Monday, June 30, 2008

Fun in the Sun

So far, I've been lovin' summer and about 95% of my training has been outdoors. I've been doing mostly kettlebell stuff for a quite a few weeks now, and I can definitely tell my body is ready for some heavy iron again. Since I've been enjoying working out in the sunshine and fresh air so much, I decided to bring my crappy, home barbell set outside and do some damage. I don't own enough plates for me to max out on squat or deadlifts, so I decided to go with some High Pulls. I used density training (setting a time limit & seeing how much you can get done in that amount of time) for the high pulls and then finished normal. The time limit was 15 minutes. I started with 3 reps and kept going until fatigue set in, and then obviously lowered the reps until the time was up. This is a backward approach to how most people train (which is why I like it), similar to Charles Staley's EDT method of training or Wake Forest's Strength Coach, Ethan Reeve's take on density training.

Here's what it looked like:


- 10 min. Joint Mobility warm-up w/ some tumbling drills

A1. (EDT - 15 min.) Barbell High Pulls x 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1
B1. Heavy Sandbag Squat x 4, 3, 3
C1. Light Sandbag Lunge Matrix (forward/side/reverse) x 2 ea. leg ea. direction x 2
rest: 30 sec.
C2. Kettlebell Swing w/ band 2 x 8
rest: 60 sec.
D1. Barbell RDL's 2 x 10
D2. Sandbag Pistol Squat 2 x 2 ea. leg
rest: 45 sec.
E1. KB Windmill 3 x 3 ea. side
E2. Sandbag Rotational Throw 3 x 2 ea. side
rest: 45 sec.

Time (not including warm-up): 43 min.

After I finished I cooled down with some advice from Eric Cressey I read. He says sometimes, instead of static stretching at the end of his athlete's workouts, he'll just have them run through some more mobility/dynamic flexibility drill and just have them hold each position longer than usual. I liked it a lot...nice way to cool down.









- Max