October APFT

THU 11 OCT WOD

 

APFT (270)

2-min PU - 65 (90)

2-min SU - 75 (99)

2-mi Run - 15:20 (81)

 

 

WED 10 OCT WOD

 

Rest Day

TUE 9 OCT WOD

TUE 9 0CT WOD

 

DD(-) warmup

Kb Slingshots

Kb Figure 8s

 

16kg & 24kg Kb Circuits

5 x Cleans & 5 x Swings (3 rounds)

5 x Snatch & 5 x Sumo DL (3 rounds)

 

1-min Killer Circuits (1-min each / 1-min rest)

10 x Snatch & Swings (2 rounds)

16kg & 24kg Swings (2 rounds)

 

 

MON 8 OCT WOD

 

Rest Day

 

 

Olympic lifts coming soon...

SUN 7 OCT WOD

 

Dirty Dozen warmup

Kb Swings 1 x 20 (12kg)

10 pushups

 

Thrusters 3 x 5 (95#)

Squats   3 x 10 (135#)

 

SAT 6 OCT WOD

 

Rest Day

Introduction to the Air Force

Today was a training holiday so our three-day Columbus Day weekend becomes a nice four-day holiday. One of the perks of being in the Army. I decided to head to the local Air Force base to check out their brand new fitness center. I read somewhere that they spent $1.9 million on equipment. I was really hoping to find a brand new Concept II rower so I could log my PRs in the 500m, 1000m, 2000m and 5000m all in one day. Unfortunately, the only thing that place didn't have was the rowers. It looked like a Lifetime Fitness mega-gym with machines galore, huge aerobic rooms with cool group circuit PT weights from Iron Mind. Gonna check those out. The building also had a running track around the outside near the roof. Pretty cool. The other huge difference was the change in mentality on the base compared to any Army post. On an Army Post everyone is dress right dress and most people are running in formation along crowded roads. The lucky few that get to utilize the gym are crowded in those sub-par facilities only from 0530-0630. After that, it's a ghost town until the retirees shuffle in to try to extend their quickly shortening lives at lunchtime. No rowing today but I was able to get in a nice workout with the weights. I think they had a dozen flat, incline and decline benches and only one squat rack. Once I kicked the two B.S.-ers leaning on the rack, I went to work.

FRI 5 OCT WOD

Dirty Dozen
1x12 Thrusters with 60#
Green Monster 1-1-1 with 1-min rest btw
1 set of situps for 1-min (39)
Deadlift 2x12 @ 135#; 2x5 @ 185
Squats 2x6 @ 135 (deep)

Rest day

04 OCT 2007 WOD

 

Rest Day

Fear the TABATA...

WED 03 OCT 2007 WOD

Tabata Swings - (12) - 16kg Kb
Tabata Pushups - (10)
Tabata Squats - (13)
Tabata Situps - (9)
Tabata Thrusters - (6) 2 x 12kg Kb

8pm Track Work -- 4 x 400m
(1:34, 1:32, 1:34, 1:34) equal rest periods

Popeye would be proud...

02 OCT 2007 WOD

 

KETTLEBELLS

 

Swings

1-min ea (16kg/24kg/12kg) 3 rounds 1-min rest btw

 

Windmills

3-2-1 each side (12kg/16kg/24kg)

 

1-arm OH Squat

6-4-2 each side (12kg/16kg/24kg)

 

GREEN MONSTER

 

1-2-2-1

1-min rest btw each set

1-1/4lb LifelineUSA weighted jump rope

 

Haven't used the Green Monster in a long time.  It seemed to be easier (not as winded) but after kettlebells, it just smoked the forearms.  No way we were doing 1-2-3-2-1 without some serious crying.

Hang on to your hats...W.O.D. is here!!!

01 OCT 2007 WOD

 

HILL SPRINTS

10-min slow jog warm up

 

6 x 30-second hill sprints

walk to bottom

 

10-min slow jog warm down & stretch

 

Now that I have figured out the remote posting, I will start adding my own personal version of the CrossFit Workout of the Day (WOD) that includes my usual morning PT session.  Very infrequently, it will include the obligatory push-ups, sit-ups and run that is customary in the Army.  20+ years of health and fitness innovations and we are still using workout methodologies invented during World War II.  But do not fret, for me, these workouts are far and few between.  Usually a precursor to an upcoming APFT (16 OCT).  Otherwise, my workouts involve some kind of Russian kettlebell smoke session where I try to punish my boss or the very few of my peers that dare to show up for some real PT.  I've been truly impressed with the kettlebell workouts since Santa Claus squared me away for my birthday (thanks Honey!!!).

 

Still nursing my hyperextended elbow from the Judo tournament three weeks ago.  Don't want to start back with the pushups too early because I want to save the elbow for some killer CrossFit workouts after the PT test.  Looking forward to lots of pullups, deadlifts, and overhead presses throwing some iron around.  I don't want to just focus on the PT test anymore, it is not good for my fitness if you can believe that.  But just doing PU, SU and run everyday makes your strength very imbalanced (no pulling) and all that running makes you very tight (not flexible) and prone to injuries like the sore knee and foot I've been nursing for as long as I can remember.  I'm thinking adding in some CrossFit worthy workouts will clear up some of my problems.  We'll see...

The Power of the Internet...

I am attempting to publish this email to my blog.  All I had to do is email it to my super-secret email account tied to my blog and it posts automatically.  Freakin amazing if you ask me.  I guess I won't have any excuse sending in my Workouts of the Day (WOD) every day to keep the listeners abreast of what I got going on and what's working for me in the fitness and nutrition arena.  But hey, that's what I'm for.  Your very own fitness experiment monkey.  Don't forget to feed the monkey.

No more excuses here...

I'm finally following my own advice and getting my fitness website up and running. There is nothing like getting off your own butt to show your fans that anything is possible. I have had a "website" aimlessly limping along in cyberspace for more than two years but today I finally got off my duff and started to make it functional.

I've got an online ecommerce shop setup (minus products), some member forums, a link to my equally anemic blog, links to free products for my "Members Only" site, and pictures explaining every bodyweight and Russian kettelbell exercise I know. Very shortly, I'll turn those pictures into actual explainations and then workouts and then something I can sell on the my site to pay for all the money I've put into the site and all the fitness equipment, videos, DVDs, books, and ebooks I've bought looking for the best fitness information available.

And if I can figure out how to charge for offering online personal training, I hope to turn this little hobby into a fun and exciting retirement package for yours truly.

I guess I'll get busy putting together those products...

Recovery is Key

Just looking over the last post about getting older and it's kinda funny. I'm on Day 2 of a lay-around-on-my-butt "recovery" after six days straight of PT this week.

Decided to hit the Art of Strength Kettlebell DVD in it's entirety on Sunday since Monday would "just" be a trail run. Well, I barely made it through that video. It's 14 different Kb exercises done for two minutes so I wasn't using heavy weight (12kg) but it was a smoker. Had to take a little longer than the one-minute rest in the video a few times. But I got through it and felt really great.

Monday was staff PT with everyone at work so we went to a local park for some off-road trail running. 45 minutes later, I had taken as easy a pace as I could and still felt pretty good. Butt after sitting at my desk all day, I started to feel the Kb workout in my glutes and the hilly long run smoked my legs with all the downhills. Tuesday was my day to torture everyone and I was going to use the Australian 20-meter "beep test" to do it. Luckily, my mp3 wasn't working so I pulled the frisbee out of the trunk and we played a pretty long game of ultimate. Lots of sprinting later, I was pretty much spent. Wednesday was a refresher day of Combatives so it was pretty low intensity.

Wow, make that Day 3 of recovery after 5 days working out because Thursday was Friday. (4-day Memorial Day weekend thank goodness). So for Thursday's workout, we hit some more ultimate since it's my favorite sport-like activity. Unfortunately, as I was setting up a smaller workout on a local soccer field, a group of regulars showed up for their weekly ultimate game and challenged us to a contest. After Tuesdays ugliness, we should have inter-mixed with them but we didn't. Big mistake. Even though we had three subs and they all played the whole game, they beat our butts. But we got in another smoker running workout. Luckily, the boss decided that was enough organized PT and we get to PT on our own the next two weeks (except for Fridays rematches of ultimate frisbee).

The only problem with all that running last week, it makes me uncommonly hungry and any gains I would have made we squashed by my over-indulgence. Burgers, fries, tater tots, biscuits and gravy, and anything else I could stuff my face have left me feeling doubly-worse for my efforts.

I am going to start researching what vegetarians eat. My body could definately use a break from all the garbage...

I did start using a "Strossburg" sock to see if that will help my planter fascitis. I'll keep ya posted to see how that goes. Nothing like rehabing an injury while continuing to run. Dumb, I know. HOOAH as we say in the Army. Means, "damn, that was dumb".

Sorry for the rant, but I felt bad for not writing consistently or with anything useable, but it was a long week at work and we did more fun working out that really killer PT.

I think I will use that theme when I retire and start this fitness thing up for real. "Fun Fitness", taking the "work" out of workout and making your fitness experience FUN. Something like that to attract and retain clients. Very similar to the CrossFit philosophy of a different workout every day, ultimate variety so no one gets bored and their workouts don't get stale.
More on this later...

Gettin Old Sucks...

No, it's not that bad, but everytime I get back into some everyday fitness, I'm always spent after about Day 4. That's why I like the CrossFit Gym system of three workouts (with only one maximum-type effort) and a rest every four days. I know that we all underestimate how much rest we need to recover from all of our different workouts. Especially as we get older.

So this week we were back to another 5-day week with PT everyday in the morning. Monday, I have a group of runners and I usually take them to our Hill Sprints workout. They all have to conduct the Army Physical Fitness Test on Friday so I decided to be a little easy on them. We had been doing 8-10 hill sprints every Monday and Friday to get me ready for my APFT. That worked pretty well, I ran better than I expected but now I'm nursing a nagging planter fascitis injury on my left foot. Gonna have a hard time shaking that because we have a lot of PT at work in the next few weeks and everyone will want to run.

Everyone still thinks that running (even though they are jogging at best) is the end-all-be-all for weight loss.

"If I would only run more I could get these last 10 pounds off..."

WRONG.

Given the choice, the only running I will do is hill sprints OR if there is a 400m track around, some track work. What I learned from my group is that I probably only need one hard day a week and one easier day of running (half as hard) per week. That will allow me to recover better. Twice a week hard was too much for me.

I also started working with the wife on learning those pesky kettlebells. They are a butt kicker. Plan and simple. We love them. She, REALLY loves them which is good because she was having a hard time finding motivation seven months after our beautiful boy was born. Anyway, Tuesday and Wednesday I was able to get after them a little bit. They are awesome. Ordered 20 more kettlebells for our class and I can't wait to break it off in their behinds. Should be fun.

Tuesday I also took my first crack at the Pavel "Power to the People" workout. My first weight lifting in many, many years. I know that sounds weird if you've read my website at all you know I'm anti-weights and gyms but Pavel breaks it down in such a way that makes more sense than anything I've read in any muscle magazine. It's only two exercises anyway and it's only two sets of 5 each and you just keep building up to lift as heavy as you can with some calculated periodization to keep gaining and gaining. The two exercises are the deadlift and the side press. Two absolute smokers so it should be interesting to see how I can incorporate this into my routine. Stay tuned...

Gym of the Future

Why the question marks? Because this is how the old time gyms were when man was interested in physical culture, getting functional fitness by using only those exercises that WORK. Today, gyms almost guarantee that you won't see results. It's like they want you to FAIL. There are more mirrors and crap machines in today's "Fat-ness Centers" than anything else. If you go to those places for any length of time, and I don't recommend that, you will see the same people, doing the same workout, for months on end, with the same results. NADA. Nothing. ZILCH.

Check out this video of a sweet gym in Toronto, Canada that looks very much like a gym I'd workout in (if there were any around like this) and the gym that I will open and run one day that caters to people who want to be lean and mean, not checking themselves and their "fake" muscles out in the mirror...

www.artofstrength.com

WOW!!!

That's all I can say after viewing the "Art of Strength" Kettlebell Training DVD. It has 14 2-minutes Kb workouts with a one minute break in between to explain the next 2-min workout/exercise. Each one by itself would be a smoker. All 14 in a row would be madness. I plan on tackling the entire video on the 4th of July. 28 minutes of butt-kicking workout with only 14 minutes of rest. It should be a blast. It's the same guy in the Kettlebell Video on the left side of this blog.

Did a nice Kb workout this morning with the other half of Crazy Wife Productions and she tried to kill me. 20 reps of every exercise or 10 on each side is not a great idea I found out this morning. Newbies like us need to take it a little slower. Me thinks they do sets of 10 or 5 on the videos for a reason... My hamstrings and glutemus are hurtin to the maximus. Actually they aren't that bad, just enough to let me know they got worked out today.

That's the cool thing about kettlebells. They are so fun to "throw" around that you don't realize they are exercise. Don't get me wrong, one minute straight of any of the exercises we've been trying out, is enough to leave me breathing heavy and sweaty. That, and they seem to whisper in your ear what all of your shortcomings are. Which shoulder is weaker than the other. Which ankle has the most trouble supporting your weight all on one leg. And they tell you that it's going to be okay because that little miraculous cannon ball on steroids is going to make it all better...

The Crazy Wife also got some books by Pavel (www.dragondoor.com) in the mail with the DVD, "Power to the People" and "Relax into Stretch". Both are skinny soft cover books that are just PACKED with some amazing information. And that's just from glancing at them. I can't wait to dig into them and start trying them out. More on those later.

We'll, that's enough for now, 04:30 comes early for us "old guys". LOL.

Rest Day

Nursing a cold from my baby boy (don't share your ice cream with your kids!!!) so decided to take it easy this morning. Slept in a little bit extra and skipped PT today. Plan to get after some kettlebells tomorrow and finish up with some hill sprints on Friday. I guess I'll do a big set of pushups before bed since I have been slacking on those...

Hot Chicks Dig Kettlebells

More "proof is in the puddin" that kettlebell goddesses will be ruling the world if I have my way...



ENJOY!!!

Russian Kettlebells are the Future

Just so you hear it here first...

Russian Kettlebells are going to be the future of fitness.

Lifting weights until your back, knees and shoulders give out....is out.

Doing long, slow cardio to burn fat...is a fat BUST.

For the past three years I have been trying to find the very best bodyweight exercises that quickly and easily build FUNCTIONAL strength, muscular endurance, flexibility AND help prevent injury all in a nice 15-20 minute workout that can be done everyday. No more need for MWF lifting and TThSa running. No more chest & tri's, back & bi's, etc... No more supersets, no more wasting all your time watching other people spend hours looking at themselves in those wonderful full length mirrors while they hog the only scapula-raising-decline-lat pulldown-B.S. machine in the gym.

But now, I think I may be on to something even more radical than that, even further out of the mainstream fat, gym-rat scene that I am doing "cheetah-flips" with excitement.

As soon as you pick up a "Kettlebell", you think, "this is going to be too easy--how stupid--what a waste of time!".

Nothing could be further from the truth. These little cannon balls with handles will get you moving in ways you haven't moved in probably your entire lives. You will work muscles you haven't visited since the invention of the TV remote. They will have you huffing and puffing and beggin for mercy in the first 5 minutes. You will be embarrassed at how fast they fatigue you.

And then something wonderful happens. As soon as you put them down and walk away, you will feel energized and refreshed beyond any workout you have every done. You will want to get back to another KB workout and you will be embarrassed at how badly you want to workout again. You will wonder what was wrong with you all this time.

The Future of Fitness is the Russian Kettlebell.



Remember you heard it here first.

Yours in strength,
Comrade Mad Mike ;-)

APRIL APFT

For those of us on Fort Sam Houston, Texas (and most everyone else in the Army), April is the month for taking your semi-annual Army Physical Fitness Test. I am putting my results here as motivation for October (our other month of the year) and as the beginning of my tracking my workouts and fitness levels online for others to benefit from (hopefully).

Despite the fact that the standards for the pushups is falling drastically, and no more so that in the Army Medical Department (AMEDD), I chose to stick with some perfect form pushups despite the chance to cheat the eek out a few more ugly reps.

My goal going in for the pushups was 65 since I wasn't doing them everyday and I was focusing on my 2-mile run time which was dropping every test since I turned 35. Since I had just turned 36 and have 12 months before I hit that beautiful drop off in requirements available to the 37-41 group, I thought I would quell the losses in the run department and focus on all three events in October since I have been nursing some judo, running too much injuries.

So here are my results for the APRIL APFT:
2-min Pushups: 65 (90 points)
2-min Sit ups: 77 (101 points - "Air Assault!!!")
2-mile Run: 13:55 (94 points)
TOTAL: 284 (not too shabby)

Pushup Strategies: I lowered my standards because I knew I wasn't focusing on them enough, but I still wanted to get 90 points so I would still be eliglble for the "coveted" PT badge which is awarded for those who score 270 or above with 90 points in EACH event. I wanted to get 45 pushups in the first minute and 15 more in the 2nd. Sounds easy but when you don't work on it, it is a challenge, especially that second 60-seconds worth. I knew going in I wouldn't get 45 straight pushups without compromising my strength in the second minute so I did 30 good ones, felt pretty easy so I rested for a second and knocked out 10 more, rested again and since I still had time left, did 5 more at the 1-minute mark. Then I was determined to alternating sets of 2 then 1 then 2 then 1 pushup til the last ten seconds. So I did two, rested, did one, rested, did two, rested, did one, etc... got to ten seconds and was sitting at 62 so I did one more set of each 2, then 1, and I made it to 65 right at 2 minutes. I will use a similar strategy in October but I will try to get to 60+ pushups the first minute and 20 more the second minute. OCTOBER GOAL: 82 pushups which was the standard when I first joined the Army back in 1989.

Situp Strategies: Don't have any really. Never had trouble with sit ups except when I ended up with an umbilical hernia and could only manage 30 some sit ups in two minutes. I try to do 20-23 sit ups every 30 seconds and I usually coast into 2-minutes with 80+ sit ups. My goal this time was 77 because that is one more than I needed to max the sit ups and I wanted to save my legs for the run. I got 23 the first 30 seconds, 22 more at one minutes so I coasted into 77 sit ups with 5 or 6 seconds left. It's the first time I finished an event early. Won't happen again but I think you'll see with the run, it was for a good cause. OCTOBER GOAL: 92

Run Strategies: Don't go out too fast. Pick it up up the hill at the 1-mile turn around point. My goal was again 90 points to finish up with at least a 280 overall. I needed to get under a 14:20. So my goal was 2 7-min miles. Each quarter mile would have to be 1:45. Took it easy first quarter and still came in too fast at 1:35, slowed it down a little bit the second quarter and was just a hair over the 3:30 half mile goal. Spotted some coworkers right ahead of me so I picked it up a little bit the 3rd quarter but I still wasn't running all out. The final quarter of the 1st mile is a slight downhill that people hate to run back up when they turn around so I chose a different strategy. I chose to stride it out and pick up some time on the downhill and reel everyone in who I wanted to pass before the 2-mile mark. I was right behind one of them at the turn around and we coasted into a 7:00 mile exactly. Then I slid right and poured it on up the hill and passed him without him even knowing (sorry Chris) and a 1:35 first quarter (WOW FAST), then I tried to relax without dropping out of my lead for the second quarter. Couldn't see the watch very well at the 1/2 mile mark but I knew I was in good shape and tried to pour it on. Came in right on for the last 1/4 mile mark and tried to go even faster the last 400 meters. I was pretty suprised that I held onto my pace for the last half mile but I did it to come in under an astonishing 13:55 (and 93 points). 25 seconds faster than my goal of 14:20 and only 27 seconds from maxing the run for 100 points with a 13:18. Once I turn 37 I will only need a 13:45 or something like that so that is good. OCTOBER GOAL: 11:54 (fastest I've ever run is 12:10 back in College -- should be interesting).

No excuses -- Part Deaux

Well, it's finally here. The day where I start to practice what I preach. The more I found on the web about fitness and health philosophy, the more excuses I found NOT to get my own website and fitness products up and running. I'm just happy that I've found something that gets me going in the morning. There's nothing I like more than talking to people about health and fitness.
And that is a good thing. When I finally finish up this Army gig, I will want something to fall back on other than sitting in the 'ole rocking chair sipping bourbon and smoking cigars all day. I have found my login and password for this very old blog -- in Internet years -- and I have cleaned it up. Very soon, my website will be updated AND functional. On it I will be able to provide free fitness and nutrition newsletters to attract clients and I will be able to provide my very own eBook workouts and DVD videos. If you see anything here or on the website that doesn't make sense, please let me know. If you see something you want more of, also let me know and I'll do what I can to get more of it to you. Thanks for playing and good luck on your own journey for physical enlightenment...
Check in here frequently as I start to post my workouts and occassional meal plans to find what works for me and my fitness goals...