STS Oct. 11th

"Besides pride, loyalty, discipline, heart, and mind, confidence is the key to all the locks." -Joe Paterno

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2J9uuU1BCY

This guy makes two great points with this video: 1. Don't wear spandex in the park by yourself. (WTF!?) and 2. There are easily 30+ variations of pushups you can do with different levels of progression/regression. Plyometric pushups with arms close to the body should be an absolute staple for any Ultimate player as you're training the exact movement you'd make if you'd layed out on a D and missed the disc and now have to get back on your feet and throw a mark on or play recovery D. The faster you get back on your feet could be the difference between stopping their offensive flow and getting scored on.

Today's focus is on moving explosively while at a high rate of fatigue. To do this I combined functional lifts with jump movement supersets with no rest in between.

Movement Prep: Same as before.

Functional Lift:

Hang Cleans- 3 sets

Superset 1 (2x):

1A: Squat Lat pulls- on the cable machine with handles in each arm and the cables at the top perform lat pulls while in 3/4 squat position. 10 reps.
1B: plyometric pushups TF

Superset 2 (2x):

2A: 1 leg'd step ups w/weight
2B: pullups TF

Super-duper Superset 3 (each specific superset 2x's through with no rest)

3A: Overhead squat w/weight
3B: Lateral Jumps http://www.exrx.net/Plyometrics/BoxLateralJump.html
x2
3C: Quick drops http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/QuickDrop.html
3D: Lateral Jumps
x2
3E: Front Squat
3F: Lateral Jumps
x2

Superset 4 (2x):

4A: Push press
4B: Box jumps

Next did 2 sets of Hang Jump-shrugs http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/HangJumpShrug.html

Finished with 2 sets of 1-arm snatches and row machine intervals.

18+ different sport-specific explosive movements all in under an hour. That, my friends, is what we call nationals-ready training.

#40

STS Oct. 8th

"Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything"- Vince Lombardi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdgXgjCaus4

Floyd's rope is moving so damn fast it's hard to tell if it's even there. Awesome. So that's one of the reasons he can bounce on his toes and throw lightning-fast punches for 15 rounds straight. Huh.

This weekend was a local workout with the LAdors. Took advantage of another 75 and sunny Santa Monica Saturday and did a beach workout. (suck it rest of the country) There were six of us so we threw first to warm up and did some standard plyos on the sand, shortening the distance to 10 or 20 yards (depending on the specific plyo) and focused on just moving explosively and anerobically for the entire shortened distance. Great thing about sand is that it warms you up REAL quick. From there we moved into Lateral Movement and went through marches, highknees, explosive karaoke, shuffles, lateral bounds, and tons of shuffles-to-sprint. Threw again, then moved onto Forward Movement: marches, high knees, skips, 2 inch skips, bounds, a grip of backpedal-to-sprints and did some backpedal 10 yards to sprint forward 10 yards. Backpedaling in the sand is f'ing comedy, especially when you specifically tell the group to make sure they stay low and keep the feet moving or else they'll bail and then 5 seconds later 2 of the 6 are face-down in the sand. Threw again then broke into 2 groups for some agility work. One group did quick change-of-direction drills while the other group did sprint-progression work: One guy would start holding a 6lb medicine ball over his head, he'd sprint with the ball for 10 yards, then throw it to the side as he accelerated through to top speed for 15 more yards, then immediately had to jog and retrieve the ball for the next guy waiting. Mad fatigue and an awesome drill for disassociation and core work. Finished with 3-man mark for a long time and did some medicine ball throws for pillar and core strength. I showed up early for a mini-hat tourney fundraiser to support the US womens beach team in Brazil, so I got two easy games of beach in, plus the 1 1/2+ hour workout, then strolled back over to my team that was now playing in the finals and were down 9-6. I came back in, decided to run my already-fatigued self silly and played the rest of the game as we cleaned house 15-10. It was great to get back to fun no-stress ultimate for a day, and I forgot how much I love beach ultimate. A ridiculously fun sport in the best environment (could it be the most offensive sport ever??) . Throw in beer, good peeps, and bodysurfing (things that were all in high supply) and you've got a recipe for awesomeness. Needless to say that after 5 hours of running on the beach I was a tad bit tuckered out, but nothing that a meatball sandwich the size of my head and some college football couldn't fix.

Today Workout:

Movement Prep:

Jump-rope TF
Handstand pushups TF
Walking lunges w/weight overhead forwards n' backwards
Overhead squats w/weight
Jump-rope TF

Did 2 sets w/no rest then switched lunges for side-lunges and squats for quick-drops. Also added 25 burpees and 2-inch runs.

Functional Lift:

The Bear. Ugh. I keep waiting for it to be easier, but no luck yet. Hang clean to front-squat to push-press immediately back down into another front-squat to push-press. That's 1 rep. 6 sets of 6 reps. Here's it broken down:

Hang Clean:
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/HangClean.html

Front-Squat:
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/FrontSquat.html

Push-Press:
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/PushPress.html

36 hang cleans and 72 front-squats to push-press. Just typing it makes my core want to start crying like a little girl.

Finished with jump-punches w/a squat (check previous post for description) and overhead jump punches.

Overhead jump-punches: Starting with the cable up top and my arm in an 90 degree L (like I was doing a shoulder press) I squat then explode up switching my feet in the air so that I'm landing with both feet pointed to the left but still underneath me at the same time punching explosively straight down to the ground on my left side. So my legs are moving up while my upper-body is moving down, which obviously means that my core must stay locked n' active to keep me balanced and stable. Note: when I explode up it isn't necessarily about how far up in the air I can jump, but about how explosively I can leave the ground, change direction in air, and land with my feet underneath me ready for the next explosive movement. Make sense?

Did 12 box-jumps in between each set of jump-punches. 3 sets of 8 reps both regular punches and overhead punches.

Two weeks before The Show so this is really the last week to make any significant improvements. This weeks workout schedule:

Monday: Weights
Tuesday: Core & Explosive work in the morning, throwing and agility work in the evening
Wednesday: Weights
Thursday: Speed training, medicine ball work, and throwing.
Friday: light weight, core work, and light explosive work.
Saturday & Sunday: Practice

Side note: went to The Shins concert last night at the Greek with Paymaster, Corey, and some other great friends. If you're a fan do yourself a favor and see them in concert. One of the best shows I've ever been to, they legitimately sound better live than on CD and their musicmanship was solid. They just looked like they were having so much fun and their vocals were even more phenomenal live. We officially decided that they are our generation's Beach Boys.

I wish they all could be California girls...

#40

STS Oct. 3rd & The Show.

Well, SW regionals is over and the dust has settled. Condors have once again secured a spot to The Show and took Bravo down to the wire for the #1 seed.

Recap:

Saturday- Things in the Inland Empire started out screwy, as they normally do in the IE, or as I like to call it, SoCal's armpit. I've been in LA for most of my life and have only been to the IE maybe 4 times. It's everything you don't like about LA (unbearable traffic, smog, intense desert heat, plus the always comical white trash population) without any of the good stuff. I made sure to remind Calle the RC of my disdain for his field choices throughout the entire weekend. The morning started off with a helpful phone call from a friend that the main freeway to the armpit was completely closed at one section...sweeet. Luckily us roadwarrior badasses knew an alternate route and jumped the 10 and made it out there lickety-split. Thank god, because the only thing worse than going to the IE is sitting in traffic going to the IE.

Games 1-3 were against Anomaly, Sunburn, and some other team I can't remember. We were firing on all cylinders and rolled through the games 13-4 or 5ish. Nothing especially spectacular to report.

Game 4 was against Monster, and we finally got the SoCal Showdown I had been looking forward to all year. Playing against a former team is always emotionally intense, especially when you're still good friends with the majority of the team. They came out fired up and ready to play, and we did too. A decent crowd had gathered and created an exciting atmosphere. Unfortunately for Monster it was business as usual for the Condors as our Zone D was looking SICK and played some of the best team defense I'd seen all year. They jammed up the Monster O, forced quick turns with great field position and scored even quicker. We took half at 8-5 and rolled from there. I somehow managed to match up on Ben Spears the majority of the game on both sides of the ball, and we ran each other silly. He was unquestionably the best player on their roster this year and it was so much fun battling with him. We each got each other good a couple of times, I caught a nice score on a great huck from Geoff Buhl, and he got a good D on me on a huck that fell short. I thought it was mine all the way till his hand knocked it out of the way...so it goes. We rolled through the second half with fierce efficiency all the way until the final point, which also happened to be the longest point of the game. 4 turns on each side (one of them mine) till I caught a caught a filthy IO forehand break from Rory and hit Robbie G in stride with the only IO huck I've thrown this season for the score and the win. 13-4, no 2nd half points for Monster. Mission: accomplished. Message: delivered.

Sunday:

Semi's: Yet another game against SDU. This one was much more clean and much more fun. We jumped out to a 4-0 lead with more aggressive Zone D and transition work, kept our marks sharp and capitalized on turns. Ran away with it 15-6.

Finals: 'Dors vs. Bravo. The excitement in the air was palpable. So thick you could cut it with a knife. We played at 11am and it was mothaf'ing HOT. The crowd had grown and everybody came to see some entertainment. I can't even describe how exciting it was to be a part of that game, it was one of the most intense and emotional games I've ever been in. It was exactly as I thought it would be: a battle of athleticism. We threw a grip of zone transition at them and tried to slow their offense down as best as possible. They went mostly man on us. The 1st half was pretty standard, we each got a couple breaks, and mostly traded to half, which Bravo took 8-6. Don't remember much specifics, but we did open our deep game up and had some nice huck scores on them. Lorenz the Swiss Air Force was droppin' bombs! Bravo did their usual bravoness and made some athletic plays. Second half was equally as tight and we took it down to the wire, getting to Universe Point, but unable to get the score and the win. Beau was unfortunately the hero of the day with the most athletic rundown of a huck I've ever seen on a full-field backhand from Dugan, and also scored the game-winner with yet-another iso play to him to take it 17-16. I don't remember much else of the specifics, but there's a video that should be floating around soon enough. One thing I did notice was the concept of "Big Game" players though. Some players have the ability to raise their level of play according to the impact of the game and we sure had some guys that proved their Big Game ability this weekend. Seeing guys play their absolute best when it matters most was truly inspiring. That's really what this is all about, competition and athleticisim at it's highest, and players rising up to meet that level and exceed it. You can't write drama like how sports have the ability to play themselves out (just ask Box & Rare). We had some guys step up huge, but these 3 come to mind first: Alex "A-bomb" Roedel played the best game I've ever seen him play. Dude had 5 D blocks on Bravo, including the filthiest game-saving layout D on Universe Point on an up-the-line throw to rabbit for the score. He was everywhere on the field and played a truly complete game. Jimmy Chu was another Big Gamer with super solid D on some of Bravo's best, and had the sickest layout score when we really needed it. He loves those trailing-edge grabs. Always a crowd pleaser. Tim Paymaster showed his old team how much they miss him with some of the best D on Beau I've ever seen and had some great grabs and hucks.

After the finals we saw ourselves emotionally and physically spent. But we also saw what kind of team we are, and what we are capable of. I'd say we learned a LOT about ourselves from that game and from this weekend. I think we also really became a team for the first time this weekend, and that's a great thing. We played the best team defense we've played all season and the emotional and mental connections with the guys have never been better.

Backdoor Finals saw us with SDU again. 4 times in 7 days. We made a decision to not let our finals heartbreaker affect our backdoor game, as John Wooden says "the best athletes have no short-term memory" and we had to learn to move on to the next game real quick. Same story as the morning, we jumped out to a lead and kept it to grab the #2 seed. I will say that that wormser guy on SD is a hell of a runner and never quit the entire game. Real respects real.

So we accomplished 1 of 2 goals for the weekend. We made it back to The Show, but didn't beat Bravo. But what I didn't expect was what we learned from it and how close it brought us together as a team. And it reminded me (again) how much I love team sports.

Now, there's still tons of work to be done. Florida is going to be a dogfight...and the Condors are comin' to rumble.

My focus for today's session was on explosiveness.

MP: same story, but I included 2-inch runs and added more jump-roping in between the quick drops.

Functional Lifts Supersets:

Overhead squats w/weight 3 sets @ 1o reps immediately followed by plyo-pushups TF

Overhead backwards lunges w/weight 3 sets @ 10 reps immediately followed by pullups TF

Deadlifts 3 sets @ 8 reps immediately followed by box jumps 12 reps

Cable explosions: starting with the cable down low at my right side I face outward holding the handle in my arm in a karate punch-ready position. I perform a squat and explode up switching my feet in the air so that I land facing my left with my feet still underneath me now pointed to the left while throwing a punch across my body. Resume regular athletic stance facing forward and repeat. 3 sets @ 10 reps each arm.

1 arm-snatches 3 sets @ 10 reps

Lateral box-jumps 3 sets TF http://www.exrx.net/Plyometrics/BoxLateralJump.html

Finished with some abs and a bit more jump-roping.

#40

STS 10-26-07 & Sectionals/Regionals

-Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing that you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable.

-Winning is a by-product. Focus on the product: EFFORT.

-The teams that compete at the highest level love the thrill of the contest, They may have winning in their heads, but they have a love for the struggle in their hearts.

-Intensity makes you stronger. Emotionalism makes you weaker." -John Wooden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-KDhVwD0UA

Some great quotes from one of the greatest coaches ever. I had the chance to meet John Wooden and hear him speak at a charity event when I was in High School, and I even got to shake his hand and tell him how great it was to meet him. It wasn't I got a little older that I realized how lucky I was to be able to meet and listen to such an impactful coach. Easily one of the top 5 most influental coaches ever.

Put Rocky in there because pump-up montages are meant for the days before tourneys. Man Law. Special note: The original script was written by Stallone in 3 days and had Rocky throwing the fight at the end. Kinda adds a whole new perspective on the movie had they kept that in.

Sectionals was last weekend and unfortunately didn't bring the matchup I was so fired up for, as Monster forgot to close out their semi's game and lost to SD United. I was curious to see how the PBR split would work out for San Diego, but they surpised Monster by showing up strong and putting it to them 15-11. My initial thoughts were that SD would be weaker than last year as I depth would be an issue, but SD United is most definitely better than last year's PBR squad. They still play the split offense with two downfield receivers on each sideline and the middle of the field open, and depend on big breaks from their handlers to their always-active cutters. Finals was an ugly, scrappy game with the old condor/pbr/tide/squid bad blood spilling over onto the field. The first half was simply terrible, too many stupid turns to write about, but we managed to cleaned it up a bit in the second half. Our offense was clicking and moving the ball fast, and our D had some great marks, held up their offensive flow and kept their main guys in check. Bad calls and bad vibes were unfortunately the order of the day, and it left a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth, but so it goes. SD does play hard the entire game and have some athletic dudes who made some athletic plays, so I respect them for that, even if neither side showed each other much respect during the game. I guess I just much rather like playing tough, physical, athletic ultimate with my opponent and then be able to look each other in the eye and acknowledge our mutual heart & hustle vs. having them talk shit after we shake hands. Luckily my football background is one of nothing but shit-talk and showboating, so it's an environment I'm used to and quite comfortable in. There's more shit-talking and mental games in one of my flag-football league games than in an entire Ultimate tournament. For a game that requires so much communication between opponents (contested calls...etc) it's a cakewalk in the shit-talk department. Thank god. But I will give SD mad props for beating Monster early and supplying me with an endless amount of jokes for all my LA buddies. :)

Workout:

Movement Prep: Same bat time, same bat channel. Added the usual quick-drops also.

Functional Lifts:

I sprained my right pinky this weekend, nothing serious, but it's swelled up something fierce which means I can't hold a bar in my hand so it meant I had to alter things up a bit. No hang cleans makes me a sad panda.

Front squats 4 sets @ 8 reps

1 leg step-ups 3 sets @ 8 reps each leg

Backwards lunges with bar overhead 3 sets @ 8 reps. Gnarly mofos.

Cable twists while in squat position 3 sets @ 8 reps each side

Box Jumps 3 sets @ 12 reps

Core Circuit:

Couldn't hold anything so that meant no pullups, dips, or medicine ball work

GHD's

Sit-ups

Side twists

Plyo push-ups

Windshield wipers while holding 135lbs with locked arms http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcNGCG2L0OA Those KILLED me. Did mine on a bench instead of on the floor.

Repeated circuit 3x's with no rest.

Regionals this weekend in San Bernadino. Time to do what I've been in the weight room and on the grass 10 months for...get back to Nationals. Playing Monster last game of pool play on Saturday, and if things go as planned, Bravo on Sunday. Time to go to WORK.

http://www.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=124&id=3871

STS 9-19-07 & The Sectionals Beatdown

Do you know what my favorite part of the game is? The opportunity to play." -Mike Singletary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy2ElkOuNF0

Posted that again because it's just so awesome to watch. Imagine training so that each time is different than the last time and each session pushes a new threshold of fatigue. Now stop imagining it and make it a reality. Seriously.

With Sectionals under way it's crunch time for everyone. While this is the point to fine tune the high-level concepts of your game, don't fool yourself into thinking that where you're at physically now can't be improved in time for The Show. We are a month & change away from Nationals and if you've been working hard consistently then there is still time to make significant strength, speed, and recovery gains. Time for another check-in to make sure you're doing what it takes to get you where you want.

Yesterday's workout:

Movement Prep: same ol' story. Added 2 sets of overhead squats with the bar and 3 sets of quick-drops. Btw...if you're still not jump-roping as either part of your MP or workout then you should feel real guilty right now. Have I taught you nothing!?!? You're killing me smalls.

Functional Lifts:

5 sets of Hang-cleans. Last two sets were hang-clean to push press. Just cuz.

3 sets of Jump-shrugs- did 6 jump-shrugs then finished with 4 regular deadlifts. Coretastic!

3 sets of Front-squats @ 8 reps

2 sets of 1 leg step-ups @ 8 reps...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXngKlZhqiQ

Interval Training:

For this I did a set of 10 push-presses at 135lbs then immediately did 12 box jumps, rest 30 seconds and repeat for 3 sets.

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/PushPress.html

This superset was awesome because of the progression/regression involved. The push press is hip-initiated and requires the body to enter a 1/4 squat to begin movement and generate power. And the box jump obviously uses the entire legs & core to generate the vertical leap. So you'd go from small (but equally powerful) squat to 3/4 squat for box jump back to 1/4 squat movement. Filthy. And really, really effective.

Finished with core & upper-body circuit that consisted of:

Pull-ups TF to hanging leg-raises TF
GHD's sets of 20
Plyometric push-ups- both feet & hands off the ground TF, then hands-only TF
Medicine ball twists
Sit-ups w/weight

Went through circuit 3 times w/no rest. Finished in 1 hour and 5 minutes and did more work in 1 hour than all the meatheads at my gym could do in 3 hours. Suckers. But their curls and bench press did look sick. Seriously. Sick.

SW Sectionals this weekend. That means a beatdowns a' coming. Condors are Back in Black and will be putting some people on notice that they might have made the wrong decision a couple months ago. Frosty-frost has been waiting for a specific game against a specific team and is so fired up for it that he's now speaking in the third person.

Showtime.

#40

STS- 9-13-07 & Your Ego

"Do not let your ego get in the way of your speed potential"- Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVKayGh7LTg

Little dude with BIG hops.

I was training with a new client for the first time this morning and I realized how much easier it is to train women than men because of the ego factor. No guy (especially an athletic one) likes hearing that they have imbalances or weaknesses that need to be addressed before they can reach their full potential. But all truly intelligent athletes know that once you have a solid strength base and aerobic capacity your main focus needs to be on recognizing and addressing any and all weaknesses. Because an imbalance or weakness during speed movement translates over to an energy leak, and that means you're now working harder to move slower.

The problem is that addressing a weakness correctly sometimes means that you have to move back down levels of regression to a very basic movement and build up from there. Something guys with egos hate to do, myself included. I still remember how much I fought the simple routines when I was learning Athlete's Performance (http://www.athletesperformance.com/) until my trainer showed me how ridiculously deficient I was in some areas, and then it fully hit me how much I had to learn and re-teach myself about movement efficiency and form. Because a lot of it isn't innate principles and has to be cognitively recognized and applied, and bad techniques have been reinforced throughout the years with muscle memory and movement patterns. And it can take a long time to un-learn incorrect technique if you're fighting it the whole way and think you're too cool for school. News flash Walter Cronkrite: you aren't.

So in summary:

1. Drop. Your. Ego. and recognize that you have weaknesses and imbalances that need to be addressed before you can reach your speed/strength/agility/vertical leap potential. And recognize that some of those imbalances might mean that you might have to start at the basic moves and build up from there. How do you expect to be able to jump your highest if you can't even squat correctly?

2. Recognize that exercise science has evolved significantly in the past few years and that the routines and techniques you were taught in High School or Jr. High may not necessarily be the most effective or even correct way to acheive the results you're looking for. Recognize that you DON'T know everything about exercise science and be open and willing to learn new things. You might just surprise yourself.

3. Variety is the spice of life. There are too many activities out there for you to keep doing the same routine over and over. Change it up constantly so that you're always keeping your body guessing and ready for anything. Running stairs exactly how you've run them since college is not only f'ing boring, but also means you're getting 1/2 the bang for your buck. If you're going to commit the time to training you might as well get the most out of it.

Onto the training:

Movement Prep- usual nonsense. Also did 3 sets of quick drops and 3 sets of overhead quats. Steadily improving at those.

Did The BEAR today, and...well...it was quite unbearable. The BEAR consists of a hang clean to front-squat to push-press, then back down for another front-squat to push-press. That's 1 rep. 6 sets of 6 reps. Yeah, that's right. 72 front-squats to push-press in one setting...with 36 hang-cleans. Note: the regular BEAR calls for the 2nd squat to be a back squat but I keep both front-squats as I'm really trying to improve my front squat. And it's harder.

Next I did an core-circuit consisting of hanging-leg raises, medicine ball twists, sit-ups, & GHD's (glute-ham developers- awesome exercise). Went through circuit 3 times with 45 second rest between circuit, no rest between exercises.

After core-circuit I did box-jumps and row machine intervals. 30 seconds on/30 seconds rest for 4 sets to hit that lactate threshold even more. Legs. Were. Spent. Along with the rest of me.

Tonight will be medicine ball throws, speed & agility work, and throwing. Love September in LA, it's sunny and 78 degrees till 8pm 7 days a week. Say what you want about the traffic, smog, and flaky people but I'll take that weather any day o' the week!... along with the saucy girls that walk their silly little dogs at Studio City park in their silly little skirts. God bless that park.

CF

STS 9-9-07 and Rollin' with Nolan

"I wouldn't ever set out to hurt anyone deliberately unless it was, you know, important —like a league game or something."

-Dick Butkus, former Chicago Bears linebacker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5pWMP6HdXc

Yeah that's right kids. It's that time again. It's time for some mothaf'ing football!

I've been waiting 7 months for this. 49ers on tonight and back in the hunt. We're winning 10+ games this year. I'm calling it now.

Football has always been my first true love. The only good thing about Nationals being over is that I get to play Flag Football with my boys again with the Sandlot All-stars. 6 of us on the team have been playing together for 7 years now. In honor of the season finally here I ran a bunch of routes with QB Chris this week intermixed with our speed workout. We also did some 2 and 3 ball drills. For The 2 ball drill we would run a 12-yard out, catch the ball, then immediately drop it and explode into a post-corner route as ball #2 was coming over the shoulder. The 3 ball drill consisted of a slant across the field, catch & drop, immediately change direction to a 15 yard out across to the opposite side of the field, catch & drop and immediately turn upfield for a streak and a long-bomb ball #3. The focus is obviously on changing direction at maximum speed and catching every ball. Both of the drills felt VERY ultimate-specific as it was 5 cuts in a row. Oh yeah, and it's fucking sweet to catch 3 balls in a row from a guy who's got a collegiate-level arm. Dude throws darts.

On to the workout:

Movement Prep- Same stuff as before. See previous posts if ya don't know. One change though as I started incorporating more overhead squats and quick drops into my workout. Quick drops have officially taken place as my new Hot Exercise of the Moment. An unbelievable disassociation & explosive exercise. In a single explosive move the arms move up, the legs move down into a squat, and the core stays stable. Simply phenomenal. And amazingly difficult to get your arms and legs to move in opposite directions with fluidity. Took me 3 seperate sessions before I felt mildly comfortable, so don't worry if they don't automatically click the first time you try them. Remember, the point is that you're trying them. Because I guarantee the guy you cover at the next tournament isn't...well, unless you cover me.

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/QuickDrop.html

Functional lifts:

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

Front Squats 4 sets @ 8 reps increasing weight

Jump Shrugs: 3 sets of 6, then immediately transitioned into 6 deadlifts after each set. Those rocked.

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/JumpShrug.html

Push-Press: 3 sets @ 10 reps

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/OlympicLifts/PushPress.html

Russian Dead-lifts: 2 sets @ 10 reps, wasn't planning on doing these but felt like hitting the hamstrings a bit extra today so I only did 2 sets. I'm such a wimp.

Next was a core circuit that consisted of twists on a swiss-medicine ball w/weight, weighted situps on a decline bench, glute-ham developers (SICK exercise), swiss-ball planks- improved at those to the point where I can balance on two swiss-balls, one on my feet, one on my hands in push-up position. Really fun to balance on those, even though I don't think people like it when I take up two of six swiss balls we have available. :)

Finished with Box Lateral Shuffles while holding a 10lb medicine ball overhead. This strengthens your core at it's weakest point (hands overhead). Remember the longer your body is the more your core is forced to stabilize it.

Two words to think about this week: Pillar. Strength.

What are you doing to improve your pillar strength?

CF