Negative Thoughts and Talk by Rachel Cosgrove

http://rachelcosgrove.blogspot.com/2009/04/my-big-fat-ass.html

Above is a wonderful post I just read by Rachel Cosgrove on Self Esteem and Negative Emotions and how it regards to you achieving your goals.

Thursday workout:
Just re-introduced Nikki's brother to the kettlebell this week since we are back in Nebraska. Here is what the three of us did.

Turkish getups 1/1 alternating partners x3

Ladder of reverse lunges followed by 1 arm rows to 5. (1/1 lunges then 1/1 rows, then 2/2 and so forth)

Ended with a team workout of 20 kb swings followed by 100 step upward run followed by 5 push ups at top of stairs then jog back down. Do as many rounds as you can in 10 min.

No Curl Secret to Bigger Bicep

http://download.menshealth.com/free/Free2.php

This is a workout developed by Alwyn Cosgrove. This man has been through it all and has trained all types of individuals. He also writes articles for Mens Health as well as other top magazines in the Health and Fitness Industry. When he talks, I listen. When he writes, I definitely read.

The link above is a downloadable workout so please check it out. I have would like to say that my bicep size and tone has increased significantly since January, but I have not done one isolated biceps exercise at all.

If you get a chance, get the May 2009 issue of Mens Health and read the article titled, "Build Muscles from All Angles"

If you have even more time, check out http://www.liftstrong.com/. Alwyn developed a CD-ROM that contains PDF articles from a large cast of fitness and rehab professionals. It is only 24.99 and ALL proceeds go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I got my copy this week and it is like paying 30 dollars for a 3 day seminar on Rehab, Strength and Conditioning and Nutrition.

Hope all is going well and take care!

100th POST! Workout Tuesday 4/14

Nikki and I woke up early again this morning at 5am to get our workout in. There was a good chance that both Nik and myself will work late and not be in the mood to kick our butts, so we rolled out of bed and got to work for 30 minutes. Here is the workout we did Right of Passage style for Pavel and the RKC.

Circuit 1 - 10 minutes
-Clean and press ladder heavy 1/1, 2/2, 3/3 (means 1 rep Right, 1 rep Left, then 2 and 2, then 3 and 3).
-Followed immediately by clean and squat ladder 1/1, 2/2, 3/3
Repeat circuit as many times in ten minutes, concentrate on beautiful form!

Circuit 2 - 10 minutes
-Single leg deadlift light 1/1, 2/2, 3/3
-1 arm row light 1/1, 2/2, 3/3
Same rules as above

Circuit 3 - 10 minutes
-1 arm partner swings: 5 L arm/ 5 R arm then partner goes, 10/10, 15/15, 20/20
Perform as many rounds within 10 minutes.

Great workout!

Monday workout 4/13/09

Nikki and I do not go to bootcamp on Mondays but we make it a habit to get a good 20-30 min workout in on Monday morning to get our week headed in the right direction. Simple and to the point really.

• General Warm Up (I usually use the foam roller/tennis ball and work out any knots I may have from last weeks training, today was the upper traps and my hip flexors)
• Alternating heavy turkish get ups with 1 windmill at the top of each get up, alternating sides for 10 minutes (I ended up doing 4 each side)
• Followed with a 25 seconds on/15 seconds off of the following

1. Overhead kettlebell sit up
2. Push ups
3. Thoracic rotation with kettlebell
4. V-Ups
5. Reverse plank bridge
6. Mountain Climbers

• Perform for 2 rounds.

Reverse plank bridge performed by Michael Boyle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpX_2yuFPLs

Michael Boyle Training the Baby Boomer

Michael Boyle's Baby Boomers

Little video posted by Michael Boyle who is the strength coach to the NCAA Champion Boston University Hockey Team. Michael also owns his own sports conditioning facility in the Boston, MA area. He trains elite athletes to 8th graders to baby boomers. He shows a great example of the type of strength anyone can show if they progress in the right manner and stop saying "I can't do that!" Michael also has a podcast that you can download on Apple called strengthcoach podcast.

This is what Mike wrote on his blog about the above video.

Baby Boomer 1 Leg Squats

The video below shows one of my clients doing what we refer to as a static unsupported one leg squat. The client pictured is 61 years old. I love to show theses videos to demonstrate what great shape people can get in. Yes, I know that depth and back position could be a little better but, when you see this degree of strength and stability in an older client it is encouraging. All too often we set the bar way too low for our clients. I am conservative in my exercise choices and loads but, will progress a client when I think it is safe and beneficial. The external load is 30 lbs. consisting of a 20 lb weight vest and 5 lb dumbbells. The dumbbells act as a counterbalance to allow the client to sit back and also also encourage some thoracic extension.

I am not the only person obsessed with training the glutes!

Great post by Kim Ball. See I told all of you I am not disturbed!

http://deliberatemovement.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-love-butts.html

Wednesday Bootcamp 4/8

Beautiful day today here in Nashville. Great for Nikki and I to head off to bootcamp and get our sweat going. Dave took us through a very tough workout tonight.

Began with RKC warm up of Neck ROM, shoulder and arm circles, the pump and spinal wave

Squat ladder in 2 groups resting in down position

-Alternating side 1-1, 2-2, 3-3

-Rest

-Alternating sides 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4

-Rest

-Alternating sides 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5

VO2 snatch training for 10 minutes 15 sec R arm/15 sec rest/15 sec L arm/15 sec rest (goal of 8 reps per side)

Ended with 4 rounds of swings for 45 seconds, then performed 40 yard jog/walk down and back began next round in 1:15.

Gooey Chocolate Chip Muffins

Can the gooey chocolate chip muffins overtake the pumpkin pie bars and my new heavenly treat?

Maybe........Just Maybe........

I got the recipe thanks to my lovely wife who bought me the precision nutrition cookbook a while back when I was feeling blue. She has been eating healthy and delicious ever since.

You can get the cookbook at Perform Better. Just type "gourmet nutrition" in the search for field.

Ingredients (I modified a few things due to my available ingredients)

1/4 cup unsalted butter (if not using unsweetened applesauce, use 1/2 cup)

1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce (this helps to cut down the fat a bit)

1 cup of egg whites from the carton (4 whole omega 3 eggs in recipe)

1/4 cup skim milk (recipe asks for coconut milk)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups whole wheat flour

6 scoops Chocolate protein powder (i love the syntha 6)

1 tbsp dark chocolate or chocolate cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp splenda

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup dried fruit chopped (I ended up buying a package of dried fruit that had dark chocolate pieces, raspberries, cranberries and almonds and chopped it all up)

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Put all ingredients together in a mixing bowl and stir (I used a fork cause a wooden spoon was quite the workout! This stuff is gooey!) Lightly coat a mini muffin pan with cooking spray and fill each muffin tin. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until the tops of the muffins are set.

What I did next helps with the gooeyness of the muffins. I placed them in a container with a sealed lid and put them in the fridge. This helped some of the condensation to go back into the muffins. Sooooo Yummy!

I sprinkled a little coconut on top before I baked some of them, up to you though. Makes 40 muffins.

Calories 70

Fat 2g

Carb 8g

Protein 4 grams

Great for a pre/post workout snack!

Bootcamp for Tuesday, April 7th.

It was a cold day in Nashville today, but Nikki and I bundled out and were very pleasantly surprised to see that Ashley, Sue, Melissa, Lesa, Gina and Keith all came out in the cold early morning to workout with us.

Dave took us through a very good workout and we warmed up quickly.

We warmed up for 5 minutes with Neck ROM, Shoulder Rolls, Arm Circles, Spinal Wave and the Pump all for about 30 seconds.

Then we all got a kettlebell (moderately heavy) and went to a picnic table. We performed the following for 3 rounds. (30 seconds on, 15 seconds rest)

• Split squat with back foot elevated on picnic table R leg
• Split squat L leg
• Push ups (either feet elevated on picnic table, regular push ups, or with hands elevated on picnic table)
• 1 arm row Right
• 1 arm row Left

Next we performed a set of swings 30 second on/15 seconds off for 8 rounds with a heavy kettlebell.

Terrific workout!

Remember if you are looking to learn more kettlebell exercises and especially those that help to make you more powerful and balanced for working out and sports there is a Kettlebell Workshop, Friday May 8th. Get the details at www.irontamer.com or email Dave and irontamerdave@hotmail.com.

Friday 4/3/09 Bootcamp Workout

Tough workout today so I thought I would share it with everyone.

Circuit ran 45 seconds/45 seconds/45 seconds then rotate to next station with a 45 second rest

Did 4 rounds. Matt & Dennis did a good job on this one!

Group #1
1 arm row R
1 arm row L
Plank

Group #2
Half kneeling press to TGUish stand R arm/R Leg
Half kneeling press to TGUish stand L arm/L leg
Kettlebell swings

Group #3
Forward Lunge R leg(I did the Prisoner lunge like Sandy Sommer would say)
Forward Lunge L leg
Push Ups

Everyone have a great weekend!

Knee Pain, How do you Bend? By Dr. Mark Cheng

Terrific post by Dr. Cheng about posture and how people squat. Good read that gives some great points that can be used by anyone when exercising, especially those with or has a history of knee pain. Some of his comments may seem familiar to some of the things that I discussed in my previous blog posts. Always a good idea to have a doc speaking the same language as you!

Dr. Cheng is RKC Functional Movement Screen Certified and using kettlebell exercises as well as Pavels HARDSTYLE methods to rehab his patients.