Ballet meets Yoga and Pilates!

I was riding the streetcar back from Powell’s Books today (a truly great bookstore) and passed by a gym in the ritzy part of town called Ballet Barre – ballet meets yoga and pilates.  Then a few minutes later we went by a huge new LA Fitness.  Now i more or less don’t have much against ballet, yoga, or pilates, well maybe pilates.   But my over arching belief has always been that if folks are happy with what they are doing and are getting something out of it then more power to them.  I do feel that some ways are more effective than others for meeting certain fitness goals, but thats a different blog post.

What this got me thinking about is the whole damn fitness industry in general.  I receive a ton of catalogs from places like Perform Better, Bigger Faster, Stronger, etc.  There is good some stuff in there, but for the most part i am astounded by the large amount of crap.  Balance boards, band contraptions, and all sorts of other stuff for consumers to spend their money on.  Listen, at its core fitness is not that complicated, and does not even require that much equipment.  Pick up heavy shit, put it back down, lift over your head, carry it till you can’t.  Work hard, sweat, and occasionally feel like you want to vomit.  Exercise does not require a fancy facility with tons of pre calibrated machines, color coded dumbells, and a juice bar.  You need to be able to yell, grunt, cry, drop shit from overhead, and lay on floor in a puddle of sweat when you are done.  But the mainstream fitness industry does not care about this, as they are about profit and money, not results or the actual success of the clients.  Thus they constantly have to reinvent the wheel, or at least put a new spin on an old product.

Anton

An Update!

So sorry no updates in quite a while.  Lift just got crazy, i was sick for a week, had a visitors in town for like three weeks in a row, and was busy working on a music project, starting to record my first cd.

In the fitness realm it looks like i may have an article published the Performance Menu soon, which is cool.  Its about integrating Brazillian juijitsu with outside strength and conditioning work that the regular 9-5, day jobber can handle.  It needed some pictures, so i got my grappling buddy Nathan and we took some pictures using Crossfit Portland’s crash pad.  It was fun to be able to thow each other as hard as we wanted.  Picking people up and slamming them is fun.

We definitely need to work with the crash pad more often.  Being able to take someone down is quite important.

There is another Crossfit Total coming up at Crossfit Portand this saturday.  I can’t believe its been more than a month since the last one, and i have prepared by doing more or less nothing in the past few weeks.  I had a program all planned out, then between being sick and all didnt up following most of it.  I was going to ditch out on the Total, but friends talked me into it, if for no other reason to see what i could do being under prepared.  So yesterday i went and squatted and pressed heavy.  Got an easy 280 on the squat, and almost got 140 on the press.  Not to far from what i got before, so i think for the Total i should at least be able to get the same lifts.  With the deadlift i mostly able to finish a speed cycle since the last total, so i am less concerned with that.  After this its back to a well rounded program for grappling, i am no powerlifter.

I promise to be better about updates and want to write up a bonch of topics that folks can actually implemet into their own exercise routines.

Anton

The Paleo Diet – Eat less

One of the things i have noticed on my Paleo Diet journey is that i tend to eat alot less.  Its a nice relief on our wallets and also just nice  not to be hungry all the time.  Previously when i would eat oatmeal, toast, or some other carb heavy item for breakfast i would be hungry at work an hour or two later.  My body was used to the insulin spike from the carbs.  Now some protien and fat for breakfast and i am set till lunch usually.  My breakfast the past few days has been 2 tbsp olive oil, some ground up sausage (on sale at New Seasons), a handful of onions and red peppers, two cups spinach, and two eggs.  Cook up the onions, peppers, and sausage, add the spinach, and when it wilts down a bit throw in the eggs.  Done and done.

As a result of eating less due to paleo foods one natually consumes less calories.  Paleo foods are also alot less calorically dense than standard american diet fare.  I am sure alot of you could down two whoppers no problem.  To eat that many calories in paleo foods you would have to be stuffing alot down your pie hole.

Anton

Workout and Food logs

In the past i have been less than disciplined about keeping food and workout logs. I’ll go strong for a while, then stop doing it and slack for a while now. But no more of that. With this whole trying to eat healthier thing i need some data if i can ever expect to draw any conclusions on what foods work for me. Paleo eating has been going ok, but on some days i will be ravenously hungry and other days feel fine. If i kept better track of my food i could look back and draw some conclusions to what i could be eating more or less of. I use fitday to track my food but am also keeping a google spreadsheet with my moods/feelings after each meal. For example this morning i was still starving after breakfast, could it be because last night i had some rice and beans with my mexican dish?

I find google docs pretty handy for keeping track of food, workouts, or whatever. You can access them from any computer that has an internet connection, and to me its better than having sheets of paper lying around.

If you are not keeping a log then find a method that works for you and start doing it. Looking back and knowing how you performed or felt in the past can help you program for the future.

Anton

Squatting to Parallel

So i am still making progress on Starting Strength.  I am at times physically tired of eating so much food.  The other day i bought a five gallon bucket of doughnuts at Voodoo Doughnuts for $5.  Yes, i know not the healthiest choice, but a good caloric bang for the buck.  Suffice to say i don’t want to see any doughnuts for a while. I ate a bunch and brought the rest to work.

I was set to squat 275lbs last week, which is a PR for me, and decided to bring my Macbook in to video my form using the iSight camera and iMovie.  I do my warm up sets, setup the laptop, and load on 275 and did five reps.  Watching the footage i realized i was squatting high, at least several inches to high.  Frustarated i took off some weight and did it again, still high.  So dropped it back down to 225 and did 3 x 5 making sure to go to parallel each time.  I am now working my way back up in weight making sure i do it right.

In a parallel squat we are looking for the crease of the hips to drop below the kneecap, as in the picture below.

This fully engages the hamstrings and glutes, the prime movers in this exercise.  Its better to use less weight and do it right then pile on more weight and use incorrect form.  You’re just cheating yourself, and its not a full squat, its a half or quarter squat.  It helps to film yourself or have someone along who knows what to look for when the weight gets heavy.  Heavy squats are hard, and its easier to think you must be going parallel, when in actuality you might not be.

I’ll be going to Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength seminar in Janruary, and am looking forward to learning more about the basic barbell exercises.

Anton

Progress on Starting Strength

Well i am about a month into the Starting Strength program, and have made some decent strength and bodyweight gains.  Its been fun focusing on getting stronger, and eating alot more is enjoyable too.  I do miss the days when i did not get as tired riding my bike uphill, but its only temporary.  Here is how it all played out.

Bodyweight

I started out the program at 165lbs and have gained about 10-15lbs since then.  Thats a tad more than two pounds a week, which is a probably a bit fast.  I’v been consuming around 3700cal per day.  I am trying to stick to healthy choices but have eaten my fair share of half pound cheeseburger baskets.  When trying to gain muscle mass some additional fat is expected, and hopefully i can get rid of it when this is all done.  It would be nice to sit at around 170lbs with more muscle and less fat.

Strength

With the Novice phase of Starting Strength the goal is to start your lifts with a conservative weight and strive to add weight to the bar every workout.  Once you hit a stopping point there are a few back off strategies to use to keep progress continual.  The premise behind this simple linear progress is that a Novice is so unadapted to this type of training that gains can be made every workout.  That was definitely my case with the squat, i have never squatted hard and often before.  I am a bit farther along in the deadlift having pulled double bodyweight before, but i figured i would just hit it and still make some progress.

Week of 9-22-2008 All exercises are 3 x 5 except the deadlift which is 1 x 5

Squat 185

Press 85

Unweighted Pull Ups 3 sets  12/10/8

Bench 155

Deadlift 225

As of 10/26/2008

Squat 270

Bench 187

Press 127

Deadlift 270

Unweighted Pull Ups 13/10/8

So slowly getting stronger, though i have gained some weight too.  I would like to get the squat closer to the 300 mark.  I am going to try to continue this linear progress till the holidays.  Might as take advantage of all the food around to get fatter.

Food

On the subject of food, like i said, i have tried to stick to healthy things but definitely have not limited myself if i need the calories. I have been taking in about 3700 cal a day, and at least 1 gram of protien per pound of bodyweight. Breakfast usually is 3-4 eggs, 5 oz ground sausage or chorizo, and a bunch of veggies mixed in.  I’ll add a few table spoons of sesame oil or sour cream for more calories.  I added milk back into my diet, about a half gallon or so a day.  Its an easy to consume source of calories and protien.  I slowly ramped up the intake, and have been digesting it ok, though in the beginning i had to take a few hurried trips to the bathroom.

Other Activities

My other physical activities have been kind of limited.  Gotta conserve precious calories.  I have been keeping up brazillian juijitsu a few times a week, to get some conditioning in.  I have been getting a bit more tired on the mat due to the extra bodyweight and not being used to it.  Consequently i have just been playing a slower game, concentrating on the details and trying to be heavier instead of being athletic and moving fast.  Hopefully that will help out my game in the long run.

I have been riding my bike to work still occasionally, and uphill on the way home has started to suck more.  I guess that happens when you are carting around 10+ pounds of extra weight.

Thoughts

So far i am happy with how things are progressing.  I have noticed increated muscle in my upper body and legs.  If i can keep on riding this plan till after the holidays we’ll see if the extra strength and muscle actually helps my sporting activities.

Mark Rippetoe – Starting Strength

There is a good interview with strength coach Mark Rippetoe over at www.t-nation.com Mark is the author of the book Starting Strength, which i can’t recommend highly enough. If you are new to lifting and want to put on muscle and build strength, this is where to start. It goes into great detail teaching the squat, deadlift, standing press, power clean, and bench press. I wish i had this when i first started lifting weights, i would have saved alot of wasted time.

Check out the interview here

Anton