Saturday METCON

4 rounds for time with function:

1. 100 Jump Rope Skips

2. 10 Burpees (no breakin')

3. 250m Row

4. 25 Lunges (total)

The Grinch meets Scrooge; Call me Grooge

Another Resolution – Another Failure?; 12/15/10
This write-up was initially posted on 12/22/09. I have updated it by adding this year’s experience/thoughts, with the goal of explaining why I am in such a mood every December.

I do not like December. I love Christmas, but not December. Why? Answer: it is the beginning of the recurring vicious cycle in my profession. Please excuse me while I go all “Socrates” on you:

It really starts with Thanksgiving, the food indulging and overindulging. How many Thanksgiving-like meals do you estimate you will consume from November 27, 2010 - January 10, 2011? We live in Alabama so the New Year/overeating season has been extended through the BCS national championship game. Something to think about. I posed this question to my November nutrition education classes and the average answer was 10 Thanksgiving like meals. Whatever the number, very few of us will maintain, or lose weight during this time span. Why? Answer: mostly due to dressing and other high sugar, fat, and starch un- “comfort” - able foods.

On to the New Year and with the New Year comes the New Years’ Resolution. Are you going to lose the excess, unwanted weight? Are you going to quit drinking alcohol? Are you going to quit your tobacco habit? Are you going to begin an exercise regimen? Most resolutions are body image related. We want to be happy, and a large percentage of the United States population believes they can attain happiness by looking and feeling better. I believe this more than any other ideas I will write this morning.

So, it’s January 11 and we have made our body image resolution. What happens? History tells us that most resolutions will go away by February 14, Valentine’s Day. Most of the resolution people will last a little over a month adhering to their new lifestyle change.

I call February 14-Thanksgiving, 2011 “the wave”. Most people will be up and down at a peak then at a valley with their healthy lifestyle choice/resolution. There will be moments when they are doing really well and making sound nutritional and lifestyle choices; then there will be times when they fall off the wagon and get in a rut of bad eating until they realize the poor habits are back. Then, they get back on the sound choices again before falling back to the vice that they planned on avoiding. I also call this my “broken record period”. Why? I sound like a broken record, often repeating the same information to the same people over, and Over, and OVER, and OVER.

December begins my vicious cycle. That is why December is my least favorite month, but I LOVE Christmas.

Merry Christmas. Now on to the meat of this write up:

Our Wellness program is all about lifestyle modification, subtle changes that will help you attain your physical and mental goals. Words mean nothing…….until you make the decision that these modifications will be a part of your life from right now….on December 15, 2010……AND CONTINUE THROUGH THE REST OF YOUR LIFE (with consistent alteration according to where you are at any moment in your life).

In researching websites for this write up I came across a consistency in that each web address was saying/reporting identical information. This lends support that the research is fairly solid.

Resolutions do not work – Why?

Most resolutions are made on New Years’ Eve, without considerable thought.

1. Ask yourself:
What do I want? Do I really want it?
Is now the right time?
Do I deserve this change (Why?)
What can I become with this change?
Is this a Primary goal? Secondary?
When will I start? Finish?
What is the first thing I need to do to work toward this goal?

2. Clarify your goals
Once your goal(s) are defined, set a timeline to evaluate progress and generate questions more specific to achieving your goal(s)


3. The Power of positive wording
“Most goals have a negative context, meaning you eliminate or lose something”. Stay positive and generate positive questions.

For example “Stop Smoking” can become “Breathing exercise 3 times daily”

4. Define your goals as a change in behavior – Behavior Modification

Example: When I stopped smoking I substituted chewing gum whenever I really, really wanted a cigarette.

5. Are your goals Realistic? Precise? Measurable?

6. Reward yourself.

Set up a system of plateaus. When you reach a particular plateau reward yourself with a treat.

7. Have fun, keep things in perspective

Goals can be fun. Use the reward system to deliver an enjoyable experience. The goals you set need to always be a positive experience, however may not always yield the result you shoot for. Keeping things in perspective means that we maintain the course, even though we are having/have had a bad day.

8. Think them, then speak them, then write them, then become the model for them, then DELIVER them.

9. Create a final deadline then plan a continuance that culminates with the maintenance of that deadline result.

10. Accountability and Support

Have a system of accountability and support. Wellness coach, weight watchers, smoking cessation groups are examples.
11. START NOW…go to #1 for guidance

Merry Christmas Everyone

Mark

Tuesday METCON

I am the only person that engages in the workouts I post online. Our clients' workouts consist of a lot of joint mobility and bodyweight exercise completed at a moderate intensity. My most sincere education has been working with the fitness abilities of a wide array of people over the last 14 years. I have learned more in the last year than in any other. If you're not learning you may as well not be living.

I am in the 3rd week of Kettlebell Muscle. I like the program but can't give up my strategically placed METCONs:



20 minutes; count rounds:
1. 5 Burpees

2. 5 e Snatch

3. 15 e Mountain Climbers

4. 20 Swings

Saturday Conditioning

Tiffany Hams it up on "Bench Friday"

I am liking Kettlebell Muscle. If you are an advanced hard styler I highly recommend the book.

Saturday METCON
3 rounds for time:
a. 500m Row
b. 200 Jump Rope skips

Tuesday METCON

7 Rounds for time:

1. Jumping Pull Up X 10 (Chest to Bar)

2. Burpee X 10 (6 counts)

A good read courtesy of Dave Clancy, RKC, CSCS

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/justin-stoneman/post_868_b_720398.html

New program outline

Monday - KB Muscle
Tuesday - Metabolic Conditioning; intensity will be dictated by KB Muscle intensity
Wednesday - KB Muscle
Thursday - Joint Mobility
Friday - KB Muscle
Saturday - Metabolic Conditioning; intensity will be dictated by KB Muscle intensity

Saturdays METCON:
1000m Row
100 Jump Rope
80 Sit Ups
100 Jump Rope
60 Mountain Climbers
100 Jump Rope
40 Push Ups
100 Jump Rope
20 JPUs

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Kettlebell Muscle

This week I started "Kettlebell Muscle"; it is a program/book designed by Geoff Neupert, MRKC. This program incorporates a lot of double kettlebell work. compound lifting, complexes, and chains.

The program design is 3 days training per week with 3 days active rest per week. This allows for people to personalize their training on active rest days. Be warned, however, Geoff recommends not becoming too active on your active rest days.

On two of my days active rest days (1st and 3rd) I will program bodyweight metabolic conditioning. On the 2nd active rest day I will workout using intense joint mobility and range of motion exercise. I will vary the intensity of these active rest days based on how my body feels. Remember rule number 1: DON'T MESS WITH THE PROGRAM!

Here is yesterdays METCON:

Rep scheme: 30-20-10

1. Swing

2. Burpee

3. Mountain Climber

4. Jumping Pull Up

5. Sit Up

6. Concept 2 Rower (Calories)