BEYOND STRONG

Crossfit

Lately, I have been trying out some different conditioning work, doing small circuits, hitting the kettlebells again etc. Browse the internet and you can't avoid coming across Crossfit. Crossfit (and let me get the definition right here) is a core strength and conditioning program based on constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity.

When I visited the Crossfit sight, I can't help but thinking that this site has a truly bad navigation, and there are lots of cryptic description of exercises and WOD's.. WOD being the workout of the day.. Not to be mistaken with WAD.. Surfing blogs through Google was way more helpful.

What is good about Crossfit is that it uses exactly what it preaches to do, functional movements in a varied way. They apply these movements in a timed fashion, or for a certain amount of reps. Crossfit is not a be all, end all type of training. Most of the believers in Crossfit are involved in other sports as well, martial arts, running, or whatever.

Why I like Crossfit, is that it is a good way to enhance your condition, that is for sure. It can be a nice addition to your pure strength training, and can spice up your (maybe sometimes) dreading sets of 5 and reps of two's routines.

However, what Crossfit does is actually nothing more then setting up routines that were formerly known as a superset, an antagonistic vs agonistic set, or high rep sets with a total body movement.. That being said, crossfit has put a nice jacket on this type of training, and got some great training routines put up there. Workouts are referred to mysterious hotties like "Grace", "Diane", "Cindy"...

Today I took Grace a ride, or better yet, Grace gave me a ride.. Hard.. Grace is made up of 30 reps of clean and jerks, done for time, with 135lbs.. Now that's not a lot of weight, and doing sets of 5 is not that hard. But doing it in one straight set is a different story.. 7 minutes! It took me 7 minutes to finish this.. Boy, am I in a bad shape, conditioning wise..

The crossfit practioner will stop here, but I don't feel like it's enough. Did I not work it enough? No, I did, lungs were bursting. But I also like to lift heavy weights and won't settle for an Ironman condition alone, I like to lift and pull HEAVY..

I did a superset with bis and tris, and 2 rounds of 4oom, running.

Conclusion for me, and maybe for you as well, is to check it out, see what it is about and just for fun try out one of the girls, and see where you stand conditioning wise. For the not so creative persons amongst us, there are a lot of WAD's you can swallow on numerous blogs or on the site itself. If you are a bit creative, you can think up of some routines yourself and make it a finisher, a pumper, a breather, a long burner to round up your regular training..

ENjoy,

Theo

Four tips (not ten, not twenty, just four!)

I see a lot of gurus and strength 'experts' giving out tips on the internet. I sometimes pick up one or two things that get me thinking about my training but nothing that I hadn't done before or am doing in my training now. This got me thinking about things that REALLY count. Now I am no guru but I do have 20 plus years of training behind me and I have been the guinea pig for all that time. So here's four ideas to get you thinking and hopefully make a difference in your training goals.

It's not the routine

The training routine you pick or design is not the deciding factor for success. STOP RIGHT NOW! Stop looking for the secret workout to get that 400lb squat or 17" arms. It's not the routine that will make the difference. You are the only person who can make it happen. You could hire Dan John, Dave Tate and Dorian Yates to design the ultimate routine for athletic, size and strength but guess what? If you don't WANT it it won't happen.

Knowing is not enough

We ALL want to be strong(er). Even those people who don't train want to be strong, They want nice physiques and they want to be better. I know you want to be bigger, stronger and better. However, that's not enough. Before the internet there was two ways you could 'brag' about your strength. You could write about it in a magazine or you could prove it on the platform in competition. Let me tell you something. No one cares what you lift. NO ONE! The only person who should care is YOU! Can you dig it? Get in the gym, lift. Go home, eat and sleep. Repeat. Grow. Compete. Be happy. End of story.

Dangerous liaisons

Are you training with weak people? Do they belittle your efforts? Is your gym full of gifted meatheads who offer nothing but snide comments and foolish pride? GET OUT! Find a proper gym. Find somewhere that you can learn from the other guys. Find strong people. Train with them. That alone will make you stronger.

It's not the exercises

There are lots of good exercises but there are only a handful of truly GREAT exercises. Some 'gurus' seems to be putting up new videos on YouTube and writing some bizarre e-book about this stunning new exercise for your (insert any muscle group here) every single week! Do yourself a favour. STOP READING THIS RUBBISH! You want the GREAT exercises? SQUAT! PRESS!! PULL!!! Everything else is just gravy.

Nick

Now watch Ed Coan Behind the neck Press 400lbs.

Promotion

Letter arrived via postal service yesterday.  I have been promoted to manager of my department at work!  FINALLY!!!!!

My official start date is next Monday, and I will be 7:30 am to 4 pm shift with weekends off.  Actually working like a normal human for the fist time in 3.5 years!  The best part will be being able to do heavy bench with the guys on Saturdays.  I have no doubts now that I am going to bench 500+ by years end.

The downside: up at 5 am every day to get ready for work, but I am a morning person anyway so it wont be too bad after a week or so.  Also, I have to wear a tie now.  Ugh.  I am not the dress up type and I always have a hell of a time finding clothes to fit me.  My wife and I were in Old Navy a couple weeks back and we looked for the largest dress shirts they had.  They were 3xls, so I figured they had to fit me.  I got it on, but almost couldn't get it off.  Not even close to fitting me.  She got online and ordered some 3xls from a big and tall store with my neck size.  I figure those will fit.  I hope they will anyway...

I often wonder how men like Donnie Thompson, Chuck Vogelphol, or Andy Bolton find dress clothes.

No lifting this morning.  My alarm went off at 530 am and I thought to myself, "why go this early and try to deadlift when next week I can go at 5 pm."  Always thinking.  Always lazy.

-Rick

Tuesday

al First off, regarding my previous post about Laine Snook, I have to excuse myself for the major grammatic errors.. I did not look it through..

Have not been training in the gym for over a week. Did do some kettlebell work at home, going for a circuit with passaround/ clean/ snatches/ squats/ bottom up for 3 rounds or doing a snatch routine, with 20-15-10-8-6-4-2 and trying to do this continuously..

Today:

Db clean and press: 20kgx8, 24kgx8, 28kgx6, 32kgx4. Did last set with push press.

Standing Military Press: 3x8x50kg

Dips 6 rps/ Pullups 5 rps/ Cable crunch 10 rps.. Did 10 sets of this continuously

Threw in some curls and pushdowns.

3 sets of face pulls for 12-15 reps.

Something extremely Cool

I enjoy bringing you, the reader, different things besides always weight training.  I search the net looking for people who attack their chosen craft with the same ferocity and dedication that I do my powerlifting.  People who are out there pushing the envelope and doing what they love. 

For your Tuesday enjoyment I have found this incredible video:

Be sure to watch the whole thing, and crank the speakers up.  Simply AMAZING!!

-Rick

03/18/08- chest/back

Had trouble falling asleep last night.  Once I was asleep, I slept soundly, but I struggled to get there.  Too much on my mind I guess.

-Incline bench: 210 x5, x5, x5, x5

-Decline bench: 230 x5, x5, x5.  I am having a terrible time with these.  My right shoulder, same side as my bad pec/shoulder, does not allow me to roll to lockout.  The weight comes right up to about 2" from lockout and just stops like I hit a wall.  Left arm locks the whole way, right just stops cold.  I am going to have to work on it.

-Flat bench db press: 90s x5, x5, x5.  Time to go up.

-T-bar rows: 250 x8, x8, x8.

All I had time for.  I will have to do some more back work on Thursday or Friday.  The new chest supported row should be arriving at Cullen's in the next week or 2, so we will be hitting some back on squat days as well.

Deadlifts tomorrow!  My biceps are a little sore today, must have been from the stone and the 1 tire flip. 

-Rick

Spring is around the corner

It was decent out today.  Probably high 40s, sunny, just made me realize how much stuff there is to do outside.  The winter always makes your yard look like shit.  And, having as many 4 legged family members as I do, my yard is also currently full of shit since the bugs aren't out to eat it.

I rolled my 290 atlas stone outside today.  It was taking up room for my step-son's band in the garage so I rolled it out into the driveway.  Of course, I couldn't just roll it out there and not try to lift it.  I haven't lifted in atlas stone in well over a year.  I would say the last time I lifted one was before I sold my gym, so that has been over a year.  I was surprised to be able to lap it and stand up with it pretty easily in my moccasins and sweat pants.  I felt that familiar pain in my abs that stones always gave me, and being my abs are sore from yesterday, it was worse.  Still, I was happy to pick it up fairly easy with no warm up and zero motivation.  I also managed to get my 1100-pound tire up out of the yard and rolled back onto the concrete slab.  That thing was full of water and sinking into the ground.  It had been there since August!  I had to have my step-son help me break it free from the grass and muck, then I took over and got it up.  Damn near killed me, and I smashed my chest hard against it right where my pacemaker is so it is a little tender now.  I took a good 50 pounds of ice and 4 full buckets of water out of it once I got it upright. 

My left knee is sore as hell from squats Sunday.  I hate walking weight out, I know, for you purists the walk out is as important as the squat itself, but it always beats my knees up.  It is worse when the band tension is sky high so today I have been walking around with an ACE wrap and lots of Jack's Blue Heat on it.  I ordered some knee sleeves from APT and I will be wearing them on all squat days from here on out.  When we max I will use my Metal knee wraps.  I guess I am destined to always have knee pain in my pateller tendons. 

I want to send out a huge Congrats to Jim "Smitty" Smith!!!  His new cyber book is out, COMBAT CORE!  Smitty has poured his life blood into this thing and I have been privileged to have a copy.  It is awesome Smitty, you know your shit bro!  Get it here: http://www.combatcorestrength.com/.  Be sure to email Smitty at info@combatcorestrength.com and let him know you heard about COMBAT STRENGTH here at my blog.

I should know about the new job this week.  Waiting around for the answer is driving me damn near batty.  If I get it, it is going to do great things for my powerlifting as I will be able to do heavy bench with the guys on Saturdays.

Gotta get ready for bed.  Chest and back tomorrow.

-Rick

Laine Snook attack the Millenium & Inch!

Laine Snook has lifted the Millenium Dumbell and the Inch Dumbell Replica at the same time! It was last year (or is that already 2 years ago?) that I witnessed Laine lifting just the Millenium Dumbell. That already was quite a feat, and look it him going strong here!

Keep it up Laine, I am sure you wonn't rest until you lift 2 MDB's at the same time.. Now all you gotta do is find two in England..

Congrats,

Theo

Commitment

Need I say more...

03/16/08- squats

-Squats: blue bands, green bands, choked purpled bands, 265 bar weight for 5x2 off box, loose briefs and belt.  Crazy amount of tension.  Close to 800 at top.  Wasn't too bad, and it didnt fry my CNS like last week.  I think this is going to help tremendously when we go back to straight weight.

-Kettlebell Shrugs: 70s in each hand, 20 reps, held for 15 seconds, 15 reps, held for 30 seconds, 10 reps, held for 60 seconds.  Holy shit this was hard.  You never set the kettlebells down and you cannot rest them on your legs.  I figured my grip would be good to go, those last 15 seconds you could hear the kettlebell sliding in my hand.  Fierce!!!  We are going to use the 70s again next week, then move on to the 82s.

-Head Harness: 25 x20 each way, 30 x20, x20 each way.

-Glute hams: 36 pound KB, x8, x8, x8, x8

-Reverse Hypers: 330 x10, x10, x10

-Standing abs: 120 x10, x10, x10

Another great training session.  Try the KB shrugs, they are brutal.

-Rick