FK.DW Saturday 010809

Finally, the last day of L-sit progressions has arrived. Hopefully you now have, or are a good way to achieving, a stable L-sit. We will revisit these in the future, maybe building up to a stable L-sit on rings!

Buy in

L-Sit Progression

Strength

Weighted Pull-Ups 5x5

Conditioning

AMRAP 15 minutes

10 Push-press @ 50% max press

10 GHD sit-ups

If you don't have a GHD available, substitute regular sit-ups.

Cash Out

Skipping - 200 singles or 50 doubles

Post weights/times to comments or the Daily Workout forum on FuncKey.

Have fun!

FK.DW Friday 310709

Another choice day today: swimming, running or cycling. Try to choose something different to the last time just to keep it interesting.

Swimming can be in any stroke.

Buy In

BWLA/Burgener progression

Strength

Overhead Squat 5x3

Conditioning

Swim 1k or

Run 5k or

Cycle 10K

Cash out

L-Sit Progression

Post weights/choice and distance to FK.UK

Have Fun

FK.DW Thursday 300709

Lots of pressing movements today; the strength workout is the strict press and the conditioning has a couple (!) of press-ups.

As with everything we do, there is a strict form for press-ups: Hands shoulder width apart under the shoulders, back and legs in one straight line and the down position is all the way to the floor. A full rep is the chest to the floor then the arms coming back to lock out at the top in the "lean and rest" position. Anything other than that should not be counted.

Remember, the only person you cheat by doing things by halves is yourself. Give 100% effort and maintain good for throughout and the results will be self-evident.

Buy in

L-Sit progression

Strength

Press 5x3

Conditioning

10 rounds for time of;

Run 100m

10 push-ups

10 sit-ups

Cash Out

Dot Drills

As always, post weights and times to the FK.UK forum

Have Fun

FK.DW Wednesday 290709

Rest Day

FK.DW Tuesday 280709

So this is the last week of the current L-Sit progression work. Hopefully you have made some good progress with this skill and will be able to hold the position for L-Pullups and other exercises that involve a heavy static contraction of the core. You should also have seen the benefit from this work in all the other strength lifts as a stronger abdominal region makes lumbar support that much better.

Starting next week and through August we will be looking at the planche progressions, so to get us a quick head start today's cash-out is a frog stand hold for a cumulative 1 minute. The frog stand is an excellent beginning gymnastic movement that forms part of not only the planche progression but is also an excellent tool for learning a stable free hand-stand.

Buy in

L-Sit progression

Strength

Deadlift 5x3

Conditioning

20-15-10

Snatch @ 40% max

Pull-Ups

Cash Out

Frog Stand - 1 minute total on hands only

Post weights/times to the FK.UK Daily workout forum (here)

Have Fun

Gubernatrix joins Team FK.UK

Please join me in welcoming Gubernatrix to Team FK.UK as Online Media Editor!

She will be woking with us on developing our overall web presence. In particular, she will be focusing on co-ordinating the development of what is currently this blog into a comprehensive portal for UK functional fitness.

She brings to the table a diverse skill set within the online media sector, from journalistic to editorial. I'm sure a number of you are familar with 'gubernatrix.co.uk' - a great example of her strengths, capablity and knowledge witin this field.

We are lucky to be able to work with her and welcome her to Team FK.UK

FK.DW Monday 270709

The big question with the strength sets is whether to do ascending sets (increasing the weight each set) or to keep the weight static. Both have benefits and drawbacks. With ascending sets you can be more fatigued on the last set so your maximum effort isn't as high as it perhaps could have been, but on the other hand with static sets you run the risk of not going heavy enough and not drawing a benefit, or going too heavy and really not making the most of the sets. Static sets at a heavy weight are also seem to carry a higher toll on the Central Nervous System and can lead to symptoms of over-training in a quicker time period.

If you feel like giving static sets a go, the recommendation is to start at your 8-10 rep max range and see how it feels. If i is too light, increase the weight for the next workout until each set is taxing and the last almost (or does) lead to failure. Once you can again complete all sets without a failure, increase the weight.

Of course there is nothing wrong with sticking to the ascending sets. As with everything, your will soon let you know what works. Learn to listen to it and your training success will improve dramatically.

Buy In

Basketball free throw shots x 25

for every missed shot do 5 press-ups

Strength

Squat 5x3

Conditioning

4 rounds for time of;

15 Press @40% max

15 Wall Ball shots

Men: Use a 5 Kg ball and aim for a 10ft/3m target

Women: Use a 3 Kg Ball and aim for an 8ft/2.5m target (or use the men's settings as required)

Cash Out

L-Sit Progression

Post weights, times and comments to the forums.

Have Fun

FK.DW Sunday 260709

Rest Day. Make the most of it. Stretch, relax, go do something less intense - maybe a swim.

FK.DW Saturday 250709

No strength workout today, the conditioning should be enough of a gasser for you....

Buy in

BWLA/Burgener warm-up

Conditoning

4 rounds for time

Run 250m

15 Clean and Jerk @ 40% max

Power cleans are acceptable, as is a push jerk but the C&J MUST be two distinct movements. No Clean and Thruster, no Clean and press and no power snatches please.

Cash out

L-Sit Progressions

Post times to your FK.UK log

Have Fun

FK.DW Friday 240709

Another AMRAP workout today. Do you "game" these or do you go all out right from the start and flag at the end? The preferred method is to go all out, that way the intensity stays up there throughout - by the end you may be tiring, but if you are still pushing for all you are worth then the benefits will come.

One trick many people use is to set the timer to beep at a set interval (every 5 minutes for example) so you can judge how you are getting on. For others, this is a distraction and actually hinders progress.

What tricks, if any, do you use to maintain intensity of effort over the timed period?

Buy in

L-Sit progressions

Strength

Squat 5x3

Conditioning

AMRAP 20 Minutes

15 double unders

15 burpee

15 box jumps (20-24 inch/50-60cm box)

Cash out

Handstand progressions

Post weight/reps to FK.UK

Have Fun

FK.DW Thursday 230709

Snatch work today. As the harder of the two olympic lifts, it is essential to get a good first and second pull to get the bar overhead cleanly. The legs need to be in full extension ( the so-called triple extension, with the ankles, knees and hips all extended to the maximium position) and the shoulders shrugged to drive the bar up and over the head . Without it, the bar will be out in front of the body making it very difficult to catch.

Buy In

BWLA/Burgener progressions

Strength

Snatch 5x2

Conditioning

For time

30 Pull-up/5 Push-up

25 Pull-up/10 Push-up

20 Pull-up/15 Push-up

15 Pull-up/20 Push-up

10 Pull-up/25 Push-up

5 Pull-up/30 Push-up

Cash out

L-Sit Progressions

Post weight and times to FuncKey.

Have Fun.

FK.DW Wednesday 220709

Rest Day

Stretch out your tired muscles. The CrossFit San Francisco blog has many useful stretching exercises from Kelly Starrett which are worth checking out.

Another thing to consider - the point of functional training is that we eschew isolation exercises, concentrating on the synergistic relationship of the muscles in the compound exercises. Should stretching be any different? Why concentrate on a hamstring stretch when surely it would be more beneficial to concentrate on stretching into a squat position? This would simultaneously lengthen the hamstrings, work the quads and the lumbar regions at the same time. Compound stretching - it's the way forward!

FK.DW Tuesday 210709

You might have noticed that the strength components are moving around after having been on fairly set days the last few weeks. This is to add another component to the variations theme. It's not that your body really gets used to doing a certain lift on a certain day of the week but the mind can, and we want to get out of that mind set. It's often easier to get in the mood to deadlift or squat heavy if you know that's what you have ahead of time than it is to just go in cold, but in the real world, who know when and how you will have to lift something heavy so let's be prepared for anything.

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Dot Drills

Strength

Deadlift 5x3

Conditioning

For time:

30 ring dips (or 60 bar dips)

200 rope jumps

20 Press @ 30% max

200 Rope jumps

10 Hand Stand Push-ups

200 Rope Jumps

Cash out

L-Sit progressions

Post weights/times/commments to the FK.DW forum.

Have fun!

FK.DW Monday 200709

Slightly longer conditioning routine than normal today to work on the stamina a little harder. In the recent CrossFit games, several competitors had problems with the first event - a 7.1 KM cross country run. Admittedly the terrain was very rough with some steep hills, but 7.1 KM is not that great a distance and anyone who claims to be the "Fittest Man/Woman in the world" should be able to cope with this with minimal fuss. Trouble is, many of us blow off those longer runs when posted, preferring instead to do the shorter, heavier routines. This leaves us with a large hole in our fitness arsenal and needs to be addressed.

The conditioning today involves a run, then a bike ride followed by another run. None of the distances are excessive, but you will soon find that the fatigue caused by a run is different to that caused by the bike. Many people think the skills are immediately transferable - a CV improvement through running will benefit cycling, but many studies have shown this is not the case, so by combining the disciplines we aim to get the best of both worlds.

Buy In

L-Sit Progressions

Strength

Press 5x3

Conditioning

Run 2.5 Km

Cycle 10 KM

Run 2.5 Km

If you don't have a bike - 10K run!)

Cash out

Balance drills (see this post for instructions)

Publish weights/times/comments to FuncKey.

Have Fun

FK.DW Sunday 190709

Rest Day

FK.DW Saturday 180709

Some heavy work planned today. First up, bench press drop sets followed by back squats equal to 20 times your single rep max.

Buy In

L-Sit Progression

Strength

Bench Press drop sets, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2

Using your 10 RM weight (about 75% of your 1RM) perform 10 reps. Rest 90 seconds and the perform 8 reps. Continue down the ladder. Use the same weight throughout.

Conditioning

Back Squats for 20 x 1RM
Choose a weight and squat it as many times as it takes to equal 20 times your single rep max effort. You may not change weight after you start. Any re-racking constitutes the end of a round, any failure constitutes the end of a round. You need to record total rounds and time to completion.

Cash Out

PNF Stretching and Foam Roller work (you may need it!)

Post weights/rounds/times to FK.UK.

Have Fun!

FK.DW Friday 170709

Today's workout calls for a tractor tyre, but don't worry, if you don't have a tyre you can still take part.

A tractor tyre is an excellent tool for conditioning work; the shape is non-standard which means you have to adjust your grip and stance to move it which means it more accurately simulates a challenge you might find in the real word better than an evenly balanced, consistently shaped barbell might.

If you don't have a tyre but want to get one they can be found fairly easily and cheaply with a short search on the web or, better yet, your local yellow pages. Some people are charging stupid money for an old tyre but many farmers have a ready supply of old and worn tractor tyres and are often willing to part with the tyre for a nominal fee - you are actually helping them out because otherwise the tyre just sits in their yard or they have to pay to have them disposed of.

Buy In

Burgener Progression

Strength

Clean and Jerk 5x2

Conditioning

Tyre Flips x 10

then

AMRAP 15

Sprint 20m

Hammer Strikes x 15

Sprint 20m

Box Jumps (on to tyre rim) x 15

Then

Tyre Flips x 10

If you don't have a tyre, substitute 10 power cleans with press for the flips. Use a regular box jump and for the Hammer Strikes substitute the "slasher to halo" exercise as demonstrated in this video courtesy of Mountain Athlete.

Cash Out

Snatch Drops x 5

Post weights and times to comments or the FK.UK discussion thread.

Have Fun!

FK.DW Thursday 160709

Introducing the Super-Set concept today. This is a slightly different concept to our usual conditioning routines because normally these are time oriented (do as may rounds in x time) or task oriented (do a set number of rounds as fast as possible). The superset has elements of both and even has built in rest periods. Don't worry though, done right they still pack a heck of a kick!

Each Superset is made up of a subset of exercises; like regular supersets in the gym, you move quickly from one exercise to the next until you finish the super-set, however each superset is limited by a timed element. Each superset must be completed in under 2 minutes. If you finish under the 2 minute time you get to rest until the next superset starts; if you don't finish you continue right into the next round with no rest. If you fail to finish the set again before the next round starts, you terminate the workout and note the number of rounds completed.

Buy in

L-Sit Progression (you should be good at these by now!)

Strength

Deadlift 5x3

Conditioning

30 min Supersets of;

7 Push-up

7 Sit-up

7 Wide Push-up

7 SuperMan

7 Triceps Push-Up

7 Leg Levers

Cash Out

Balance Drills

• Stand on 1 foot with foot flat on the ground for 30 seconds
• Stand on the same foot on your toes for 30 seconds
• Bring up the knee of the free foot and kick out to the front. Repeat for 10 kicks
• Hold the free leg out behind for 30 seconds
• Hold the free leg out in front for 30 seconds

Repeat with the other leg.

Photos: FK.DW Tuesday 140709

Here are some photos of Manny doing today's FK.DW - excellent work.

FK.DW Wednesday 150709

Rest Day

The CrossFit Games were held this past weekend in Aromas California. The winning athlete was Mikko Salo from Finland, who posted consistently good performances throughout all eight events over the weekend.

If we were to hold an FK.UK games, what sort of events would you like to see the competitors have to complete? Is is even possible to find an all-round athlete in just one event or are there just too many domains and modalities to test?

Post thoughts to comments, or join the discussions on the FK.UK forums.

FK.DW Tuesday 140709

If you read any mass market fitness magazine, "blasting the core" is the one way guaranteed to get you abs of steel and make you an object of desire to the opposite sex (or even the same sex if that's your preference)! Of course we all know that is a load of rubbish; spot flab reduction is impossible and core isolation exercises are redundant - almost all truly functional exercises require the athlete to stabilise the core, giving it a good workout no matter what.

Tuesday's conditioning routine involves two movements that are guaranteed to work the core - in addition to pretty much every other part of the body! The Kettlebell swing/burpee combination here will work pretty much every muscle in the body and at the same time will give us that metabolic hit we are looking for.

Burpees are Gold Standard which means the press-up part is chest to floor, feet are flat on the floor at the beginning and end of the squat thrust and the hands clap over head with a fully open hip on the jump.

Swings are "American" style which means the bell must come to a stop overhead with the head "through the window".

Buy In

L-Sit Progression

Strength

Press 5x3

Conditioning

20-15-10

Kettlebell Swings @ 16 Kg

Burpees (GS)

Time domain is 3-7 minutes so scale the weight if required or change the reps to 16-12-8 to ensure you finish in that time. Of course if you are quicker than 3 minutes, good job!

Cash Out

Double Unders - Max in 2 minutes

Post weights and times to comments or on the FK.UK forum.

Have fun!

FK.DW Friday 240709

Another AMRAP workout today. Do you "game" these or do you go all out right from the start and flag at the end? The preferred method is to go all out, that way the intensity stays up there throughout - by the end you may be tiring, but if you are still pushing for all you are worth then the benefits will come.

One trick many people use is to set the timer to beep at a set interval (every 5 minutes for example) so you can judge how you are getting on. For others, this is a distraction and actually hinders progress.

What tricks, if any, do you use to maintain intensity of effort over the timed period?

Buy in

L-Sit progressions

Strength

Squat 5x3

Conditioning

AMRAP 20 Minutes

15 double unders

15 burpee

15 box jumps (20-24 inch/50-60cm box)

Cash out

Handstand progressions

Post weight/reps to FK.UK

Have Fun

FK.DW Monday 130709

Pyramid PT for the conditioning routine today. These are always fun and often a lot tougher than you think they are. Remember to scale appropriately so you finish in the defined time domain and if you can't do pull-ups, remember to substitute with jumping pull-ups, band assisted pull-ups or ring rows as appropriate.

Buy In

Burgener Warm-up progression

Strength

Back Squat 3x5

Conditioning

Pyramid PT (1, 2, 3......10.......3, 2, 1) for time

For each step of the pyramid perform

1xPull-Up

2xPush-Up

3xsit-up

You are aiming for a sub 20 minute time to complete this so step the pyramid appropriately (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)

Cash Out

L-Sit Progression

Post weights and times to comments or the FK thread here.

Have Fun

Rest Day Sunday 120709

The first full week of the official FK.UK Daily workout is done and in the books. Why not let us know your thoughts on the workouts so far in the comments section or over on the discussion boards?

FK.DW Saturday 110709

Just one more day until the next rest day so let's give it everything we can today. The conditioning routine is short and sharp but the strength portion more than compensates wit a heavy physiological hit from the two types of squat.

Buy In

L-Sit Progressions

Strength

OHS 5x3

Front Squat 5x3

Conditioning

AMRAP 10 Minutes:

5 Ring-Dip

10 Ring Rows

15 Jump-Overs (lateral jump from side to side over a bag or other obstacle. Each jump counts as one rep)

Cash Out

Handstand practise - 1 min inverted

Post weights, times and any comments or questions to the discussion topic found here.

Have fun!

FK.DW Friday 100709

Buy In

Agility ladder Drills

Lateral Feet Drill (Ickey Shuffle) x 2

In-Out drill x 2

Tango Drill x 2

Instructions http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/ladder-agility-drills.html

If you don't have an agility ladder, just imagine a 10 space ladder on the floor.

Strength

Snatch 5x1

Conditioning

Tabata front Squat @ 25% max

Tabata Press Up

Tabata Pull-Up

Tabata Sit-up

Complete all 8 rounds of the Tabata protocol for each exercise before moving on to the next.

Cash Out

L-Sit progression

Post weights, times and any comments or questions to the discussion topic found here.

Have fun!

FK.DW Thursday 090709

Running today. Yes running. I know some (most!) of you hate it, but it has to be done and it's really not all that far. We are looking at intervals, which a great way to build up endurance with short, high intensity effort interspersed with periods of less intense recovery.

Buy In

L-Sit Progression

Strength

Deadlift 5x3

Conditioning

5 Km interval workout;

Jog 1600 m

Sprint 400 m

Jog 400 m

Sprint 400m

Jog 400m

Sprint 200m

Jog 200m

Sprint 200m

Jog 200m

Sprint 200m

Jog 200m

Sprint 200m

Jog 200m

Sprint 100m

Jog 100m

Cash-Out

Basketball shots x 25. For every missed shot do 5 squats. (Accuracy)

Yes, I know you will be tired for the cash-out which will affect the accuracy of your shots, but that's the idea. By having this skill based exercise after the run it forces you to perform under pressure and will concentrate the mind. That way you should find the same activity easier to do when fresh - see, there's method to our madness!

Post weights, times and any comments or questions to the discussion topic found here.

Have fun!

Rest Day Wednesday 080709

And rest......

Actually, if you want to exercise your minds, there are some great fitness resources out there on the web. Robb Wolf has a great nutrition blog that is well worth a browse. Why not let us know your favourite fitness and nutrition blogs in the comments section below?

FK.DW Tuesday 070709

We are starting our gymnastics progression as a Buy in today. The idea here is that we will look at a specific skill for 3 or 4 weeks and spend a couple of minutes a day working on them so we can improve. Once the period is up we will look at a different skill in order to build up our repertoire. Sometimes the progression might show up as the cash out instead and a different skill based exercise may be used for the buy in, just depends how I feel at the time.

Buy In

L-Sit Progressions (for some great progression ideas check out the great page at Beast Skills (WFS)

Strength

Press 5x3

Conditioning

AMRAP 15 Minutes:

10 Press-up

15 Box Jump

20 Sit-up

Cash Out

Double Unders x 25 (works on co-ordination, speed and accuracy)

Post weights, times and any comments or questions to the discussion topic found here.

Have fun!

FK.DW 060709

So the testing is done and we have our baselines which should help us determine the best weights to use for our strength and conditioning routines. By using certain percentages we can be sure to elicit the desired physiological response that may not be the case if a definite weight is specified; it may be too heavy or too light for an athlete so may have an entirely different effect to that planned.

The strength component is a 5 sets of 3 reps system. You can approach this in one of two ways - ascending or constant weight. Ascending means you start at a relatively heavy weight and add weight to each subsequent set, aiming to finish at just over your previous 3 rep max lift (around 90% of your 1RM). The constant weight has you starting with a weight just under your 3 RM and sticking with that weight across sets. The constant weight version takes a huge physiological toll and is only recommended for advanced lifters. For everyone else, the ascending sets approach works just fine and will show strength gains across the board.

Buy In

Burgener Snatch Progression (video here)

Strength

Back Squat 5x3

Conditioning

4 rounds for time:

15 Lunges

15 Pull-Up

15 Ring Dip

We are looking for an effect on conditioning and muscular endurance so aim to finish in under 9 minutes. Scale reps or rounds as required.

Cash Out

Handstand Practise

Post weights, times and any comments or questions to the discussion topic found here

Have fun!

Rest Day 050709

Finally a rest day.

It's been quite a strenuous week this week, with a lot of heavy lifting so use the day to recover. If you absolutely must do something make it a light event; maybe a nice walk or do some stretching and foam roller work to release the tension in the muscles.

Be prepared to go back to work on Monday with the full FK.DW routine. The workouts are scheduled for a Mon/Tues then Thur/Fri/Sat with Wed and Sun as the scheduled rest days. Obviously if that doesn't work for you you can adjust as required but whenever you do the workouts, come along and join the discussions at the FK.UK forums.

FK.DW 040709

Last day of strength testing (Hooray I hear you cry). It also happens to be FK.UK's owner and moderator Chet's birthday today so Many Happy Returns to him.

The bench press is an exercise that is often eschewed in functional fitness circles as being of the domain of the bodybuilder and not truly functional at all. It is, however, a great pushing exercise that strengthens the whole posterior chain when done correctly with a full range of motion and correct body positioning and is worth using in a workout, even rarely.

Saturday 4th July 2009

Buy In

General Warm-up and warm-up reps

Strength/Skill

Front Squat Max Attempts

Bench Press Max Attempts

Conditioning

5 Rounds for time:

Run 400m

25 GHD Sit-up

25 Back Extension

If you don't have access to a GHD/Roman Chair do full range sit-ups and either good mornings or supermans as a substitute.

Cash Out
2 x Wall Toss test
30 seconds

Post weights, times and any comments or questions to the discussion topic found here.

Have fun!

FK.DW 030709

Today's testing is slightly different in that we will be looking at the two major Olympic lifts (the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk). For these, instead of the usual build up to a max effort, we are going to limit the number of lifts to 5 singles of each because fatigue will quickly affect each of the lifts and with poor technique comes a heightened possibility of injury.

If you are not experienced in the Olympic lifting then we strongly suggest you check out the official British Weightlifter's Association site to find a qualified coach near you to teach you the basic movements. If that is not possible then there are some excellent videos available over on the Catalyst Athletics resources site that will help you out.

Friday 3rd July 2009

Buy In

General Warm-up and warm-up reps

Strength/Skill

Pulls-ups max reps on a single attempt (Kipping is allowed)

Snatch 5x1

Clean and Jerk 5x1

Conditioning and Cash Out

100 Rope jumps

30 Double unders

100 Rope jumps

Post weights, times and any comments or questions to the discussion topic found here.

Have fun!

FK.DW 020709

Continuing on with our Strength testing protocols, this time looking at the Deadlift and the press-up. Instructions for the protocols can be found here, along with a link to a calculator to determine your 1 rep max from your 3 rep max lifts if needed.

Thursday 2nd July 2009

Buy In

General Warm-up and warm-up reps

Strength/Skill

Deadlift Single Rep Max testing

Press-ups max reps on a single attempt

Conditioning

Swim 1000m or Cycle 5000m

(if you can't do either - 5KM run)

Cash Out

Hand Stand practise - 1 minute total inversion

Use a wall if necessary.

Post weights, times and any comments or questions to the discussion topic found here.

Have fun!