In with the old, in with the new & STS 12-4

"Fast as the wind, quiet as the forest, aggressive as fire, and as immovable as a mountain" - Samurai battle banner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57pv_1j4dH0

I love Ross's back-to-basics training style with his emphasis on getting absolutely as much intensity and efficiency out of every single movement. Everything is as intense as possible, as explosive as possible, and with as much resistance (of all variety) as possible. I also dig how much he thinks outside the box and creates new movements and new tougher progressions. Because that's the true beauty of creating new movements and workouts, they don't negate the previous ideas and concepts, but instead builds upon them. Too many people make the mistake of thinking that something new has to replace something old and that the old no longer has any value, but that couldn't be more wrong. Like every other area of your life it's all just a series of progressions.

Like Vern Gambetta said, you have 3 constants to play with to affect your workouts: gravity, ground, & your body. Think outside the box for your workouts on how to affect those constants most effectively, the point is to THINK and focus on your body, not plug into a TV and mentally check out for your workout or zone out through the same boring stuff you've been doing since High School. Your training should be where you do the most thinking and analyzing, not the least. I have a teammate that hates standard workouts and prefers to get his training in by altering his ground environment. Running through dry creekbeds where he bound/runs from rock to rock, down steep hills, and the like are all part of his training routine. 2 different roads to reach the same fitness goals. Though I will say that I prefer combining different ground environments with the weightroom because while you can't make your steep hill any steeper, I can always add weight. And at the end of the day we still play on a flat grass surface so training on flat grass is still unquestionably a major part of your workout. But I love that he's thinking outside the box and figuring out new ways to push his body.

Todays workout session was inspired by a Crossfit workout with some adjustments. This thing is a killer.

Movement Prep: Same as usual.

Superset 1:
Squat-pulls
Jump punches (2x w/no rest)

Superset 2:
Step-ups w/weight
Box Jump March http://www.exrx.net/Plyometrics/BoxJumpMarch.html
(2x w/no rest)

Hang Cleans- 4 sets of 6,6,4,4 increasing weight

Xfit section: Perform activities in any order, must completely finish each activity before moving to next one, and workout is timed. Obviously the focus here is working at maximum intensity and fighting fatigue.

50 Box Jumps (24 inch box minimum)
50 jumping pull-ups (jump up to pull-up bar, do full pull-up, land, repeat)
50 Kettlebell swings w/dumbbell (I use 45lb)
50 GHD's
50 Walking lunges
50 combo of handstand pushups/dips/plyo pushups
50 Double-jumps w/jump rope
50 Knee-to-elbows
50 burpees
50 push-press w/bar

Flat. Out. Exhaustion. If you're Tuff Enough to do this hit me up and let me know how it goes.

This weekend was absolutely amazing here. A bit o' rain on Friday left the fields in perfect playing conditions. It was even a bit chilly, making for perfect outdoor sports weather. Practiced with my football team on Saturday, we've got a slew of great receivers to catch the ball and a stacked defense to match. Our first tournament is this weekend, it'll be fun to see how we match up against the best LA has to offer. Supposedly there's something like 160+ teams and 12 divisions from all over SoCal going to be there. I dream of the day when local Ultimate tournaments have that kind of draw.

Sunday was the tournament for Beach League and brought the 3peat for our ridicuously fun team o' clowns. Kind of fun winning a league since it's been in existence, regardless of the league. It was 72 in Santa Monica and sunny enough for me to even get a lil' tanny-tan. Semi's and finals were both close in the beginning, but with our stacked defense and margaret jackin' it to timmy "2pointer" paymaster who grabbed everything under the sun it was Crushville, Population: us. (Cross-gender coast-to-coast goals worth 2 points is the dopest rule ever for beach). One thing I noticed specifically is that busting down on the pull is even more important on the sand than on grass as field position in the sand is really everything, and being on the mark when your guy picks up the pull for a stall-6 count is just dirty, easy defense.

Keep on truckin'

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