weight

Instant Gratification – A Charm Hard to Resist

May 7, 2014 By Robert Rimoczi Leave a Comment

(Translated from German. Prefer to read the original? Click here.)

**Robert Rimoczi teaching at Kraba Gym in Germany**

Have you noticed that what we want, and what we need is often light years apart? Especially in the case with training and nutrition, where long-term goals and short-term gratification do not match.

If I want to eat an ice cream in the short term , but long term I want to have a washboard stomach, then I know that eating ice cream is not a step in the right direction, even though it feels good. Ice cream is delicious, but makes you fat!

Unfortunately, this law is much less obvious when training. What does an “eating ice cream” type of satisfaction look like in training?

Sweating, gasping for air , with burning muscles after a workout is a wonderful endorphin rush! Even if you have to convince your body to somehow crawl to the locker room, it’s still a great feeling, right? I love it! I would not trade it for any amount of ice cream!

But … Are you sure that your training has brought you closer to your goal? Could it be that the good feeling is just as deceptive as the delicious taste of the ice cream? When the high from the ice cream ends, I become tired. It takes some basic knowledge about nutrition to know that it feels good to eat sugar, but it does so much bad in the body. Just like when training.

“Come on! ” You might say. “The harder I work, the fitter I get!”

Are you sure? I know many who work hard on a regular basis for years, but very few who have come from A to B and achieved their goals. So many people also do not measure their progress. If one disregards the weight gain, only the good feeling stays when the ice cream has left.

“But I can feel that my training is good for me,” you say.

Bad food feels good . Poor training also . Do you know why? Because that instant gratification is lying to you.

Wait! Do you know the guy with the huge chest from the gym? ( Yes – yes, certainly you know him ! ) He has huge pectoral muscles , wow, he can do neat stuff, and he presses and screams until all can see how strong he is. Unfortunately, he’s only good at the bench press. For a proper squat with his chicken legs—he does not dare. Don’t you think he enjoys his training ? He does – but he probably enjoys it because he has many experiences of success and that good feeling you get when you do exactly what you’re good at.

If you want to progress with your own general fitness, you should work on your weaknesses instead–but do not stop doing the skills you’re best at. The poor guy with the huge chest feels like an idiot when he does squats, so he does not make them better. Would it help him to continue to do the squat bench press? In the long term, yes. They would surely help him to be more proportional.

A well established program with squats would even improve his performance at the bench press. A balanced set of skills to have is certainly a better basis for the development of one-dimensional training. It is healthier and you’ll have more fun doing it. To specialize in just one thing has many serious weaknesses and is only a short-term pleasure. See professional sports!

It does not matter what your weak point is. It is an underdeveloped part of the body , or a fundamental movement pattern, like mobility, stability, or coordination …

To summarize:

You have vulnerabilities
Working on these weaknesses has the best cost- benefit ratio
But to work on your weak points does not feel so great, because you ‘re doing exactly what you can not do well

Do you see ? It feels bad, and it brings you further, or it feels good, and you are racing against the wall. Instant gratification is often a bad adviser.

Don’t let your feelings lead your workouts. Be objective and work towards your goals instead. Then you will find success!

***

Robert Rimoczi, Senior RKC, Munich, Germany has opened a new gym. You can view his new site at: http://kraba.de/, email him here, or call the center at
0180 – 5 999 432.

My Weight Loss Struggle

August 28, 2013 By Laurel Blackburn 64 Comments

I’ve been thinking about writing this blog for quite a while. I’ve been struggling with this issue since I was a teenager. I know I am not alone.

This blog won’t give you the latest weight loss secret, nor will it give you a really incredible workout. As a matter of fact, it won’t give you any answers. My hope is that it starts a conversation that needs to happen.
It’s time for me to get honest with myself and it’s time for me to get honest with others.

I need to hear about other people out there who struggle with the same issues as I do. I know I am not alone. I see it in others, I see it in my clients, I see it all over social media and I see it in my family.

My issue is my love/hate affair with my body. I can’t even tell you when or why this started. All I know is that I have fought with my body image and my weight since I started junior high school. I have no idea whether or not I was actually overweight, but that does not even matter. I thought I was overweight and thus began decades of self-loathing, countless diets and a trip to a 28 day eating disorder clinic.

laurel3 — On left: At leadership meeting, very ashamed about weight /
On right: Starting another diet

At 20 years old and after the birth of my first son, my goal was to weigh in the double digits. Imagine my elation when I tipped the scales at 99 pounds. I was on top of the world. That number meant that I was finally a success and that I was attractive.

Of course it didn’t last long. Before I knew it, I ballooned to a whopping 119 pounds. I felt like a failure. Suddenly I went from feeling attractive to feeling like a monster. I was buying a size 20 in clothes to hide my hideous body.

I only wore clothes that hid my massive frame. It was then that I sought help and entered treatment for my eating disorder. I never considered myself anorexic nor bulimic, I went because I was a straight up binge eater and my weight was out of control. Again I only weighed 119 pounds.

One of the things we had to do was exercise. I felt so hideous that my workout clothes consisted of my huge potato sack skirt that reached the floor and a huge over-sized shirt. After all, I didn’t want anyone to see how big I was.

I spent 28 days in treatment and left the same as when I went in.

laurel2 — On left: Weight down, feel great /
On right: Weight up again – note the baggy clothes

Over the past decades, I have gained and lost 20 pounds.

My biggest weight loss successes came when I was competing in bodybuilding. Those were the days. Some how I managed to stay with a strict diet for 12 weeks. I ate by the clock every 2-3 hours. My meals consisted of boiled chicken, rice, cold sweet potatoes and broccoli. It wasn’t good, but it was what I ate. Food was not longer enjoyable. I even traveled to Las Vegas on vacation for a week with my cooler full of food.

On the day of my contests, my body fat was approximately, 18% and yet I still had a wad of fat on the back of my legs. I guess I should mention that I am of Hispanic, Italian descent. We have some meaty thighs! God, how I hate them.

It took about 3-4 weeks after each contest to gain back 20 pounds. I had no idea how to transition back to normal eating. I went from a ripped, lean size 0, back to what I felt was a fat, over weight woman.

The next few years, I gained and lost 15-20 pounds through various diets and exercise plans.

Now I sit here writing this, ashamed. I am 51 years old and I’m still struggling with weight and body image.

Laurel5 — **On left: Weight up… Again / On right: Starting yet another diet…**

As fitness professional, I know better. But, first and foremost, I am a woman. I am woman who has struggled with her weight, self-image, self-esteem and body image for 40 years.

Trust me, I have done every diet out there. I have done Paleo, I have done the Whole30, I have gone off sugar, I have gone off carbs, I have detoxed, I have done Precision Nutrition, I have eaten low fat, high fat, low protein, high protein, I have kept food journals. I have counted calories and I have measured my food. I have done tons of cardio, I have lifted heavy weights…I have done it all.

I still go through the same emotions and behaviors. I lose around 7-10 pounds. I feel great. I feel attractive. I feel successful. I go shopping and buy cute clothes and wear them with pride. Then I gain the weight back. My self-esteem, body image and confidence go to hell. I go back to my baggy clothes.

So, is there a point in life and I am asking anyone who is reading this blog, in which you stop the madness and just accept who you are, accept and love your body and quit torturing yourself? Or do you continue the self-destructive mental and physical abuse?

At 51 years old, I’m tired of fighting this. I’m tired of hating and fighting with my body. I want to enjoy my life and I want to just enjoy food. Damnit, I want to eat cake and not feel like a loser and not feel judged and not feel guilty.

I know I am not alone. I have clients who have been coming to me for years who pretty much do the same. We have transformation contests with pretty amazing results. After the contest is over, they end up where they started. I have clients who, after coming for years look pretty much the same. They work hard, their health has improved tremendously, but they are still overweight. Is that so bad?

As fitness professionals, we post before and after pictures of our best client’s transformations. However, when I see group pictures of clients working out, there are some who are over weight and obese and I know those clients have been coming to those classes for a very long time. It happens in gyms, in boot camps, in Kettlebell classes and in Crossfit.

Now I know that other fitness professionals will judge me because I am fitness professional and I should look the part. What is the part? Many of my new clients, when asked what their goals are, say they want arms like mine.

One of the things I am guilty of that just adds fuel to my already low self-esteem fire is that I compare myself to other women on Facebook who are leaner and stronger. I know those are part of the issues I need to work on.

I don’t know the answers. I don’t know what to tell my clients who struggle with the same issues. When is it time to quit the madness?

Laurel4 — **On left: Weight back up, ashamed.. / On right: Diet success, feeling great**

One thing that really helps me is to understand different body types. We are all different. I will never be a skinny girl even though I have tried. My brothers and my oldest son struggle to put on weight. They are tall and thin with nice long legs. My sisters and I are short with short, muscular legs. No matter how hard I try and how lean I get, I will not have tall, lean legs. I know I can have a lean upper body, but my legs will always be and look heavier.

One of the things that help me, is the website that has pictures of some of the world’s most elite athletes. You will see they have completely different body types depending on their sport. None of them are the same.

http://reelfoto.blogspot.com/2012/08/howard-schatz-and-beverly-ornstein.html

I am not writing this blog to get pity and I am certainly not writing it to get any more advice.

If you are one of those who have never struggled with weight, or if you are one of those who have fought the weight loss battle and won, without having to fight the demons of self-loathing and constant failures, then you will never be able to wrap your head around this. As fitness professionals however, we need to understand that for some of your clients that struggle with this, we have to understand and we have to be able to help them.

Another diet, another food journal and harder workouts will not take care of the underlying emotional issues surrounding this issue.

So what are we to do?

Is quitting the madness and focusing on health instead of losing weight so bad? Do we support and affirm their efforts on improving their health or are we focused on their weight loss?

Do we refer them out for help, for counseling?

I go to counseling and have been on anti-depressants since I was a teenager. Many of our clients have never been and maybe it’s time. Do we do them a disservice by not addressing this issue?

I ask you to please share this blog in the hopes that it helps someone and starts a conversation that I think needs to happen. I really put myself out there and I would like to think I didn’t do this in vain.

***

Laurel Blackburn is an RKC Team Leader and owner of Boot Camp Fitness and Training and Tallahassee Kettlebells. Look for Laurel at www.bootcampstogo.com or www.tallahasseekettlebells.com.

At 51, she is out to prove that age is just a number. Her goal is to motivate and inspire people everywhere, both young and old that strength, flexibility and mobility can get better with age. Follow her adventures on her blog: www.SuperStrongNana.com.

It’s All About the “C” Word

June 19, 2013 By Angelo Gala Leave a Comment

Have you ever looked at a professional athlete in total amazement as they gracefully move through the air in a gravity-defying move to score a game winning goal?

Scratched your head in total confusion wondering how that weightlifter in your box just dropped under a barbell to catch a snatch with 225 pounds when you are struggling to secure the bar overhead with just 135 pounds?

How about those bikini and figure models strutting around showing off their beautifully sculpted 6-pack of abs?

Its all too easy to sit back and cop out an excuse that these individuals are just gifted. To say that they are “freaks of nature,” or accuse them of having way more time available to train. The truth is that we all are capable of amazing ourselves with personal accomplishment. Maybe our window of opportunity to become a pro ball player has closed a little earlier than we would have hoped, but don’t throw in the towel just yet. You still have plenty of time to achieve great things.

What builds great athletes happens behind closed doors when no one is watching. Everyone struggles when they have goals that scare the sh*t out of them. The secret to success is persistence through the tough times and consistently working to move forward no matter the resistance that is faced.

It is too easy to watch any athlete on a National or International stage and overlook the work it took to get there. Of course I have to acknowledge that many athletes do possess a genetic predisposition to be great at what they do. Some endurance athletes are blessed with an astronomical lung capacity (think Lance Armstrong), perfectly shaped musculo-skeletal system for their given activity (Michael Phelp’s wing span and hand size) or even fiber typing within the muscle itself that can predispose someone to naturally be more explosive (Pyrros Dimas). Please don’t let this discourage you in your journey to crush personal records in training whether you compete or are simply a fitness enthusiast.

It’s funny how many things come in 3’s. A sneeze frequently is followed by a second and third subsequent blast out of the nose. Tibetan Buddhism prayer verse is typically repeated in three’s. Traffic lights in the United States have 3 signals. Traditional nutrition tells us to eat a protein and two sources of vegetables (that’s a combination of 3) and we all know that it takes at least three months of effort to make noticeable change to the body. So what does this tell us? We need to be patient and persistent to accumulate enough volume to make the desired change we seek.

Lets break this down specifically to fitness. Say you have a weight-loss goal. It takes three weeks to make a habit stick. So in the course of those initial three weeks you may focus on making small changes. Initially frequency and timing of food may be the top concern. Once you have adjusted to eating regularly you may begin to add in more fresh produce. Before you know it, those initial three weeks have ended and you are starting to get frustrated with a lack of results or even an increase in total body weight. Don’t worry because we still have plenty of room for improvement. Now that we know you are proactively battling the blood-sugar regulation game we can pull out all grains and starchy foods. Sorry man, that means no more bread, rice or pasta and white potatoes. All of a sudden, BOOM! Some of that extra padding begins to melt away.

When it comes to resistance training and even flexibility (shout out to my fellow Yogis out there!) we need to see the same persistence and consistency. Strength training should be performed on 3 or MORE days a week if you would like to make gains. Now if you are like me, over 30 and slowly losing peak hormone levels, then a greater priority on frequency should be observed otherwise you may find yourself treading water at best. In the yoga community we have a saying that goes something along he lines of “stretch once a week to feel better, stretch twice a week to maintain your current flexibility, stretch 3 times a week to make a change.”

Now general rules of physiology apply to flexibility just as much as they do to strength. In a given strength session, a minimum of three sets of a given exercise are needed to provide enough stimulus to improve strength or promote hypertrophy.

Accumulated volume towards the improvement of muscle length and specific flexibility should be noted as well. If you are working on improving your backbend in a bridge posture, just hitting your maximal global spinal extension for one uncomfortable hold or repetition isn’t going to cut it.

First you should prep your body by opening your hip flexors, thoracic spine and throw in a shoulder stretch or two. Now that your body is ready to bend, try setting up your bridge for a solid 5 slow breaths or thirty seconds, lower to a resting position for a few breaths and repeat the exact same posture for at least two more sets. It’s never enough to just go through the motions one time and expect great change. Don’t forget that to improve your bridge it should be performed with the same care on two other training days that same week!

In regards to all aspects of the body we need to understand that it takes consistent and repeated practice to make change. For some enthusiasts the change may come as fast as a few days or weeks and for others it may take months or even years. As long as we keep chipping away at our goals by taking small bites at a time, success is as sure to come, as the seasons are sure to change. I challenge you to stay present and be mindful during your journey as you very well may learn something new about yourself along the way.

***About Angelo Gala, RKC Team Leader: Angelo Gala has been a fitness professional in the Boston area for greater than 11 years. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the NCSA, has studied the Pranavayu system of yoga under David Magone and he is a Dharma friend at the Sakya Center of Buddhist Studies in Cambridge, MA where he completed a 1 year intensive study of Mangalam Yantra Yoga Under the guidance of Lama Migmar Tseten.

He considers himself an all-around fitness nerd and endurance junkie who refuses to fall under the category of a one-trick pony. Gala continually works to better himself and inspire others by leading a lifestyle conducive to physical, emotional, and spiritual development. He believes that no one should focus too much time and energy on a single dimension of fitness. The body craves all different types of movement that is not limited to just running, jumping, swimming, biking or lifting things up and putting them down again and again. He teaches clients to train with intention progressively, intelligently and with as many different modalities as the heart desires. Do this and the body and mind will be forever grateful.

How To Get to 8% Body Fat…And Stay There

May 8, 2013 By Pat Flynn 26 Comments

How To Get to 8% Body Fat…And Stay There

To command your respect and hold your attention, I will use big words. And if the desired effect is achieved, you will likely finish this piece thinking you have arrived somewhere in luxury.

For many years now I have beseeched some of the more celebrated wizards of the natural sciences for samplings of their incalculable wisdom, and they have bestowed upon me, most graciously, the secrets behind their biological sorcery—that is, the key to deciphering the riddles of leanness and muscularity. The most enviable of all human forms, indeed is it not?

Now I have experimented in various directions with this sorcery upon the author of this piece, that is, conducting countless experiments upon myself, done mostly in my underpants and long after my keeper has left the grounds.

To name a few: I have danced with the devils of ketosis, boogied with the preachers of starvation (short-term, of course), and partied with the high-priests of Paleo.

But before I venture any further, I offer a few figures and disclosures:

1. I last clocked in at 6.4% body fat via a 7-point caliper test. As this device is rarely precise down to the exact percentile, I recognize I may be higher up into the eights, or down lower maybe even. Whatever.

2. I take no fat burners or drugs of any kind (less you count chicken), only the following supplements: creatine monohydrate (5 grams daily), organic whey protein concentrate, green tea, fish oil, zma, and an organic greens shake.

3. Having six pack abs does not make you a fitness expert, nor does it make you a good coach. It does not gain you entry into heaven, nor does it protect you from bullets, taxes, or hepatitis C. It does not mean you’re healthy—doesn’t even mean you’re fit, necessarily. All you can assume from six pack abs is that the bearer has a low-enough body fat and an amply muscled midsection. That’s it.

I should tell you, however, that when you seek out six pack abs you learn lessons that can be learned no other way. Mine were:

1. If I go below 100 grams of carbs per day, I am likely to scalp someone, burn my house down, or commit some other wholly unreasonable act of unpredictable violence. Once, while in ketosis, I chased a man up a tree, and kept him there for three months.

2. The only PROVEN effective method to lose weight is to spend more calories than you save. So I figure if Americans could just figure out a way to swap their eating habits for their money habits, then everyone would be much richer and far less fat. Someday, maybe.

So, if you’ll permit me, I’d like to show you how I do it—how to get to 8% bodyfat, and stay there—less of course you be a lady, then 8% is far too low, so let us instead shoot for the mid to high teens—if that be the case.

How to Eat for Six Pack Abs

I guess you could call me paleo-esque. I do not eat grains*, really. Wait, never mind, yes I do. White rice is a grain, and I eat that. I also eat white potatoes. Some would call this heresy*, but that’s OK.

* SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Grain eating may be hazardous to your health—dangerous to you and others around you, and will likely result in a slow, agonizing death—and there is loose evidence to suggest that that is not the worst, but that when you wake up on the other side, Satan himself will take you by the hand and personally escort you to the farthest back corner of hell—a place too gracious even for perjurers, adulterers, and mobsters—to have your legs boiled in molten sulfur for one billion calendar years.

You see, I really have every natural disadvantage when it comes to being lean—both congenital and acquired. My family is mostly overweight, and I am Irish—which means I like to drink whiskey, and my friends tell me I’m very good at it. But I have learned to restrict my drinking to only the days that come after yesterday. Occasionally I slip up, but one does what one can. [Editor’s Note: There was no point to this paragraph, and it probably should have been deleted.]

On non-training days, I typically keep my carbs at or around 100 grams, the lowest I can go before violence. My carbs come mostly from things that are green and leafy, berries, and the occasional sweet potato. On training days I will bump my carbs up by 50-100grams, sometimes higher. I will have my largest and carb heaviest meal post workout, and this is when I will have white rice or white potatoes. I think the white starchy carbs make for a lovely post workout addition.

To accumulate a calorie deficit, I fast. For this, I (one) fast for 24 hours 1x a week and (two) fast every day until about one or two o’clock. Since I train in the mornings, my first meal of the day is typically my post-workout meal, and it is large and exciting and I would never think to share it anyone—not even Mother, a critter to which I am emotionally susceptible.

If I feel like I’m going too far into the negative, which happens on occasion, I add breakfast back in, or take out the full fasting day.

How to Train for Six Pack Abs

In my last article I talked largely upon the benefits of metabolic conditioning—specifically kettlebell complex training—for augmenting work capacity. But I forget now if I mentioned the other benefit of high intensity complex training, that is, how it melts fat like raw meat on a hot grill.

Aside from sprinting, I do not run. I do not enjoy it. And because I do not enjoy it, I do not like doing it, because I do not like doing things that I do not enjoy, if you can believe it.

What I do enjoy is low-rep strength work approximately four days a week, high intensity metabolic conditioning two to three days a week, and low-intensity cardiovascular activities as often as possible. This is the philosophy behind my Birth of a Hero program, and it is a potent fat burner.

Allow me to expand upon this.

I train strength, on the main, four days a week. My current split is Monday, Tues, Thurs, Fri.

I work three-month cycles, but I do not wave the load, least not in the traditional sense. Instead, I begin each cycle with a “heavy load” (something that challenges me for 1-5 reps). I keep that load constant for three months. By the end of which, hopefully, it has become a “moderate to light load”, because I have grown stronger. Therefore, I have, in effective, “waved the load,” by not waving it at all. Voilá!

Currently, I am training mostly bodyweight and gymnastic style movements, such as the muscle up and the pistol squat.

I follow a rep scheme of 1,2,3,1,2,3 for every lift I do—a classic gymnastics style rep/set structure. For three months, there is no variation, not even when it starts to feel “easy”. When three months have passed, I bump the weight back up to a “heavy load”— or, in the case of bodyweight training, move onto a more difficult progression—and repeat the cycle.

[I’m not going to just give away the full program, but if you’d like it online coaching, and are willing to pay for it, then please email me at PatFlynn@ChroniclesOfStrength.com with the subject line of “I’m Not a Cheap Ass.” It’s expensive, but I’ve heard it’s worth it.]

Two days a week I add in metabolic conditioning via kettlebell complex training (typically on Mondays and Fridays). If I’m feeling spunky, I’ll make it three (or perform a metric crap ton of kettlebell swings intermittently throughout the week). This comes after my strength training, never before. I keep my complex work diverse—sometimes double bell, sometimes single bell, sometimes heavy, sometimes light. Inefficiency is your friend here and offers the refreshment of variety.

If you’d like some ideas, I have a free eBook on 101 Kettlebell Complexes that you can download HERE. It’s a gift, don’t worry about it.

Finally, I keep on the move as much as I can. Super-low-intensity stuff, lots of walking and hiking, especially on the weekends. Fasted hiking is a sneaky way to cut off that last bit of stubborn fat. I oftentimes bring along my trusty St. Bernard, Lola, for guidance and good humor.

Lola

Concluding Thoughts

There are a great many articles out there on how to get lean from people who have tried but did not succeed, even more from those who have never bothered to try at all but just wanted to talk about it anyways. I just wanted to be a little different, that’s all.
– Pat
PS – If you have any questions, please drop them in the comments or come say hi on Facebook.

***

About Pat Flynn, RKC: Pat Flynn is a certified Russian Kettlebell Challenge instructor, fitness philosopher, and 7^th degree blackbelt in hanging out. Pat is the founder of ChroniclesOfStrength.com where he talks mostly on how to chop fat and multiply muscle through kettlebell complex training.

My Journey to the 1 Arm, 1 Leg Push Up

April 17, 2013 By Beth Andrews 3 Comments

I’ve always been interested in mastering body weight exercises. There is a fascination with athletes that are able to push and pull their body around with total body strength as opposed to those that can only lift a heavy object. When I began kettlebell training, and more specifically, when I got certified in RKC, I began drifting towards the body weight challenges.

At my RKC2 in April 2012, I bought the Convict Conditioning book and signed up for the Naked Warrior cert held in October. Females were required to do a 1 arm push up to pass. I didn’t know much about the technique of the 1 arm push up and with only a few months to prepare, I dug into the CC book for guidance. My program design was centered on training Pull ups, HLR, OAPU, Pistols, Handstands, and Bridge work.

Just prior to the cert, the results were: HLR- 2 sets 27reps, Pistols- 37right/37left, Uneven Pull Ups- 5sets 5reps, Bridges improved, and even though I was hesitant in kicking up a Handstand, I had help getting up and then would hold the position. And of course, sets of 1 arm assisted push-ups. I had actually gotten an ugly 1APU . The strength was there but the mechanics of tension, engaging hollow, breathing, etc., was missing.

The Naked Warrior cert went into details with creating tension, engaging hollow, breathing, shoulder positioning, etc. and it all came together for me. I was able to achieve the 1 arm push up.

Here’s a demonstration video, followed by some cues:

Cues to Use: Root hand in floor. Pack the shoulder. Wrap arm around low back and squeeze fist creating tension. Engage the hollow position. Quick breath in and hold. Chest to floor. Let just enough air out to push up.

The following week, I designed a thirty day program for the 1 Arm 1 Leg Push Up using ladders. I paired variations of pull-ups with OAOLPU assisted ladders. I only laddered up to three on each side but varied the rounds each day I trained. I also varied the intensity by using a basket ball on easier days and using a towel/Frisbee as a harder variation. I didn’t over complicate things with different variations I picked 2 and stuck with it.

MONDAY- 3 rounds

BW pull ups- 10

OAOLPU ladders- 1-1,2-2,3-3 (towel assisted)

WEDNESDAY- 4 rounds

L-sit Baseball grip pull ups- 8

OAOLPU ladders- 1-1,2-2,3-3

FRIDAY/SATURDAY- 3 rounds

Weighted pull ups- 5

OAOLPU ladders- 1-1,2-2,3-3 (Towel assisted)

I kept it simple. I never went to failure. I always could have done a few more reps. I never forced reps. If I needed a day of rest I took it. I waited thirty days before testing to see the progress.

On Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, the workout consisted of bridges, handstands, hollow drills, pistols, cossack pistols, weighted push ups, HLR, and OAOL plank holds. I also snatched twice a week.

After 30 days, I achieved the OAOLPU.

Here’s a video and cues:

Cues to Use: Root hand in floor. Pack the shoulder. Lift opposite leg and push contact foot into floor. Wrap arm around low back and squeeze fist creating tension. Engage the hollow position. Quick breath in and hold. Chest to floor. Let just enough air out to push up.

Next up is the PCC, as Al Kavadlo says on the Progressive Calisthenics blog… ”We’re Working Out.”

***

More about Beth Andrews: Beth Andrews, Senior RKC, is a gym owner and instructor at Maximum Body Training in Cartersville, Georgia. She can also be reached through her website: http://www.wix.com/drruss21/mbt.

Smart Fat Loss Circuits

April 3, 2013 By Josh Hillis 7 Comments

Well known and long standing adages like “leave a couple reps in the bank” and “safety is part of performance” often, sadly, are put aside for fat loss circuits.

In this world of CrossFit, P90X, and super ultra-hardcore-bootcamps everywhere, it’s hard not to fall into the “more is better” trap that everyone is constantly pushing. As RKC’s we should be well aware that more isn’t better. It’s just more.

Fat loss clients come in with that perspective, and it’s our job to educate them. Often we’ll get a new client who will literally tell us “I want to sweat and puke and be sore.” Regardless of how stupid a goal this might sound to us, we’re best off giving them some of that, in the smartest way possible. We usually can give ’em what they think they want up front, then educate them over time.

In this article, we’re going to talk about what smart, RKC-style fat loss circuits could look like.

A Smarter AMRAP

CrossFit popularized the term AMRAP for “as many rounds as possible”, and I thank them for that.

Unfortunately, the concept of doing an AMRAP workout at 100% effort is a recipe for disaster. You can only push oxygen debt and muscle exhaustion for so long before exercise form goes out the window. So don’t do that.

Or as Yoda so famously said: “Stupidity leads to bad form. Bad form leads injury. And injury leads to the orthopedic surgeon.”

We’re going to slow our AMRAPs down – somewhere in the neighborhood of 80-90%, and err on the side of too little vs. too much.

We’ve all been fed a myth about intensity. And it feeds that thing inside us that always tells us we should be doing more. But it’s false. I experimented with my clients for two years during the writing of my first book, and found no difference in results between running clients at 80-90% intensity in workouts and running them at close to 100%.

So… 80-90% intensity… all of the benefits… none of the injuries… shouldn’t that be like, totally obvious, right?

The Josh Hills Fat Loss Circuit Progression: Not Just More Rounds

More rounds is also another stupid thing that most circuit based workouts do. Just more. More, more, more. More isn’t better. So very un-RKC.

I consider 5 rounds the magic number for any of these workouts. They may have to work up to being able to complete five rounds. That’s fine. But when they are getting up over 7 rounds, bump ’em up a level. That could be a harder bodyweight progression, a lower bench for pistols, a lighter band for pull-ups, or a heavier kettlebell.

But lets not turn this into a Group X class. Lets up the weight on our circuits instead of just cranking out a zillion rounds.

This is a super important point, and I’ve never seen anyone else in the entire fitness industry bring it up. There is a right amount of work to get done in a circuit, and you can have it happen like clockwork every single time. It’s right about 5 rounds. It’s heavy enough that they *have to* rest during the 20 minutes, but no so heavy that it looses it’s circuit-ness.

It also lets clients know that it’s *ok* to rest. Obviously if they could crank through the 20 minutes without any rest, they’d be doing 10+ rounds or so. It gives them a target, it lets them know how they are doing, and it lets them know when they can progress. These are all major points for having clients understand and be engaged in the workout program.

20 Minutes of Circuits, Then Do Strength

A 20 minute bout of circuits, at 80-90% intensity, should be enough high intensity stimulus for all of the fat loss results we want. And it should be enough to satisfy the clients who want to feel like they are getting throttled.

After that, we can move on to very well rested strength work. We put the circuits at the beginning (after a joint mobility warm up), because it’s hard enough to keep everything tight in a circuit anyway – we want them as fresh mentally and physically as possible, to do the circuit with the heaviest weights possible and the most perfect form.

We’ll put three movements in the circuit, and then we’ll do the fourth movement in the strength portion. For example, if we have a push, a pull, and a squat in the circuit, we’ll do a hip hinge in the strength part. If we have a push, a squat and a hip hinge in the circuit, we’ll do a pull for the strength part. That way, we’re always hitting all four basic movements, but we’re rotating through which ones we do in the circuit and which ones we do for strength.

If the client also needs FMS or any other corrective exercises, you can super-set the correctives with the strength work.

Workout A:

As many rounds in 20 minutes:

Assisted Pullups x 3
Kettlebell Push Presses x 10L+10R
Kettlebell Goblet Squats x 10
3 minutes rest, then
Single Leg Deadlifts 3 x 5L+5R
with 1-3 minutes rest between sets, then
Side plank 2 x 0:30L+0:30R
Plank 2 x 0:45

Workout B

As many rounds in 20 minutes:

Bear Crawl x 50 ft
Walking Lunges x 100 ft
Kettlebell Swings x 25
3 minutes rest, then
Assisted Pullups 3 x 5
with 1-3 minutes rest between sets, then
Side plank 2 x 0:30L+0:30R
Plank 2 x 0:45

Workout C

As many rounds in 20 minutes:

Convict Conditioning Style Pushup Progression x 10
Kettlebell Bent Over Rows x 10L+10R
Kettlebell Swings x 25
3 minutes rest, then
Bench Pistols or Split Squats 3 x 5L+5R
with 1-3 minutes rest between sets, then
Side plank 2 x 0:30L+0:30R
Plank 2 x 0:45

Food, Food, Food

Look, no fat loss article can ever be complete without mentioning that the food is going to be the number one driver of fat loss. Smart fat loss workouts complement a smart food program. That’s why it’s so totally stupid to kill people in the workouts or push the envelope to the point of injury – it just isn’t going to make a difference.

Be smart, check people’s food journals (both quality of food and quantity of food) and do intelligent circuits at 80-90% intensity, with smart progressions over time. Your clients will stay healthy, happy, and injury free, and most importantly – get all of the fat loss results that they hired you for.

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About Josh Hillis: RKC, NASM-CPT/PES/CES, Z-MRS/MIS, www.21daykettlebell.com: Over the last 8 years as a personal trainer, Josh has worked with every kind of fat loss client, but he is a specialist in helping fit women lose the last 5-10 pounds of stubborn fat. He’s been quoted by The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post, he’s been in USA Today, and was a featured expert for Experience Life! Magazine. Josh has written six books on fat loss and kettlebell training, created an audio program on fat loss nutrition for On Target Publications, and contributed a chapter “Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss” to The RKC Book of Strength and Conditioning for DragonDoor Publications. Josh holds beginner and advanced fat loss nutrition workshops on a monthly basis at several kettlebell gyms in Colorado. Josh is the creator and writer for www.LoseStubbornFat.com, which has over 32,000 subscribers in over 200 countries world-wide.

How Do You Arrive at Your Ideal Bodyweight? Here’s an Important First Step.

January 25, 2013 By Thomas Phillips 12 Comments

“This article explores ideal body-weight for adult men and women of all “body-types” beyond the misleading scope of the BMI. It is the culmination of over 4 years of work dealing with nearly 1000 clients helping them reach unimaginable physique transformations. Based on their feedback (as far as how they look, feel and blood work analysis) this system has proven to be accurate time and time again. In the near future, I hope to share the UTC with many of YOU! Enjoy!” – Thomas

The UTC (Ultimate Transformation Challenge) Body Color System Rationale

The UTC body color system is not an arbitrary system. I have based my evaluation on several hundred men and women of all shapes and sizes who have successfully gone through this program over the past 4 years. Included in this evaluation are colleagues I’ve interviewed within the various sports I participate. I pay attention to those individuals who have had the most success based on how they look, feel and perform at their perceived ideal bodyweight.

Americans are most familiar with the BMI system that contests both men and women should meet the same height and weight standard.

See below:

Most men find the BMI standard too strict and will find excuses such as “The BMI doesn’t account for my muscle mass.” Although there is truth to this statement, in my experience, this conclusion is irrelevant and more will be said on this topic below. On the other hand, most women easily fall within the standards of the BMI but are totally dissatisfied with their physiques. Therefore, I set out to create a realistic optimal weight standard for men as well as a separate one for women.

At first glance, men will complain that the “green body” in the UTC body color system is too strict; however, there was a time when “normal weight” in America was far lower than either the BMI or the “green body” standard in the UTC body color system. Take a look at this scale from the 1950’s in a local diner near my home:

At one point, this scale from the 1950’s represented predictable height and weight for American men and women. Notice, there is a chart for men and a separate one for women. Compare these numbers to the high side of “normal” within the BMI chart. Clearly, particular things have occurred in our society that has pushed the standard of a “normal weight” to a ridiculous standard of “normalcy” that is no longer acceptable. Today the average 5’ 10” man walks around at over 190 pounds in America. Therefore, we must ask the question, “What has happened?”

The UTC explores the answers to this and many other questions in depth.
Most men want that “six pack” look. Take a look at the before and after height/weight of these UTC participants and the weight loss necessary in order to make their abs “pop.” In my experience, many men will tell me they need to lose “about 10 pounds” to have abs. The truth; however, is often closer to 30 pounds of weight loss for their abs to look like the individuals below.

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About Thomas Phillips:

Being a good student, teacher and athlete has always been a priority. This is why I choose to remain the student and the teacher in all aspects of life. Other than being a teacher of math and philosophy for the past 13 years, I am also a writer, gym owner, as well as a proud father and husband. I continue to challenge myself physically by competing in various sports and strength events including The Tactical Strength Challenge, Powerlifting, Bodybuilding and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. From a young age I have taken a keen interest in health, fitness and personal growth. The goal was, and continues to be, mind/body performance optimization.

It has taken years of small successes and big mistakes to get where I am today and I’m certainly not done learning. As owner of Fit for Life PT, in Marlboro NJ, I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the best strength and conditioning coaches in the world.

Over time, I’ve earned their respect and admiration by not only talking the talk, but by walking the walk. “UTC” is the culmination of what I have learned in health, strength, behavior and philosophy.

Visit www.theultimatetransformationchallenge.com for more info.