Manifesto

So this is the long and short of it. There are no shortcuts to fitness. Fitness is gained day in and day out from hard work and sucking it up. If someone promises you better health with less work they are most likely trying to part you from you money.
I propose this. 16 weeks of honest hard work and you will be amazed with the amount of progress you can make. This programming is aimed at people who know what they are doing and can take a lot of punishment in and out of the gym. You need to be able to sleep as close to or more than 8 hours a night and know how to eat enough.
The effectiveness of so many weight training regiments is blunted by the inability to eat enough food. If you are looking to show some abs or think that an appropriate shirt size for a man to wear is Medium, this is not the program for you. If you want to be strong and able to do more things than have been beyond you reach this is the program for you.
Training will be 7 days a week with some days devoted to active rest rather than bludgeoning your brain out. Most of these days will be double days. You will learn to deal with the suck or be crushed by it. There is periodization to our programming, there is also linear strength progression. If you must absolutely take a day off then do, but try to avoid that if at all possible.
A 2 week indoc period started below should give you a sense if you are up to the full training regiment.

Notes:
Yes you get to play. Contrary to popular belief training is not an end in and of itself. Well it is if you are a professional athlete. Not one of you reading this blog are professional athletes. You are Johnny Average or above average and you like the act of training. You like how it makes you feel, you like how it makes you look, but most of all you like the way it strips away the bullshit and lets you focus your mind. So yes pick a sport I don’t care what it is except that it is somewhat difficult and that you genuinely enjoy playing it. I like Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. It is hard work, but fun an interesting enough to help motivate me to train on days that I don’t really want to.
If you are stumped some good examples of manly sports are listed below
• Rugby
• Water Polo
• Soccer
• Martial Arts (something with grappling if you can manage it)
• Football

Weights:
You should be lifting loads that are comfortable for you. It is more important to get used to moving these weights than it is to try to smash previous personal bests. Try and RPE of about 7-8 with each lift
{time period} denotes a pause at that particular phase of the movement

Monday
Workout 1: Cardio
Run: 25 minute jogging pace- goal here is to start to develop some mitochondrial density in our muscles and a cardiovascular system that can effectively deliver blood and nutrients to our muscles
Stretching: 15 minutes – a more complete run down of this will be provided later but for now we just want to work on flexibility. Flexibility ensure joint health and resistance to injury
Workout 2: Weights
Warmup: (2 snatch long pull + 2 snatch push press + 2 overhead squats ) x 4 sets
Snatch Series: (Power snatch + OHS {5 sec} + snatch {5 sec} ) x 5 sets
Overhead Series : (Push press + jerk behind neck + jerk {5 sec in split} )x 5 sets
Leg Series: (Jerk Dip Squat x 3) x 5 sets
Conditioning: (Hanging Leg raise x 10) x 4 sets
Stretching: Stretch again focusing on rolling out or using an Indian rubber ball

Tuesday
Workout : Play
Choose your Activity: 90 minutes
Stretching : 15 minutes
Wednesday
Workout 1: Cardio
Run: 25 minutes - at a steady state between 9 and 10 minute miles. You are allowed to spend the last 3 minutes picking up the pace and the last of those minutes in an all out sprint provided that you walk for 5 minutes afterwards

Workout 2: Weights
Warmup: (2 push press + 2 jerk behind neck + 2 press behind neck in split) x 4 sets
Clean Series: (Power clean + front squat {5 sec} + clean + jerk {5 sec in split}) x 5 set
Pull Series: (Hang snatch high pull, flat footed x4)x4 sets
Leg Series: (Front Squat x 3) x 5
Conditioning: (Hanging Leg raise x 10) x 4 sets
Stretching: Stretch again focusing on rolling out or using an Indian rubber ball

Thursday
Workout: Play
Choose your Activity: 90 minutes
Stretching : 15 minutes

Friday
OFF

Saturday
Workout: Weights
To be Announced

Sunday
Workout : Stretching

Take a yoga class, watch a stretching video but try to do it for at least an hour. Again try to have fun Dumbdumb. Things only get harder.

Back to Full Swing

I had an awful weekend full of sickness and travel and was not able to do a workout proper due to those limitations. However, I started off Monday strong with a nice metcon and finished with a crossfit workout.

AM workout:

Bicycle - 1:2 work:rest on 1:40 intervals
Work Zone: 290-310 Watts
Rest Zone:190-210 Watts

Intervals complete: 7

PM Workout:

5-10-15-20-25-30 Deadlift at 226#
30-25-20-15-10-5 Push Ups

Time: 9:06

Sickeness

I couldn't Crossfit or metcon today because of a cold, I say this matter of factly, because I legitimately tried to row and when that failed, I tried to WOD and that througoughly failed. I ended up compromising and lifting my MEBB upper body course work and getting the hell out of the gym.

MEBB Upper Body - Shoulder Press
5 - 95
5 - 100
5 - 105
3 - 110
3 - 110
3 - 115

I'm not proud of it, but one of my greatest weaknesses in life is my shoulders. I avoided lifting them when I was growing up because of swimming and I ended up ruining thier flexibility and my ability to do anything in that superior range of motion.

Keep It Simple Stupid

MEBB Lower Body

5 - 225
5 -230
5 - 235
3 - 260
3 - 265
3 - 270

Percentages were low today, just under where I would like them but overall a good day. I'll have a bigger update later

Tis the Season

A blizzard hit the Midwest, I say this not to update people on my life, but as the explanantion to the workout today. Missing out on a facility for metabolic conditioning because my car could not get out of the parking lot. I aimed for a Crossfit WOD that I really wanted to do from last week. The Lumber Jack 20 was a workout preformed in honor of the slain soldiers and civilians killed in the Fort Hood Masacre, beyond the emotional significance of this workout, its definitely rough. I had some major subs, but think I kept the intent true.

20 Deadlifts (275lbs)
150 Jump Rope
20 KB swings (2pood -> Russian)
150 Jump Rope
20 Overhead Squats (115lbs)
150 Jump Rope
20 Burpees
150 Jump Rope
20 Pullups (Dead Hang)
150 Jump Rope
20 Box jumps (24")
150 Jump Rope
20 Squat Cleans (135lbs)
150 Jump Rope

Time: 31:14

Observations: Squat Cleans were rough te day after training them in my MEBB Total Body day and by far, took the most time of any lift in the workout. I split it into 4x5 reps scheme in fact and rested 10-15 seconds; accidently it turned into a partial tabata scheme. I haven't really ever jumped rope, for athletics or for fun, and I was worried about this in place of 400 m run. I put in good numbers each time by getting above 100 before first failure (happened in the 4 round).


Today I put an emphais on quality: quality of my deadlift pull, squat clean full hip extension and the low catch, etc. I have been debating the crossfit axiom of 80/20. In top tier crossfit athletes, the presense of proper form appear 80% of the time, while incorrect form is present 20% of the time. The justification for this inconsistancy is intensity and form are on the same axis, and one is a trade off for another. If one looks at the Crossfit Message Board's Injury Section and one can see injuries prevades this axiom (coupled with the fast push of new clients to enter full Crossfit WODs). A mentality that leads to needless injury and an execuse to be lazy. Form degrades with reptitions, trainers should be waching for this using verbal and physical cues or the client need to reset the weight and use the form they began with before preceding. Intensity can still be gained from technique and form, that's turly an axiom.

Stuff Dreams are Made Of

Let's address some concerns with the program I have made:

Overtraining is probably the biggest concern, if my litmus test for my program is my ability to preform then overtraining is my downfall. Symptoms of overtraining include: headaches, pain in joints and muscles, general ill feeling, and a drop in preformance. Thusly, overtraining needs to be avoided at all costs. I would suggest for those that are worried that a 6 day on/1 day off schedule might be to much, they should look at micro-cycling: 3 days on, 1 day off.

Day 1 Crossfit and Metcon

Day 2 MEBB (Total Body, Upper Body, or Lower Body)

Day 3 Crossfit and Metcon

Day 4 Rest

I would suggest this schedule as well for off season athlete not in a preparatory phase or preconditioning phase of their sport. Reduce stress on the body is modest gains in the off season.

My First Day of the Experiment:

MEBB (Max Effort Black Box) - Total Body

Power Cleans 5,5,5,3,3,3 reps

5- 170lbs
5- 175 lbs
5- 180 lbs
3- 195 lbs
3- 200 lbs
3- Fail at 200 lbs

Strong first showing I think, with the limited equipment (no bumper plates and shitty bar) I was able to follow closely my plan and was able to test the waters. Where did the numbers come from?

The Prilepin Chart

%1RM.............Reps per Set.........Optimal Reps..........Rep Range

55-65.................. 3-6.................... 24 .................. 18-30

70-75.................. 3-6.....................18 .................. 12-24

80-85 ................. 2-4 ....................15....................10-20

90+ .................... 1-2 .................... 7 ................... 4-10

For Example: with a 5,5,5,3,3,3 rep scheme and a max of 200 lbs for a Power Clean and individal should be repping 70-75% of 200 (150 lbs) for their 5 reps and 80-85% for their 3 rep sets. Optimal reps factors in moreso for the Starting Strength rep schemes of 5x5 etc.

Modifications I have made already to experiment:

Tuesday is now MEBB Lower Body and Thursdays are now MEBB Total Body days. This works better with my training schedule at work and I then have access to bumper plates and equipment for the dynamic movements of Total Body Day

The Experiment

I got fed up with my workouts, like everyone else on the planet that suscribes to be more fit. Sooner or later, we all hit that wall and can't figure out how to push through. This is so discouraging to some individuals, that they call it quits (see 3 weeks after New Year's). Some continue with their workouts and hate every minute of it. I spent most of the day researching proven techniques and programs. I then implemented a a cohesive fitness package that is tailored to me; to my goals, to my weaknesses, and most importantly something a little more measurable for my obcessive tendencies. Is it entirely original? No not at all, but its the best progrmming package for intermediate to advance athletes in my opinion. It focuses on performance in multple modalities and utlizes a strength bias.

Basic Schedule:
Mon - Crossfit and Metcon
Tues - MEBB Total Body
Wed - Crossfit and Metcon
Thur - MEBB Lower Body and Metcon
Fri - Crossfit and Metcon
Sat - MEBB Upper Body and Gymnastic Technique
Sun - Full Rest Day

MEBB (Max Effort Black Box) - Developed by Michael Rutherford is a programmed strength bias for Crossfitter (and beyond) that utilization of periodization for three seperate lift regions: Total Body, Upper Body and Lower Body. Using 3 week cycles and phaso-creatine energy system. A better explanation is here and a link to Rutherford's actual MEBB articles can be found at Catalyst Athletics

MetCon - Are primarily coming from Crossfit Endurance which is the school of though in which intensity and intercal cycles are preached. I also plan to train in extended cardiovascular endurance training which will be recored on this blog.

Current Statistics:
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 194 lbs
Body Fat Percentage: 8.94 (Bod Pod tested)
Total Body: Power Clean - 245 lbs
Upper Body: Weighted Pull Ups - 300 lbs (me plus weight)
Lower Body: Back Squat - 325 lbs

Tomorrow starts the experiments, lets see what happens