tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81032762083273134522024-03-13T19:31:43.095-07:00Minimalist Cross TrainerThoughts and observations about physical fitness and training.coachwallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226986407219035061noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8103276208327313452.post-14670052853560337112013-03-21T06:24:00.001-07:002013-03-21T06:24:55.478-07:00New PRI set a new clean and jerk PR of 195#'s. That might not sound like a lot but for me it was a huge rush. I was stuck at 185#'s for a long time. I had been sick (head cold flu crap) and my work schedule had kept me from following my workouts consistently. <br />
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I didn't feel like working out that day. I was tired, stressed out, and still didn't feel that great. I worked up to 185 and got it easy. So I figured what the heck and gave 195 a shot. I considered trying 190 but to be honest with you I just new I would be able to get 195. <br />
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My point is don't skip the gym just because you're tired or the "conditions" aren't perfect. Some of my best workouts have happened when I was mentally exhausted and didn't feel like working out.<br />
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So how about you? Ever set a PR or have a really great workout when you didn't even want to be in the gym? Tell me your story in the comments.coachwallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226986407219035061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8103276208327313452.post-79613893621413126682012-06-30T15:05:00.001-07:002012-06-30T15:05:17.317-07:00Fitness and Golf<div>
<span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I posted this on a golf instruction forum and thought it would be applicable here.</span></div>
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<i>I cringe anytime I read about someone wanting to work on golf specific exercises.</i></span><i><br style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I know tons and tons of stuff about physical training from personal study and experience. I'm not a physical trainer or anything like that but I have a background in the stuff that would top most "certified" trainers that work out of local gyms. In my opinion trying to follow or develop a golf specific fitness program is a waste of time and can actually lead to a decrease in performance. If you want evidence look at the training that is done by athletes in other sports. Basketball players don't follow programs that are basketball specific. They follow programs that develop overall strength and endurance and movement in all directions.</span><br style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Most of your really good athletes in any sport were also really good in other sports. I believe this is true because playing more than one sport develops a balanced athlete and they learn to move their bodies in any direction not just the directions needed for their primary sport. This has been proven over and over again by people a lot smarter than I am.</span><br style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I'm experiencing really, really good results working with a program that stresses overall improvement in strength, athletic development, and movement. I've also started some mobility work that shows a lot of promise. I didn't develop either of the programs and I'm not affiliated with them in anyway. It's free for anyone to follow but it's very difficult if you have no background in physical movement. I'm not comfortable posting the link here because this isn't my website and neither is the one that post the workouts. If you want to find it do a search for cross training and you'll get pretty close. If you want specifics you can PM and I'll give you the links to the two programs I'm following.</span><br style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I'm also not going to be so bold as to say what I'm doing is the best programming on earth but it's the best I've found so far. The key is balancing improvements in strength, movement, and endurance.</span><br style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">It would be a very good idea to work with a trainer for a little while that can at least teach you correct movements so you don't hurt yourself. Just don't tell them you want a program to improve your golf game.</span></i><div>
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<span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">This is my blog so I'm not afraid to say that the programming that I'm currently following is <a href="http://outlawcrossfit.com/">outlaw crossfit</a> and I also use <a href="http://www.mobilitywod.com/">mobility WOD</a>. You don't have to be a super athlete to follow the mobility WOD site. In my opinion the mobility WOD is something everyone should follow regardless of age or physical ability.</span></div>coachwallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226986407219035061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8103276208327313452.post-58836732584181122092012-06-25T15:31:00.000-07:002012-06-25T15:31:53.108-07:00What I've learned...so farI've followed tons of different fitness programs. Over the following few weeks I'm going to try to summarize some of the programs I've followed and what I've learned about myself following these programs. There are a few things however, that are universal to all programs. I'll go into more detail on these points later on.<br />
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1. Your diet is almost as important as your program.<br />
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2. Your program is almost as important as your diet.<br />
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3. Supplements won't fix your problems.<br />
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4. You need to know what results you want before you start a program or diet.<br />
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5. You have to follow the program!<br />
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6. You don't need a lot of equipment to get in great shape.<br />
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7. The only excuses are the ones between your ears.<br />
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8. Write down everything!<br />
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This might be the most important one. I have fitness journals going back over 10 years. I can look back at these journals and see what programming I was following, how much I weighed, what my maxes were, etc. This is extremely important for several reasons. You need to know if you are making progress. You need to be able to look for trends to see what works and what doesn't work for you. It keeps you motivated. If you aren't tracking something, anything, you will fail. I'll write a much more detailed post later on about the importance of tracking workouts. For now get a notebook of your choice and a pen and start writing things down.<br />
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9. Write down what you eat.<br />
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I wish I had figured this out and done it a long time ago. Diet can have a huge impact on your results. I didn't pick this habit up because it can be a real pain in the ass. There are lots of free sites on the internet now that make it very simple to keep track of your diet. All you need is a computer and a small scale to weigh your food. After a while you won't have to way everything because you'll have a good idea of how much you are eating just by looking at it. This will even work in restaurants when dragging a scale along in impractical. You can use measuring cups to determine how much you are eating but they don't work as well in my opinion. Not everything fits well in a measuring cup. Frozen fruit comes to mind.<br />
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10. Don't quit.<br />
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<br />coachwallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226986407219035061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8103276208327313452.post-17689822842576177842012-05-17T16:00:00.001-07:002012-05-17T16:00:41.707-07:0017 May 2012 Crossfit Workout<br />
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17 May 2012</div>
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Five rounds for time of:<br />135 pound Power clean, 10 reps<br />15 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball</div>
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Scaled</div>
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Five rounds for time of:<br />115 pound Power clean, 10 reps<br />15 Wall ball shots, 15 pound ball</div>
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18:00? Forgot to stop the timer so that's the best guess.</div>
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Power cleans are starting to get better. Need to work on the landing though. It feels like my lower back is a little over extended when I catch the weight. Also need to work on catching it with my shoulders and not in my fingers. My fingers could get a little painful when the weight starts getting a little heavier.</div>coachwallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226986407219035061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8103276208327313452.post-5624782847456986932011-12-20T18:19:00.000-08:002011-12-20T18:19:53.270-08:00What is the optimal training model for strength and mobility?Long title. Longer question. I'm not going to pretend to have the answer either. I believe that like most things fitness related, there are multiple answers and models that will fit one person but not another person.<br />
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My goal is to find the best model for me. I have been looking for the model that will give me the best blend of strength, agility, and endurance. It's a hotly debated topic and there are several philosophies out there. <br />
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Over the next few weeks I hope to summarize many of those schools of thought here. <br />
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Stay tuned!coachwallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226986407219035061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8103276208327313452.post-42986597179007305412011-10-12T18:57:00.000-07:002011-10-12T18:57:22.197-07:00Eating RightI've been following a new to me diet for about three weeks now. It's called the "Primal Blueprint" and was developed by Mark Sisson. You can find his blog over at marksdailyapple. I love his blog and so far I love his diet.<br />
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My experience has been very positive so far. I haven't had a slice of bread in three weeks. No bagels and peanut butter for breakfast in all most as long (That was hard for me to give up. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.) I'm eating a lot more meat and a lot more vegetables and fruit. <br />
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My occasional heartburn is gone. I don't have as much knee and foot pain when I get up in the mornings. My energy levels have been very good. I think this week has been the best for energy so far. I don't have the mid afternoon coma anymore (You know what I'm talking about. Eat lunch. Go back to work. Feel like a nap the rest of the day.<br />
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My energy level this week is what surprises me the most. I'm in the national guard and the last weekend was a three day drill weekend. I'm usually exhausted after one of those weekends but I feel great this week. I don't know how else to explain it except that the diet is really working.<br />
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My only complaint so far is I've been pretty hungry. It hasn't been near as bad this week but it's still there. I think I'm probably under eating a little bit and still not eating enough vegetables. I'm still learning how to eat like this so I'm not to worried about it right now.<br />
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I'll keep you updated on the progress I make. I'm reading Mark's book at the same time so I'm sure that I'm making mistakes and still have a lot to learn but I'm okay with that. I usually analyze everything to death before I do something so it feels really good to just jump in to something. I'm really enjoying the journey.coachwallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226986407219035061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8103276208327313452.post-2225505938533989582011-09-05T18:13:00.000-07:002011-09-05T18:13:09.642-07:00Breathing is exercise too.Don't believe me? Try this the next time you go for a walk around your neighborhood. <br />
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Don't think about anything but your breathing while you walk and walk at a slow relaxed pace. Take a long, slow, deep breath in through your nose. Make the breath as deep as you can make it and then hold it for two steps. <br />
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Now let the breath out slowly through your mouth but make a ssssss sound through your teeth. As you let the breath out tighten your core muscles as tightly as you can. One you have forced as much air as you can out take two steps before you repeat the process.<br />
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How did it feel? I bet you don't make it very far breathing like this.<br />
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So how does knowing that breathing is exercise too help you? You have to make effective use of breathing during your workouts to maximize all the energy you have stored up in your muscles. If you aren't breathing effectively you will fatigue more quickly and it will take your body longer to recover between workouts.<br />
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Later I'll make a post on how you can use breathing to strengthen your core and increase your energy every day.coachwallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226986407219035061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8103276208327313452.post-25303628945167696312011-08-29T18:42:00.000-07:002011-08-29T18:42:03.910-07:00How to break in a pair of Merrell Barefoot Trail GlovesIt's true. I do do dumb things. They don't seem dumb at first. But after much thought coupled with a little pain the error of my ways becomes perfectly clear. So I don't really suggest you break in a pair of Trail Gloves this way. But I hope you enjoy my little story about how NOT to break in these shoes.<br />
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First start by wearing some very thin socks for this break in. You'll understand in a minute.<br />
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Step 1: Spend 8 hours on your feet teaching middle school kids. Make sure the floor only has a thin layer of non-padded carpet over solid concrete.<br />
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Step 2: Go to golf practice and walk nine holes with the varsity. Make sure you don't take any clubs out of your bag because you want as much weight in it as possible. You don't want your players to think your soft or old.<br />
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Step 3: Go home and change into some running clothes. <strike>Make sure you change your socks because you don't want to run with wet socks</strike>. Take you socks off. These shoes were made to be worn without socks.<br />
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Step 4: Run a couple miles at a slow pace. You don't want to push it to hard because you want your feet to get used to being in minimalist shoes. 8:00 to 8:30 per mile pace should be about right. To much to soon and you could injure yourself.<br />
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Step 5: Whine and complain the rest of the night and all of the next day to your significant other about how bad your feet and calves hurt. Don't worry, you probably won't get any sympathy from said significant other. At least not from my significant other.<br />
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And there you have it. A perfectly broken in pair of Merrell Barefoot Trail Gloves. Your feet will be perfectly broken in too but who cares right?<br />
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In all fairness, these shoes don't need to be broken in. I love these shoes. I don't think you need me to give you a long drawn out review of THE shoes. There are plenty of those on the net all ready. I will tell you that you need to work into these shoes a little at a time if you are used to going barefoot all ready. <br />
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I actually "broke these shoes in" back in April.I have worn these shoes to work multiple times now. I've played golf in them a few times. I've also gone on multiple runs in them. The more I wear them the more I like them. In fact I'm planning on buying a pair of the tough gloves as soon as the budget allows.<br />
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If you've been thinking about getting a pair of these I say go for it. They ran true to size for me without socks on but a 1/2 size small with socks on.coachwallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226986407219035061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8103276208327313452.post-48519854128547870212011-06-07T10:52:00.000-07:002011-06-07T10:52:55.289-07:00A True Minimalist Shoe Test?Jason over at Barefoot Running University (a great blog if you haven't read it) has a very interesting post about the possibility of shoe companies submitting their shoes for independent testing. If you are a believer in minimalist shoes and want to see how they really stack up against "elite" running shoes read this article and get the word out.<br />
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<a href="http://barefootrunninguniversity.com/2011/06/07/dr-craig-richards-a-call-for-independent-shoe-testing/">http://barefootrunninguniversity.com/2011/06/07/dr-craig-richards-a-call-for-independent-shoe-testing/</a>coachwallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226986407219035061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8103276208327313452.post-35158154989182118542011-04-25T14:48:00.000-07:002011-04-25T14:48:08.190-07:00Why Do Minimalist Cross Training?The short version to the question "Why Do Minimalist Cross Training?" is meaningful training with minimal equipment. I believe the biggest obstacles to maintaining any fitness plan are having a place to train that's close, convenient, cheap, and free of people watching you train.<br />
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I've never had a serious weight problem or been seriously out of shape. That doesn't mean that I like to work out around other people. In fact, I hate working out around other people. Especially people that I don't know. It isn't a lack of confidence. I've been in the military in one form or the other for a long time. I've achieved a rank that puts we in charge of lots of people. I'm also a teacher, coach, and in leadership positions at work. I'm also fairly athletic. I can hang with just about anyone my age and many people younger than me in just about any sport. I have no reason to not be confident about myself.<br />
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I just don't like the feeling that people are watching me and criticizing me. I also don't like the gym environment and all the testosterone that comes with it. I don't have to lift more weight or have bigger muscles than anyone else in the gym to feel like a real man.<br />
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So I do minimalist cross training because I always have a place to work out, I can work out any time I want to, it doesn't cost me a dime, and I don't have to worry about who is watching me. It's also a lot of fun because I'm free to do anything I want to.<br />
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I mean, what's better than coming home and being in your gym as soon as you walk in the door?coachwallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226986407219035061noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8103276208327313452.post-44945890840489227302011-04-24T18:21:00.000-07:002012-06-30T15:12:28.481-07:00What I Hope to Accomplish With This BlogI have to admit that the reasons for starting this blog are mostly self-serving. No, I'm not trying to make money, although that would be nice. I'm also not trying to become famous, as I'm not interested in that at all. My main reasons for starting this blog are to keep my motivation up, keep track of what kind of training I'm doing, connect with other people with similar training interests, and I like to write. The last reason for doing this, not so self-serving, is to help other people try a different type of training and maybe help a few people become more physically fit.<br />
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In future posts I'll give a more detailed history of my training experiences, good and bad, but the short version is I've tried it all. Heavy weights, light weights, no weights, lots of cardio, no cardio, and anything you can think of in between.<br />
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So what are you going to see here? I'll try to mix a little of what I've done in the past, what I've learned from my successes and failures, what I'm doing now, and where I hope to go in the future. I'll not do a bunch of motivational posts but I'll talk about what motivates me. I'll also give you my opinions about what I see in the fitness industry good, and bad.<br />
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I believe that the name of my blog gives a little insight into where I'm at now and where I'll continue to go with my training. I don't believe lots of equipment is needed to get or stay in good shape. I'll explain why and talk about how I do it.<br />
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I look forward to adding lots of content in the near future and I hope that you'll enjoy reading what I have to say.coachwallshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226986407219035061noreply@blogger.com0