Archives

All posts for the month September, 2011

9/29/11 Sessions

Posted by Primitive Athletic Training on 09/29/2011
Posted in: Member Achievements, Training. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

The evening session included many things.  Loud things such as sledging and tire flips.  If you read the post from a few weeks ago about our run in with the law, you know why.  The women did a total of 250 sledges each with AirDyne between.

Matt hit a new PR on his DB Snatch (55lb) and took his 100 Tire Flip Test (400lb) and finished in 9:18!  Pretty good for only being 15 years old.

We also had a familiar face return to the gym.  Doug is back!  And he will be sore today!  He met our sandbag for the first time and shouldered as many times as possible in 5 minutes, for a welcome back workout.

The morning session was awesome today.  We all started out doing heavy strength exercises for 30 minutes and went straight into hard interval training.

40 seconds all out

20 seconds rest

x 10 rounds

The men did sprint-in-place jump rope and Melissa worked the AirDyne.  More fun tonight!  Remember, you need to show up at either 6pm or 9pm because Brett has a game at 7:20.  Text me and let me know when you’ll be coming.

Dumbbell collars need instructions

9/27/11 Session – Joe’s Hill

Posted by Primitive Athletic Training on 09/27/2011
Posted in: Training. Tagged: . Leave a Comment

Tonight the group journeyed over to Joe’s Hill.  This hill strikes fear into the hearts of those familiar with it.  I would post a picture, but it just doesn’t do it justice.   Put it this way, if there was ever snow on the road there would be no way to get out of this neighborhood; no way to get bread and milk!  Driving up the hill, your car has to up-shift twice as you feel like you’re being sucked through your seat.  It’s almost like going up a humongous incline on a roller coaster.  In addition to the steep grade, Joe’s hill is 1/3 of a mile long.   So, when we all did it six times, there was bound to be some carnage and breath-taking quotes muttered.

“Oh Gosh, a bowel movement!” – BKE

And of course the hill is not the same without Davage visiting somebody’s yard.  Last time it was a blackout.  This time it was blowing chunks next to some poor guy’s mailbox.  He’ll have a sweet surprise waiting for him tomorrow afternoon when he gets his mail.

Davage showing off his patented Windmill

Congratulations to Melissa for showing up the boys, too!  We start up the hill staggered by five seconds and Melissa managed to catch and pass Matt and Ben on the last sprint!

 

 

9/26/11 Sessions

Posted by Primitive Athletic Training on 09/27/2011
Posted in: Reaction of the Week:, Training. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

Traci and I killed a strength session in the morning.  Lots of push, pull, clean and press, and Airdyne intervals!  She then came back for the evening session to get in her additional cardio fix.   Judy and Traci did a tough Suicide-based workout with tons of core work at the end.

Ben and Davage found out how challenging jumping rope for rounds can be.  Super-setting Tire Flips in between rounds probably didn’t make it any easier on them!

2:00 Jump Rope (varying intensity)

2:00 600lb Tire Flips

5 Rounds with no rest (20 min total)

Reaction of the Week:  Ben and Dave’s joyful embrace upon completing their 20 minute workout.  Ben actually had difficulty finding Dave due to dizziness and tingling hands.  The intensity is written all over his face.  Classic.

 

9/23/11 Session

Posted by Primitive Athletic Training on 09/23/2011
Posted in: Member Achievements, Training. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

Last night Ben and Dave came prepared and ready for battle.  They were actually going to request to do the 100 Burpee Challenge!  That never happens.  There is always weeping and gnashing of teeth when I tell people to do the Burpee Challenge.  I had given Ben a small hint that it might be in store for them earlier in the day, and they both came hungry.  Their new PRs also reflect it.

Ben – 8:42  (down from 12:41)

Davage – 9:19  (down from 50 burpees in 14 and some change!)

9/25/11 Davage New PR – 8:44!!  It’s gonna be close next time they face off!

Congratulations, guys!  I’m really proud!  Now you’re both in the sub 10 minute category.  Quite remarkable considering that you’re both well above six feet tall!  Next time you do the challenge will be the toughest yet…

Meanwhile, Melissa destroyed a ridiculously tough leg and cardio workout.  (My way of giving her upper body a break!)

15 Straight Leg DL

15 Jump Squats

1 Suicide

5 rounds with no rest = BRUTAL

Matt chose to do weightlifting, as most 15 year olds typically like to do.  He wanting to max out on Back Squats (170 lb), Hang Cleans (130 lb), and Bench (160 lb).  Awesome for being at 140 lb bodyweight and rarely doing lifting, as we normally stick with bodyweight exercises.

Bench Documentation

9/20/11 Evening Session and Run in with the Law

Posted by Primitive Athletic Training on 09/20/2011
Posted in: Training. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment

Tonight’s session was awesome!  Death by Tabata intervals for both the men and the woman.  Everybody gave 110% effort and will likely feel 110% of it tomorrow or the next day.  There were four sets of 4 minute Tabatas performed with four different exercises.  All of the exercises were compound; meaning they engage multiple muscle groups rather than group isolation.  This results in an extremely difficult workout and more calories and fat burned afterwards.

As for the run in with the law, the neighbor renting the house next door has complained about our training relentlessly since the day he moved in, literally. He’s an older guy and seemingly bitter.  Yes, the sledge hammers do make some noise, but no more than a kid bouncing a basketball in the culdesac.  And we train at 8:00pm, not exactly an odd hour.  This guy has come over a yelled at us before multiple times during sessions in the past year.

 I guess that tonight’s sixteen minute disturbance sent him over the edge.  During our core work, I noticed two deputys at the end of my driveway.  I knew that there was legally nothing they could do because I checked the noise ordinances for Barrow County last year after our first complaint from our new neighbor.  So, the officer proceeded to tell me that he felt that the call was “ridiculous” and in fact there is legally nothing they could do.  He simply showed up to “go through the motions of responding to a call”.  After he said that, he began to inquire about how we train and what days and times.  He actually seemed interested in training with us, so I invited him thinking that it would be nothing short of bliss to be sledging with a deputy the next time my neighbor walks over to complain.  Turns out his shifts did not line up with our schedule, dang it!  He told me to try to keep it down so that the county doesn’t have to respond to idiotic calls, and it was over.  We finally had the cops called on us after doing this for three years!  It’s about time!

9/18/11 Session

Posted by Primitive Athletic Training on 09/19/2011
Posted in: Member Achievements, Reaction of the Week:, Training. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

Yesterday afternoon we all embarked on a workout I have been doing for many years called “The Wildcat”.   Originally, it was Addison and I that began doing this routine every Friday.  I live about a mile from Apalachee High School, whose mascot is a Wildcat.  Hence the name.  So, the routine is simple:

1.  Run to the high school stadium from my house

2.  Sprint up and down every aisle of bleachers from one end to the other.  Lunge halfway back along the bleachers and repeat five times as fast as possible.

3.  Perform five 100 meter sprints (walking back to the start between each)

4.  Run home

Going as fast as you can, this routine takes between 50 – 60 minutes.   Sounds easy, right?

This routine seems to cover a broad range of running types in a single workout.  There is hill training, agility, sprinting, aerobic, anaerobic, and the sensation of running home (uphill) on completely dead legs.   To me, the original Wildcat feels equivalent to your fastest 10k.  I have heard others say that it feels like 10 miles and even a half marathon.  Some variations are much worse than the original recipe, and I agree that the feeling of a half marathon is possible.   For example, “The Harvest Cat” was what we used to do every Thanksgiving before Addison joined the Army.  This variation consisted of substituting lunges for Frog Leaps,  Bunny-hopping up the bleachers instead of running, and 400 meter sprints instead of 100m.  The idea was to destroy ourselves in order to pig out at Thanksgiving and be guilt free – it worked.

Out of all of the workouts I put people through, The Wildcat has by far produced the most barfers and extreme reactions.   We have had guys training for BUDS hurl, guys lock up cramping and literally lay down in a road side ditch and wait for us to come pick them up in the truck, blackouts, somebody nearly crashing through the fence at the top of the bleachers, people fall down the bleachers because their legs no longer work, and the list goes on…

Davage and Ben both blurted out a few memorable quotes during the workout yesterday,

“I feel like I’m in labor!  And don’t use me for your stupid reaction of the week again!” - Davage

Sorry, Davage.  You’re too witty for your own good.

9/15/11 Session

Posted by Primitive Athletic Training on 09/16/2011
Posted in: Training. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a Comment

It was recently brought to my attention that I tend to take pictures of people when they are at their worst point in a workout.  Maybe they’re about to hurl, pass out, fall down a hill, unable to move from the fetal position, or whatever… It usually seems like a Kodak moment to me.   But, I guess I need more balance – for one member in particular.   Don’t ever say I never did anything for you!

Tonight was the glorious return of Big Joe!  He was treated to an intense 15 minute cardio session and did a short workout with DB Snatches and BB Hang Cleans.  Ben and Dave did the same workout I did earlier that morning – The Sandbag Complex.  The one we used was as follows:

6 Shoulders (alternating sides)

6 Lunges (each leg)

6 Bent over rows

6 Squat Cleans (Zercher style)

Repeat 6 times.   - A “Handicap Bar Day” today is certain.

It should be noted that we use a rubber mulch sandbag.  Many of the other complexes you see online are done with a MUCH smaller sandbag, usually filled with sand and they have easy-to-grip handles for comfort.  They might still be the same weight, but obviously, sand has a higher density than rubber mulch.  This means that our bag is roughly the same size of a heavy punching bag (24″ x 36″) and infinitely harder to handle.  I prefer my homemade rubber mulch bag over the smaller commercial sand models.  After each complex, you literally feels as if you have been in a ground and pound fight due to the fact that the object you’re moving is comparable to the size of a torso.

Judy was put through a brutal workout of Burpees, Squat and Press, and Pullups.  She then completed a finisher of 100 medicine ball slams as fast as possible.

BIG JOE!

9/13/11 Session

Posted by Primitive Athletic Training on 09/14/2011
Posted in: General, Training. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

The group was put through the ringer last night using drills that are reliant on a partner.  Typically, I will put two people together and give them each an exercise to perform.  Person A will perform an exercise for a certain number of reps while person B performs a different exercise for the amount of time it takes person A to complete their reps.   This method works extremely well for motivating people to push hard due to the fact that their partner is suffering on an exercise while they are  performing their own.  Person B is always in agony and screaming at person A to quickly finish their reps.  Two competitive partners will come close to death in this format.

8:00 of:

5 Tire Flips (control)

as many reps as possible of Burpees

8:00 of:

2 Scoots (control) -given to me by my long time training partner, Addison

as many reps as possible of Elastic Rows

Action shot of The Finisher

9/12/11 Session

Posted by Primitive Athletic Training on 09/13/2011
Posted in: Training. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

We all did a nice and relaxed conditioning session last night for recovery.  It was a demanding weekend on all of us, physically, so we were in need of a lighter workout.   Tonight will be a different story…

Ben and Dave competed and tied in their workout, both scoring 8 rounds in 15 minutes of:

10 Pushups

10 Squats

10 Medicine Ball Slams

50 Rope Turns (sprint-in-place style) – still on the Rope kick.

Judy and I did 5 rounds of:

1:00 Sprint-in-place Jump Rope (Judy was on the Air Dyne)

15 Pullups

15 Situps (heels on the ground)

We finished up with some brief core work.

Superman with Silver Gun