Single Arm Bench Row
24kg 5 x 5/5

C-1 Snatches
24kg 5 x 5/5

Felt good today, even though my legs are TOAST from my Sunday workout.

Monday

Bikram's Yoga (this helped my recovery and instantly made my sore legs feel better)

Back from Miami....and boy was it cold!

Just got back yesteday afternoon from Miami. Our objective of relaxing, disconnecting and taking advantage of the beautiful carribean ocean was axed; the weather was cold. Regardless we made the best of the trip and saw many of Yoana's Venezuelan friends as well as her immediate family. We also checked out a training facility and met its' owner, Julio Anta, a very a very accomplished martial artist and one heck of a nice guy. And the Venezuelan food we ate; OUTSTANDING and DELICIOUS! As soon as we got off the plane we knew we had to get a workout in, so that's what we did.

Sunday Workout:

A-1 Double KB Front Squats
24kg's 5 x 5 reps

A-2 Weighted Chin Ups
16kg 5 x 5 reps

B-1 Reverse Lunges with hip Flexion
2 x 16kg 3 x 8/8

This was a butt kicker. The lack of deadlifting in my regime has definitely made my back better but consequently has shrunk my hamstrings to the size of Pee Wee's hermans lower legs. I am going to try and pack on a little size on my hip extensors these next couple of months my focusing my workouts a little more on the legs. Of course I have to keep the weight in check and be smart. As of lately my workouts have been for upper body dominant. Where my my legs were once my strength, my upper body is now my strength. Balance, I need to balance out my strength levels by bringing up my legs a bit.

RKC Snatch requirements

Well after more than a week off of training my body is feeling better. One thing I noticed is that I lose strength in my legs very quickly. In my upper body that doesn't happend quite as much, but my legs seems to lose muscle size and strength very fast. I suppose neurologically there is a bit of an issue coming from the lumbar spine from two disc herniations.

Monday

Max body weight pull ups to neck:

Managed to get 16 reps. not too bad but not what I wanted. I guess not too bad after being sick.

Tuesday

RKC Snatch Test (I need to get 56 reps total)
28 R / 28 L

I was very pleased I got this considering I haven't been training the snatch too much. Ready for the RKC, woo hoo!

We're off to South Florida today until Sunday. Hopefully the sun will be out and the beaches are usuable!

Week off...........forced rest!

My body got a stupid cold last weekend in Phoenix, so this week has been RECOVERY week. I didn't get it so bad however my energy levels and breathing have been severely compromised. Therefore no training this week. My post today is right out of Jordan Rubin's amazing book called THE MAKERS DIET. One of the best nutrition books I have ever read. The following is an excerpt from his book on things to do make yourself sick.

HOW TO GET SICK: A Modern Prescription for Illness

1. Stay out the sun
2. Go to bed after midnight
3. Never let them see you sweat
4. Take Megavitamins
5. Use Fluoride Toothpaste and mouthwash, and drink fluoridated water
6. Use artificial sweetners and avoid natural sugars
7. Shower every day, but don't bathe(take a bath)
8. Swim in chlorinated pools(and drink and shower with chlorinated water)
9. Don't breastfeed your baby
10. Get Tattoos
11. Get all of your immunization shots
12. Travel in airplanes often
13. Expose yourself often to electromagnetic energy
14.Use alot of skin care products, cosmetics, hair care products, nail care products, shampoos, soaps, perfumes, shaving cream, suntan lotion, and antibacterial soaps
15. Take lots of medications
16. Get your cavities filled with mercury
17. Do aerobic exercise
18. Wear contact lenses and receive implants of other foreign objects such as silicone breast implants
19. Live in a toxic home with toxic paint, carpet, mold, paraffin candles, etc..
20. Wear synthetic fabrics
21. Breathe with shallow breaths
22. Swallow your food without chewing well (or at all)
23. Use plastic food storage products, the popular food wraps, and re-use plastic drinking bottles
24. Eat grocery store produce and processed foods treated with pesticides, herbacides, animal growth hormones, and anti-biotics, don't forget hybridized, irradiated, and genetically altered foods
25. Weart tight underclothing
26. Undergo surgery to remove "unnecessary body parts"
27. Visit your medical doctor often

Now some of you may read those and disagree with alot of them . Some of them are no-brainers while others I know people will debate about. Either way this is what Dr. Rubin notes as the most up to date scientific research and bibilically based info available today for optimal health. Follow these 27 guidelines and you will be sick and diseased. What's cool about his book is that he references the exact scritpures that explain God's reasoning for eating and not eating certain foods. Fascinating!

Be well!

Monday......back in the saddle

Yoana and I spent a nice weekend in Phoenix visiting my brother and his family. As we do not have children of our own yet I was reminded what a blessing children are. His two boys Aidan and Soren are 5 and 2 and are so much fun to be around. Honestly I cannot wait to be a daddy, hopefully this year! It was great my bro Keats and spending time with family really drives home what life is all about; RELATIONSHIPS!
Having a personal relationship with God and with others is what life is about. When you get to the end your your life the last thing you will be thinking about is all the of the "Stuff" you accumulated or how much success you had. You will thinking about the relationships you had and the people you love. If there is one truth and supreme principle of life, that is it; love God and love others.

Today's training:

Barbell Military Press

95 pounds 1 x 5
115 pounds 1 x 3
135 pounds (negative only) 3 x 1 rep

Pull Ups (weighted)

24kg 5,4,3,2,2 = 16 reps

Snatches

32kg 3 sets x 5/5

Energy was not so good today. I think the trip smoked me. I need to rest up as not to get the cold that is going around. I can feel it coming on so I need to be careful. Day off tomorrow!