Barefoot Training

Here is a great article by Martin Rooney of Training for Warriors and the Parisi Speed School on barefoot training, both the why and the how. Barefoot training is something that I have been incorporating in to my warm-ups and training over the last year or so.

The Importance of Barefoot Training by Martin Rooney

Get big or die tryin'.

Training In The Zone

This past year I have been using a heart rate monitor a lot more to regulate my training sessions, especially my recovery days. Check out this article by Brendan Chaplin, who is a strength and conditioning coach in Leeds, England, for more information on how to effectively use a heart rate monitor in your training.

Heart Rate Training: Time to Enter the Zone by Brendan Chaplin

Get big or die tryin'.

This Past Week (10/17-10/23)

This past week was my heavy triples week for SMS 12. Sunday is normally my squat day, but because of other obligations I pushed it to Monday. Instead, Sunday just consisted of an hour of yoga and basketball league in the evening.

Monday was my squat day then, and honestly I felt pretty crappy this day. I don't know if I was getting sick or what, but I felt completely drained. I hit two working sets of box squats and then called it a day; no supplemental lifts or anything. I sat in the sauna for a bit, which helped a little bit, but aside from that I still felt like garbage.

Tuesday was my bench day and it was a complete 180 from how I felt the day before. The previous week I hit singles at 305 and then repped 225 13 times. This past week I hit triples at 300 and then repped 225 14 times. I improved on all of my supplemental lifts too.

Wednesday I was back to feeling miserable. Luckily, I didn't have a lift scheduled, just a box jump workout. I got through the workout in under 20 minutes and then sat in the sauna again. I felt better after the workout, but I still felt awful. I called it a night early that day and got some quality sleep.

Thursday I was back at the iron with my deadlifts. Like I have said in previous posts, my grip strength and been less than satisfactory as of late, so I would alternate between an overhand grip and an alternating grip between reps. This allowed me to hit triples at 405 pretty easy, and after the great night of sleep on Wednesday I hit PRs in my supplemental lifts.

Friday was my military press day, and after hitting singles at 205 the week before I was poised to hit triples at 195 this past week. I hit these for two sets and then on the third set I had to drop down to 190. The weight on my supplementals went up as I hit 105 on DB Floor Press for 4x8 and 80 on DB Shoulder Press for 4x8.

As I believe I mentioned in a previous post, I am trying to add size to my chest, arms, and back, so I have been cranking through pushups, pullups, chinups, and flyes three times a week. This past week I only did these exercises on Tuesday and Friday due to my lifts being closer together than normal.

Saturday I traveled to St. Francis University to scrimmage their basketball team, who is a member of the NAIA. The scrimmage went well and I had a dunk with 26 seconds left to put us up one.

I have begun reading Supertraining again and have finally finished the first chapter. I also began reading Transfer of Training in Sports and actually finished that this morning.

I have been taking new supplements recently, adding in a teaspoon of cod liver oil before bed as well as a green mix drink in the morning and a 250 mg milk thistle tablet a few times a day.

That's all for this past week. Now I need to go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.

What Do You Really Want From Your Training?

I can't tell you the number of people I see every week who have no idea what they want out of their training, and yet they are convinced that they can get themselves there. If you are going to try to go through your fitness journey alone, then you better be doing some things right. Check out the article below to see some of the things that you aren't but should be.

Six Things You Aren't Doing by Gregory Robins

Get big or die tryin'.

This Past Week (10/10-10/16)

This past week was my singles week in the weight room for SMS 12. The previous week I squatted on Saturday, and I was planning on doing the same this past week, but unfortunately I set my alarm for 5:45 PM, sooooo I didn't wake up in time to get a lift in before my session. Fortunately my body is attuned to the sun, so I ended up waking up at 7:00.

Sunday morning I did my squat workout and followed it with a yoga session. I hit my box squat singles easy, which didn't necessarily surprise me because I lowered my working max for box squats down to 405, but it felt good nonetheless. Yoga was exactly what I was needing it to be, and Sunday evening I had a league basketball game. We only had five guys for the game so I played all 40 minutes, but with the running clock it wasn't that bad.

Monday was my flat bench day. The past few months I have been at the same working max for my flat bench, which I chose to do because I have been struggling through my working sets. With my singles weight at 315 this day, I wasn't sure how I would handle that. I had only hit 315 once before, and that was after a week's rest. Let me tell you though, I felt great this day. I didn't put triple plates on the bar, but there is no doubt in my mind that I could have hit it. I went 1x1 at 295, 1x1 at 300, and 2x1 at 305, all without a spotter. That's how confident I felt. Then I repped 225 thirteen times, which was a new PR for me. I think after this phase I can finally bump my working max up.

Tuesdays are normally the days when I do plyos, but man I felt awful this day. So I just took Tuesday as a total off day, which my body greatly appreciated.

Wednesday I was back at it with my deadlifts. My sumo pull is definitely stronger than my conventional pull, so I have lowered my working max for SMS 11 and SMS 12 to take this in to consideration. I hit my singles nicely, but I did have to alternate my grip from my standard overhand grip to an alternating grip, which is a stronger grip but I don't prefer to use it because I am concerned about potential injury using this grip.

Thursday was my conditioning day. I completed the plyo workout that I was supposed to do on Tuesday and ran sprints afterwards. I burned over 500 calories in that 25 minutes, and felt gassed after.

Friday was my military press day and I set another PR in the weight room, hitting singles at 205.

Saturday morning I played pickup basketball to finish out the training week.

I bought a new book this week, "The IMPACT! Body Plan" by Todd Durkin, who I worked for during the summer of 2009. I finished it on Saturday, and let me tell you, it is a GREAT book. If you are looking for a new book on fitness, wellness, and nutrition, I HIGHLY recommend this book.

That's all for this past week. Now I gotta go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.

Things To Keep In Mind For The Future

Here is a very insightful article from EliteFTS.com about owning a gym, and a small business in general. I'm definitely going to have to remember these tips in the future.

Small Business Survival 101 by The Executive Meethead

Get big or die tryin'.

This Past Week (10/3-10/9)

This past week was the start of SMS 12. I was feeling really good following my deload week, so I was definitely ready to get going.

I squatted a day earlier than normal this week, on Saturday, because of some other obligations on Sunday. I felt really good during this lift, and I knew the deload week had done what it was supposed to.

Sunday I had a league game for basketball at DePaul. The game went well and it was a lot of fun playing out there. The competition wasn't great, but it was better than nothing.

Monday I benched and started a new book, "The Power of Four". I felt real aggressive during my workout and hit my weights nicely. I did 4x3 at 280 on the flat bench, then the fifth set I dropped down to 225 and repped that out 11 times, which was a PR for me. In the evening I lifted again. I often times find myself with an hour or so between clients, which isn't enough time for me to go back to my apartment, so I just stay at the gym. I have decided that when this happens on Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays I will just lift again, doing pushups, chinups, and different arm exercises. Basically, it is a beach body workout in the evening after I lift in the morning or afternoon.

Tuesday I started the power phase of the Self Made plyo program, which consisted of box jump variations. I performed them all wearing a 25 pound weighted vest.

Wednesday was my deadlift and back day. I don't know what was going on with my grip, but I really struggled hanging on to the bar this day. I am not a fan of pulling conventional, so I don't know if this is somehow affecting my grip. But whatever the cause, my grip strength sucked this day. The rest of the lift went well though haha.

Thursday I took the day off from working out. I was gassed from everything that had already happened this week, so I just spent some time in the sauna at work. Thursday I also sent out my monthly newsletter, The Source. To sign up for The Source click here.

Friday I was back at it with my military press day. I hit 185 for 5x3, and hit it nicely each time. While my RHR hadn't dropped significantly from the day before, I felt alright during this lift.

Saturday my RHR was high again so I did recovery cardio on the treadmill for 20 minutes.

That's all for this past week. Now I need to go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.

This Past Week (9/26-10/2)

This past week was my deload week for SMS 11. Instead of boring you with a long, day by day breakdown of how each deload lift went, I am just going to tell you that my deload week went very well, per usual. Deload lifts usually go pretty quickly, but because the second pair of supplemental lifts was taken out of the program these deload lifts went especially quick.

Aside from lifting, I had my regularly scheduled plyo sessions on Tuesday and Friday. These were the final sessions of the elastic portion of the Self Made plyo program, which means I only have six more weeks left in the program and the rest will just be box jumps once a week. After that I will reformat the entire program according to the data I have gathered.

I read a bunch this past week, starting and finishing the book "Stretch To Win" as well as reading three chapters in the CSCS textbook. I only have three more chapters left of that, so I am going to try to finish it this upcoming weekend.

Well, that's all for this past week. Now it is time to go live this one.

Get big or die tryin'.