Hello all,
Happy summer. My apologies that so much time has passed since our last newsletter. This is simply due to the summer madness in here, not the lack of gorgo activity. However we have not had a finish since April. Well we had two last night!
Two seasonal members, who also happen to be brothers, both put up very respectable numbers last night. Ted ran them both through over two hours. And one of them knocked me into third place, so second only to Dan. Who by the way won the east coast regionals in beach flags, thus securing his spot for the world championships in Egypt this October. Congrats Mr. Matta! OK back to Gorgo.
Nick and Zach Kmetz did the following last night.
Nick: A 21 year old junior QB at Colby College
135 DL X 100 (6:06)
Push-ups x 100 (5:03)
Box jumps x 100 (7:40)
95 squat press x 50 (8:34)
Rope climb x 10 (5:06)
1500 meter row (6:32)
Total (45:27) And to add more drama, Nick threw up more than once during the effort! However, according to his brother, this a rather frequent occurrence.Too funny.
Zack 19, William & Mary student and the self proclaimed, "Best athlete in the family."
135 dl x 100 (4:51)
Push-up x 100 (4:01)
Box jumps x 100 (5:47)
95 squat press x 50 (6:18)
Rope climb x 10 (4:18)
1500 meter row (6:25)
Total 35:00! And second place all time fastest men's time.
Great work guys! It has been a pleasure having you both in here this summer and welcome to our elite little club.
This is not the only news. I only have one or two men's gorgo finisher's shirts left, and my sense is that I need to place another order. Adam Schmidt will finish in a month or two, I have no doubt. Both Philip and Sue Brown are closing in on gorgo and baby gorgo finishes respectively. Brad has unfinished business as well. Dale has not had any alcohol in almost two months and is 9 lbs lighter. Those rope climbs are on the horizon! The off season provides an opportunity for all of us to pursue indoor fun and games, so let's see where this goes!
Maximus (his name is Rob and he calls himself Maximus) a trainer @ Gym Jones, did 1,000 push presses with 20 lb db's and a big cal number on an indoor bike in an hour two weeks ago. Can you sense I have issues with the guy? He was illustrating a point regarding how much exercise one can do in an hour. Dale read this and opted to apply the concept with a 135# deadlift. Yes folks, 60 minutes of deadlifting. I must confess I made an unsuccessful attempt to talk my over achieving client out of a full 60 mins. 710 reps later 60 minutes expired! That is 95,850 lbs moved in 60 mins. Madness! Regan followed up two days later with an equally ridiculous 256 bench press reps with 135 lbs in 30 mins. Crazy work men.
And lastly in a tradition inspired by the University of Nebraska and Gym Jones, we are creating Firm t-shirts that may not be purchased. They will be all black with a yellow firm logo on the front, and discipline on the back also in yellow. These must be earned, and will be awarded for house records, personal bests or other exemplary performances that are attained by an individual who has demonstrated a respect for our process. In addition, whatever anyone has done in the past does not factor in here. All about what we can do now. This certainly applies to me as well. I am not going to open the box and take one when they arrive. Cycling commitments have me on the shelf in here until October and I certainly cannot wait that long. Therefore I have given Dale my lifetime best times on two GA mountain climbs. Set a personal best on either in two weeks and I get a shirt, if not I don't yet. The gps doesn't lie! So we will have documentation. Hope to have these in a week to 10 days.
I hope everyone is having a great summer. This has been the best summer The Firm Fitness Center has had during my 12 year tenure. Thanks so much for all your support.
Paul
Release The Kraken!
Classic line from a really silly 80's movie that I happened to love as a kid. So for pure nostalgia I had to go see the 3D remake this weekend, equally silly but still made me smile.
Have had this session in my head for a couple of weeks since a conversation with Mr. Matta regarding what he feels is missing in his current training program. I have not had the pleasure of training Dan since Gorgo, that was our goal, mission accomplished. However, he has some big goals in front of him. I contemplated naming this workout after an Australian dude who is considered the best beach flag athlete in the world. Decided against it, we only elevate our family, not the competition.
Another Twightism crept into my mind during our conversation. A sprinter that can deadlift lift 3x bodyweight, will be faster than a sprinter that can lift 2x bodyweight. So let's step up the deadlift, maximize the explosive element, make it a bit scary to enhance focus and have some fun. Jonescrawl on steroids!
Meet the Kraken!
Round 1. 185 deadlift x 10 25 box jumps on the 24"
Round 2. 225 deadlift x 10 25 box jumps on the 30"
Round 3. 275 deadlift x 10 25 box jumps on the 36"
All jumps done with the Jonescrawl stand proud on the box standard.
Not much makes me nervous, but this one did the trick. No weight adjustment, everyone does the same weight. However, I have no problem reminding me Mr. Matta that he weighs almost 30 lbs more than I do these days.
I also have no problem putting it out to the universe that I have never missed a box jump. Keeps me zeroed in on every jump, no matter how big or small. However, if one is ever going to miss it could certainly happen on round three. Pushing big box jumps, coming off a deadlift that is more than 1.5x bodyweight could get ugly. And the amount of energy required to get on the 36" box will make a miss horrendous. Felt the need to get this one on video. So gave Alison combat pay to come in way early on Saturday am, and in the back of my mind wondered if I was filming my death. Oh well, play the video at my funeral damn it! This is how I want to go out.
Round 1. 1:28 Debated going out super hard to see if I can break a minute, since this is aprox my Jonescrawl weight. Opted to pull the reins back, since success or failure will be determined by round three anyway. Sort of cruised here, fastest Jonescrawl round is 1:11.
Round 2. 2:15 Felt perfect, the 30" box forces a step back, so I cannot go tap, tap jump but that was the only difference.
Round 3. 3:08! 275 dl x 10 / 25 bj's on the 36"
Total time 8:06
Wanted sub 10 mins, so am very happy with the outcome. Don't like to use the R word regret. However, if I could change anything, in order of significance would do the following.
1. I could swear I had the ipod playlist all set with nasty tunes. However, somehow an Enrique Iglesias song came on in the middle. I am sure that energy suck cost me 30 secs!
2. There is an audible obscenity on the video. The fact that I said, "That was F***ing easy", speaks to my mental state during this thing. However, I want to keep it on the website, and not cool. Copying the editing department! Alison, please clean it up.
3. I held back too much. This one did get in my head a bit. And we know whomever goes first is rarely the fastest. Had too much left, hence the f bomb. You will go faster Dan.
All yours Mr. Matta! Also calling out Brad, Ted, and anyone else that wants to sign a waiver and go. DVD of the original Clash of the Titans to anyone who finishes this sucker! Let's set it up asap Dan. You were the inspiration for this monster!
www.thefirmfitnesscenter.com for the video. The whole 8 mins is on there, but round 3 begins @ 5 mins.
Good luck! And thank you for continuing to raise the bar Dan.
Have a great day men,
Paul Timmons NSCA-CPT
The 600 Results
9/12/09
What it is: 10 bodyweight squats on the dynamax ball, 10 modified pull-ups (feet on the floor, body at 45 degrees and hit the bar.) 10 push-ups. Men chest to the floor, women hit a water bottle.
60 seconds off
50 bodyweight squats, 50 modified pull-ups and 50 push-ups
60 seconds off repeat.
Total of 600 reps. 200 squats, 200 pull-ups and 200 push-ups.
Objective: The second segment is faster than the first segment on both rounds, and put up the fastest total time possible.
I like this one a lot, mainly due to it's all encompassing nature and ridiculous intensity. Another weak link exposer. We have a below parallel squat, a pull, a push and the clock adds a significant conditioning component. Is also a tricky one to build, since one is lured into going out too fast. Energy management is a big factor. Also can be standardized well, hit the ball, hit the bar and hit the floor. Everyone does the same thing.
Dale 6:15, 6:08, 7:01, 6:52. Total time: 29:36
Perfect build for Dale. Dale pushes better than he pulls and the modified pull-ups became a bit of an issue. However, in his defense, the bar is in the same place for everyone, and the physics change for really tall and really short people. Dale went first with excellent results.
Regan 4:52, 4:31, 6:33, 6:01 Total time: 25:06
Regan is relatively new to this style of training and this result is excellent given only a few months of conditioning work. He is a thinker and does a nice job calculating and attacking the task. Strength wise no issues, conditioning slowed him down a bit.
Jenn 5:14, 7:03, 9:04, 8:09 Total time: 33:02
Jenn attacked the first round and missed a build. However she recovered well and made the build on the second sequence. Jenn was the first woman to do a workout I created for guys.
Ted 4:43, 5:15, 6:00, 5:33 Total Time: 24:41
Fastest total time thus far, but even a fitness professional can miss a build. Ted did the first sequence on his own, and this one is rough to do solo. I held the watch and yelled at him for the second sequence and he was successful.
Dana 4:34, 4:08, 6:49, 4:59: Total 24:02
Nice work Dana. After a 2 week layoff this was Dana's first session back. Doesn't get much better than this.
Shelley 5:30, 5:03, 7:40, 6:34 Total 27:49
Perfect energy management. Shelley had no problems with any aspect of this except push-ups, which was the only thing that slowed her down.
Billy 3:20, 3:13, 5:45, 4:56 Total 20:45.
Damn! I must admit Billy was my inspiration for this one. We do a lot of training in this style, and he a master of the build. I knew he would destroy this. I put a lot of pressure on him to bust it and he did.
I figured Billy would put up the fastest time, however I had to do one more experiment here. What does one need to do well on this one? Essentially no weak links. Anything will be exposed. The only thing it does not ask is to move anything more than bodyweight. So a smaller strong person has no disadvantage over a larger strong person. One could certainly argue that a lighter person would have an advantage. So could our woman push-up queen compete with the boys on this one? Marisol is as balanced as any athlete I have ever seen, and I gave her the chest to the floor push-up standard. This one intriqued me. Really was not sure how this would play out.
Marisol 4:28, 3:12, 4:39, 3:02 Total 18:34.
Sick. Given the intensity of the first sequence, and the low recovery, how can anyone go faster on the second sequence? Apparently it can be done. 600 reps in 18 mins!
All of this is going on the website, and this one is a keeper. Great work to all of you.
Paul Timmons NSCA-CPT
The Firm Fitness Center
803 Rehoboth Avenue Ext.
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
302.227.8363/302.245.4082
www.thefirmfitnesscenter.com
Discipline Makes the Difference
WHAT is THE IDEAL
PUSH/PULL RATIO?
A couple of weeks ago my friend Ryan asked me if there was an ideal ratio regarding pushing and pulling for a well balanced athlete. A pullup / pushup standard makes the most sense for evaluation purposes. Ryan's concern was that several of the athletes that he works with may be emphasizing one over the other. He did not specify which way they were skewed, however my guess would be pushing over pulling. Most guys in their 20's emphasize the bench press, as this is still the most commonly used strength gauge. The bench press is a measure of one aspect of strength. However, is it really a good way to evaluate one's overall strength? A compound pressing movement for chest / shoulders done in a completely stable environment? Plus it is not terribly functional. I have never been a huge fan, probably because I am not very good at it, and we like to train our strengths right? However, we know a bench focused training plan creates imbalances.
Anyway, I am sure Ryan was rather diligent in his research and he could not find a ratio anywhere. He sent this to several other fitness professionals, and I did not like their responses. They either said that there isn't one and that pullups are too hard, or lots of fancy rhetoric without answering the question. I really like the question, and there has got to be an answer, but as you can imagine there are a ton of variables.
First of all we have to establish a quality standard for both the pullup and the pushup:
Pullups, grip of choice, full lock out at the bottom (this is a game changer), one's entire head must clear the bar at the top and no kipping.
Pushup, chest hits the floor, (load the hands and lead with chest, not quads or legs hitting the floor first) and full lock out at the top.
Brad and I took a shot at pullups with the new standard on Saturday. We have both done sets of 30 in the past and were thinking 20 would be very doable, even with the tough standard. He went first and 15 was failure. I really thought he would get at least 20. I went next feeling way confident that I would get more than 15 regardless of the standard. I felt like I had tons left at 11, but the wheels fell of at 15. If my life depended on me getting sixteen I would be dead right now. So 15 reps for us both. Huge difference done this way, but now we have a standard.
My initial thought when Ryan asked me was 3 to 1. 60 and 20 sounded about right for me. Three pushups to one pullup. We know that pulling muscles are stronger than pushing muscles. However, since one's feet are on the floor for a pushup, one does not have all of one's body weight. I am not nearly smart enough to figure out what percentage one has, but let's just call it sub 100. Whereas the pullup is obviously 100%
Marisol was my next guinea pig, and she got 9.75 pullups, and 32 pushups. 3 to 1 is still in play. However, I think this is a bit of a statistical anomaly regarding women, will revisit this point.
I did pushups today, crazy clean and maxed out at 47, so still pretty much dead on at 3:1. I do feel I am rather balanced when it comes to bodyweight movements. Obviously the quality standard has changed my numbers, but the ratio is intact. Throw a dumbbell row and bench press in there, and I will be skewed towards the pulling. However, for the purposes of this little study 3 to 1 is holding up and I feel good about it. We still need Brad's pushup number. I am guessing it will be higher than mine, but not 4 to 1.
However, we may need a different ratio for a balanced woman. We know body composition is a big part of the pullup / pushup equation. And a guy at 6% bodyfat is probably the equivalent of a woman at 14%. So obviously, even a really lean woman will have more weight on her body that will work against her on a pullup.
I did Fran last week with Anne Michele and she did 21 pullups in a row on the first round. Not locked out at the bottom, but respectable range of motion. I do consider her to be way balanced, and her body composition is very conducive to success. Having not done this yet, I am guessing that her pullup number will be slashed by a full lock out. 3 or 4 pullups is what I would predict. However, I know she will get 20 pushups, even with the tough standard. So 3 to 1 may not hold up here.
It would stand to reason that the pushup number would be higher in the ratio for women, given that they must move 100% of a body that has inherently less muscle in the pullup. Many would say that women can't do enough pullups to matter. However, we have at least 10 women here that are either getting or flirting with double digit sets. I think that is very exciting. I am curious what happens when we apply these same standards to our many talented women.
Food for thought. I wanted to pass this one along. Please feel free to report back with any results. I feel good about our ideal push / pull ratio for men. The women's still needs some work however. Lots more testing to be done!
Have a great day,
Paul
Super Bowl Row-Off
Held on 2/01/09, members came together in a friendly competition to set personal bests and establish The Firm House Records for a 500meter row on the Concept 2. Results were as follows.
Competitor Time
1.) Blair 1:29.0 Men's House Record
2.) Tyler 1:33.3
3.) Paul 1:37.8
4.) Dana 1:47.8 Women's House Record
5.) Jenn 1:56.0
6.) Erika 1:51.0