Workout of the Week

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will." Mahatma Gandhi

For time:
100 Squat Thrust

Variation 1, squat, hop into push up position, hop the feet to chest and stand up then repeat.

Variation 2, squat, hands to the floor and do a push up then hop feet to chest and stand up. Repeat.

Feel free to post your time in the comments section.

Happy Holidays!!

WOW (Workout of the Week)

Run 800 yards or meters (on treadmill its 0.50 miles)
21 Dips
21 Hanging Knees Raises
9 Dips
9 Dips
Run 800 yards or meters

For Time.
Feel free to post it in comments section.

7 Simple Steps To Get Lean And Healthy

I didn't originally write this but wanted to share it with everyone. It was written by Paul D' Arcy of www.Sportfit.com.

Step 1: Eliminate sugars and Simple Starches.
This should be a no-brainer, but unfortunately, it isn't. If you overweight or suffer from high blood pressure, unbalanced cholesterol, aches, pains and joint discomfort, well buddy, you have inflammation and should stay away from sugar or simple starches. Stay away from things like soda pop, sports drinks, fruit drinks, dried fruit, chewing gum, candy bars, cookies, chips, sauces, spreads and whatever candy you have been shoving down your throat.

Step 2: Eliminate grains from diet.
Rice, wheat, rye, corn, oats, barley and anything made with flour should be eliminated entirely. This includes pasta, breads, cereals, and yes even oatmeal. These agricultural products contain exogenous allergens and antigens that cause inflammation and allergic reactions in those intolerant to grains. You may or may not be intolerant of grains but if your fat and/ or suffering from inflammation, its best to assume your intolerant and eliminate grains altogether. You can gradually reintroduce grains and monitor your reactions at a later time after you have sorted out your body fat and inflammation issues.

Step 3: Eliminate dairy from diet.
If your like the vast majority of the population, you don't tolerate dairy very well. More over if your fat and suffer from inflammation you definitely don't need milk, cheese, yogurt or anything that squirts from the udders of a cow or goat. What about calcium? You can get calcium from fruits, vegetables, lean meats, poultry and seafood. Forget the diary, cows milk is for calves.

Step 4: Eliminate prepackaged foods.
Do not eat anything from a box, bag, a tube, a can or wrapper. Avoid eating anything that is processed, preserved or anything with a ingredient label. Sounds harsh? Too bad.

Step 5: Eat more lean protein.
Another no-brainer, we already know that right? But where are you getting it from. Hint- stop drinking your protein! Its making you fat! Liquid protein has enormously high glycemic load and insulin response compared to animal protein, and if your protein shake isn't after a hard and heavy training session its just making you fat. Knock it off! Get your protein from grass fed animals like steak, sirloin, lean ground beef and any wild game especially if you can get it without added hormone and antibiotics. The same goes for fish and crustaceans.

Step 6: Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables - a lot more!
Fruits and vegetables provide necessary vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber to support healthy immune function, avoid cancer, improve recovery, improve mental clarity and a lot of other things. Another added bonus its hard as hell to get fat eating them too. Nuff said.

Step 7: Drink more water.
I'm not going to waste a whole paragraph on this, if your drinking only 1 to 3 bottles or cups of water per day, add five more cups. Unless your drinking close to a gallon of water a day your not drinking enough. Water is a necessity not a luxury.

There you have it. Can you do it? Will you do it? May vitality and health be with you.

W.O.D

He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty. - Lao Tzu

For time complete the following exercises using this repetition scheme:
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Speed ladder: High knees (one foot in each ring)
Pull/Chin-ups
Kettlebell/Dumbbell Clean and Press (women: 25lbs/men 36lbs)

Post time:

WOD

The is no such thing as "can't", only "won't". All it takes is a focused mind and a burning desire to accomplish, to make a change. Go forward - go backwards - go sideways. Whatever it takes! It's truly a waste of your valuable time to blame other people or society in general. Where you are right now all comes from your mind. Do something you "think" is impossible and you soon will realize just how powerful and special you are. - Asia

For time:
500 squats

Post time in comment section.

6 Reasons Why You Should Deadlift More

In the world of strength and bodybuilding the squat is believed to be the "King" of all exercises, the answer to increase muscle mass, strength and power. But who came to this conclusion and how did it come to be so widely excepted? I believe that although the squat is a excellent exercise in itself it doesn't hold its appeal when compared to a deadlift. I say this more out of practicality and real world usefulness. The more I think about it, the deadlift is probably the best exercise one can do for real world strength and fitness. Real world strength and power is generated from the ground up and very seldom the other way. What I want to do is share six reasons you should consider including the deadlift in your training regime and let you come to your own conclusion.


1. The Deadlift Works More Muscle

The deadlift works all major muscles of the lower body (hips, quads, hamstrings, calves and glutes), the core (abdominals, lower back, obliques), the upper back muscles (lats, traps), arms (biceps, triceps and forearms). The squat mainly targets the lower body.


2. Minimum equipment is needed

With the deadlift all you need is a bar, plates, some chalk or weightlifting belt. So its great if you have limited space. The squat, you need a power rack which when combined with things you need for a deadlift it can be crazy expensive.


3. Core Stability

Here the squat and deadlift can be very simliar so not much to discuss here.


4. Safety

Deadlift, you don't need a spotter, you can either lift it or you can't. With the squat, once you start to put up so real weight you have to have a spotter and we all know how hard they are to come by.

5. Grip Strength

Grip strength is a necessity both in sport and the real world setting. Have you ever hear someone say, "I'm strong enough to lift the weight but my grip gave out" or older people complain they cannot open a jar of jelly?


6. Real life application

As I said in my opening paragraph, in the real world,strength and power begin from the ground up. People are more likely to pick objects off the ground than to have it all ready place upon their back. This can be seen when a mother picks her child up from the ground and onto her hip to a weight lifter performing a clean and jerk.

WOD
Kettlebell (KB) or Dumbbell (DB) Overhead Squat 5x1
Men (53 lbs)/ Women (36 lbs)

For time:

100, 80, 60, 40, 20 reps of:

Jump Rope or Squat thruster

Sit-ups (your choice of sit-ups; no crunches)

Post your time in the comments section.

WOD "Workout Of The Week"

For Time:

500 meter run

40 sit-ups

30 Kettlebell/Dumbbell Hang Cleans (men 85lbs/ women 55 lbs)

20 Pull-ups

10 Box jumps (men 31"/women 24")

20 Pull-ups

30 Kettlebell/Dumbbell Hang Cleans (same as before)

40 Sit-ups

500 meter run

Post time in comments area

Mine was 20'06"

Janel was 20'12'

WOD "Workout o

Primal Movement Patterns

And while the law of 'competition' may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensure the survival of the fittest in every department. - Andrew Carnegie

There are seven primary movements that serve as the foundation for most movements we perform in life and sport. These movements were necessary for our ancestors to survive, prior to modern times. Anyone, who could not perform these patterns would have a limited chance of surviving in the wild. Fortunately, we have come a long way from having to hunt and gather our food but we still need to be able to perform these basic movement patterns in order to enjoy a higher quality of life with as little pain as possible.

Primary Movements

1. Twist (rotation of the spine and hips)
2. Pull (ex. pull-up)
3. Push (ex. push-up or putting groceries in high cabinet)
4. Squat
5. Lunge
6. Bend
7. Gait (craw, walk, jog, sprint)

Most healthy people should be able to perform these movement patterns with just their body weight unless a injury has occurred. If you can already perform these movements with body weight the next progression is to add weight or seek out advance exercises.

Benefits of Primal Movement Training

• Development of bio-mechancially sound general motor patterns (meaning you can move efficiently in many directions).
• Prevention of orthopedic injury through improved static and dynamic postural engram programming.
• Increased ability to focus of task or game strategy due to freedom from the physical body (your not a slave to pain or decrease range of motion throughout the body).
• You have a greater opportunity to maximize your potential in sport and everyday life.

WOD (Workout Of The Day)

For 20 minutes complete as many sets as possible of:

400 meter run (.25 miles on a treadmill)

Max pull/chin-ups

Note the number of pull/chin-ups for each round.

Training Economy How To Maximize Your Time In The Gym

Like many things in life there is a high and low road toward attaining a goal, especially in the gym. Perhaps the top reason people don't exercise consistently, is they complain they don't have enough time to do it. Usually, the first thought that comes to mind is Bullshit! I don't say that to them, instead I ask what their workout consist of and usually its a long drawn out story of one hour of cardio and another hour of strength training. OK, I may be I'm exaggerating by thirty minutes, but the strength part usually consist of a lot isolation exercises like leg curls, lat pull down, crunches, etc. Believe it or not, there are people who think if a workout doesn't last at least a hour and a half its not worth doing. No wander many struggle to workout, if a workout takes that long the intensity is either too low, too many rest periods are being taken or just poor exercise programming.

A year ago, I learned a term called Training Economy from Joe Defranco of Defranco Training Systems. Training economy means choosing exercises and training methods that give you the quickest results in the shortest time possible. Its important to know that ALL EXERCISES WERE NOT CREATED EQUAL. For example, the deadlift is a "economical" exercise because it works a TON of muscle groups at once. Deadlifting works the low back, glutes, hamstrings, quads, forearms, upper back and traps. This one exercise can literally take the place of a dozen less productive exercises.

Hopefully, this example helps you to realize that making the proper exercise selection can drastically cut down on the time you spend in the gym. Don't be like the gym members I see wasting valuable time in the gym doing concentration curls, leg extensions, tricep kick back wonder why they see little if any change in their fitness or physique.

W.O.D (Workout Of The Day)

3 Rounds for Time:
400 meter run (is .25 distance on treadmill if used)
Kettlebell swing x 21 reps: men 52lbs; women 36lbs
Pull-ups x 12

Post time:

Workout of the Week

Discipline really means our ability to get ourselves to do things when we don't want to.
- Arden Mahlberg

WOD (Workout of the Week)

For Time:

25 Walking Lunge Steps
20 Pull-ups or Jumping Pull-ups
50 Box jumps 20 inch box if able
20 Double unders or Single jumps w/ jump rope
25 Dips
20 Knee Raises
30 Kettlebell Swings
30 Sit-ups
20 Single-Leg Push ups
25 Back Extensions
30 Dumbbell Squat to Overhead Press: men 45lbs Women 25lbs

Post your time:

5 Bodyweight Exercises You Should Be Doing But Probabily Are Not

There are literally hundreds of tools to strengthen and condition the human body. They range from barbells, kettlebells, dumbbells, resistance bands, treadmills, ellipticals and so forth. We are always in persuit of the hottest gadget to help us reach our fitness goal(s). Now don't get me wrong I like new training tools just like the next person, but I think at times we forget the greatest piece of fitness equipment is our body. Some of the fittest people on the planet have learned to use their bodies as tools to accomplish great physical feats and awesome physiques. The first people that come to mind are gymnasts, marital artists and the military. Many of these guys build their fitness programs around squats, lunges, push-ups, running and rope climbing. Many of these exercises require very little space and almost no equipment at all. So without further adu, I like to present you with five body weight exercises you should regularly have in your strength and conditioning program.

1. Jump Rope
Jumping rope is a great conditioning exercise. It will not only build stamina, but many other physical skills such as coordination, speed, power and agility. There are so many ways to jump rope that the variations are only limited by the imagination. Some examples are single leg jumps, two feet hops, double unders and high knee jumps. If you really want to see some intensive jump roping watch one of Rocky's movies or attend a jump rope competition. Here is a quick fact, did you know that ten minutes of jump rope equals about 30 minutes of jogging? It's true, jumping rope is a very time efficient method of conditioning.

2. Pull/Chin-ups
Anybody and everybody who knows me knows how passionate I am about this exercise. It is in my opinion the best upper body exercise you can do. Many people don't do it, well because its hard, but none the less necessary to learn. It strengthens the muscles of the back, chest, arms and stomach. To be able to do between 10-20 repetitions of chin/pull-ups put you in a elite level of strength. There are many variations of this exercise. For those, who are not able perform this exercise there are machines and bands that make it easier to do.

3. Single Leg Squats aka Pistols
This is another exercise that has many benefits. Before explaining how to do it, I would like to mention what you develop as result of performing this movement. You develop balance, phenomenal leg and core strength; the ability to run faster and jump higher. This exercise is performed basically by balancing on one leg and squatting as far to the ground as you can and standing back up. Its easier said then done. A easier way to accomplish this is by having a bench behind you to sit on to avoid the fear of falling.

4. Ab Roll out
The ab wheel has been around for a long time and is still probably the best invention to develop the core (abdominal, obliques and lower back). It can be bought at your local sporting goods store. All you do is hold the handles with your hands while starting in a kneeling fashion. While maintaining a flat back you will roll the wheel out in front of you as far as possible and return to your starting point, then repeat. I personally own two and my favorite is the power wheel developed by Jon Hinds from www.monkeybargym.com.

5. Hindu Push-ups
I first learned of this exercise from Matt Furey in this book called, "Combat Conditioning." It works all major muscle groups such as the legs, back, chest, shoulders, arms and stomach. Start with your feet wide apart, but up and head looking back at your heels. The legs remain straight throughout the exercise. Lower you hips and bend your arms. Finish with head up and back arched. Your hips should almost touch the floor. Now, keep your arms straight and push back to the starting position.

There you have it, my top five body weight exercises you should include in your fitness program. Any of the exercises can be seen on YouTube if your a visual person and like to see how these exercises are performed. Give them a try and watch how your fitness level takes a turn for the better.