Who thought 14oz could be that heavy...

Well last night I returned to one of my favorite past times, Muay Thai.

I have taken short hiatus from it due to business and other commitments. As may of you know Kori and have been working on IMPACT fitness, LLC up and running and taking our fitness coaching biz from a side project to our full time income. This has eating a lot of time, all worth it. Who knows if all goes as planned I can get my Muay Thai training in private lessons.

But anyway.

My 14oz gloves have never been so heavy. Three rounds on the pads, 3 on the mitts, and 6 on the bag did me in. My conditioning was fine, thanks to the KB training. But the local muscular endurance in regards to the specific skills like, the ever important, keeping your hands up killed me. Couple that with the Ketogenic Diet I have been following and it get tough pretty early in the round, more on the diet in another post.

So I'll just have to practice. It should come back pretty quickly.

I was hoping to get some sparring in, but it was a small session. One other girl and a beginner. There are two girls I'll spar, my wife (no I'm not kidding) and a young lady named Vanessa. Both are not afraid to hit you or get hit by you.

Tonight's workout will include, you guessed it...Ladders.

I'll admit, I have thought of scrapping this because the thought of pressing the 16kg is rough on the ego. But, this is something I have, no, need to follow this through for the health of my shoulders.

I'll be purchasing Brett Jones' and Grey Cook's new shoulder health DVD later today. Brett was my Senior Instructor when I went through the RKC. He worked out some nasty knots and worked some trigger point stuff on my upper back and it was amazing, so I'm hoping some of that is n the DVD. I'll post a review of it after watching.

So my pressing ladders for the day are pretty straight forward.

4 sets of 1,2 w/ pull ups in between
Dead lift 5x5 @ 135, yeah it's light but I need to find my groove before bumping this up
20 minutes of swings with the 16kg w/ Jump rope for active recovery.

Going with the lighter bell for my conditioning has made all the difference in my quest for leanness.

Thanks for reading...

BJ

Climbing the ladder...

Today was the 'no limit' day for my pressing ladders. But, I had the limiter on. Reason being, I have huge strength imbalances in my upper body, specifically around my shoulders. Too, much pressing when I was younger, and rarely balancing my routine with equal or greater pulling has left the posterior aspect of my shoulder girdle weak.

While I'm not too badly out of alignment, there is room for improvement.

Back to the subject, pressing. I know I could easily blast through 5 ladders of 1,2,3,4,5 with th 16kg bell I have been using. But, that isn't why i went back tothe 16kg. I did it to re-groove my press, to practice staying tight, to practice pressing from the lat and to allow my vertical pulling to catch up to my pressing.

today worked out great, 4 ladders of 1,2,3 with pull up ladders in between. Just like it's outlined in 'Enter the Kettlebell' (ETK). The presses wern't hard, but they were challenging. It was a true practice session, and since strength is a skill, I accomplished just what I needed to do.

I then played around with some Clean grip deadlifts. Just 5 sets of 3 reps w/ 135lbs. Looking for my groove, been itching to do some pulling, so I did. I just need to figure out where to stick these in. I may take a go at the TSC in September.

Tomorrow will be a balls to the walls conditioning session, and next week I'll be back to speed with my Muay Thai training.

Business and other stuff has kept me out of the gym for about 6 weeks, it'll be good to get back and get hit a couple times. After that, the plan is to hit the other person more than they hit me, the first couple shot I take are just to wake me up.

Later...

Nothing Special Just Pressing

I had no planned training for Tuesday, but planned to both a "strength" and a "conditioning" session today (Wednesday).

So while at Franklin Wirth Park, promoting our Boot Camps I got my pressing ladder out of the way.

All done with the 16kg
3 sets of 1,2 I took a full minute between each rep, and each ladder. This just keeps it simple.

I didn't have anywhere to do pull up, Brookfield Park and Rec doesn't take to kindly to people hanging on there trees, and I doubt the taxpayers would appreciate it either.

After Camps tonight I'll hit some deadlifts, get my pull ups in and do a quick conditioning workout. Probably the BMF again. It's simple, but not easy, and I can get it done in about 15 minutes.

***EDIT***
Here's what I did:
25 one arm swings R/L (50 reps)
10 Hindu squats
20 one arm swings R/L
20 Hindu squats
15 one arm swings R/L
30 Hindu Squats
10 one arm swings R/L
40 Hundu Squats
5 one arm swings R/L
50 Hindu Squats

Not bad, a little diappointed the swings weren't more difficult. But, until I have no pain in my shoulder I vowed to rarely lift a heavier bell than the 16kg.


Thanks for reading.

BJ

Everything David said it would be....

One of my favorite conditioning formats is David Whitley's Brutal Minimalist Fitness routine.

It's pretty basic and can be easily changed fo your level of fitness. I decided to it as David wrote it toady, less the TGUs.

I had meant to time it, but after my prep I was so ready to go I forgot to start the clock.

If you only have 15 or so minutes, this is for you.

50 2 Arm Swings w/16kg
10 Hindu Squats
40 2 Arm Swings
20 Hindu Squats
30 2 Arm Swings
30 Hindu Squats
20 2 Arms Swings
40 Hindu Squats
10 2 Arm Swings
50 Hindu Squats

and that's a wrap! Don't let the simplicity fool you.

Thanks for reading, now go train!

BJ

Checking the ego, my road to re-building my pressing power.

I have been battling an injured shoulder for a long while now. Overuse and huge amount of punching we do in Muay Thai can take its toll I you don't do enough compensatory work. So in an effort to rehab it and get back to pressing the Bulldog, I decide to check my ego and start form scratch.

I have told my myself I was going to do this for a while. But, even the thought of pressing the same bell as my wife made my testosterone levels plummet to prepubescent levels.

I haven't been doing a lot of strength work lately, the shoulder being the main reason. I seem the maintain strength very well just by doing basic ballistic Kettlebell exercises like swings, snatches and cleans plus their variations. But, there's something about having the Bulldog, and someday the Beast overhead.

So in sticking with my "even the coach needs a coach" theory" of the summer I decided to knock the weight back down to the 16kg bell and start ladders ETK style and slowly build back and re-groove my pressing. I plan to hit these twice a week, and still do to conditioning workouts per week as well. I will do the heavy day an the light day (this refers to volume, not load) and do pull ups with body weight. Pull ups are my worst lift, by adding them my goal is to even out the strength imbalances around the shoulder joint.

Once I complete this "cycle" I'll repeat it with the 20kg and so on.

So he's what Saturday's training looked like.

********Clarification*********

Since I have stated a specific goal, these sessions are no longer workouts.....THEY ARE TRAINING SESSION.

Quick 'warm up" ( I hate the term)
Intu-Flow beginner joint mobility
foam rolling: quads, rhomboids, IT band, piriformis and calves
low squat practice for a couple of reps

between each set I took 1 minute rest (I change this from the ETK format, I stay 'fresher" and therefore stronger)

Clean & Press (C&P) 1 R,L
Pull Up 1
C&P 2 R,L
Pull Up 2
C&P 3
Pull Ups 3
Repeat the ladder 3 times

2 arm swings with 32kg bell 5 sets of 10 reps

All and all, I felt satisfied. Not a 'knock your socks off, balls to the wall' session, but a starting point.

Thanks for reading, now go train!
BJ

17 minutes of Hell

Since we have been working on getting our IMPACT Fitness Bootcamps up and running, I have spent a lot of time in Franklin Wirth Park in Brookfield, WI.

I have little time to train and even less structure in my workouts, which I don't really mind, which is really odd for me. Usually my OCd tedancies have me second guessing my exercise selection, workout proressions form week to week and I constantly ask myself, "Is this what I should be doing?"

I have no problem with program design for others.

Kori's lead up to the RKC...no problem.

Kevin Shockley's progression to a national title in inline speedskating, no problem.

Preparing David Diaz for his final ameuter fight and helping cut weight from 142 to 125, no problem. Not fun for David, that was a huge cut.

So what the hell is wrong with me.

Nothing.

Even the coach needs a coach. So instead of obsessing over the lack of structure, I will embrace it and pick and choose workouts from other coaches for now adapt them to my abilities and move on to the next one.

My workouts are always more of a conditioning type workout. My sport (Muay Thai) does require some limit strength work, but strength/power endurance trumps limit strength when in the ring.

So while at the park today, while Kori timed me, this is what went down. I had taken an energy drink about 30 minutes prior so I was ready to go.

I can't take credit for the structure of this workout, I admit, I stole the timed ladder concept from Jason C. Brown of Crossfit Philly. I Now know why he uses it. It's pretty brutal.

All KB movements done with a 16kg bell (more on that in a later post), all movements done for 30 secs includingthe rest intervals.

2 arm swings
rest
2 arm swings
push ups
rest
2 arm swing
push ups
2 arm swing to a squat (slide hands to the horns and squat, return to a swing each time)
rest
2 arm swing
push ups
2 arm swing to squat
around the body pass - 15 secs each direction
rest
2 arm swing
push ups
2 arm swing to a squat
around the body pass - 15 secs each way
2 arm swing (we do a ton of swings in our class and with clients)
rest
2 arm swings
push ups
2 arm swing to a squat
around the body pass
2 arm swing
BW squat
rest
2 arm swings
push ups
2 arm swing to a squat
around the body pass
2 arm swing
BW squat
burpees

that's it, total work time was just about 17 minutes.

Mixed and slammed my Post Workout Recovery Shake and contionued to sweat for about another ten minutes.

In the next couple of days I'll explain the "light" weight.

Thanks for reading.

BJ
IMPACT Fitness

Do the work, get it done!

“The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work.”– Oprah Winfrey, entertainer

Many people are going to give me guff for quoting Oprah, but truth be told, many a lesson can be learned from Oprah.

I could, I should, I might, I'd like to, I could have, I want.....

How many times have you heard someone preface a sentence with one of the above. What did dothey afterwards? Did they achieve it?

How many times have you started a sentence with one of the above? What did you do afterwards? Did you make it happen? If so, good for you. You set a goal and achieved it. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Most people don't think twice about making a statement like, "I going to get in shape for the summer." Or,"I'd love to do a tri-athlon someday." Well, why not now?

No, really. Why not?

Sure timing has a lot to do with how much we can add to our proverbial plate at any given time, but studies suggest that the average American watches about four hours of TV a night.
Fours hours a night! Sure I have been guilty of this in the past, and if your will come to a complete halt if you don't watch "Idol"...well then...you wouldn't make it too far with us.

I read a story the other night about about a woman who started her own line of Omega 3 salad dressing, from her home, after she got home from her full time job and her kids where in bed. Her quote from the story when asked how she could do this was, "People don't realize how much you can accomplish in 1-2 focused hours of work."

Now the key word in that statement is work, not activity.

I see so many people try to accomplish goals with activity and not work. People seem to confuse the two all the time. Focused work toward a specific objective is how to make progress. The cliche "fake it until you make it" will only get you so far.

Focused work.

Like I explained in our last newsletter, all of our Semi-Private Coaching clients fill out a goals sheet telling waht they want to accomplish. This allows us to set up a program to help them reach the goal.

The time that they spend with us is just what we talked about above. It's focused work, a babystep toward your specific goal.

By focusiong like a laser on your specific goals, we get you results faster than the typical gym trainer. These trainers typically have one workout they do with everybody, but there are exceptions to the rule. But chances are they're going to walk you from machine to machine and shoot the breeze with you while you're on the treadmill. By implementing this cookie cutter approach, most their client are doing activity, but probably are no closing to getting the body they wanted than when they walked into the gym that day.

Every exercise, set, rep in our programs is there for a reason...to get you closer to your goal. That's why we call ourselves fitness coaches, not trainers.

Trainers teach.

Coaches lead. (That's pretty good, huh?)

Sorry I got a little long winded there but I think I got the point across the way I wanted to.
1) Set your goals. Where do you want to be in 5 years? Now work backwards. In 3 years? One year? Six months?

2) How do you get there? Whats your plan? Do you have one? Lucky for you, we specialize in making plans. Call us we can help.

3) Do what Oprah says. OK, not on a daily basis, but the part about the work. Do the work.

Kori has a great quote on her desk from Vince Lombardi, "The only place success come before work is in the dictionary." Write that down, nothing could be more true.

Thats's all I got for ya. Hope it made sense. Hope it lights a fire under you next time in the gym.

BJ