Today's Training: Total Body Strength Training

  Back in the gym today doing another training session following the Wendler 5-3-1 template. Core lifts today were incline bench and power clean.

Warmup: Indian clubs, quad rocks, 1/2 kneeling hip flexor, ankle mobs, neck mobs, Figure 4 stretch, kneeling t-spine extension w/dowel, 1/2 kneeling adductor

Workout:

• Incline BB bench: 1 x 6 @ 135, 1 x 5 @ 155, 1 x 4 @ 175
• Rip Trainer ISO-hold: 3 x 15 sec. x 2
• Power clean: 1 x 5 @ 115, 1 x 4 @ 135, 1 x 3 @ 160
• Rip Trainer Figure 8's: 2 x 15 sec.
• Landmine 1 leg RDL: 3 x 6 @ 60
• Cable Chest Press: 3 x 12 @ 35
• "Speed" Step-Ups: 3 x 10 @ 10 sec.
• Smith Machine Inverted rows: 3 x 15
• BB rollouts: 3 x 10

Comments: Hit my target numbers in the incline bench despite not feeling very good a couple of weeks ago when I started. I thought my shoulder would be problematic...no issues today.

   Also, hit my target numbers in the clean which was less of surprise as my technique is getting better.

Train hard and train smart!

http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links. 

Seth's Blog: Getting over ourselves

Seth's Blog: Getting over ourselves Cool spin on recent events.

Lance Armstrong: Not a lost cause

Lance Armstrong: Not a lost cause Interesting perspective on the Armstrong situation.

Cantello celebrates a half century of coaching at Navy - CapitalGazette.com: Navy Sports

Cantello celebrates a half century of coaching at Navy - CapitalGazette.com: Navy Sports: Aaron Lanzell was, admittedly, an average runner at Eisenhower High in Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania. Lanzel’s times as a senior were not the cali…Legendary coach and an elite athlete when he competed.

Today's Training: Total Body Strength Training

  Despite Sandy on it's way, I got to the gym and got a short but effective training session.

Warmup: Quad rocks, ankle mobs, Indian clubs, Figure 4 stretch, neck mobs, leg swings, Squat Iso holds

Workout: 

• Zercher squat: 1 x 5 @ 45, 65,100; 1 x 3 @ 115, 125; 1 x 3 @ 135, 145
• Extreme Gripz chins: 3 x 8
• KB Skiers swings: 3 x 12 @ 40 supersetted with
• Swissball pushups w/feet elevated: 3 x 15
• Hanging Straight leg raises: 3 x 10

Comments: Good session; new "PR" in the Zercher squat. 

Train hard and train smart!

http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links

Wicked smarts for a complex life

Wicked smarts for a complex life Bottom line is you must find a way to move regularly whatever mode you choose. There is no one way to do it.

Seth's Blog: A bias for trust

Seth's Blog: A bias for trust Good approach in a world filled with cynics and skeptics.

Today's Training: Total Body Strength Training

  End of 2nd week of Wendler's 5-3-1 program and hit my numbers and then some which means progress is being made. Seeing as the big "60" is coming up in two months, progress is a good thing! :)

Warmup: Banded quad rocks, banded back traction, goblet squat Iso holds, tall kneeling dowel t-spine rotation, KB pullover, ankle mobs, neck mobs, Indian clubs

Workout: 

• Sumo deadlift: 1 x 3 @ 135, 185, 210, 240, 1 x 6 @ 275
• Face pulls   3 x 12 @ 60 lbs.
• KB swings 6 x 16 @ 32 kg. (on the minute)
• KB suitcase carries 3 x 40 meters @ 32 kg.
• Suspended decline pushups 4 x 25
• Suspended inverted row (feet elevated): 4 x 15
• Hanging leg raises 3 x 10

Comments: Hanging leg raises done well (no swinging, feet touching bar) are no joke and few do them well. Hit my numbers of the deadlift which was good. Wish they had heavier kettlebells at the gym!

Train hard and train smart!

http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links

10 Ways to Sustain a Training Effect in Your Strength and Conditioning Programs | Eric Cressey | High Performance Training, Personal Training

10 Ways to Sustain a Training Effect in Your Strength and Conditioning Programs | Eric Cressey | High Performance Training, Personal Training Solid training advice from Cressey.

Today's Training: Total Body Strength

   Today was another total body strength day using Wendler's 5-3-1 system with the core exercises being the Incline Bench press and the power clean.

Warmup: Quad rocks, banded quad rocks, 1/2 kneeling hip flexor, lower body rolls, banded low back traction, ankle mobs, Y Wall slides, Cross crawls

Workout: 

• Incline bench: 1 x 5 @ 115, 135, 155, 175
• Power cleans: 1 x 3 @ 115, 125, 145, 165
• Landmine RFESS: 3 x 6 @  50 lbs., tri-setted with
• 4" Grenade grip chins: 3 x 7
• Rollouts-3 x10
• Rip Trainer Iso lateral holds- 3 x 10 sec. x 3

Comments: Good session; hit better numbers on the Incline bench from last week so maybe it was just a matter of "greasing the groove." 

    The Landmine RFESS were an experiment and I liked the movement. We continue to use those in the future. The 4" grenade chins were a real grip challenge. Have been doing a lot of grip challenging chin variations lately. 

Train hard and train smart!

http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links.

What Makes A Nightmare Sports Parent -- And What Makes A Great One

What Makes A Nightmare Sports Parent -- And What Makes A Great One This should be required reading for all parents of young, or older, athletes.

Today's Training: Sprints, Sled Pulls, etal

  Today was a beautiful but cool fall morning so it was a good day to get outside early and get some sprint work in...not sure how many more of these there will be this year.

Warmup: Quad rocks, Figure 4 stretch, Pidgeon stretch, leg swings, lower body rolling, toe/heel walks, March series, Banded quad rocks, table hamstring & hip rotators, Foam roller shoulder mobs, ankle mobs, neck mobs, Cross crawls, 1/2 kneeling hip flexor, banded adductor and hip flexor traction, band shoulder traction.
   Not necessarily all in this order!

Workout:

• Sprint acceleration ladder: 10-20-30-40-50-50 x 2 w/2 min. recovery between sets. On the turf.
• Sled drags: 8 x 15 meters w/300 lbs. on the track/30 sec. recovery between sets.
• Spider crawls: 2 x 40 meters.

Comments: Good workout esp. the outside aspect of it as I prefer training outside as much as possible but not practical with some things like sled work, at least with my setup/situation.

Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links

7 Reasons Baseball Pitchers Shouldn't Do Year-Round Throwing Programs - Part 1 | Eric Cressey | High Performance Training, Personal Training

7 Reasons Baseball Pitchers Shouldn't Do Year-Round Throwing Programs - Part 1 | Eric Cressey | High Performance Training, Personal Training Something to think about for you pitchers during the off-season. Oh, yeah, and you Dads/coaches! :)

Today's Training: Total Body Strength Training

  Today was a rainy, actually pouring, day so good day to train indoors.

Warmup: Indian clubs, ankle mobs, neck mobs, quad rocks, lower body rolling, Cross crawls

Workout:

• Sumo deadlift: 1 x 5 @ 145, 195, 225, 255, 1 x 7 @ 265*
• Extreme Gripz chins: 8, 7, 10, 8 (with oversized Extreme Gripz)
• Extreme Gripz DB Hammer curls: 3 x 8 @ 35 supersetted with
• Decline weighted pushups-3 x 12 @ 45, 55, 55
• KB Suitcase carry-3 x 30 meters @ 32 kg.
• Rollouts-3 x 10

*First day of Wendler's 5-3-1 system with the deadlift. We will see where I am in 4 weeks.

Comments: Haven't deadlifted heavy with volume for a while so we will see where the 5-3-1 program takes me. I will try to do 2 cycles (2 months) and see where I am at that point. This program has worked well for me in the past.

Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links.

The Surfer's Guide to Taking Risks

The Surfer's Guide to Taking Risks Sometimes you have to apply these principles to your training and take the leap of faith and just do it.

Today's Training: Total Body Strength Training

   Today was the 2nd day of the Wendler 5-3-1 program with the core lifts being power clean and incline bench.

Warmup: Quad rocks, ankle mobs, hip flexor stretch, neck mobs, Indian clubs, Figure 4 stretch, lower body rolling, Crocodile breathing

Workout: 

• Incline bench press: 1 x 5 @ 120, 135, 155, 175 supersetted with Rip Trainer Iso holds-3 x 15 sec. x 2
• Power cleans from floor: 1 x 4 @ 115, 125, 135, 145 supersetted with Cable chest press-3 x12 @ 35
• DB Kroc rows-3 x 6 @ 75 supersetted with Face pulls-3 x 12@ 60 (Kroc rows were done with new Extreme Gripz---tough grip challenge)
• KB Farmers carries w/Extreme Gripz-3 x 30 meters @ 28 kg.

Comments: Didn't hit my numbers on the incline bench---shoulder was a little balky and didn't want to risk it. Will stick with same weights for next week and see how it goes. 

   Extreme Gripz are a supreme grip challenge...makes any exercise much more difficult....Cool tool!

Train hard and train smart!

http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links

Today's Training: Conditioning & Power

  Today was a combo day of some interval sprint conditioning work and some power work.

Warmup:  Quad rocks, ankle mobs, Indian clubs, leg swings, Cross Crawls, 1/2 kneeling hip flexor, 1/2 kneeling adductor, 1/2 kneeling t-spine rotation

Workout: Box jumps 3 x 6
         Med ball circuit (horizontal emphasis): Med ball wall dribbles 2 x 15 sec; Med ball chest pass-2 x 12 @ 15 lbs.; Med ball alt. hip toss-2 x 8 ea.@ 15 lbs.; Med ball-2x 6 @ 15 lbs.
         Sled pushes: 7 x 20 meters @ 200 lbs.
           Sprint ladder: 10-20-30-40-50-50 x 2 (90 sec. rest between sets)

Comments: Good training session tho' took a while to warm up in the sprint section. Trying to be more consistent w/sled work. 

Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links. 

The Superset Survival Guide | Eric Cressey | High Performance Training, Personal Training

The Superset Survival Guide | Eric Cressey | High Performance Training, Personal Training Good read on good programming from Cressey.

Today's Training: Total Body Strength

  After several weeks of admittedly "drifting" as far as any truly organized strength program was concerned, I am back on board.
   I am going to do a 2 month cycle of Wendler's 5-3-1 program which always seems to work well for me and is good for progress for 2-3 months at least.
    The "core" lifts will be the Zercher squat, sumo deadlift, incline bench and power clean. We will re-test in 2 months.

Warmup: Indian clubs, neck mobs, ankle mobs, quad rocks, lower body rolling, Cross crawls, scap retractions, 1/2 kneeling hip flexor stretch, Figure 4 stretch

Workout: Zercher squat-1 x 5 @ 85, 100, 125, 1 x 7 @ 135;
    Skier KB swings- 4 x 12 @ 45 lbs. supersetted w/Face pulls 3 x 12 @ 60 lbs.
   Tri-set: Landmine anti-rotational 1 leg RDLs 3 x 6 @ 55; Decline 1 arm Med ball pushup-3 x 20; Hanging leg raises-3 x 8
   Fat Gripz Chins-3 x 10

Comments: Good start to the new program; core lift today was the Zercher squat. Limiting factor always seems to be comfort for the elbows.

Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links. 

Today's Training: Hill Sprints, Sled Pulls, etal

  Today was such a nice fall day I did another session of hill sprints outside to take advantage of the weather. You never know this time of year how many nice days are left!

Warmup: Quad rocks,leg swings, Indian clubs, ankle mobs, neck mobs, lower body rolling, Cross crawling

Workout: Hill sprints-8 x 100 meters w/walk back for recovery
     Sled pulls-8 x 20 meters w/300 lbs., 30 sec. recovery.
     KB Farmers carries-3 x 35 meters @ 32 kg.

Comments: Slow start to the day but once I got going things went well. Great day to be outside doing sprints or anything for that matter!

Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links.

We Know Next to Nothing About Heart Disease

We Know Next to Nothing About Heart Disease Good though not necessarily comforting information.

Today's Training: Total Body Strength

  Today I got in another total body strength day with the emphasis being on pulling: power cleans and sumo deadlifts.

Warmup: Quad rocks, lower body rolling, ankle mobs, Indian clubs, neck mobs, Cross Crawls, leg swings, Spider crawls

Workout: Power cleans-5 x 4 @ 145 (from the floor); Speed sumo deadlifts w/bands-6 x 3 @ 145 +short orange bands (on the minute);
   Quad set: Weighted chins-4 x 5 @ 50 lbs; RFESS-4 x 12 @ 45; Suspended decline pushups-4 x 25; Landmine 1/2 moons-4 x 12;
   Suspended fallouts-4 x 10

Comments: Good session; next week plan to start a new program with a blend of the 5-3-1 approach of Wendler with some metabolic strength training. We will see how that goes.
   That should be a 6-8 week phase.

Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links.

Today's Training: Hill sprints, Sled Pushes, etal

  Today was a beautiful, crisp fall day so had to get outside for at least part of my training session which is what I did for the first part.

Warmup: Quad rocks, ankle mobs, Indian clubs, hip flexor stretch, Figure 4 stretch, neck mobs, 1/2 kneeling adductor, leg swings, open hip t-spine rotation, cross crawls

Workout: Hill sprints-8 x 100 meter hill sprints (walk back for recovery).
      Med ball circuit-Wall dribbles 2 x 15 sec. @ 4 lbs; Med ball power slams-2 x 8 @ 20 lbs; Med ball scoop tosses-2 x 6 @ 20 lbs.
    Sled pushes-8 x 20 sec. on/40 sec. off @ 200 lbs.
    Box Jumps-3 x 6

Comments: Good session with power being the primary objective. Longest effort was 20 seconds with everything else being well less than that. Knees, ankles and hips feel very good. 

Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links. 

Minutes of hard exercise can lead to all-day calorie burn

Minutes of hard exercise can lead to all-day calorie burn Quality trumps quantity virtually all of the time and that extends to exercise as well.

Quick and Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better: Installment 21 | Eric Cressey | High Performance Training, Personal Training

Quick and Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better: Installment 21 | Eric Cressey | High Performance Training, Personal Training Good advice from Cressey's staff on a variety of topics.

Today's Training: Total Body Strength

 It's been almost a week since my last post but I was away in Cooperstown, NY playing in a baseball tournament. Played two games on Doubleday field where I got to play alongside my 26 yr. old son in the outfield. That one of the reasons I train as hard and consistently as I do! :)

Warmup: Quad rocks, hip flexor stretch, lower body rolling, Figure 4 stretch, Indian clubs, ankle mobs, neck mobs, Crocodile breathing, Cross Crawls

Workout: KB swings-5 x 15 @ 32 kg. (on the minute); Tri-set: Landmine 1 leg RDL-4 x 6 @ 55; Cable chest press-4 x 12 @ 35; Face pulls-3 x 12 @ 60 lbs.
    2nd Tri-set: Zercher squat-3 x 6 @ 135; Smith machine inverted rows-3 x 15; Rollouts-3 x 10
       KB suitcase carries: 2 x 35 yds. @ 32 kg.

Comments: Good session...Zercher squats felt surprisingly good. Need to get access to a heavier KB to really optimize power demands in the swings.

Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links. 

Yesterday's Training: Total Body strength

  Yesterday's session was another total body strength training session at the gym with the 2 chief exercises being power cleans and deadlifts.

Warmup: Quad rocks, Indian clubs, ankle mobs, neck mobs, Figure 4 stretch, lower body rolling, marching cross crawling, Bear crawls.

Workout: Power cleans from floor-5 x 3 @ 155; Sumo deadlift-1 x 5 @ 135, 225, 1 x 4 @ 275, ! x 3 @ 305, 1 x 3 @ 325, 1 x 2 @ 335.
   Tri-set: Inverted rows on Smith machine-4 x 15; Band resisted pushups-4 x 15 @ 1"; Tall kneeling/1/2 kneeling Landmine 1/2 moons.
    Band resisted rollouts-3 x 8

Comments: Good session with some good pulling work esp. Trying to build up slowly in the deadlifts. Going heavy every other week, with speed/variety the emphasis on non-heavy weeks.

Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links.

Today's Training: Total Body Strength

  This string of weather is just unbelievable.....not that I'm complaining. But if this type of crisp, clear, beautiful fall weather doesn't get you going nothing ever will!!:)
 
Warmup: Quad rocks, Indian clubs, Figure 4 stretch, ankle mobs, neck mobs, lower body rolling, Cross crawl walks, leg swings

Workout: KB swings 6 x 12 @32 kg. on the minute; Hex bar RDL- 4 x 6 @ 135(1), 195(3) supersetted with Landmine 1/2 moons-3 x 12;
    Tri-set: Rope pullups 3 x 12; RFESS w/Goblet hold 3 x 8 @ 50 lbs; Decline weighted pushups-3 x 12 @ 45 lbs.
   KB Farmers carries-3 x 30 meters @ 32 kg. each.

Comments: Because of the baseball tournament next weekend I will likely start my "new" program next week when I won't have to deal with training "issues." But this was a very good, energizing program so it worked well for today.

Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links