Heading to the Beach

In the morning my wife and I are heading to Destin FL for a vacation. I'll be out of the loop, away from the internet, off the grid, etc.,etc. until next Sunday. I will have my cell phone, but I don't know if I'll turn it on.;)

As for Progress Report on the transformation:
I am down 11lbs in 12 days, hit a PR in the 40kg snatch, tied my previous PR in the SSST and set a baseline for Crazed Viking's VO2 max workout. A good week for training all in all.

Diet wise: With the exception of Sunday's aforementioned Black Velvet, fries and ice cream, I have been 100% compliant to the Precision Nutrition Guidelines. (Click the link over on the right side of the page for the PN 8-day nutritional makeover).

I am taking a single 32kg Kettlebell with me. Call it a working vacation ;).

Take care & I'll talk to you all next week.

Who says Traditional Martial Arts won't work in the street fight?

With the skill of the modern MMA fighter laying to rest many of the Myths of traditional (for lack of a better term) Martial arts, htere are many people who throw out the baby with the bathwater and say traditional martial srts are not useful for fighting.

This clip shows otherwise:

Today's Training

A1-Pullups w/purple band
A2-40kg clean and press

x5,4,3,2,1

Box pistol x 5,4,3,2,1 per leg

V-up x 5
Burpee x 10
40kg swing x20
x 3 round in just over 5 minutes.
this was TOUGH.

I laid down in my yard ( another way of saying collapsed into a puddle of sweaty smelly exhaustion) and sucked wind for a couple of minutes after this last bit.

Got up and practiced some Praying Mantis forms, Som Bo Gin and Som Bo Pin Kui.

I will do split work later, but now I must eat.

Danish VO2 workout

After reading Rif's blog yesterday I decided to use Kennth Jay's :15/:15 protocol for my interval training today.

24kg snatches
46 sets of 7 reps per arm
15 sec on
15 sec off
322 snatches total in 22:45

There were a couple of sets of 8 reps in there, but who's counting?

This thing sneaks up on you. The first few sets were no big deal. The last few are sheer torture. I think that for a little bit I could get 50 sets, but today I stopped when I started getting sloppy & slow.

The protocol is for 16kg for men, but I felt pushy at the beginning.

40kg snatch PR

20/20 reps, done on a whim, no prep.

I believe this is a good example of what a week of good, consistent nutrition can do. I ate very clean since last Monday, with the exception of some fries, beer and ice cream last night, which was a pre-planned "off" meal.


I am down nine pounds in the past week, from 285 to 276. I know that six-seven of that is water, but what a great first week!

An even bigger deal to me than the snatches: We went to my little cousin's 2nd birthday party yeasterday and rather than cake, they had one of those gigantic chocolate chip cookies with the decorative icing on it. This is absolutely the most lethal junk food in the world for me. I have dreams about these cookies, no kidding.

Now, I had planned to take a meal "off" and go out with some friends to an Irish pub, drink a little Black Velvet ( Guinness and Cider) and eat fish & chips after the kid's party. It would have been REAL easy to say something like "It's only a couple of hours difference, I'll have some cookie."

I didn't. I didn't have a single taste of the cookie. I didn't get a piece to save for later when we were at the pub either.

Why not?

IT WAS NOT PART OF THE PLAN. I planned for fried fish. I planned for fries. I planned for Guinness. I did not plan for cookie, so I did not eat cookie.

Oh, yeah....I didn't eat battered fish either, even though I planned to. I had a steak. 12 oz of quality protien, steamed vegetables and an order of fries.

For dessert, I had a some Ice Cream. That plus the Black Velvet was it for my junk food. Previously, I would eat relatively clean all week, then on Friday night start eating junk.

Today I snatched 40kg for 20/20.

Coincidence? I think not.

here is the youtube link to the same video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XITSfMM_2fk

The Gun Club

Thanks to Thomas Buhls, USMC for sending me this VERY kick-ass t-shirt.

Training to transform

Regarding the question about my training for this transformation contest:

Over the past few months I have spent a great deal of time and effort researching and studying the art and science of fat-loss.Two of the most knowledgeable guys in the world on the subject are Craig Ballentyne, Men's Health magazine writer and author of Turbulence Training and Alwyn Cosgrove, author of Afterburn Training, who I have already mentioned. The two programs are more alike than different and they have proven track records.

I have adapted the principals of TT and Afterburn to my bootcamp classes and to applied them to Kettlebell training. Craig was interested enough to interview and have me write an article on the subject for his membership site http://www.ttmembers.com/ .

The simplified formula is this: Alternating/supersets of non-competing full-body movements + Intervals. Also known as hard freakin' work.

This is the basic template I have been using for clients and will be using for myself for the next several weeks.

Here is yesterday's workout:

24kg For all
A1-dbl Squat 3x8
A2- Renegade Row 3x8/8
B1- Dbl Clean & Press 3x8
B2- V-up 3x8
Snatch 4x15 (2/side) w/ Jog / Walk 1:30-2:00
94 degrees

Transformation

People may not believe what you say, but they will always believe what you do. This applies to everything; from feats of physical skill to the way in which we live our day-to-day lives.

Some call it "put up or shut up" or "walk the talk".

If you speak of strength, you must be able to demonstrate it.

If you claim to be great coach or a teacher, people will notice who you have trained (or more importantly, who you haven't). Calling yourself an expert doesn't make you one.

If you talk about honesty, integrity, or honor your actions tell the world all that is needed. If you lie to your friends and cheat on your wife, you are a liar and a cheat, no matter how humble and classy you appear in public.

In this spirit, I am embarking upon a transformation.

See, I help other people lose massive amounts of bodyfat. I am good at it.

But the question came up (again) recently: "He claims to be able to get people lean, but where is his 6-pack? If it works so well, why isn't he lean?"

This isn't the first time I have heard this.

I will answer these questions publicly now.

1. My 6-pack is safely hidden away in a cooler, that is, a layer of belly fat that obscures it from view.

2. I am not lean because I eat too damn much, same as anyone else. I train hard, but as I have said sooooo many times to clients, you cannot out-snatch a doughnut ( in my case, cookies and french fries, I am not huge doughnut fan). Believe me, I have tried. I am 50-ish pounds lighter than I was 4 years ago when I became an RKC. I could stand to be another 40 less than I am now.

Leanness has not been high enough priority in my life to make the changes and sacrifices that I MUST do in order to achieve it.

That has changed.

John Berardi and his team over at Precision Nutrition (http://www.precisionnutrition.com/cmd.php?af=537102) announced the PN transformation challenge and I toyed with the idea of entering it. Then I read Alwyn Cosgrove's blog on the subject. Paraphrasing the Scotsman I am going to be training for the next 4 months ANYWAY, so why not enter the PN challenge and use it as extra motivation?? I didn't have a good answer.

So I entered the contest. As of today.

I will be posting weekly updates here because if annoncing it publicly means I am accountable to the world, or at least the people who stop by this blog.

Here are the before photos, taken 7-15-07:

Watch what happens.

Real Kung Fu

Old footage of Jook Lum Tong Long Sifu Gin Foon Mark




Mark Sifu was one of my teacher's teachers. This clip is excellent.

A little bit of snatching, a little bit of pressing,

Today's workout:

48kg snatch
10 sets of 3reps per arm (10x3/3)
1:00 rest between sets

40Kg snatch
1x10/10
2x5/5
1x6/6

32kg snatch
1x10/10
3x5/5

32kg Clean and Press
5x5/5

Don't try this at home

For Dr. Mark Cheng

Happy Independence Day!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July!

Turkish Get-up

I still get emails from people asking about the Get-up, ranging from "what is it?" to "How do you do it?"

Here is a brief demonstration and explanation.