No Fitness Program Is Complete Without....

...the FACE KICKING WORKOUT!!!    "If you want to have the confidence that comes with the ability to kick someone in the face in less than one second you should watch this program."

Tough Mudder Training

So, I'll be running the Tough Mudder (again) in May of 2012.

Last year I raised about 600 bucks for Wounded Warrior and I'll probably be nagging you all again for money as that event gets closer.

My training regime has settled down into this:

Monday lunchtime: 1 hour of conditioning class. This involves 55-60 mins of exercises divided into 2 or 3 minute rounds. This usually starts with  jumping rope and then exercises like pushups, burpees, planks, situps, plyometrics, ball & mace swings, Indian clubs ,tug of war, rope climb... plus some more exotic stuff that our instructor picked up in his 30 years of martial arts training. Its fighter conditioning, basically.

Monday evening. 2 hours of Muay Thai classes.

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday is the same as Monday

Thursday: rest

Friday: 1.5-2 hours of Savate classes. These are more technique-focussed, but work balance and flexibility instead of being the savage metcon of the Muay Thai workouts.

Saturday: 1- 1.5 hours of , Bag work, and weight exercises. This varies a lot. I've been doing the 300 Workout from GymJones.com, the Tough Mudder workout, or things I make up on my own using weights, rings, the C2 rowing machine etc. .

Sunday: Run day. Ive been going over to the gravel pit near my house. Nobody's there on the weekends, and its about 50-60 acres with a lot of ramps and slopes and hills. I go faster up the hills --note that I do not sprint, but I do try to go faster. I usually go for about an hour or so. As I get closer to May, I'll work in more runs.

Link Stew #2

More links redolent of geekery. You must be cautious as you enter this wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Scientists monitored volunteers fitted with 15th Century replica armor as they walked and ran on treadmills. Conclusion: armor is heavy.   I wonder if the test subjects were as well conditioned as actual knights, but I can't quibble with the conclusion.

Gizmodo dredges up the craziest shit sometimes. Here's an article about Nazi and Japanese plans to invade the US. This didn't seem so crazy right after Pearl Harbor, I guess.

And to continue the WWII theme, here are some excellent pictures of the war in North Africa  

These are part of an ongoing Atlantic series called World War II in Photos. 12 of 20 parts are up.

Tough Mudder. Done.

Thanks to everyone who sponsored me for my little trot up and down the gentle rolling hills of VT. Here are a few stats on the race:

• 10 miles long

• 13,000 feet of overall elevation change

• 7000 feet of climbing

• 28 different obstacles including 4 12-foot walls, a 15-foot jump into 45 degree water, a log carry up and then down a very steep slope.

I finished with very sore knees about 4.5 hours after the 10:20 am start time. And lunatic that I am, I have pre-registered for next year. But I'm bringing Advil with me next time.

Tough Mudder Here I Come

As the long time readers of this blog (both of you) know, I'll be running the Tough Mudder  on Mt. Snow this Saturday. The race covers 10 miles up and down the mountain, and 28 obstacles including stuff on fire, and a 10,000 volt shock.

Tough Mudder is a fund raiser for the Wounded Warrior Project. So far I've raised nearly 500 bucks for this worthy organization.

Please sponsor me and help out the men and women who have been hurt in the service of our country. 

https://www.raceit.com/Fundraising/donate.aspx?event=2937&fundraiser=r797650

Here's a little more on the race: www.toughmudder.com  

And here is the Wounded Warrior Site: www.woundedwarriorproject.org.

Thanks to my friends and family who have already donated.

Wounded Warrior and Tough Mudder

As all you dedicated readers know, I'll be doing the Tough Mudder race on Mt. Snow this May 7.

Here is the fund raising link that the Tough Mudder created for Wounded Warrior.

https://www.raceit.com/Fundraising/donate.aspx?event=2937&fundraiser=r797650

If you donate to sponsor me, the money will go towards helping injured service members.

Here's a little more about the Wounded Warrior Project: 

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

Feel free to share these links with anyone you think might be interested

From the Henry Rollins School of Training

As I've mentioned, some of the folks here at work have a team for the Tough Mudder race on Mt Snow this May. Its a tough, very challenging course and as a bonus we're raising money for Wounded Warrior.

And as you might expect, there's been a lot of talk about weight loss, training and fitness around the office, some of if useful and some of it... sorta... strange.

I don't want to gore anyone's sacred cow, so I'll spare you most of the details. But I don't think that adding 5 grams of cinnamon  to your coffee every morning, or buying $150 trail running shoes is going to make it any easier to run 8.5 miles up a mountain and haul my ass over an 12-foot wall. While wet and muddy.

Maybe people feel like its bragging to talk about miles run or pounds lifted or meters rowed, but to quote Henry Rollins, "200 pounds is always 200 pounds." Eating extra cinnamon or wearing fancy shoes doesn't make that bar any lighter. 

I Am Not A 'Tough Mudder'. But I Play One On The Internet...

Quick update on the last 3 months: Put my CT house on the market. Got a new job in New Hampshire. Quit my old job. Moved to NH. Started the new job. Unpacked all the boxes.

Whew. Its been busy. The folks at my new company are really great, and they seem to really believe in the employees having a life outside the office. One of the guys there sent around an email about entering an endurance/obstacle course/race called the Tough Mudder (www.toughmudder.com) and within a few days, there was an official company team.

This race is no joke. 8 miles up and down Mt. Snow in Vermont, through waist-deep mud, crawling through tunnels, swimming through ponds. Slush. And the last bit of the course is on fire. Woot.

I'm not entirely sure that I'll finish, but I'll give it my best shot. The best part is we're raising money for Wounded Warrior.

Anyone done an event like this  have some good advice on training, shoes or the types of medication I should try to shake this particular psychosis?

Oh, and I got a new tattoo. Work in progress. Pix to follow when it's finished in mid-Nov.

Tonight's Workout

For the masochists among you:

Warm up with easy 500 meters on rowing machine

Repeat 3x
20 Deadlifts @135lbs
15 KB swings @35lb
10 Hanging cleans @95lb barbell
5 Front Squats @
2-3 mins rest 


Then:
Chin Up Ladder 1-6
Hanging Knee Ups 3x10

Soundtrack: Nativity in Black, a tribute to Black Sabbath. 

How to Be Miserable for 18 Minutes

I stole this from Crossfit.com  and modified it slightly. 

The Crossfit version has the oddly poetic title Fight Gone Bad.

Repeat this circuit 3 times:

Kettlebell swings @ 1 35lb KB for 1 minute +
Sumo Deadlift High Pulls @ 75 lb barbell for 1 minute +
Box Jumps @ 20-inch box for 1 minute +
Push Press @ 75 lb barbell for 1 minute +
Row on C2 Erg for one minute +
Rest for 1 blissfull minute of bliss.


The original Crossfit version of this workout has a minute of medicine ball throws instead of KB swings, but I don't have a medicine ball.

Getting Hit On The Head Lessons

Last night, I finally got punched in the face, thank Zoroaster. Training can now begin in earnest.

Lemme back up a few months. Last November, both my sons started Tae Kwon Doe classes at Zandri's Martial Arts in Brookfield, CT. They have a deal that if 2 family members are students, everyone else is free, and they had an MMA class meeting twice a week at 815pm, which I could fit into my schedule.

So I started going twice a week. Its been hard training for me and great fun. Its not a class for aspiring cage fighters, but we cover aspects of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muy Thai, boxing, etc. (This reminds me that I should post about my Fitness Revolution at some point.)

As befits a nearly-40 year old guy with limited background in striking martial arts, I am a little timid about being hit, especially in the face. I knew that nobody there was really trying to hurt me, but I had some kind of psychological barrier that I've had trouble overcoming. I think you have to be willing to take a punch in order to wade in and land one.

So last night, after the usual warmup -- running, pushups, burpees, crunches, etc. we pair up and do some no contact sparring. I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but I moved forward throwing a jab and took my partners fist into my nose and eyebrow ridge.  Smack! Ow!

It was hard enough to bleed a fair amount, but not so hard that I had to sit out for long. And LO -- my life did not end. It sucked, but not unbearably so. Maybe now, I won't be so chicken about closing in when we practice standup. When I came out of the bathroom after cleaning up the blood, I said thanks!

And later that night, when I threw a kimora on his right arm, I let go right away when he tapped. I'm not one to hold a grudge -- especially when someone does me a favor. 

Fifty

Hit a little personal milestone today. 50 of these.

This winter, after interrupting my shoveling the walk for the third day in a row to help a snowstuck driver at the corner, I was displeased by how much I felt like my lungs and body were about to explode. Now, I fenced in college, did a few years of Aikido, and since buying a house I've had decent stretches of sticking to a good free weight routine courtesy of the long-distance task mastering of my blog partner MeatAxe.

But that last year or so... Well, pretty much put any excuse in there - I've used 'em all. But, decision made as indicated, sometime in January I decided I was going to get to 100 Hindu Pushups by the end of the year. I wanted to go very incrementally, so I started at 1 and added 1 each day. Days that I feel strong and could do more, I don't - the regimen is 1 extra per day.

Pretty obviously, the first 10 or even 15 or so were pretty easy - I'm no stranger to pushups and although the Hindu pushups are harder and more involved, they are mainly just pushups.

But 20? 20 was hard. I started breaking into sets, varying the number of reps but always working toward the goal of set, 30-40 second break, set, 30-40 second break, etc. Some days I was weak and had to break it into sets no bigger than 10, some days I could ram out sets of 15+15+10. I had a week off from being sick and a bit injured (these things work the ENTIRE front slab of muscle on your body and more so - never thought I could injure my NECK doing a pushup - my 41st, to be exact) and that set me back, but today I was able to shakily type over to MeatAxe "15+15+10+10, 5 minutes".

That's 50, that's halfway there, and I'm feeling pretty good about that. Still have a bit of flab to transmogrify, move, or lose; but my wind is good, my strength is up, and I'm getting closer to making my set plateau 20 instead of 15. Maybe by the end of the year I can report to MeatAxe "20+20+20+20+20, ten minutes".

MeatAxe, by the way, does a workout that would make a Spetznatz trooper put ribbons in his hair, and he's been very tolerant and supportive of my efforts. Couldn't have done it without him - thanks, Axe.

UPDATE:

After discussions with my taskmaster MeatAxe and perusal of the YouTubes, it turns out I've actually been doing DiveBomber pushups, not straight Hindu pushups. I tried some straight Hindus this weekend to feel the differences.

10 of the Many Reasons to Love My Wife

1) She loved Inglorious Basterds

2) When reading an article on the Berkeley students striking cause they won't get free tuition any more, she quoted Margaret Thatcher: "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."

3) Her jab cross combo moves the Wavemaster across the floor, and she supersets kettlebell cleans & swings.

4) Has her CCW permit.

5) When I said "Lets get motorcycles!" she said "How much are they? Do they make them for women? Where could we learn how to drive them?"

6) Wants another tattoo.

7) Says things like: "I think I'll make a Devil's Food Cake."

8) Got me an awesome Gadsen Flag for Xmas.

9) When told that there were people who believe that a photograph of the Lunar Lander proves NASA faked the moon landing, she said. "That's stupid. If they're smart enough to go to the moon, they're smart enough to take a picture of it."

10) Wants my parents to babysit the kids in June so we can spend the weekend in NYC drinking fancy beer and shooting pool in bars.

Yay, Me.

I was poking around on the Gym Jones website the other day looking for something new to add into my workout, and I came across a routine that began "Work up to heavy deadlift". That's something I hadn't done in a while, so I scribbled it down and off I went.

After some  warmup and pacing about in a determined manner, I put up 305, twice. Hence the title: yay me.

The rest of the routine went like this:  superset 10 deadlifts @115% of bodyweight with 25 box jumps on a 24" box. 3 times.

I managed the deadlifts, but I only did 10 box jumps and it was more like an 18" box. 

Then you do 30 seconds of dumbell push presses with 30 seconds of "rest" with the dbs extended overhead. 4x. Ouch. I didn't quite make it all the way through that, either.

Finished up with piston-pushups and some springing tripods.

Anyone else got a favorite site or workout ideas?