Thur 5-23-13: A Rope & A Tree
Today I took a rope over to the park, found a big tree and played around a bit. I used my imagination and had fun trying to throw the rope over just the right branch, climbing the tree when I screwed up and got it caught, swinging, climbing the rope, using it like a TRX and just messing around in general. Some fun, some sun, some fresh air, some activity and some things I had never done before. Pretty cool.
Tues 5-21-13: Supple Leopardness
A couple days ago I got my copy of Becoming a Supple Leopard and today I started my journey toward becoming a better moving human. If you’re not already familiar with it you should check it out, it really is some fantastic stuff. I’ve been familiar with Kelly Starrett from his work on Mobility WOD for a few years but haven’t been inspired to attack my body until his book came out. Great stuff in a nice, heavy book that covers quite a bit. Check it out on his website or SuppleLeopard.com.
Wed 5-15-13: Yard Work
All it takes is a day out in the yard to make you appreciate the amount of work that goes into gardening and landscaping. Chopping, cutting, lifting, carrying, hauling, dumping, throwing and more. Not a single muscle left out and every little movement meant something. Functional fitness at its core. Not only a nice departure from structured exercise but also outdoors in the sun. Doing work to maintain your residence/habitat is about as natural, traditional, primal and universal as you get.
The Workout Is The Warmup
One of my favorite workouts is to go through this extended warmup…
Warmup Workout
Overhead squat
Jumping jacks
Arm circles
Arm scissors
Lateral bend
Turkish get up
Breakdancers
Kneehug quad stretch
Shadowboxing
Side kicks alternating
Kicks front back alternating
Handstand
Pushup
Pullup
Muscleup
Lunge with reach rotation
Back lunge with overhead raise
Kneeling lunge out
Switching 90/90 stretch
Elbow to instep
Step back to rotated bar raise
Jumprope/Rope swing
Med ball corkscrew press
Staff twirling
Kayakers
Two foot lateral hops
Zig zags
Ice skaters forward/backward
Supine knee twister
Burpees
Wide stance windmills
Alternating T
Plank
Side plank
Grok squat
Hang
Tipping bird stiffleg deadlift
SL toe touch and reach
SL bent airplane
SL balance eyes closed
Archer
Fencer
Ball work ts ys ws or bent over
Bridge marching
Boat to superman
Overhead squat
Fri 4-5-13: Full Body
Full Body
Alternating DB Curl & Press
One Arm DB Bench (half off bench)
Overhead Squat
Cable Push Pull 2 sets (video)
One Arm Cable Press 5 sets (video)
Uneven Depth Push-up to Balance (video)
Giant set of:
20 Overhead Squats
25 Overhead Presses
30 Hang Cleans
35 Back Squats
40 Push-ups
45 Cable Reverse Flys
50 Jump Squats
Thur 4-4-13: Park & Trees
Today was a day at the park, literally. Spent some time climbing, swinging, jumping, sliding, running and just being a kid. Playgrounds are for kids of all ages.
Of course added in some tree work along the way…
Mon 4-1-13: Trees
Climbed trees for about 15 minutes. Found a street with some good trees and climbed up and down each one. Did some other miscellaneous jumping, swinging and hanging, putting together a nice little outdoor workout. Only gathered a few staring spectators in the process…
And only a few scrapes too…
Sun 3-31-13: Bouncehouse Play
Happy Easter!
Today was play day- chasing nearly 10 kids, ranging from 2-12 years old, up, over, around and through a bounce house. I was a monster/wolf and chased little kids/cats around almost endlessly. So cool! I think I had as much fun as they did. Great full body workout and tons of good old fashioned fun play all around.
Thur 3-21-13: Leg Challenge
Lower Body
2 mile hike down and back up a local gully trail.
Leg Challenge: 10 reps of each in a row, 50 reps total.
Step Up (10 each leg)
Lunge (same)
Squat
Set 1: Bodyweight
Set 2: +25% of BW (45 lbs for me)
Set 3: +50% of BW (90 lbs)
Set 4: +75% of BW (135 lbs)
This is where I stopped…
BONUS for the freaks:
Set 5: +100% of BW
Or
BONUS for the gluttons for punishment:
Work your way back down- 50%, 25%, BW.
You can use any apparatus to add the weight, I chose a barbell for convenience. You can also modify it for different percentages of BW (10%, 20%, 30%, etc.).
10 Ten Minute Full Body Workouts
Came across a great article at Marks Daily Apple called 10 Full Body Workouts You Can Do In 10 Minutes Flat. Some great stuff in here, bookmark this if you ever need quick and effective ways to move a challenge your body, including some gym workouts but mostly outdoor natural movement challenges.
Wed 3-13-13: Full Body Randomness
Got a chance to exercise which doesn’t happen much on Wednesdays and given two workouts this week already I didn’t want to do much so I literally just did whatever random exercise/activity/movement/stretch came to mind.
Randomness
Too difficult to log everything I did but it included planking variations, TRX stretching, core work, hip mobility, research and development (testing out/creating/experiencing) on different exercises with a device called the Land Mine (seen below), bending, twisting, squatting, extending, stretching, flexing and 100 jumping jacks. Just moved my body however it felt like it need
Mon 3-4-13: Lower Body & Plyos
A quick little sunshine workout in my backyard with the littlest Knapp…
Lower Body/Plyometrics
Squat
BW x 40
Baby Squat and Lunge
~13 lbs x 30 assorted reps
Squat Jump to Broad Jump
5 reps each
Jump Squat/Split Switch Jump Countdown (Video of 10,9,8)
10 reps/10 reps each side
9/9
etc.
Crab Thrust (Video)
3 sets of 10
Single Leg Crab Thrust (Video)
1 set of 10
Deep Baby Squats
1 set of 5
The Last Few Months
What a busy four months it’s been! Culminating six weeks ago with the birth of my third son and every day since, life has been keeping me on my toes.
In mid September my goal was simple: to rest, recover and regenerate the two months before the baby arrived. Happily I am able to report I was able to accomplish just that.
Month 1 was very light, with next to no exercise, just some light activity, walking and stretching. I felt great after this month of rest and found that i was itching to move around a bit so I decided to do a very limited exercise program in Month 2, which I called “Exercise Minimus”. The goal was to return to some exercise but keep it very short and simple. No more than an hour a week and 10 minutes of actual exertion. I finished the month with a bit under 3 hours total and about 35 minutes of exertion.
Month 3 was also limited but I allowed a bit more volume, upping the total time allocated to about 5 1/2 hours with 1 1/2 hours of it exerting for the month.
Month 4 was a bit more back to normal but still limited. Some exercise minimus but also a few full workouts sprinkled in for the first time since early/mid September.
I feel great so at this point my plan is to continue this approach. Sleep is at a premium these days thanks to the little one so I still need to be smart about the stress I put on my body. So the plan is to stick with what’s working.
I was also able to maintain or improve upon many strength or fitness tests and body composition also maintained itself.
For the specifics, you can check out my detailed records of both Exercise Minimus and Exercise Sebatacle Measurements.
Working In
Working In.
A concept I explored on a Bare 5 blog post a few months back. Recapturing energy through restorative and regenerative activities. Recharging our metaphorical battery.
In preparation for baby number three I am going to take a break from working out and focus more on resting, recovering and working in. I’ll still be active and post a few things here and there the next few months but nothing too structured.
As always, if I come across any cool workouts I’ll share them for anyone interested.
Mon 8-13-12: Full Body
Just a day to get back in the swing of things after vacation…
Easy Sprints
40 yard jogs, runs and easy sprints about 8 reps
Total Body Circuit
One set of easy weight for 5-15 reps on several basic exercises: cable rotations, lunges, squats, pushups, pullups, planks, overhead press, dips, curls, extensions.
Fri/Sat 6-8/9-12: Park Days
Playing at the park the last two days with my boys…
Friday in Yorba Linda:
This was great for obstacle course runs and was a little bit on the bigger side so presented a nice challenge for me as well as the boys.
Saturday in downtown Fullerton:
Great for climbing and transversing, pullups, swinging and just some different movement challenges.
Two very cool play dates…
Thur 6-7-12: Hiking
Today I hiked. Took a little trail around the corner and walked through a gully. Got some sun, some exercise and felt great.
Fri 6-1-12: Play Day
Today I went to the park with my friend and fellow natural mover Bryan (of Frontdive Fitness). We threw the frisbee around, climbed some trees and did some pullups, played on the playground, swung on the swings and just hung out. A great time with some sun and activity built in.
Wed 5-9-12
Went to the park and jumped on my new trampoline for about 10 minutes then walked around in the grass a bit and practiced handstands and cartwheels. Fun, sun and movement. Doesn’t get any better…
