Fitness Blog

I took my GymBoss Interval Timer with us when we went to Thailand this year because I wasn't sure if we’d find a gym on some of the smaller islands we stayed on. I’m glad I did because the closest thing I found to a training facility was a couple heavy bags hanging outside an abandoned building and a rusty old bench with a home made barbell that had cement blocks on each end. 

We didn’t train a lot while we were gone, usually every 3 or 4 days. And it was so hot there that the workouts only lasted about 15 minutes. We kept the workouts short and intense and I used the GymBoss for every single one. It’s such an awesome timer. It’s small, easy to use, it allows you to program multiple timed circuits and intervals and also functions as a stop watch. 

My favorite workout that we did while away was a Tabata style workout consisting of squats and push-ups. We did 10 rounds, alternating between the two exercises, doing 20 seconds of intense work followed by 10 seconds of rest. We finished that workout with 50 double leg drops. It might not sound like a lot but I was absolutely drenched when we finished. It’s pretty amazing how much volume you can do in a short amount of time!

I’m back in the gym training full time again and using the GymBoss Interval Timer every day. I use it with all of my clients and during my own training sessions. It’s one of the things that NEVER leaves my gym bag and I would definitely recommend it to any one looking for a handy, new interval timer!

Marlaena and I just got back after a couple of weeks traveling through Thailand. It was an amazing trip and we stayed on some really cool islands. We did a lot of reading and relaxing on the beach but also went snorkeling, hiking and I did some Thai boxing.  

We were on some pretty small and remote islands and a traditional gym was no where to be found so we had to get a bit creative with our workouts. We trained about every other day and did a lot of body weight exercises (squats, push-ups, sit-ups, leg drops, burpees) and did the workouts using the Tabata protocol (20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest) or with timed circuits.

I did manage to find a make shift outdoor gym on one of the islands that had a bench, some rusty dumbbells and a barbell with concrete blocks on each end. It wasn’t the heaviest bar but was I still able to do some shoulder press and squats with it. It was so hot there though so most of our workouts only lasted about 10-15 minutes.

I’ll be catching up on my emails and “ask the trainer” messages over the next few days. If you have sent me one over the last couple of weeks and haven’t yet received a reply, please be patient and I will get through them as soon as I can! 

Marlaena and I went down to Sumner, Washington this past weekend to attend the CrossFit Olympic Lifting seminar. It was a 2 day course hosted by Rainier CrossFit. The facility was amazing and they had the coolest pull-up rigging system that I have ever seen! It was made out of these huge raw log beams and had different diameter tubing, it was pretty awesome! The seminar was instructed by Coach Mike Burgener, an international level Olympic weightlifting coach, and several of his assistant instructors including a national level coach, a former international level competitor and a couple of current junior national level competitors.

The weekend started off outside with a basic warm-up that consisted of sprints, shuffles, high knees, lateral movement, etc. Then we moved inside and did a partner warm-up drill that Coach Burgener referred to as the "Junk Yard Dog Warm-Up"! After the junk yard dog warm-up we each got a piece of pvc tubing and went through the Burgener warm-up. This is a pretty simple sequence consisting of 5-6 movements that are to be done at the start of every Olympic Lifting session. The warm-up only takes a few minutes to do and I'm going to start including it into my daily warm-up routine.

After we finished warming up we went over the pulling and landing stance of the snatch, the hook grip and the various positions of the lift. Then we focused on different progressions including the overhead squat, the snatch deadlift, the snatch push press and the snatch balance. 

Once we finished with the progressions we moved into the full snatch but stuck with the the pvc tubing.  It wasn't until the next morning that we actually got to load up a barbell and snatch using real weight. We didn't go very heavy though (maybe 40-50% of our 1 rep max) and really kept the focus on technique and speed.

We worked on the clean next. The clean is very similar to the snatch other than grip width and the finishing position so we spent less time on it, focusing mostly on the speed of the elbows when receiving the bar. Slow elbows have been one of my problems so I had one of the assistant instructors show me a drill to help increase my elbow speed and efficiency.

The last thing we worked on was the jerk. We spent a lot of time on finding the correct landing position and proper posture in the landing position. Once everyone felt pretty comfortable with their landing position we were able to load up some barbells and work on the full clean and jerk. Like the snatch, we kept the weights pretty light and kept the focus on speed and technique.

I didn't know what to expect from this seminar or from Coach Burgener but I can honestly say that this was the best certification course that I have been to yet! It was incredibly informative but really fun at the same time! Coach B was an amazing instructor and had a great sense of humour which kept the mood in the gym very light and relaxed! I would definitely recommend this course for anyone involved with CrossFit, anyone interested in the Olympic Lifts or anyone looking to take on a new challenge!

Marlaena and I both hit new deadlift personal bests last month! I finally broke the 400 plateau with a 405 lb. lift and Marlaena got closer to her goal of double bodyweight (250 lbs.) with a 230 lb. lift! We've been training with a few other friends every Saturday and have been focusing on heavy deadlifts, doing sets of either 5, 3 or 1 every weekend for the last year a half. We always follow the deadlift session with some sort of gruesome conditioning circuit!

I really enjoy deadlift Saturdays and the exercise has become one of my favorite lifts. I was really happy to have finally gotten over that 400 mark. I swear it was more mental than physical at the end. Now that I know I can pull 405 lbs. off of the floor I guess I can start shooting for two and a half times my body weight!

And kudos again to Mar! She makes 230 lbs. look pretty easy and will definitely be hitting her goal of a double body weight deadlift in the very near future! I'll keep you all posted!