Way to go, Brad! November 10, 2008
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Brad finished his tri, Silverman, which just looks crazy to me. But talk about an accomplishment!
The Truth about Crossfit November 9, 2008
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GravityJanes is a gym that has strong ties to Crossfit.
While I’m very happy with the results I’ve gotten through my Crossfit-based workouts, I’m also aware that there is some controversy regarding the Cossfit methods. But, I didn’t know quite what this was all about until I read this article, The Truth about Crossfit.
It’s a good read if you’re interseted in learning a bit more about how Crossfit has come to be, and Chris Shugart lays out the major points about the various controversies.
The key takeaway for me is that we are all learning more and more about fitness and our ability to do work, regarldess of which training methods we are using. I’m certain that Crossfit will not be the end-all, and I’m looking forward to learning more about how we can improve our fitness!
Who is “General Cardio”? November 8, 2008
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One of the funny things about Sweat365 are the categories listed for the posts. I know they work for many of you, but they just don’t work for my workouts, and I wonder if by stating these measures, they are orienting us in the wrong direction. I don’t mean 180 degrees wrong, just 5 or 10 degrees off path.
What do I mean by this?
Take ‘General Cardio’. Note that it’s not Colonel Cardio or Sergeant Cardio. But, what is cardio? Work that’s exclusively focused on improving your cardiovascular health. So, what if I ask you to do 6:00 of Dumbell swings? Is that cardio? Sure it is, you’re engaging your lungs and heart to move oxygen around to your muscles in a big way ]over a longer time period than a few seconds. But, because of the weight, you’re also engaging a lot of your muscles. So, what to call it? I like ‘work’ personally…
At the end of the day, we’re all focused on improving our health and fitness. How about we start our thinking at that point?
Wanna see kettlebells in action? October 29, 2008
Posted by hardly Kettlebell, Uncategorized
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Although the production values are questionable, the visual is pretty good in these videos from Outside Online regarding, “A revolutionary - and brutish - new fitness regimen“.
Brutish? Oh, you mean that the trainer expects the student to work their ass off?
I guess we know why I dropped the subscription years ago…
Accountability in your fitness program October 26, 2008
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If you want to achieve a better level of fitness and health, you must hold yourself accountable for your activities. This means:
- Knowing generally how many calories you should be taking in on a daily basis, so you have a target.
- Knowing your diet so you know generally what you should be eating and in what combination to achieve a balance.
- Knowing your performance levels at a variety of activities, e.g. 1-mile run time, 2K row time, 100 situps for time, 6:00 of push-ups rep count, etc.
- Knowing your health measures: Resting Heartrate, Blood Pressure, Body Fat % (at minimum, there are other good ones, too.)
What’s interesting to me is a post I just read, How Important is Accountability and Weight Loss, where the author talks about her accountability to herself as a trainer. It’s a good read for those who wonder how your trainer stays on track with their fitness program. And is a good lead into you staying on top of your own fitness over time.
The Mrs. Jane S Project October 16, 2008
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Ever done something that completely transformed your life? Took you places you’d never dreamed about? Made you a better person?
One of my life-changing experiences is working out w/Dave Young who now runs Gravity Janes in Issaquah. My 18 months working with him (and counting) and applying his version of the Crossfit methodology has completely transformed how I think about living and health.
Now, I know that you regular readers of this blog will say, “Yeah, we’ve read your blog, and your workouts are insane. We get the results.” Thing is, before beginning my torrid affair w/Ms. Kettlebell, my workouts weren’t insane, and they probably looked a lot like yours. And I had the intimate knowledge of Cybex machines and extra body fat to prove it.
For about 3 months now, I’ve been looking for a way to equivocally illustrate these changes, but the slight problem is that I can’t go back in time. Then, I found a solution.
Starting next week, I’m going to add a regular blog post that focuses on the outcomes that someone else achieves as they go through the process from being a relatively normal “Mrs. Jane Suburbs” to a transformed woman via the methods that have transformed my life. This is going to be fun and highly interesting, so I’m hoping you’ll join me on this journey!
Faking Yourself Out October 13, 2008
Posted by hardly 6 Minutes of..., Bar, Kettlebell, Other, Pushups, Row, Uncategorized
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Humans are well-known for their capacity to self-delude.
I think I can.
I know I can’t.
Today, I had one of those moments, masked in the fog of a night spent getting up and down to fight the monsters in my youngest’s dark bedroom.
We were doing a 3-rep max load of front squats and I had miscalculated the weight. I had under-counted by 40 lbs, so when I went to try what I thought was 185#, but which was really 215# and it felt too heavy, I was sorely confused. Until my coach pointed out that maybe I should try backing the weight down to 200ish. Ohhh, yeah, let’s try that…
Warmup:
- 6:00 Row: 92 calories
- 40 Decline Paralette Push-ups
Workout:
- 3-rep max load Front Squats (targeting 4 or so sets): 135#, 155#, 175#, 200#
- 50 Kettlebell Cleans @ 2 16 kg
- 5x:
- 15 Shoulder Presses @ 65#
- 15 GDH Back Extensions
- Time: 11:30
- 2x:
- Rope Climb
- 30 Kettlebell Swings (low) @ 32 kg
Workout:
- Type: Other
- Date: 10/13/2008
- Time: 07:00:00
- Total Time: 1:00:00.00
Gang-up for 10/11 October 11, 2008
Posted by hardly 6 Minutes of..., Bar, Box Jumps, Dumbbell, Medicine Ball, Other, Pullups, Sit-ups, Uncategorized
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Gang-up is a little ritual at GravityJanes on Saturday mornings. As many of us gather as possible to do a workout. It’s loose and casual, but hey, we’re still doing work!
Warmup:
- 60 Dumbbell Snatches @ 20 lbs
- 60 Dumbbell Sit-ups @ 20 lbs
- 30 Bodyweight Squats
Workout:
- Max Loads:
- Pull-up: 90 lbs (holding a dumbbell with my feet)
- Box Jump: 30″ (36″ is just a bit too much right now)
- Front Squat: 125 lbs (I think this can go higher, I just ran out of time)
- 6:00 of Thrusters @ 95 lbs: 35
- 6:00 of Ball Slams w/a partner @ 14 lbs: 103
- 3:00 of Wallballs w/a partner@ 14 lbs: 98
- Max time in a tuck-sit: 54 seconds
Workout:
- Type: Other
- Date: 10/11/2008
- Time: 08:00:00
- Total Time: 1:00:00.00
Workouts: Helen September 18, 2008
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3 sets of:
- 400 M run
- 21 Kettlebell Swings
- 21 Pull-ups
For total elapsed time
August Unemployment - WA State September 17, 2008
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The U.S. economy may be in the tank, and parts of Washington are certainly in the tank, but you'd not really know it by the IT sector in Seattle.
Washington State's Unemployment data came out yesterday, and here are the key bits:
- Overall statewide unemployment: 6.0%, up from an adjusted 5.6% for July.
- Seattle-Bellevue-Everett: 4.8%, up from 4.3% in July
- WA State Software publishers employ 52,100 people, up from 51,400 in August, and also up from 47,900 in August '07.
- Industries losing the most workers are Construction, Retail Trade and Manufacturing.
Overall, these figures definitely point to a worsening economy. In the good news department, Software Development continues to grow. That's good news unless you're looking for Software Developers - they're continuing to be a bit scarce. Email me if that's your problem... I can help.
