After a little more of an extended break than I’d prefer, we’re back!!
First off, a big congratulations to Inga Schlingmann who’s been training with me for the last while. After 8 weeks of training harder than she probably ever though possible, Inga finished in the top 5 at the 2010 Miss New York Pageant. For anyone that still doubts this kind of training leads to not only increased fitness & performance levels, but to even the most stringent of aesthetic goals…here you go.
Inga, congratulations. You did some amazing work in a very short amount of time.
Now it’s your turn. WORKOUT OF THE WEEK
Refer to the videos below for instruction. Record time to completion and loads. Above all else, be safe and operate according to your abilities. Listen to your body folks.
I kind of feel like it’s a back to the basics kind of day. Enough with the new, big, fancy…whatever. This is all about just grabbing a barbell and moving some weight. Practice practice kids. You know what’s coming.
Part 2 in our look at how training like a competitive athlete can help keep you plugged into your fitness goals.
2. Find something new.
I’m a competitor in the kettlebell event Long Cycle Clean & Jerk. In the end, it isnt the most stunning or exciting thing to watch. Its a grinding, heavy, chalky, high intensity slog through 10 minutes of lifting heavy objects over your head as many times as possible.
So, to keep myself interested, I have to find new things like kettlebell juggling, circuit intervals, new grip work, and alternate endurance work to keep things interesting. The key is to find movements and exercises that contribute in a positive way to your ultimate goals. The newness keeps you plugged in and engaged while you get the useful goodies too. Its like Flintstones Vitamins, wrap something you have to get into something tasty that keeps you coming back.
Maintaining focus and consistency in training is all about finding the pieces and elements that excite you. And that can be extremely difficult, especially now, after such a long, difficult winter. (Those of you in San Diego, at lest just try to imagine that there is a thing called cold.), day in and day out in the gym, run after run. Staying on course is tough!
Over the next couple of entries we’re going to take a look at how taking tips from competitive athletes can apply to keeping you on track.
1. DO NOT BREAK YOUR RHYTHM: With everyone as busy as we are, its hard enough just finding those first couple of hours to get into our training routines. Well, once you find those hours, keep them, make them regular. If Monday at 7:30pm and that early Thursday spin class worked last week, hit them again this week and make dates for yourself. Make them regular anchor points in your week that you can look forward to doing something good for yourself. They’re dates for which canceling and rescheduling is not an option. As soon as I skip one of my mid week morning workouts, I know next week, that same question is going to creep into my mind and ultimately I’m going to end up losing that regular session all together.
Don’t do it to yourself. Get regular and stay there!
88 Days to Memorial Day and the unofficial start of summer….
Thank God. No. Seriously. Thank God. In a season that brought us the snowiest February on record for New York City…EVER, thank God summer is on its way.
What are you doing to get ready? What kind of goals have you set for your summer?
Think back to the New Year’s work we were doing. Ask yourself what you want to accomplish in your own fitness/athletics/wellness. Then look at what is the one better choice you can make for yourself each day (doesn’t have to be the same one every day) to get yourself there.
You pack a sandwich for work instead of running doen to Au Bon Pain. You park your car at the far end of the Costco parking lot. You take the stairs.You run 5 miles instead of 4 tonight at the gym. Whatever. Find one thing you can do for yourself, one thing a day. You’ll be surprised how fast it gets you where you want to be without all that broken resolution guilt.
The handstand pushups listed below should be done at the most difficult hspu progression possible. Watch the video for a refresher course. The db clean & Jerk….well….sometimes there just isn’t a substitute.
Pay attention to the way you move through your day today. Much of the time, if we’re moving something, we’re moving it pretty fast. When you pick up your bag off the ground, you’re not spending as much time lifting it as slowly as possible are you? Forget it. You want to grab it and go.
The moral of the story, we use power all day every day. So let’s train it.
This is huge and I’m not even going to lie. The excerpts quoted below are taken directly from a WebMD article that can be found in its entirety here. They say this better than I could. http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20100119/prolonged-sitting-boosts-bad-health
That being said, a new study just came out from the British Journal of Sports Medicine. It suggests “that people who sit still for prolonged periods of time — such as desk workers or couch potatoes — have a higher risk of disease than those who move a muscle every now and then in a non-exercise manner.”
There’s a new definition for sedentary lifestyle we have to consider. “Prolonged sitting promotes a lack of whole-body muscle movement, which the Swedish-based researchers say is the more correct way to define sedentary behavior.”
Even if you exercise, you may be leading a sedentary lifestyle. “… the research team proposes that sedentary behavior is instead a distinct class of behaviors, unrelated to a lack of exercise, that boost bad health. Behaviors can include habits like TV watching…A woman’s risk of metabolic syndrome, precursor to diabetes and heart disease, jumps 26% for every extra hour she sits in front of the TV.” “Whole-body muscular inactivity associated with prolonged sitting has also been strongly linked to obesity and even certain types of cancer.”
Dude, kick that office chair out and trade in that desk for a tall drafting table.
For the following workout, refer to the handstand pushups (hspu) I want you to use the most advanced progression of the hspu as possible. If that means it’s just a messed up looking pushup, then that’s great. If it’s with your feet actually up in the air, more power to you. All video demos posted below the workout.
