I would really like to know if anyone is reading the blog at all.
I know people watch the YouTube vids, but I think the views are all from YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
If no one is reading the blog, I can save a lot of time that I spend keeping this thing updated.
If you read it at all, send me an email at randy@realityworkouts.com .
Thanks.
Randy
Supposed to be 80% on the Strength Circuit today, but I want to isolate some parts a little more.
I’m going to do Full Range Stiff Leg Deadlift, bar to insteps, instead of Shrug DLs. Also going to do the Press from the shoulder rack, no leg drive, instead of Push Press. I’ll likely have to go under 80% to do those.
GPP
Ab Wheel, Hyper Ext, Wall Ball Squat. Pole
Combo-SLDL/HP/MC/FS/PP 45×5
Full Range SLDL MC Deep FS Press
95×5 45×5 45×5 45×5
115×3 95×3 95×3 95×3
165×3 115×3 135×3 135×3
185×3 125×3 185×3 140×3
185×3 125×3 200×3 140×3
185×3 125×3 200×3 140×3
Deep FS Bent Arm Pullover
220×1 95×6
220×1 145×6
220×1 175×6
220×1 175×6
No Vids.
This was one of those days. Wasn’t able to get started until late, and couldn’t muster up any real energy.
Decided to go thru my warmups and then see waht happens after that.
GPP
Hyper Ext, Ab Wheel, Wall Ball Squat
I had recently read an article by a strength coach that was explaining why he had switched the majority of his athletes to one-legged squats. There was a video, and what he actually had them doing was a version of the Bulgarian Split Squat. This movement is done with the standard fore-and-aft split of the feet, but with the back foot resting on an elevated surface, rather than the floor.
I decided on doing a few of these, since I had not done them recently.
Bulgarian Split Squat
35×5 each leg
55×5
65×5
65×5
65×5
Here is a vid of one set:
Finished up w/ Rack Shrugs, pins at mid-thigh, dynamic style, with hip extension and calf raise.
Rack Shrugs
135×5
225×5
295×5
345×5
345×5
345×6 standard stationary shrug, traps only.
No vid.
A little quick stretching, and I was done for the week.
Apple Jack Chili
Ok, before any body says “What the hell, APPLES w/ chili?”, let me tell you my thought process, and some facts.
My thought was to kind of go for the flavor of barbecue beef smoked over apple wood. Since you don’t smoke chili, adding apples seemed reasonable.
AND, the usual ingredient of chili, tomatoes or tomato sauce, is a FRUIT! Yes, tomatoes are a fruit. So, really, I’m just substituting one fruit for another.
Some people are allergic to tomatoes, so this recipe would be great for them.
Ingredients:
2lbs Lean (93-7) Ground Beef
1 lb 93-7 Turkey
1 25oz jar unsweetened applesauce
1-2 cups apple cider
1 diced onion
1 diced Red, Yellow, or Orange Bell Peppers
1 2.5 oz. Bottle of Chili Powder (honestly, I just pour out a big handful)
1-2 tbsp. Ground Cumin
2 tbsp. Cinammon (again, usually I just pour out a small handful)
1 small handful real bacon bits ( I get the big bag from Sam’s)
Red Cayenne Pepper to taste ( I go about 1 tsp to 1 Tbsp)
2 Diced Apples
2 tbsp Lemon Juice or Lemon Juice Concentrate
If for some reason you want it a bit sweeter, you can add some molasses, or a tablespoon of brown sugar.
Preparation:
In stove top pot or Crockpot, add all ingredients except meat. Simmer over Medium heat while you brown and drain the meat.
Add meat to other ingredients. Reduce heat to low. Cover and Simmer ½ to one hour for Stove Top, longer for Crock Pot. (4-6 hours works good for Crock Pot) Stir periodically, add water if needed.
Cinnamon Apple Corn Muffins
I generally don’t eat bread or starchy foods during the week, but do sometimes on weekends. When I have this chili on the weekend, I like to make these SIMPLE, delicious Corn Muffins.
Ingredients
1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 egg
1/3 cup milk OR plain yogurt
Small handful diced apple (just save some from when you are putting the chili together)
½ tsp. Cinnamon
Little touch of Splenda or Nutrasweet
Follow cooking directions on box.
Makes about 6 muffins.
My O-Lifters Brett Hagmann and Mark Henkle came down from Greensboro today. Mark wanted to work on his second bend on his Pulls, so we did some Combos where he would do a Hi-Pull, then a rep from the Hang just below knees.
He improved enough in this one session that he hit a 120lb Snatch, 15lbs over his previous best of 105 of just 2 weeks ago.
Here are the vids:
Same thing on his Clean & Jerk: I had him do a Hi-Pull, then a Hang Squat Clean. After he got the groove established. let him go for a new max. He hit 140lbs, 20lbs over the 120lbs he did just 2 weeks ago.
Here are those lifts:
Well, the 2 misses on the Snatch on Fri. 9/11 apparently had some consequences.
I felt fine Fri. night, and fine, though a bit sore, on Sat. On Sunday morning, felt OK. About 10am, walking across the kitchen floor, and BAM! I had a spasm in my hip and lower back like I had been hit with a hammer.
It did not improve the rest of the day or Monday. I went to my original chiropractor Tue., got minor relief. He said my pelvis was rotated.
Went to my Chiro/Neurologist on Wed., he said same thing. Felt a little better after his adjustment, but worse on Thur.
During all this time, I only did some light stretching and some bodyweight movements: hanging leg raise, Hindu Pushup, Stationary Lunge, Hindu Squat. Luckily, this was Light Week, so I felt no guilt from doing little to nothing.
Went to Dr Ahart (Chiro/Neuro) again on Fri., finally feeling better.
Besides chiro treatments, I took Ibuprofen, iced my hip regularly, and applied DMSO and Traumeel cream twice per day.
While not as bad as my original injury, this tweaking pretty much puts me out of contention for American Masters in Nov. ‘09. There is no way I can get back to my max weights and above by Nov.
I checked the Masters Weightlifting schedule, and National Masters is in April in Rego Park, New York. Time frame is OK, but I really don’t want to travel that far.
American Masters for 2010 is in Savannah, GA, which is only a little more than a 5 hour drive from Garner. I really hate the thought of waiting another year to compete, but it will be more convenient (I REALLY hate to travel), and will give me a whole year to heal and get Massively Strong!
I got good response when I posted a video of my wife Penny training on YouTube, so I figured I’d post an example of her training here.
She is doing a classic example of my M.Y.O.B. (Move your Own Butt!) style of training.
Most of the moves work multiple muscles at once. She moves either weights, her body, or both.
The circuit style has her going from one exercise to the next, with little to no rest, to keep the metabolism up and burn calories. At the end of the circuit, she does 2 min. on the treadmill as Active Rest.
After a slightly lighter warm-up round, she did 3 circuits at the weights listed below and in the video.
Trap Bar Deadlift
75×8
81×8
81×8
81×8
Reverse Crunch (5lb DB between the feet)
5×12
5×12
5×12
5×12
Hindu Pushups A great bodyweight exercise, based in Yoga moves
8 reps
8
8
8
Step Overs Works legs and the sides of the hips
10 reps
10
10
10
Renegade Rows This one directly works the back muscles, while the arms, chest, trunk, and legs stabilize to maintain position
15 lb DBs x 8 reps
15×8
15×8
15×8
Jump Rope
15 jumps
15
15
15
Treadmill
2 min
2min
2min
2min
Here is what 1 round looks like:
Fun today, my Olympic lifters Brett Hagmann and Mark Henkle came down from Greensboro to train.
Brett is finally recovered from his lingering knee problem to where he can do a bit of work with it. Otherwise, he is doing heavy auxillary work on movements that do not involve bending the knees.
Mark is still learning the lifts, so today we were working on the Snatch.
I had him do Snatch Hi-Pulls with a heavier weight, then do the Snatch with a separate bar.
I watched and offered advice, as usual. As his form improved and the lifts looked relatively easy, I had him continue to add weight. Pretty soon he had hit a 105lb Snatch. I was surprised to find out he had never done more than 95 lbs before!
Here are his Snatch vids:
I had done the heavy Zercher Squats the day before, so I wanted them to give it a try. Here they are doing some light Zerchers:
Brett did a lot of stuff while I was training Mark. Good Mornings, Muscle Cleans, and rehab stuff. I was able to catch him finishing up his sets of Shrugs w/ 410 lbs:
Object on the Shrugs is not using a massive amount of weight, but to get a fairly heavy moving fast at the top of the shrug. Essential for getting height on heavy Snatches & Cleans.
Brett and Mark finished up their workouts w/ 3 supersets of Dips & Chins. Excellent upper body movements in their own right, I feel these are good “Finishers” because the body hangs free on both, giving the spine some decompression from the O-Lifts and the load bearing accessory lifts.
They are also “antagonistic” movements to the Snatch and Jerk. The Dip pushes down in the opposite direction the arms go in the Snatch, and Pullups are the opposite of Jerks and Push Presses.
Here is the vid:
My Olympic lifter Brett Hagmann came down from Greensboro to train. He also brought his friend Mark Henkle, who is just getting started in O-lifting.
Brett has been fighting a knee injury, and has been unable to squat or do the full Olympic Lifts for a good while.
He has focused on the Good Morning exercise to keep his hips, hamstrings and lower back strong while his knee heals.
He has worked up to 306 lbsx5reps in the GM. He is shown here doing 254×8. Followed with Muscle Cleans, which is a Power Clean with no leg drive.
Mark is just getting started in Olympic Lifting. He has been doing some training with Brett, and today was my second coaching session with him.
We focused on his Snatch last time, so today I wanted to work on his Clean & Jerk, and check his form on Front Squats.
I had him finish up with Split Squat/Front Squat combos. Partly for leg strength and conditioning, partly because he was late getting down for his coaching session. Penalty reps!
After watching Brett and coaching Mark, I felt I wanted to do something productive after not doing much earlier in the week.
I did Hindu Squats while training them to get my knees and hips warmed up.
After they finished training, I did Plyo Depth Jumps. I was dropping off of 9 step risers (about 22″) to the floor, landing in a squat, and immediately jumped out of the squat back up onto 4 step risers (about 10″). This was done wearing a 10 lb weight belt.
These were done to give me a little leg work, and to condition the soft tissue in my injured hip to be able to absorb impact and react explosively.
Always enjoy when the guys come down.
Don’t know what’ s going on, but felt crappy both days. Joints aching, no energy, just Blah!
Could be holdover from the max efforts last week. Could also be the combination of the previous week being Progressions week, where every workout was heavy, and the max efforts. Could be fighting a bug. Could be D.: All of the above. Who knows?
Since it’s light week, designed for recovery, I went with the flow and did very little.
GPP, ab work, warm-up stuff, and very little else was all I did both days.
At my age, 52, it is absolutely more about recovery than trying to see how much I can do all the time. In many ways, I’m about as strong as I was 20 yrs ago. The BIG difference is that I don’t recover from max efforts nearly as quickly as I did when I was younger.
I went for years in my early bodybuilding days, 20s to 30s, busting my gut at every workout. It was OK mostly, I was young, recovery was good, and I was motivated as all get out.
But, I would sometimes feel bad, joints hurt, and got sick more often. Progress would stop. Or even worse, I’d get injured. Looking back, sure signs of overtraining.
Finally got a clue in my thirties, and started taking a light week every 5th week. That is, workout hard for 4 weeks, then take a light week where I did 50-60% of my normal weights.
In my late forties, I found that was getting to be bit much, and started taking a light week after 3 weeks of workouts.
Now, particularly since I’m doing more Olympic lifting and less bodybuilding, I find that too much heavy O-lift stuff in a week is too much. That has led me to the current workout program where I do Heavy-Light-Medium for the 3 days I lift. I might do some bodybuilding moves on the light day, but since they are done for higher reps w/ comparatively lighter weights, they fit on the Light day well enough.
It can get frustrating at times, because I often feel I’m not progressing as fast as I would like. I hear that a lot from clients, too. But, you can only make progress from workouts you can recover from.
So, 2 really light workouts, and hopefully I can get back to some decent workouts Monday.