Warm-up - (with purpose)

10 jump squats on min 1
15 jump squats on min 2
20 jump squats on min 3
25 jump squats on min 4
30 jump squats on min 5

Rest 1 min, then repeat entire sequence subbing tap down crunches for jump squats.

Rest 1 min, then repeat entire sequence subbing light dead lifts 45/65 for TDCs.    

Workout - 

50 tick tocks R 25/35

2 rounds of:
10 OH step back lunges R AHAP
:90 sec 1 leg pedaling R (circles)

50 tick tock L 25/35

2 rounds of:
10 OH step back lunges L AHAP
:90 sec 1 leg pedaling L (circles)

Post weights used to comments.

Workout Notes: 
 

  • Need to loosen up those legs. Thanks for the idea Drew! 
  • It's simple, do a squat, jump out of it (hips fully extended), land into the squat. Repeat! 
  • While technically DLs are leg movements, THESE will have more affect on your low back (you'll see tomorrow), which is the point on ab day. They are programmed here to oppose the TDCs. 
  • Let's talk about those DLs for a min. Usually I'm reticent to throw high rep DLs at you. My training as an exercise guy forbids this. I was taught that DLs are strictly power movements. Traditionally, power movements are trained with high weight and low reps. The powerlifterati would scoff at training DLs in ANY other way than is traditional. This causes my fingers rise. Well, it causes ONE of them rise. The one native to the middle portion of my hand. I care almost NOTHING for tradition. I prefer kick-ass health and fitness. This seems to be non-traditional these days.
  • All this being said about non-traditional, high rep, light weight DLs, we still need to be very careful of these. The fact they are light weight makes them sneaky. Light weight, high rep DLs have a tendency to become a little sloppy. 
  • 2 sets of 10 will require focus! Slack off for even 5 reps you'll lose 25% of the benefits of this workout. Go heavy vets.
  • How long should you rest between sets? Who said anything about rest?
  • The OH step back lunge video shows and alternating lunge step. For the purposes of today's workout do not alternate. Step back with the same leg for all 10.
  • Do this workout in any order. If you bounce around the workout don't tell me about it. It'll mess with my OCD.
  • The spin biking is meant to tear you up. Don't coast this.
  • If no bike ... do SLS2S raw. "Raw" means no weight here.

Musings ...

The Conduit

I've been rambling on about chasing optimal health for years. I believe in it. I believe you can ONLY be Optimally Healthy if you have created balance in the following 7 areas: 

  1. Mental Health
  2. Emotional Health
  3. Intellectual Health
  4. Social Health
  5. Spiritual Health
  6. Financial Health
  7. Physical Health

I always put Physical Health last on the list, because it's the base. It's the foundation. It's the conduit. It's the only one you can actually touch with your fingers - RIGHT DAMN NOW! 

Think about it, how can you TOUCH your spiritual (or any of the others) health RIGHT NOW? Some of you are pretty good at it. I can't, really. I never have been able to get in touch with my spiritual health on-call like, right this minute. If given the right situation, I can stumble across it temporarily, but not very often, and even then, NEVER consistently. It is one of the biggest frustrations of my life. I plainly see the need to be in constant touch with my spiritual side, but have always struggled to connect when it counted, or when I really needed to. 

It's not the same with the Physical. Getting in touch with my Physical Health is easy. I can do it on-call, immediately and consistently. We all can. It's as easy as - GIVE ME 10 BURPEES NOW! 

It's why our Physical Health is our natural "go to" when in search of one of the other 6 aspects. I never had this more powerfully illustrated than that day a brand new client to the gym sorted me out. Somehow we were talking at the front desk about her goals. She had just joined GPP and had a lot of questions. Good questions. She asked about our programming methods, how many days per week she needed to workout, how to improve her diet and etc. All good stuff. I was so engrossed in the conversation. I was compelled to ask her a challenging question back, but all that came out was my normal go-to.

"What are you trying to accomplish?" I droned.

I never expect a deep answer from this question, so I don't know why I asked it. Most people just go on about the importance they've assigned to some random number on the scale, or about being able to climb flights of stairs, so I really wasn't tuned in to her answer fully. But that's when she locked eyes and stepped in a little closer. She snatched me back to being present by lowering her voice and showing just a splash of vulnerability in her eyes.

"I want my husband to look at me THAT way again." She almost cried.

That was the day I figured it out. Exercise isn't always about the physical. Sometimes it's the conduit to learning and growing in one of the other aspects of health. She, as near as I can figure it, had goals of achieving health more in the emotional and social realms. It makes sense that she'd do this too. Behaviorists will be the first to tell you that the more senses (see, smell, taste, hear, touch) we involve in a learning process, the QUICKER and MORE FULLY we'll learn that process. And here's the thing to know: 

The skills and abilities we master while making positive, lasting improvements in the Physical Realm, transfer to ALL the other Aspects of Health.

Once we figure out how to make positive changes to our physical selves we have new skills!  We can then use those skills (planning, deliberate daily effort, going to the pain, etc.) to make positive, lasting changes to our mental, emotional, social, spiritual, economic & intellectual health. It's the conduit.     

Proud of you Andrea! Miss your Ohioan guts! 

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