Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 128

Day 128 After a couple days of German Volume training I'm feeling pretty stiff. I haven't moved fast for a few days which I think is making me feel a bit sluggish, so tonight I was looking forward to joining in with my conditioning group. Unfortunately, I got caught up with coaching the session (we had a lot of people tonight which is great) and could only join in with our circuit at the very end.

The circuit tonight was adapted from something I learned from Rich Hesketh, the Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Calgary Flames. A few years back in 2007 and 2008 I joined in with Rich and some of the Flames during their summer Off-Season training. I asked Rich if he would be open to me shadowing him as he trained his players. He was extremely kind and generous and not only allowed me to watch but to join in the training as well. After joining in I wasn't sure if his generosity was such a good thing. After my first couple session with him I was pretty cooked, but I learned a lot and it was so cool to workout with some professional hockey players.

Today's Workout

This circuit is a modified version of what I did with Rich's training group. Down the road we'll get closer to full circuit.

Modified Hesketh Circuit: 2 sets / 90 seconds rest between circuits * 10 metres there and back

• Squat Jumps - 10 reps
• Duck Walk *
• Crocodile Push-ups - 10 reps
• Lateral Shuffle *
• Side Bridge Raise - 10 reps per side
• Lateral Shuffle *
• High Knees *
• Leg Scissors - 10 reps per side
• Bear Walk *
• Plank Push-up - 10 reps per side
• Front Plank - 30 seconds
• Burpees - 5 reps

This circuit was only a very small portion of the training I experienced with Rich, but I find myself thinking about it quite a bit when I'm training groups. It was a great way to put a large group of people through a full body workout with no equipment. My group did a lot more tonight than this circuit as well and I'm proud to say they crushed it from beginning to end.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 127

Day 127 My original plan was to wait until Wednesday to hit the weights again and do some form of cardio or circuit training today. However, it would appear that Nine Inch Nails inspires the urge to lift more than the urge to run. I was about to start warming up when Closer started to play on my iPod and at that moment I couldn't help but feel like moving some weights. Truth be told, I've also been pretty tired and probably wouldn't have a done a great job of some high heart rate work.

Today's Workout:

German Volume Training: Upper Push / Lower Pull

Superset

Exercise 1: Inclined Barbell Press: 10 x 10 reps / 60 seconds rest Sets 1 - 10: 10 x 155lbs

Exercise 2: Prone Leg Curl: 10 x 10 reps / 60 seconds rest Sets 1 - 10: 10 x 110lbs

German volume training may not be the most interesting of training protocols, but you definitely finish your sessions feeling like you've accomplished something. So far I've done a good job of choosing my loads. I will be able to increase my weights next week but not by a ton because my last couple sets were quite challenging.

Tomorrow will be more athletic and energy demanding. My plan is to join my group for a medley of athletic conditioning. I will be sweaty and I won't be alone.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 126

Day 126 Up to this point with my strength workouts, I've kept things pretty loose in terms of planning. I've done this on purpose so as to stave off boredom and to avoid the pressure of following a set plan. My workouts in general have related to the previous one to some degree. If I've been feeling like lifting heavy my workouts have tended to follow that theme for at least a couple weeks. This format has worked really well so far, but lately I've found the mental exercise of coming up with what to be quite taxing. Therefore, to give my brain a bit of a rest, I've decided to follow a set format for a few weeks.

My plan of attack for the next 3 weeks, in terms of my strength workouts at least, will be German Volume Training. German Volume Training or GVT as I'll refer to it for brevity sake, was popularized by Charles Poliquin back in the early 90's and is definitely one of the most consistently successful programs I've used with my clients. The focus of GVT is hypertrophy or muscle mass development. This is done through a large volume of work while using a relatively lighter load.

The specific format is 10 sets of 10 reps with 60% of your 1 rep max for your chosen exercise. I find for most people 60% of their 1 rep max usually correlates to what they can do for a maximum of 20 reps. The first 5 or 6 sets will feel quite easy, but by the time someone gets to set 7 things start to get harder due to the accumulated volume of reps. The goal of each workout is to finish your 10th set with 10 reps. If you do get 10 reps, the next week you have to increase the load. The fantastic thing about this program is that most people, if they didn't start too heavy, will increase their weights each and every week. After about 4 - 6 weeks people will typically be able to do for 10 sets of 10 with a weight much higher than they could for one set of 10 reps to failure. I also find if people fuel properly they will also put on a good 5 - 7lbs.

Today's Workout:

German Volume Training Session 1: Upper Pull / Lower Push

Superset:

Exercise 1: Back Squat: 10 sets / 10 reps / 60 sec rest Set 1 - 10 (10 reps x 205lbs)

Exercise 2: Underhand Grip Chin-up: 10 sets / 10 reps / 60 sec rest Set 1 - 10 {10 reps x Body Weight (177lbs)}

I personally haven't used GVT for a very long time. I'm quite a bit stronger than I've been over the past few years, so I'm looking forward to see what I can do with this protocol. I've found I've been struggling to keep my muscle mass up lately as the intensity and duration of some of my more cardio based workouts has increased. I'm interested to see how the next few weeks pan out.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 125

Day 125 Waking up today was a little more difficult than usual. After my late night workout yesterday I had a really tough time falling asleep. I think it was pretty close to 2am when I finally fell asleep. That being said I actually really enjoyed the workout. Today's workout happened at much more sensible time. I think 11:00 am is much more sensible time to exercise than 11:00 pm. Nicole and I had originally planned on doing stairs yesterday, but plans had to change, so today we hit the stairs instead.

Today's Workout:

Stair Running:

Sets 1 - 3: Doubles 2/3 of the way to the top

Sets 4 - 6: Doubles all the way to the top

Sets 7 - 8: Doubles to the top, immediately 1/3 down and back to the top as fast as possible

We finished with a loop around the Glencoe Club.

Such an absolutely beautiful day for a workout. I didn't have a ton of energy when we got started but as soon as we got moving I felt so much better. Now I get to look forward to enjoying the rest of the day and this beautiful weather. I think tomorrow I'll be back at the weights. I also have my group tomorrow night. We'll have to see if I join in again. I want to train hard this week, but I'm feeling pretty gassed. If I get a good sleep tonight, I might be able to do a double tomorrow.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 1

Day 1 This was the first workout of 2013. Seeing as it was the day after New Years Eve (yes I enjoy some wine and celebration from time to time), I wasn't feeling like a hero. Today's workout was in my bedroom. The gym was closed, so my body weight would have to be my resistance.

Workout #1 of 365

1. Push-ups: 5 sets of 20 reps (100 reps total) with 30 seconds rest between sets

2. Body Weight Squats: 50 reps

A pretty simple workout but it did the trick. My goal as I mentioned, is to do some form of exercise everyday. A few people react to this by saying "isn't that unhealthy". My response to this is that I feel people are meant to be physically active every single day. Of course we can't always crush a huge workout but we should do something that gets our blood pumping and a little more air through our lungs.

Tomorrow's workout will be a little more extensive. 364 to go.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 60

Day 60 This week brought an interesting lesson. Only today, did my lower body feel somewhat normal. If I'm to make 365 days I can't let myself overtrain the way I did this week. The Spartacus workout was very satisfying but I underestimated the toll it would take on my body.

In the 4 hr Body by Tim Ferris he refers to the minimum effective dose or MED. If you haven't read his book, I highly recommend it. He's basically made a name for himself by discovering the fastest most efficient ways to achieve a desired result. The minimum effective dose refers to the smallest amount of work needed to produce a desired result. Anything above the MED is considered unnecessary and perhaps even detrimental.

In the 4 hr Body Ferris uses the example of sun tanning. It takes most people about 15 minutes to achieve a melanin response. The further beyond 15 minutes the greater the chance of sun burn. If you get burnt you can't tan again the next day which prevents you from getting another melanin response. Tim Ferris believes that most of life is affected by this principle. More is not necessarily better.

In my case with the Spartacus workout I used more weight than I needed to for the number of reps I performed. I was able to complete the workout but in the process I far exceeded what my body needed to get a training response. The result was that my lower body took almost 5 days to recover. If I had used less weight and perhaps performed fewer sets, I might have been able to do it again two days later. This sometimes happens when you try something new but still a valuable lesson was learned.

I decided to do a similar circuit style workout today but instead of 3 sets I only did one and used much lighter weights.

Today's Circuit Workout

1. Kettlebell Swing: 50 2. TRX Inverted Row: 20 3. Walking Lunges: 50 4: Med Ball Slams: 20 5: Hanging Leg Raises: 20 6: Push up (hand to knee) 20 7: Double Unders: 50 8: Seated Med Ball Twist: 50 9: Burpees: 20 10: 500 metre Row

After a few minutes rest, I hit the Treadmill for a 1/2 mile sprint at 9 mph

In the end it felt great to do something intense but I managed to not over do it. I should be able to train again tomorrow without any restrictions.

If you're interested, below is a link explaining rhabdomyolysis, a very severe and potentially fatal result of overtraining. If you are looking to get into Crossfit or a something similar this is worth a read.

http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2010/09/looking-at-rhabdomyolysis/

If you're interesting in learning more about Tim Ferris and the Four Hr Body visit

http://fourhourbody.com/

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 56

Day 56: I am Spartacus!!! Well not quiteToday I was feeling pretty good. My light workout from the other night did a good job of getting the kinks out. My legs felt fresh enough for a hard one, so that's what I did. Today's workout was the Spartacus Workout.The Spartacus Workout was designed by Rachel Cosgrove and Adam Campbell for the cast of the TV show Spartacus:Blood and Sand. Cosgrove and Campbell were given the task of getting a large group of people in gladiator like shape in a short period of time. The producers wanted their actors as ripped and muscular as possible. To make this happen they used what is referred to as metabolic conditioning.

Without getting too scientific, metabolic conditioning is essentially high intensity interval training. The idea is to maximize the amount of work the body can do by structuring the work periods and rest periods in such a way that allows the body to work as hard possible. This could be done on a bike by varying the resistance or cadence. In the case of the Spartacus workout they use exercise variety to create that structure. By moving from cardio to strength to core and back they tax the body's entire system. In the process you jack up the metabolism, strengthen the body and develop cardiovascular fitness.

The Spartacus Workout: You do all 10 exercises in a row with just enough time to transition from exercise to exercise. You use weight that will allow you to perform between 15 - 20 reps, but more importantly you do each exercise for 60 seconds. After completing the circuit you rest 2 minutes then repeat twice for a total of 3 sets.

1. Goblet Squat 2. Mountain Climber 3. Single Arm Kettlebell or Db Swing (30 sec per side) 4. Db T Push-ups 5. Split Jumps 6. Db Row 7. Lateral Lunge 8. Db Plank Row 9. Db Lunge and Twist 10. Push Press

The youtube link is actually a timer that takes you through the whole workout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJb9dyY8tKY

This was really hard. It was especially difficult to maintain my form in the second and third set. When you are breathing really heavy its hard to keep your core tight. The cast of the TV show did this workout 3 times a week. Quite impressive, but if you've seen the show you can see how effective it was.

Spartacus Workout

COMPLETE TRAINING! Try the new version "Spartacus 2.0" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1cmVyhGDhM

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 124

Day 124 My parents have been visiting for the last couple days, which has been great. Nicole and I have enjoyed some nice meals with them and tonight we were able to have them over for dinner for the first time since we moved into and fixed up our house. The day kind of ran of away on us as we went to get groceries and tidy up the back patio. Next thing I knew, it was dinner time and any opportunity for a pre-dinner workout were gone. In the end, it was 10:30 pm before I managed to find time for a workout. Not ideal but It was still enough time to squeeze in a workout. I doubt I will sleep well, as late night exercise seems to wake me up but I feel good about getting it in.

Tonight's Workout:

I began my workout by running to the small playground beside the Calgary Tennis club, about 400 metres away from my house. My intention was to use the monkey bars for some pull-ups. I tried, but the bars had too many rungs and made pull-ups too awkward. I abandoned that idea and decided to try and find another playground.

I ran another 800 - 1000 metres to a nearby school where I found a pretty awesome playground with all sorts of things to grab on to and pull myself up from. I used one of the many metal bars and did 17 strict medium grip overhand pull-ups. Kipping was not an option, as I would have smashed my knees on a steel platform connected to the playground structure. I followed up the pull-ups with 50 push-ups, 100 air squats, and 20 knees to elbows hanging knee raises.

After getting some good use out of the playground I ran about 1 km up 14th St to Mount Royal school. I ran into the soccer field behind the school and did walking lunges across from one side to the other. In total I did around 100 lunges. I lost count about halfway because it started to burn too much to focus on the numbers. I also did another 50 push-ups after the lunges.

I ran back down 14th St with the intention of going back to the playground, but when I got to about halfway I noticed that an SUV had stalled and one of its passengers and its the driver were trying to push it down the road toward a parking lot. I decided to forgo going back to the playground and helped them push the SUV about 100 metres intp the parking lot of Boyd's Seafood. This got my legs extra gassed, especially with the effects of the lunges still lingering.

I finished off my late night fun run by running back to the Tennis Club. I snuck into the courts and decided to do a suicide line drill. It wasn't the safest thing as it was really dark and I couldn't see very well but I made due. I sprinted to the middle and far doubles side lines of all 3 courts, Always returning the beginning of the 1rst court. A rabbit decided to play with me while I was running, darting toward me as I sprinted across the courts then bounding away from me as I got closer to it.

The rabbit ran down the street in front of me as I ran home, begging to play some more, but I was tired and it was late. Maybe we'll meet again, but I hope these late night workouts don't become a habit.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 123

Day 123 I mentioned yesterday that this week was pretty killer. Last night the soreness in my hamstrings was actually keeping me up. Although this is really not fun, once in a while it's ok. Pushing yourself to your limit is necessary to force the body to adapt. However, without proper recovery and planned periods of reduced volume / intensity, the body will breakdown. I think this week I came close to dipping over the edge and perhaps delayed neglected recovery methods, so with that in mind I stayed true to my word and really dialed it back today. No weights, no high intensity cardio, just a light ride on the bike to flush out the junk and promote blood flow. Compared to my other workouts it really wasn't much, but it did get a sweat going and it served it's purpose. I felt much looser and my soreness

Today's Workout:

Stationary Bike: 20 minutes / Aerobic Flush (Light Intensity, Level 10 / 80 rpm)

Foam Rolling: Full Body (Extra Emphasis on Hamstrings and Hip Flexors) 1 - 2 min per technique

• Glute Medius
• Hip Flexors
• Hamstrings - I spent a good 5 minutes rolling these guys out
• Quads
• IT Bands
• Calves

The following Youtube link shows Physical Therapist Kelly Starrett explaining how to get the most out of foam rolling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC0YtRMYT-w

Deep thorough Stretch 30 - 60 seconds per side per stretch

• Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch
• Pigeon Stretch
• Frog Adductor Stretch
• Side Lying Quad Stretch
• Downward Dog Calf March
• Active Hamstring Stretch

I'm sure tomorrow I will still have a bit of soreness, but I think I should feel well enough to return my normal workout intensity. I won't crush it, but I will definitely get things going. Nicole said she would like to do the stairs, so that may be part of the workout recipe.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 122

Day 122 This week has turned out to be a pretty tough one. Last night's sprint workout with my group left me pretty fried. I thought I'd try some light cardio to flush things out a bit, but in the end, I had lunch a little late and didn't feel like riding the bike on a full stomach. I decided instead to do another upper body session.

I've been doing a lot of flat bench press lately, so today I used the inclined bench instead. I wasn't able to use as much weight but the change in angle provided a change in stimulus from what my body has become accustomed to. If I'm to keep progressing, using variety like this will be key.

Today's Workout

Scapular Stability:

• Y's: 10 reps
• T's: 10 reps
• L's: 10 reps
• External Shoulder Rotation: 10 reps per side
• T Push-ups: 3 per side

Superset 1:

Exercise 1: Inclined Barbell Bench Press 4 sets / 8 - 10 reps / 90 sec rest Set 1: 185 x 10 Set 2: 185 x 10 Set 3: 185 x 8 Set 4: 185 x 8

Exercise 2: Wide Grip Pull-ups (Strict) 4 sets / 10 - 12 reps / 90 sec rest Set 1: Body Weight x 12 Set 2: Body Weight x 12 Set 3: Body Weight x 12 Set 4: Body Weight x 12

Superset 2

Exercise 3: Neutral Grip Machine Chest Press2 sets / 10 - 12 reps per side / 60 sec rest Set 1: 170lbs x 12 Set 2: 170lbs x 12

Exercise 4: 1 Arm Db Row 2 sets / 12 reps per side / 60 sec rest Set 1: 85lbs x 12 per side Set 2: 85lbs x 12 per side

I wanted to get more work in, but I ran out of time. Also, in hindsight I think a light bike would have been a better idea. My shoulders and triceps felt tired today, and probably could have used another day of rest. I couldn't move as much weight as I had hoped today.Tomorrow will definitely be a light one. My hamstrings are really angry with me. I think that light bike will probably happen, along with a ton of foam rolling and stretching.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 121

Day 121 After working out with Jared "Squat Master" Alvey yesterday, my legs were definitely talking to me today. I went back and forth in my head all day whether I would join my group for a sprint session in the evening or spare my legs the hard work and just ride the bike instead and stretch it out. As the day went on I started to loosen up and was really starting to feel the idea of running fast.

I didn't do the whole workout with my group as there were moments where I had to coach them through parts of the session. Below are the components of tonight's workout that I took part in.

Today's Workout:

Warm-up

Mini-Band Series:(Green Mini Band around the knees)

• External Hip Rotations: 10 per side
• Fwd / Bwd Walk (Athletic Stance): 20 steps each direction
• Lateral Shuffle: 10 steps each direction
• Skater (around ankles): 10 per side
• Marching (around feet): 10 per side

Dynamic Stretching Series:

• Walking Knee Hugs
• Reverse Reaching Lunge
• Bowler Hamstring Stretch
• Walking Quad Stretch
• Lateral Lunge
• Rotational Lunge
• Sumo Squat Stand
• World's Greatest Stretch

General Strength / Stability Series: 2 rounds

• Single Leg Squat: 10 reps per side
• Airplane Hold: 20 sec per side
• T Push-ups: 3 per side
• Sumo Push-ups: 5 reps
• Crocodile Push-up Hold: 10 seconds
• T push-ups: 3 per side

Med Ball Circuit: 5 kg Ball

• Squat / Fwd Chest Pass: 10 reps
• Side Toss:10 reps per side
• Overhead Slam: 10 reps
• Squat Jumps: 10 reps

Movement Session:

Falling Starts: 4 reps x 10 metre starts / 30 seconds rest

30 metre Sprints:8 reps / 30 - 45 seconds rest

BB's / 3 sets / 90 seconds rest 1 set = Sprint 10 metres / Jog 20 metres back Sprint 20 metres / Jog 20 metres back Sprint 30 metres / Jog 30 metres back Sprint 40 metres / Jog 40 metres back

Super BB x 1 set = 1 BB set  / rest 30 seconds / repeat 1 more BB set

Tonight my group totally killed it. I think tomorrow there will be more than a couple people with some sore hamstrings, myself being one of them. Workout 122 will probably not involve too much lower body. An upper body lift session will likely be on the menu along with a pile of stretching and foam rolling. I might try to get a massage this weekend.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 120

Day #120 After some upper body focused lifting and the "fun run" with my group last night I decided some Olympic lifting would be a good call today. I wanted to get a lot of muscle working at the same time, but not overload any one particular area of the body. I've been a little hesitant to push the loads with my cleans, after hurting myself back in March, but I'm feeling really good. I decided to still be a little conservative with the loads and focus on technique. I think some technical errors may have been responsible for my back injury in the first place.

I had a little company for my workout today. My friend Jared Alvey was about to hit up the squat rack as I was setting up the platform. He asked if he could join me. I was more than happy to have a workout partner, so we took turns tossing the weights around. Jared is a former powerlifter. This means that the even if he hasn't been training a ton lately, the guy is frick'n strong. The loads for the cleans didn't get out of control but the front squats got a little heavier than I had originally planned.

Today's Workout:

Olympic Lifting Day: I took roughly 2 1/2 minutes rest between sets

Set 1: Hang Clean / 5 x 95lbsSet 2: Hang Clean / 5 x 115lbs Set 3: Hang Clean / 5 x 135lbs

Set 4: Power Clean (Floor) / 5 x 145lbs Set 5: Power Clean (Floor) / 5 x 145lbs Set 6: Power Clean (Floor) / 5 x 145lbs

Set 7: Squat Clean / 5 x 145lbs Set 8: Squat Clean / 5 x 145lbs Set 9: Squat Clean / 5 x 145lbs

Set 10: Front Squat / 6 x 135lbs Set 11: Front Squat / 6 x 185lbs Set 12: Front Squat / 6 x 225lbs

I'm happy to say my back felt great. My cleans could still use a little work, although considering it's been a while, they weren't too bad. I've been doing a pretty good job of keeping an eye on my weak links and paying attention to the warning signs. So far, so good. Tomorrow I have a crazy day at work. I might sneak a little work in the gym before joining my conditioning group for some sprints and med ball work.

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