Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 148

Day 148 Today I met Fran, and quite Frankly she was bitch. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that a client of mine who has dabbled in Crossfit told me about a workout that I should try. That workout is called Fran. It involves 2 exercises (Barbell Thrusters and Pull-ups) alternated back and forth for 3 rounds, with the reps decreasing with each subsequent round. The goal is to finish the workout as fast as possible while performing the exercises correctly.

My client told me that he thought I would be good at Fran, so I thought why not give it a try. However, before jumping right in and destroying myself I decided to try the individual components and see how I did. A few weeks back I did a workout involving the 2 exercise components, but with them separate from each other. It was tough, but I didn't die, so today I decided to give the actual workout a try.

Today's Workout: Fran

After a long dynamic warm-up to get the body primed and the blood pumping, I jump into my first attempt at Fran.

Alternate the following 2 exercises, using the descending rep scheme in as little time as possible.

Exercise 1: 95 lbs Barbell Thruster (Front Squat to Overhead Press) 21, 15, 9 Exercise 2: Pull-ups 21, 15, 9

My time: 6:49

The fastest time I could find on the internet was 2:25, which after having experienced it seems absolutely inhuman. The average time is apparently just over 7 minutes, so at least I don't suck. I can confidently say that I'm pretty good at the thrusters. I was able to them unbroken the whole way through with speed and good form. The pull-ups I fear will be my nemesis if I'm to get faster. I was able to do most of my pull-ups without any breaks but I can't do them very fast. I watch crossfit guys and they get this cycle thing going with their kipping pull-ups and are able to knock off 20 in a row in about the same time I could do 20 body weight squats.

Well I might try Fran again. I'll have to work on getting faster with the pull-ups. I don't think getting anywhere close to 2:25 is even slightly realistic, but I do think I can get faster. I'd like to try and get under 5 min.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 147

Day 147 Well after taking a break from the heavy stuff, I got back to moving a little more weight today. My strength work over the last few weeks has been focused on maintaining muscle mass by utilizing a high volume of reps with a reduced load. My goal is still to maintain my muscle mass but my plan of attack for the next while will be to focus on large compound movements that utilize a lot of muscle at one time.

Movements like deadlifts, squats, barbell rows, and heavy pressing movements create a significant anabolic response. Basically your body says, ok that was really hard, I'm going to have to get ready for doing that again, so I'd better get the "juices" going. After a few sets of deadlifts the body's testosterone levels are much higher than they are after a few sets of biceps curls. More testosterone helps you build and maintain muscle, not just in the body part you trained, but in the whole body as well.

I didn't use super heavy weights today because I was breaking myself back into this type of training but as the next few weeks go on I'll get more weight on the bar.

Today's Workout

Superset 1

Exercise 1: Barbell Romanian Deadlift 4 sets / 6 - 8 reps / 301 tempo / 90 seconds rest (185lbs for all sets)

Exercise 2: Landmine Press 4 sets / 8 reps per side / 301 tempo / 90 seconds rest (45lbs for all sets)

Superset 2

Exercise 3: Barbell Bench Press (185lbs for all sets) 4 sets / 6 - 8 reps / 301 tempo / 90 seconds rest

Exercise 4: Prone Leg Curl (135lbs for all sets) 4 sets / 6 - 8 reps / 301 tempo / 90 seconds rest

Rotary Exercise

Exercise 5: 1/2 Kneeling Downward Stability Chop (25lbs for all sets) 3 sets / 8 per side / 201 tempo / 60 seconds rest

I had my conditioning group tonight. I didn't join in for much of the session but I did sneak in about 5 sets of stairs. One of my athletes, Mr. Darren Hong brought his bluetooth portable speaker so we could have some tunes. I decided part of my job would be to keep the tunes going up and down the stairs as my group pushed hard through the Gut Buster (10 sets in 20 minutes).

If time permits, tomorrow will be a double session with some cardio and more strength training. The K100 relay is only getting closer, so I still need a few more runs under my belt but I'm still not planning on compromising on lifting the weights.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 146

Day 146 About 3 weeks ago I bought these macarons from Janice Beaton's cheese shop as a dessert. Every since Nicole has been in love with these things. Yesterday we were at Deville Coffee Shop where they had some of these lovely little treats amongst their pastries. Nicole decided to look up where they were made and discovered that were made just off of 4th St in the Mission area at a place called the Yann Haute Patisserie. A visit to this place was with out a doubt in our future, so today when I was tossing around ideas for my workout I asked Nicole if she wanted to join me for a run. She wasn't sure at first but when I suggested that we run to the macaron pastry shop, she was in like flynn.

We popped our running shoes on and ran down 17 ave towards 4th St. The Lilac festival was on, so 17th and especially 4th St were packed. The run involved a little bit of agility as we had to dodge the droves of people who were out enjoying the sun. We made our way to the pastry shop in no time only to discover that they were pretty much out of Macarons, at least of the flavors that interested us. Oh well at least we know where the place is and we found an excuse to get some exercise and enjoy the sun.

After briefly wandering around the Lilac festival we ran to the Glencoe club, where we did a little bit of foam rolling, grabbed a sip of water then ran back home. In the past running hasn't worked out to well for Nicole as it tended to bother her knees, but being the good student of fitness that she is, she has dedicated herself to working on strengthening her hip and knee stabilizers. Today I was super proud of her as she ran a long perfectly with me the whole time.

Today's Workout

5 km Run with Nicole

Well no macarons were purchased, but we did get some exercise, which I'm thinking will have to continue to be part of our routine now that we know where to get these tasty treats directly from the source.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 145

Day 145 Last week, my friend Goitom brought me to his boxing gym to get a taste of what he does for training. last night I got to see him put his training to use as he contested the last boxing match of his career. Simply put it was awesome. After seeing a bunch of amateur boxers fight in the undercard of the night it was incredibly obvious during Goitom's fight that he and his opponent were pros.

As much as I could appreciate the performances of the younger fighters, the technical and tactical execution and the pace of Goitom's fight was amazing. His opponent was 10 yrs younger and from what I could see probably about 10 to 12 lbs heavier on the night of the fight. However, after 6 rounds Goitom won a unanimous decision. He simply out classed the other fighter. He kept much busier with his combos and seemed to be a lot better conditioned, maintaining his pace throughout the fight. Whereas the other fighter seemed to tire as the fight wore on, holding on to Goitom whenever he got the chance.

It was great time. A bunch of us from work went to watch and had a fantastic time cheering Goitom on. His kids were in attendance and joined him in the ring after his victory which was really cute. I thought it was great that they were able to see their Dad win his last fight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AhhQo2FZyQ

I know this post didn't have anything to do with my workout, but it was a lot more interesting to write about than my 2 mile run.

Today's Workout:

2 mile run / 15:00 min (I ran pretty hard because I had to get ready for Goitom's fight)

I know Goitom has hung up the gloves in the competitive arena but I hope that I can still get into some boxing with his help. I really enjoy everything about the training. I'm not that big into hitting people, but I love the technical mastery involved and the physical component is of huge appeal to me.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 144

Day 144 I am very tired. For some reason this felt like an extra long week. I'm really enjoying work, but it seems to be taking a toll on me. I'm still managing to get through the workouts but getting through the day seems to be the hard part. I have  a little more work scheduled than usual tomorrow, so I'll have to wait until Sunday to catch up on rest.

I decided today would be my last session of German Volume training. I really pushed the weights today. I can't say I usually get a sweat going when I train biceps and triceps but I had one going today. I predict that my arms will be pretty sore over the next couple days, which is fine as I don't plan on using them very much over the weekend.

Today's Workout:

German Volume Training

Exercise 1: Ez Curl Bar Tricep Extensions (Skull Crushers) 10 sets / 10 reps / 60 seconds rest (100lbs)

Exercise 2: Standing Db Curls 10 sets / 10 reps / 60 seconds rest (45lbs)

I'm happy that I was able to increase my weights as much as I did and still manage 10 reps for all my sets. However, I'm looking forward to moving on to some more dynamic workouts with a lot more variety. The next couple days will probably involve some form of cardio and perhaps some yoga.

I'm a little bit worried that I won't be able to sustain my workouts if I can't seem to recover some energy. I might have to strategically take a "me" day to catch up on sleep and things like paper work and various errands. Also, a true recovery workout day is probably in order. Some light cardio with some exercise focused on maintaining and restoring function would be very helpful.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 143

Day 143 As I mentioned yesterday, I was planning on doing a strength training session but didn't manage to get around to it. Today wasn't looking much better. My schedule has been really packed as of late but I managed to find a couple small windows of time to hit the weights. I squeezed in about 1/2 an hour between 12:30 and 1:00, then another 15 minutes or so around 3:00.

I didn't have time for the planned 10 sets of 10 reps, so I went a little heavier than usual. My legs were pretty cooked from the sprints the other night, so instead of super-setting a chest exercise with a hamstring exercise I decided to work on upper back and external shoulder rotators.

Today's Workout:

Superset 1

Exercise 1: Inclined Dumbbell Press 6 sets / 10 reps / 60 sec rest (70lbs)

Exercise 2: Dumbbell External Rotation 6 sets / 10 reps per side / 60 sec rest (20lbs)

Superset 2

Exercise 3: Upwards Cable Chest Fly 3 sets / 12 reps / no rest (40lbs)

Exercise 4: Rope Face Pull 3 sets / 12 reps / 60 sec rest (70lbs)

It felt good to push some slightly heavier weights around. I don't really have a plan for the next couple days. Another long run is likely in order. The Kananaskis relay is only getting closer. I will also likely do one more day of strength training. Somewhere in between the two I might do some yoga. I'm feeling pretty stiff and think something a little more restorative would be a good idea. I also haven't had a massage for a long, so we'll see if I can schedule one.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 142

Day 142 Today was supposed to be a double session workout. My plan was to lift some weights in the morning, then join my group for our conditioning session in the evening. I ended up skipping the lift because I was feeling really tired after an early start and a bad sleep. I went home briefly for a short nap so that I could have some energy for the workout in the evening.

I was originally planning a big circuit tonight with my group, but with the rain today, I felt it wouldn't be a good idea to bring equipment outside. Instead, we did another hill sprint workout. Our last hill sprint workout involved a lot of high heart rate endurance work. Tonight's focus was more on speed. Of course there was an endurance aspect. By the time you got to the top of the hill your heart rate was pretty high, but the idea was to really take your time on the way down. With more recovery, it was possible to sprint up the hill a lot faster.

After the hill sprints, we ran a long loop around the Glencoe club through the Neighborhood to flush some of the junk out of our legs. After a short break we finished off with a doozy of a leg blasting body weight circuit. With the fatigue accumulated from the sprints, adding the circuit left my legs pretty toast.

Today's Workout:

- 800 metre jog

General Strength Body Weight Circuit

• Fwd Walking Lunges 20
• T Push-ups 5 / side
• Backwards Walking Lunges 20
• Bearwalk 10 metres
• Push-up Plank Hold Crocodile March 20 sec
• Single Leg Squat 10 per side
• Airplane 10 per side
• Plank Side to Side Lateral Crawl 5 metres each direction

100 metre Hill Sprints:

Part 1: 5 x 3/4 Hill Sprints (20 - 30 seconds per sprint / rest period 45 - 60 sec)

3 min rest

Part 2: 3 x 100% Hill Sprints (35 - 40 seconds per sprint / rest period 60 - 75 sec)

- 1.5 km jog

Leg Circuit 3 sets / 1 min rest between sets / decending reps

• Squats: Set 1 (20 reps) Set 2 (15 rep) Set 3 (10 reps)
• Lunges: Set 1 (20 reps per side) Set 2 (15 reps per side) Set 3 (10 reps per side)
• Squat Jumps: Set 1 (20 reps) Set 2 (15 rep) Set 3 (10 reps)
• Split Jumps: Set 1 (20 reps per side) Set 2 (15 reps per side) Set 3 (10 reps per side)

Everyone did a great job with the workout tonight. The cooler weather initially caused a little bit of concern, but in the end I think the temperature was perfect for what were doing. Tomorrow, I'll make up for the missed lifting session. Gotta keep this muscle.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 141

Day 141 After taking a pass on training my lower body yesterday, I decided to play catch up and do some squats and lunges today instead. However, for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to do 10 sets of 10 reps. Mentally, I've been struggling a little bit. I think my initial plan of a go with the flow workout style as opposed to something more structured may have been the best plan of attack after all.

The German Volume training is very effective, but my main focus is achieving the workout a day. I think if I'm not feeling what's on the agenda, I have to be able to push through and get something in. I still think I'll do a few more 10 x 10 workouts, but will also mix in some other training methods to keep things interesting. Plus, I also need some variety to want to keep writing this blog.

Today's Workout:

Exercise 1: Single Leg Leg Extension 2 sets / 15 reps per side / 30 seconds rest between legs

Exercise 2: Barbell Front Squat 5 sets / 6 - 8 reps / 501 tempo / 90 seconds rest Set 1: 8 x 135lbs Set 2: 8 x 155lbs Set 3: 8 x 155lbs Set 4: 8 x 155lbs Set 5: 10 x 155lbs

Exercise 3: Walking Lunges 3 sets / 10 reps per side / pause 1 second in the bottom / 60 seconds rest (Sets 1 - 3: 16kg Kettlebells per hand)

Superset

Exercise 4: Leg Extensions 2 sets / 20 reps / no rest 60lbs x 20 for both sets

Exercise 5: Barbell 1/4 Squat to Calf Raise 2 sets / 20 reps / 60 seconds rest 155lbs x 20 for both sets

Tomorrow will likely be a double workout day. I'll get in a lift in the morning, then join my conditioning group in the evening for a big circuit. Last time we did a big circuit I wasn't able to join in because I had to coach it up. Tomorrow, I think my group will have a better idea of how things flow, which should allow me to join in the fun.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 140

Day 140 My workout today was very straight forward. If I had stuck to the original plan I would have done another squat and chin-up superset of 10 sets of 10 reps, but I ended up modifying things a little bit. After running 6 miles yesterday my legs were really tired and sore. I could have still pushed through the squats, but I have plenty of more chances to get some squats in, so I gave them a miss today.

With my chin-ups, because I managed 10 reps through all 10 sets last week, I was supposed to add extra weight today to increase the difficulty. However, instead of adding weight by using a weight belt and a plate, I simply changed to a more difficult chin-up variation. I used the wide grip instead of the traditional underhand grip.

Today's Workout:

Exercise 1: Wide Grip Chin-ups (Strict) 10 sets / 10 reps: 10 x Bodyweight (90 sec rest between sets)

It was a really simple workout but it served its purpose. The wide grip alteration proved to be quite a challenge. I only managed 8 reps on my 8th and 9th set. I didn't mean to but I think I took a little too much rest before my 10th set, as I suddenly was able crank out a full 10 reps. It also might have been mental. Knowing that I was pretty much finished may have helped me push through.

After the gym Nicole and I went and joined our friends Scot and Christie to practice our softball skills. I guess I could say I did a little bit of sprinting. My job at some points was to try and catch my friend Scot's fly balls. I don't think I caught one, but I certainly did a lot of running around. It was a lot of fun. Scot and Christie also brought their new boxer puppy along, which of course was extra incentive to get out there.

Richard Gibney 365 Days of Fitness: Day 139

Day 139 This post is getting in a little late. I was hoping to get this in on the 139th day but we had some company over tonight, which was fun, but the fun lasted longer than I had thought it would, so I'm just getting to it now at 12:50 in the morning. Oh well, the post may be coming the day after but I promise the workout did happen on the 139th day of the year.

As I have mentioned before I've committed to doing this long run for the Kananaskis relay in June, so as much as it goes against my own personal fitness grain, I've been trying to sneak in a little bit of endurance work do prepare for this race. Today happened to be one of those endurance days.

After attending to a few of the typical Sunday things I decided to go for a run. Considering that my run is getting closer, I made today's run a little longer. I wasn't looking forward to it, but the weather was a bit cooler, which was nice and I decided to use my Adidas MiCoach, which was really cool.

I've had the MiCoach app on my phone for a long time, but have never managed to take full advantage of it because I haven't typically been doing a lot of running. However, with having to mix in a little more cardio, it seemed like a good time to take advantage of the program. I personally find long distance running really boring and mind numbing, but having the MiCoach makes it a little more dynamic. By using the MICoach, you can track, in real time, your running pace, distance, and calorie expenditure. In June I will likely have to run around 16km. At the moment, I have no idea what running 16km feels like. By using the MiCoach app, I'm able to know exactly how far I've run and how long it took me to run that distance. You have the option of using a heart rate strap for more accurate data, but I didn't have that option available. I may hit Sports Chek some time this week and add the heart rate monitor.

Today, I decided to go on a long run to get an idea of how it felt, as well as what kind of pace I'd be able to maintain for over 10 miles. I left my house at 4:00 pm and returned just after 5:00. It wasn't as long as what I will be running but it was a good test. I ran from my house around 14th St Sw and 16 ave, to Bookers restaurant by the Homeless shelter at the end of Memorial drive, then looped back to the 14th st bridge and ran home. I understand that for those of you not living in Calgary, this doesn't mean much, but trust me when I say it's legitimately far.

The MiCoach was really cool. Every mile it gave me an update, telling me how far I had run, what my 1 mile pace was, and how many calories I had burned. Unfortunately, my phone died, shortly after the 3 mile mark, making the second half of my run less enjoyable. In the end I ran around 6 miles, which i think is about 10 km. It wasn't as far as what my leg will be at the K100, but it gave me a good idea of what it will feel like. Apparently, I'm not allowed to have an ipod or anything with headphones during my race. I think I'm probably going to play ignorant and use my headphones anyway. Having the MiCoach will make the race mentally so much easier.

I was pretty tired after my run, but not spent. This is good news, as I don't want to be so wrecked after the K100 that I can't continue the workouts. I still don't plan on doing too many long distance things, but at least I have an idea of what it will feel like and what type of time I'm likely capable of posting. The one good thing about all this cardio is the food. We had cheese fondue tonight with some friends, and after running for just under an hour I didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt about eating a massive amount of steak and veggies covered in melted cheese. Tomorrow won't be quite as epic in terms of food, so the food consumption will be dialed back a bit but I still plan on eating my fare share. After all, I've worked pretty hard to maintain and grow this muscle. I'm going to do what I ever I can to maintain it.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 138

Day 138 I'm getting this one in a little late tonight. Just came home from dinner at some friends, which was great, but hopefully I can get this posted before midnight.

Well after talking about it for a couple months now, I finally managed to do some boxing. This morning my friend Goitom who is a competitive boxer took me to his boxing gym, the Bowmount Boxing Club. I had a great time. I was worked pretty hard but not, oh my God I'm going to die hard. It was really quite technical, which makes sense. After all, boxing isn't called the sweet science for nothing.

Goitom is in midst of training for a fight in a weeks time, so he got right into some heavy duty sparring. Meanwhile, I joined a bunch of young boxers outside for the warm-up and a little bit of footwork.

For the first warm-up drill about 10 of us gathered in a fairly tight circle, while one of us stood in the middle. We started by shuffling to one side around the circle. While the shuffling went on a soccer ball was thrown at the person in the middle. They either had to block the ball or duck out of the way. The ball would sometimes bounce off the persons forearms or head or miss them entirely. Regardless of where the ball went, the person in the middle had to move in such a way that they were always facing where the ball was coming from. We each took a turn in the circle.

After the soccer ball drill the coaches brought out these wooden batons with duck tapped padding around the end. Like the first drill they had us shuffle around in a circle. This time they would wave the batons at our heads, forcing us to duck while moving. They also forced us to jump over the batons by waving them at our legs. You don't typically see a lot of jumping in boxing but you do have to be light on your feet, which I think was the point. About every 10 seconds the coached would have us change directions. After a while we also added a forward movement followed by a shuffle backward and to the right or left into the footwork pattern. I was prepared for my shoulders to be tired, but after 10 minutes of the warm-up drills my calves were killing me.

Having gotten the blood pumping the coaches brought us back inside where the actual punches were going to be thrown. I was set up with one of the coaches initially to help with some fundamentals. I was naive enough to think that throwing a punch was some sort of innate man skill that all men had. I was wrong. Apparently I punch like a gorilla, fun I seem to ski like a Gorilla as well. We spent a little bit of time on my stance, then on how to properly transfer my weight. It was until I looked balance and centered that we added punching. I could write a lot about how to through a proper jab but that would take up a lot of space and time. The gist of my feed back was to keep my hands up, the seems to be a pretty standard instruction for most beginners, and punch by extending my elbow and turning my fist with my wrist. I have a habit of turning my fist with my elbow which I guess really telegraphs my punches and makes them less effective.

After getting a lesson on the basics I joined in with the bag work. The gym has a timer running the whole time. 2 minutes of work followed by 1 minute of rest, used to simulate fighting a round in a fight. I worked away on my punches with some very basic combos. The real tricky part was trying to maintain a proper boxing stance and also trying coordinate the footwork with the punches.

Goitom would takes breaks from his sparing now and then to give me a new drill to work on. One of the drills involved hitting the punching bag with my shoulders instead of my hands. I guess the idea is to teach how to use your hips, legs and torso to create power during punching. I actually was too bad at this one, but I did find the balance difficult. One of the things I will definitely remember from Goitom today was how important balance is in boxing.

On top of the bag work, shadow boxing in the mirror, and hitting the bag with my shoulders, I also found a skipping rope and did about 15 minutes of skipping. It was really cool to skip in an actual boxing gym. Something about boxing gyms really speaks to me, they're very real. There is no question as to why people are there, they're there to work hard. You don't see anyone riding the bike and reading the paper. Everyone there really has a desire to get better. They crank the tunes and the sweat starts to pour.

Going with Goitom to boxing was a lot of fun. I have a long way to go technically but I think I'm hooked. I would love to get better at boxing. I might see if I can go once a week. I imagine that as I become more proficient I will be able to get more out of the training session and really test my fitness. Tomorrow there is no plan. I might try a longish run. The K100 race date is getting closer, which means this cardiophobe will have to get out there and hit the pavement.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 137

Day 137 It was a really long week. I had a lot of very long days, that combined with my workouts has left me pretty tired. My writing skills were hard to call upon tonight for this post. Never the less, aside from the fatigue, I feel quite good. The German Volume training, although not very interesting, seems to be working. My body seems to like the high volume. That being said it doesn't make for very interesting posts.

Today's Workout:

Superset (Alternate Exercise 1 and 2)

Exercise 1: Ez Bar Tricep Skull Crusher 10 sets / 10 reps: 10 x 85lbs (60 sec rest)

Exercise 2: Dumbbell Bicep Curl 10 sets / 10 reps: 10 x 40lbs (60 sec rest)

So far all of my exercise loads from the previous week have been able to increase as planned. I also feel that I'm starting to gain some muscle, which suggests that the program seems to be doing what it was intended for. As I get ready for the K100 relay in June, the amount of cardio I will be doing will start to increase, making maintaining muscle mass more difficult. My hope is that if this program continues to do as intended that I won't lose too much weight. Lots of food will have to be on the agenda as well. Tonight was a good start with my Bronx Burger at Earls.

As I mentioned yesterday, my plan this weekend is to stay away from the gym. I feel that mentally I need a change of pace. I've been talking for a while about going boxing with my co-worker Goitom, but due to our schedules not clicking I haven't been able to join him. Tomorrow might actually work, so I'm looking forward to the possibility of hitting the bag and getting a serious sweat in a different kind of gym.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 136

Day 136 My workout today was a mish mash of core and strong man exercises. In some sense core training and strongman training are the same thing. Core training has a particular focus on the musculature of the abdomen, lower back and hips. Strongman exercises place huge a huge demand on the core but do so while engaging the rest of body as well.

The farmer walk in particular is very effective at challenging the core while involving the whole body. Everything from your traps down to your calves is working as you carry the weights. With each step you take the load shifts from one side of your body to the other. To avoid teetering and falling to one side, the muscles of your supporting leg and hip have to work very hard to stabilize the load while the opposing muscles of your core have to contract to compensate and help you maintain your balance. Essentially, during the farmer walk or any activity involving carrying heavy objects your body has to function as one giant "core" muscle.

Today's Workout

Core Tri-Set: 3 sets / exercises 1 - 3 / no rest between exercises

Exercise 1: Chin-up Lever (8 reps) Exercise 2: Barbell Overhead Squat (6 reps with 95lbs) Exercise 3: Dumbbell Farmers Walk (30 seconds)

Exercise 4: Partner Sled Push: 3 sets / 10 metres forward, 10 metres backward (60 seconds rest)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlci82bEXzw

Exercise 5: Kettlebell Swing: 1 set / 50 reps (24 kilos)

I included a video of the Partner Sled Push because I thought it was fun. I really wish we had sleds to push in our facility, but we will likely have to wait until our expansion goes through. In the mean time I just find rather larger university students who play football to push around.

Well the long weekend is upon us. My plan is to finish up with one more gym session tomorrow and then make a point of staying away from formal exercises facilities for a few days. I may do a hike, go for a bike ride, or a run. I might even play some tennis, but I'm staying away from the gym.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 135

Day 135 The first part of my workout was another German Volume Training lifting session. The second part of my workout was a hill sprint session with my conditioning group. My schedule worked out a little better today than yesterday and my group session lent itself a little better for me to join in than Monday's.

Last week my second lifting session involved an upper body push movement with a lower body pull movement. This week instead of the inclined barbell press, I chose the inclined dumbbell press because I was working out with my client Ryan. Using dumbbells made it easier for us to use different weights. Loading and unloading the bar would have been very inconvenient. I kept the lower body movement the same as last week, which was the prone leg curl. I didn't increase the weight as I should have because I wanted to be careful with my hamstring which I tweaked last week.

Today's Workout

Part 1: German Volume Training (Upper Push / Lower Pull) Week 2

Superset:

Exercise 1: Inclined Db Chest Press 10 sets / 10 reps: 10 x 60lbs / 60 seconds rest (Dowel chest opener stretch during rest period)

Exercise 2: Prone Leg Curl 10 sets / 10 reps: 10 x 110lbs / 60 seconds rest (Active hamstring stretch during rest period)

The second part of my workout was pretty hard, but I really enjoyed it. I had a great group out tonight. It was a blast to sprint up this hill with 30 people, all working really hard. There was a little bit of rain, which was actually really nice. If it was as hot as last week, I think it would have been a lot more difficult. The goal was to sprint up hill beside the Glencoe club as many times as possible in 20 minutes.

Part 2: Hill Sprints

100 metre Hill Sprints: Sprint 100 metres uphill, then walk 20 metres down and sprint back up = 1 rep

Workout = 20 minute time limit / do as many reps as possible I can't remember exactly how many reps I managed. I think it was around 6 or 7.

I feel really good after the double workout session today. Tomorrow will likely be some core and cardio in the morning, then some softball in the evening. I'm hoping not to hurt my hamstring again. A good thorough warm-up will definitely be in order.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 134

Day 134 I woke up pretty tired today and had another full day of work today with a one hour break between 2 and 3. I had to fit lunch into that window, so my workout had to be a short one. However, even with energy low and time in short supply I still managed to squeeze in some exercise.

I was envious of my group doing the battle ropes last night, so I decided it would be my turn today. I also tossed in a little bit of the Versa Climber to start (God I hate that machine) and finished with some Jam Ball Med Ball Slams. The Jam Ball is a new piece of equipment we got in the gym recently. Most of our current med balls are reactive and bounce when you throw them. The Jam Ball dies when it hits the ground, meaning that you have to pick it up as well as throw it down. If we had a large tire with a sledge hammer, I would use that instead, but the Jam ball achieves a similar effect, so I was happy to make due.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18a8KWDexL4

Today's Workout

Versa Climber: 500 ft (4:30)

Battle Rope Series: 60 seconds per exercise / 60 seconds rest

• Alternating Wave / Double Wave (30 seconds each)
• Snap Downs / Alternating Wave (30 seconds each)
• Butteflies / Double Wave / Alternating Wave with Lateral Shuffle (20 seconds each)
• Snap Downs / Jumping Jacks (30 seconds each)
• Snap Downs (60 seconds)

Jam Ball Overhead Slams: 3 sets / 15 reps / 30 seconds rest

I was hoping to hit the weights as well today, but time didn't permit. I'll make up for it tomorrow and unlike Monday, I will join in with my group as well. If I wake up in time I may also decide to run to work in the morning. No promises, but I will try.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 133

Day 133 Today marked my second week of German Volume Training. Last Monday I did a superset with chin-ups and back squats for my 10 sets of 10. Today the squat rack was busy and if I'm being really honest I was feeling pretty tired, so I wussed out and used the leg press instead. I still did the chin-ups and unlike last week where I ran out of time and had to split my workout into 2, 5 set sessions, I did all 10 sets in the same session. This made the chin-ups significantly harder, but I still managed to do 10 reps for all 10 sets.

Today's Workout:

Exercise 1: Chin-ups 10 sets / 10 reps: BW x 10 / 60 sec rest

Exercise 2: Leg Press 10 sets / 10 reps: 500 lbs x 10 / 60 sec rest

I wanted to join my group for our conditioning session this evening but I was trying something new and had to coach people through the workout. Next time I think people will have a better idea of the how the workout flows and I'll be able to join in. Below is the workout I ran my group through:

60 seconds per exercise / 2 rounds through

• Stair Sprinting
• Agility Ladder
• 5 metre Lateral Shuffle
• Battle Ropes / Burpees (30 seconds each)
• Skipping
• Kettlebell Swings
• Suicide Sprints
• V-sits / Push-ups (30 seconds each)
• Med Ball Tosses (Various different throws against brick wall)
• Cement Barrier Box Jumps / Tricep Dips
• Squat Jacks
• Split Jumps
• Skater Jumps

We followed the circuit with 10 minutes of 100 metre hill sprints. The goal was simply to do as many sprints as possible in 10 minutes. I think most people managed about 3 or 4.

I know the bottom part wasn't technically my workout, but I felt including it would make this post a lot more interesting that posting a workout virtually the same as one I completed last week. I might try doing a similar circuit workout for myself tomorrow.

One of the stations we used for our circuit was battleropes: Below is a youtube link showing some of the many exercise variations possible with battle ropes. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6yX0GVDu1Y

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 132

Day 132 Today was Mother's Day. The day where we celebrate the one woman who has nurtured us from birth, clothed us, fed us, and maybe occasionally given us a smack on the bum. It is also the day where people frequently will engage in the massive Mother's Day brunch. I was one of those brunch frequenters, and I have to say I did a pretty good job. However, brunch and exercise don't usually mix too well.

After feeling full all day and slipping into a food coma this afternoon, I eventually mustered up the energy to do a workout. I didn't feel up to anything too long. My hamstring was feeling better, so I was able to sneak in a little bit of running. I decided to go back to my trusty nearby playground and do a really quick 3 exercise circuit.

Today's Workout

Run 3 blocks to neighbourhood playground and perform the following circuit

• Skipping Double Unders: 50 reps
• Push-ups: 50 reps
• Hanging Knee Raises (Knees to Elbows): 15 reps

Perform 3 rounds without resting

Run 3 blocks back home.

It wasn't the most epic of workouts, but as I mentioned yesterday, motivation is tough on the weekends. It was pretty fun little circuit. It didn't bother my hamstring at all, and it worked up a decent sweat, which considering what ate for brunch today was definitely a good thing. I'll likely wait at least until Father's Day until I have gummy worms and chocolate mouse.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 131

Day 131 Ahh Saturdays, the second most difficult day of the week to make a workout happen, next to Sundays. You would think it would be one of the easiest, seeing as I shouldn't have things like work getting in the way, but for some reason I find motivation on the weekends very difficult. Today I had to work a little bit, so at least I was already at the gym. My client actually didn't show up in the end so I had plenty of time to get in some exercise.

I pretty much made it up on the spot. I really had no idea what today would entail. I did however, have a couple things in mind. My hamstring was still really unhappy, and the fact that my knee didn't like softball that much on Thursday lead to me think I still needed to work on stabilizing my leg leg. With those two things in mind I integrated a little bit of work for the knee and really avoided anything that would further aggravate the hamstring. Aside from those two things I pretty much just messed around and had some fun.

A friend and former client of mine, Bill Borger has been playing around with some really cool pull-up variations. He's a very accomplished climber. He climbed a certain mountain called Everest, and swam the English Channel,  making him the only person in Canada to do so. Needless to say he's pretty impressive. I was inspired by some of his feats of strength yesterday, so today I thought I'd try my hand at a couple of them.

Today's Workout

Rowing Machine Pyramid: 200 m @ 2:00 minute 500 m pace / 30 sec rest 400 m @ 2:00 minute 500 m pace / 30 sec rest 600 m @ 2:00 minute 500 m pace / 30 sec rest 400 m @ 2:00 minute 500 m pace / 30 sec rest 200 m @ 2:00 minute 500 m pace / 30 sec rest

Exercise 1: The Borger Rack Climber: Climb from left to right and back 3 times

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RolpTX_jvf4

Exercise 2: Smith Machine Salmon Ladder: 2 set / 4 reps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbE7G2gfdFU

Tri-Set: no rest between exercises Exercise 3: Pull-ups: 4 sets (15 reps,15 reps,12 reps,10 reps) Exercise 4: Front Foot Elevated Split Squat: 4 sets / 12 reps per side Exercise 5: Mini Band Lateral Shuffle: 4 sets / 15 reps per side

Exercise 6: Petersen Step-up: 3 sets / 12 reps per side / 45 seconds rest

It was a bit of a mish mash, but it was fun. Some of the guys who join my conditioning group were working out at the same time, so there was some fun energy around the squat rack. I was supposed to go for a run with my friend Tim tomorrow, but I decided to pass to give my hamstring a little more rest. On a side note I'm going to to start posting my exercises to you tube. If you're interested subscribe to my youtube channel for easy access to my exercise library as it grows.

Richard Gibney's 365 Day's of Fitness: Day 130

Day 130 With yesterday being a big day of exercise, today was a much more condensed session by comparison. I was thinking that I might try some yoga this morning at our Friday morning staff yoga class, but I'm pretty sure I tweaked my hamstring last night at softball. The last thing the back of my leg was going to let me do today was stretch it. I don't think it's anything serious, just something I'll have to baby for a couple days.

For my workout today I decided to continue with the German Volume Training theme, this time focusing on shoulders. However, instead of sticking with one exercise for all 10 sets, I split the workout into 2 exercises, using 5 reps each. I didn't want to do any pressing as my triceps were pretty tired from yesterday, so I chose 2 variations of dumbbell raises to isolate the deltoids without involving the triceps.

For the sake of efficiency and just good thorough training I integrated core training into my rest periods. This meant that while my shoulders were recovering I was able to get my core work in as well. Standing around doing just one exercise isn't too much fun.

Today's Workout

Cable Chop / Lift Superset

Exercise 1: Downward Cable Chop 3 sets / 10 reps per side: 10 reps x 70lbs / no rest

Exercise 2: Upward Cable Lift 3 sets / 10 reps per side: 10 reps x 70lbs / 60 sec rest

German Volume Training Day 4: Shoulders mixed with core

GVT Exercise 1: Dumbbell Lateral Raise 5 sets / 10 reps: 10 reps x 17.5lbs / rest 60 sec Sets 1 - 3 Superset with TRX Superman Fall-out (3 sets / 10 reps) Sets 4 - 5 Superset with TRX Hip Drop Oblique Crunch (2 sets / 10 reps per side)

GVT Exercise 2: Bent-Over Reverse Db Fly 5 sets / 10 reps: 10 reps x 17.5lbs / rest 60 sec Set 1 Superset with TRX Hip Drop Oblique Crunch (1 set / 10 reps per side) Set 2 - 4 Superset with Overhead Med Ball Slam (3 sets / 10 reps) Set 5 no superset

Below is a video of the Overhead Med Ball Slam (One of my favorite exercises)

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

I was going to try another run this weekend, but unfortunately with my hammy under the weather I'll have to change plans. I could see how the bike feels and try some intervals if it feels ok. This Softball is a lot of fun but it's hell on my body. Last year by the end of the summer season I had strained my hip flexor and had been hit in the face with a line drive. I'm hoping I've had my share of injuries for this season. Next week I'll do a good warm-up and maybe wear some compression shorts.

Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 129

Day 129 Today was a pretty busy exercise day. I continued with the German Volume Training protocol in the morning with a could old fashioned biceps and triceps superset. I've mentioned before, arms day isn't going to help you win any athletic competitions, but a good arm pump is pretty addictive. I also included a little bit of injury prevention work for good measure. By using my rest periods between sets to open up my hip flexors and work on scapular stability I was able to get some more overall training benefits other than jacking up my arms and stroking my ego.

Later in the afternoon I did a 45 minute run, which I'm guessing was about 8km. As I mentioned in an early post I've agreed to do to the Kananaskis Relay race, where I will likely have to run pretty close to 16km. I thought I'd would try a decently long run just to see how I felt. It was fine, although it was doing my head in the whole time. Philosophically I'm not a big fan of long duration cardiovascular training. There's so many other things I'd rather do with 45 minutes not too mention the fact that's it's extremely catabolic. As I'm running I imagine myself ripping off my muscles and throwing them away like Robbie Williams in Rock DJ. I could probably survive the race without doing too much endurance training but I don't want to run the risk of injuring myself, so I'm going to mix in a bit of long stuff over the next month.

Here's the Rock DJ video to illustrate how I feel about what happens during long duration cardio. You have to watch until the end to see what I mean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcGcT4gkDF8

After work I joined my softball team the "Chucking Muffins" for our first game of the spring season. It was a blast. I don't get to see a lot of my teammates very much outside of softball season, so it was really nice to see them again. We had a really tight game, winning 17-16. I had a great game, scoring one home run and catching a couple deep hits to the outfield. However, my left knee and hamstring are a little fired up from running the bases. I was hoping my knee wouldn't bother me, but apparently I still have some work to do on it.

Today's Workout Part 1 German Volume Training Day 3: Triceps and Biceps

Superset 1:

Exercise 1: Ez Curl Skull Crusher (Tricep Extension 10 sets / 10 reps: 10 x 75lbs (60 sec rest)

- Correcive Exercise 1 (During rest period): Kneeling Quad Hip Flexor Stretch (10 x 3 sec holds per side)

Exercise 2: Db Bicep Curl 10 sets / 10 reps: 10 x 35lbs (60 sec rest)

- Corrective Exercise 2 (During rest period): Db T (15 reps)

Part 2

45 minute run (Light to Medium Intensity) Glencoe to 4th St - 4th St to 17th Ave - 17th Ave to 14th St - 14th St to 33rd Ave - 33rd Ave to Glencoe Club (I understand this probably doesn't mean much if you don't live in the area)

Part 3

Soft Ball with the Chucking Muffins: We won 17-16.

Tomorrow I might hit up some Yoga if my hamstring feels ok, if not I work on some core and some more injury prevention, but then again I may change my mind and do something completely different.