Health and Fitness - Don't Wait Till It's Too Late!

Please watch the below video if you have been putting off your Health and Fitness for too long. Please don't wait until it's too late!!!

Rest in Peace my Dear Friend

Joey Cheba - March 5th 1970 - Sept 16th 2013

Workout Journal - Squats - 255 Pounds for Three Reps

Today at CrossFit we did Squats, and I'm talking about the behind the head type sometimes referred to as Back Squats. I worked my way up to  three reps at 255 pounds, previous to that I got 5 reps in at 245 pounds.

It was a great workout and me knee felt pretty good even after the heavy squats, that was till we did some skipping and I know this sounds crazy but skipping just killed my knee which seems to get irritated when I do slight bending motions. We did a Workout of the Day that consisted of Double Unders and Sit-ups working down from 50 to 40 to 30 to 20 to 10 reps. My Double Unders really suck (I tried) so I had to do three times the amount of Single Unders making my skipping sets higher in reps: 150-120-90-60-30.

After the workout the family went for a walk (dog included), and by the time I got home my knee was done :(

I think the skipping is going to have to be side lined for a while...

Video samples taken from (www.crossfit.com)

Chest & Back Workout with no Resting - 18 Sets in 23 Minutes

Today's workout YouTube Video is a more focused Chest and Back workout with a bit of Abs thrown in. As is pretty normal with my workouts these days, I keep moving and don't really rest much except to just catch my breath or change some weights if need be.

I do a total of three different exercises per muscle group with three sets for each, so a total of 18 sets in all and I get through them pretty quick so I am hitting my cardio at the same time and I'm done in under 25 minutes. That's time management for you ;)

In this workout video I mention some of the workout music I use for my workouts because for me it makes a huge difference in my energy. I really get motivated when I have some pumping workout music blasting in my headphones. My mix sets of choice lately are from Steady130 where you can download lots of great workout sets for free.

Workout Journal - Deadlifts - 345 Pounds for Three Reps

Today at this mornings CrossFit Class we worked on our Deadlift Strength, we achieve this by doing sets of three reps each and working up to our max weight set. The last time I did this workout I got up to 315 pounds. It's been a while since I did this exact workout but I have been working on straight leg dumbbell Deadlifts at home and of course Front Squat and Back Squats which helps leg strength in general. Today I got right up to 345 pounds for three reps and this was after lifting a substantial amount of weight before my max 345 pound three rep set Deadlift.

Video samples taken from (www.crossfit.com)

Workout Routines - What to Workout and How Often

It's very important how you breakup your workouts throughout the week, much of it depends on how much time you have to workout and how often you can get a workout in. If you can only workout a couple of days per week then over training will most likely not be a problem and you will even be able to do your entire body each workout with plenty of recovery time between workouts. If you're like me on the other hand, and get some sort of a workout in most days of the week, then you need more of a strategy so as not to overwork muscles or become run down.

The first thing to remember is to listen to your body, if muscles are soar then leave them alone, they have not recovered yet. Generally a muscle that has been trained to failure will take at least 48 hours to recover in a healthy and somewhat younger person, with older age it can take even longer. If you normally have lots of energy and your body is saying it just wants to take it easy then again it probably needs a break for a day or two. Getting a good sleep and eating healthy foods/supplements is also very important for recovery.

It also depends on the intensity of your workouts. Are you training a body part or muscle group to failure or are you doing a workout that works a muscle more for speed and endurance? Workouts that are short, explosive and focused will strain muscles more and require some rest days between hitting them again, while workouts that are longer and more paced out will tire the muscle but in most cases the muscle will be ready to go again in a much shorter period of time.

For me I plan my workouts day by day because I just never know what to expect since I go to a CrossFit Gym and I find out the workouts for the day when I get there. I have no set routines and I like it this way because my body is always guessing and my workouts never become boring. I take a look at what body parts I did the previous days, what muscles are sore and then I work what ever muscles are ready to go and perhaps have not been trained too much the previous days. I try to do at least one upper body muscle and one lower body muscle each workout but this is not a rule I stick to all the time. Also keep in mind that your genetics play a role in how you need to hit each muscle, you may be OK hitting a genetically strong muscle once a week while other weaker areas need several higher intensity workouts to gain strength and body balance in them.

Make sure to watch my YouTube Video on this subject as I cover other areas related to Workout Routines and regularity: