Saturday AM workout

5 rounds for time:

1. Row - 500m-400m-300m-200m-100m

2. Snatch - 10e-8e-6e-4e-2e

3. Jumping Pull Up - 20-16-12-8-4

4. 1-Arm Press - 10e-8e-6e-4e-2e

Now some family time.

Wellness Star for July

Tiffany today

Tiffany before

When I started working with her company she was a skeptic, but a friendly skeptic. Eventually she started moving toward better health. The beautiful thing about her transformation is that she did it herself; meaning she initiated the change of attitude. All the management and I provided was the workout area and a workplace that dedicated itself to promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Here is her testimonial....

"Since February of this year I’ve lost 23lbs. If you think about it, go to the store, pick up a 20-pound bag of dog food and walk around. THAT’s what I was carrying around each and every day. No wonder I was unhappy and tired all the time. After a year of eating what I wanted and doing no exercise I said enough was enough.
I began to take advantage of the fitness room at work. I started out slow, walking and jogging on the treadmill, then I added some rowing in. It felt great just to get moving. Also, I once again began logging my food on Sparkpeople.com. I’ve used this site before and it’s really helped me become accountable and make a lifestyle change.

Between the exercise and the food logging, the weight started coming off, I started feeling A LOT better and making smart choices became second nature. I also began doing some of the daily workouts Mark assigned. I remember after the first workout with him (that included a ga-billion squats, seriously!) how sore I was for two days. But the pain subsided and I felt stronger. Now I look forward to our weekly challenges, pushing myself to be even better and stronger.

I’ve stuck with it and with the help of a work out buddy at the office who keeps me accountable, it’s not been hard. I have “cheat days” once a week where I can go out to a nice dinner or have some pizza so I never truly deny myself anything, I just think if I really want it before I eat it. If we’re going out to eat, I just look up the online menus and their nutritional info, log it in for the day and enjoy a lunch out without the guilt of “Oh! I shouldn’t have ate that much!”

While I still have about another 12 pounds I want to lose, I’ve gone down two pants sizes, can see a noticeable difference in my appearance (I may actually have the emergence of an ab!) and energy levels and have signed up for my first 5k in three weeks and am planning to run in the Race for the Cure in October. I doubt I’ll actually run the whole thing, but knowing that I CAN run some of it is miles away from where I was just five months ago.

So what are you waiting for? There’s nothing more important than your health and you have all the tools at your disposal here through the wellness program. Start off small, build your way up and next thing you know, you’ll be looking at a bag dog food or that 10-pound bag of potatoes in a whole new way!

Water

It's hot! In most cities east of the Mississippi it is 90 plus this week. The perfect week to discuss "water" for our nutrition education topic; which is what we are covering in our classes this week. Here are some standard, Nutrition 101 highlights:

1. Water makes up 60% of your body. Biochemists would argue 80%; I'll stick with 60%.
2. Water is the transportation vehicle for all nutritents and life sustaining products
3. Water is the Universal solvent. It's Dipole moment (positive and negative areas) creates an affinity for many substrates. Do you remember the electrolyte experiment in High School?
4. Water is the bodys' cleansing agent; carrying wastes for elimination.
5. Water serves as the shock absorber for joints, fluid for eyes and childbearing (protection for fetus).
6. For our main purpose, water is our bodys' thermoregulator.

You are always sweating. You are burning calories, these metabolic processes generate energy, water and heat. As your body temperature increases, water is the medium that transports that heat to the skin and the heat leaves the body in the form of perspiration.

Components of water input:
1. Liquids you drink
2. Moist foods you eat - Carbo-HYDRATES; If you decide to do a high protein diet (basically most of the diets or self purported "lifestyles") then it is imperative to increase your water intake. When you Carb starve you may miss a substantial amount of water in your recommended intake.
3. Metabolic Water - the formula for glucose is C6H12O6. Look closely, water (H2O) fits perfectly into the formula. As the carbon chains of our substrates get broken down and energy generated, water is the byproduct of that metabolism.

Components of water output:
1. Kidneys - urination
2. Skin - perspiration
3. Lungs - respiration; remember, sometimes you don't always see your losses
4. GI tract - feces

Water Balance is the daily difference between input and output.

Remember to drink your water!

Todays' workout: A metabolic conditioning day

*Pull Ups 5 X Max reps

*7 rounds for time:
1. 30 pound Ball Slam X 10
2. 6 count Burpee X 10

* Burpees are meant to be performed on a 6 count. For a more effective movement park the sloppy, worm, fish flopping burpees and define your movement with a structured body that relies on tension to support each count.

Recovery Day - Mobility

Workout:

Body Weight Mobility

1. Floor Mobility - Z-Sit stretch; Bent knee Hip Abduction; Piriformis Stretch; 1/2 Brettzel
2. Yoga Poses - Cobra; Downward Dog + Combo; Cat-Cow; Pigeon Pose
3. Samson Stretch
4. Band Stretching- Hams; Adduction; Abduction
5. Chair Stretch; Frog Stretch; Brettzel
6. 16 kg kettlebell presses from the splits (~ 1o5 degrees) 3 X 5 e

*3 Rounds at your own pace using a 16 kg kettlebell

1. Goblet Flexibility Squat X 5; attain the furthest flexibility maintaining strict posture; open the legs with the elbows
2. Windmills X 5 e
3. Cossack X 5 e
4. Sotts Press X 5 e
5. Overhead Squat X 5 e

If it looks easy, it isn't. If you concentrate on the motions, on attaining the furthest position possible on every rep I promise you will feel as crushed as I do right now.

A Real Strength Workout

Total body strength goes beyond what you can do for 1 rep. Also, there are more tools to utilize outside of barbells.

1. Tactical Pull Up 5 X 5 (pause for two seconds at the bottom of every rep; engage the lat first for a more efficient pull)

2. Someone had to have come up with this workout before me. It is way too logical. Emphasizes stability and grip while exercising real body strength endurance. If I have "borrowed" this workout from an unknown source...I thank you. A keeper:

Use two kettlebells; strong men should go with 24kg's; strong women with 12-16kg's dependent on body mass. It is ideal to use the same bells for every exercise; downgrade if you need to for the overhead lockout. If you need to downgrade that should send you a message that you need to work on that exercise to attain total body strength. Do not set the bells down until each couplet is complete. For example, go immediately into farmers walk after your 5th rep of suitcase deadlift; and so forth for couplets 2 and 3.

5 Rounds; 15-30 seconds rest between each couplet; just enough time to rechalk..;-). Break 1:30 between rounds.

1a. Suitcase Deadlift X 5
1b. Farmers Walk X 50m

2a. Double Clean X 5
2b. Double Rack Walk X 50 m

3a. Double Press X 5
3b. Double Overhead Lockout Walk X 50 m

Have fun with it!

Wellness Star for June

"...the credit really goes to the leadership. To care enough for your employees and invest in a wellness program at NO COST to the employee is incredible. And Mark is just great. He keeps you motivated and challenges you at the same time. More importantly he cares about you as an individual. So thanks to the Board, CEO, and the VPs for offering this program."

-Debra (6/26/10)

The Wellness Star will be a monthly award given to the person that amplifies our philosophies in their lifestyle. In our wellness we don't just monitor your weight and blood pressure by sticking you on a treadmill. We aim to get you moving better, which goes beyond walking better.

Debra is our Wellness Star for June. When she started she was overweight, had a terrible habit of eating out everyday for lunch (Zaxby's mostly), didn't exercise, and was further driven down the unhealthy path by having a desk job that keeps her planted 8 hours a day.

Today she brings health to her table/desk instead of the chicken finger salad. She monitors her eating on fatsecret.com, exercises at least 4 times per week with mostly funtional bodyweight exercise, and has lost over 20 pounds. Furthermore, when she started she could not do 1 sit up or 1 full squat without getting stuck in the bottom position. She is making very good progress and we will be moving toward working out with kettlebells and barbells in July (we just started swinging this week). The new exercise to master for July will be the Turkish Get Up. In Debra's case (and a lot of our desk ridden clients) it was/is very important to master the squat and lunge before the Get Up is introduced.

Think about training with someone where you do not do 1 turkish get up or swing a kettlebell for three months! That is how we operate, you do not touch a weight until your bodyweight skills are mastered.