A New Day

Here it is. I have got an extended period of uninterrupted months coming up and so I can run a program straight through.
I am going to be doing Steve Justa's singles program. For general development I will add in weighted pull ups on day 1, push up ladders on day 2, carries on day 3 and ab wheel on day four. I am using Tim Anderson's preset and reset as a warm up and cool down and doing 5 minutes of unweighted Turkish get ups in the warm up.
Since there is a rowing competition coming up I am going to row every other day and crawl for 5 minutes on non rowing days.
I'll bet you are thinking, "my god this guy knows how to have fun." and you would be right.

TODAY'S WORKOUT
W/U
preset + TGU x 5 minutes
DL       5 @ 135 w/u
             5 x 1 @ 235
Press    5 @ 45 w/u
             5 x 1 @ 85
Push ups 2 x 2/4/6
Crawl x 5:00  :20 spiderman crawl/:40 baby crawl x 5
I am going to work this up to 5 minutes of spiderman crawl and then start working on backwards crawls.
C/D
reset
and out.

Fun, Fun, Fun.

The Crunch gym I am going to just got a heavy bag today and a trap bar yesterday, although I couldn't find it when I went looking.
I am going to fool around for the next few weeks because I am going out of town in early September and don't want to get involved in anything that I will have to interrupt.

TODAY'S WORKOUT
W/U
500 M row

Row 10 x 100M with 1:00 RI
Lots of rest so I can keep the pace faster than race pace and I did, keeping all but the first 2 intervals below  a 1:45 pace.

KB snatch
3L/3R on 1:00 for 5 minutes

Press 1 x 20 with just the bar working on tension and form.

CD
 250M row

At some point today I will go and do another 5 minute crawl.

More fun stuff.
A new Dan John article
An interesting piece on Self Myofascial release
A good piece on exercising by Melody Schoenfeld

Have fun...Or Else.

What's Outside The Door?

Today was another recess day. I have found the parks to be more conducive to having fun and playing than the gym will ever be. Yesterday I went to a park and set aside 10 minutes to just goof around. I rolled, rocked, nodded, did somersaults, climbed a tree, jumped over a railing, walked on a wall and jumped off a wall and into a roll. Good fun.
Today's Workout
OS preset:
Roll 3 times each way upper and lower
rock x 10
nod x 10
Baby crawl forward, backward, and lateral for 5:00

KB swings:
10 x 10  alternating between 2 sets of two handed swings and 2 sets of single hand swings

Climb a small tree.

Skip out and back about 150 yds. with a downhill and an uphill

preset/reset
March x 20
Rock x 20
Baby crawl x 20
Belly breath x 3:00

5 Minutes of super slo mo indian clubs

The more time I spend outside the less inclined I am to go into a gym. I will, however, keep the membership for this year so I can do some row training for the Beach Sprints in February.

Heeeeres Johnny

A great cheer rose up as the populace realized that, after having gone missing for many months, he (me) had finally returned.
I have been playing around with a lot of stuff lately. I got to spend a quality day at Bodytribe fitness in Sacramento attending a seminar with Chip Conrad. If you get a chance definitely go up there sometime.
November 1st and 2nd, 2014 would be a good time as both Chip and the legendary Dan John will be sharing.
I did a month of Power to the People and then a 10,000 KB swing program based on Dan John's piece in T-Nation and now I am working on a chassis building program based on Pavel's Simple and Sinister and Tim Anderson's Original strength.
It goes like this:
5 rounds of:
10 two hand KB swings
Crawl 20 ft
1 TGU (L)
Crawl backwards 20 ft
10 two hand KB swings
Crawl 20 ft
1 TGU (R)
Crawl 20 ft backwards

Right now I alternate rounds of two hand swings with rounds of one hand swings that looks like this:
Round 1- 10 two hand swings
Round 2 - 10 L/10 R
Round 3 - 10 2 hand swings
Round 4 - 10 L/10 R
Round 5 - 10 2 hand swings

After a couple of weeks of this I will change it and do rounds 1,3,5 as single hand swings and then after a few more weeks I will go to all one hand swings.
I am doing naked TGU's working on the form and will begin to weight them once I have the moves down.

I have also been attending Aboriginal Skills workshops. It involves a trek through the woods to learn about the edibles and practice making fire and rope and camping out for the night if you want.

So...I'm having fun. How about you?

On and On and On Dear Prudence

Who the hell is this Prudence person anyway? This title and question are completely unrelated to the blog post.
I went up to Sacramento last weekend to hang out  at Bodytribe and absorb the wit and wisdom of Chip Conrad. I always learn a lot when I listen to him.
Just finished up with 3 weeks of a Power to The People program and have started Dan John's 10,000 KB swing challenge. It goes like this:
Day 1
5 rounds of:
10 KB swings
1 Press ea side
15 KB swings
2 Presses ea side
25 KB swings
3 Presses ea side
50 KB swings
Rest 3:00
These are done with the 16K bell
Day 2
5 rounds of
10 KB swings
15 KB swings
25 KB swings
50 KB swings
Rest 3:00
These are done with the 20K bell
Day 3 OFF
Day 4
5 rounds of:
10 KB swings
1 Pull up
15 KB swings
2 Pull ups
25 KB swings
3 Pull ups
50 KB swings
Rest 3:00
These are done with the 16K bell
Day 5
5 rounds of
10 KB swings
15 KB swings
25 KB swings
50 KB swings
Rest 3:00
These are done with the 20K bell
Day 6 Off
Day 7
5 rounds of:
10 KB swings
1 Push up
15 KB swings
2 Push ups
25 KB swings
3 Push ups
50 KB swings
Rest 3:00
Day 8
5 rounds of
10 KB swings
15 KB swings
25 KB swings
50 KB swings
Rest 3:00
These are done with the 20K bell
After a day off the process starts again.

The Apologists

With the growing popularity of crossfit a lot of people who used to think, and rightly so, that CF was BS are now crawling back like whipped dogs in the hopes of ingratiating themselves with the cultists and, most likely, capitalizing on the suckers.
This article by Christian Thibaudeau is typical of the lot.
This article by Todd Bumgardner is a much more reasoned and non apologetic piece.
Apology pieces are showing up with increasing frequency as former critics realize that there is a ton of money to be made by fleecing the rubes, as it were.
While that may not be their motivation it sure seems that way.
Started a Power to the People protocol today.

MONDAY'S WORKOUT
W/U
3 rounds of:
Hinge pattern x 5
Squat x 5
Plank x :10 seconds
Farmer walk x 20 yds @ 90lbs
Halo x 5 ea. way.

W/O
Dead lift
5 @ 225
5 @ 205
Bent Press
5 ea @ 15
5 ea @ 12.5
the presses were way easy but I must stay the course maybe I will retitle the blog growing old and turning into a little girl.

Row
10 x 100M/:30 RI
total meters 1,000
time 3:32.3
AP 1:46.1
SR 34

...and the problem is...

Just read an amazing book by Jonathan Foer called Eating Animals. It is one of the most well reasoned and thoughtful books on the subject of vegetarianism that I have read. He does not, however, address the real issue. We are as a group eating more meat than ever before and the meat industry has come up with ways, not ethical but profitable ways, to fill that need. The real issue is that there are just too many people. If, tomorrow, everyone decided that chia seeds were the best thing to eat than the chia seed industry would have to ramp up production and, perhaps, engage in some unethical practices to feed the growing need for chia seeds. It is not a problem of what we eat but of how many of us are eating it. Population is and has been, for some time, the crux of the issue. We long ago exceeded the planets ability to support us. Something to think about.

TODAY'S WORKOUT
W/U
Patterning 3 x 5 of hinge, squat, plank, batwings and carries.

W/O
3 x 40 to 50 yds @ 130/140/150
done with dumbells

3 rounds of:
KB Clean and Press ladder 1/2/3 with 16K
Pushups 5

On the push ups I am working on keeping my shoulders locked down and increasing the range of motion. I still get some pain but I am working that out.