STS 7-4-07 XFit and the Kwik-E-Mart

"Doctors and scientists said that breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line, I figured I was dead."- Roger Bannister (After becoming the first person to break the four-minute mile, 1952)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zPo7qwMluHo

Had a great workout yesterday. Whit, one of the Condor captains, showed me a Crossfit workout that I incorporated into my session. Crossfit is a program designed by police and military tactical specialists for combat conditioning. It's principles are extremely effective: full-body exercises done in rapid succession until exhuastion immediately followed with body-weight activities. They stress doing a variety of different athletic skills to keep your body adapting and workouts fresh. They use a lot of kettelball, medicine ball, and gymastic fundamentals in intense, exhuastive, and short workouts.

Movement Prep:

Usual nonsense. Set 1 was Jump-rope to failure followed by lunges holding a 6lb medicine ball in each hand over the head followed by hand-stand pushups followed by medicine ball squats. Switched up leg and pushup exercises for sets 2 and 3.

Full-body Lift:

Hang-cleans: 4 sets @ 4 reps

Jumped right into the Crossfit activity. This particular one is called "Frans" (not sure why, and frankly the name is kinda lame) consisted of 20 front-squat to push-press immediately followed by 20 pull-ups. You're supposed to then go directly back into another set of those, but I must admit that I was flat-out fatigued from the first set and needed a break before going again. Here's another video of what it looks like:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=e0nwx7Q5j-k

Now I consider myself in decent shape, but it's been a long time since I've done 20 front squats in row, much less combined with a push-press, so I was exhausted at the end of the second set. I knew it was going to be a good workout, but those XFit guys know what they're doing. Full-body, functional, and exhausting. Sounds good to me.

Pillar Strength Circuit:

Went directly from that into a Pillar Strength circuit that also included some medicine ball plyometrics. Went through each activity once with no rest. Completed two circuits.

Swiss-ball pushups
Split-squat medicine ball forward throws against a wall.
Swiss-ball knee tucks
Side-plank
Swiss ball situps w/weight
Hanging leg raises

Last functional lift:
Russian deadlifts 3 sets @ 8 reps

Finished with power-band walks to failure and calf raises. Props to CrossFit for inspiring this workout. For more info check out www.crossfit.com. I even looked at a CrossFit center in the Valley to check out the real deal. We've got practice this weekend but I'm definitely going to next weekend. They have a CrossFit session immediately followed by a grappling class, all for $20. Never done grappling but it'd be fun to take a class on it. Will let you know how it goes.

Also, as a sweet teaser for the new Simpsons Movie they put a Kwik-E-Mart in Burbank complete with it's own Frostillicus in the freezer. Must get over there and get photo taken with the Man himself. God bless the Simpsons. So. Funny.

http://www.7-eleven.com/kem.asp

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