Theory to Practice

“Beauty will be convulsive or will not be at all”

~ André Breton “Nadja”

tanzer-art

Tuesday, October 25th

Here I had a go of it at 6:30 AM, prior to work.  As is my usual, I did this workout on an empty stomach, having last noshed at 7 PM the night before.

1. Glute-Ham Raise x 5’s
2. Hanging Windshield Wiper x 8’s/Front Leg Raise x 5’s
3. DB Floor Press x 4’s

I got in three rounds of this, at weight, in 30 minutes.  The GHR’s can be a bit of a challenge if you don’t have access to a good GHR bench.  By all means, though, if you have access to a GHR bench — or if you can pull this off — by all means, do it.  This is one of the best strength exercises you can do for the posterior chain.  We’ll turn that added strength gained with the GHR into power when we shift back to things like the (various forms of) snatch, clean, caber toss, etc.

Thursday, October 30th

Same pre-work, pre-workout routine, today.  I noticed today that I will have to begin implementing a more varied and intense warm-up, as the colder weather has begun to seep down from the north.  An extra 5 minutes or so is all the time I’ll need for that, though.  Not a big deal.

I did these two exercises as a superset.  Also, I opted to go a bit heavier that normal, moving away from the power-oriented, strength-speed zone and into more of a pure strength mode.  No other reason for this other than I felt like I need to shock my body a bit by doing something a little different, which, in this case, meant hitting a modality I’d not done in a while.

1. Front Squats, to just below parallel x 3’s
2. Reverse Grip and Parallel Grip Pullups x 3’s (2 sets reverse grip, 2 sets parallel grip)

I completed four rounds of this superset, at weight, in roughly 30 minutes.  I chose a load for each exercise that resulted in a significant decrease in the speed of each repetition’s execution.  In other words, where I would usually target the power sweet-spot, this time I opted to target maximum strength (in the 3-rep range) for each of the chosen exercises.

Remember that (sufficient for our terms) power = force x distance ÷ time. Remember, too, that for a given weightlifting exercise, the distance can be considered constant.  Now, with this workout, I’ve opted to emphasize the force side of the equation at the expense of the time element. This is the balance of power at work; the interplay between load (or force) and speed.  To be the most powerful Paleo athlete we can be, we need to sharpen both aspects of the equation.  Sometimes it’s best to concentrate on one aspect — like I did today — and at other times, it better to integrate both aspects together and hit the power target dead-on.  This then leads to the obvious question — how best to optimize this balance?

And on that single thought alone, my friends, have volumes been written.  The exploration of some of these schools of thought I will leave to future posts.  Suffice it to say for now, though, plug away on whatever aspect of the balance you feel most deficient in, and the rest will take care of itself.  The “rest” is mere details, and, unless your goals include competitive athletics — or you just have the time to kill or are a crazed hobbyist (nothing wrong with that — I’m a bit crazed myself) — your time, in my opinion, is best spent on other pursuits.  Viva the 80/20 rule!

In Health,

Keith

“Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I shall move the earth.”

Archimedes

Where’s Waldo?

I had to head into work on Sunday morning for a few hours (a “few” having ultimately turned into seven –meh!), for an engineering test run.  Why I went in to work on a Sunday (in the middle of football season!  And with the World Series in progress) is not germane to this post, nor is it particularly interesting to anyone outside of the admittedly small world of pharmaceutical validation (or, for that matter, to anyone within the small world of pharmaceutical validation) — however, my workout plans — and their mutations — may be of some passing interest.

The Plan 

What the hell, I figured, once I’d found out that I’d have to make it in to work on a Sunday, I’ll just drop by the gym on the way home and knock out a few rounds of DB Snatches and (some something else that I hadn’t, at that time, yet figured out) — turn a not-so-good situation into a win-win.  I’m all for — even if it’s just an exercise in fooling myself — making lemonade out of the proverbial lemons.  When I left the plant, though, I was greeted with cloudless, 70-something degree weather.  Not exactly the type of day you want to spend indoors. 

The On-the-Fly Adjustment 

This kind of a day was made for either sprinting or biking — I decided on both.  So I busted a move home, loaded my backpack with my Nike Free’s (just in case barefootin’ it wasn’t going to be an option) and saddled-up the fixie.  What followed was (1)an intense bout of fixie intervals, and (2) 10 x ~100 meter sprints, done in this fashion:

• Hard start and an all-out acceleration to 40 meters, then hold at ~90% to the 100 meter mark,
• walk (as this was done on the ECU soccer field) to the opposite sideline,
• repeat for a total of 10 reps.  I’d guess the time between each sprint was approximately 20 seconds.

I saddled back up and — this time at a more leisurely pace — hucked it about G-Vegas and the ECU campus.  Then it was homeward bound to get a couple of racks of ribs (like these) prepped and on the grill.

G-Vegas Ain’t Exactly Cinci, But… 

What comes first and foremost to your mind when you think of a bicycle jockey?  A 110 lb. praying mantis, perhaps, with (relatively) mal-proportioned thighs?  Well, I’d be willing to bet that whatever came first to your mind, these terms did not: Black.  NFL. Linebacker.

But now thanks to Urban Jeff over at Urban Velo, I’ve found that I’m not the total enigma that I’d previously thought I was!  Thanks, UJ, for finding this story.  And thanks, too, to the Gods of serendipity for having me stumble upon it.

And thanks to Dhahi (Duh-Hah-nee, it means, appropriately enough, thinking man in the Hindi language) Jones for being such an inspiration.  If only every other professional athlete was as — well professional – sensible, intelligent and down-to-earth.

In Health,

Keith 

“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”

Abraham Lincoln

The Event: The Third Annual Greenville Wine Festival

Wine and food as far as the eye can see.  Not exactly a Paleo-friendly place, but we’ll make the most of it.

Whoa!  You can hear the screams of hundreds of overworked pancreases from across the street –

Let me just clarify at the outset — I love these kinds of events.  Being Paleo-minded doesn’t mean that you’ve got to be an anti-social curmudgeon; far from it.  Being Paleo just means that you’ve got to be smart and pick and choose (your poisons) wisely.  

The safest thing offered at the massive feed table (a small portion of which is pictured above) was the ubiquitous cheese and raw veggie platter.  An old standby, and a Paleo’s saving grace at outings such as this.  I did hear that the desserts (and the sweets were legion) were absolutely to die for — the tasters’ emphasis, not mine — though I did find ironic (morbid?) humor in the statement.  Now, had there not been wine — and some absolutely fantastic wine at that — in the offering at this shin-dig, I might have opted for a bite here and there of the various desserts with some strong black coffee (as I find the sweet/bitter contrast makes the sweet of each bite go all that much further — hence, fewer sweet bites).  However…

Hit me with your best, my man —

Ok, so where exactly does wine and beer — and alcohol in general, for that matter — fit in to the whole Paleo lifestyle?  Well, my thumbrule for wine is this: the drier the better.  A drier wine means a greater alcohol content and, therefore, a corresponding lower carbohydrate content.  Simple as that.  And I like keeping things simple, as it keeps my tiny mind from becoming overly cluttered.  Here’s a little more information on the subject, if you’re curious.  But really, if you enjoy wine, just do what I do — go dry, go moderate and go mingle (you’ll drink less if your yap is otherwise engaged).  And by all means, if you’re going to imbibe from time to time, you might as well enjoy it!

If anyone’s curious, here were a couple of new wines that I found at the show that were exceptionally good:

Educated Guess Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (this was my overall favorite)

Paso Creek Zinfandel (remember, friends don’t let friends drink white Zinfandel!)

Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon (fantastic, but a little on the expensive side)

Valentin Bianchi Malbec Particular (a close second to the Educated Guess)

And What’s This?

Apparently these good folks rushed to the aid of the many over-burdened pancreases, the wailings of which could be heard emanating from deep within the halls of the convention center.  Don’t worry folks, they’re from the (Republican!) government, and they’re here to help. 

Seriously though, we walked out of the convention center at the conclusion of the tasting, and right smack-dab into a mini political rally being held in the parking lot.  Sadly, though, there were no Libertarians anywhere in sight.  I guess I’m the only Libertarian left who hasn’t already slit his wrists this election cycle.

Young Fascists…er, Republicans.  Hey, I’m all for ‘em — at least they’re engaged and speaking up for what they believe.  And with a little time and effort, who knows?  Maybe we can eventually bring them into the Libertarian fold.

By the way, I believe that’s a mock Russian AK-47 that our young Sarah-cuda wannabe is holding?   I’ll just leave it be at that.  this is a philosophical quagmire that could have me babbling on all night.

In Health,

“When superior people hear of the Way, they carry it out with diligence. When middling people hear of the Way, it sometimes seems to be there, sometimes not. When lesser people hear of the Way, they ridicule it greatly. If they didn’t laugh at it, it wouldn’t be the Way.”

Lao Tzu

It’s a stretch (to put it mildly) to consider either working out, or the Paleo life as a whole, as “the Way”, but I do like to think of it as “the Way” of the material realm.  I attempt to live my life, and do what I can, to keep the material me, as well as the spiritual part of me, ticking right on along.  I find that if the material part of me is happy, the spiritual “me” is more easily contented as well — and vice-versa.  OK, enough of the New-Agey-ness for now — let’s get to the down-and-dirty material elements.

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

Another in the long line of 6:30 AM, kick-start the workday workouts.  This wound up being a variation of my Paleo, Sprint, Heave and Haul Workout. 35 minutes, start to finish, and yet another example of a high-intensity, short-duration, fast-twitch fiber promoting, functional workout.  And remember, our ultimate goal — workout wise — is to “flip the switch” of the fast-twitch muscle fiber promoting gene(s).  Our aim is to build a more powerful overall body; a body that is solid, lean, healthy (by default) and functional. Here’s the workout:

1. 6 x ~60 meter sprints with approximately 20 seconds between each sprint.  I followed these 6 bursts with a 200 meter sprint.  It was approximately 35°F on this morning, so it was tough to get fully warmed up (due to my time constraints), and I never really did feel like I could go all-out at the shorter distance.  As the weather turns colder, my sprint distances will increase to compensate for the lesser “all-out-ness” of my initial bursts.

I then alternated between these two exercises:

1. Elastic Medicine Ball Toss, as demonstrated here.  I think my medicine ball is approximately 35 lbs, so my version of this exercise leans more toward the strength-speed side of the power continuum.  And my “med ball” is a homemade model, finely crafted from an old basketball and sand.  5 reps of these, attempting to achieve maximum overhead toss height on each rep.  Note: the last time I did these, I concentrated on attaining maximum toss distance on each rep.  A subtle, but definite difference in exercise mechanics.
2. Slosh Pipe Lunges x 20 reps (steps).

Three rounds of those two.  Then it was into the gym (I had a few extra minutes to squeeze something in) for this:

3 sets of 8, Lunge-Position Cable Flyes.  Paul Chek does a good job of demonstrating these here, at about midway through this short video (hat tip to Chris, at Conditioning Research, for digging this one up).  Now, I prefer to do more of a traditional flye movement out of this position, where PC demonstrates more of a pressing movement — but you really can’t go wrong with either version.

Friday, October 24th, 2008

Due to the day’s schedule (I left work early), I had a little extra time to devote to working out.  A nice little vacation, of sorts.  It felt kinda weird, though refreshing, not having to keep one eye constantly glued to the clock.   Also, I hit the gym on the way home, vise coming in at the ass-crack of dawn.  This meant my body was a bit more “primed” for being able to handle a more intense weight training session.   So with that set of pre-conditional “givens”, I pulled-off the following:

1. Behind-the-Neck Split Jerks x 6 reps (alternate lead leg each rep)
2. Regular Grip, Weighted Pullups x 4 reps

Three rounds of this superset. I really pushed the weight-to-speed ratio here on both exercises, as I had the time to incrementally increase the weight on both exercises until the speed (or “snap”) of the last reps faltered.

A quick aside: I’ve always had a “thing” for US Olympic lifter, Melanie Roach.  Not only is she beautiful, but she’s a superb athlete AND a phenomenal person.  Check out  this short video to see what I mean.  And, as an added bonus, she demonstrates fine form in the BTN split Jerk at approximately the 6:18 mark .  Thanks to Tracy, at A Philosophy of Strength and Health for finding this.

Next up was three rounds of this superset:

1. High Pull (from the floor) x 6 reps.  Here’s a demonstration of the high pull from Staley Training.  I happened to use a clean grip for this particular exercise; the overall movement is the same, though.
2. Floor Pullover/Press x 8 reps (Thibs, over at T-Nation, discusses this exercise here).  It’s one of my favorite “grunt it out” moves.  Really blast the “press” part of the movement with maximum speed.  I like to use an EZ-Curl bar for these, as it puts my wrists in a more favorable position for the pullover phase.

Today (Saturday) brings a much-needed day off.  I will be attending a wine tasting/ food sampling event later today which should offer a good bit of temptation testing.  We’ll see if I can survive with my Paleo street-cred intact.

In Health,

Keith

“They who overcome their desires once can overcome them always.”

Pierre Corneille

Experience has taught me that there are two main obstacles at play that serve to  prevent the newly-initiated from reaching their Paleo/EvFit dietary goals. Actually, there is a subgroup and an obstacle associated with that subgroup that relates to the scaling-back of workouts that applies to only a small group of, (usually former) athletes or gym rats, who, for the life of them, cannot fathom the “less is more” doctrine.  That, though, is a post for another time.  My focus today will remain on overcoming the two main dietary obstacles standing between you and the Paleo/EvFit you that you aspire to be.

adamhenning

Alienation

Most people would rather die that to feel as if they do not fit in.  Standing alone for these folks is akin to sheer nonexistence — and probably something (I’m not qualified here to say, this is just my observation) much worse than that.

tammyjq41

Again, I have no numbers to back this up, but I’ve been going about the Paleo/EvFit lifestyle for some time now, and I’ve come across (physically) exactly zero fellow practitioners.  None. Nadda. Zilch. Now, I’m the type of person who feels fairly comfortable standing alone, doing my own thing — most of the time.  I can empathize with those people who cannot, though, because I have been there a time or two myself.  The crux of the matter is this: what to do in social situations, involving food, where (1) you don’t want to feel like some kind of freak and/or (2) you don’t want to hurt someone else’s feelings by not partaking of their slaved-over offerings.

Freakish is as Freakish Does…

Now, I’m fairly well-adapted to being the freak-of-nature in a group, and the only thing I can say to this is this: you eventually get used to it.  Being the freak, that is.  I suppose.  And I only suppose, because I really don’t ever remember not being the freak-of-nature, the lone wolf, so to speak.  We can talk rings around whether, or to what extent, this is a combination of nature or nurture, but the fact remains as it is.

I justify this adaptation — rightly or wrongly (and, again, I’m only speculating here) — by subscribing to the notion that the Paleo brain is in fact wired for tribal/group cohesiveness, common purpose, shared values, etc.  However, for the species as a whole to survive, there had to be that one genetic mutation every so often that bucked the status quo, challenged the system, explored — essentially breaking from the group (either metaphorically or literally) to forge a new and possibly better way.  No system, species, organization — universe, even — can survive in perpetual stagnation.  Call it having drawn the genetic short straw.  It’s a tough row to hoe at times, but it does come with its fair share of satisfaction.  In a kind of Faustian Bargain, though, you just can’t share those satisfactions with very many.  Thank God for the Internet.

Hurt Feelings

This is the toughest one for me to navigate, and I’m quite sure that any psychologist/therapist worth their salt would completely dismiss my way of dealing with it.   In a word, though, I practice avoidance. And when in a pinch, I’m not beyond pulling out the little white lie.  “I’m so full already”, “I’ll have some in just a bit”, “just had some such-and-such, and don’t want to taint the — what I am quite sure will be a fabulous taste — with an off palate”, you get the idea.  And where they’re available, employ props — a “nibble plate” of Paleo-friendly offerings for one hand, a nursed glass of wine for the other.  Of course, if I feel like the person in question might be open to considering the real reason behind my avoidance/decline of the offering, I’ll delve into a thumbnail-sketch explanation.

Feel the Addiction

Simple carbohydrates are addicting.  Sounds preposterous, right?  Yeah, once upon a time I thought the same thing.  Then I found and began to study the benefits surrounding the Paleo/EvFit/Ancestral dietary lifestyles and, after due consideration (because I’m like that — to a fault, probably) I made the shift.   But what I found was this: once I cut out all the simple carbs in my diet (and I went cold-turkey — ’cause damnit, if you’re gonna do something, do it; right?), I immediately shifted to an all-out craving mode.  I’d find myself, out of the blue, thinking of bread. Whoa, kinda odd, huh?

Now, even in my pre-Paleo life I wasn’t much of a simple carb freak.  I never really over-indulged, but then again, I never shied away from the stuff, either.  This I attributed to the old, “calories in, calories out” diet mind-set.  Hey, my workouts (at that time) were long and pretty brutal, and I figured I couldn’t eat enough to gain any weight.  The scales and the mirror proved provided constant proof that I was right.  What I didn’t see, though,  was what was going on inside my body.  I just figured seasonal allergies and slightly elevated blood pressure was part and parcel with the genetic hand I was dealt.  Hey, I was in good damn shape — what else could it be?

Well, take a wild guess as to what cleared up after a few faithful months of living the Paleo life.  And those carb cravings?  They pass.  For me, the cravings weren’t all that bad, and lasted just a couple of days.  I have heard of these cravings lasting for much longer (weeks) and of being compared to nicotine and/caffeine withdrawal.

Here’s two tricks that I found help calm the monkey:

1. When the craving hits, take a tablespoon full of olive oil, cod liver oil (do yourself a favor and get the lemon flavored!), almond oil or an equivalent.
2. Over-eat fat and protein at each meal.  A strange bit of diet advice, you say?  Nah, not really.  This is a short-term fix to help quell the carb cravings.  You’ll quite naturally cut back to normal amounts once the cravings subside.  And remember the hormone responses to the various macro-nutrients.  Your insulin response will still be (relatively) low and, therefore, your resultant weight gain during this transition period will be minimal (if any).

Take a look at the following links, as they are applicable to this discussion:

From Time Magazine –

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1662484,00.html

And a short video, via Richard at Free the Animal –

http://www.freetheanimal.com/root/2008/10/raw-for-30-days—vegan-cure-for-diabetes.html

In reference to the video, I think the results would have been so much better had the folks employed a Paleo-like diet in the study.  The failure/drop-out rate, I believe, would have been much lower.  It is an interesting video, though, nonetheless.

In Health,

Keith

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

Leo Tolstoy

Patrick Haney 

Damn.  Looking around the Internet, you get the impression that all knowledge of physical fitness is restricted to those who, now tired of theoretical physics, have decided to dedicate their lives, instead, to the pursuit of bigger biceps. 

Hey, I don’t want anyone here to get the notion that this workin’ out stuff is rocket science.  Now, it could very well be that I’m delusional.  Maybe it really is the stuff reserved for those of higher mental capacities, and I’ll figure out sometime in the way too distant future (too late for my own good, of course) that I paid a heavy price for not taking this stuff too seriously — for diluting the highly (and whoops! who knew? necessarily) complex, and, in the process, completely ruining the fitness brew.  

Of course, I don’t have any definitive answers on this topic; so I gotta side with what I feel in the gut on this one.  And, as always, I remain the ever open-minded and continually searching epistemocrat.  My thinking, though, is this: If ever you’re muddled in “workout doubt”, just do this — sprint.  Lift heavy things, fast, furious, and — for the most part — over your head.  Eat right (a Paleo diet).  Get plenty of sleep.  Repeat.  Adjust and fine-tune as necessary — but really — if you’re not a professional (or aspiring to be) athlete, is it really worth obsessing over? 

Remember the 80/20 rule.  The “20%” part in this instance incorporates the “adjust and fine-tune” portion, and can, if you let it get out of control, wind-up resembling the exploits of ol’ Wile E. Coyote and his bud, the Road Runner.  The mind (aka, the notorious, Wile E. C.) pushes the body (the Road Runner) to improve.  The body, on the other hand, is hell-bent on doing only what is necessary to survive and multiply.  These are two entities can truly, at times, be at cross-purposes.  As soon as the mind dreams up a new way to push the envelope, though, the body finds a way to begrudgingly adjust — all at the detriment to another physical quality that, at the moment, is not being emphasized.  And so it goes, round and round.  The really cool thing about it all of this, though, is the following: you and you alone control the outcome.  Spirituality aside, what other venture in life can you really say that about?  You call the shots, and you’re responsible, wholly and totally, for the outcome.  And in that, my friends, I find much satisfaction.

Now, with a little skill, (and certainly, not a whole lot of obsession), you can make incremental, positive steps that impel the mind-body complex, as a whole, toward a new and better place.  The easiest way to do that?  Simple.  When you get to the point of not improving on a modality, movement, speed– whatever parameter you chose to measure — it’s time to change some aspect of your method.

To get your creative juices flowing, check out what I put together and performed on Monday morning:

1. REA Squats x 5’s

2. Push-away, Kipping-style pullups x 5’s

3. DB snatch + press/push-press/push-jerk combo (1 full combo, each side)

4. DB woodchops x 5’s each side

3 full rounds of this complex, at weight.  35 minutes worth of hard work that left me feeling great the whole day through.

And now, speaking of things you can control, and of those that you can’t –

“You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn’t enough in the second half you give what’s left.” –

–  Yogi Berra

With all the distressing financial news as of late, it’s refreshing to be able to take solace in this: There are very few things in life that I have utmost control over; my health and my fitness are about it. I put 80% of my energy and focus into those things, then allocate the remaining twenty percent to ready myself to react to those things I have no control over. Why sweat those things? Hell, I can’t do a damn thing about them anyway, much less can I predict them.

Now, I certainly don’t absolve myself of all responsibility vis-a-vis my future – I’m just saying I have no way of accurately predicting the future, so the best that I can do is to try to ready myself, in as much of a well-rounded sense as possible, and then I get back to working on those things in which I do have direct influence. It works for me much better that way.  I don’t want to waste a single cheap beer nor one minute of life worrying about something that I can’t predict, change or have any control over.  Really, what’s the point?

So in that spirit, check this article out – via Tim Ferriss (and with a mighty big hat tip, apparently, to Ryan Holiday). This put a huge smile on my face yesterday.  Thanks, y’all, I needed that one –

In Health,

Keith

“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labour of the industrious.”

Thomas Jefferson

 RightBrainPhotography

Improvisation.  Adaptability.  Doggedness.  These are a few of the qualities you’ll need to nurture in order to see you through, and around, the inevitable setbacks and obstacles you’ll encounter on this modern-day, Paleo journey.  As in many ventures, it’s usually not the one big thing, but the day-to-day little setbacks that will eventually add up to a resolve-devastating, blow.  Be resilient!  Don’t allow these setbacks to creep-in and manifest into something bigger. 

Here’s a quick example of workout-related improvisation and adaptability.  Now I don’t tout myself as being a “guru” by any means, but I do believe that if you can get to the point where I am, as in being able to cobble together an on-the-fly workout (when your previous plans have gone bust), you’ll reap the following, positive benefits:

• obviously, you’ll get in a productive workout, vice totally scrapping the day’s planned bout.
• the positive energy and satisfaction gained from making something worthwhile out of a potential “nada” equates to banked enthusiasm.  That enthusiasm will be there for the asking when you need it (and you will need it) at the next impasse.
• ideally (and under the Paleo life-plan), we should be able to adapt to and overcome whatever physical challenge life heaves our way.  Living the modern work-a-day lifestyle, however, doesn’t often allow us to demonstrate this ability.  It’s nice, every now and again, to prove the ability to overcome a physical challenge from a cold, non-planned start.

Now, I went about my normal workday-morning, pre-workout routine (up at 5AM, assembled the day’s take-in Paleo meals (leftovers), made coffee for the drive, etc.) with the plan of executing (with slight variation) my Paleo Sprint, Heave and Haul workout.  However, when I reached the field that morning, I found it to be an unsuitably wet and mushy mess. 

So I scrapped that idea in lieu of doing something similar, though indoors.  As I made my way toward the gym, I cobbled together, in my mind, a workout that ultimately took the form of something akin to the “Tuesday” workout from this post.  However, the moment I saw the heavy traffic on the indoor track, I realized that that idea, too, was a no-go. 

I’m really bleeding time now, and lots of it.  Then I noticed the the power rack being vacated.  Sweet serendipity!  Now, quick — what to do?  Well, here’s what I ended-up with — and remember, too, the lost time — I’m down to the 20 to 25 minute range now:

1. Reverse Lunge x 5’s, each leg
2. Front Push-Press x 4’s
3. Weighted, Regular-Grip Pullups x 3’s

I was able to squeeze-in three rounds of this, at weight, in roughly 25 minutes.  It was close, but I still skidded into work on time by trading an after-shower shave for the third round of this combo.  In my book, that’s an adequate compromise.

An interesting aside: at the start of this combo, I just did the reverse lunge and paired it — so as to not waste time in any manner of weight-changing or other transition — with the weighted pullups.  But then I noticed that the barbell was, in fact, racked at the correct height — and with an adequate weight for — some front push-pressing.  Thus was born this nice little combo.  And it turned-out to be a fantastic pairing and a total-body blast.  Give it a try yourself.  I think it’s a keeper. 

Mother Earth News Does Gary Taubes 

Now maybe my liking for Mother Earth News is evidence that I actually follow through with my own, self-made dictate of “absorbing what is useful and discarding what is not”.  I like to think so.  The MEN has a dedicated following of vegans/vegetarians — not exactly an endorsement for what the Paleo-minded would consider worth following.  I’m not trying to be glib when I say that there is a reason why the purely vegetarian hominoids went extinct 2.5 million years ago, only to be succeeded by the omnivorous, hunter-gatherer.  I don’t construct the evidence, I just react to it.  But aside from the decidedly vegetarian-leaning stance, MEN is an otherwise good read.

Anyway, here’s a link to the article.  It’s actually a very good summary of Gary Taubes’ Good Calories, Bad Calories, a book I’ve talked a bit about here.

Give the article a read, and really, give it some serious thought.  I don’t agree totally with all that Taubes says — for instance, he seems not to distinguish between endurance exercise (which he rightly identifies as only useful in making you hungry) and high intensity/short-duration (fast-twitch muscle activating) exercise.  Also, it’s obvious to me that there is some element to the calories-in, calories-out paradigm — just not nearly to the extent that the “mainstream” would have you to believe.   I guess you could categorize these things in my “things I believe, but cannot necessarily prove” file.  I don’t argue with what I’ve seen empirically demonstrated, even in light of lacking (i.e., wrongly constructed and/or wrongly interpreted) scientific studies.  I’ll always give proven results their due.  Knowing all the “whys” behind the end results is merely — though, for me, an actively sought — added bonus.

Thanks to Richard at Free the Animal, for bringing this article to light.

In Health,

Keith

“The excellency of every art is its intensity, capable of making all disagreeable evaporate.”

John Keats

Neither of these workouts lasted longer than 40 minutes, warm-up included.  Both were done on an empty stomach, at approximately 6:30 AM prior to the start of my workday.  I awoke at 5 AM on each of these days, with my commute to the gym (and the town where I work) lasting roughly an hour — long enough for a stout coffee and a select podcast.  

Monday, October 13th, 2008

1. REA Split Squat x 5’s each leg.  Maintain lots of snap of this one.

2. BTN/Front shoulder press x 8 total. Note: there is an actual name for this exercise, but for the life of me I can never remember what it is. Alternate, rapidly as possible,  between BTN and front presses, pressing the barbell just high enough to clear the head. Each round-trip = one rep.  This emphasizes the shoulders over the triceps, as the movement is not completed to full, over-the-head, lockout.  It’s a nice variation I like to throw in now and again.

3. Regular-Grip, weighted pullups x 7’s

Three rounds of that fun stuff, then:

Wide PC-grip low pulls, rest-pause singles x 11 reps, followed by an additional set of weighted, regular-grip pullups x 6 reps. Barbell was racked at a point just above the knees.

Wednesday, October 15^th, 2008

1. Power Clean + Full Front Squat combo x 5.  1 Power Clean + 1 full ATG (ass to grass) Front Squat = 1 rep.  Don’t “ride” the weight down from the PC to complete the front squat.  Come up fully from the PC catch, then complete the ATG front squat.  It’s done as two separate and distinct, yet rapidly successive, movements.

2. Dips x 3’s

3. Rev. Grip Pullups x 3’s

Three rounds of that. I followed that with a fourth round of a 5-rep rest-pause single set for each exercise.

Revel in the effort. 

In Health,

Keith

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

Abraham Lincoln

coba

I’ve lost some respect, as of late, for strength and conditioning coaches Mike Boyle and Charles Poliquin; especially so for Poliquin, and I’ll explain why in just a moment.  But first you might be wondering, just what in the bloody hell is this all about?

At this controversy’s root is the problem, from a strength and conditioning “guru’s” point of view, of there being far too little trophy game available for the relatively high number of active hunters.  That is to say, supply-and-demand and market forces are generating heated competition within the S & C community — with the resultant snarky remarks and back-biting — among folks attempting to rise to the top of the guru heap.  And who just happens to be at the top of the heap right now?  Crossfit, that’s who.  And in my opinion, deservedly so.

Note: I consider myself as objective as reasonably possible in this matter (kinda like being a Libertarian in the midst of the Republican/Democrat throw-down), however, my workout style is skewed heavily toward the Crossfit camp.  And although I don’t consider myself part of the “Crossfit nation”, I do draw extensively from their ideas, then tailor those ideas to fit my own, specialized needs.  Namely, I emphasize more of the sprint/explosive elements of Crossfit and de-emphasize the endurance elements.

So why is it that Boyle and Poliquin can’t give Crossfit its due?  Because, quite simply, in doing so, they’d have to concede a certain portion of market share — and, therefore, potential clients — and the resultant, dirty, sexy money that comes with those clients.  What’s my take on this?  Simple.  Number one, you’ve got to know where you want to be in the future, i.e., know your goal.  Number two, objectively assess your current status.  Now, from that great, universal grab-bag of ideas and knowledge, assemble your own, personal, transport system.   That system might be a Poliquin, Boyle or Crossfit-leaning system — or it may lean toward any of a dizzying number of systems.  The thing is that most all systems will work for their intended target audience.  The trick is to discern, through the fog of (intentional or unintentional) misinformation and false claims, what is right for you and your goals.

Now, ironically — and in the same article in which Poliquin dismisses Crossfit, he paraphrases one of my favorite sayings: Adopt what is useful and reject what is not.  But just how do you “know” if something is useful or not, if you refuse to lend it proper study?  This is a mind-set that I’ve never quite understood.  And it’s certainly not limited to the S & C community, either; this mid-set is prevalent in any field you choose to study.

If you have the want to, check out this podcast of Crossfit’s rebuttal of Mike Boyle’s dismissal of the Crossfit system.  It’s actually a good discussion, and not what you might think something like this would sink to — namely, a Jerry Springer-like idiot-fest.  There’s some good, high-quality information put out in this discussion.

And to be honest here, I’ve never borrowed much from Mike Boyle’s bag of tricks — I haven’t found all that much in his training philosophy that I agree with — so it was relatively easy for me to dismiss his Crossfit rant.  Not so with Charles Poliquin.  I’ve borrowed heavily from his training philosophy and I consider him — and consider him still — as being one of the most knowledgeable, effective and preeminent S&C coaches in the business.  My take on this, though, is that Poliquin has succumbed to “guru envy” in this matter.  What he won’t admit is that his pool of potential clients is small  due to specialization.  His focus is on (and should be, because he’s proven his worth here) training upper-level athletes.  He’s trying to expand that potential client pool by saying, effectively, that if it’s right for the highly-developed athlete, it is therefore, by extension, the correct prescription for the athletic-leaning, general public.  This is where I disagree with Poliquin — and where, too, I’m disappointed in his failure to, at a minimum, address this notion.

For Poliquin not to concede the efficiency and effectiveness of the Crossfit program in developing better physically-prepared policemen, firemen and armed-forces personnel (or anyone with at least some modicum of beginning fitness, for that matter) is to be either blindered by personal ambition, wilfully ignorant, or unknowledgeable of the physiological sciences.  I think everyone familiar with Charles Poliquin would say that the last two options are non-sequiturs, which leaves us with the first option — that of the ugly beast of personal ambition.  And for an otherwise respected man in his chosen field to allow personal ambition to trump the dissemination of truth, my friends, is highly, highly disappointing to me.

In Health,

Keith

“In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice, there is.”

Chuck Reid

Thursday morning, October 9th, 2008

My journal notes reveal that I haven’t done this particular combo since last spring.  And for the life of me, I can’t  pinpoint why; it’s a fantastic combination and an excellent workout.  I can only assume that the weather turned foul for a while and I got sidetracked on other things, or maybe I just felt at the time that I’d sucked all I could out of this particular combo and moved on to working other perceived deficiencies.  Whatever the reason might have been, though, I’m glad I had the combo noted in my journal, or my I might not have stumbled back upon it.  Another shameless plug for jotting down some workout notes.  They need not be extensive, just something to jog the memory.  More extensive notes on my part, however, might have revealed why I left the combo behind, serving to satisfy my nagging curiosity.  This is purely a cost-benefit thing, however, everyone has to feel that out for themselves.  If I were a professional athlete, I’d detail every aspect of my diet, training and performance.  As it is, I detail enough to keep myself in a perpetual state of progress in some aspect of my performance.  That is to say, I record enough to know when I’ve hit a plateau in a modality, and need to shift things a bit.

This workout lasted approximately 30 minutes, warm-up included:

1. 60 meter sprints from a rolling start.  8 x ~90% effort.  Approximately 1 minute between sprints.

Then:

1. Slosh pipe lunge x 20 steps
2. 30-lb medicine ball caber toss x 5 all-out heaves.

Three rounds of these two exercises, done back-to-back.

Notes: knobbers22 does a good job of demonstrating proper form with the medicine ball (actually, a kettlebell) toss.  His other videos are worth checking out as well.

The girl in this video does some slosh pipe lunges at around 1:26.  As you can see (and imagine) there is all kinds of fun to be had with a slosh pipe.  Mine is a 10-foot long x 4-inch diameter beast.  You want people to question your sanity?  Let them see you workout with a slosh pipe.

I knocked-out the following workout on Friday morning, October 10th, 2008:

1. Dumbbell Snatch + Press/Push-Press/Push-Jerk combo.  5 snatches + the pressing combo, each side, constituted 1 set.
2. Kipping “push-away” Pullups.  x 7’s

4 rounds of this in approximately 20 minutes.

Notes: This video is a demonstration of the barbell version of the press complex.  It’s not too far a stretch, though, to imagine the DB version.  I use a split stance on the jerks, though, with the foot opposite the “DB side” as the lead.

Here’s the kipping pullup explained.  For my purposes in this combo, I over-emphasized the “push-away” at the apex of the movement, really trying to fling myself out and away from the bar.

In Health,

Keith