Friday, December 25, 2009

ACTION MUSCLE CHALLENGE WINNERS

Thank you to those who participated in the 1st online Action Muscle Challenge.
I will be creating the"#2 Action Muscle Challenge" in the new year. Lets get even more people on board for the #2 AMC

Here are your winners:

RQ'd Male:
Jimmy Mac 167
Eric 164
Tyler 160
Gregory 139
Justin 108

RQ'd Females:
We will get some girls here

Scaled Males:
Brian 157

Scaled Females:
Christine 113
Kathy 100
Amanda 85

Fantastic Jobs! Well done :-)

Jim, Brian, and Christine I will be getting in touch with you to create the workout you won.

Keep up the hard work ;-) stay tuned for the next Action Muscle Challenge.

If you have any questions please feel free to email me at: brandtster@hotmail.com

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Monday, December 21, 2009

ACTION MUSCLE CHALLENGE


TODAY'S RECENT SCORES


The picture is of two of my family pack clients; Christine & her son Justin. They have been with me for a few months now and are excelling more and more every day! Great job today!


Christine L
43 Sit-ups
35 Squats
35 Push-ups modified
TOTAL = 113

Justin L
41 Sit-ups
30 Squats
37 Push-ups
TOTAL = 108

Eric "The Honer" K
37 Sit-ups
47 Squats
60 Push-ups
TOTAL = 164

Tyler M (Ty did this in Mexico City, altitude training!)
44 Sit-ups
56 Squats
60 Push-ups
TOTAL = 160

Husband Wife duo

Amanda M

27 Sit-ups
32 Squats
26 Push-ups mod
TOTAL = 85

Brian M

45 Sit-ups
62 Squats mod
50 Push-ups
TOTAL = 157


Sunday, December 20, 2009

ACTION MUSCLE CHALLENGE Up-date

Here is a youtube video post from Gregory who follows the Action Conditioning blog online for inspiration.
Thanks for your time in taking the Challenge bud! Well done!
Gregory's TOTAL Reps = 139
43 Sit-ups
58 Squats
38 Push-ups

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Two Days Left to Take the Challenge

Good morning! Buenas dias! Starting the day off with a kiss and hug from your significant other is simply the best way to wake up! Adding to this great start to the day is to jump right in and Take the ACTION MUSCLE CHALLENGE (it's only 3min) SWEET!
PS: I got my kiss and hug this morning :-)

Action Tip of the Day:
Your VITALITY should be high in the morning....yes you know what I mean! The men should be saluting and the girls ready to greet them off the ship :-) If you do not feel this way in the morning, the hormones in your body are not working in balance with you. A couple main causes of decreased vitality are: poor nutrition, decreased fitness and improper workouts.

If you need help with your vitality, nutrition and workout program "I CAN HELP". You can reach me at brandtster@hotmail.com

MY WORKOUTS YESTERDAY:

500m Sprint Row = 1:24.6
+
3RM Split Jerk = 180lbs Body weight baby!
+
45min of Functional Back and Leg training with rest periods of 20-60sec

e.g. lots a multi directional Lunges, squats, jumps, static holds, wall sits, one leg wall sits and tons of strict multi grip AMRAP pull-ups........GOOD STUFF! NO MACHINES and can be done in your living room :-0

For those that are on the fence to taking the Action Muscle Challenge; lets try and make this work.
- You can keep your scores personal by emailing me brandtster@hotmail.com
- I then can tell you where you need to start your fitness journey after I get your scores
- If you want to post your scores; please post them to yesterdays Challenge post. OR send them to me brandtster@hotmail.com and I will post them for you.
- I am here to help and this small test can give me some good empirical data specific to you. This data helps me create programs tailored to your needs and fitness goals :-)

* If I get a good response from this Challenge I be putting up some beginner WOD's "Workout Of the Day" for you all to do at home, in the gym, at work or in your garage ;-)

Now get up and move your body for 3min.

Action Tip:
Something I choose to do is Video tape myself moving and exercising from time to time. This has been a great tool for me to see how I move, what I look like when I move and technique work on specific exercises. When you tape yourself ask: do I like what I see? Do I like how I felt?
You and only YOU hold the power to change this. I can help create a path for you to follow. Plus if you want to literally see a transformation over time......it is on video tape.

I was going over some video tape of me from 2 years ago, I was moving slow, looking large, stopping all the time to drink water and rest, my technique was crap...the list goes on. What I did do to change the old Chad was to "Make a Choice" to become the fittest Chad I could be! I have told some of my good friends about this choice, when they ask me why I train. My advice to you is Make the Choice, stick with it, make it enjoyable, create that time in your day to thank your body for working so hard for you, by rewarding it with a sweet workout.
(yes thanking your body means to work it out, your body loves it!)

So lets Start it UP people!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

TAKE THE CHALLENGE

The ACTION "Muscle" Challenge for this weekend!

The goal for this fun challenge is to create a fitness movement for the New Year with my close friends, family and clients :-)

You have 3min to get as many reps as possible; No Rest, straight through (set a timer to beep on each minute ) IT'S ONLY 3MIN OF YOUR DAY :-)

1min Anchored Sit-ups
1min Air Squat
1min Push-ups or Modified Push-ups
TOTAL=_________

Anchored Sit-ups = Sit in front of a Wall, place your Dumbbells anchored against wall. When you do your sit-up you must touch to wall with both hands for each rep.
Air Squat You can do a free squat, you may squat to a ball, chair, bench or whatever that will get you to have your hip crease even with your knees (90 degrees)
Push-ups or Modified Push-ups= You may do regular Push-ups OR Modified Push-ups. Remember to try and keep a nice bridge posture / plank in the push-up. In the bottom position for the push-up have your elbows in line with your shoulders (90 degrees), then push-up to top elbow lock out to count one rep. NOTHING can touch the floor. If your doing Modified Push-ups, keep your butt in the air a little bit, trying not to let your legs or stomach touch the floor.

Have fun and send me your scores :-) If you video this event send it to me, the top video will get put up on this site :-) Send your scores in by this Sunday please.

Winners will recieve a workout created by me, "just for you".
-Guys winner regular push-ups
-Girls winner regular push-ups
-Guys winner modified push-ups
-Girls winner modified push-ups

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

SNATCH TECH WORK

I did some Snatch tech work today:

Snatch balance 4 x 4; 90 sec rest
Tall Snatch 4 x 4; 90 sec rest

Hang Power Snatch 3 x 3; 90 sec rest
Hang Snatch 3 x 3: 90sec rest

Snatch 1-1-1-1-1 90-120sec rest
Loads: 115-125-135-145-155lbs

Not a bad day. Had trouble receiving the bar at the bottom of Snatch, having a few bail outs because bar was not in optimal position. Have to be more patient in 2nd pull and use more hip extension. I am getting better at my lower starting position.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Back from Cow Town

I was up in Calgary for my Coach's 101 Nutrition class this past weekend and got to hang out with my Coach and many of us original OPT Big Dawgs. Later that night all of Big Dawgs got to hang out and watch Mir clobber Congo and Sanchez get his head beat in by Penn so bad he looked like a Klingon from Star Trek! A great day and great night; thanks Coach, Big Dawgs and Sweeny for hosting the fights, the awesome food, the great advice, plus letting me get lost in your Lake Louis Hotel for a house (beautiful house!).

Back to the 101 Nutrition:
Coach FitzGerald's years of empirical data on his clients regarding their lifestyle variables, training and nutrition can be summed up in three words "Get Dialed In!".
OPT's "Mastering Food" Levels really hit home to me and my fitness/nutritional journey to become the best super human I can be! I can honestly say that I have been through all the Mastering Levels Coach FitzGerald talked about and then repeated a few levels along the way to getting back to the top.
Everyone has a journey and it is all about dialing it in, you have to go on the journey to understand what works for YOU and what doesn't work for YOU.
As in Level 4: Embody it, Live it! "I know that when I eat this, I feel like this".
There are a ton of people out in the world who read Fitness mags or eves drop on who is eating what and they lost 12lbs!! Who gives a pshi%! You need to be "Aware of it" "know what your putting into your body, why, and what is the outcome". Not because she did he did! We are all different when it comes to what we need, where we need to start and what foods will work.
You need to get dialed in people! That is why I believe everyone needs a Coach....hell I have one and I am a Coach; it works wonders:-)

My ACTION tip of the Day:

Keep a FOOD JOURNAL ;-)
In this food journal write down what you eat, the time you ate it, and the most important part how you FELT after and at specific times of the day that are giving you trouble (e.g falling alseep in the afternoon). This Empirical Data you take on yourself, your significant other or your kids is very important: you can find out food allergies, intolerances and Irritants. This is step ONE to getting DIALED IN. Lets start it up:-)

Here is a little bit of what I do in my Food Journal:

*I put little happy faces beside the meals that give me energy, make me perform great in workouts and make me more hormonally stable (no mood swings) :-)
* I put sad faces by the meals that make me fall asleep after :-(
* I put a open mouth face by the meals that make me FART, or get the RUNS :-O
* I put a tongue out face for the BAD MOOD SWING meals :-P

I did the CF WOD CHRISTINE today:

3 Rounds for Time:
500m Row
12 BWT Deadlifts (I am 182lbs today)

21 Box Jumps (20" Box)

TIME = 8:23 PB Sweet! Next goal is 8:14 possible sub 8 if I can keep my rowing steady.
OLD TIME = 8:48

Friday, December 11, 2009

FISH OIL, FISH OIL IS ALL I HEAR

My coach James FitzGerald "OPT" posted these two videos by Professor Peskin on some great Experiments NOT Studies with the supplementation of Fish Oil.

I for one do not use fish oil, but enjoy having salmon once per week or every other week.
Not using fish oil anymore was a decision I made along with my coach after taking it for a few months. I really try to listen to my body and felt right away that when taking fish oil I felt like crap, plus I got Diarrhea the same day and even worse in the mornings. The day I went off fish oil I felt like my body was going back to normal, and no more "runs" thank god!

Right now I know a lot of people ramming fish oil in very large doses for many reasons like: weight loss, energy, inflammation, pain and because he said she said. Those people that I have listened to about taking fish oil tell me they like it and are seeing the results they want, but are they doing more harm than good to their body?

Fish oil might work great and it might not, in the end YOU are the one to decide this. What we can do to help this fish oil situation out is to do some research and share this info with others we love and train with.....and not argue about it ;-)

In the end, the choices YOU make in your life are to be made for what YOU WANT NOW to make YOUR LIFE GREAT!
Making YOUR choices NOW pave YOUR own road the way YOU WANT it to look :-)

Here are the videos.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By8icw-ua8g

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7SYlEuRnVg

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

HOLY PSHI$ -40


It was -40 today! The 6am clients I have were warming up in their toques and Hoodies to stay warm. Thank god for the big radiant heater that works wonders :-) there was even a layer of ice on the INSIDE of the windows!

I trained at 7am today: This is what I did.

A.) 3 sets: 1min rests
AMRAP P-Bar Push-ups WIDE; tempo 3131: 12/12/10
10 Wall Ball Shots to 12feet: CHECK

B.) 3 sets: 1min rests
AMRAP P-Bar Pike Presses, tempo 31x1: 12/10/9
DB External Rotation - 4-7/arm; rest 45 sec b/t arms: 6-4-5-4-5-4

C.) 3 sets: 30sec rests
AMRAP Plyo Push-up "Hands & Feet off floor: 13/13/10
15 reps /leg Split Squat no weight, tempo 21x1; CHECK

D.) 2 sets: No Rest
10 Push-up Burpees Jump to 8ft: CHECK
5 Strict HSPU: CHECK

Monday, December 07, 2009

-28 GET LOST


Picture of my client Glen and myself going over his Clean & Jerk on video. Glen you are looken fit these days brother! Keep up the fantastic work!
FILTHY 50
50 Box 20"
50 Jumping Pull-ups
50 KBS 1pd/1.5pd
50 Walking Lunges
50 K2E
50 Push Press 45#
50 Back Extentions
50 WBS 20/14#
50 Burpees
50 Double Unders
TIME = 17:58PB
My headache just went away. Again hit the wall on 'bum-bada-bum....Wall ball shots and Burpees! First time I have ever hit 50 DU's inder huge fatigue. I know I can knock off more time on that brutal couplet section!

Decided to jump in with three of my clients Todd, Andrea and Neena at 12pm because I missed my morning workout. Not my original plan for the morning, but got a swet workout in!

Way to push the intestiy this moring you guys! You all chose the right reps.
Speaking of the RIGHT reps and PROPER INTENSITY.
I was talking with my client Andrea after the workout about reps/required and intensity....think of it this way; if your top athletes in your gym are doing some low times for a specific workout, and your time is double that, then alter the required reps to match the intensity it takes to get those top times :-) Put it this way, top athletes have to work hard to get their times, their heart rates are high, lactate threshold is high and they have little rest without form breaks. All this equals the Proper hormonal release and positively more effective than work done over 30min with a sustained heart rate and lower intensity not improving your lactate threshold. So it is good to alter your reps to find the proper Intensity as this will pay off vegas style in the future!
If any of you out there are training the next few days, choose one of your larger named WOD times, now look at the top athletes male & female in your gym or other gyms; analyse the two times taking off the appropriate reps needed to hit those top athlete times! Your goal now is to friggen "bring it" with some serious intensity. No need to hit required reps to improve if your not ready for those reps:-) This is the path I chose and it helped me :-)

If you guys have questions or want some help email me: brandtster@hotmail.com

Saturday, December 05, 2009

WINTER WHITE OUT!

The weather has hit Lethbridge right in the nards! It is absolute craziness!

Well I am at week 6 of 12, the half way point in my programming. My programming is about inceasing my weaknesses and testing a CF Met-Con workout.

Is it hard to program yourself?.....oh yes because you can take the easy way out every time! One of the ways I choose to make this not happen is to keep solid stats so the next time I have the knowledge to hit the right intesity.

I have improved in all my stats & Named CF Met-Cons and I pretty stoked about that! Now comes phase two, more big lifts and Oly lifts (YES!)

How am I marking my progress? How do YOU mark your progess?
*I am keeping rep stats on my relative strength work which all have improved big time
(e.g strict pull-ups, push-ups, lunges)
*I am keeping notes on workout stamina, post recovery, loads lifted, flexibility improvements (e.g. I use the yoga block in many of my movements & now have either rotated the block from tall to sideways or taken it out completely).
*I have also been monitoring nutrition, body weight and tape measurements. (e.g I started day 1 weighing in at 189# and today my half-way point I am 181#)

I have focused my training to many movements that are specific to my needs/goals as you have seen in my past posts ( the key here is specificity).
Some of my goals are in general terms: What are YOUR Training goals?

Increased Flexibility (yoga and stretching)
Mental Clarity (yoga and meditation)
Isometric Strength (muscle tension without movement)
Increased anterior/posterior strength (think bridging, KBS, pull-throughs, hip thrusts)
Dynamic & Speed Strength (muscle tension & joint speed. plyometrics, creativity in exercises)
Relative Strength (move your body weight)

When you put this all together, SPECIFIC FUNCTIONALITY is the outcome.
Is your Program tailored to YOUR needs/goals?
If NOT I can help you out with this :-) email me at: brandtster@hotmail.com

For the next 6 weeks I am placing in an Olympic Lifting Day and small Met-Con workout post oly lift. The Met-Con will involve a couplet of one Relative Strength skill (e.g. burpees) and the Oly lift I am training that day (e.g. Snatch).

Check out this wicked video! The Human Body is absolutely amazing! I love the quotes in this vid!

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Holy Crap I am sore!

Super Sets = Couplets "Legs" with Singles "Back"

Complete 2 Rounds of each Super Set A,B,C,D Round 1 / A,B,C,D Round 2
Goals today: Match Pull-up reps and keep solid form on Lunges


A.)
Legs: 25reps Db Split Squat/leg; rest 30sec (15reps with 25# drop set 10reps free)
Legs: 25 Goblet Squats (40#)
Back: AMRAP strict Super Wide Pull-ups 12 /12

B.)
Legs: 25 One Leg Speed Skater; rest 30sec (no leg touch on ground, high knee drive)
Legs: 90 Sec Wall Squat isometric hold
Back: AMRAP Close Grip Strict Pull-ups 12/12

C.)
Legs: 15 Reverse Lunges/ leg(20#); rest 30 sec
Legs: 24 reps/side 3 & 9 O-Clock Lunges; tempo 21x1
Back: AMRAP Chin-up Strict 12/12

D.)
Legs: 20 reps /side Iky Lunges; rest 30 sec
Legs: 20 Sumo Hops (4 fwd, 4 bwd)
Back: AMRAP Switch Grip Pull-ups 12/9

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

BACK AT IT

Picture of me doing Tree Pose

I took a couple days off, from training and work because I was not feeling right mentally and physically. All I did on my weekend off was sleep, read, eat and some more sleep. Felt so nice to just lay down and pass out, I really needed some rest.

On Sunday morning I did do and hour and forty five minutes of Yoga. Yoga has helped me in so many ways, I recommend it to you all :-) After this session I was clear headed and ready to........you guessed it, eat and sleep! Yes I felt so good I chowed down on a great breakfast and then had a nice snooze on the couch!

It was also my girlfriend Katrina's birthday Saturday and we ate El Comal. Good eats! Katrina's mother was in town for her b-day as well. After we had dinner we went to BINGO! Yeah good times, but we did not win any money...close a couple times though.

Yesterday was my first day back at the gym.

A.) AMRAP Grip change each set Pull-ups X5 sets; 40sec rest
B.) KBS 5sets of 15reps unbroken (72# KB); 40sec rest
C.) HSPU 5 sets of 5reps Unbroken; 1min rest
D.) Ring Dips 5sets of 5reps, tempo 31X1; 1min rest

Cool Down with some low back and hamstring / calf stretches