Saturday, October 29, 2011

Back to speed.

Read these if you want:

http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/training-articles/four-basic-exercises-most-people-perform-incorrectly/

http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/training-articles/three-tips-for-improving-the-effectiveness-of-your-pulling-exercises/?utm_source=Site+Signups&utm_campaign=fdc0288d02-Newsletter_10_2810_27_2011&utm_medium=email

The last one might help your dead lift...



Last week was rough/fun. 2 miles in Tabata fashion is no easy task. Especially toward the end. The body runs out of substrates and gets into the lactic shuttle pretty quick and ends up staying there for most of the duration. It's good apocalypse survival training, but to get even faster, we should break it down to going fast and staying fast.

Pick any one or two of these:

1. A-lactic sprints:

- 10 x 10m + 40m sprints @ 95%-100%
Full recovery between efforts. (trust me on this)
 *  Start with 10 meters behind the staring line and very gradually (over the 10 meters) build up the power so that you're at full-blast stride across the start line then hold that for the remainder of the 40 meters.


2. Power Drake:

A lot of you like the stairs.. So I'll keep throwing you curve balls until you start hating them. Last week you guys did some [interesting looking] "broad jumps" up the stairs. No easy task. This week lets build on that.

You'll jumps up the stairs in a similar fashion. Start with a max number of steps cleared in a single and hold that many steps HALF WAY up the stair, and then SPRINT the rest of the way up. Continue on in a descending order. So if your first set was 4 steps, the next should be 3 steps and so on until you have to start over or do single-leg hops before starting over. Either way, full blown power when you sprint up. (I suggest pulling your feet up to the steps rather than merely pushing and bouncing up to the higher step.. like a box jump or a clean..)


3.
10-20-30-40-50-40-30-20-10
 - 2ct Mountain Climbers (butt down, knees to chest, no bouncing)
 - Jumping Jacks

Enjoy

Videos that might help you:

Help your front-rack   - Also, a lot of people are too busy thinking about catching/holding the bar with their hands rather than the back of the chest/frame.

More on shoulder external rotation   - You might not be able to do all of the things he shows, but it's good to think about..

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Location CHANGE for FRIDAY, 10/28

6:15am, 7:15am, 11am, and 12noon classes will meet on the track. 5:15pm and 6:15pm will still meet at Janss Steps but will venture elsewhere for an exciting exercise session. Get there on time or you will be left!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

BHIP Warrior Workout 4

Well, looks like it's that time of the season. Rite of passage time. The current on ramp will be going through a warrior workout of their own to help extract any remnants of fear and weakness from their beings. You are all welcome to come and participate, but not obligated. Come, have fun, put yourself through the paces, brag about stuff.., you know, like any other day..

It's going to be this Saturday 10/29. Come between 9am and 11am. Bring your water and whatever else you may need. You know the drill.

Click here for the cool flier.


Thanks

Monday, October 24, 2011

Here's a goal: Become a Muscle Car.

*Friday meets at Janss steps.*

Foam Roller: I like a pvc pipe. Seriously. If it's too firm, then glue a yoga mat to the outside.

goals:
The recommendations I gave were for those who's goals involved the innate desire to build strength-producing muscle. If that is not your goal, then those numbers do not apply to you. Simple as that. What ever your goals may be, they're YOUR goals and for YOU to take action toward. No one else's.. So if your goals involve mini-skirts, bikinis, speedo trunks, tight dress shirts, skinny jeans, tank tops, super hot facebook photos, scandalous political-career-shattering photos, etc.. then you need to address those goals head on; rather than incidentally hope and blame.

If what you've been told for many years or what you've been doing got you to where you are today and you want to change, then you will need to change those factors. I suggest completely turning your life upside down and inside out. Doing more of the same ain't gonna do it.

FYI: Exercise stimulates appetite. Bottom line. So if you're cutting calories for some odd reason, exercise if only going to hinder that. Do what ever you like with this info but it's like learning there's no santa.. You're gonna have to deal with it.

here's a few workouts for this week.

1. Two Mile Tabata

Run two miles in Tabata fashion. 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. Make sure you're sprinting and not jogging. Otherwise it's a waste of time.


2.  Drake snakes are too easy, make em hard.

a lot of people are obsessed with running up and down those stairs. I get bored watching you. So try to broad-jump up the stairs.

Jump as many steps as you can consitantly for the first flight and reduce by one each subsequent flight until you run out of steps to reduce. Then start over.

So lets say you jumped 4 steps up. Continue with 4 steps all the way up that flight. recover on the way down. Then jump 3 on the next flight up. Then 2 on the next flight. Then 1. Then start over. Let's say you get three steps.. go from there.

Enjoy.

p.s. If you feel the need to do more "cardio" after workouts because you think it's lacking in the programming, then you've missed the whole point of our training program and aren't actually working out. You're just wasting your time. Next time let me know and I'll send you on a run to get me coffee since your workouts are all pointless anyway... Thanks for your understanding.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Stronger is better.

Update: Check out more pic from Hoa dang! https://picasaweb.google.com/shortpiglet/1015Workout?authkey=Gv1sRgCMmLrPy12di3Bw#

In addition to:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150327174347016.339071.504707015&type=1



Also Check out this video of Bolt. Listen to the cues he gives about how he gets fast..

http://youtu.be/JAlpH911YKU

Enjoy.

WOW! If you didn't walk around with a certain swagger after Saturday morning, then you obviously didn't come. That was AWESOME. I wish every workout could be like that. You all did so well. Everyone had fun (or looked like they did) even though the various things you did were excruciating. That's what happens when you're strong. You can enjoy doing difficult things that few other can even imagine doing. They're still difficult, but the difference is that you CAN do them, while most CAN'T.

As much fun as it would be to always use those things and do those things in our training, it is important to realize that what we did on saturday is an EXPRESSION of our training. We could flip those tire because we've been training for that with lots of dead lifts, squats, cleans, snatches, pushups, planks, etc.. all of those individual strengths get facetted together to generate the power and forward drive to flip the tires. If any one of those factors was missing, you'd have to either compensate (injurious) with other factors or fail. Neither of those is a good option. So we just get strong and proficient in everything and apply it to a heavy-ass tire, drive it hard, and hope for the best; repeat.

In short, great job, everyone! Keep it up. Keep training and remember that you will always have opportunities to apply that training. Whether it's a mud run 10k, a triathlon, a powerlifting meet, a strongman event, or just a Saturday morning get-together. Some day it might not even be recreational. ZOMBIES!

More on protein:
I can't tell you how refreshing it was when a female participant asked how to best develop more muscle and then said that she was trying to apply the info I gave. I love it. You guys have no idea how frustrating it can get when a female asks me how she can get better at the things we do and I reply with a simple: "Just get stronger." and she'll reply with the obligatory "but I don't want to get bulky.." Makes me want to stab myself in the face with a spoon. To me, what she just said is a copout. It really is. She isn't willing to do the work and now has a seemingly good reason. The reality is that it is not realistic. It is extraordinarily hard for GUYS to get bulky. Don't believe me? Come into the Wooden Center and count the ratio of skinny boys to actually muscular guys. Very few can be considered "developed" let alone "bulky". Females have less than 10% of the testosterone (responsible for muscle size) that guys have (on average). So unless a girl is going to start hormone (test) therapy), she need not worry. Besides, few females object to having muscles. It's the work that people, not just females, object to. It's harder for guys to say "I don't want to get big" as a copout though.. That's grounds for dismissal from the male gene pool.

Back to food.. So if you're into eating more to gain strength and muscle, you're going to have to start increasing in increments. If you're diet is currently a meager 1600 calories of bird feed and you did the math and realized you need 2400 calories of power-generating, muscle-building, heavy-stuff-moving goodness, you can't expect to just start eating that much and not running into problems. This happens with kids (high school and college age) and girls when they get into sports and need to put some meat on their bones. They get told by their coach to eat more and they do... haphazardly. They overload the system and their insulin and leptin and glucagon go crazy. They usually start eating bread and rice since they get told that fat is bad (slamming head against keyboard). They immediatly get tired and fat and slow and thus solidify the theory that the food made them fat and not how their body responded to a change.

Here's a better way. Increments. So if you're at 1600 a day and need to build up. Go to 1680-1700 a day for a week. Then the next week go to 1800, then 1900, then 2000, then 2200.. Keep adding about 10% a week. Just like running and lifting. You wouldn't try to lift 300 if your dead lift was stuck at 185, right? Your hormones will lear to deal with the nutritional surplus and not be overwhelmed. It will be nice and gradual and you'll be able to gauge what works and what your body just doesn't like more of. For me, it's vegetables. I can't eat much of them. I will live in the bathroom forever if I eat more brocolli than I like. But I can eat potatoes (peeled) and saurkraut (unpasteurized) pretty well. So I stick to that. Also, fats help me a lot in my efforts of eating well over 3000 calories a day. I eat organic butter and uncured bacon frequently, but not in excess, contrary to what many have seen. Cottage cheese is a simple way to get protein but not if it gives you any immune or sinus problems.. Feel it out. Share your experiences with us.

Here's some exercises:

1.
- 10 x 50 meter sprints. @ ~95% (stay consistant)
  - 30 second recovery. (Just walk 50 meters back.)
Rest 3-5 minutes.
- 3 x 2 minute @ ~85% (stay consistant)
  - 60-90 second recovery

2.
"Death by Whatever"
 - Choose an exercise and start with 1 repetition. Add a repetition every minute, on the minute until you fail to complete the required repetitions for that minute. Record your score (last successfully completed minute's worth of repetitions).

rest 3 minutes

5 sets of your score in the death by of the same exercise on the minute every minute.

* So if you do pushups and your score is 12, then every minute, on the minute you will do 12 pushups for 5 minutes.
** 5 burpee penalty for failing to complete your required repetitions.



Thursday, October 13, 2011

Sunset Blvd and 405 Closure

For those you going to our special workout this Saturday, read this:

Re: I-405 Sunset Southbound off-ramp Closure October 15 – 29

As part of the ongoing project to improve the I-405 Freeway through the Sepulveda Pass, the southbound Sunset Boulevard off-ramp will be closed every weekday for two weeks, from October 15th – 29th from 6am to 10am, to allow utility work and bridge-widening at Sunset.
This portion of the Sepulveda Pass project will affect students, staff and faculty commuting to UCLA from the San Fernando/Santa Clarita/Antelope Valleys or the 101 Freeway by forcing commuters to exit the I-405 at either Getty Center Drive or Wilshire Boulevard. As approximately 25 percent of UCLA staff and faculty live north of campus, an off-ramp closure during the peak morning commute hours could add significant time to commuters affected by this construction activity.
During these two weeks we encourage staff and faculty affected by this closure to be flexible to the extent possible in addressing scheduling issues during the dates of the closure. To this end, we ask that supervisors work with Employee & Labor Relations to develop alternative work schedules, to ensure any modification to schedules do not interfere with their department’s staffing and coverage needs or collective bargaining agreements with represented employees.
For more information please visit www.transportation.ucla.edu.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

U R GOING!?

does BIG = Strong??

Update: here's a simple and over-generalized way to ROUGHLY calculate how much you should eat. I want to preface this by saying QUALITY BEFORE QUANTITY.

To calculate total calories needed you should weigh yourself. Turn that number into grams. So if you weigh 200lbs, that means 200 grams. That is your minimum protein intake for that day/week/month.

Then, you plug that into this formula that I made: [200g(p) x 4c/g]/0.3c + 300c = C (total calories).

.: 200 x 4 = 800 cal minimum just from protein. 800/0.3 = 2,667 calories for sedentary. + 300 cal for activities and that brings you up to a good 3000 calories/day.

3000 calories. Do the math. Good luck doing that on a restricted diet. You will never grow muscle if your diet doesn't support it. Good luck doing that without consuming copious amounts of fat. But you must prioritize protein. Protein even comes from the Greek word: proteios; meaning "most important". They knew what they were talking about back then.

Go eat to get strong.



*** Regarding Demetria's question:
Great question about the size of muscle and maximal strength. Does being "big" make one strong? Usually, yes.. USUALLY. The greater the muscle fiber cross-section the greater it's contractile potential (maximal strength). How does that translate into lifting? USUALLY bigger muscles mean you can lift more, and as a by-product apply more power and speed to other factors of training and subsequently develop even more. Hence why we place such a priority on strength training (as much as we can with limited resources). There are other factors though: substrate levels (nutrition), hydration, sodium/calcium/potassium levels, mood (hormones), MOBILITY, mental focus, commitment, desire, the moon's position relative to the big dipper, you get the point... Ultimately, getting bigger MUSCLES will probably translate into more strength. If it doesn't, you'll still look like you might.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6223509
http://www.e-normous.biz/size_vs_strength.html
http://www.bodybuildingweb.net/blog/muscle-size-proportional-to-strength/

How do I get bigger muscles? Lift HEAVY and EAT! The growth has to be stimulated tissue has to come from somewhere; it doesn't just magically appear. Protein is composed of the amino acids that are vital for the growth to occur. So it is imperative to eat more protein. No two ways about it. It has nothing to do with ethics or moral. Growth comes from hormones triggered by lifting and nutritional intake (surplus) and the building blocks are made of amino acids. Easy.

- Here's my suggestion: Eat 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day. FYI, meat has 7 grams per ounce. 1 egg has about 6 grams. So you'll have to get started early. Here's why.
Protein should compose about 30% of your diet. The rest is up to you. Protein has 4 cal/gram. Carbs also have 4 and fat has 9. So if you're like me and eat a lot of protein, you also need a lot of the other stuff too. That's why I eat so much fat. More than double the calories which means I can eat less. Do the math.

I hope that helps. Glad people are wanting to get strong.. I'll help in any way I can short of feeding you. ;-)


Note: Frequency does not necessarily mean you'll get stronger faster, in fact, often times it's the opposite with heavy compound lifts, epecially the deadlift. Once a week is plenty with the deadlift. However, it still needs to be done frequently enough to create the adaptive stimulus.

Come on Saturday.. DO IT!

** This is only a hypothetical suggestion and I make no official claims or take any responsibility for you and your diet and the results thereof. You are responsible for yourself solely and exclusively. Please consult a physician before making any changes in your life, especially nutritional ones. Maybe even when you rearrange your furniture.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Wanna step it up? Become an instructor.

Not much explanation needed here. Some people are good at instructing. Some are not. If you think you are a good instructor (NOT JUST A GOOD EXERCISER!) then perhaps you would like to help us coach.



Let us know if you're interested. Thanks.

Also, don't forget about Saturday. Be there!

Fast is easy; Slow is not.

Heard good things about the dead lifts. Well done. It's also good to hear that people are not shirking the work, but rather trying to bite off the bigger, more strenuous bites. please be careful and don't over-do it. If your legs are barking at you and begging you to rest, please listen to them. If they recover, they will be strong, if not, then they won't. Make sure you're foam-rolling or doing some sort of therapy when recovering. Ice is always good. Get yourself an arsenal of massagers and lacrosse balls and get to work. Trust me, You'll be better for it. So maybe instead of doing Drake snakes and trudging through them, you guys should have a group roll-out session or a mobility wod session. That is true training.

Of course check http://www.mobilitywod.com/ for new mobility tips and stretches.

Here's additional labor err.. workouts for you all:

12 minutes AMRAP
- 50 meter sprint
- 10 Hand Release Pushups (advanced: clapping HR pushups)
- 50 meter sprint
- 20 situps

* I suggest putting an abmat at one of the sprint and do pushups at the other end. You guys should all be able to hold proper form for 50 meters after the last 2 weeks of interval work. I see a lot of people looking really good during the warmups.


Enjoy.

Special Workout this Saturday, Oct. 15, 9am-11am!

We have a very special workout for all enrolled Ongoing BHIP'ers!

This Saturday, from 9 to 11am
North end of the Intramural Field.
Click below to read this very important "Order to Report" for details!


Wednesday, October 5, 2011

It's going to be ok

As expected, the weather has thrown everyone for a loop. The evening classes are canceled. No big deal, life goes on, the Olympics are still almost a year away, so you'll get enough training in. Worry not!

Here's what the workout was today, in case some of you decide to go for it (beware, the barbells in the S&C zone at the Wooden Center are impossible to get to and NO you MAY NOT use the ones in Pardee gym.

We did a bunch of burpees and then we worked up to what should have been a 3-rep max of cleans.

Then we did a complex that looked like this:
3 x Cleans
4 x Push Press
5 x Bent Over Rows
6 x Romanian Dead Lifts

If you don't feel confident in this, then don't worry, here's what I suggest:

5 x 1 minute MAX burpees. Recover or a good 2 minutes between each effort.
- Remember: Chest-to-deck at the bottom. Use your hips and get your feet under your shoulders instead of just crawling up. Stay fluid and keep breathing. No pauses, just go ALL OUT for a full minute. GO FOR BROKE!
-Stay consistant or BETTER. Consistancy is key.
*Optional penalty: Assess a 30 second wall-sit for every burpee deviated below your best. But don't let the penalty stop you from getting your true max, that's the important part.

Post your best and your worst efforts.

Enjoy!

Also, as a reminder: please try to come between 9am and 11am on Saturday, October 15th for a special day of various events. It will be fun. Bring food and water. Bring extra food for Me. I get hungry ;-).

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

SAVE THE FRIGGIN' DATE!!!!

OCTOBER 15th, of the year 2011 B.C..

Those of you who are enrolled in the ON-GOING or the HIGHWAY, or whatever other stupid name we gave it that didn't stick, you shall appear at the I.M. field between 9am and 11am. We will be administering a very special workout event with lots of "fun"/needlessly brutal and excruciating activities designed to remove weakness from you and forge indomitable strength and spirit within you.

Stand By for further updates as I am currently getting them myself. Please spread the good word along to fellow BHIP people. Suit up, and gear up, it's go time.

Monday, October 3, 2011

blog post titles are stoopid

Hi everyone. The weather is quite nice today, but keep in mind that it can change since supposedly it is fall. Dress appropriately for your sessions. It can be blistering hot in the day time and frigid in the evening (not by my measures, but by your claims).

Seems like everyone really "liked" those push sleds, again. They really do make you appreciate the work you put in. And the more you put in, the more you get out of it. You can't fake it and you can't avoid the work because of fear (some people don't like the barbell stuff because they aren't as confident in their skills. Barbells got a bad rep in the 90's.) It is really rewarding to see everyone plowing those things back and forth to near death, standing up with shaky knees walking it off and then doing it again, for no other reason than to be able to do it better next time. AWESOME! We will definitely be seeing them again. They are a great conditioning tool, but because of how taxing they are, we can't combine them with too many other activities so that's both good and bad I guess. And yes, they will surely make an appearence in a forth-coming special workout.

Hopefully you all see why the track work was optional last week. It's in your interest to come in to every workout fully recovered. That way you can put out a true 100% rather than what FEELS like 100% but is actually far less. Also why I'm not that thrilled when I see you all dragging your butts up and down the stairs. We use a lot of our legs in the training sessions and stairs are good at tiring out legs. Unfortunately we live in an age where we gauge how "good" a workout was based on how tired we get at the end rather than output during the workout.


Here's some workouts: Do them on different days.

1. Running work: high intensity.

Warm up with high knees, butt-kickers, kariokas, and running forward with hands against a wall.
 
   2 x
        4 x 60 second sprint at 90%-95%
              90-120 second recovery

        1 x 3 min @ 85%
              Full recovery and stretch your ankles/achilles

Try to maintain the same distance covered in every respective interval.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. 10 PUSH UPS. Thats it. Really? Yes, really.  
        BUT, you must maintain your form on the way up and on the way down*. If your forms breaks down, then you must stop that pushup and try to do it better on your next attempt.

*EACH PUSH UP WILL TAKE A FULL MINUTE (unless failed**). 30 seconds to come up, and 30 seconds to come down.
**30 second wall-sit (sit against a wall with thighs parallel to the ground and head and back against the wall) for each failed round. Compile them into a single wall-sit at the end.

Enjoy!

Think that arch support and cushion are helping you? Let's see some physics..  Watch the video:

http://youtu.be/prStowbVylE


More prowler videos:
http://youtu.be/fbZRvKMUYmU
http://youtu.be/AJHqRiSNm0Y