Chasing Perfection: The Vitruvian Man Complex

I've noticed a burgeoning trend in the fitness industry of material aimed at helping men "reclaim" their failing masculinity, become "alpha males," or reach some idealized ratio of proportions to become a modern day Adonis. I believe anything that gets men or women into the gym and leading a healthier lifestyle is good, but I'm not sure the approach of some of these programs is necessarily spot on.

My very first post on this blog detailed my belief that exercise and physical culture should be a relentless journey towards self-perfection, so any quest towards your concept of an idealized state is in my mind a good one. But I don't care for books or programs that are supposed to yield an aesthetically "perfect" body that is supposed to attract the opposite sex on some deep subconscious level. This kind of thing smacks of snake-oil and to a certain extent, desperation. Womankind is not a homogeneous group, and to assume they can ALL be attracted to a particular body type is borderline insulting to them. Women are diverse and have differing tastes. One woman's Adonis is another woman's "no thanks." Furthermore, I don't believe an exercise program predicated on external approval is healthy or effective.

Physical culture, and even athletics, is really about being in competition with yourself. The weights you are lifting, or the opponents you are competing against are really only there to force you to confront your weakness. The struggle is always against your essentially flawed state and has less to do with your opponent or the weight itself. If your goals revolve around aesthetics more than physical performance, the measure should still be about what you like to see in the mirror. Trying to change how you look in order to please others is a self-defeating approach and a much less rewarding one. If you are happy with you, you'll be self-confident, centered, and comfortable in your own skin. If you base your self-image over what others think you will always wonder, because we can only guess what others think of us, but we always know what we think of ourselves.

If you're a man who's interested in attracting ladies, maximizing testosterone levels, and achieving perfection in form/performance and you're willing to work hard for it, I applaud you. But the goal/standard you work towards should be what you personally believe is your own personal version of perfection. Short term goals should be specific and measurable, your long term goal of "the greatest version of yourself" should be slightly out of reach. You have to reach for the stars, and if in the end we never quite reach perfection, remember that the journey is as important as the destination, if not more so.

Latest Training Info
Having worked on Long Cycle GS-style Clean and Jerk for a while, I wanted to shift gears to concentrate on strength and explosiveness to keep my training fresh and avoid plateaus. For the next month or two I'll be alternating two-week cycles of max strength exercises with heavy weight and low reps, and explosive strength routines. Here is an example of a quick workout I did recently in the explosive phase when I was limited to the equipment in my apartment.

• 4 x 5 reps KB Split Snatch
• 4 x 5 reps Single KB Jerk L/R
• 4 x 8-10 reps Jumping Deck Squats
• 4 x 3 reps Weighted Pullups with 20kg KB (should have been muscle ups but I was limited by what I can do in my apartment)
• 4 x 10 reps Clapping Pushups
• 4 x 8-10 reps Double KB Swings
• Core Circuit (various core calisthenic exercises)
  

The Girevoy Sport!

Its been quite a gap since my last post. I've been experimenting with quite a few things and trying to find a focus to my training since finishing with Enter The Kettlebell. I've looked into Scott Sonnon's CST training, reading his "Big Book of Clubbell Training." I found the text fascinating, and full of the type of in depth exercise science that I love to read. I plan to incorporate several of the exercise modalities and routines outlined in his book into my own training regimen. However, diving full tilt into CST training has been put on hold due to a sudden interest in pursuing the Girevoy Sport seriously. I briefly explained some of what GS is in a previous posting, but will now expand on the subject briefly, and will then explain some of what my own training has entailed.

The Sport
Girevoy Sport is a kettlebell lifting sport revolving around two events that can be entered into. You may enter one of the events, not both.

The Biathalon

• Consists of the double kettlebell jerk and the single kettlebell snatch
• The two lifts are separated by at least 30 minutes rest time
• Only one hand switch is allowed in the snatch
• One can only rest in the rack position for jerk and in the locked out overhead position for snatch

The Long Cycle

• Consists of a single lift, the double kettlebell clean and jerk
• One can only rest in the rack position
• Every jerk must be preceded by a clean

Competition Format

• Regardless of event entered, each lift has the same format.
  
• The goal is your max repetitions of the lift in good form within 10 minutes
• The bell cannot touch the ground and one can only rest in the approved positions
  

Rankings can be found HERE

My Training
I experimented with Russian Escalating Density Training (REDT) wherein the total work remains the same but over time you decrease rest and how many "sets" you perform the work in.

For example, your reps per minute (RPM) would remain the same throughout this cycle, but your set scheme would look like this over the course of several weeks:

1. 6 rounds of 1 minute each
2. 5 rounds of 2 minute each
3. 4 rounds of 2.5 minutes each
4. 3 rounds of 3 minutes each
5. 2 rounds of 5 minutes each
6. 1 round of 6 minutes
7. 1 round of 7 minutes, etc.

You can do a few more rounds of smaller increments after the sixth step to increase the volume, and once you reach 1 round of 10 minutes straight, you'd start at the beginning with an increased RPM or a heavier KB.

This allows you to get better at the sport by DOING the sport, but I found that it took a LOT out of me, and it was tough to do any sort of supplementary work.

I stumbled upon the book "Kettlebells for Sport, Strength and Fitness" written by an AKC and GS guy named Scott Shetler. Stay tuned for a full review, but the book had some pretty interesting info on the sport in general and had some great routines in the back of the book both for GS enthusiasts and for Powerlifters/athletes looking to incorporate GS style training into their current routine. His program for GS athletes involved shorter, less taxing KB workouts with assistance exercises done several (up to six) times per week. I like the idea of working the exercises as if it were strength practice, not a workout, so I liked the approach and decided to give it a shot. I'll be posting my results in future posts.

More than likely, the wise sensible thing to do would be to shoot for Rank IV or III in the Sport since I'm just a beginner, but not only am I foolhardy, I'm also limited by my budget and lack of kettlebells. The only truly matching set of KBs I own are my 20 kg ones, so those are the ones I"m currently using. If I can reach 35 reps in the Long Cycle Clean and Jerk with my 20 kgs that means I can qualify for Rank II, and since that's all I have to work with, that's what I'm going for.

Let me know what you think! There's a meet in GA in December that I plan to go compete in!

Good News! You DON"T have to spend HOURS in The Gym!

The story of David and Goliath is the ultimate "Less is More" lesson, and there are many areas in our lives where we'd do well to apply this maxim. Michelangelo's depiction of David in deep contemplation before doing battle with Goliath also serves to illustrate an important concept in my training...imagine how much more worried he would look if he had just spent 2 hours working out before finding out he has to fight a giant?

Many of us put ourselves in this exact predicament several times a week, spending ourselves completely in the gym and then heading out into our regular lives to "recover" in time for the next gym session. If you are spending crazy amounts of time in the gym each week, can you satisfactorily answer the question, "why are you doing it?" I'd hazard a guess that for many it becomes circular...we work out so we can get better at working out and the time in between gym sessions is just recovery.

I was like that once. I knew I wanted to take my fitness and health to the next level, and I thought the answer was spending ever increasing hours at the local Globo Gym. I entered a contest held by a muscle mag in which I followed a cookie-cutter "mass building" program/diet for 3 months, submitting before and after photos holding the relevant month's issue of the magazine to verify the timeline. I can't speak for everyone's goals, and I don't mean to demean bodybuiding if that's your thing, but this approach was not for me! Volume-wise, I was doing an insane number of reps, sets, and exercises, and leaving the gym absolutely blasted. It was a four day a week split, and each gym session required a devotion of roughly 2 hours of my day. That isn't including the time spent sprawled out on my couch moaning about what a "great" workout that just was, haha.

I stuck with it for two months, and was seeing some results...but nothing to write home about. My results were far out of keeping with the amount of effort I was expending, and I realized I was really unhappy. My life had devolved into a cycle of working, rushing to the gym, sleeping, and repeating the cycle. And my workouts were leaving me feeling drained and worn out! What was the point? The goal of exercise and diet is to enhance your life and make it a more fulfilling experience isn't it? We workout so that we have energy, are free from frailty, and like what we see in the mirror. Some of us add goals of strength or athletic performance to these, but what point is all our effort if it doesn't allow us time to enjoy the benefits?

Since adopting a more Primal diet and lifestyle and using kettlebells to keep my workouts short, intense, and mentally engaging, I've spent much less time actually exercising and more time enjoying the results of those workouts. And the results have been better. A relatively minor, stress free adjustment to my eating habits, and a few relatively short intense kettlebell sessions has yielded me more strength, fitness, athleticism, and leanness than all those hours spent pumping iron and running on the treadmill. And after I finish a workout, I feel like roaring and beating my chest, not collapsing in a groaning heap.

I guess the point of this blog post is to keep the goal in mind in all things you do, and to scrutinize the steps you take towards that goal. If you joined the gym in order to get a great beach body...don't forget to go to the beach because you're too busy in the gym. Make sure whatever you are doing is enhancing your life and not dominating it.

So You Want To Be a Soviet Super Soldier? Part II

Two more weeks have passed and I have closed out week 7 in the AOS ETK workbook. I feel great, my strength has been improving steadily and surprisingly enough, I've continued to be able to pull myself up with the additional 30 lbs attached.

Clean and Press

Its amazing to me that I blow past 3 ladders of 3 rungs with no problem en route to finishing 5 ladders. When I first started the program just 3 weeks ago I was struggling on the third ladder, and now it seems extremely easy. Cleaning the bell on my right side continues to be more problematic due to my reduced range of motion in that wrist, but I'm managing. I'm looking forward to Week 8, in which I will begin to add rungs to the ladders, adding an entirely new facet to the pain.

Pullups

I've continued to do these with a 30 lbs kettlebell attached to a dip belt. I had assumed that at a certain volume I would need to drop the bell and use bodyweight only, but that has proven not to be the case. The final rung of 3 reps is fairly tough each ladder, so it will be interesting to see how I fair on a fourth rung. This portion of the training might be my favorite...there's something very pleasing and downright primal about hauling yourself up with the added weight from the weightbelt. It makes me want to beat my chest like a gorilla...and in the interest of full disclosure, I have from time to time.

Snatches

These are tough for me, and not so much because of the weight. I'm using a 20kg kettlebell for Snatches and for Swings, and I feel the weight is challenging, but the calluses on my palms just plain hurt after doing Clean and Press. The pain alone forces me to do 5 reps each side twice through before resting, instead of the 10 reps left, 10 reps right as prescribed. I believe this week in lieu of the Heavy Day I will give the SSST a try with the 20kg bell without Cleaning and Pressing beforehand. For those that don't know, the Secret Service Snatch Test is 200 Snatches in 10 minutes with a 24kg (53 lbs) kettlebell. I'm a little smaller than your average girevik at 5'5 and 135 lbs, so I will complete it with the 20kg, and then I WILL complete it with the 24kg afterwards...no excuses. My route there may just be a little longer than others.

Swings

What an amazing movement. This program has given me an all new appreciation for the efficiency of this one movement and its immense value. These swing sessions have my heart pounding, my breathing heavy, and my entire posterior chain smoked! Even my grip gets pushed to the limit, and my trapezius muscles feel like they are worked, possibly as stabilizers during the upper portion of the kettlebells arc.

I like to give these sessions my absolute max effort so that I feel like collapsing at the end of the workouts. I can definitely attest to a sharp increase in my ability to handle these long kettlebell swing intervals. They are still tough, but much easier than they once were.

Other notes

Day 10 on my strict no cheat meals Primal Challenge is in the books and it hasn't been as difficult as I imagined. I feel great, and it may be my imagination but I feel as though I'm already leaner than I had been. I will reserve judgement until Day 30 though.

Stay tuned...

Punch Kettlebell Gym - St. Petersburg

This morning I woke up early and headed into St. Pete to work out with Justin Halek at his Kettlebell gym. He was extremely nice and knew his stuff, and it was great to chat kettlebells and fitness with someone. I also loved the chance to check out (and lift) so many different brands and sizes of kettlebells as well as thick handled globe-style barbells and dumbbells

It was great to get the feel of some real quality KBs. The Dragon Door variety felt awesome, and I appreciated the thick grip. The models I REALLY fell in love with though were the Girevoy Sport competition models from AKC. They just FELT right. I'm also quite proud of succesfully Pressing the 70 lbs KB...hey, I'm 135 lbs, haha.

Justin explained todays workout quickly and we got to work. It was simple...brutally so. 2 minutes at each of 6 stations, with roughly 1 minute break in-between each station. The goal is just to do as many reps as you can at each one. The break out was as follows:

1. Sledgehammer Swings into truck tire
2. Kettlebell Squat Thrusts into Clean and Jerk w/ 16 kg
3. Kettlebell Turkish Getup (to elbow only) w/ 16 kg
4. Jumps into and then out of a truck tire
5. Strongman Log Clean and Press
6. Kettlebell Swings w/ Release and Catch at the top of the arc w/ 24 kg

Justin called out when we had 30 seconds, and then 10 seconds...it was rough but my goal was to never let the end of the round catch me resting. An ancient Spartan saying that wives told their husbands before they marched off to war was, "Return with your shield, or on it." and I kept that in my head as I pushed through those last few reps. After the last round of Swings I stumbled away, and then, to my horror, realized we were about to do the entire circuit one more time!

The second time around was actually easier than the first, because I fell into that wonderful Zen state where you just endure, and nothing else matters. I was extra careful to keep my form perfect, and to not try to muscle any of the movements where it isn't appropriate. All in all, I had a great time and I'm looking forward to coming back in the near future!

Here are some pics from the workout:

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye

So...that guy on the left was me, believe it or not. This was a couple years ago, but that was what I looked like fresh out of college, during what is supposed to be your healthiest, most fit years. Sadly, although I was working out constantly, I was also eating the wrong things at the wrong time. Not everything you read in the muscle mags is appropriate for everyone, and at the very least you need to adjust the proportions according to your personal size/stature.

I'm 5'5, so I'm not nearly as large as your average bodybuilder, but nonetheless, after every workout session I would buy a giant smoothie loaded with protein, peanut butter, and yes...SUGAR. I'd then drive home and promptly fall asleep. The diet didn't get much better during the day, what with fast food, snacks, and candy. And living with my parents at the time meant more rice and beans than is wise. So there's me in my Luchador mask, but looking more like a Lucha-don't.

Cleaning up my diet and shifting the focus of my exercise has done wonders for my body composition. I've gone from primarily a bodybuilders form of training to experimenting with a more functional form of fitness through resources such as CrossFit, RossTraining.com, and most lately, Kettlebells. To each his or her own, but my body appears to have responded most positively to this sort of training, and I feel as though my strength, speed, and stamina allow me to more fully enjoy my life. On the diet front, I've gone from the philosophy that I workout, therefore I can afford to eat whatever I want, to a diet in which I eliminated all simple carbs in favor of whole grain sources. Just this change resulted in rapid fatloss, but I didn't fully fine tune my system until I made the Primal/Paleo plunge. I gave up grains and sugars of all sorts and limited my diet to meat, fruit, vegetables, and nuts. Of course, on the weekends I loosen up a bit and allow myself a cheat meal or two.

All this has resulted in the weightloss you see today. Here is a pic of me today, wearing a pair of dress pants that used to fit snug on me. One problem is having to buy all new clothing...



Today's Workout: 2 x Tabata Sprints w/ 1 min rest in between
Check out a description of Dr. Izumi Tabata's work at one of my fav sites: http://bit.ly/5EumX

Today's Last Meal: My favorite shake recipe
I make this shake every once in a while...the soy milk and protein powder make it not STRICTLY Paleo, but there are no simple carbs involved.

10 oz Organic Soy Milk
1 Scoop Protein Powder
1 Whole Banana
2 Tbsp Almond Butter

Blend it all up until its smooth and enjoy! You have a nice mix of healthy fats, protein, and some carbs.

The Kettlebell

For a while now, I've worked out almost exclusively using Russian Kettlebells. The Kettlebell, or Girya, is basically a cannonball with a handle. Its a convenient homegym and I feel that the creativity and variety that goes along with KB training makes it a tool I will never get sick of.

I do not advocate using ONE single tool. I've used barbells, dumbbells, bodyweight, and other exercise modalities to great effect, I am simply stating that for the past several months I've used kettlebells almost to the exclusion of all else. This doesn't mean I won't mix in some bodyweight exercises or Indian Club exercises (more on this later).

If you are interested in giving KBs a shot (and I think everyone should) I will direct you to www.dragondoor.com and Pavel Tsatsouline's book "Enter the Kettlebell." Buying a kettlebell is expensive...they aren't cheap and shipping always gets you. However, they're beginning to crop up in Sports Authority or other locations. Please realize the quality of these store bought KBs will usually never approach what is available through Ader, Dragon Door, Lifeline, or other sources. Probably the cheapest source are the Grey Series from www.muscledriver.com

You may note that authentic KBs are in funky sizes and weights. KBs were originally manufactured based on the Russian Pood. 1 Pood = 35 lbs. The weight increments have remained even though that unit of measure has been abandoned.

As a rough guide for what size to get:

Average Lady = 18 lbs/8 kgs
Strong Lady = 26 lbs/12 kgs
Average Man = 35 lbs/16 kgs
Stronger than Average Man = 44 lbs/20 kgs
VERY Strong Man = 53 lbs/24 kgs

Start out with ONE KB at first, and Pavel's book. A good companion is the ETK Workbook from www.artofstrength.com. The AOS book takes the guess work out of Program Design from Pavels work and is intended to be a companion not a standalone volume.

Hope this helps!