Patton Speaks Truth

My trainer passed this along to me, and it perfectly encapsulates our workout philosophy. Enjoy the golden truth!

"You’ve got to drive the body to the last inch of energy then go on! You gain nothing by just going up to where your body says you’re tired. The body will build and grow only to fit the demands the mind makes upon the lazy body. If all you do is exercise until the body is tired, the body will get lazy and stop a bit shorter every time. You must go to the point of exhaustion, then go on. That way the body figures out, “We’ve got to build up more strength if that crazy mind is going to drive this hard!” If you always quit when you are merely tired, you will never gain. Once you let the body tell the mind when to quit, you are whipped for sure. You can not gain by listening to the body. We can become much stronger if we drive the body. We use about one-tenth of the available strength of our bodies and less than that of our minds."

Gen. George S. Patton

This Is For Pat!

Pat, sorry I haven't posted these here in a while. Before I post the workout I'm going to talk about and show me a bit. I have a good reason. In other words, it isn't pure conceit. Some amazing stuff has happened to me in the past 12 weeks. I've gone from weighing 236 lbs. to weighing 215 lbs. soaking wet. Some guys might think that losing weight equals losing strength, and it can, but what most who think that overlook is that there are really three kinds of weight--besides sinew, bone, and nerve bundles. There is fat weight--which adds nothing to strength--water weight, and there is muscle weight. Now someone might ask, "If you are losing weight, how can you tell if you are losing the kind of weight you don't wish to lose--muscle weight?" Well, the answer is commonsensical--lift weight. If you can push, pull, or drag the same amount of weight that you could prior to the weight loss, then you are golden.

Now, one caveat--you NEED some fat. There is nothing more sickening than someone running around with 1% body fat. Ok, I'm exaggerating because that's impossible, but it is gross. An athlete needs some fat, and when the zombie war starts and you can't get to the trail mix and protein shakes, you are gonna need those fat stores for energy. So, make sure to eat, and use some fuckin' mayonnaise already!

Today's workout is a doozie. It isn't complicated, but it will take you into the anaerobic zone. Katie finished it in roughly 35 minutes, and I in roughly 42 minutes. She used a 26 lb. kettlebell, and I used a 62 lb. kettlebell. This is really a great workout because all you need is something heavy that you can swing and some floorspace. You don't even need a kettlebell. You could use a dumbell or something else. It shouldn't be light for you though. Without further adieu...oh wait...let's talk about the burpee.

A burpee is a complex movement, but it remains very natural. You feel like a caveman when you do it. Ok, either a caveman or a POW planning a prison break. Either one of those works actually. Anyway, you'll notice that the burpee at one point trains a sprawl into your nervous system. What do I mean by sprawl? Imagine you are having a great time at a party, and you've been playing eye footsie with hottie across the deck. Anyway, you somehow missed her lesbian lover who is fairly burly. Anyway, long story short, the bull goes for your legs to tackle you. You react by throwing your weight forward and down while simultaneously thrusting your legs rearward. This is the sprawl. Anyway, here is the workout, and below is an example of the burpee motion.

Swings/Burpees
15x1

Ok, not so simple if you haven't done this before. The way it works is that the first number will decrease while the second increases. The first number represents the number of reps for the swing movement. The second number represents the burpee movement. So, it looks like this:

15 swings/1 Burpee
14 swings/2 Burpees
13 swings/3 Burpees
12 swings/4 Burpees

On and on like that until you reach zero on the swings and 15 on the burpees. In total when completed you'll have done 120 swings and 120 burpees. You'll sweat, you'll suck wind, and you may even feel like dying. Anyway, good luck! Get your head on!

EDIT: I have, after consulting with RICK RITCHIE, decided to include vids of the kettlebell swing. Rick "I think it would be helpful to include the swing 'cause nobody knows what the hell you are talking about" Ritchie thought that I should. So I will. He's a smart guy. Here is the swing from two different angles.

WOD 7/4/07

The new six week program that both mon and I are working through alternates between one heavy day and one combatives day. This day it was bag work, but we will be learning and working hard on knife, stick, and gun combative workouts--these involve taxing anaerobic work with weapon manipulation. Our trainer wants us to be optimally lethal in our persons! God bless America!

This workout is a 30-30-30. 3 minutes on the bag with a rotation of 30 intervals--hence the title of the workout. In between each 3 minute round you get a 30 second break. We did 5 rounds that look something like this:

30 seconds of stick and jab
30 seconds of riding the bike (still bag work)
30 seconds of knockout power
30 seconds of rest

Here is a link that shows how it goes, but note that it is condensed--the fighter isn't doing the full 30 second intervals for the sake of giving a basic overview of the exercise.

http://www.teamruthless.com/100_1236.MOV

Evaluation Workout

I was instructed to do as many reps of each exercise as possible in one minutes time. Here are my results:

30 Smith Machine Rows (like a reverse push-up position where you are parallel to the ground pulling yourself up)

45 Push-ups

12 225 lb. (bodyweight) Bench Presses

19 Pull-ups (No Kip)

11 225 lb. Back Squats (bodyweight)

4 315 lb. Deadlifts (bodyweight and a half)

My program begins tomorrow. It will be comprised of alternating days--one day of heavy work and one day of combatives training (knife, gun, H2H).

WOD 6/29/07

The Escalation:

10 Turkish Get-ups (one side at a time)
20 Squat Cleans
30 Snatches (one side at a time)
40 Kettlebell swings
100 meter Bodyweight Farmers Carry (Good Luck!)
50 Manmakers
1 Mile Run

Took about 50 minutes but should take 45 minutes. Thankfully an aerobic class was starting and we got booted out of the room before we could finish all the manmakers.

WOD 6-27-07

3x3 Bodyweight Backsquats

Group Set (ABSOLUTELY NO REST BETWEEN EACH SET OR BETWEEN EACH EXERCISE)

Lunges (100')
50 Airsquats
25 Supermans

Do this group set 3x with no rest!

W.O.D. (Workout Of the Day)

I'm going to try to post these here for the sake of my bros Stryker and Demo21 or any others who are into more combat oriented workouts. The following was originally constructed to include 400 meter sprints, but when I received the workout in an email it contained a typo--a missing zero. It really was just as well because the commercial facility we work out in doesn't have a track. It does however have a gym. With that said, here is The Meltdown.

The Meltdown:

10 Power Cleans (Clean your bodyweight if possible)
40 yard sprint
10 explosive burpees
40 yard sprint
3 minutes on the heavy bag (utilize all weapons: kicks, palm strikes, elbows, knees, etc...)
1 minute rest

That is one round. Do as many rounds as possible. My mentor has guys that can do six to seven rounds with only the one minute rest between. I only got through two rounds. The third round was pathetic and CAN'T count.

I will also include this workout. It is titled the Puddle of DNA workout and is a little less intense than The Meltdown. Witness the Puddle of DNA.

Puddle of DNA:

5 Deadlifts (bodyweight)
10 Broadjumps for distance (may be supplemented with box jumps or tuck jumps)
1-2 minutes rest
*Repeat this group 4 more times for a total of 5 group sets.

5 Push Presses (explosive movement)
10 explosive burpees
1-2 minute rest
*Repeat this group 4 more times for a total of 5 group sets.

5 Floor Presses
10 Kettlebell swings
1-2 minute rest
*Repeat this group 4 more times for a total of 5 group sets.