Grip training & fitness update - August 2012

Sunday, 26 August 2012
30 min., 99kg

In the following order… 

Jumping jacks, T-bell swings, med ball slams

Jumping jacks, T-bell swings, med ball slams

Stretching

Hand standing

CoC #2 - 4 reps (2 closes)

Hand standing

CoC #1.5 - 10 closes (+3 l.h.)

Hand standing

CoC #1.5 - 10 closes

Jumping jacks, T-bell swings, med ball slams

+ + +

Monday, 27 August 2012
De Lisle SEAL exercises - beginner

Warm-up & stretching - 15'

Upper body - 11'30"

Lower body - 9'15"

Aerobic - ø

TOTAL TIME - 35'45"

[I was interrupted by family just at the end of my lower body routine, so it could have been a little faster, and I probably would have gone for a run. I'll be doing this routine every (week)day for the next two weeks, though, so giving myself a little break today will have to be fine.]

Fitness update - August 2012

Monday, 20 August 2012
De Lisle SEAL Exercises - Beginner

Warm-up & Stretching - 15'00"

Upper Body - 11'15"

Lower Body - 9'45"

Aerobic - T-bell swings, jump rope, medicine ball toss-catch-hike - 8'20"

TOTAL TIME: 44'20" 


Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Greasing the Groove

16 push-ups x 8 sets

20 T-bell swings x 8 sets

3 eagle loop chin-ups x 4 sets


Wednesday, 22 August 2012
De Lisle SEAL Exercises - Beginner

Warm-up & Stretching - 14'00"

Upper Body - 12'20"

Lower Body - 10'20"

Aerobic - ø

TOTAL TIME: 36'40" (projected 45'00" if I had done aerobic)

An interesting thing about this workout is that I used the sling-bar and eagle loops for most of my pull-ups.


UPDATE:

Friday, 24 August 2012
De Lisle SEAL Exercises

Warm-up & stretching - 15'50"

Upper body - 14'30"

Lower body - 9'50"

Aerobic - 8'20"

TOTAL TIME: 48'30"

My upper-body time was longer today because I did more reps. Instead of doing a 1-2-1 pyramid for pull-ups, for instance, I did a 2-2-2 pyramid. Instead of doing a 2-4-2 push-up pyramid, likewise, I did a 3-4-3 pyramid. Next week I go to a M-F routine but I will limit myself to

Fitness notes - August 2012

Friday, 17 August 2012
49'30", 100kg

Warm-up + Stretching - 16'

Upper body - 13'30"

Lower body - 11'30"

Aerboic - 8'30"
T-bell swings - 20, 20 @ 15kg 
FSQ - 20, 20 @ 23kg 
Medicine ball lunges - 20, 20 @ 5.4kg
Medicine ball high kicks - 20, 20 @ 5.4kg

--------
TOTAL - 49'30"

My time increased by about 4 minutes from last time, but again I lost some time on tweaking equipment in a small garage, and did a minute more of aerobic. 

+ + + + + 

Sunday, 19 August 2012
25 min., 100kg

Warm-up - resistance bands, stretching, hangs

Medicine ball toss-and-twist - 40 x 3 @ 5.4kg

Medicine ball overhead toss - 10, 10, 10/10 x 3 @ 5.4.kg

T-bell swings - 20 x 3 @ 15kg

Grip crushing - CoC #2 - 8, 8, 8
[Two closes l.h., Three closes r.h.]

+ + + 

I liked working my forearms by hanging from my dowel-sling set-up: the dowel rotates in the loops, thus a little like the "rolling thunder". Plus, it's a good stretch.

For the toss-and-twists, I tossed the medicine ball up and caught it off to one side, then the other, etc. Good core and hip work.

For the overhead toss, I tossed the medicine ball up and caught it with one hand ten times, then the other hand ten times, then from hand to hand twenty times.

My new approach with Captains of Crush is not to wear out my grip with a lot of pyramids. Rather, I'm going straight for the #2 most of the time. Also, instead of doing a lot of reps in a row for each hand, I alternate hands each rep, so I'm "fresh" for every attempt. 

First day of school tomorrow. Very early mornings for me from here on out. Feeling a bit skittish, but excited. Pre-game butterflies, you might say. I also really want to keep up my SEAL exercise regimen. I'm going to draw up a spreadsheet of my times so I can chart my progress.

Fitness update - August 2012

Wednesday, 15 August 2012
45 min., 100kg

Warm-up: Jumping jacks, lunges, medicine ball tosses - 5 min.

Stretching: 10'

Upper body: 11'30"

Lower body: 10'20"

Aerobic: 7'30"
T-bell swings - 25 @ 15kg x 2
Lunges with 5kg medicine ball - 24 x 2
Walking medicine ball tosses - 15 x 2
Walking high kicks with medicine ball - 20 x 2 
Medicine ball slams - 20 @ 5kg

+ + +

I used a sling I had hung over a rafter, with a sturdy dowel in the loops, for my reverse and narrow-grip pull-ups, as well as for my hanging knee lifts. Next week I'd like to start using my eagle loops for reverse, close-grip, wide-grip pull-ups, and knee lifts.

My time on the circuits dropped again, which is nice, even allowing for some delays due to messing with equipment here and there. I like using a lumbar support I found on a chair at home for my ab exercises (it's the Ab Mat on the cheap!). Due to my shin splints, I did not run or jump, but the drills I did were a good challenge.

I think I'll practice head stands, hand standing, and grip crushing tomorrow.

Fitness update - August 2012 …

Tuesday, 14 August 2012 
40 min., 100kg

Warmup: 3/8 mile jog, 20 medicine ball slams, stretching - 10 min.

----

T-bell swing: 20 @ 15kg x 6

Hand stand: 4 sessions, some good holds

----

Grip training:

CoC #1.5 : 10 closes

CoC #2 : 1 close + 4 reps

CoC #1.5 : 10 closes r.h., 10 reps (8 closes) l.h.

+ + + +

This whole workout took about 40 minutes. My shin splints are a problem, to be sure, and I may need to replace jogging/sprinting with lunges, box jumps, striding, calf raises, split jumps, goblet squats, and high kicks for a while.

Closing the CoC #2 was a nice surprise! I guess doing more pull-ups and push-ups and hand stands has paid off. Apparently, "greasing the groove" with my eagle loops a week or two ago was very beneficial. As such, I intend to replace the reverse grip pull-ups (aka "chin-ups") and wide-grip pull-ups in the SEAL regimen I'm doing with eagle loops pull-ups.

Fitness notes... August 2012

This Saturday (11 August) morning I spent about an hour on trimming hedges and yard clean-up. Then in the afternoon I did the following: 

First...

Warmup & stretching : 5-10 min.

Jump rope : 100 skips x 3

T-bell swings : 25 @ 33 lbs. x 3

Medicine ball slams : 20 @ 12 lbs. x 3

Then...

Running :
200 yard warm-up
100 yard sprint + jog back x 4

+ + + + +

I took it easy on Sunday.

+ + + + +

Yesterday I did Lisle's beginner Navy SEAL regimen. 

Warmup : jumping jacks, T-bell swings, medicine ball slams

Stretching : 10 minutes

Upper body : 11'30"

Lower body : 11'10"

Running : 1 mile in 8'20"

My total time went from 56 minutes (August 10) to 47 minutes and my mile-time went from 8'50" to 8'20". Knowing the exercises better made the drills go faster and I felt much less "dead" for the run compared to last time. Unfortunately, though, halfway through the mile I seemed to be pretty dehydrated: my arms weren't sweating! Plus, at the end of the run, my lower legs were killing me. Shin splints. Need to ice them and take things slowly.

Fitness update... Life update...

Where were we? And where should I start?

The latter half of July, at least, was consumed by preparations to move my family to Florida for a new teaching job. My last workout in the gym was around July 12, I guess. Likewise, the first half of August has been consumed by settling into a new home and job. But fitness is a must.

From then until now, in order to maintain fitness, I've mainly been applying Rich Bryda's methods, a lot of "greasing the groove", in other words. I was doing 100+ pull-ups every day for two weeks, and then 200+ T-bell swings, and nearly 100 pull-ups the past week. I have assembled a T-bell, purchased a "real" 12-lb. medicine all (yippee!), hung my eagle loops up in the garage as soon as I arrived, and just today purchased a great floor rug to serve as a jump rope mat (face-down) and as a handstand pad (face-up). I'm itching to get some gymnastic rings, but I will wait until Christmas.

I'm going to be very busy with a new job-- a "real" teaching job, mind you, which entails lots of red tape and new-teacher meetings and on-going steps for certification (oooyyyy...)-- so I'm trying to find a realistic but rewarding regimen for the present and next few weeks. To wit....

At my favorite used bookstore, Chamblin Book Mine, I stumbled upon Mark De Lisle's 1996 Navy SEAL Exercises (though it now goes by the less judicious name, The Navy SEAL Workout). I was impressed and have decided to give it a go for the next twelve weeks. Two reasons I liked what Lisle was offering were 1) he places major emphasis on stretching before, during, and after working out, and 2) he provides beginner, intermediate, and advanced regimens. It's also a very low-hype book, with a classically deceptively simple pyramid structure. All in all, there's a magnificent emphasis on progression and discipline.

So, I decided to begin today... at the beginner level. Not that I have no background in fitness training, but I realized that, between my new responsibilities as a teacher and the cumulative demands of the intermediate (versus beginner) regimen, I should give my body time to progress and "desire" more challenges as time goes on.

So, my workout today was:

Lisle SEAL-B
20'
22'
8'51"

Without reproducing the whole book here, I'll explain the regimen and my goals for the next twelve weeks.

I. Warmup and stretching
A. I'll do jump rope, T-bell swings, medicine ball drills, etc. to warmup, and go through the whole series of stretching as Lisle advises.
1. This, he says, should take 15-20 minutes. It took me about 20 minutes today, mostly because I had to keep referring to the book, which took up extra time.

II. Upper Body
A. Pull-ups - 5 kinds
B. Dips - 4 sets of 5
C. Push-ups - 4 kinds

III. Lower Body
A. 15 kinds of abdominal and core exercises, divided into 5 triplets, with a "cobra stretch" (fore, port, starboard) between each triplet

IV. Running / Swimming
A. Lisle specifies running, jogging, sprinting, stairs, etc. and freestyle, side stroke, and breast stroke
1. Happily, I have access to a pool at my school... and roads wherever I am. Stairs, though, are harder to come by here than in Taiwan! 

As Lisle specifies, I rest 15 seconds between each exercise. I take a slightly longer water break between exercise changes (I.A. to I.B., from upper to lower body, and before running).

(Indeed, I bought a Timex Expedition Classic watch for this new regimen! Granted, it will serve me well in class and in the gym, but, gosh, there's nothing like inspiration. Maybe I like Lisle's program because it reminds me so much of my crew training.)

The upper and lower body circuits took me 22 minutes and I ran for 8'51" (a mile and change). All in all, therefore, counting transition times, this took me under and hour. Very reasonable.

For the first two weeks I do this only on MWF. On "off" days, I will do a combo of T-bell swings, jump rope, medicine ball drills, hand/headstands, and grip training.

The beginner pyramid is a "measly" 1-2-1 for each kind of pull-up, 4 sets of 5 dips, and 2-4-2 for each kind of push-up. The key is not to sacrifice form on any rep.

After 2 weeks (weeks 1 and 2), up the pyramids (on MWF) to 1-2-3-2-1, 4 sets of 5, and 2-4-6-4-2.

After 4 weeks, switch to training M-F.

Once those first four weeks have passed, I will move to the intermediate regimen for MWF. The pyramid structure is too tedious to explain here, but it's a good jump up from the beginner load. After two weeks on MWF, I will do the intermediate regimen M-F.

I'm so pleased with Lisle's program, I also recently acquired his newer Navy SEAL Breakthrough to Master Level Fitness, and I'd actually recommend it over the first SEAL Exercises book. It provides a much better organized weekly schedule, I like the choice of stretches better, and the inclusion of actual leg exercises (!) in the lower body routine is more satisfying. Once a rower....

Stay tuned.