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!