Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Wall Touch Video

As promised, the video of the "wall touch" drill. Tania shows us how it's done - I talk...

Review the last blog for specifics on implemetation...


Sunday, August 23, 2009

Running Program?!? Jon?!?

Started my new running program today.

No, pigs are not flying and I haven’t completely lost my mind.

I still firmly believe that long, slow, steady state cardio training is a colossal waste of time. I will never try the fad called “jogging”. I believe it’s “jogging” or “yogging” it might be a soft “J” – apparently you just run…for an extended period of time…

OK, sorry – I’m done quoting movies for now but I’ve made my point: Even Ron Burgundy can see it’s stupid and is only doing it because he’s trying to impress a good looking woman.

But, as I’ve said before, I do believe firmly in sprinting as a tool for conditioning and fat loss, as I believe in interval training as a tool for conditioning and fat loss as well.

But why start today?

Because, as I’ve said before, when you live in NJ, there’s only about an 8 week stretch where it’s feasible to exercise outside. It’s too cold November through February, too wet March through June, too hot June through September. But the stretch of early September through October is coming up where it’s usually beautiful around here. Warm during the day, cool at night with less than average precipitation.

And even though the weather today is disgustingly humid, I decided to hit the ground running…literally.

So here’s what I did to incorporate my positive feelings on sprinting and interval training into a quick and effective workout for me and for anyone who’s left reading this post at this point:

A quick (approximately 15 minutes), heart pounding interval timed running workout. Bold face, italicized, underlined RUNNING – NOT “yogging” – big difference. All you need is a timer, IPOD, and running sneakers. My recommendations and free plugs: the Gymboss timer, Shinedown on the IPOD and Adidas.

After a light warmup consisting of some body weight movements, the workout is in two parts as follows:

Sprint portion: 10 seconds of sprinting, 60 seconds of rest. Repeat this 10 times.

After this, rest just long enough to reset your timer to the new intervals. Then move on to the interval portion. The interval portion is done in “Tabata” style: 20 seconds of running followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated 8 times.

Interval portion: Run hard for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds. Repeat this sequence 8 times.

Notes:

· During the sprint portion, you’ll feel the 1st few rounds are easy. I actually started thinking maybe it was too easy. By rounds 5, 6, and 7 that changes drastically – those 60 second rest periods go by very quickly.

· Remember sprinting is a relative term. What’s a sprint for you, me, Usain Bolt and an old lady are all different things. For the sake of this workout, sprinting is defined as simply running fast.

· During the “Tabata” portion of the workout, you’re going to need to push yourself. That 20 seconds of hard running at this point is not pleasant, but it’s only 20 seconds – you can make it. And don’t take advantage of the rest period by extending the 10 seconds. 10 seconds is 10 seconds – don’t stretch it to 11, 12, etc.

On a personal note, it wasn’t pleasant when I was doing it, but it only took about 15 minutes and I seriously jacked up my metabolism in a brief period of time. All smart ass jokes aside, I’m probably burning more calories right now typing this a half an hour later than if I were to simply jog for 45 minutes. And even though the weather was sh!tty today, over the next 8 weeks or so, more likely than not, the weather is going to be great, providing a great excuse to get out, do something healthy and do something different.

Give it a try and tell me how you made out!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The "wall touch" drill

A very common mistake exercisers make when performing a kettle bell swing is to move too much from the knees and not enough from the hips (too much knee flexion, not enough hip flexion). This reduces the amount of involvement of the hips, glutes, shoulders and abdomen, which severely limits power production and therefore reduces the efficiency of your swing.




What we use as a cue at The Training Rim is to tell the “swinger” to reach as far back as they can with their arm between their legs. The swinger should end up with their forearm between their thighs, not with their hand toward the ground. This forces the hips to flex more and the knees less. However, it’s imperative to reach back as far as you can between your legs without your shoulders and head dropping forward, so it’s best to practice in front of a mirror. If you can’t see your face and front of your shoulders in your reflection, it probably means you’re dropping your head – be sure to keep the head up and shoulders back.




Like many things that are worth practicing, this may feel awkward and restrictive at first, but it’s worth the practice.




The improvement that follows will allow you to improve your swing which will immeasurably improve:




· your total body strength
· cardio endurance
· shoulder health
· back health
· Appearance of your abdomen and butt.




Think it’s worth the practice now? Thought so…




So we’ve developed what we call the “wall touch”:




This is a great drill that we’ve been using as a general warm up in our workouts and as a pre-cursor to a kettle bell workout. We’ve found it forms good habits, gets the heart rate up, and is a great dynamic stretch all in one.




Stand with your back to a wall with your heels about 6 inches away from the wall. (It’s not necessary to have a mirror in front of you but it may help).




Reach between your legs with your arm and try to touch the wall behind you with your hand. Make sure to keep your head up and shoulders back as you do so. Repeat with the other arm – when you can do 3 or 4 with each arm, and still keep your head up and shoulders back, step slightly further away from the wall and try again.




Use this as a warm up before performing some swings. Then start swinging with a kettle bell that’s slightly lighter than you would normally use. Do a handful of swings on each side, emphasizing the movement you just practiced – be sure your arm and the kettle bell are between and/or behind your legs, not going straight to the floor.




In fact, a good rule of thumb is that if the kettle bell gets anywhere near the floor, you’re doing something wrong. Make sure the KB is going back – not down.




The drill:




Start: Assume the position as if you were about to swing…







Finish: Reach back, touch the wall with your hand, but keep your head up and shoulders back!








Repeat, alternating right and left arms.




Next time you swing remember this drill – be sure your swinging arm is staying away from the floor and instead is traveling through your legs.




Try it out and let me know how it went!