Wednesday 120110

Rest Day

This is some great footage of side-by-side and overlapped videos of the Olympic lifts analyzed using software called Dartfish. I don't expect you to pick out the little nuances between various lifters; everybody's technique is unique to them because of their individual anthropometry (limb length, etc.). But when the video compares successful versus unsuccessful lifts, see if you can spot the minor faults that caused the miss. Hopefully you'll gain an appreciation for the detail and intricacy of these movements and not be discouraged, but rather encouraged to continue to learn, study, and be patient as we move forward. Learning the basics is relatively straight forward. But to master the basics takes lots of practice and time. If you improve one thing everyday, even if its minor, in a relatively short time you'll see dramatic improvements.

Tuesday 113010

Strength

Push Press, 3x5 @ 82.5% (this is an estimated max so there will be some wiggle room with the weight)

TRX Inverted Rows, 3x10 with as much of a body lean as possible to make it difficult but doable

Metcon

5 Rounds for time of

60 yard shuttle run (15 yards x4)

10 Muscle Snatches, 65/45lb

Great job with the burpees yesterday. See, I'm not crazy!

Monday 112910

This will start another 4 week long cycle. All of the strength work will be the same with the exception of the press; we will push press instead. All of the loads for this cycle are based off of what you previously maxed out as so they should be fairly accurate. We will also try and work more of the O-lifts (snatch, clean, jerk) into these next 4 weeks as well.

Strength

Back Squat, 3x5 @ 82.5% (of 90% 1RM)

Metcon

100 Burpees for time

Let's kick things off with a bang.

Wednesday 112410

A few more Workouts on the Road

4 Rounds for time:

400m run

50 air squats

10 Rounds

50m sprint

10 Pushups

Bottom-to-bottom Tabata Squats (during the rest interval you will be in the bottom of the squat position rather than standing...no hands on thighs, maintain flat back, full depth)

I don't know if I've shared this one or not, but even if I have, its a good one to revisit. You should have a little greater appreciation for some of these feats after having gone through the last 12 weeks. Enjoy.

Monday 112210

Workouts on the Road

I'll try and post a couple of workout options each day this week that you can do when you're traveling because they require no equipment (well, your body is a machine right?). Feel free to try them out and/or modify them to come up with your own. If you do one, post what you do and your time/results to comments. Have fun with it.

Option 1:

3 rounds of

1/2 mile run

50 air squats

Option 2:

10 rounds of

10 pushups

10 situps

10 air squats

Option 3:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of situps

Run 100m between each round

Friday 111910

Wrapping it up

This has been a great 12 weeks for you. You all exceeded my expectations going into this and I'm pretty sure you didn't expect to see these kind of results either.

Our strength tests included the back squat, press, deadlift, pullups, and bench press. We also did a combination Tabata squat test followed immediately by 4 minutes to do as many pushups as possible. The final test was an interval workout consisting of sumo-deadlift high pulls, push presses, hurdle jumps, and situps. You tried to perform as many reps as possible at a given movement in 30 seconds then had 30 seconds to switch exercises. This was repeated until you'd rotated through all of the exercises four times.

Keep in mind that we can't say you added x pounds to your lifts because you hadn't maxed out before. But this is where you started and where you finished for all of the tests. Pretty awesome stuff.

John:

Starting Ending

Back Squat 115x5 245x1

Press 75x5 125x1

Deadlift 245x5 375x1

Bench Press 125x5 180x1

Pullups w/blue band 4 10

Tabata Squats 14 15

4min pushup AMRAP 53 65

Interval (total reps) 223 271

Sue:

Starting Ending

Back Squat 85x5 165x1

Press 55x5 855x1

Deadlift 155x5 255x1

Bench Press 85x5 105x1

Pullups 10(blue&red) 10(blue&purple)

Tabata Squats 14 19

4min pushup AMRAP 71 78

Interval (total reps) 236(-hops) 303(-hops)

Mary:

Starting Ending

Back Squat 65x5 155x1

Press 50x5 65x1

Deadlift 155x5 220x1

Bench Press 65x5 85x1

Pullups(green&purple)5 26

Tabata Squats 13 18

4min pushup AMRAP 63 66

Interval (total reps) 302 431

Some highlights:

And none of this shows how your mobility has improved (bodyweight squats were difficult at the start) or the weight that you've lost. Great job to all of you. This was absolutely a blast for me.

Thursday 111810

Deadlift, work to 1RM

Bench Press, work to 1RM

Get rested up tonight and be ready to crank it up again tomorrow morning. You guys have done great, don't quit yet.

Wednesday 111710

Honestly, no reason for this video other than the fact that this looks absolutely exhilarating. Enjoy your rest day.

Tuesday 111610

Great job this morning! I'm totally excited to see all of your results. How fun is this! Let's keep it going tomorrow.

Press, work up to 1RM

John & Sue: Tabata Squat/4 min. pushup AMRAP

Mary: Interval, 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off

"There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that produces the level of central nervous system activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed full squat." - Mark Rippetoe

I think you guys can now vouch for this statement, yes?

Friday 111210

Strength

Bench Press, 15 @ 62.5%

Team Metcon

4 Rounds for time:

10 OH Squats, 65/45lb

8 Handstand Pushups

6 MB Squat throws, 12/8lb (think wall ball without the wall)

We'll be sure to scale the HSPUs so everyone can do them. No worries. The format for the metcon will be this: one at a time, each of you will complete a full round until you've each done 4 rounds. While the other two people are doing their rounds, you're resting. Lots of rest in this one. Long rest intervals means lots of effort during the work interval.

Thursday 111110

Strength

Deadlift, 15 @ 62.5%

Metcon

21-15-9

Box jumps

Situps

Double unders

Obviously, we'll scale the metcon where needed for each of you. Regardless, short and intense is how this one should go.

Wednesday 111010

Rest Day

Here's the tentative plan for next week's testing:

Monday: Back Squat and Pullups

Tuesday: Press and Tabata Squat/pushup metcon

Thursday: Deadlift and Bench Press

Friday: Interval Metcon

Post to comments if you learn anything from Coach Burgener here.

Tuesday 110910

Strength

Press, 62.5% x15

Pullups, 15 reps with a moderately easy band

Metcon

Every minute on the minute for 10 minutes:

2 Hang Power Snatch+OH Squat

The metcon shouldn't even feel like a "metcon." It's more of an opportunity to work technique on the snatch and overhead squat. The weights will be up to you (with my input of course) with the idea being to start fairly light and increase to something moderately challenging but not impossible.

Monday 110810

I think we know someone in this picture!

Strength (Deload Week!)

Back Squat, 62.5% x15

Metcon (this will be the hardest, longest one of the week)

Burpees, 30-20-10

Wall Balls, 12/8lb, 10-20-30

2 minute rest between rounds

Like I said last week, the 15 reps you have to do can be broken up however you want. There will still be our normal warm-up sets (obviously), then its up to you. If you feel good and the weight feels light and you want to knock them out in one set, go for it. If you need 3x5, go for it. This week is about listening to your body, recovering, and getting ready for next week. If at the end of these workouts you feel like you want to do more, too bad, but good. Save it for next week. It's gonna be fun.

Friday 110510

Strength

Bench Press

65.0% x5

72.5% x4

80.0% x3

87.5% x2

95% x1+

Team Metcon

150ft. Ladder climb

10/6 TRX Pullups

20 Wall Ball, 18/12lb

20 Double Unders (singles not allowed)

20 KB Push Press, 16/12kg

20 Ball Slams, 10lb

50ft. DB Walking Lunges, 40/25lb

20 Pushups

20 Back Squat, 95/65lb

The metcon will be performed in a single-file fashion. One person starts at the top of the list and once they've completed that task they move on to the next task, and so on until you get spit out at the end. The next person can't start the first task until the person in front of them is done with the first task. No passing people. The clock starts when the first person starts climbing and ends when the last person finishes squatting. 20 minute cut-off.

After a few comments about inflammation this morning, please read the following post from Mark Sisson, Flame Thrower: Top 10 Natural Ways to Reduce Inflammation | Mark's Daily Apple. I've been eating like this the majority of the time for the past several months and you'd be surprised how much of a difference it can make. No ibuprofen, aspirin, or other drugs. Just lots of the right foods, minimal amounts of the bad ones (notice I didn't say none; I am human and a realist), and smart training. Get rid of all grains, dairy, and legumes, and eat all the meat and vegetables that you want with some fruit and good fat added here and there. All I can say is try it for a month and see what happens. You just might feel, look, and perform better than you ever have. Post your thoughts to comments.

Thursday 110410

Strength

Deadlift

65.0% x5

72.5% x4

80.0% x3

87.5% x2

95.0% x1+

Metcon

3 Rounds for time:

5 Push Presses

10 Front Squats

50 Situps

The weight used will be 90% of your press 1RM

I will be watching your backs closely especially on the last set. If you want to keep going, you've got to keep that back flat.

Wednesday 110310

Rest Day

The 3GP file format was a little goofy and when it uploaded to youtube, it sped up the playback speed. Couldn't figure it out. You'll just have to watch fast.

Tuesday 110210

Strength

1a) Press

65.0% x5

72.5% x4

80.0% x3

87.5% x2

95.0% x1+

1b) Pullups, 5-4-3-2-1, increasing load each set

Metcon

Ladder Breathing:

Thrusters

You can get an intro to breathing ladders from this article. I will explain it more in detail tomorrow and we'll select our loads and reps and that sort of stuff.