Category: strength

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The Germany Journals (Ger-nals?) Part 2

This was the day we would make the trip from Frankfurt to Berlin.  While my wife and I packed, my brother took Shark Boy outside.  The next thing I knew, he’s asking me: “You know your son can ride a bike, right?”


To rewind a bit, Shark Boy does a great job on his glider bike and can balance and steer no problem.  Still when we’ve tried to move him up to a regular bike, he’s stayed fixated on the idea that he needs training wheels.  He even threw a fit when he saw me remove them from his new Ultimate Spider Man bike.  Getting him to ride it has been semi-successful, but he still didn’t seem that close to being able to go it alone.  A couple of days watching his older cousin ride a bike, and away we go!  Swimming … biking … can Kids Of Steel be far away?


Before our train departure, we walked around downtown Frankfurt for a bit, which I recommend for those that like modern architecture and/or high-end clothing stores and had some lunch.



Sandcastles in downtown Frankfurt.


The Inter City Express is a world famous fast train – I was excited to show it to Shark Boy after he’d read about it in books; although we were on it last year he didn’t notice much – a stomach bug had turned him into a near-zombie.


We had a cabin “reserved” – the 8 Euro extra charge didn’t make much of a difference as we had company the entire 4 hour trip.  I guess the train was too full – I’d have thought two small children would have been more of a deterrent to solo travellers. It turns out, you can only reserve the seats you sit it, which makes a certain amount of sense, I guess.


I spent most of the train ride carrying the Lightning Kid through the cars of the train (including ones that were identified as ‘QUIET’) from one end to the other.  Someday I’m going to write a post about all the calories I burn on the kids that I don’t get to count…Both boys fell asleep with all of 45 minutes left on the train ride.  Still we arrived in Berlin (Spandau Station) excited to start the next phase in our adventure.


A little too excited in the boys’ case! The new environment seemed to be an over-stimulation which combined with their over-tiredness to make for a very late, tedious bedtime routine – bad news for their jet lag adjustment.


DAY 6:


Thanks to our hosts taking the boys on first thing in the morning, I had a bit of a sleep-in .  We took them into Tegel for some shopping – riding a double-decker bus is a big draw for Shark By and the Lightning Kid seemed to like it too.  The effects of the night before were felt heavily as the kids seemed to need lunch and their nap times an hour or two earlier than expected and hopes for getting a run in while they napped in tandem were dashed.  I took the Lighting Kid to my favourite playground in the stroller.  I hadn’t changed out of my jeans but my plan B was successful – he fell asleep on the way there.  I used the park benches and playground for

  • Incline Push-ups
  • Tricep Dips
  • Negative Phase Pull-ups
  • Squats
  • Single-leg lunges on the swings
  • Inch worms (on the train set – plank across two ‘cars’, then bring feet forward to the car your hands are on, move your hands forward into another plank, etc.)
  • Planks
  • Side Planks
Tricep dips on one of the ‘train’ cars



I was doing a side plank on a park bench, looking at a (rare) blue sky, listening to the birds chirp and thinking about how peaceful it all was when I heard “WAAAAAAH!” – the Lightning Kid woke up.   Still, everybody had gotten what they needed: fresh air and exercise for me, sleep for everyone else.  We had a very pleasant rest of the afternoon as a family.


DAY 7:


I don’t really want to write about this day.  The only undertaking was a trip into town for a few things and the promise of ice cream.  It was a nightmare as the kids’ nap and eating schedules were still off, so there were a lot of tantrums and screaming.  AND THE ICE CREAM CAFE’S MACHINE BROKE DOWN SO I COULDN’T GET SPAGHETTI ICE CREAM!


Side note 1: If you don’t know spaghetti ice cream, it’s soft ice cream pushed through a press to come out in noodles, coated in strawberry sauce and either grated coconut or white chocolate and the whole pile hides a little mound of whipped cream.


Side note 2: I might as well take the opportunity here to talk about one of my favourite things here in Germany.  When a house uses radiators for heat, it’s hard to stay warm if you’re in the wrong spot and we’ve had unseasonably cold (and wet) weather here this trip.  The plus side is these incredibly practical radiators in the bathrooms (and sometimes in a front hall).  Back home, between swims, gym workouts and showers not to mention regular hygiene I go through a lot of towels so I’d love it if I had one of these that could not only quick dry a used towel, but warm it too.



DAY 8:


In spite of continuing cold and rainy weather we braved a trip to the forest playground – Shark Boy rode his bike the entire way there while my wife chased him and I pushed the Lightning Kid in the stroller through the drizzle.  He fell asleep again before we got there and while Shark Boy played with his mother I snuck in a few push-ups, step-ups and tricep dips.  The playground is somewhat sheltered by the trees but when the Lightning Kid woke up and the rain worsened we opted to return home.  After an early lunch we got the kids down for a tandem nap and instead of the run I wanted to do, I did a living room workout instead.
  • Push Ups (100 Push Up workout 5 sets – 20, 30, 18, 18, 34)
  • Negative Phase Pull-ups
  • Lunges with 3 kg dumbbells overhead
  • Side Planks

I also developed and exercise with
  • no weights/equipment
  • functional compound movement
  • whole-body muscle recruitment


My idea is to create an alternative burpee (my wife dubbed my creation “burpees for engineers” finding them somewhat complex).  I’ll share it in a future post, but for now let’s stay on topic.


We had arranged for an afternoon playdate for Shark Boy with a friend of my wife’s and her 4 year-old son that afternoon at the same time that my father-in-law was having visitors who came by boat.  What ended up happening was that he was effectively kidnapped (I’m sure there’s a term for nautical abductions) for a few hours and our poor 4 year-old visitor had to split his time between the 19 month-old Lightning Kid and the grown-ups. Yuck!

Luckily Shark Boy came back in time for them to spend a good hour or two torturing me with silly faces.  We watched the all-important Champions League (soccer) final between two German teams: Bayern Muenchen versus Borussia Dortmund being cheered on by my wife and I respectively.  What can I say? She sure can pick a winner – she married me didn’t she?

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Pin-It Party Link-Up

Lindsay from the Lean Grean Bean had the wonderful idea to leverage a little Pinterest and help a bunch of bloggers bring attention to some of their older posts.  Blame me or my equipment, but I generally don’t have the most jaw-dropping pictures… I do know that visuals are important in blogs, as walls of text turn people off.

I picked 5 posts based on 1.) they had to have a ‘Pinnable’ image and 2.) they represent the real heart of what this blog is about.  Here are my 5 posts:

Now that I look at them, there’s not a lot of triathlon representation, which is the main theme of this blog.  Well, my triathlon posts either don’t have good images (that originate from me), or just don’t have the level of originality that I want to present today; e.g. race recaps – I swam, I biked then I ran.  So did everyone else.  The posts above, though? They have that special Iron Rogue brand of crazy.  So go ahead an pin an image!  You can find me on Pinterest here.  And be sure to go to Lean Green Bean for other great posts on fitness and wellness.  I’ll even put a few links in the comment section!

EDIT: Can’t put links in the comments, so here’s some of the other participants I’ve visited:
Itz Linz
Coffee, Cake and Cardio
Family Fitness Food
Fit 2 Flex
Let’s Walk and Talk/

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In The Gym: Rope Machine

I’m in the midst of developing the next phase of my training before the triathlon season, but I’m since I’m not finished yet, I thought I’d share a little discovery with you.  This machine [add official name] was added to our corporate gym at the end of 2012.  The rope is looped so it can be pulled continuously.  The arm (that houses the pulley at the top of the rope loop) can be tilted to allow a more horizontal type pulling, but most people seem to be using it in the configuration shown. 









There are 7 different resistance settings

There are 7 different resistance settings:

“…all 7 settings have DYNAMIC RESISTANCE which allows the rope resistance to vary with the speed of the rope”
The instructions say to use Rope Resistance Level 1-3 for 10-20 minutes as a cardio workout, and the levels 4-7 for 20-40 seconds (in 3 to 5 sets) as a Strength workout.



I was excited about using it to increase upper body strength and endurance in general, but the specific motion of climbing up the rope (pulling down)is very important to me: 1.) it’s a lot like a front crawl stroke so I figure it can pay dividends to my swim 2.) it’s going to strengthen my upper back and the supporting muscles which are my biggest weakness (I can’t do pull-ups, and even hanging from a bar feels hard to me).  The first few times I used the machine, I mostly did a 1-minute session on one of the harder settings (6 or 7) as part of the endurance phase of a Matrix circuit.


Then someone offered me a challenge.  Apparently some of the runners were doing a pyramid style workout with the machine: 1 minute pulling the rope up (like you were pulling a bucket up from the bottom of a well), 1 minute pulling the rope down (like you were climbing it) – on the hardest setting.  Drop the resistance down a level, then repeat.  This continues until you’ve done both directions, all resistances for a 14 minute workout.  Then you record the distance travel in meters, which is available from a little readout in front of the bench.  So far, I’ve recorded 582 meters and 605 meters… the record is 784!  

What’s the new/crazy apparatus at your gym? Love or hate?

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Review: Crossfit/Crossfit Kids at SquareOne Crossfit

Way back in 2012, I started researching where I might be able to try Crossfit.  Crossfit has exploded in popularity especially in the past year, so I feel a little silly introducing and explaining it, but here goes…


Crossfit started as a way to ‘Open-Source’ fitness.  Open Source software is free to use, and the computer programming code is free and public; not kept secret.  In fitness, the concept would be a workout that is publicly available as opposed to something you had to pay an instructor or trainer for.  Every day a ‘Workout of the Day’ or WOD would be published that could be done with fairly basic equipment you could put into your home.  Exercises were drawn from Olympic weightlifting and gymnastics to promote functional strength as well as endurance, balance, flexibility, agility and co-ordination; true multi-dimensional fitness.  Where it grew as a business was again similar to Open Source software: though anyone could do it and the accessibility was appealing, this stuff was sophisticated enough that it made sense to engage an expert.  Crossfit gyms, or ‘boxes‘ (called this, because they seem plain and spartan compared to the modern gym – no frills, just the weights and equipment you need) started springing up, and certifications were created by the originators of the movement.  Nowadays, there are competitions, and they are sponsored by Reebok which has dubbed Crossfit “The Sport of Fitness”.
The SquareOne Box


There are a few boxes locally, and they all had their apparent pros and cons (from what I could tell by web research), but besides proximity, one big advantage that SquareOne Crossfit had was a Kids program.

They run their Crossfit Kids program on Sunday mornings, and for parents who want to do the WOD, they’re able to do that in parallel.  That clinched it, since we’re always looking for ways to keep Shark Boy entertained and active.  I wanted to make arrangements for a free trial in December, but with the holidays, it took until now to get us ‘in the box’.

Shark Boy and I got there for 8:30AM when the classes for kids 3-5 take place.  We met with the Kids’ instructor Arianne, and I did the initial paperwork.  Unfortunately things weren’t yet in full swing post holidays, so Shark Boy was the only kid in class and I think he was a little intimidated.  I hadn’t built it up for him too much, since I didn’t know what to really expect, but he was game for trying things as long as I accompanied him initially (and did some of the exercises too).

It starts, of course, with a warm-up.  Arianne put an agility ladder on the floor and had him (us) do two-footed jumps over each rung of the ladder back and forth.  We then moved on to jumping in and out (to the side of the ladder) and jumping on one foot.  Though he’s very athletic, I was a little surprised to see he had no real idea of how to jump on one foot – the learning begins!

After the warm-up a class (adult or kids!) moves on to the skill lesson.  We did squats, with hands overhead.

The ‘work-out’/WOD portion of a kids class seems to be game oriented, which was great.  Shark Boy was in his element playing  Lumberjacks and Farmers (knockdown pylons or put them back upright), Tail-Tag and Simon Says were all part of the deal, and it got more fun as some of the kids from the 6+ class started to trickle in.  He was obviously having fun and getting more comfortable and needed less hand-holding from his father.

I got to meet some of the other Crossfitters and people walked up and introduced themselves; from what I read, this friendliness is part of the general culture, and I was glad to see it wasn’t just hype.  It also meant I didn’t have to figure out the warm-up on my own:

Some of these were very familiar, but I’d never heard of Dislocates (sounds painful!).  Essentially it was holding a bar with wide grip and rotating it around to your back without bending your elbows.  Good mornings are bending over (from the hips) with a straight back.

I knew I’d need help on pull-ups; I can’t do them.  I did like their method of assisting the pull-up: a resistance band looped through the foot – you end up mimicking the real movement very, very closely.  I was a little embarrassed to be using the strongest band (giving me the biggest possible assistance) and I was reconsidering using that particular one as I got through my ten reps, but by the last one, I noticed I couldn’t quite get my chin up to the bar, so it was probably the right one after all.

The workout of the day was called ‘Linda’ and it meant doing sets of three exercises in descending number of reps: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 ,1.
“LINDA”
The first exercise was the Deadlift.  Here’s where I got my skill lesson prior to the WOD.   Chris, the man in charge, showed me how to do these correctly.  The second exercise was the Bench Press; I had done these on Thursday and had a good idea of how much weight I could handle.  I shared a bench with another man who wanted to lift the same amount as me, since benches were limited and the turnout that morning was good.  Rather than do a Power Clean (which is somewhat technical and would need a little more teaching/practice), Chris had me do a Sumo Deadlift/High Pull which was a Deadlift in a wider stance (with an narrower grip) combined with an upright row at the end.

The weight to be used was based on your own Body Weight (BW)… that wasn’t going to happen.  I tried to pick weights that would be sensible for me to get the form right and not injure myself, and of course… sweat.

On deadlifts, I need a lot of work.  I’m shrugging my shoulders and/or pulling my arms to get the bar moving up, I don’t bend my knees enough for the bottom, but I kept my back straight and didn’t hurt myself.  Bench presses went very well, and I was generally struggling to get that last rep on every set.  The Sumo Deadlift/High Pulls were a little weird – maybe I should have tried a bigger weight.  Apparently the key is to really pop your hips forward and get the weight accelerating upward, but it always felt like cheating to me.  Still it gave me an idea of the kind of motion that is involved in the Power Clean.

I finished in 20 and a half minutes, making me the third one done.  I can’t be too proud of that since I know they were taking it easy on me since it was my first time. Otherwise, how could I have taken the boys tobogganning that afternoon?  I gathered up Shark Boy and asked him if he enjoyed himself… was it something he’d like to do again?  He said yes, and so help me, I felt the same way.

I spoke to Chris about options for my son and I and everything was very low pressure.  I should say, no pressure.  I was overall very pleased to note that this box focusses on form over intensity; I’d had fears that the kind of ‘all or nothing’/’pain is weakness leaving the body’ wouldn’t fit well with my history of injury.  Chris’ outlook was refreshing in its simplicity: they’re there to get people fit.  If they can’t walk the next day, how can they come back to work out the next day?

Both Shark Boy and I have packs of drop in classes bought, so I guess the cult of Crossfit can count us in.

Have you heard of Crossfit? Tried it? Loved it?  What about Crossfit Kids?
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Trifecta Tuesdays!

I like Tuesdays.  They’re not Monday, so they don’t have that back-to-work sting, and yet you’re not far enough into the week to realize how far behind you might be at work.  Due to our circumstances vis-a-vis daycare and babysitting help from visitors, it’s a good chance for me to get out of the house early for some extra exercise…

And thus Trifecta Tuesday was born.


My basic premise for Trifecta Tuesday is to get 3 different forms of exercise done in one day.  I’m a triathlete… I like threes… three is a magic number after all!

Some examples so far:

  1. Dec 4th.  I hit the pool in the morning for a workout, then at lunch I had the two-fer workout that I have dubbed ‘Rowga’.  Swimming, Rowing Machine, Yoga.
  2. Dec 11th.  Another morning Swim.  Then the 3-2-1 workout: 3 cardio sessions, 2 whole-body strength circuits, 1 session of ab/core work; 10 minutes each for a (theoretical 60 minute workout).  I ended up short on time and skipping the explicit core work, but since I used the Spartacus circuit and the Matrix circuit for strength, my core was adequately addressed.  The cardio sessions were Rowing (again), Spinning, and a combination of skipping rope and the heavy bag.  I lost count somewhere in there, but it’s more than 3!
  3. Dec 18th.  Hey! That’s today!  I’m swamped with year-end stuff at work, so getting 3 activities in would take not only creativity, but… creativity in the interpretation.  I wanted to try a new elliptical trainer that has lateral motion (spoiler alert: upcoming post!) for warm-up, and use the treadmill for a post-workout cardio burn, but others like to use that elliptical/cross-trainer, so I opted for a rowing warm-up.  My weight/strength session had the upper body push (chest), legs, upper body pull (back) structure, but I focused more on tradtional moves with heavier weights like a barbell bench press.  I ended up snagging the lateral ellipitical/cross-trainer for my post-workout cardio burn.

Stay tuned every tuesday for tweets with the hashtag #TrifectaTuesday.  You do follow me on twitter, don’t you?  See if you can get your own 3 activities for your own Trifecta Tuesday!
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TRX With Ignition Fitness

I was really excited to find out that Ignition Fitness was offering TRX Classes for Runners and Triathletes:


  1. I always wanted to try TRX – being suspended promotes using the core and all kinds of stabilizer muscles in way that promotes functional strength, which is what I want to build.
  2. I know a lot of elite triathletes have been using TRX in their training, so again, that puts it right up my alley.
  3. These workouts are specifically designed for runners and triathletes!
  4. The classes are available on a drop in basis, and (like drugs, software and martial arts classes) the first one is free!


I had got in touch with Tommy Ferris, the head coach of Ignition and signed up for a session on a Thursday night.  Due to cold and flu season and its effect on the whole family, I had to cancel at least once, but this past week, I was able make it to Dragon Fitness, where they’re holding the classes.   It’s located in an industrial space in a semi-sketchy area north of Parkdale (technically Brockton Village apparently); but I’m somewhat familiar with the area as the place where I used to train in Jiu-Jitsu was nearby, so I felt a little more comfortable than I might have otherwise.

After entering and greeting one of the owners of Dragon Fitness, I met Tommy Ferris himself.  He explained that there had been some cancellations, and as it turned out, I would be the only one in class that day.  More individual attention for me!  

This meant he had lots of time to get me oriented with the equipment.  In addition to a dry run with all the exercises in the circuit, I also had a chance to practice reconfiguring the suspension straps for maximum or minimum length, depending on what was called for in the exercise.  Two other skills I learned were how to combine the handles for a single gripping point, and how to put them on my feet for exercises where our hands would be on the ground.  That was one that I struggled to do while hurrying through the circuit.  Here’s how the circuit was structured:

TRX exercise Non-TRX exercise
Squat Kettlebell ‘Romanian Deadlift’ (two handed swing)
Core Twist

 Plank
Ts/Is Alternating Pushups
Mountain Climbers Running Arms
Pikes Jump Lunges
Sprinters Lunges Lateral Jumps
Body Saw Matrix Jumps
Each station was 45 seconds, and we moved from TRX  exercise to non-TRX exercise (left column, right column) without stopping.  At the end of the circuit, we rested 45 seconds, then did it over again for a 30 minute workout.  Here are some notes and illustrative pics (from the Ignition Fitness website) on the individual exercises.

  • Squat.  A body-weight/air squat, getting down to where the thighs are at least parallel to the floor.  You hold onto the TRX handles, but more for a balance reference point than anything else.
  • Kettlebell ‘Romanian Deadlift’  – To me, this looked like the regular Kettlebell swings you see people do… the weights were gripped two-handed, and the emphasis was on getting the hips back on the negative phase (lowering the bell) while snapping the pelvis forward (back to a neutral standing position) on the upward swing of the bell.  I have yet to understand why you need Kettlebells to do these kinds of exercises… you could do them with dumbbells in my opinion.
  • Torso Twist – This one was great for working oblique core muscles which should be recruited during the swim.  Most of the exercises were selected for the role they could play in improving performance on the swim, bike or run.

  • Plank – You know what this is, right?  45 seconds worth.  Not easy, but at least a change of pace from the more dynamic exercises that preceded it.
  • T’s or I’s.  The first circuit involved pulling ourselves toward the straps’ anchor point using a reverse shoulder fly with arms stretched out horizontally (so that we formed a ‘T’).  And the next circuit involved pulling the handles overhead so that the arms ended above (and the body forms an ‘I’).  Great for core and shoulders, especially to level off imbalances that would be common for runners and triathletes.
  • Alternating push-ups.  A regular push-up, a wide push-up to the right, a wide push-up to the left.  Tough to finish, not exciting.
  • Mountain Climbers – A common exercise where the TRX adds another dimension.  It was crucial to not have the legs go up and down too much or else the straps would ‘see-saw’ through the anchor point, making an annoying noise.  When the feet were kept more-or-less level, the core was better engaged.

  • Running Arms – Loved this one, and not just because it was a little less demanding than most stations.  Keeping our elbows bent at 90 degrees, we swung our arms as if we were running while holding 10lb dumbbells (a little on the heavy side for this movement, but it worked) while keeping our upper and lower bodies still.  It took more core strength than you might have thought.



  • Pikes – These were really hard.  On the second circuit, I was bending my knees into more of a tuck motion than a pike, and I needed a break or two.  Ideally, you should ‘rest’ with only a plank position, but I couldn’t even manage that.

  • Jump Lunges – Another great runner’s exercise that I’ve always struggled with, at least, to keep them up beyond 30 seconds.  I did them body weight only, because I knew I’d be gassed before 45 seconds were up.
  • Sprinter’s Lunges – I found these fascinating, because they mimic the explosive spring that sprinters have to cultivate, especially for the start, but the muscles are important for every stride.  They look bad, since the knee is past (in front of) the toe, but remember, the weight/load is reduced because the straps are takings some.  You spring up and swing the knee forward, then do the other leg.
  • Lateral Jumps – This one saw us jumping from one side to the other, in a kind of lunge.  The rear foot would cross behind the front leg (which had a nice deep knee bend) resulting in a dynamic hip stretch.  The side to side motion was reminiscent of skating, if you ask me, but with a deeper bend to get more quad and glute work.
  • Body Saw – This one was a favourite.  Once in a plank (elbows on ground, feet in the TRX straps), we’d simply rock back and forth a little.  Ideally we’d keep our heads up looking forward as if we were in aero position on the bike.
  • Matrix Jumps –  Imagine a dial pad; stand on one leg, on the ‘5’ and jump to each button, then back to the ‘5’.  Once (1,5,2,5,3,5,4,5,6,5,7,5,8,5,9,5) then the other way around.  Switch legs

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
All the exercises had elements that were familiar in terms of motion so they didn’t feel to foreign to me, yet they all had a new dimension that challenged.  Shoulders, core, glutes, hamstrings and other leg muscles are all part of a triathlete’s aresenal so it was great to work them all out in a short, efficient time span.  Furthermore, our whole bodies were being put through motion in 3 different planes: front-to-back (which is the most common dimension for runners and triathletes) as well as side-to-side and up-and-down (which are more neglected).

There’s lots more great information and advice on Ignition Fitness’ website; I’d encourage anyone to give this class a try.  

Have you ever tried TRX?

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Matrix Reloaded

I made some changes to the blog design… I wish I could do more, but visuals are not my forte.  Still, I hope you like it; it’s wider for bigger pictures now.

On Sunday I took another crack at a Matrix Workout.  For my warm-up, I did kettlebell swings, 1 minute of mountain climbers, 10 burpees and 25 pushups.

Sorry about the orange… as if you weren’t sick of pumpkin themed stuff already.

Remember the structure?  Here it is again, at least, the current draft:

And here’s how I varied it this time…

Here’s me doing the Single-Leg Bent-Over Rear Shoulder Flys…not perfectly graceful, but whatever.

I used a pair of 8lb pyramid shaped weights I have, instead of 12lbs on this exercise, so I ended up doing more (15) reps instead.  At home, I did the pull-ups in more of an inverted row position; putting my feet on the bench takes weight off, and being closer to diagonal makes it easier on my shoulders. 15 reps done.

Some support on my lower body plus a less punishing angle for the lift.

For pushups this time, I managed 40 in one minute – I’m proud of that.
I found the resistance band I have at home is not quite as tight as the one in the gym – even if I placed my feet (see below) further apart, I still couldn’t get a lot of resistance from it.  I’m considering scrapping this as my endurance/back exercise, but I like how the continuously increasing resistance during the motion feels.  It’s different (better?) than using a free weight – I just need the magnitude of force used to be bigger.

Rows with the resistance band

I managed 2 circuits this time, and the second circuit was done in 10 minutes.  I want to get a little more used to the load and the current exercises (maybe make it to 3 circuits) then switch things up a little.

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Strength Lab: Enter the Matrix

I am not a personal trainer (certified or otherwise) and I have no professional fitness training. Consult a doctor before engaging in an exercise program and follow my actions at your own risk.

I had a chance to think about Strength Training lately.  I haven’t had a chance to do it, but for the purposes of this post (and not beyond that), it’s the thought that counts.  With my fitness ADD, I’d like to try something new; no problem… people post workout routines every day, I’m sure I could find something cool; in fact I do every day, sometimes I pin them to my Pinterest Board.
I would, however, like to exercise my own creativity and knowledge and try to make something original that suits me, my needs and goals.

Here are some important considerations:

  • No machines.  I have lots of fitness equipment at home, where I’d like to be able to do this workout and I prefer exercises that promote functional movement.
  • Speaking of functional movement, strength training for me needs to incorporate elements that will improve core stability as well as balance, which get neglected a little in a triathlete’s other 3 disciplines.
  • I’m primarily an endurance athlete, I’m not looking to bulk up or achieve any explicit strength goals, I just want to reap benefits like lean body mass (and the enhanced calorie burn that results) and injury proofing.  In other words, hopefully I get more power and better muscular endurance in my swim/bike/run – I don’t care how much I can lift.
  • I have injuries that I don’t want to aggravate.


Doing functional movements tends to mean exercises that recruit multiple muscle groups at the same time rather than complete isolation.  A push-up works your chest, but also your shoulders and triceps.  So do most exercises that resemble a “Pushing” motion, and following that logic, I could divide my exercises by muscle groups as:

  1. Chest – a.k.a Push, includes shoulders and triceps
  2. Back – a.k.a Pull, includes biceps and trapezius
  3. Legs


I figure these would cover 95% of the exercises I would like to do.  In terms of goals/benefits to be achieved by strength training:

  1. Power/Strength.  The raw force I can instantaneously generate… fast twitch muscles. Hopefully I increase the bang for my buck I get out of each stroke, pedal revolution, or stride.
  2. Core/Balance.  Being able to do load bearing/resistance using my (mostly) own body for support means being able to recruit more from my core while I’m swimming/biking/running.
  3. Endurance.  Being able to hold a pose, or do lots of reps for a long time.  Lighter load, more reps.


Now take the red pill with me… and step into… THE MATRIX (workout)!




Matrix: 1.) a rectangular array of numbers, symbols or expressions
2.) a mold for casting letters

If I arrange the muscle groups as columns and the strength types as rows, I get a Matrix, with different exercises to fill in according to how they fit the criteria of the rows and columns.  Let’s take a look with what I came up with so far:


Already some questions/challenges: There seems to be a bit of overlap between Core/Balance and Endurance – some of the exercises could easily trade rows.  Furthermore, What order should I do them in?  I figured I shouldn’t start with the heaviest and allow myself to get a little more warmed up, so I didn’t put Power in the first row.  I also don’t really like the idea of two upper body exercises back-to-back.  Even though push-pull complement each other, I think some of the secondary muscles might object to the abuse.  I’m looking at you, shoulders.  So I think I’ll do them left to right, top to bottom, same as you’re probably reading the table.. I mean, matrix.  Finally, how many reps and how much weight (for non-bodyweight exercises)?  That’s where the experimentation starts… To the lab!

Plan A was to get up early and run through these in my basement; the kids have been sleeping a little better, so I thought a 5AM or so wake-up was feasible.  Well, I forgot to set the alarm and ended up having to soothe the Lightning Kid at 5 and 5:30 anyway.  

At the office gym,I don’t have time for full lunchtime workouts on Thursdays, but I figured I could manage once through before having to eat and go to a meeting.  Here’s how it worked out.

Chest/Push Legs Back/Pull
Core/Balance Bosu Pushups
20 reps		 Single Leg Squats with Toe Touch
10 reps per leg		 Single-Leg Bent-Over Rear Shoulder Flys
10 reps per leg with 12lb dumbbells
Power/Strength Bench Press
12 reps 30lb dumbbells		 Squat
10 reps with 30lb dumbbells on shoulders		 Pull-ups
1 full pull-up, 8 reps of negative phase*
Endurance Pushups
For 1 minute (36 reps)		 Wall Sit with Medicine Ball Squeeze
For 1 minute		 Band Rows
For 1 minute


Notes:

  • I warmed up with 3 minutes on a rowing machine.  As I mentioned, I was pressed for time.
  • I could probably go a little heavier on the bench press.
  • I knew I couldn’t do pull-ups well (or at all, really), but I’m going to have to get inventive with cheats/workarounds.  For the negative phase reps, I used a step to jump up to the top of the movement (with my chin at the bar) and lowered down slowly.  Even then, the latter reps were a little weak.  I could use a machine assist in the gym, or maybe resistance bands at home.  This will need some work.
  • The band rows were done with an extra cross-over compared to the pic in the link, i.e. my right foot was anchoring the end being pulled by my left hand and vice versa.  It seemed a little easy at first, but by the time a minute was closing out, I could feel some burn deep in my rhomboids and rear deltoids.  I think I’ll keep this one in the mix, though I need to be careful with consistency if the band I use (or my foot positioning) changes.


Not including the warm-up, getting through the circuit took me 14-15 minutes with the only rest between stations being the time it took to get setup with the right equipment. Not a long workout, but I want this thing to be scaleable; if I want a longer workout, I can work my way through the matrix/table again.  I’ll be looking for different exercises to drop into the various slots, either from workout to workout or even within the workout (from circuit to circuit).  Any suggestions for  that meet the Core/Balance | Power/Strength | Endurance vs. Chest/Push | Legs | Back/Pull intersection criteria? REMEMBER: NO MACHINES! You know what the machines did in the Matrix…

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Boot Camp Sunday

I’m not entirely satisfied with my current ‘Off-Season’ schedule yet.  So far, I have my running club (with structured speed, tempo, hill workouts) on Mondays and Wednesdays.  On Tuesdays, if I can, I go to Gravity Machine at Goodlife, and I do a spin class to keep my biking muscles in shape on Fridays.  Thursdays I have meetings too close to lunch to fit a workout in, and the kids still aren’t letting us sleep enough for me to plan a morning or evening workout.

I usually fit in something good on the weekend though I don’t have anything dedicated yet.   Like I said, I’m not satisfied with the structure yet, but it’s not terrible either.  This Sunday I decided to visit my friend Peter (from Fit2Touch, which I’ve mentioned before here) at one of his Boot Camps.

Peter does a good job of mixing exercise disciplines, so you don’t know what you’re going to get.  The warm-up had some boxercise elements, and the cool-down had its fair share of Yoga.  That Sunday’s class worked our core muscles more than anything else, and the circuits got progressively harder with muscle groups being hit with supersets (2 or 3 different exercises that hit the same muscle group without stopping).  Compound exercises like lunges with a bicep curl were favoured, and he hit some weak areas (especially for me) like the rear deltoids.  After whipping us good with the strength circuit, he hit us with some more cardio centric work in the last circuits including jogging laps around a pool… which was a welcome relief to cardio junkies like me, actually.

Peter’s Boot Camp (a.k.a. FitBlitz) was a great way to make sure I’d gotten my entire body workout for the end of the week.

Peter and Edna have been featured on Dragon’s Den, and Steven and Chris.  Visit their site Fit2Touch or Edna’s Healthy Couples Blog here.

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Impromptu Backyard Workout

Normally after Shark Boy and I get home from daycare/work respectively, we have about 20-30 minutes to kill before dinner is ready.  He likes to be outside so we often take walks to the park or he rides his glider bike around the neighbourhood.  It’s an opportunity for me to be slightly active, in that I walk with him (occasionally running to catch up), but it’s not exactly a workout; I’m still in my work clothes.  I dress casually, but I’m not in suitable shoes for running and I get hot wearing jeans in summer (or Indian summer) weather.

Today I tweaked it a little though.  Shark Boy had asked to play in the backyard this morning, and we had to get him to daycare (and me to work), so nothing doing.  Still, he jumped at the chance to get out there this evening.  I promised to join him once I changed to shorts and a t-shirt and grabbed a few extras.

Knowing time was short, and that situations with kids were fluid at best, I didn’t have high expectations for my workout, but the truth was I was still sore from a Gravity Machine workout the day before, so anything that would break a sweat without being too gruelling was welcome.  I’d grabbed a jump-rope and a 6lb medicine ball that we got for my wife a while back.  I hadn’t put on shoes, but hoped I could jump rope in the grass.  That didn’t work so well; the rope slowed down in the grass and threw off my timing.  Next time, I’d wear shoes and do it on the patio.

The medicine ball was more appealing – I haven’t used it since we bought it, but I’d found a good set of exercises here.

 I started with their ‘Log Toss’ and simply threw the ball into the air.  That way, if Shark Boy wanted to get involved I could simply claim that this was *my* ball and he was welcome to do the same with one of his.  Our backyard has plenty…

It was a great move for explosive power through the legs in the squat portion, along with a swing in the shoulders, much like some of those kettlebell moves you see these days. I did about 10.

I moved into Medicine Ball Slams.  These always scared me because I worry about what happens to the floor or walls that they’re used on.  Most demonstrations seem to occur in industrial spaces with cement walls.   That’s not like my house or my gym, but I figured our lawn was up for the abuse! 12 to 15 reps of this (I wish I’d kept better count, but the kids distracted me!)

I paused to grab a picnic blanked and bring the Lightning Kid out to watch us play.  Then I lay down beside him and did some crunches while holding the medicine ball above me.

Papa, that’s not how you play ball.

Before Shark Boy finally demanded my attention, I fit in about 14 pushups while alternating the ball from hand to hand.

We’re signing Shark Boy up for a Kids-of-Steel Duathlon, so I thought I’d try getting him in mental shape for the idea of racing; I know he’s got the fitness, endurance and iron will, I just hope he doesn’t get confused or overwhelmed.  Anyway, I challenged him to race across the yard.  With my longer legs it wasn’t that challenging or that much fun for either of us.  Then I gave him a head start halfway across the yard, and did a sprinting charge complete with “I’M GONNA GET YOU!” and monster sounds.  That ramped up the fun and sweat!

To round it out a little before dinner, I managed to get the Lightning Kid involved too.  I ran a little (fairly slowly) while carrying him, and also some lunges with him on my shoulders.

Shark Boy gets in on the lunging action

While I couldn’t tell you how many calories I burned, I broke a definite sweat and had great fun with my boys.  I’m motivated to try this kind of thing again, in fact I’m motivated to get back into training for the off-season.  Thanks boys!