EvRev's Journal page 4

[EvRevFit]

1,000 swings done, but I had to cancel my regularly-scheduled lifting session. I may pull out the TRX and kettlebell and do some stuff here at home when the sun goes down. This heat is really hurting my sleep and recovery, and my fiance (a.k.a. the boss) won't let me turn on the damn A/C! I can't wait for the cool weather of Fall!

[EvRevFit]

This cool weather has really helped out a lot with my sleep and recovery. Yesterday I knocked out 1,000 swings and did the following (at home...the gym was a madhouse so I put my squat workout off until Thursday or Friday):

Kettlebell Full-Body Attack (dbl 24's, sprawl, jump through, clean, jerk, repeat) - 3x5
Weighted Dips (+25lbs) - 8, 7, 5 (gotta increase the weight)
Renegade Rows (dbl 24's) - 3x12, alternating l/r

Two Hands Pinch Deadlift @90lbs - 3x5 w/5 sec on each final rep
DBL 24 Farmer's Walk x4 as far as possible
HLL - 3x10
Sledge Gama Casts @16lbs - 4x10

Felt good to do something different. I may do this once every two weeks or so for a while. It'll be my "Renegade Day." Unconventional Training at its best!

Today: 1,000 swings and a few 50m sprints. Legs now feel like Jell-O.

[EvRevFit]

Yesterday I had an unusually high amount of pent-up aggression, so in addition to completing the kettlebell challenge (10,000 swings DONE!) I did a freestyle-ish workout.

30 minutes of:
Tire Flips @ 250lbs
Sandbag Cleans @ 100lbs

I didn't count any reps or sets, I just kept going until I couldn't go any more.

Then:
15 minutes freestyle kettlebelling.

I basically did swings, snatches, cleans, front snatches, windmills, guerrilla cleans, high pulls, figure 8's...just a lot of random stuff. I just kept going with as little stopping as possible. It felt great and totally intuitive!

I may throw in a day or two like this every couple weeks just to keep things from getting stale and add a different element into my training!

[WarlordBlade]

Nice job on completing the KB Swing Challenge. I need to get more Kettle Bells - right now I just have one 35#. I like the Demon bells.

Also - I definitely don't have an official goal to tryout for American Ninja Warrior - but I would love to try the course! Love that show!

[EvRevFit]

Nice job on completing the KB Swing Challenge. I need to get more Kettle Bells - right now I just have one 35#. I like the Demon bells.

Also - I definitely don't have an official goal to tryout for American Ninja Warrior - but I would love to try the course! Love that show!

I want a Demon Bell! They look so badass!

I have a buddy that's buying property in the woods (where his future house will be), and building a mock ANW course there so we can train for it.

And thanks!

[EvRevFit]

Yesterday I went pretty much sandbag-specific:
Sandbag = 100#
Kettlebells = 53# each

Sandbag Zercher Squat - 3x10
Double KB Sprawl to Deadlift - 3x10
Sandbag Bent-Over Row - 3x10
Sandbag Floor Press W/ Hip Bridge - 3x10
Wall Climb - 3x5 (~7ft wall)
DBL KB Farmer's Walk - 3x as far as possible
Bottom-up Walk - 3x as far as possible l,r

Today was my high-volume KB day with the 35#:
300 swings for time (one-handed, alternating every 10 reps)

Got 'em done nonstop in 8:24, which is a full 1:25 improvement from my last attempt!
Next stop: 500 swings!

THEN:
10 min kettlebell juggling. I'm getting the hang of the 35lber...soon it'll be time to move up to the 53, once I refine my technique a bit more!

[WarlordBlade]

I want a Demon Bell! They look so badass!

I have a buddy that's buying property in the woods (where his future house will be), and building a mock ANW course there so we can train for it.

And thanks!

That is a someday-dream of mine - have some property I can put trails and obstacles on - a full on Ninja Warrior course would be awesome too. Hopefully we hear how it goes!

[EvRevFit]

That is a someday-dream of mine - have some property I can put trails and obstacles on - a full on Ninja Warrior course would be awesome too. Hopefully we hear how it goes!

It'll be a while...I'm not even submitting my video until 2013, and then I may not get in until 2014...but it gives me time to reach the level I want to be at.

Really, I'm up for any challenge. My goal is to become as close as possible to superhuman. I'm even thinking about registering for the Tough Mudder that's coming up in September!

[EvRevFit]

I've decided to start adding a daily qigong practice to my training. I had a passing interest in it a while back and was reminded of why I wanted to do it recently...not too long ago I met a member at my gym who happens to be a retired Navy Master Chief...and also a former Navy SEAL...and then a SEAL training instructor. He spends ten minutes cultivating his energy before working out. He's 58 and looks like he just turned 40. I'm totally down for qigong!

[EvRevFit]

Okay, so I'm going through a bit of a paradigm shift in both thinking and life. First, I've moved even closer to full-on Primal, but I'm still eating oats and rice on a regular basis (to compensate for my combined high metabolism and high activity level). I'm not eating as many veggies as I should yet, but I'm working on that.

Training-wise, I've given up the barbell (I explain why in this blog post) in favor of bodyweight, sandbag, and strongman training. The shift happened recently when I watched my brother (who bucks hay for a living) and our powerlifter friend (who squats 425 on a bad day) in a friendly wrestling match. Even though the powerlifter can squat 100lbs more than my brother, he was no match for him because of a major advantage my brother had: he works with large, heavy, unwieldly objects that he not only has to lift, but often throw. He can generate power and tension in almost any direction, compared to the lifter who only moves weight in single planes of motion. Of course, that doesn't exactly explain the bodyweight progressions (going back to Convict Conditioning)...I just think it's impressive for a person to have complete mastery of their body.

My current training will look something like this:
Monday - Sandbag & Kettlebell Strength & Conditioning (I'll be alternating between the two)
Tuesday - Convict Conditioning Workout #1
Wednesday - High-volume Kettlebell Swings
Thursday - Convict Conditioning #2
Friday - Strongman (barrel lifting, sledgehammer levering, extra grip work, bending, extra hand balancing, etc.)
Every day - Qigong and meditation
Every other day - Yoga and Krav Maga

It looks like a lot of volume, but since I'm starting at the bottom of the CC progressions it'll be more like active recovery for a while. Once it starts to get more intense I'll be about to the point where I'll start getting really bored anyway (sabotages me every time), and so I'll change everything AROUND the CC and won't have to give up my progress out of boredom like I did last time.

In other news, I'm going back to school for Massage Therapy! It's for a few reasons, but here are the main three:

1. The massage therapy itself is a great thing to add to my arsenal of skills
2. The G.I. Bill housing allowance for another year of full-time school is a great cushion
3. The manual therapy license will put Neuromuscular reprogramming withing my scope of practice. That, combined with the Corrective Exercise certification I'm gearing up for, will make me more valuable and knowledgeable than most physical therapy assistants.

I see great things in my future if I can stay on course!