Change My Game, part 1.

One can only do Kettlebells for so long, before one starts to notice a shift in the type of workout that is being done. What I'm saying is, while kettlebells are excellent for fat loss and incredible strength gains, each type of exercise deserves its own individual merit for what it does. We as exercise practitioners have this unbelievable work ethic in one area of fitness, and we usually let all other faculties crumble. That is so not fair to the body since we need them all.

I look at my body and I can tell that I'm strong. I can see muscle. People know I lift. But with all that functional strength, it needs somewhere to go. Am I a fast runner and sprinter? Only if I practice...and then my body comes down to meet the needs of speed. Do I look defined? Only when I go out of my way to diet down and traditionally strength train. Is my heart peppy? When I practice endurance and interval training, I feel right as rain. But can I support my own body weight? Well seeing as body weight strength is a quintessential way to understand if one is strong truly on ones own merit, it says a lot.

Well you can only imagine what I learned about myself next, and when my awareness came to it, I wondered why I would ever sell myself to anyone as a trainer. Yes I had a lapse in self belief for one moment, when I came to the sad realization that my pull ups were a failed, but mostly unpracticed notion, and that my Ls had never been practiced the way they needed to be...

I've got the "Oh No, What Have I Done" Blues.

It happened to me. I can barely walk.

Or when I do, I look like I need a cane, and fast. I didn't think I would be sore all at once, but it happened. The sprints finally snuck up. Now, I only did 11 by 50 to 100 meter dashes, with a slow kick and then I would speed up a quarter of the way in. I wasn't expecting such success, but I had it, and it was amazing.

So I warmed up with a couple laps and dove right in. I did not work the track but held my ground on the turf, straight away. 100 meters, walk back. 50 meters, walk back. The walk was my recovery time. The sprint was my workout time. The 11 times was my motivation to lean out, driven by pure hunger for change. But trust me, something in me didn't want to do any. But how sad for me, that I had not even one roadblock to my success. I guess the motivation to lean out was higher on the list. I'm feeling pretty stellar about that.

This is a 200 meter workout, but maybe you can glean some benefit.
http://www.builtlean.com/2011/09/19/interval-training-sprint-workout-for-fast-fat-loss/

So now I cannot walk, literally. Or really I'm exaggerating. It's really painful to move, and laugh. Please don't make me laugh. NOTHING could be that funny right now. I almost went to try a round of suspended TRX tucks, but the fact that I worried about getting stuck upside down from sheer agony, seemed like enough to just say no. And my solar plexus was screaming at me yesterday, as I attempted to demonstrate a Pilates rollover exercise, that some would say works the upper abs. Well the solar plexus is most definitely involved, and underdeveloped. Okay thanks body! I pretty much know now. I get the picture. Can you please stop holding my stomach hostage man? Thanks.

Here's some more info on sprinting you may be interested in. Or not. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mohr102.htm

And here's a video clip of a dancing chicken. He's good. Okay. She. She's good. Never underestimate the power of a good chicken, or a good secondary cardio option. Please, do not call the fast food chicken restaurants.
Dancing Chicken

Code Name: BEASTIN'.

     All I could hear was the sound of my breath. As the first 5 or 6 pounds to the ground were delivered up to my throat, the sound of the children running, disintegrated into thin air. I kept my pace though, and gave up on the rubber hand swinging to and fro, exchanging it for a powerful pump in a straight, forward leaning pace that probably rocked my best time. It just didn't feel natural at first, but then I realized I could get farther with that simple adjustment.

Saturday I taught power jumps and proper squats.
Sunday I did some suspended rolling, pull ups, L hanging, L sits, and some dangerously different exercises.
There is no better way to say what happened to me, except for that my training partners and I have been BEASTIN' on our workouts. It's the only way to solicit unmitigated change. If you're working that hard, there is absolutely no way to fail. To work intensely hard, stands you out from your competition. You are a complete road warrior to your advancement, instead of a roadblock. You rule your body, not some box someone told you to jump in.

So...sprints monday...and Tuesday morning Capoeira and muay thai exercises. Worked the girls to death! They were happy to work through. It was gratifying. One thing I noticed is that you have to teach people how to beast. It's not an everyday action where you give into your fatigue. It's something where you pick up all your reserve energy and you push it through, all the way through. It's a window into tomorrow, the body you want. Simple as that, and there is nothing in this world that can change that.

     So if you think you are working hard though not seeing results, think again. Reevaluate your food and what you're doing and check to see if you are working to the level of your independent ability, or to frustration levels. Because frankly, if you aren't getting gassed and frustrated at how much harder you could have gone in that round, you didn't do all you could do. It's real simple.