Why 12-12

Let me tell you a story…

Once upon a time on a beautiful spring night after getting out of work, a young, optimistic athlete’s world changed drastically.

A half-mile from his home, a driver who was trying to make a changing traffic light struck that persons vehicle doing about 50 mph.

The vehicle spun around a number of times and ended up facing in the direction of on-coming traffic. Fortunately the victim was wearing his seatbelt and in was in peak performance shape so he thought he might walk away from the accident unscathed.

Six weeks later after a number of medical visits, it was discovered the victim had broken three vertebrae in his spine and was lucky to be walking.  The outcome was grim; sports were out of the question and lifting heavy was not to be done.

This devastating news sent the victim reeling out of control.  Without sports, this athlete had lost his identity, was depressed, and was slowly drinking and eating himself to death.  At the lowest point, he had packed on an extra 1/3 of bodyweight and was barely recognizable.

Does this sound like every world-class athletes comeback story?
Well it kind of is. It’s my story, and it’s the antithesis for

12-12
Reboot, Reform, Reclaim

Ten years ago, I was that person in the car accident and it closed a door to part of my life only to open a much greater one.  At one point of time the scale read 225#, which doesn’t seem too bad until you realize my healthy weight range is between 160-170.

As I struggled to get back to the old version of myself, I learned some hard lessons. What it feels like to train as a severely de-conditioned athlete, how to eat smart, hydrate, and ultimately how to push yourself through those bad sessions/days/months.  I came out of it a year later stronger, faster, and tougher than ever before.

I was able to “reboot” my own life and reclaim my health, so why couldn’t that same formula apply to others?  We’re not talking about a quick fix, Band-Aid, infomercial BS sales pitch but an actual fix.
I started going through old notebooks full of training plans, and food journals, and diaries. The reboot program was born, and it is all about finding that person (possibly again), with a great support system, some solid guidance, and a realistic timeline.

I invite you to consider this journey to make a lasting and permanent change to your health and wellness.

https://www.contemporaryathlete.com.com/12-12/

Birthday Awesomeness!

(I wrote and posted this without Haley, Lauren, or any number of people who love to correct my grammar proofing it. So if you want to know what goes through my brain here ya go.) – Also sad fact Haley’s head might explode because of it… 😉

Hi there ninjas!!! So the word on the street is that today is my birthday (31). Which made me think about writing this entry. I hear a lot of people complain about their birthday, getting older, more health issues, yadda, yadda, yadda. I generally turn a furrowed brow.

Your birthday is this great opportunity. It’s when you came into this world, via any number of possible reasons or means. I personally like to think that it was snowing, thundering, and lightning all at the same time on my epic entrance but according to my parents that wasn’t the case. (I’m going with it though.)

So you can cry about being older and blah, blah, blah. Or you can train in any number of ways to make it the entrance into a better year of “racing”. So a few years ago I started the birthday challenge series, for myself. I train for it. I train hard, as it generally is something daunting, mildly stupid, and makes my parents generally laugh at me and ask if I need medication when I tell them what it is for that year. So I thought it would be a great time to do a little reflecting and throw out the birthday challenge for this year. Last year it was all based around entering my 30’s, by doing a lot of awesome stuff including ripping a 600 lbs. (DL) off the ground. I’ll tell you more about that though shortly.

 

Like my programs: part 1.

So what I have learned: 31 things

Or as I like to say “Smarter…?” (These are in no particular order)

1. Surround yourself with people way more awesome than you. (If you’re lucky, and damned lucky, you can hang onto their coat tails for a long time.)
2. Be a great friend (I struggle with this one. The CA consumes me.)
3. Smile! (It’s not hard and it will make you and anybody around you happy.)
4. Eat more cookies. (Seriously, as long as it’s not a whole sleeve of Oreos your good.)
5. Be a good son. (My parents are generally right, just don’t tell them I said that.)
6. Set crazy awesome goals, for yourself, and for others. (If they seem doable, you are being a wussy.)
7. Ask for help. You can’t do everything alone, and people make the journey better.
8. Be confident, even when your not. (If your not using it, you’re losing it.)
9. Listen, don’t talk, just LISTEN.
10. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable, that is how growth works.
11. Lift heavy sh*t. (Do it often, make it hard, and don’t worry what you look like in the mirror. If the bar is bending everybody is watching whether or not you want them to or not.)
12. Read, voraciously (<- that’s and SAT word, I learned it in a book 😉
13. Give, give until it hurts a little. It will come back to you, and it will make you happy.
14. Cry, it’s ok, really. (Just make sure you are muttering some words that make no sense. Then you can pass it off to yourself as being a moment of temporary insanity.)
15. If you use an elliptical. Stop they are stupid. Go run outside. There is sun, wind, rain, trees, real air, and occasionally pretty girls will pass you, make sure you smile! (Those things will make you happy)
16. Dark Beer, and IPA’s. (If I need to explain this your not of age yet.)
17. Cook and eat real food. (Stop running around like a crazy person and enjoy something simple like making something for yourself and others that keeps you alive.)
18. Dance. (I generally do it naked after I shower. If your going to make an a** out of yourself you might as well do it naked, it’s more fun that way.)
19. Buy the person next to you a coffee. Just because. (Thanks Heather)
20.  Ask good questions. (Think before you speak)
21. Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate (Thanks Coach!)
22. Own less stuff, things don’t make you happy, awesome people do.
23. Own less clothing and only that which fits. (I know I’m a little special but 100 articles.)
24. Wear a helmet. Yeah I said it. It protects your skull.
25. Plan one crazy trip, expensive or not; and then figure out how to make it happen.
26. Race. Why? Because it’s fun.
27. Figure out who your alter ego super hero is and channel that bada**.
28. Skinny jeans negate your war beard. (Also if you can fit into them do more squats.)
29. Tell people you love them. Just because; they need to hear it, and you need to say it. It’s a win win.
30. Lists. Why? Because they make you accountable to yourself. (I keep mine in my shoes. 5:56 has been at the top of mine for a long time. If you don’t know what that means buy me an IPA, I’ll explain it.)

31. High Five. (Your awesome, and anybody you touch is gonna be awesome, so make sure everybody can hear it. Also aim for the elbow, then you never miss.)

Part 2.

Birthday Challenge: 30 year-old Combine:

Last year: The concept, go big, then go home.

1 RM Push Press: 285#

3 minute push-up challenge: 127

1 RM Back Squat: 525#

1 RM Front Squat: 485#

1 RM Clean: 365#

1 RM Snatch: 265#

1 RM Deadlift: 600# –Boom slam dance

Sub: 6 minute 2k: 6:03 – Damn close but not there yet

Sub 19 minute 5k (Run): 18:57 – I am pretty sure part of my soul died on that one

So I passed solidly into my 30’s stronger and faster than I have ever been before.

31….

31,000 CLUB

This might be the scariest one yet for me. With being out of training for the last 7 weeks thanks to the good old Lyme’s. It seems a bit like climbing up the slide at the playground covered in baby oil. (This could make for a good Youtube video)

Cardio crazy:

Erg for time: 31,000 meters: For time.

(Well I won’t die right now at least)

Lift heavy things, a lot.

(This legitimately scares me)

Combined weight: 31,000 lbs.

(It’s a little more but it makes the bars easier to load)

10 rounds:

5 x Snatch @ 115

4 x Bent Row @ 135

3 x Push Press @ 185

2 x Back Squat @ 275

1 x Dead Lift @ 405

For time: or 31 minutes, which ever comes first.

A quick Follow up:

31k erg: 2:12.4

( I learned a lot about myself and how much I hate the color white that the walls are painted)

31K Club: 29:20

(got in in under the 31 minute mark but definitely had to channel my inner bada** to get it done.)

scan0006Once upon a time I was adorable…

Grip Strength: Easy solutions

High iron content? Just add rice!

Rice 2

A little while ago, I was asked about fat bar grips, grip strength, and what to buy. As I have finally got back into my regular routine (albeit slowly), I immediately thought about this question. My answer was simple:

Start playing with your food.

As you might imagine, I got a rather questioning look in response.

Here is a really simple and inexpensive way to increase your strength on the cheap, and it’s highly effective: go buy yourself a 20 lbs bag of rice and a bucket. With these tools, you can break through any of your max-lifting plateaus. And, it only takes 5 minutes of work, as part of your warm up, everyday or every other day.

When lifting heavy, generally what fails on you are your small muscle groups; in this case, hands, wrists, and forearms, when it comes to deadlifts, cleans, snatches, and jerks.

Here are the basics:

With your hands, either individually, or together, claw your way to the bottom of the bucket. Reset your hands back to the top. Rinse and repeat.

Knead your way around the circle, both clockwise, and counter-clockwise.

The snowball. Take a handful of rice and pack it between your hands until all the grains no longer remain.

This is more for the shoulders, but treat your hand like a paddle and make big figure 8s in your bucket.

These are a few good starters, but essentially all you have to do is play. As long as your hands are moving and your fingers; you are doing the work.

Endurance Athletes: is Metabolic Conditioning for ME?

In the health and fitness world, metabolic conditioning is a term used loosely and frequently. It is generally associated with Cross-Fit; intense workouts, derived from lifting heavy weights in great succession, racing against the clock, or against other athletes. Now in some cases this is true. I have also heard it used to describe a workout consisting of a series of time based work dictated by minimal rest. Another word I hear a lot is “Tabata.” Tabata consists of very quick bursts of work followed by very short amounts of rest, done cyclically, until exhaustion. Then, given a longer rest period to recover before beginning the next cycle. These are two very different workout styles, amongst many, within the metabolic conditioning realm. The truth is this current hip thing is really an old concept that has finally trickled down to the general public.

High intensity interval training, also known as (HIIT) is all the rage, but it is something all athletes have done, and probably done a lot of. It is generally best to balance the rush with the gush, and leave a little room to siphon off some of the workout steam generated -which is where athletes can really gather speed when not working on their aerobic capacity.

I would like to try to decipher this. A metabolic conditioning workout should be based on a desired outcome dictated by the level of fitness and ability of the individual doing such a workout this has been researched in depth by The Journal of Strength and Conditioning. The human body has several different methods of getting energy. In order to tap into those different energy systems, different ratios of work to rest must be implemented in order to cause adaptations in the body for a desired performance goal.

A desired goal to maximize efficiency of a particular energy system is usually the response one is looking for from the body; so the way the patterning of work and rest are structured makes that exercise “circuit” metabolic conditioning. For example, a person looking to “bulk up” should have a different amount of rest in relationship to work, than a person looking to become leaner or run farther. Structuring a workout where timing is disregarded and getting through it as quickly as possible is not nearly as effective for performance goals as a planned attack, with regimented work to rest ratios.

0410_12943

Here are the basics of Exercise Metabolism:

Everything we eat must be broken down into smaller things in order for the body to use them. This means of creating energy is known as metabolizing, and in layman’s terms is known as the metabolic system. There are three pathways that are primary to making this happen and each has their own place and purpose. By tapping into them correctly for performance or physical goals should be the idea behind writing the training circuit.

The Immediate System: (ATP-CP)

Think of this as explosive energy your Olympic lifting, sprinting, and jumping. Any exercise that takes less than 10 seconds to accomplish is utilizing this system. What is important is how long the work to rest ratio is. The exercise is so physically taxing that it can take roughly three to five minutes to fully recover.

The Intermediate System: (Anaerobic system)

It is used for shorter duration high intensity work such as your middle distance running (400-800 m) or swimming (100-200m) and your middle range weight lifting. This could be any exercise that takes anywhere from one to four minutes to complete. Depending on the ability of the athlete recovery time can take anywhere from one to three minutes.

The Long-Duration System: (Aerobic system)

This is your marathon running or century bike riding or 1500m swimmers or triathletes. The work is low to moderate in intensity and can go on forever as long as the athlete does not run out of energy (fat). The recovery for this kind of work is a mere seconds.

Now with those hard guidelines for energy usage detailed in the human body there is always crossover and interplay. No one energy system operates all by itself within exercise. The ratios at which they are called upon generally work in one primary system or another.

saratoga meet

Developing the appropriate Met-Con Circuit:

The idea is to create efficiency for a specific energy system, one that will allow performance enhancement or physique. Also thanks to great amounts of research done by the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, this system creates increased EPOC. So the metabolism runs higher after a Met-Con session for a few hours.

Now once you figure out what it is that you are training for then you can really tailor your training program. The key factor for making this all work is your rest periods. Not enough rest you risk taking your anaerobic training session and turning it into an aerobic one. Too much rest and you leave your ATP-AC phase and create an anaerobic or even an aerobic workout. In order to make this really effective use large non-isolated actions. Start with bodyweight activity and remember when lifting weights to use proper form at all times and self regulate. If it doesn’t seem safe don’t do it, or find a facility or trainer that can help you learn those actions correctly and safely. Getting hurt training will not only ruin race day, it will put a huge chink in the armor of invincibility you once had.  To remain competitive, it’s usually best to stay out of the ranks of the walking wounded. After all, health trumps strength any day! So stay healthy, and stay strong, with smart workouts!