Another reason I love my job!

The video below shows my client Irv completing the last rung of a L/R Clean and Press ladder to 5. He did this non-stop, which is a total of 30 reps. A year ago, he could not do a ladder to 3 (12 reps) without resting for a while after the 2nd rung. I am very proud of Irv for his determination to improve. He has always done the independent workouts I provided and has advanced quickly and safely because of it.

Nice work Irv!

To read Irv's story in his own words, click HERE.

Deadlifting makes you happy, but too much deadlifting can make you sad!

Earlier this week, my client Ken told me how deadlifting seems to give him a feeling of healthy euphoria. I experience the same and especially so when I first started to deadlift. Ken has been deadlifting for 4-months, with an increase in weight and volume over the last two.

This amazing feeling comes from the release of hormones like testosterone and human growth hormone plus the rush of endorphins triggered by a relatively strenuous effort. Our increased confidence from a personal best does not hurt either! Of course, we want to make sure not to train overly long and hard, where we see these levels start to decline. This is why I advocate shorter, high-intensity workouts with the emphasis on form and safety. This allows you to stay within the accepted 30-40 minute high-hormone zone and still get all the workout you need.

Even with careful adherence to workout time and intensity, it is even more important to know when to slow down; when to allow time for recovery. We will not be able to maintain our optimal hormonal (happiness) levels if we are tired, moody and generally overtrained. We will also not be able to make significant gains in our training. This is something we all have to watch out for. The better we manage our fatigue and recovery, the longer we will continue to feel great, make gains AND stay injury-free!

This next part comes from a great podcast I listened to today at http://ironradio.org/ .
The podcast is titled Recovery While Training and can be found HERE.

The ironradio.org coaching group is: Dr. Lonnie Lowery (host), Exercise Physiologist and licensed sports nutritionist; Mr. Charles Staley, celebrity athletics coach and author, Mr. Robert Fortney, fitness industry journalist; Mr. Phil Stevens, fitness industry speaker, trainer and technician. All have successful competitive histories in power sports.

The host and guests put together an informal list of ways to monitor your fatigue levels and therefore identify when it is time to back off and return stronger on another day.

1. Keeping track of your level of perceived exertion for each workout. The host uses a scale of 1-20. Watch out if you see the numbers steadily declining!

2. Keeping track of your mood and motivation to train. This includes your emotional state both IN and OUTSIDE the gym.

3. Are you sleeping for 7-8 hours a night? Is it quality sleep, throughout the night? If your sleep is disturbed, your nervous system is telling you it needs a break!

4. A suggestion was made to quietly fill in your workout log right after you train. This gives you time to cool down and decompress from the intense mental and physical focus of your session. This way, you will be ready to take on the rest of your day feeling calm, as you should : )

5. Getting the most results with of the least amount of effort/exercises. No, this does not allow you to be lazy, just efficient in your exercise choices. A good example would be doing weighted pullups instead of separate pull, reverse-fly and bicep exercises. The same muscles get worked, but in less time.

6. "Every rep has a cost, but not every rep has a benefit"

7. Growth, Recovery and Progress happens outside the gym. Inside the gym is where we destroy ourselves so that we may recover stronger.

Some great advice from some top names in the game!

The moral of this story is, train hard, train well, and most importantly, TRAIN SMART!

Revisiting an old post with a new video...

Last November I posted an article called Keep Training? But I'm Injured!

In it, I discussed the fact that you can always find some part of your body to train, even if one part is injured. The injury I spoke about was bruised ribs. Well, my ribs were bruised again in a similar fashion by my Wing Tsun Instructor, Sifu Ralph Haenel. I had to again make adjustments to my training, as this time I was unable to do pullups or rows for 4-weeks.

During this time of "injury", I hit a Personal Best in the Deadlift AND VO2Max Snatch Protocol!

To read the November 2008 article again, click HERE.

And this time, I have the genesis of the injury on video : ) Enjoy!

Dr. Ram's Deadlift Personal Record!

On Thursday April 9th, Dr. Ram deadlifted a personal best 310lbs. This is just the beginning for the good Doctor as his strength-potential lies well beyond this weight.

Just look how easily it went up!

I TGU'd the Lions Gate Bridge!

Don't believe I did a Turkish Get Up with the Lions Gate Bridge? See the photo below for proof.

Spurred on by this triumph of muscle over steel, I vow to do the same with every bridge in the Lower Mainland!

Heliomatrix - Dr. Ram and Team strike again!

The Heliomatrix - See video below!

This past Friday, March 6th, Tony and I went to the Midforms Festival at the BCIT Campus. Aside from my client Dr. Ram and Team's Heliomatrix, there were other "innovative exhibits showcasing the convergence of media art, electronic music, and digitalculture".

Dr Ram and Team last brought us Junkyard Wars 2008.

According to the good Doctor:

"The Heliomatrix is an adaptive mirror array precisely controlled by servos and coordinated by a network of microcontrollers. It is like a chameleon, with scaly flesh composed of reflective mirrors, each one capable of independent thought and movement. The array harnesses, reflects and manipulates light to produce a virtually limitless spectrum of effects, ranging from a sophisticated, multi-coloured light show to a savage display of the sun's incendiary power."

I could not have said it better myself : )

See below for photos and video:

You can control things on the screen by waving your hand!

Tony giving us his best "Burton Cummings"

A sweet old-skool ghetto blaster from another exhibit.

Wing Tsun Chi-Sau Seminar with Sifu Ralph!

WT Vancouver Senior Students at Philip's kwoon.

On Saturday, Februray 28th 2009, the senior students of Wing Tsun Vancouver met at Philip's WT school for a review of Chi Sau (sticking-hands) Sections 1-4.

Sifu Ralph often arranges bonus classes/seminars for his senior students to ensure we are all up to speed on the Sections. This way, we do not miss out on important training tips should we have to miss some of the regular weekly classes.

This was the third such bonus class I have been to for Sections 1-4 and, as always, I learned some new ways to better train my Chi-Sau Sections! The saying "An inch wide and a mile deep" certainly applies here, as though the sections are few in number, the ideas hidden within them are many.

I am looking forward to this weekend's review of Sections 5-7!

Sifu Ralph and Nilo

Brian Yam and I at the Chi-Sau

Standing on the shoulders of giants:

San Jose RKC February 2009!

Currently my favourite photo...

I had the immense pleasure of attending the February 2009 Russian Kettlebell Challenge Instructor Certification this past weekend. As you can see from the above photo with Pavel, I passed! This was by no means an easy feat as a lot was expected of us both mentally and physically. In order to attain my RKC certification, I had to snatch a 53lb kettlebell a total of 71 times in under 5-minutes, exibit a high level of technique in the 6 foundation exercises (swing, clean, press, snatch, get-up and front-squat), prove my ability to safely & effectively teach a randomly selected member of the public (thanks Debra!), endure 8 gruelling workouts and finally pass the intense Grad Workout at the end of the three-day workshop!

This was by far both the most difficult & challenging experience I have ever been through and also the most rewarding & informative. In just three days, I learned more about kettlebell training than I had in two-years of my own personal practice and teaching of clients. The depth of knowledge presented by Pavel, his Team Leaders and their Assistants was astounding! I can only hope to remember all I was taught, but would be fine for the rest of my life if I only remembered half of it : )

I was part of Team Toomey, led by RKC TL Mark Toomey and assisted by Logan Christopher RKC, Melody Schoenfeld RKC and Marty Covault RKC. I'm sure everybody felt the same way about their teams but I feel very lucky to have been part of such a great group! Mark is an amazing instructor with a depth of knowledge and experience second to none. Most importantly, he is just a great guy! One of the first things he said to the group was that he "jealously guards membership in this organization" and expected everyone to live up to his high expectations. His comments made us feel we had to prove to him and all the other Instructors that we deserved to be there and in the end prove we were worthy of the title, RKC.

Another TL, Jeremy Layport let the certification group know he would only pass those he felt comfortable enough to train a member of his family, come the end of the workshop Sunday. This served to further demonstrate the RKC commitment to excellence in its instructors.

I had decided a few weeks before the cert that I would make sure to go first in the Snatch Test. I believe I was inspired to do this by one of Mark Toomey's forum posts : ) It worked well as I did not have to see anyone else go through the test first and feel worried if they were struggling. At home, I had made sure to test myself and come the actual test, beat my best time by over a minute. Adrenaline is a wonderful chemical!

Master RKC Brett Jones sure was right about not concentrating all your training on the Snatch Test! For the 4-weeks preceding the cert, I used his RKC prep training template almost to the letter. Normally, I take the weekend off training so it took a bit of mentally getting used to moving my workouts to Fri, Sat and Sun : ) My usual weekend exercise is a couple relaxing rounds of frisbee golf... This training template prepared me for the three days in a row of hard work and also served as valuable revision of the 6 core lifts. I had been neglecting my Turkish Get Ups and Squats (in favour of DLs) for a few months and was able to plug up this chink in the olde armour before the RKC. If, you are planning on going to the RKC, I cannot more strongly recommend following Brett's RKC prep training template for at least 4-weeks prior!

As for Snatch training, I did one day of 15:15 VO2 Max training and one day of 24kg Snatch practice each week. The VO2 Max training really helped my hip snap for the 24kg Snatches and had the added bonus of upping my endurance considerably. I also knew we would be doing a VO2 Max workout during the cert so wanted to be prepared for it!

All in all, this was truly a life-changing experience for me. Not only did I learn so much more about Hardstyle kettlebell training but I was granted membership to a group of some of the finest, kindest, hardest-working and most ego-free people I have ever met in the fitness business. All of the RKCs truly carry their strength with a quiet modesty and adhere to the letter of their Code of Conduct.

See below for some pictures I took at the cert. I'll add some more when the official ones make it to the Dragon Door website.

Kettlebell power to you, comrades!

RKC Team Leader Mark Toomey - You can have your Fairmont, we'll take the HoJo!

Asst. RKC Melody Schoenfeld - The reason I now stand up taller and no longer have a "chicken neck" at the top of my swings! It got the the point where I could sense her presence...

Asst. RKC Logan Christopher - Check out http://www.legendarystrength.com/ to see him pulling a truck with his hair!!!

Rudy Tapalla RKC of Crossfit Chicago - My awesome training partner for the weekend. Here we are minutes after the Grad Workout.

Mike Prosser RKC - Fellow team-mate. Check out his great forum post on the RKC weekend HERE.

Eric J. Moss RKC - Keeping it real, New Jersey style!

My hands at the end of the cert. Unprotected but for fingerless cotton gloves during the 20-minute VO2 Max workout. How do you escape the RKC weekend without mangling your hands? Just follow Jordan Vezina RKC's advice HERE. Thanks Jordan!

An example of what your hands COULD look like after the RKC weekend!!!

Mark Toomey's sweet licence plate holder. Number obscured to dissuade any RKC groupies from causing him undue stress : )

Training at home saves you time AND money!

Training at home saves you the time getting ready and getting there, not to mention the trip home. This makes you more consistent as well since you only have to budget 20-30 minutes for your exercise. It also saves you money as you can train in any outfit you want, no matter how old or mismatched : )

In the picture below, I am wearing one of my home training outfits. It consists of a two-year old, too-large t-shirt and Adidas shorts I bought back in 1996! I certainly would not wear such an ensemble to the gym, but at home... who cares!?!

You can also have messy hair, don't have to shave, and can watch The Office while you cool down and stretch.

Save your money and buy more kettlebells!

A very informative interview with a great trainer!

Yesterday, I listened to an interview with renowned kettlebell trainer Mike Mahler of http://www.mikemahler.com/.

Mike is a former Senior RKC with Pavel Tsatsouline and has since struck out on his own. I always enjoy his informative monthly e-magazine and share many of his training philosophies.

The interview is based around optimizing hormones for strength, health and wellbeing and touches on such things as:

The importance of a balanced diet, where Mike recommends The Zone as a good starting point for most people. The most important point being that quality food is paramount no matter what diet you subscribe to.

The absolute importance of getting sufficient sleep. In fact, this is his number one recommendation for increasing positive hormonal levels!

The fact that we have been fooled by suppliment companies into thinking we need so much protein. According to Mike, the maximum amount we can metabolize at one time is 20-grams. Think about that the next time you go for that canned protein shake that promises 30 to 40-grams!

The amazing results gained from high-intensity interval-style cardio as opposed to the typical 45 to 60 minutes spent on an elliptical, stationary-bike or treadmill.

How lifting heavy weights will give both Men and Women the tight, toned and strong body they desire. Ladies, lifting heavy WILL NOT turn you into a female bodybuilder!

The importance of working the posterior muscle chain (back, glutes, hamstrings) for real-life strength and resistance to injury.

The fact that overhead pressing is the most effective pressing movement. Overhead pressing will improve your bench-press but not the other way round!

I urge you to take the time to listen to this interview. It can be found HERE. The page loads a bit slowly, so be patient!

Many of my clients will recognize some of the advice given : ) I'm not the only one who advocates simple, intense and multi-joint focused workouts!

Do.