Veterans Day

On Holidays that commemorate the formation of this great nation or our active and fallen soldiers, I like to pick one of the "Hero" workouts of the day from CrossFit.com for my clients to perform. These are always challenging, sometimes deceptively so. Today I picked "The Chief" (for more on "The Chief" click here)

As Many Rounds as Possible for 3 minutes:
3 heavy dumbbell cleans
6 push ups
9 squats
Rest for one minute and do four more times.

For a little extra kick we finished with 5 minutes of burpees alternated with reverse lunges.

The Burpee Challenge, Day 69

Only 31 days left in the Burpee Challenge. To date, those of us that are participating in the challenge have performed 2415 burpees over the first 69 days. Sounds like a lot, but that still leaves 2635 burpees to go. I've been adding variety to my burpees to break up the monotony, so I've decided to compile a list of burpee variants.
1)Flying Burpees
2)Deck Burpees
3)Dumbbell Press Burpees
4)Upright Row Burpees
5)Dumbbell Clean Burpees
6)Kettlebell High Pull Burpees
7)Kettlebell Snatch Burpees
8)One Leg up Burpees
9)Single Leg Burpees
10)Sledge Hammer Burpees
11)Ball Slam Burpees
12)Barbell Burpees
13)Clean and Jerk Burpees
14)Hindu Burpees
15)Box Jump Burpees
16)In and Out of Tire Jump Burpees
17)Burpee Pull Ups
18)Anchored Snatch Burpees

If I've missed any that you know of, let me know.

The Holidays

Thank you to Lesley for teaching my Saturday morning class this past weekend. It was her first foray into instructing a class, and there were first time jitters, but things went well. Congratulations Lesley!

There will be more on this in this month's newsletter, but I will pose the question here: Do you have a plan to avoid the typical holiday weight gain? We are 8 days past Halloween, the genesis of those unwanted pounds. Then it's on to Thanksgiving and the unmitigated onslaught of treats, pot lucks and parties. What will you do to avoid packing on the pounds?

Exercise Demos

I've been working on adding exercise demos to my website so I thought I would post them here as well. These demos are what I consider to be the foundation movements of my exercise program known as FFIT.

Last Day of September, 2009

We're in the process of filming a promotional video highlighting what it's like to participate in our workout classes (you'll see it on the website soon so stay tuned). A few of my clients agreed to help out (Thank you Dave, Alyssa and Catherine)and in addition to all of the incredibly nice things they had to say about me and the program, what struck me is how far they have all come both mentally and physically. They've greatly increased their physical conditioning to be certain, and even greater still they've expanded their idea of what they are capable of.
They have found their "inner athlete". It is my firm belief that everyone is on their own level an athlete that can be trained to maximize their abilities. The demands of life are virtually the same for everyone, it's the scale of the demand that differs. So when you workout, challenge yourself and explore the limits of your abiilities. You just might suprise yourself.

-Kevin

Today's Workout

4 rounds.
Run 2 laps around the building or 3 laps around the staircases (about 200 yuards)
21 dumbbell Cleans
7 Burpees
10 Shoulder Presses

TUESDAY 9/29/09

It's day 28 of the Burpee Challenge and I'm kicking myself. My procrastination led to me having to do 90 burpees to day to catch up, UGH!! Lesson learned, I hope!

Today was also two days into week 2 of the new exercise rotation, and so far the feedback so far is encouraging. The new rotation allows for each fitness element to come up more frequently, which should lead to better results.
Today's workout:

Four Rounds of,
25 American Swings
50 Walikng Lunges
Then...
10 reps each side of Floor Press/Roll/Half Get Up x 2
Followed by...
10 Kettlebell burpees x 3

9/26/09

It's about this time of year we start playing the fall-season numbers game. Maybe it goes something like this: "Okay, it's about a month before Halloween, two months before Thanksgiving, and (this is usually where the panic comes in) three months before Christmas. Yikes!"

Take a deep breath. You can't stop time and you can't hide from the holidays. But, if the thought of the upcoming candy, treats, and big meals have you more frightened than a creepy Halloween costume, take heart. In fact, maybe you've noticed your heart pumping a little harder in boot camp lately.

The workouts are now incorporating a great balance of cardio and weights every time. It's awesome! Well, ok, let’s be honest… sometimes it's awfully challenging… but in the end, you know as well as I do, it's truly awesome!

So, stick with it.

-Jenn

Labor Day Workout

A few images from our Labor Day workout. Great turnout for this labor insired circuit to honor those whose strongbacks this country was built on. Lots of lifting, chopping, hammering and carrying. Great fun!!!

Bars and Stuff

Three rounds of
5 Hang Cleans
10 KB Presses each side
60 second plank
Run 150 yards

Three rounds of
5 Power Cleans
5 Front Reverse Lunges each leg
10 Floor wipers

4 rounds of
10 Front Squats
5 Burpees

Deadlifts

Todays workout was elegant in it's simplicity

10 rounds

5 Deadlifts
10 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
Increase the weight on the deadlifts through out.

TGIB (Thank God it's Bodyweight)

Today's workout featured nothing but bodyweight exercises, which can be just as challenging as weights, and are often much more challenging. Part one-4 rounds, ten reps each of the following: Tire dips, Reverse Lunges, Pull Ups,Hindu Push Ups,Superman, Staggered Push Ups Part two-Tap Squats,Moutain Hoppers w/Push Ups,Standing broad Jumps Part three-Flying Burpees

Presses and Jerks

Today's workout combined the quintessential upper body movement, the overhead press, with cardiovascular endurance. Part one combined the movements as follows:


1 Press, 2 Push Presses, 3 Jerks, 4 Squat Presses then drop the bar and run around the building once, approximately .15 miles.
5 times.

Then combo set of Alternating Floor Press 10 reps each side and 2 hand Get Up Sit Ups for 10 reps. 3 Times

3 Turkish Get Ups each side, then 30 yard sprint a jog back
3 times.

Well, Someone Said They Wanted to Do Legs...

Today's workout

Barbell Squats, 3 sets, 10 reps each at 75% 1RM
Tire flips, 200 or 300 pound tire, 3 sets, 10 reps
Heavy Dumbbell Cleans 3 sets, 10 reps

Then...
Tabata-20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest, 8 sets.
Dumbbell Squat Jumps

Sledge Hammers, Tires and Burpees. Oh My!

Todays workout was simple, but a serious metabolic conditioning challenge.
50 sledge hammer strikes
21 Burpees
50 sledge hammer strikes
18 Burpees
50 sledge hammer strikes
15 Burpees
50 sledge hammer strikes
12 Burpees
50 sledge hammer strikes
9 Burpees
50 sledge hammer strikes
6 burpees
50 sledge hammer strikes
3 Burpees

Monday's Offering, Kettlebell Fun!

After a warm up that consisted of light jogging, push ups, sit ups, and squats, we embarked upon the day's task.

Starting with the right hand, 30 seconds work/15 seconds rest:
With kettlebells
Suitcase
Clean&Jerk
High Pull
Snatch
Repeat immediately with the left hand. Rest one minute, then do the right and left hand again.

Rest 5 minutes, then perform:
Full body attack 5 reps 3 sets
Full body defense 5 reps 3 sets
Anchored thrusters 5 reps left, 5 reps right, 3 sets.