Monday, March 25, 2013

Monday Night Playtime

Kelly and I decided to hit the gym with this bang-up bruiser. Simple to remember what comes next, but tough because you know it's gonna hurt!
Make sure you're using enough weight, but not to the point where you can't finish the warm-ups...Kelly used 25, I used 30. If we wanted to end the workout sooner, we both would have gone up by 5 pounds.

Warm-ups are always interesting because they are supposed to be easy. Well, not this one.

50 kettle swings
50 prayer squats (deep...go all the way down)

Round one
10-1hand swings (pass to other side)
10-2hand swings
10 cleans each side
Repeat

Round Two
20-double cleans. We held 25 in one hand, and 30 in the other. 10 then switch weight so it's even. I'd say this was harder than swinging with two of the same weight, since there is some cross lateral compensation involved. That's what I would call it, anyway.

Alternate this set with incline leg press. Um, we used 4 plates on each side for a total of 8 plates. That's 360 pounds. Now press it 20 times per set. Make sure the amount you choose is doable and yet tough by its finish. You should not be looking forward to rep 15 and wanting to seriously stop by 18. It should be tough to get out those last few reps...or it's not heavy enough.

So...
20-incline leg presses with a good amount of weight.
Oh, I forgot to tell you. Do Round two for a total of five sets. You will have done 100 leg presses and 100 double swings in sets of 20.

We were going to throw in some racked crunches, weighted on both ends (one arm hanging, holding a kettle, the other hand holds a racked kettle and you're sidelying with feet aligned heel to toe) on the hyperextension bench, 15 reps each side for 3 sets, but we were lost after those two rounds.

We cooled down with a 20 minute low level walk. It felt pretty good to reground and prep for the evening. Tuesday's workout is going to be about some long cardio and heavier abs, maybe a little bit of HIIT training.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Tonight's workout and energy field sensitivity=bad combo.

Once Jessy and I found a lovely spot on the crazily crowded floor tonight, we began our solid-packed endurance burn workout with a 40 pound straight bar, a 30 pound kettlebell, a 7.5 pound set of dumbbells and a hyperextension bench for some suspended ab work. (I'm thinking of that pull up strength I don't seem to have in full force just yet. Going for it now with some crazy exercises.)

We started with our straight bar. We once again went for 20 reps per set and 2 to 3 sets, each long heart action circuit lasting long enough to want it to stop.  Here's more information on peripheral heart action training circuit: http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/phat-training-fat-loss

 For some reason, this workout leaves us a bit winded and just this side of nauseous, but feeling depleted in a good sort of way.

20 deep squats
20 shoulder presses (elbows in, focus on triceps)
20 deadlifts
20 bar rows
20 bicep curls
20 tricep straight arm pressbacks
20 lunges (bar bottom load)
20 squat to press
30 swings to cleans
15 hyperextensions  with 35 pound plate
12 kettlebell obliques on hyper extension bench (bottom and top loaded...racking a bell and in the other hand, letting it hang....ugh such nasty kettle creations.)
10 bell hells (that's what I call 'em) you lay with your back over the end of the bench where you would normally put your legs, lay back until parallel to the floor and single arm chest press that weight up!)

Now in the middle of our workout, we feel this huge surge of super gross energy, and knew that something was way off. I walked away from that corner and instantly feel better. So someone had latched their caustic energy onto me! Oh no, this could not continue. You see, sometimes people have this projective energy, and they throw their energy about haphazardly. For example, if a person is super positive when you are feeling low, you feel energized by this. But if this same strong person is angry and is not able to contain energy, you end up getting drained by it. This is the short explanation. And on top of this, said person may have even been focusing his attention on meat market options, which, if this energy is unwanted, can be an even deeper source of drain.

The moral of this story is, if you have a big energy field, and you're in great company, getting an amazing workout, and you suddenly feel drained even though you timed your meals correctly, there's this other reason you might try looking at. More on this to follow.

The moral of this


Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Work out, or eat? Part Two

Now this one is for those fitness enthusiasts and athletes who actually try their best to eat clean and train, but aren't properly loading their meals during the day, and then suddenly it's time to work out. Hm. What to do, what to do...

Now the closer you get to your workout, the less you should eat. Your body does not want to work that hard on a meal digestion and fuel output and fat metabolism and muscle regeneration and blood detoxification. In fact, it can't. The body only wants to do a very limited number of additional actions on its road to keeping homeostasis. So it makes a decision to digest the food, thereby using all of your available energy for digestion, leaving very little for your workout. To add to this, if it contains high fats, it becomes even more unusable to the body for the workout, leaving you feeling less worked out yet more fatigued than ever.

Ideally, your bigger meal should be about 3 or 4 hours from your workout. This should be your last substantial meal, given this theory. Any food you take in should become easier to digest and assimilate into the body down to that last hour (protein shake or very small easily digested meal). I have been okay with a small portion of nuts or an apple 2 hours prior to my lift session, but I feel best on a protein shake (liquid nutrition) 1 hour before and coconut water during my workout. This seems to be the optimal intake window.

Some dietary theories suggest that you eat very little during the day, have a protein shake before, and then eat a hearty meal after your workout. Others suggest that you load a majority of your proteins and limited healthy carbs (depending on the theory is what type of carb that may be suggested) every 3 or so hours until your workout. What I'm finding is, each person needs to find their groove, and experiment to see how optimal the workout session feels. If you feel heavy, you ate too much. If you feel lightheaded, you didn't consume enough. If you feel pretty energetic and balanced, and can perform your regular program with a bit of energy to spare, you may have found your program. Keep in mind that sleep and type of food plays a factor in your outcomes. Find that sweet spot. Now stick to it.

Work out, or eat?

I often hear: "I need to lose 60 pounds first. Then I can begin working out."

Really?? Why??

Is there some kind of reason you can't work out and eat right at the same time?

I don't know when this idea took hold, but it seems to be the case that some people feel as if they must lose body fat first before actually going in to shed pounds. Now in my years as a trainer and fitness instructor, I may have possibly heard everything in the book, from not wanting to get bulky, to feeling they are too big to burn calories. Now if that same person told me they had a lot of joint pain, I'd completely understand that angle. But being able to do some light exercise at least, walking for example, is always an important first step in the changing of the metabolic pathways that can lead to an even heavier or lighter state. The decision to stay stagnant, or get moving, is up to the discretion of the exerciser.

When I think of this topic, I am also contemplating those who either eat really well and hardly move, or work out severely, and eat very poorly. This is a common pattern amongst many trainers, who have a tendency to overtrain their bodies. Many people do not even realize (or care) that they are overtraining, and have been, for an extended period of time. When injury or deep fatigue sets in (or a combination of both), they begin to realize their folly. A few common symptoms of overtraining are deep muscle fatigue, inability to perform a set of exercises one is normally capable of completing, soreness after every workout, soreness, stiffness or pain in a localized area of the body, deep, insistent hunger that becomes hard to kill, which leads to overeating and weight gain. On top of this, that same person will go smoke a cigarette, order a pizza and drink 5 beers with friends that evening, as a "reward" to offset their efforts, because after all, that's why they train (so they can eat whatever they'd like). Does this make that food or substance any less bad for your internal organs? (yes, I'm also talking to my hard gainers as well. You CAN eat clean and gain.)

Inflammation is the cause of pain, and silent inflammation is the long term, non-painful cause of illness such as obesity and diabetes, which can eventually become painful and lead to death. Even the most avid exercising trainer should know that this extended state where the body is forced to ingest damaging foods, will eventually manifest illness. It's the eventual status, that puts refined and processed foods on alert, or at least should, with physically knowledgeable people.

So what do we say about people who eat healthy but don't exercise? Well here's the truth. If you want to alter the look of the body, eating healthy won't build muscle, and if you want healthy physiology, lifting weights won't necessarily produce a clean liver and gut, but may offer you a better chance of moving that damaging food through the gut and out of the body. So then, what would the body think if that damaging food wasn't put in there in the first place? Now that could work. 


Saturday, March 2, 2013

Circuit Burnout.

Kelly and I did this ridiculous workout tonight. Both of us walked out clutching our stomachs.
We took a diversion from the usual kettlebell action (I cain't quitchu, kettlebell!!) and decided to put a fat burning spin on our workout that I hadn't run in some time. We did a total body circuit consisting of about 8 exercises. The goal was to do 20 reps per exercise for as many sets as we could muster, as fast as we could. We only really got through 2 sets, but that's 8 exercises, 20 reps each, 2 sets of ridiculousness, with fairly heavy, yet somehow sustainable, weight. The thing that really sucks about the workout, is that you need to just plow through it, no stops and no thought bubbles. Just push til you boink.

Chest press: total of 60 pounds of free weight (30 each hand)
Kettle Tricep extension: 15 pounds (1 side at a time)
Standing reverse flye: 40 pounds (20 each hand)
Standing bicep curls: 40 pounds (20 each hand)
Standing Shoulder press: 40 (20 each)
Front Squats: 30 pound kettlebell
Kettle abs on hyperextension machine: 25 pound kettlebell
Deadlifts with 40 and 45 pound kettles in each hand

This was a crazy, nonsensical workout! We were cooked in about 30 minutes. That's what I'm talking about!