If you don't take care of your body, where will you live?

When life gets me working hard and pondering harder, my body is my fortress.  Paralleling the belief that your body is a temple, I stay true to myself.  The unforeseen and unexpected happen, things get said, and things go differently than planned.  Those you cannot hold on to for too long, because only bad will come of it.  Some of you have found ways to debrief, de-stress, and recoup from such events; however many have not.  What I offer you is my outlet, one forged from solidarity, two deuces thrown in the air to your naysayers, and a heighten respect for oneself; and ultimately the only means you have to accomplish your goals and overcome your setbacks...YOUR body and YOUR mind.

For you, I have what I turn to.  I believe that through exercise, nutrition, and dedication to preserving YOUR temple is rewarded by the outlooks, strengths, and relationships forged through iron, sweat, and occasional nausea.

"OFF" Day Recharge Workout: 55-75min
- Foam Roll: 10min
Why? *Rid your body of painful acid build-up, heal yourself from muscle damage, and recharge your neurological systems.

 How? *Find a roller, a tennis ball, soup can, etc, and get after it.  Videos to come.

- Cardiovascular Exercise: 30-45min
Why? *Improve your mood, lipid and blood pressure profiles, heart health, weight loss / weight maintenance, and stimulate positive thinking through increased blood flow and release of mood boosting neurotransmitters.

How? *Pick your piece of equipment (your own body for walking, running, jumping, dancing, etc, or any mass modalities found in local gym.

- Resistance Training: 15-20min
Why? *Improve muscular health, detoxify yourself from the vigor of life via attacking the weights, and improve your body composition and aesthetic prowess...A.K.A. CONFIDENCE.

How? *Pick a weight that allows you to complete ~20 reps on your first set.  Subtract the total cumulative number of reps from 100 total reps to get your rest period.  As you go into your 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc sets, your rest periods will decrease, so get after it!
ex.
100 total reps - (20 reps in 1st set) = 80sec rest
100 total reps - (20 in 1st + 18 in 2nd set) = 62 sec rest
100 total reps - (20 in 1st + 18 in 2nd + 17 in 3rd set) = 45 sec rest
...You get the picture.  Use the same weight throughout entire circuit, descending all the way to zero.  

1) Cable Curl
2) Cable Triceps Extension / Kickback
3) BOSU Crunch
 ***Yes, this was an aesthetically based superficial workout.  Hey, we all need these now and then.  No one can deny improved body confidence, gusto, and empowerment.  We would all be lying if that wasn't true.

There you have it.  Roughly 60 minutes to a greater you.  A greater outlook.  A greater investment in your health retirement portfolio than many other vices out there...(drinking, eating, isolating one's self, negativity, etc).  Remember, your body is your temple.

"If the body be feeble, the mind will not be strong"
- Thomas Jefferson

"Our body is a machine for living. It is geared towards it; it is its nature. Let life go on in it unhindered and let it defend itself; it will be more effective than if you paralyze it by encumbering it with remedies."

- Leo Tolstoy

Efficiency through Creativity and Grit

To test one's mettle, grit, determination, and cajones, all you need is yourself, creativity, and " Big Kid Pants" (realistically, you could workout naked and still bust your own balls/ovaries, no pun intended...more power to you). 

When in a crunch, try this out for your cardio strength blast. Pick your favorite and most familiar moves; I recommend the Squat Jump, Burpee, Push Up and Curl-Overhead Shoulder Press.  Add weight if need be so that you have moderate resistance (say a pair of DBs that you can get 8-10 reps with max on your weakest exercise).  Pick your time frame, and go through as many rounds as you can, performing sets of 1,2,3,4, or 5 reps per exercise in consecutive fashion.  No frills, No excuses, Only results.

Here is mine, and yes, pics included! 
Workout #1: "Gymnast Gusto and Glory"
1. KB Push Up x1
2. KB Plank to Double Leg Kick Through x1
3. KB Levitated "L" Hold x1
4. Steps #3 to #2 Reversed
5. KB Burpee Deadlift x1
*Repeated for 20mins resting only as needed, recording total rounds.
*WHEN you decide to embark on this one, start off with hexagonal dumbbells, then progress to kettlebells that have larger base, so that you can stabilize yourself when levitated.  Just make sure you can still manage a proper Deadlift at end. 

I then ran my 5 mile training run to stay on track with my race training.  Got it in. Got it out, did it right.  Effective and efficient advancements on "THE JOURNEY" doesn't always need to mean 3 hour trips to gym.  These both we in, showered, and out in less that 90mins (20ins to "Freshenize").
Stay tuned to J2Fit blog.  Give some feedback on what you all want!  Stayed tuned for video clips of warm-ups, exercise instructions, workouts for you, etc!

When in doubt, just get shit done.  That bar, obstacle, predicament, extra mile, workout, or unforeseeable event is not going to move itself or get out of your way miraculously.  Keep your head up, hips down, and get dirty.  See it out to the end.  "It builds character".  Get it started, keep it moving, and get it done.  Then continue on the journey.

Monday Monday Monday!!!

What's going on folks? Surprisingly great Monday here in Georgia (how often do you hear that). Only 4 more days until this guy is flying home for vacation. For those that don't know, I will be heading overseas in the near future so starting this Friday is my 2 weeks of leave before the real work starts. And since we are basically done training that means there isn't a whole lot of work to be done. That makes for an easy day and enough free time to do this before lunch....

~10 x 10 Back Squat
~10 x 5 Overhead Squat
~3 x 8 Romanian Deadlift
~3 x 10 Back Extensions
~1 minute Back Ext Iso
~10 x Calf Raises on every step out of the gym. 20 steps x 10 raises = 200 total reps

We were able to get this in before lunch and our only afternoon meeting. Today was scheduled as a light squat day so we stuck with lower weights and increased the volume while moving as explosively as we could. It was a nice quick workout and left us walking to the chow hall a little weird. We had plenty of time to recover after lunch during a 4.5 hour meeting. After dinner we headed back to the gym. The idea was to do a longer workout instead of a faster, more intense WOD. Once we warmed up, we did some skill work with Muscle Ups and climbed the rope then got to work. Lucas and I took turns picking an exercise and number of reps for 30 minutes. Everything was free game, no restrictions aside from there was no rest between exercises. The goal was to move for the entire 30 minutes and mission accomplished. Fast forward a half an hour and I feel a little like throwing up. The best part about the workout is that we competed against each other to finish the exercises first as well as to try and make the exercises harder and harder as we went along. We ended up pushing each other and choosing exercises that the other person may not be as good at. While we did this so we could beat each other at it, it served another purpose as well. That forced us to work on things we were weak on. Another great benefit to having a workout partner. With another person there to help select workouts and exercises, you won't always do what you like or are good at. It pushes you outside of your little comfort bubble and helps improve areas you may be weak in.

So next time you and you're workout partner are getting bored with your schedule and want to try something new, shake it up with this workout. It can be as long or as short as you want and don't hold back on the exercises, use everything you have at your disposal. It's a great workout if you are short on time too. Just remember these tips: Move fast, don't rest and vary the exercises and reps.....oh and have fun!

"If you don't have fun in life, it's your own damn fault."
~ Sonny Litwiler

Gridiron Glory

Following a great Saturday filled with BBQ, swimming, beer, great times, friends and loved ones, and endless meat and sweets, I woke up feeling apprehensively confident about getting Sunday back on track (instead of it becoming a total three day lipid landslide), and reinging order back into my lazy holiday weekend. 

Looking at no gym, no weights, no treadmills or battle ropes, no tires, no tv screens on cardio equiptment, no water coolers, no sweat and eucalyptus towels, and NO disinfectant spray...(do you get my drift?  Stop living the lavish gym experience and get your ass down and dirty, no frills, just getting shit done.)

I was equipped with myself, my trusty G-Shock watch that has been to Hell and back with me, day in and day out, and a field; lucky for me a partially lined practice football field, o those days...

So I suited up, in my shirtless self, ready to get my hands dirty (literally).  Surrounded by greenery, calm skies, and half chewed mouthpieces (belonging to the junior varsity scout team star running back who got his clock cleaned for the sake of the team).

So, I got it going, and got shit done.  I even managed to hit the single man football sled a few times (and I must say, I would have rode the pine after my pitiful deput following my 6 year hold out).

Dynamic Warm-Up: 5min
Power Flow with Bodyweight Travelling Movements: 10min

Gridiron "Glory Days": 18-21min (3 rounds)
-Walking Lunge x20yds (pictured)
-Burpee Jumps x5 (pictured)
-Travelling Lateral Plank x10yds
-Travelling Lateral Plank (other side) x10yds
-Burpee Jumps x5
-Broad Jump x10yds (pictured)
-Burpee Jumps x5
-Sprint x50yds
-Jog (back to goaline to reset) x100yds
-Rest x60-90sec
-REPEAT

CMC Specific Cardio: 25min
2.5mi Road Run (valleys, hills, dips, and greenery...Oh NJ)

Morning PMS and Afternoon Beastmode

So this a.m. started with me rolling out of bed 5 minutes earlier than alarm, so I was ready to conquer the world.  I had some cancellations, so I said, "I will workout for me clients, win win!".  Not best idea.  I was a male in top notch PMS form once I arrived at the gym.  Apparently I rush my morning (similiar to when you wake up after a night out and think you aren't hung over, and it then hits you an hour later after you already got up starting to actually do things...). So fast-forward, and welp, I still managed to get 45 minutes in, crush a PR, all while being a huge diva B.  Only one way to do things, set out to accomplish your goal (mine for this morning was PR on BB Deadlift) and to always get shit done.

Workout 1: 45 mins
1. BB Deadlift 3x5/3/1
2. Lazy Cardio: Elliptical x30min (yea, it was that kind of morning.  If you know me, I am a strong believer high intensity bouts, not long, lazy, time inefficient, and lackluster result cardio...)

However, given 5 hours to clean the sand out, and 3 espressos later....mmmmmmmmm (my new vice), I was dying to have redemption.  So....

Workout 2: 70mins
Part I = Power Yoga and Flow: 15 mins
1. Body weight Squat - Walk out plank x10
2. Down Dog - Chataranga Push-up x10
3. Plank Step out w/ Arm reach x10/side
4. Body weight Sumo Squat x10
5. "Levitated Quadruped Hold" x1min
6. " " w/ Alternating Single Leg Glute-Hip Extension x10/side
7. " " Thrust Plank x20
8. Forward Bear crawl (10yd) - "jog (10yd) - sprint (10yd) - jog (10yd)"
9. Lateral Bear crawl (10yd) - " "
10. Lateral Bear crawl (10yd) - " "
11. Crab walk (10yd) - " "
12. Reverse crab walk (10yd) - " "
13. Frog Hops to Hand Stand (10yd) - " " x2

Part II = DB Destroyer: 24 mins
1. DB Plank Row w/ openers x10/side
2. DB weighted V Up x20/leg
3. Plyo Push Up - Plank Step out - Single Leg Kick Through (*I love this move) x10/side
4. DB Turkish Get Up (Floor to High Hip Raise Only) x15/side
5. Plyo Body weight Split Squat Alternating Jumps x10/side
6. Weighted Burpee - Dual clean Press jumps x5
7. Rest 2mins
REPEAT 3X

Part III = Row Rampage: 21 mins
1. Rowing 30sec AFAP:30sec active recovery x3 (3min total)
2. KB (24kg) SL RDL - SA Clean - Drop Lunge x4/side
3. KB (24kg) Power Swing x8
4. KB (24kg) SA Row
5. Rest 2mins
REPEAT 3X

Part IV = Foam Rolling Cooldown: 10min

There you have it, a great ending to a work day and a perfect beginning to holiday weekend. Enjoy yours. Get out, get a workout in.  Go move, use what is yours, and live. Fitness freedom is what you make it, so don't take anything for granted. Chow!