Back to My Favorite Workout Style of them All: Circuit Training!

Free time! =)

Trying to figure out a good circuit to do today, I was flipping through some pages from a book from Ross Enamait's Infinite Intensity and picked up a great routine from his program...it's a GPP routine that really got me to want to just flat out do a routine of his once again (I haven't formally done Ross' workouts in sometime).

Ross Enamait's Infinite Intensity...Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training...damn, these guys created some awesome names for themselves!! And again -- they truly, truly are effective programs I support 100%. If you haven't taken a peek at the links to the right, I strongly suggest you do!

Anyway, not much time for myself all day (3 little ones are down with the cold bug), I still managed go get a home workout in once again (with little time I had for myself) and did this inspired workout this afternoon.

The circuit below was a Ross Training approach, the heavy bag punching was something I did for extra work:


Time: 5 pm
Gymless Routine/Heavy Bag - Home Workout


5 rounds of the following circuit with 30 second rest between each circuit (tough):
Burpees x 30 seconds
Jumping Jacks x 30 seconds
Split Jumps x 30 seconds
Burpees x 30 seconds
Jumping Jacks x 30 seconds
Fast Mountain Climbers x 30 seconds

2 minute rest

Heavy Bag punching intervals 1,2,1,2 combinations for 10 sets = 1 round

4 rounds done to round off this workout.

Entire workout took under 30 minutes tops. Very fast yet very exhausting workout. Not easy. Whew.

Tough, but a nice kick in the butt. That's one reason why circuit training and high intensity interval training is the way to go in my book! Ross and Craig deliver that!

Tomorrow I end a very fun TT program. It was a helluva 28 days for me while doing it. Had a blast and expect to do an equally challenging if not more challenging TT workout next week! Pretty excited about that as well.

Goodnight!

My Thanksgiving Day "No Excuse" Workout

4:15 pm
Home workout

It’s going to be a night of indulgences...verrrrry challenging not to say no. Although Juju sure did a great challenge for the week, I don't think I'll be doing this week's challenge unfortunately. However, got home from work in about 56 degree weather this afternoon. Rather chilly and cold (it was raining. UNUSUAL IN THESE PARTS! Haha!)...did not get enough sleep at all last night and feel a little tired....

....Opened the door and all I can smell was some pretty good food around the house. The aroma got me going and was unbearable. I had to do something about it!!!!! :)

4:15 pm
Home workout

BB Complexes (50 lbs) 5x5 with 45 sec rest between each circuit (fast, fast, fast!! Not easy. You’ll be breathing hard by the end of the 3rd round. Believe me).
a1) Power Cleans
a2) Overhead press
a3) Goodmornings
a4) Overhead Squats
a5) BB rows

...after 2 minute rest:

KB/BW circuit with 35 lb KB (3 circuits) 60 sec rest between each circuit
b1) 1 arm db swings 3x10
b2) Kb Clean and Press 3x8
b3) Front Load Split Squat 3x6
b4) Neutral Grip Pull ups 3x3
b5) Cross body mountain climbers on stability ball 3x10
b7) 2 hand KB high pulls 3x6
b8) Single leg lift while on Stability Ball 3x15

...and for the winner and for that food that layeth ahead:

Pike Press with feet on stability ball 12 reps
8 lb Med Ball x 25 reps.

Stretches...

Soaked!! Sweated like a pig. Absolutely loved this workout today. No excuses...

Now I'm so damn hungry.... again, this does not justify us to eat like this everyday. These are moments that are enjoyed with the family...so it's ok to let it slide a little for today...otherwise on regular days - as a good friend would always say "Stay Strong, Eat Clean."

Again, Happy Turkey Day to all!

Andy

Gobble...Gobble...Gobble

Happy Turkey Day to All!!!

Be thankful for what we have, what we cherish and what we keep dear to our hearts! And of course be always thankful for good health!

Enjoy the day with your friends and loved ones!

Andy

An Inspirational Video I found

Here's powerful video I just found on youtube today...very strong and inspiring and can be applied to life and all it's challenges we face on a day to day basis.

Here it is:



Stay strong and have the will to succeed!!! It may be small steps or big steps but we're getting there!

Andy

Off Day today...

No workouts scheduled today...had a pretty good time at the TTForums seeing everybody's fantastic transformations. Very inspiring indeed. Very motivational too!!!

Since it was an off day from training..I also had a great time at a local sports bar for a few drinks with some coworkers after work. Since we carpooled today and it was a late day today, we managed to hit a bar for a drink (note: just a drink!) while watching the Saints carve up the Packers tonight on MNF before heading home - all in our scrubs!!! It was kind of weird being a Monday and all but it was pretty cool as we were talking about the upcoming Holidays and other things family.

The great thing about San Diego is that it isn't too cold down this part of the world otherwise we'd be drinking up all night just to keep warm!!! We each had a beer and each had a small platter to indulge in and we were off on our way home.

Brees just tore it up tonight...another former Charger player making dividends with their new found teams. Great. ATL and Michael the Burner Turner next week.....=(

Heading into the holidays shouldn't be a reason to get sloppy with the nutrtition. That has been my mindset going into the holidays for 2 plus years now. Rest assured it hasn't been bad at all fortunately but I still got some goals in mind that I still intend to work on heading down the end of the year. Feel really good so far to this date which is very re-assuring that it's been a great year on a personal fitness standpoint.

The Week in Review Part 2

Great workout week this week. Not like it was unlike any other week for me, but I was able to start my week on Sunday so I was able to finish all my required workouts by Thursday, allowing me to play with a little more other training approaches of sorts which was cool by the end of the week and share some observations of this past week.

A few things I noted this week from a personal perspective:

1) As with anything in life, never limit to yourself to what you see or have or feel at the current time. Always look at the potential benefits and not solely on what you see with your own eyes or past experiences. Get creative, go out there and do it. Always see things half full and never half empty... keep that positive attitude about things and you will always find a will to get through things you may think are hindrances to what we really want to accomplish in life.

2) We all have the ability to keep going even when we face challenges in our lives - again, basically it comes down to your attitude. At one point in recent weeks...I thought I was never going to be able to get my workouts in with some recent babysitting issues since me and my wife have full time jobs. Fortunately it was as smooth a transition as I previously had thought! Still managing to get my workouts in and so far it's been going smooth for us which is good. Most of my early morning workouts were null these recent weeks. BUT I STILL DO THEM! And that's what surprises me when I hear people say they have no time to exercise. I've been down that rode before (many, many, many times) and it's always been easy to come up with an excuse. But now, that perspective has changed somewhat over the years and find it hard to believe no one has 30 minutes of their time to exercise regardless of a busy lifestyle. We all have a busy lifestyle in our own right. EVERYBODY IN THIS WORLD OTHER THAN CHILDREN DOES! So to say we can't workout because we don't have time...that's really hard for me to put into play here now. If we can find the time to make an excuse (unless you're injured), we definitely have the time to manage to exercise at least 30 minutes a day. It may not have been the norm for me in recent weeks but the mentality should never falter to excuses not to exercise. Especially around this time of year.

Have a great Sunday...

Andy

My Work Gym

Other than my home gym and my commercial gym at 24 hour Fitness - I have a pretty great benefit at work with a work gym. Here's a few pictures taken just yesterday morning before coming in. For those who have no idea what I mean when I say "Work Gym" in my workout journal at www.turbulencetraining.com, well, here it is: my work gym in its full array (just kidding). Yep, my personal solace when putting a bonafide training program into good work, like Turbulence Training, Rosstraining, FitandBusyDads...or even a little bit of my own stuff too when trips to the Meatmarket Commercial Gym gets the best of me and the monotony of a home gym just isn't there on workdays.

Don't worry...I don't go to work in sweaty clothes. We have a locker and shower room adjacent to the gym which is convenient. So it's in and out...then it's off to take that "Hollywood" shower and I'm set for work to continue the day's activities. =)

This is the place, my little, little island on those early mornings. Again, when getting to a commercial gym during work days just doesn't work with my schedule - or a home workout just wouldn't make any sense either - this is where it's at for me hands down. It has everything I can ask for in DB's (up to 100lbs), tons of benches from inclines, declines, adjustable benchess, Barbell weights (Olympic Style...yes!), Squat racks (and a Smith Machine for Inverted Rows! yahhooo!), a punching bag, some stab balls, jump rope and some cardio equipment. It also has different hanging bar types for chin ups and pull ups, too. When I get in there that early...I feel like Celine Dion doing a rendition of "All By Myself" so it does get a little lonely so I have my ipod with me every time and it's just me and the iron now...and of course good playlist of songs or a "SONG" to get you going. =)

Andy

2nd attempt at the MensHealth 200 Rep Med Ball Challenge

During today's late morning TT workout, I added the 200 med ball challenge which Craig Ballanyne made a youtube video of (he's got abs of steel) again in this routine. I felt pretty bad with my times on the first try as I was fiddling with my laptop during the entire time (that's how hard I am on myself sometimes). Again, no excuses on the 1st try...my 1st attempt was just under 14 minutes. Again: BAD.

After seeing other TT members doing phenomenal with their times...I wanted to see for myself how I'd do the 2nd time around. Again, this was only one circuit with an 8lb med ball.

Here's Craig's Video of the routine:



Here's my routine as it was video'd by Craig (2nd attempt) with an 8 lb med ball:

Big Circles = 10/10 (20 reps)
Woodchoppers = 20 reps
Standing Russian torso Twist = 10/10 (20 reps)
Squat to Press = 20 reps
Med Ball sit ups = 20 reps
Rocky Solos (Adrrrriiiiiiaaaan!!!!) = 10/10 (20 reps)
Toe touches = 20 reps
45 degree Twists (Legs up, Knees Up) = 20 reps
Suitcase (alternating legs this time; 10/side) = 20 reps
Diagonal Crunch = 20 reps

Time to complete: 6'45"

Totally crushed my 1st time....

Tuesday Morning Park Session

Glutes, quads and hams really tight this morning as expected...

There’s a park right where I take my kids to their tiny tots school on Tuesday’s called Veteran’s Park. It’s a 1 acre park and recreation center (I play volleyball there on Monday nights) in our suburb that is just totally awesome and only 3 minutes away from our house. So after a good family breakfast, we got the kids ready for school, dropped them off, went to the local pharmacy down the street for my little one (who’s got a cold going on) and it was off to today’s workout.........at the park.

Time: 0930
Park

At the starting/ending point of the hill, there were 4 things all within the proximity of one anoter that I made use of:
A picnic table bench those cement ones we see at parks (approximately 2 feet high)
Side rails on a slope walk way
A decline slope walk way
A retaining wall (approximately 16 inches) right next to the decline slope.

4 circuits:
Work: 100 yard up hill sprint (roughly 33-35 seconds to get up the hill. Hard.)
Active rest: slow jog down the hill first 2 cycles, fast walk last 2 cycles
Jumps on bench x 10 reps
Off set “walking” push ups on a decline slope x 10 reps/side
Inverted rows on the side rails x 10
One leg squats on retaining wall x 8/leg
Repeat 3 more times for 4 total circuits.

Post work out streeeeeeeetching to finish it off. Felt good.

Total time to complete: 28 minutes.

Notes: Needed to get the legs loosened up after a very nice leg routine which gave me a good soreness this morning on waking up. I did not get the opportunity to do any volleyball last night so I made up for it with a jump exercise in today’s circuit.

"I CAN"

Need a serious quick motivation video to get you into full gear? Here's a great Nike Video I remember a few years back with a kick ass workout song by the Verve which has been on my ipod workout playlist for forever! Check the guys out at the 39 sec, 44 sec and 55 sec mark...and the tell me that isn't motivation!!!! Find the motivation!!!!

1....2....3.....and Streeeeeeeetch!!

Aw man...had a great night's sleep last night. One that I haven't had in sometime with so many other things going on with our recent move, kids going to toddler school, little one learning new things everyday...babysitting. There's just so many things going on that it is so hard to get a good night's sleep.

Best part of it all...still rocking the workouts as usual. It's just that much a part of me and a lifestyle now that I really can't look back anymore and stop. It's almost given me this sense of balance in life that truly keeps everyting else in check. It's great.

One thing that might have helped last night was a good foam roll session. I kept rolling on that thing like crazy in our living room, my kids wanted to hop in and join me - they thought I was having fun and I was!! Hahaha!


Anyway, onto other things....the workout today was unbelievable. Really pooped me out. I did some big time stretching post workout and again - the benefits of a good post workout stretch is very crucial to recovery. Did some swimming with the kids that afternoon and took another hour of a good power nap at 3pm.

Was planning to play some volleyball tonight..but that's still up in the air at this point. I can feel my legs almost like in quick sand right now...either way, Im almost certain I'm going to be feeling this tomorrow morning. Ouch!

Incorporate stretching! It will do you heaps of good!

A.

Week in Review....hahahahha!!!!

Awww man...been MIA (missing in action) here but it's nice to be posting in my blog once again on a Sunday Morning after a few days of absence. Been a pretty busy week last week. We have a few babysitting issues to iron out but it's working out fine to a tee now.

The great thing about this? I still manage to get my workouts in regardless. NO MORE EXCUSES!!! They may not have been early in the morning like I'm so used to doing but I'm cranking them out which is good.

After some "ear pulling" from a good friend, I'm still on track here which is good. And I'm feeling good overall with this month's TT program I'm on right now.

My work gym is my solace. I need to take a picture of it one day on my digital camera to share here. It's perfect in a sense because it's just right there and is so accessible. Have not been to my commercial gym much as of late because the work gym just works perfectly for me with my schedule...and on off days I have the home gym.

Did my workout today right before work. It was empty and ready for the task at hand. It was a pretty rockin workout! Pretty satisfied indeed.

One thing I noticed as well with my workouts as of late I'm not as strong but still whipping it out though. I was not intending to lose weight but I've lost 4.8 lbs since I started this program which is ideal since it is a fat loss program. Also, being able to mix up some intervals and add a few extra ab circuits this entire last week was a good thing too. I think change ups are good to avoid monotony. Maybe some cardio BW cardio circuits will be there for me next week. We'll surely see. =)

Bruce Lee: The Abs Man!

Looking back at the Man, the Myth...seen Bruce Lee's Abs? Man they're amazing!

Bruce Lee trained his abs daily, believing that if your stomach wasn't developed you had no business in the ring.

I see alot of boxers and mma fighters with abs of steel. They're conditioning workouts are amazing.

Lee was always doing situps, crunches, Roman chair movements, leg raises, and V-ups. Chuck Norris went on record saying he saw Bruce bouncing Brandon Lee on his abdomen while simultaneously performing dumbbell flyes, and leg raises while watching tv.

No wonder he has great abs!!!

Power is in the core...all workouts should be based around a strong core. Bruce definitely exemplifies it! Train the core!

An Awesome Motivating Quote

"I do it because I can...I can because I want to...I want to because people said I couldn't."

Inspired by a friend, I learned something again: never say never or you can't do it...ever. In alot of ways, it might bite you in the butt one day. Did a workout this evening. 1st ever in sometime. I would never have thought I'd be doing an evening workout again.. It's alot different than getting it done in the morning.

Thankfully the TT workouts I'm doing right now (with a little stuff of my own) allows me to do them at home and truly are made for the busy dad for sure!

Finding Motivation....

Long day last night...even harder to get any type of sleep either. Got in a good 7 hours of sleep eventually and with nothing on the plate for Sunday: it's pretty much house chore duties and some football.

Anyway, here's a video that's really cool...looked it up this morning on youtube - trying to find something to get me going for the next few weeks that lie ahead. Thinking of reason's to carry on a journey isn't easy. Short term motivation is easy...long term motivation not as easy. Finding motivation is even tougher than anything. The guys and gals in this video have "it". I want "it" everyday too but also be able to face life's challenges that come with it. Here's a great 30 sec Nike Commercial that says it all for me, JUST DO IT:



The benefits of early morning workouts...there isn't anything like it. You practically have the gym to your own which is the best part!

On other fronts...reading up on a recent blog of another good virtual fitness friend of mine name Kali...she's got a great blog and some interesting articles and interviews..she's doing extremely well and has a great attitude about everything fitness and nutrition...here's an excerpt from her blog site about motivation: CLICK HERE and watch the video! That's actually her sweet voice in the background doing the interview...

The Fast Twitch Experiment...

Been a great week of workouts...back into a great TT program once again which I'm happy about. Just finished week 1 and intend on a circuit tomorrow morning.

I know it all bottoms down to tempos but there is something I found really useful in my workouts overtime which is focusing more on the muscles involved (I guess it's called "neuronal activity") I read somewhere that this works because of the increased mental energy we have while we workout actually boosts the flow of electrical impulses to the muscle, generating increased muscular tension. Keeping it fresh with high tempo movements while trying to recruit as much fast twitch muscles sounds logical here.

Sometimes the tendency is to be too involved with just going through a motion of an exercise without even thinking of the actual muscle being worked and focusing on that muscle. I think mentally it does make a big difference here. Explosiveness...quick movements at certain points of a lift...even in an abs workout..it's those fast speed mountain climbers or explosive one arm db presses for example. Think fast twitch! A little bit of a functional strength approach with a little bit of bodybuilding in there as well sounds like a good combination.

I read somehere that activating fast-twitch motor units is the key to improved strength, speed and power. Unlike slow-twitch motor units, which are responsible for most of our day-to-day muscular activity, it's those fast twitch units I learned that are quite lazy and tend to slumber until called to action...that's why I always try to keep training intense enough yet still capable enough to triggering this effect.

A fellow tt'er created some pretty nice ab circuits and what I noticed was the focus on tempo as being a big factor for this individual. My personal friend I go to the gym with and I were entertaining the thought for many times too that the more explosive the better..and I think it's true.

Did some of this with Rosstraining right before summertime...but now I really want to delve into it a little more...mixing up my current tt program with some extras...

It's those fast twitch muscle fibers that I want to target. Sprinters need fast twitch muscles and alot of other athletes do as well in their respective sport. Their physiques definitely speak for themselves...and their explosiveness and power on the field or court shows!

I don't know why I posted this...it's just food for thought that I want to read more on and learn about is all...

A New Book....

There's a new book out there...it's called "Just Say No to Cardio" by Craig Ballantyne. I personally give it a 2 thumbs up and if you get a chance check out his book at www.amazon.com. Definitely a book to keep in handy when you think about other programs that just are merely imitations of a pretty tried and tested approach to fat loss in Turbulence Training. Check it out!

Onto other things...just tried a brand new TT workout program this morning and it was a pretty cool routine for day 1. Modifying it a bit to suit my own needs with a bit of my own stuff but otherwise really good.

Just got back from volleyball tonight and I will say it was a pretty dry, unexciting game. 5 kills..whoopee. I think I was the only player out there that was twice their age...but the kids got some game that's for sure (except for this boy/girl smoochie thing going on during side outs that was pretty annoying for the most part). The best thing about it is, you play smart - you won't look foolish on the court. These guys were hitting balls that just didn't look right and balls were floating all over the place or hitting the net. Don't get me wrong...they have some skills - but they just can't play the game I remember how it's played - with your head. It's a very technical game with alot of timing involved with the approach, the serve, defense...I mean, these guys may be really agile and all that but they have no court savvy whatsoever...they'll learn that it's not all physical in sports.

So much testosterone in these young guys and gals it takes me waaaay back...Man I remember those years!!! Had my eldest twin son (who's only 28 minutes older than his twin brother) and he was just the nicest kid. He literally just sat on the bench and cheered daddy on the whole time (note: he had no clue what this young couple was doing - thank God!). Even these teenage girls were so impressed they wanted to take him home with them...it was so freaking funny. After the game, we both dropped by the local convenient store and bought him some bubble gum and it was back home for us. Just to be able to share something with one of my sons tonight was a special moment for both of us. Having twins is pretty tough because your attention to each one is really split. Luckily his other brothers were konked out so I took him along for the ride. He still calls volleyball "ballyvolley" for some reason. He'll figure it out soon enough...hopefully he'll be playing it one day just like daddy too!