1 February 2011

Run
8 x 200 meters in 40 seconds (+ or – 5 seconds)
Rest 2 minutes between intervals

31 January 2011

A. Warm-up.

B. Strength.

Back Squat 5-5-5-5-5

Press 5-5-5-5-5

C. Conditioning

As many rounds as possible (5 mins)

-7 push-ups

-10 abmat sit-ups

Once again, the posted set and rep scheme for all strength portions are “work sets.” In addition to the normal CF671 warm-up, it would be very beneficial to do some warm-up sets with each of the posted lifts. Work up to your intended work set weight. At this point, you should have a good idea what weights you want to open up with for your first work set. Work up to that gradually through the warm-up sets.

Leadership and Fitness

A person who occupies a leadership position is required to be physically fit. This applies to any leadership position, military or civilian.

This goes beyond the standard “lead by example” military philosophy where a leader is supposed to run faster or do more push-ups than those he leads. It also goes beyond looks ( i.e., not being overweight) or passing a PT test.

A leader who is not physically fit runs the risk of not having the capacity to endure the stress of his/her position on top of all the other stress the day brings. The manifestation of such an incapacity is shown when the person exhibits one or more of the following:  abrupt temper, mood swings, constant complaining, indecisiveness, lack of focus, closed-mindedness, and lack of vision. A leader with a bad temper, who constantly complains, etc. is an un-enjoyable person, much less a boss.

Assignment to a leadership position comes not only with the responsibility to lead but to lead well. When a leader is physically unfit, he/she  becomes a liability not only to the organization but also to those he/she leads. It is a matter of ethical behavior because if the leader does not take care of himself, he is, by extension, not taking care of those he has been charged to lead.

Secondly, most leaders, especially those in the military, go on to serve in other leadership capacities after they move on. These leaders have gained much education, experience, and training and can be of more utility to the human race after retirement – in whatever capacity they are in. This is very much evident today for more people now start a second career after their first retirement.

A person who has gained that much after several decades should not abruptly become incapacitated after giving so much of himself.  That is, why work so hard for twenty some odd years and then several months later be unable to physically enjoy retirement?

But the main point I want to reiterate here is the matter of expectations: an expectation of ethical behavior, specifically, fairness to the led. It is unfair to those who are led to not be led well. A leader who does not take care of him/herself runs the risk of not meeting the expectations of subordinates who expect to be led well.

Be ethical in your leadership – stay physically fit.

Strength Training Programming

At CF671, one of our goals is to make you stronger. We want to leave very little room for interpretation so we’ll define “strong.” Strength, to paraphrase Mark Rippetoe, is the ability to apply force to something (in most cases a barbell) that would rather not move. For example, a barbell loaded with 225lbs on the floor would rather not move (up, of course you can roll it). One of the most efficient ways to get stronger is with progressive resistance training. Taking this further, the best exercises for building raw strength are the squat, deadlift, overhead presses, and the bench press.  If all you did were these exercise, you would be well on your way to being harder to kill and not sucking at life. In the business of the military and law enforcement, being harder to kill and not sucking at life are essential. Coupled with a good nutrition program (possible another post), people would confuse you with being a competitive bodybuilder. But that isn’t functional you might say, right? Well, there are few things more functional than a 315 pound deadlift, except maybe a 400 pound deadlift.

BLIM- The bottom line in the middle (bad joke): Incorporate the compound lifts properly and you’ll get stronger.

If you’ve noticed, we’re incorporating strength training into our overall programming. Although this doesn’t lend itself well to large groups because equipment constraints, this portion is too critical to leave out of your workout. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, there will be a strength segment incorporated. After the strength portion, we’ll conclude with a conditioning workout. This is the most efficient way to get stronger while also quenching everyone’s thirst to get smoked.

Some clarification on terms- “volume” refers to the amount of sets and repetitions in a workout. “Intensity” in the context of strength training is the amount of weight lifted in relation to one’s one repetition maximum (1RM). An example of a high volume, moderate intensity workout would be “Angie” (100 Pull-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 air squats). An example of a low volume, high intensity workout would be the CF Total. Okay, let’s explain what we’ll be doing or more accurately, what we have been doing with strength training.

Monday’s strength workout will be of higher volume (normally 3-5 sets of approximately 4-7 reps) and moderate intensity (approximately 75-85% 1RM) for each lift.

Wednesday’s strength workout will be of low volume (normally 2 sets of 5 reps) and lower intensity (approximately 60-70% 1RM).  At this point, you’ll still be sore from Monday’s workout. The purpose of this day is to build muscle memory with the proper execution of the lifts.

Friday, as the P90X’ers say, is where you “bring it.” This day will be low volume (single sets of 1-2 reps), but high intensity (95% 1RM). Personal records (PRs) are for this day, but not at the expense of form.

If you’re new to strength training with the compound lifts, you may not feel sore after the workout. The primary reason is because you haven’t developed the ability to handle enough weight to cause soreness. Remember, form first, intensity later! Because of this, you’ll recover a lot faster than someone who has developed some basic strength with excellent form. These guys (or girls) can SAFELY handle a relatively significant amount of weight to cause soreness. Their rates of recovery from strength training bouts will be much slower than someone who has little experience with this.

Hopefully this helps you understand what we’re trying to accomplish at CF671. Remember if you’re not getting stronger with your current strength and conditioning program, you can’t call it a “strength and conditioning” program.

Enough reading, go lift like a guy or girl.

CF671

27 January 2011

Run 5K

Location- Matapang Beach

Time- 0530

Option: Naval Hospital Pool will be open at 053o for those who want to swim.

26 January 2011

A. Standard CF671 Warmup with Skill work practice

B. Strength

Deadlift 2 x 5

Press 2 x 5

C. Conditioning

5 Rounds for time of:

– 5 Handstand Push-ups

-10 Pull-ups

-15 Air-squats

Just to recap with strength days: the sets and rep scheme are “work” sets. Your warm-up sets (and yes, you should warm up with lighter weights) don’t count towards your work sets. After several weeks of strength programming, you should have a pretty good idea of how much weight you should be opening with for your work sets. Your warm-up sets should work up to that number. Remember to keep a log (either a mental or an actual one) of your weights. This will make future strength training sessions more efficient.

25 January 2011

400 m repeats

6 x 400 @ 1:20 (rest 5:00 between intervals)

Location: Naval Hospital Track

Time: 0530

24 January 2011

A. Warm-up: Burgener warm-up, then CF671 Standard WU

B. Strength

Squat 5-5-5 (for the last set, attempt to do as many reps as you can)

Power Clean 3-3-3 (same here)

C. Conditioning

“Annie”

50-40-30-20-10

-Double Unders
-AbMat Sit-ups

Haligi (Foundations) Course

The next cycle for the Haligi (Foundations) Course begins on  January 31, 2011. Location is at the CF671 box. We’ll cover the 9 functional movements and other topics. This is a two-week cycle. Send your contact info to cfguahan@gmail.com if you’re interested.

CF671

21 January 2011

Responder PT

For time:

-200 Kettlebell Swings

-100 Pull-ups

Scale accordingly with both the swings and the pull-ups.  The group will be in teams of 4. Only one team member can execute the exercise at a time. Before moving onto pull-ups, all repetitions for the KBs must be completed.

Location: CF Gym

Time: 0530