Ok, so one day before my next 300 Workout, and I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty nervous. However, I'm so close. Let's roll. Here are my stats:
Neck Measurement: 16.25”
Shoulders at their widest point: 48.75" + 0.25 inches
Chest: 40.75" + 0.25 inches
Waist 3 inches above your bellybutton: 31”
Waist at your belly button: 31.5"
Waist 3 inches below your belly button: 34"
Hips at their widest point: 38.5”
Thigh 9 inches above the top of your kneecap: 23"
Thigh 6 inches above the top of your kneecap: 21.25"
Thigh 3 inches above the top of your kneecap: 18.5"
Calf at its widest point: 16"
Bicep (flexed) measure the widest point: 15"
Forearm (flexed) at its widest point: 13" Weight: 162 pounds Body Fat Percentage: 4.5% + 0.1% Thoughts: There wasn't that much change. I was surprised in the chest and shoulder growing a bit, as well as the body fat change. In all honesty though, I'm pretty pleased.
Flex them pecs!
Now for today's workout. As I'm doing the 300 Workout tomorrow, I wanted to keep it a bit easy, so I could have some rest for the brutality of the workout.
Here's what I did:
Upper Body Circuit:
6x30 Pushups
6x30/Side Bicycle Crunches
6x7 Pull Ups
Abdominals:
(Leg Raise x7, Hanging Knee Raise) x3
(Leg Raise x1, Clockwork Leg Raise x 4, Leg Raise x1, Hanging Knee Raise x5) x1
(Twisting Knee Raise x4, Hanging Knee Raise x5)
Cardio/Lower Body:
20 minute run, nice and easy, with a couple of strides in between. Basically you up your pace a lot for 10-20 seconds, then go back to your cruising pace. A lot of fun.
Thoughts: I'm nervous about tomorrow, because I'm gonna hit it and hit it hard. It's like the calm before the storm. But the best that I can do is to push myself as hard as I can, do well, and never give up. Gotta push through, in your workouts or in life. You ready for this?
Today for M and M, I want to reflect a bit on a youtube video I did late last night, and a bit more about rituals in general.
In it, I talk about the importance of rituals. Now when I say that word, I don't mean doing any crazy taboo stuff like in The Da Vinci Code or anything.
What I'm talking about is the importance of doing a routine that gets you ready and focused for the day.
And you're probably reading this thinking "Jordan, what are you talking about? I don't get it! Please give me an example!"
Well all right, if you really need things spelled out for you.
When I was a kid, I had a lot of energy and I wanted to do everything as fast as possible and I talked a mile a minute (which, living in the south, is a bit interesting since people down there tend to talk more slowly and purposefully). I was diagnosed with ADD when I was 13, and was given Adderall. I remember the first time that I had the pill and the effects that it had on me. I was playing knockout during recess (do kids even have recess anymore), and I had the ball. For the record, I am TERRIBLE at basketball. I don't know what it is. I'm good at every other sport; football, swimming, track, soccer...but basketball and I just have never gotten along.
There I was with the ball in my hand, and I took a shot. Swish. Everyone stopped and stared at me (told you I was bad), and were amazed. I just went to the back of the line. I eventually ended up winning that game of knockout, and doing really well in the next 3 games we played. The next day it was even better; I won one and was one of two left in 2 other games. It was insane.
But something was wrong. I felt...off. I knew when the pill wore off because when I had it, I felt this sense of awareness of everything around me, like I had 100% of my focus on 15 different things. It was cool, but it was only temporary; eventually the drug would work its way through my system and I would no longer be able to focus as much.
This annoyed me a lot. So, in my 13 year old wisdom, I said to myself: "if I can feel like that with a pill, why can't I feel like that all the time?"
So I started experimenting. At first I thought that it was food or developing some kind of mind powers (I was a weird kid). For four years, I tried everything: re-wiring my behaviors, trying different foods, varying the amount of sleep (I stayed up for 2 1/2 days at one point; you see a lot of cool stuff after being up for 50+ hours). Nothing seemed to work for me on a long-term basis; I would get used to everything took quickly.
It wasn't until I was 17 and I took up martial arts that I really started to figure out what would work best. Every class before we started our warm-up drills, we would sound off our school's creed, then do meditation. I remember doing meditation a bit when I sat in on my dad's Tae Kwon Do classes; you sit down on your feet, close your eyes, and breathe. When I was 6, it was not the best thing to do; I was always opening my eyes, peering around people and seeing if they were moving. Fast forward 11 years, and I was having the same difficulty. But this time, I decided to stick with it; I said to myself that I would find out what all this meditation stuff was all about.
So I did. I kept with it. As the classes and days and weeks went by, I started to notice a change in me. I was becoming a bit more focused. I had better form for running during my team practices; I felt very content sitting by myself during lunch (I was anti-social my senior year for a slew of reasons). I felt this sense of peace and calmness that I hadn't felt before.
Soon after that, I started to do medtiation on my own. It started out as just working on my kicks, punches and forms, but later evolved into me sitting with my eyes closed into music. Eventually, the music was turned off, and I started listening to my breathing. I felt much more focused, conffident, calmer, and I had more energy.
And now, to this day, I practice meditation in some form; standing or sitting, meditation by sitting in silence or by going for a walk without headphones. When I don't meditate as much as I should, I know because I get more antsy and irritable. It's helped me clear my head so I can make the big decisions more easily, and with confidence. I didn't stick with it just because it was something I had grown accustomed to: I stuck with it because I enjoyed it. I'm even going to start recording my own meditations that I've created over the years and share them with others.
The moral of my (really long) story: find something that you love, that is "your" time, and you will become a much healthier and happier human being.
Here's the video if you're interested:
I did my workout in the morning this morning, and man was it a doozy.
Let's check it out:
TRX Row: 2 sets of 10
Double Dumbbell Swing: 5 sets of 30 seconds; 2 35 pound weights
Octagon Pushup: 1 set
Bodyweight Squat: 8 sets of 30 seconds on/15 seconds off (rest at the bottom of the squat)
Static Lunge: 5 sets of 30 seconds/side with 30 seconds rest
Split Jump: 5 sets of 30 seconds with 30 seconds rest
Decline Pushup: 5 sets of 12
Dead Clean: 5 sets of 6/side; 55 pound weight
Band Row: 4 sets of 40 seconds on/20 second off
Farmer's Walk: 4 sets of 125 feet: 2 55 pound weights
TRX Row: You know, every single time I go to this, I think that I've done it all, and can do it forever. I was mistaken.
Double Dumbbell Swing: You remember that kettlebell swing?
Yeah you remember
Now imagine doing that with 2 35 pound dumbbell weights, and you've got a pretty good idea of what I went through.
Octagon Pushup: When you do it once, make it count.
Power!
Bodyweight Squat: Very basic exercise, made to hurt and burn. I love it!
Static Lunge and Split Jump: More basic exercises but made to last. On the fifth set, your legs will know it.
Decline Pushup: Not much to say about this one, it's just a good way to keep your muscles engaged.
Dead Clean: Nice and heavy. Just go to the shoulder.
So today, because I didn't have access to a gym without waking anybody and I was working all day, I decided to do a quick bodyweight workout. Doesn't mean it was easy though. It was a 20 minute high-intensity-interval training session. The way you do this is:
-Do 4 reps of each exercise as fast as possible with good form (for the last two exercises, do 3 reps each side, for a total of 6).
-Catch your breath, and regain your composure.
-Repeat on the minute for 20 minutes.
By the way, it's a really short, but really brutal workout. Here's what I did: Quad Hops to Flat Foot Squat: 4 reps Knee Drop Spinal Rocks to Butterfly: 4 reps Springing Tripod: 4 reps per side Swinging Plank: 4 reps per side
And because I'm feeling very lazy today, I'm stealing videos on how to do it (I'm going to post a video of me doing this sequence soon though):
Today I wanted to get my heart rate really moving, so I decided to throw in a few supersets
What's a superset you might ask?
I'm so glad you asked.
A superset is when you put two or more exercises together and perform them back to back. Usually
Ok, today's workout is meant to be done really, really, fast. Like BOOM out of the gate. Minimal rest. Get your ass moving!
So let's check it out shall we?
Superset #1: ***TRX Row: 3 sets of 8 ***TRX Hip Press: 3 sets of 8
Then: Pushups: 50, done as quickly as possible
Superset #2: ***Goblet Squat: 3 sets of 15 @ 55 pounds Floor Wiper: 3 sets of 15 @135 pounds
Then: Floor Wiper: 1 set of 15 @135 pounds
Superset #3: ***Press: 3x15 @ 25 pounds ***Bench Press: 3x12 @
Finally: ***Sprinter's Start: 4 sets of 30 seconds on/15 seconds off
Thoughts: TRX Row and Hip Press: Doing this workout back to back was a nice little "wake up" call for my body; it works the often neglected back and posterior chain (lower back, glutes, hamstrings), which can help tremendously with posture and lower back issues. I love this little setup.
Check this video out:
Superset Glory!
Pushups: Nailed all 50 in one go! Awe yeah. Goblet Squat and Floor Wiper: Brilliant! Why didn't I think of this before? This is a great superset for working the upper and lower body, and I was totally feeling the burn. So much fun!
Just a note on the floor wipers: do NOT let your lower back arch. You stand a very good chance of injuring your back. Only keep your legs straight as long as your lower back isn't arching; if it starts to arch, bend your knees. I'm serious; you will save yourself a lot of pain.
Ignore the tan lines!
I ended up doing one more set of the floor wipers, just because I wanted to!
Press and Bench Press: Fast and hard, that's how this one was done. And I liked it. Felt some fatigue by the end of the third set, but in the end I pushed through.
I would like to emphasize something with the press: do NOT let your elbows flare out. Your elbows should be directly in front of your shoulders, and right under your hands, driving the weights up. If you let your elbows flare, you could risk injuring them or your shoulders. Be strict with form. Remember, I've been doing this for a while, so I've built my body up to the point where it can accomplish this.
It's all about the upper body baby!
Sprinter's Start: Awe man, I do enjoy a good sprinter's start. Slammed through that baby!
Do this for 30 seconds!
Extra Stuff as well!
Pushups: 6x30
Bicycle Crunches: 6x30/side
Pull Up: 6x7
And let's not forget some killer abs!
(Spartan Leg Raise x7, Hanging Knee Raise x5) x2
(Spartan Leg Raise x1, Clockwork Leg Raise x4, Spartan Leg Raise x1, Hanging Knee Raise x5) x1
So here I go again, with all kinds of good workout stuff.
Here we go: ***Density Pull Up: 6 pull ups on the minute for 20 minutes ***Dead Lift: 6 dead lifts on the minute for 20 minutes @ 150 pounds ***Decline Pushup: 3 sets of 15 ***TRX Suspended Lunge: 3 sets of 10/side: holding 2 35 pound kettlebells ***Clockwork Leg Raise: 3 sets of 6 ***Weight Shoulder: 3 sets of 15/side @ 45 pounds ***TRX Low Row: 5 sets of 10 ***Wall Push: 2 sets of 10 seconds
Thoughts: Density Pull Ups: You know how sometime you feel that you want to just quit? I had it during this. But I just had to keep going. Dead Lift: This got a bit too easy, so I just added another rep to the dead lifts, but kept the weight the same. I started to get in the groove with this one. Decline Pushup: I don't know what it was, but today was just not my day. These felt a lot harder than usual. TRX Suspended Lunge: With the weight, this hurt...a lot. I felt the pain, but after me not really being in the workout, I decided to kick my own ass. Clockwork Leg Raise: This exercise really kills the obliques. Think the leg lifts, but making a circle with your feet.
Check out this video and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about (video to come soon):
Think "circle"
Shoulder Weight: I went for speed more than anything else. I kept the 45 pound weight though.
Speed for this one!
TRX Low Row: I went for minimal rest on this one. So much pain!
Another home workout today! The sun was shining; it was warm out; I loved it.
Here was the workout:
***TRX Row: 4 sets of 15
Circuit (30 seconds each exercise with 15 seconds transition) x3:
1-Leg Deadlift @ 30 pounds
Wide Pushup
***Split Jump
***Unicycle
Circuit (30 seconds per exercise; 1 min rest after each circuit) x3
***Car Lift
Jump Squat
Walking Pushup
High Pull (alternating arms)
Thoughts:
TRX Row: I was going for fluidity and form for this set. I felt a lot of struggle towards the end, but I kept up my form, and kept going as hard as I could. If my form was starting to suffer, I adjusted my angle (that's the beauty of the TRX; you can control how much of your body weight you're using).
Grrr!
Circuit 1:
1-Leg Deadlift: Speed was the key here. And when you're trying for speed on one leg, even with a lighter weight, proves to be a huge challenge.
Wide Pushup: This is a variation of pushup intended to hit the chest more. Simply place your hands wider than shoulder width apart, and go down. Just be sure to not go down as far, as this pushup places more stress on your shoulders. For me, I was limiting range of motion because of my past history with them (for more information on my shoulders and what they taught me, click here). Listening was the real key here, and it seemed to work pretty well.
Split Jump: Speed was the key, and boy did I feel it. Really went for killing myself on this one. My legs felt like rubber.
Unicycle: Ow...I hate this exercise. It's soooo painful. But the things that we hate the most are usually the things we need to work on the most.
Dumbbell Floor Press: Speed was again the key, and developing the lactic acid build was also significant. Both were successful.
Circuit 2:
Car lift: Ow...simply put.
Jump Squat: Doing these for speed was a definite challenge. Feel the burn!
Walking Pushup: Remember this bad boy? And yes I did it with the kettlebell!
