Okay are you ready for the totally awkward Punching tutorial that consists of 13 minutes of awkward rambles to try to teach you the very basics of technique?
YAYYY.
I realized that my biggest issue with this kind of stuff is that I am used to an audience. With a student or a client or whatever you get instant feedback of their understanding.So I repeat myself A LOT.
Its all a learning experience.
Source: rippedfuel
The Tabata Protocol
When people talk about Tabata training, I constantly just want to reblog it with ‘NO’.
The original study was done using this method:
- 5 minutes of warm-up
- 8 intervals of 20 seconds all-out intensity exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest
- 2 minutes cool-down
On high level endurance athletes, on a stationary bike, keeping it at over 85 RPM and going until they could not maintain the pace. Its been cited that this can also be done on a treadmill on a high incline at a set pace (usually faster then your normal pace, or at the pace you want to be achieving)
In other words, this is to do with V02MAX training.
The study showed that subjects who trained using the 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest for 4 minutes total of work and rest, burned more fat for energy over 24 hours than another group who trained at 70% of Max VO2 for an hour. Both groups worked out 5 days a week for 6 weeks. 70% VO2MAX is approximately 80 % max heart rate. The group that did Tabata were training at 170% V02MAX
Can I go back to the ‘high level endurance athlete’ part now? Yeah.
The Tabata method was developed as more of an accessory training method along side an athletes other training.The people who were doing Tabata were also doing a lot of steady state cardio along side it. You could probably get away with doing Tabata with things like jump ropes, heavy bag work, normal sprints and prowler/tyre pushes. This is all meant to be maximal (high V02MAX) efforts.
So lets get one thing clear: Tabata is not circuit training.
If you want to do a 20 second on 10 second off circuit, then go a head because there’s nothing wrong with the rested interval training protocols, but its not Tabata.
Why every woman needs to strength train
I’ve heard it all, mainly revolving around the line “but i dont want to bulk up”
Considering most of you are aiming to be healthy, then let me tell you why you should strength train and I dont mean machines. I mean - Squats, Deadlifts, Presses & power Cleans.
As a woman ages her estrogen levels decrease, leading into menopause. A lot of women enter premenopause from their late 20’s on wards. Estrogen is important for a number of reasons - but the main one is - it controls bone density. Calcium does help (and you ened to be careful because yoghurt and some forms of milk actually strips calcium from the bones - there are better sources of calcium then dairy) But ultimately its estrogen that controls bone density. When you estrogen starts to fall ithe things that come in a remodel the bone (say, if you’ve broken it) start to invade and strip bone from where its not needed. Because we are a societ that spend a lot of time sitting the areas that are hit the most are hips, spine and ribs.
This process is called Wolfs Law.
“Wolff’s law is a theory developed by the German Anatomist/Surgeon Julius Wolff (1836-1902) in the 19th century that states that bone in a healthy person or animal will adapt to the loads it is placed under. If loading on a particular bone increases, the bone will remodel itself over time to become stronger to resist that sort of loading. The external cortical portion of the bone becomes thicker as a result. The converse is true as well: if the loading on a bone decreases, the bone will become weaker due to turnover as it is less metabolically costly to maintain and there is no stimulus for continued remodeling that is required to maintain bone mass.”
Now here is why the major lifts are important to help lessen the effect of osteoporosis, but can actuall yhelp improve it if its all ready settled in.
As wolfs law states; the more load the bone comes under the more that it will remodel itself to have more bone mass. Running, swimming, areobics, isolated muscle group strength training are not enough. You need to have a heavy direct force applied to the bone structure. Not only that but it develops strong over all body control and balance - two things that go a long way to prevent falls and injuries.
Enter the Squat, the Deadlift, the Press and the Clean.
- The Squat is the king of all movements for this situational style of stregnth training. the force - when done right, is placed directly on the spinal column and pelvis. The spine under load, in order to get stronger, needs to add bone mass. this also happens into the pelvis.
- the deadlift, as a preventative lift, places force into the pelivs and lumbar spine. its a shearing force, but as a preventative measure it is perfect.
- The press places load into the entire body, including the shoulder joint and the torso, and activates the core and lats. The force applied can connect into the ribs, which in turn allows a greater bone mass.
- The Power clean is amazing. not just as a sports power output training device but also because the force applied is on the total body.
So you see, when we say “women should go lift heavy shit” its not just because we think its cool and awesome and you’ll look amazing by doing so. Its also because a truly healthy woman wants to take steps to prevent/control a disease that cant start to happen much earlier in life - and most women dont - which is why diseases like this are on the rise.
Source: rippedfuel
PSA: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TONING
“Toned” is not a health and fitness term.
I dont know why it gets under my skin so much but it does. There is no such thing as Toning, or being toned and because its so vague of a term everyone has different interpretations of what it means. Therefore it not a real goal. You’re either trying to drop body fat or increase lean muscle mass. Those the only thing you are physically capable of doing. They are the only two things that I can write a program for when it comes to changing body composition.
Toned was a word invented to market fitness equipment and DVD’s to women that doesnt really mean anything.
Okay onto our regularly scheduled programming
Source: rippedfuel
Training Alone
We’ll call this more of a memoir rather then a guide on how to.
I’ve spent a lot of time over the course of my life training by myself. I have not always been in a position to have a coach or a dojo. The only times I went to the gym was when I was working at one and I spent 10 months in a Crossfit box. The only thing that I have consistently done with other people has been martial arts, but even then that has had long periods of self study. That ability to focus and train by myself has come with practice, and it has become an invaluable skill.
Frankly training with others, unless they are better then me (which isn’t hard btw) is often a distraction. I’m a coach by nature and I find it hard to not teach. I do wind up collecting training partners as students and its inherently frustrating. I love being a coach, but not to the expense of my own training (as in, if someone comes to train WITH ME, I don’t want to be teaching because that’s what classes are for).
So over the years I have spent a lot of time a lone.
The last year in particular has taught me more about myself then the 16 years before.
See because its easy for me to spend 2 or so hours going over skills in martial arts. It’s HARD to load up a bar with nobody else around, deal with the psych out, and squat. To have nobody but you forcing yourself out of the hole, to get tired and want to quit and have nobody to cheer you on: No Crowd, no team, Just you and the Iron. Anyone who has been there, those moments where things get hard and you have to get harder - where you have nobody but yourself to rely on – know what I am talking about. Its like training in a vacuum. Theres something inherently scary but so Zen like about it.
And it does get frustrating. I’ve thrown things across the room in a fit but then it seems pointless when there’s nobody there. You want someone to tell you that its okay, you want someone to scream at you to get back under the bar or get your ass up that hill or to keep going for just 10 more seconds. Its you against you in the truest sense of the word.
I’ve learned that I am tougher then I ever knew. Its an important lesson to learn.I’ve learned that its easy to want to do all the things every day because you have nobody to tell you what to do but you also dont have anyone to tell you what not to do and therefore planning and being strict with yourself is paramount. I’ve also leaned that a camera tells no lies and therefore filming lifts is a good way to see where you’re at.
A lot of people ask how it is that I can go from training in a vacuum to tournaments with 200+people screaming and carrying on and all I can say is competition is easy. But I’ll write about competition and how I deal with it another day.
Top 5 Reasons to Squat. Men and Women.
Men:
- They’re the “King of all mass builders”, and they make you strong as shit. Because lets face it, being small and weak just isn’t very manly.
- They jack testosterone levels. This has been proven time and time again. Don’t believe me? Check out this picture of bearded bad ass (and 70’s Big logo man) Doug Young. Beards like that dont come from estrogen.
- They translate to every sport. Yes, every sport. Back, legs, hips all of that is gonna make you better at whatever sport your competing in.
- If you don’t squat, you turn into the sparkly kid from Twilight. Fact.
- People will like you more.
Person 1:”Hey do you know Johnny?”
Person 2: “The large muscular fellow with the beaming personality? Why yes I do, he’s a charming gentleman”
Women:
- Ass. I could just leave that as one word, but I will explain. Squats make ladies asses awesome. Your ass is a muscle, and getting rid of it isn’t gonna make it look better, its gonna make it look like a pancake. Just remember, dont squat your ass off, squat your ass on.
- It repels gym creepers. That dude that like to undress you with his eyes on the treadmill is gonna shit his pants when he sees you squat weights.
- It prevents “skinny fat”. You can remain feminine and petite without that annoying extra flab. Squats are amazing for elevating fat burning hormones.
- Its empowering as hell. The truth is, a lot of women are intimidated by lifting heavy. But a month of squats will turn you into superwoman. Literally.
- People will like you more.
Guy 1: “Hey do you know Sarah?, she’s the girl over there squatting”
Guy 2: “I love her”
Guy 3: “I love her”
Guy 4: “I love her”
Guy 5: “I love her”
Guy 6: “I love her”
You get the point.
Source: nopityfitness
The Strength Shop: Slaying the Dragon
A well thought out article from a coach after watching a video from the 12.2 WOD for the Crossfit Games Open WOD’s though I feel it applies to anyone training in any format across any discipline.
From the article:
If you want to be good at what you do, you have to understand what you are doing, why you are doing it, and how to do it safely and effectively. The first rule of training is “Do no harm.” The coach and the athlete are both responsible for this. The athlete is sometimes stronger than he is smart, so it is the coaches responsibility to keep the athlete safe and progressing. In other words, the coach should take care of the athlete, but the athlete must always use common sense.
Source: rippedfuel
And todays post
I feel like I’m repeating myself at this point but I hate watching people just run themselves into the ground and then wonder why all of a sudden they’re so tired, injured, ceased seeing any progress etc.
I often have an issue with how people prescribe high intensity training, or more to the point ‘hey are you bored with your treadmill/want to lose max fat? you should do HIIT! or Tabata!’
Which is true to a point but when you take someone who is, for lack of a better term, a cardio bunny and tell them they should be doing HIIT and they take that as not only ‘20minutes? so 40 minutes would be better!’ but ‘well I run 6 days a week so do I do this 6 days a week?’
The general programming is:
The Higher the Intensity the Lower the Volume.
Aka if you’re going to start adding in hill sprints or sprint repeats into your training thats only 2 or 3 times a week, with a light volume or time spent on the training. I also really like to change up how I rest between sets efforts but I usually go 1:1 or 1:2 on rest (rest for the time of the effort or rest for double the time of the effort).
But the simple fact is is if your doing HIIT or Sprints or Hills right, you should not be capable of doing it more or for longer. I know that we’re in a time where everything is SUPER!HARDCORE!ALL!THE!TIME! but let me repeat what I have said forever; not every workout is meant to push limits, not every workout should leave you wrecked, not every workout should have you laying on the ground in a heap with your lunges burning and your muscles aching, not every workout should break records OR you. If you push yourself to those limits every time you are going to burn out. Its not really a question of if, its a question of when.
That is not to say that there is anything wrong with you having a few really mental hardcore crazy workouts a week, but you need to have workouts where you just do your thing and leave and its nothing to write home about. Not only does your body need that, but your mind does too. Plus fatigue leads to slop and slop leads to injuries, especially when you only have a short training age.
I know I’m kind of not the best example of taking it easy on myself, but I can tell you that injuries will haunt you even if you’ve done the best to heal them right.
However, This s not a post to say dont challenge yourself or give you an excuse to slack off though. As you get further into your training what was once hardcore will probably drop off into easy programming. Things change, focuses change, you get better and more efficient as your body adapts. But you need to take the journey to that point not just jump to it. Its all about progression.
Train smart.
Source: rippedfuel
