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.
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