Big Numbers

Wow. Things went really well today. In my last post I wrote this, 

" If I can hit about 240 on bench, 350 deadlift, 315 squat I'd consider that a good starting point."

Well, today my numbers were as follows:

Bodyweight: 185.5 lbs.

Broad Jump: 80"

Box Squat: 395 lbs.

Bench Press: 255 lbs.

Deadlift: 385 lbs.

3-rep Chins: 185.5 lbs. (bodyweight) + 55 lbs. = 240.5 lbs.

Pretty darn good. I woke up with a little stiffness in my low back but I don't think it really affected anything. Squats in particular felt great. I did try for a 400 lb. deadlift but I couldn't get it off the ground. All in all it was a great starting point. I think the fact that I could get these numbers while not really training purely for strength shows that where I have taken my training in the past year and half has been well worth it. It will be very interesting to see where I can go from here. I think these are really good starting numbers and it won't be easy to improve, but considering that my focus now will be purely strength I think I can and will show some big increases. 

I will keep you updated. The program starts on Monday.

Mitch Rothbardt

www.mitchrothbardttraining.com

(coming soon)

Maximum Strength

Hello all! Merry Christmas!

Santa needs to get in shape for his big night!

Hopefully everyone is doing well. I am excited. Why am I excited, you ask? I am excited because this weekend I am starting the Maximum Strength program that I mentioned in my last post. Here's the book cover if you need reminding.

Technically I start the program on Monday, but on Saturday I am doing all my pretesting for my 1 rep max lifts. A big thanks to Tim for coming in to spot me during the squat and bench press lifts. It's been a long time since I have done one rep maxes so it will be interesting to see where the numbers are. The most I've ever deadlifted is about 405 lbs. and the most I've ever benched is 270 lbs. Those were both done quite a while ago. I've never really done a 1 rep max on squats. The book also has you do a 3 rep weighted pullup and a broad jump. If I can hit about 240 on bench, 350 deadlift, 315 squat I'd consider that a good starting point.

The interesting thing is that I haven't back squatted for quite a while. All my squatting has been front squatting with the exception of the very beginning stage of the "New Rules of Lifting" hypertrophy workouts that I did. I tweaked myself back squatting about two workouts in and switched to front for the remainder of the program. Another interesting change is that the book has you mainly doing box squats which I have never done before. I did do some light ones this morning and they felt pretty good. Concentrating on the box (or bench) really makes you push your hips back to start the movement. I was planning on only doing a couple of sets at 135 to get the form, but they felt so good that I went to 225 for the second set and did 6 very easy reps. I had plenty more in the tank. It felt good, so that's a good sign.

I also did some light deadlifting and really nailed my form on the bench press. I made a slight adjustment on the eccentric (lowering) part of the movement. I really concentrated on meeting the bar with my body, almost coming off of the bench to do it. It really helped my explosion at the beginning of the movement, making your body almost like a piston or a hinge. When you combine that with the leg drive created by bringing your feet way back below you, I think it will definitely help my number there.

Anyway, I will post my numbers this weekend and we will see where we go. I'm excited to get started.

One more thing, I had an email read on a great Philadelphia Eagles podcast called Eagles Fancast. You can go here http://eaglesfancast.net/blog/ or download the latest episode on iTunes. My email is read about 25 minutes in. You should listen to the show in any case, though, because the guys on there really do a great job. To remind you of better days I just found one of the all-time great Eagles plays on Youtube. The famous Randall Cunningham bomb to Fred Barnett against the Bills. I was watching this play when it happened and I couldn't believe my eyes. Cunningham was really something special. Enjoy.



Mitch Rothbardt
http://www.mitchrothbardttraining.com/
(coming soon)

Rush DVD and other Stuff

This is a video from the new live Rush DVD. It is, of course, excellent. They are still a phenomenal band. They are playing as well now as they ever have. It's great to see. I honestly can barely remember a time in my life when they were not my favorite band. Enjoy this and pick up the DVD.

I added a couple of new links to the links section. You should check those out, too. One of the new blogs I'm linking to is Tony Gentilcore's blog. It's really very funny and very honest when it comes to talking about trainers, trainees and training. Also, I linked to my lovely wife's facebook page and another blog/site by an outstanding trainer that I will talk about in the next paragraph

In the next couple of weeks I am going to start the program from Eric Cressey's Maximum Strength book.

It's a great book and I can't wait to see how the program works for me. It really focuses more on strength than size and it will a little different training style for me but I am really looking forward to it. Cressey's writing has really made a lot of sense to me as far as goal setting and shifting the focus away from form to function. I have been doing that over the past eighteen months or so, but I am ready to take the next step to see where it goes. What I'd like to do is go through the next 16 weeks on this program and then maybe join a powerlifting-style gym next summer to see where that might take me. I am really looking forward to getting into the next level of my training.

As far as my current training goes, I have had a bit of lingering cold this week. I really felt it the other morning in the gym although my lifts weren't that far off. I actually felt pretty good this morning. I had my form for cleans as good as I've had it in a while. (Keep the hamstrings fired!) I need to remember that these are not deadlifts! I've been so focused on deads lately that it's easy to forget the differences in form between the two. I also need to focus a little more on some cardio, too. I'm looking a little puffy around the middle. Break out the Cosgrove complexes article again.

That's really about it. Life is good and extremely busy. I will leave you with one of the funniest things I have seen in a long while. Pay extra attention to the song that that they play while painting. Ciao!

Mitch Rothbardt
www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
(coming soon)

Thanks!

Hello all!







Just a quick one today. I just finished up my last progression. It was a 5x5 (5 sets of 5 reps) progression with a 90 second rest period. I really tried using the escalating volume approach and it worked well. What this means is that I did two push workouts and two pull workouts each week notated as Push 1, Pull 1, Push 2, Pull 2. I wrote out a workout for Push 1 and did the same exercises each Push 1 workout. The same goes for all of the other workouts. Each time I did a workout I tried to increase the overall volume for each exercise. What that means is that, for example, if I bench press 100 lbs. 5 times that is a 500 lb. volume. Each time I did a workout I would try to increase my overall volume. I usually did this by increasing weight, but it can also be done by adding reps, or even lowering weight and increasing reps by the appropriate amount. Anyway I measured volume exercise by exercise and I definitely increased my strength and size using this approach.



I just did an unloading week and now I am starting in with a new progression that is similar but with a 4x8 rep scheme with a 75 second rest. I am excited about this progression because I am reintroducing deadlifts into my routine. In the past I have felt some low back soreness after doing deadlifts, but I think I made a form adjustment last week that should help this out. It involves my head position in relation to my spine alignment. It's been awhile since I've deadlifted heavy but I'm hoping to go pretty heavy here. I might go 5x5 for deads and keep everything else at 4x8 so I can heavier on these, but we'll see. It is exciting.



Here's a video of a 1003 lb. deadlift to get you excited.

I won't be quite getting to 1003 lbs., but I should be able to get to somewhere around 275-300 lbs. for reps. It's been a while.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great thanksgiving. Take the poll and let me know what you are thankful for.

Talk to you soon.

Mitch Rothbardt

http://www.mitchrothbardttraining.com/

(coming soon)

P.S. Email me at mitchrothbardttraining@yahoo.com with any questions or comments.

Thanks!

Yet Another Reason To Love Rush

Biggest Loser

There is an interesting cross section of opinion on "The Biggest Loser" in "fitness circles". (Notice the quotes around fitness circles. I really mean more like blogs and things like that I've read from people who say that they are involved in fitness circles one way or another. Don't ask for specifics. I don't have any at the moment.) Some people think that the show is really not a good thing. They say that it creates a very specific scenario that is nearly impossible to recreate in the real world, and that this could lead to some of the people that the show is trying to inspire to feel bad about their lack of comparable progress, which would play right into the state of mind that got them where they are. There is talk about the focus on "big number" weight loss as opposed to body-fat percentage loss. Also, some of the techniques used on the show have led to some talk over exercise form and program design and things like that.


My opinion is that anything that shows people working out, losing weight and changing bad habits in their lives can't be too much of a bad thing. Harping on form or program design is silly because we are seeing one or two reps out of a workout that could last somewhere between 30-60 minutes, maybe, and we really don't have much of an idea about their overall program design.

Complaining about the focus on weight loss as opposed to fat-loss just isn't being realistic as to what people look for. I think it's a good thing that they show how hard people need to work to improve their health and the results that can come from that work and the show generally gives pretty good general health and diet tips. Even as someone who really enjoys working out and going to the gym, I get inspired seeing people work hard to become fit and healthy.

Anyway, last week the show did something that I found astounding. For their weekly challenge they had on the author of "Eat This, Not That" (a pretty good book, btw) and they had to pick one of two meals based on which one was the healthier choice. This sounded like a good idea to me. A lot of people don't realize some basic things about eating out. Things like the amount of calories and fat in certain salad dressings or how many wasted calories in a Coke or how many calories in the pre-dinner bread and butter basket.

Anyway, the first choice was between a hot dog with ketchup, mustard and relish or nachos with cheese.
What?
Which of these choices is at all healthy? Yes, the hot dog is healthier, but this in no way represents a healthy choice.










Which one will make me thin?

The second choice was the only one that seemed to actually represent a legitimate choice: Spaghetti with marinara sauce with sausage and a side Caesar salad or penne with shrimp, marinara sauce and a side garden salad with fat-free Italian Dressing. The penne without the sausage and fatty Caesar dressing won. The other choices included Chicken & Shrimp Fajitas with the works or 24 Chicken Nuggets with barbecue sauce (the nuggets won), and Grilled chicken burrito with the works or 18 lite beers (the burrito won, barely). Wow! What should I have for lunch? A burrito or 18 beers? The topper there was that they said that if it was 17 beers it would actually have less calories. What kind of choices are these? Can a 24 piece chicken nugget pack ever be considered a good food choice?

I don't know, maybe I'm nitpicking a little but it seems to me that when you have the chance to spread some good info instead of bad info you should do it. Tell people to eat fruits and vegetables. Don't give them the impression that chicken nuggets and hot dogs are the kinds of foods that will help you with your goals. Oh well. This is just my opinion. It doesn't mean much.

Mitch Rothbardt

www.mitchrothbardttraining.com

(coming soon)

2008 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies!!!!!!

I purposely haven't written anything about the World Series until now. I didn't want to jinx anything. I have felt good about this team ever since the playoffs started. I knew I would be happy if they won, but I didn't know how happy and emotional I would get.



My hands started tingling and my heart beat was twice as fast as normal starting in the seventh inning last night. My eyes started watering going into the bottom of the eighth and I really started crying after Lidge got the last out. When they did the montage of each players reaction to the last out there was some definite waterworks for me. Even just watching this highlight video I started tearing a little. You follow a team for years and years, you follow players throughout their careers, you experience joy, frustration, connection and you always do it because you hope that one day this can happen. There is a lot of baggage being a sports fan and following a team. You see players come and go. Some you like, some not as much. Some you're sure will be the next Mike Schmidt or Steve Carlton and things happen and time moves on. You see decent teams that don't quite get there and they eventually disperse throughout the league or out of the game and sometimes it's easy to forget what the ultimate goal of it all really is. Especially when it seems like you never have a shot to get it. This is what it's all about.



In 20 or 30 years I will remember this and I will tear up as I think about wherever my life has taken me from now till then. I will remember hugging Robbie and him smiling even though he really didn't care. I'll remember talking to my Dad with my voice cracking. I think that's why I love sports most of all. The memories that mark times in your life. I remember where and who I was when Randall Cunningham made that play against Buffalo. I remember where and who I was when the Phillies beat Atlanta in '93. I remember where and who I was when the Phillies won it in '80. I remember where and who I was when I saw Dickie Thon get a walkoff hit in extra innings at some random game at the Vet one summer night. These moments and therefore these teams become a part of who you are. They are a connecting force to other people and to yourself.



I will always have this moment to look back on and I know that wherever I am at that time I will be following my team, the Philadelphia Phillies.



Mitch Rothbardt

www.mitchrothbardttraining.com

(coming soon)

Funny

This could be one of the funniest things I've ever seen.



You'll notice that each turn of events is perfectly timed and executed to deliver the highest possible amount of pain. The slo-mo breakdown is the best thing of all.

Mitch Rothbardt
www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
(coming soon)

Great article

Hello. I just read this on T-Nation and I wanted to share it. It's a quick article that just asks why we train. You should read it if you train or not just to get to see what drives people in the gym or in whatever you do. In the spirit of this, please check out this week's poll.


http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sex_news_sports_funny/pushing_back

Mitch Rothbardt
www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
(coming soon)

Thoughts and Injuries

Last Thursday I decided to try for a PR at cleans, going for 205. I had done 195 a little while ago and I felt, especially with how good I felt doing a 185 lb. clean and jerk with good form a week prior, that I had a good chance at 205. Well, unfortunately I was wrong. Double unfortunately I got hurt. I tried for one at 205, couldn't get it and then decided to try for 195. I got that one, but with very poor form and I tweaked my back nice and good. The wierd thing (and the not-so-good thing) is that the pain started out in my back and has since moved to my left leg. It has gotten better, but it really feels like a pinched nerve or something like that. It's different than my usual low back soreness. The frustrating thing is that, in general, my workouts lately have been really good and now I have to take time off. I hope to get back to it, at least with upper body stuff, Thursday or Friday. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, this got me to thinking a little bit. I have been looking at some things on imbalances and compensation lately as I was trying trying to get a handle on my back stuff and I read a lot about people with shoulder problems and elbow problems along with the usual low-back problems. I have been lucky enough to have never had much of an issue with anything but my low back (except a minor left knee soreness from time to time) and I was thinking why that might be. I came to the conclusion that I have always done a good amount of unilateral (one-arm) upper training, but hardly any unilateral (one-leg) training. In other words I have always done dumbell military presses, dumbell bench presses, one arm rows, etc along with barbell work, but before a year ago I have rarely, if ever, done single leg squats, one leg deadlifts, lunges, etc. I think that this has allowed my lower body imbalances and compensations to continue while my upper body has been forced to correct itself. I think what I need to do once I start up again is really focus on unilateral lower body movements. I also just purchased Gray Cook's "An Athletic Body In Balance" book which is a book that focuses on helping people overcome their imbalances and compensations. Hopefully this will help not only me, but anyone else that I hope to train in the future.



I find this whole thing really amazing as I learn things and think about things. The thing about the human body is that it all makes perfect sense. Everything. The trick is going through all of the logical steps to find the answers.

Mitchell Rothbardt
www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
(coming soon)

You're A Winner!

Just thought that if you haven't seen this yet you must see it now.
Also, I have set as a goal to get my certification by Christmas. I just wanted to put it down in writing.
Watch and enjoy and remember:
You're A Winner!!!



Mitch Rothbardt
www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
(coming soon)

New Training Schedule and Jerking It Hard

Hello all you little five pound plates. How are you? I'm doing well. Actually I'm pretty excited right now. This morning I had an outstanding jerk. I hadn't jerked in a little while, about 6 weeks, then last week I did and this morning I had a really outstanding jerk. Man, it feels so good to get a good jerk going. What? I mean a clean and jerk in the gym! The exercise with a barbell! Man, you're sick! Anyway. My previous PR was a 195 lb. clean and jerk. This morning I did a 185 lb. one with good form and really no problem, so the good news appears to be that even not doing them for a little while, it doesn't look like I've lost any strength there.



I've also made a few changes in my training. I was getting a little tired of getting up at 4:00am to get to the gym all the time, so I made a change. I'm doing my olympic lifts, lower body and metabolic work in the morning and my upper body and abs in the afternoon during lunch. I just started this on Monday and it's been great. It gives me another 30-45 minutes of sleep a night and when you're only getting 5 or so hours some nights that makes a big difference. The biggest leak in my training is my sleep. It probably still is, but this does help a little.

I've also started on a new/old program. Old in that I'm going back to the Dos Remedios's Power Training book for the moment, but new because I am basing everything on volume-centered workouts. In other words, if you bench 100 pounds for 10 reps your volume on that set is 1000 lbs. I am trying to increase my volume on each exercise each workout. You can do that by adding weight or reps. I am trying to keep everything around the 4 sets of 10 with a 60 second rest protocol, but I will make adjustments as needed.

Also, need I mention my Philadelphia Phillies. I don't want to jinx anything, but last nights game was outstanding. Hopefully, things will continue in that vein.



Well that's all for now. Talk to you soon.

Mitch Rothbardt
www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
(coming soon)

Squat! Now!!

Hello. As I'm sure you know, or maybe not, I am working with my wife, Kristi, on a program, and many issues she has can be helped by doing squats. I was having a little trouble teaching her the basics of the movement, so I was looking around and I came across this outstanding article on Dave Draper's website. I don't want to just paste it here because I want his site to get the hits it deserves for it. Here's the link:

http://www.davedraper.com/how-to-squat.html

He basically breaks the movement down to a few very simple steps. Very good. As I'm sure you know squats can help your knees, back, glutes, hamstrings, hips, calves and spinal erectors, making it one of, if not the very best overall exercise for everything from muscle building to fat loss. Enjoy!



Mitchell Rothbardt
www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
(coming soon)

P.S. Only one more day to vote in this weeks poll!

Wow.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Don't really need to say much.

Mitchell Rothbardt
http://www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
(coming soon)

A New Beginning

Hello, folks. I know it's been a while. About two months, to be exact. I really need to start doing this more often and, for you, my loyal readers, I will try. Anyway, last time we spoke I wrote about adapting some supersetting workouts to a commercial gym setting. I just finished up that cycle. I took the workouts pretty direct from Hypertrophy 1 in Alwyn Cosgrove's New Rules of Lifting book. My only change was that halfway through I exchanged the dumbell incline bench/seated row for barbell incline bench/barbell row. I did this because I tweaked my back a bit and the set-up for the dumbell presses along with the seated rows didn't feel all that great. It was a pretty difficult cycle. I got definite results at first, but I don't know how much in the long run. In particular the lower body routine seemed more difficult metabolically than load-wise. In trying to decide where to go next, I thought I'd bring back some straight set kind of workouts and I've really been enjoying that. I went to a hardware store and bought a chain and clip to hang from my weight belt to do weighted chins and dips again, and it's been a great thing. I've been trying to do 5 sets of 5 with a 90 second rest. This morning's workout went like this:

Cleans: 95lbs. 4 reps
135lbs. 3 reps
155lbs. 2 reps
175lbs. 1 rep (with a jerk)
175lbs. 1 rep

Flat Bench Press: 155 8 reps
175 6 reps
195 6 reps
215 3 reps
215 3 reps

Dips: 8 reps
25lbs. 5 reps
25lbs. 5 reps
25lbs. 4 reps
25lbs. 3 reps

Dumbell Shoulder Press: 60 lbs. 5 reps
60 lbs. 5 reps
55lbs. 5 reps
55lbs. 4 reps
50lbs. 4 reps

Wood Chops: 90lbs. 10 reps
90lbs. 10 reps
90lbs. 8 8reps

It was very good. It was the first time I've done cleans in a while and they felt great. Maybe next week I'll see if I can still do 195lbs. If not, I know I'll get back up there soon. Also, I was very surprised that my bench was that high. I might need to go for a max bench test soon. It's been a long while since I've done that.

The bottom line to all of this is that I have been feeling really great in the gym lately. I feel really enthusiastic about where I am headed there. All this while getting up at 4 am to go. That's true love, y'all.

Talk to you soon.


Mitchell Rothbardt
http://www.mitchrothbardttraining.com/
(coming soon)

P.S. Please don't forget to take the latest poll and take a look at the latest Top Three Things.

New Stuff

Well, this I'm excited about. After working through Robert dos Remedios's excellent Book of Power Training for about the last eight months or so (with tremendous results I might add) I have decided that after this cycle I'm going to really change things up. My goal is to design a super-set based workout that I will be able to do at a commercial gym. A lot of what I read talks about supersetting and it's something I have tried at times in the past but not too extensively for hypertrophy. As you'll recall, the last time I tried it was during my fat-loss month. I recently purchased Charles Staley's EDT book, "Muscle Logic" and I will also be looking deeper into Alwyn Cosgrove's "New Rules Of Lifting" book. The key thing is to able to do this program at a 24-Hour Fitness kind of gym. It's easy when you have your own place as Cosgrove and Staley do. It's much harder when you constantly have to tell people that you're using that bench even though you stepped away from it for a second. I hope to have something to start with by the end of the weekend. I really need to get onto a hypertrophy phase. And don't worry folks, I will still be snatching and cleaning!

Mitchell Rothbardt

www.mitchrothbardttraining.com

(coming soon)

Sorry again.

Yeah I know it's been a while again, but I've been busy. I promise to keep up a little more from now on even if it's just to touch base a little. There's not much new to report. Since I've ended my fat-burning extravaganza I've gone back to my more standard workouts. I've been trying to put back a little weight, but it seems to be staying right around where it was. I'm trying to up my calories a little bit at a time so as not to gain back the fat I lost. I haven't lost any weight in my lifts so I know I'm doing pretty well. Also, since we last spoke I set a PR in the clean with a 195 lb. pull. I almost jerked it, too but I just couldn't finish it up. I really need to be doing these with bumper plates. If I didn't have to worry about putting it down or have already tired myself out by putting the weight down I feel confident I could get a 200 lb. Clean & Jerk easy right now. Lowering a heavy clean or snatch to the ground takes a lot more out of you then you'd think. If you don't believe me, try doing a set of 4 or 5 snatches at a decent weight, lowering it to the ground each time. Of course, the problem with bumper plates is that no one has them except specialty gyms.

 Anyway, stay tuned for more updates and keep root for the greatest no-limit hold'em player in the world, Phil Hellmuth, at the World Series Main Event. He's a little low right now with about 710,000 chips, but he knows what to do with them and he can put a run together. There's only 79 players left out of about 6800. It seems like he's had a tough couple of days, but due to his superior skill he's still in it. He's due for some good things today. Talk to you soon.

Mitch Rothbardt

www.mitchrothbardttraining.com

(coming soon)

Sorry.

Sorry, it's been so long. Things have been a bit busy. I think I'm busier now than when I was working. Anyway, to end the suspense, the month long fat-burning extravaganza was definitely a qualified success. I say qualified because I definitely lost some fat and most definitely improved my conditioning, but I was a little short on my fat loss goal. I think to really dial it in, I need a sports nutritionist to consult with. I think the training aspect of things was pretty close to 100%. I did a workout every other day all month long. Each one was excellent and difficult as you can see from my posts. I didn't enter my last one or two, but I did them and you can that they were very tough and featured a lot of variety. 

My diet was pretty good, but with my genetics I need to really have everything pretty close to 100% with my diet to get really cut. I was probably closer to 90%. I have to say, though, that the myfooddiary.com site has really helped a ton with my diet. 

Since I have been back on my hypertrophy cycle for the last week or so I can tell that I really lost virtually no strength during the last month and, as a matter of fact, last week I posted a new PR for the snatch at 145 lbs. and matched my clean PR at 185 lbs. I tried for 195 but couldn't get it. 

I have been doing everything in a "5 for 5" rep progression (5 sets of 5 reps) with a one minute rep cycle and I don't think I would be able to keep that going if my conditioning wasn't pretty good. On top of that I can already see an improvement in my general physique. I'd like to experiment more with supersets, but it's really hard to do that in a commercial gym setting, although I'll probably try to start dropping them in now and then. 

Anyway, just a quick one today to let everyone know that I'm still going. I'll post more frequently from here on, and I'll do a few more "Basics" posts soon, as well. 

Talk to you soon.

Mitchell Rothbardt

www.mitchrothbardttraining.com

(coming soon)

P.S. Be sure to vote in the new poll!

May 12, 13, 14 and 16 workouts

Hello. Sorry it's been a while, but it's been a bit of a crazy week. Anyway, I'll fill you in on the last four workouts I've done this week.

May 12

Stiff Leg Deads-6 reps

Hang Clean-Front Squat-Push Press-6 reps

Reverse Lunge-6 reps

6 sets with a 45 sec. rest between sets

I did it with a 95 lb. barbell. This is probably the easiest of the Alwyn Cosgrove barbell complexes, although it's still very challenging. The clean-squat-press hybrid in the middle is a tough bit.

Countdowns: Box Jumps and Pushups

Countdowns a protocol where you do 10 reps each of two exercises, then 9 reps, then 8 reps and so on down to 1 rep. You time them so you can compare your development. I did this one today in 4:18 and the last time I did this it was in 4:42. Nice improvement!

Hanging Ab Raise-10 reps

2 sets with a minute rest between sets

May 13

30 minutes on the treadmill

May 14

Front Squat 12 reps 135 lbs.

Wide Grip Cable Seated Row 12 reps 130 lbs.

3 sets with a 30 sec. rest 

Supine Hip Extension w/Leg Curl 12 reps

Barbell Push Press 12 reps 85 lbs.

3 sets with a 30 sec. rest

Lunge 12 reps 135 lbs.

Swiss Ball Ab Roll 12 reps 25 lbs.

3 sets with a 30 sec. rest

Squat 20 reps 85 lbs.

Lat Pulldown 20 reps 100 lbs.

Step Up 20 reps.

Dumbell Shoulder Press 20 reps 30 lbs.

2 sets with a 60 sec. rest

Swiss Ball Crunch 10 reps

2 sets with a 60 sec. rest

May 16

Deadlift 10 reps 155 lbs.

Explosive Push-Up 10 reps

Bulgarian Split Squat 10 reps each leg 50 lb. dumbells

One-Arm Dumbell Row 10 reps 50 lb. Dumbell

4 sets with a 45 sec. rest

This was the first workout we did for this month long progression. We upped the weight a little and did only 10 reps per set instead of 12, but we also had a 45 sec. rest instead of a 60 sec. rest. It made it a lot tougher.

1 minute punching intervals

3 sets

We cut this one a little short because I am definitely feeling things a little. But like I mentioned to Tim, this was a short workout for us but for most people it would be the most hardest workout they might have ever done. 

There are only three more of these workouts to go and after that I will probably take a few days off and jump into a hypertrophy phase. As much as I loved doing this stuff I am starting to feel a little run down so it will be great to go back to that stuff. I think, as I wrote a few posts back, I should be able to really get some good results with the hypertrophy now that I haven't done any of that kind of overload in quite a while.

Mitchell Rothbardt

www.mitchrothbardttraining.com

(coming soon)

May 10th

Dumbell Snatch-Overhead Squat-6 reps 35 lbs.

Forward Ball Roll-8 reps

Windmill Lunge-3 reps 35 lbs.

Dumbell Row-10 reps 45 lbs.

Swiss Ball Alt. Wood Chops-10 reps 20 lbs.

5 sets with a 90 second rest between sets

15 Bodyweight Squats

5 Pushups

50 Jumping Jacks

10 Mountain Climbers

10 Bodyweight Lunges

2 sets with a 60 second rest between sets

If the first set seems familiar, that's because this is the second time I've done this particular complex. The first time I did it was April 19th. I made a few changes to make it a little more difficult this time around. I did 45 lb. dumbell rows instead of 35 lb. I did 20 lb. wood chops instead of 8 lb.  and I decreased the rest between sets from 2 minutes to 90 seconds. Overall very nice.

The second complex is all bodyweight stuff. Really good. I got it from an interview with Craig Ballantyne. 

So far I am about two weeks into this program and I can definitely see a small difference. I don't know if I will be able to cut the full 5 lbs. of fat I was hoping for, but there is still some time. 

I think it's been good to do this for many reasons. My conditioning is definitely a lot better, and like I said I can see a difference. I think to really get my body fat down to 7 or 8% would take some very precise fine-tuning to my diet and I don't know if I have the overall expertise to get that detailed about diet. I know the basics pretty well, but this goes beyond that a good bit. 

The other reason is that although I am working very hard, my muscles aren't getting that hypertrophy or strength kind of overload that I am used to giving them. This is giving them some good recovery time and it also means that when I go back into my hypertrophy phase, (which is what I am planning on going into next) I should see some nice results. Not only because of the fact that I should be able to overload them pretty well after this month, but also because due to my improved conditioning, my work capacity should increase which should, in turn, increase the overload effect. 

It's all fun and games.

Mitchell Rothbardt

www.mitchrothbardttraining.com

(coming soon)

May 8th

Snatch-Grip Deadlift 12 reps 185 lbs.
T Push-Up 12 reps
3 sets 1 minute rest between sets

Split Squat/Overhead Press (Bring dumbells up to the shoulder and then press while in the down position) 12 reps 30 lbs.
Curl-Grip Lat Pulldowns 12 reps. 100 lbs. for sets 1-2, 90 lbs. for set 3
3 sets 1 minute rest between sets

Straight-Leg Dead/Bent Over Row 12 reps 95 lbs.
Windshield Wiper 12 reps
3 sets 1 minute rest between sets

Very nice today. Some quicker complexes allowed us to hit things in a different way. Very nice and very intense. The snatch-grip deads were really effective. The wider grip makes it a bit harder although the bar doesn't have to travel the same distance.

3 one minute sprint-two minute rest intervals at about 9.5 mph.
These are always superb. Particularly after a workout like this one.

Also, as an update, some developments have happened that will allow me to really increase my study time. They aren't great developments, but I will take advantage of the increased study time to get my certification a bit quicker.

As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments by leaving comments here or emailing me at mitchrothbardttraing@yahoo.com.


Mitchell Rothbardt
www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
(coming soon)

May 6th

Jump Squat 6 reps
Squat 6 reps
Squat and hold for 10 seconds 6 reps
Military Press 6 reps
Push Press 6 reps
Squat & Press 6 reps
6 sets 45 sec. rest between sets

I'm sure exeryone recognizes this as the devastating "Complex D" from this article: http://www.alwyncosgrove.com/complexes.html.

I made a slight adjustment today using dumbells instead of a barbell. When I have tried this complex previously with a bar my shoulders cramped up big time. If you notice every exercise here has your shoulders either stretched or flexed. Doing it with the dumbells worked very well. I used 35 lb. bells for sets 1-3, 30 lb. for set 4, and 25 lb. for set 5-6. This is, quite simply a great complex. Three kinds of squats followed by three kinds of shoulder press, the last two also involving some sort of squat action. It really adds up. Very nice.


Clean & Jerk 12 reps 65lbs.
Lat Pulldown 20 reps 60 lbs.
2 sets 1 minute rest between sets


The C&Js are always great, even at a light weight. Finishing up with the 20 pulldowns is a great topper.


Ab Wheel 10 reps
2 sets 1 minute rest between sets


Great exercise.



Mitchell Rothbardt
http://www.mitchrothbardttraining.com/
(coming soon)


P.S. Please vote in the latest poll.

May 4th Workout and Rush!!

Wow! Can you beat a day that includes a great workout and a Rush concert? I think not!

The Workout

Barbell Row 6 reps
Hang Clean 6 reps

Front Squat-Push Press 6 reps

Jump Squat (with bar on back) 6 reps

Good Morning 6 reps

6 sets with a 45 second rest between sets

I started out with an 85 lb. barbell and then added 10 lbs. to the bar after the first set to make a 95 lb. bar. You do this set without even putting the bar down. You just go from exercise to exercise. This is a great complex by Alwyn Cosgrove.

Deadlift 20 reps 95 lbs.

Dumbell Bench Press 20 reps 35 lb. dumbells
Walking Lunge w/side bend 10 reps each leg 20 lb. dumbells

Seated Cable Row 20 reps 100 lbs.

2 sets with a minute rest between sets

This is a real effective set to put after the initial one. The lunges are a real killer.

Swiss-Ball Crunches with Dumbells 10 reps

2 sets with a minute rest between sets

You do these with the dumbells held straight out, like during a bench press. I have heard these reffered to as Serratus Crunches, also. I did 15 lb. dumbells for the first sets and then 20s for the second. This was a very good exercise. It really highlights how much you use your core for all of these complexes even though there aren't any "ab" exercise in the mix. It's a good lesson to learn in general.

All-in-all another very good workout. One thing I have noticed doing these is that my conditioning is improving. I figured it would although it's not my main goal, but it's nice just the same.

Rush Concert

The Rush show was up to standard. Very good. The setlist was fairly close to last year's show with a few changes. I think overall I liked last years show better but they still are a great band to see. They sounded great. Neil never fails to impress. He really is a tremendous player. During his solo I was thinking back to his solo on Exit, Stage Left, which is one of the most influential drum solos ever and was certainly a monumental landmark for my playing, and I realized that as great of a solo as that is, he is such a better player now. So much more nuanced. It may easy for some to take his greatness for granted seeing as how he has been doing this for so long (I never have) but after seeing him you realize that his status as a lengendary player is more than justified. Highlights for me included 2112, Natural Science and Spindrift as well as the aforementioned drum solo. I have a feeling it will be a little while before I get a chance to see them again, so I like to appreciate them while I can. My admiration for these guys is pretty extreme. At some point they'll stop doing this, and when that announcement comes it will be a pretty bad day for me.

Ladies and gentleman, the world's greatest band. RUSH!

Mitchell Rothbardt
www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
(coming soon)

P.S. New poll coming tomorrow!

May 1st & 2nd and Food Diary

May 1st
Did some standard steady-state treadmill stuff for 30 minutes. Just getting the heart rate up and burning off a few calories. This style of cardio doesn't do nearly what interval training does, but having worked pretty hard the day before I just wanted to do something to burn off a few extra calories.

May 2nd
Dumbell Hang Clean 10 reps
Split Jerk 10 reps
Drop Lunge 10 reps each side (these are like doing a curtsy)
5 sets 1 minute rest between each set

I used 30 lb. dumbells here and it was very good. The split jerks are very challenging when you do them one after another.

Dumbell Curl-Lunge-Shoulder Press 10 reps
5 sets 1 minute rest between each set

This is a hybrid set as opposed to a complex set, meaning that you one exercise directly into the next into the next. For this, you do a dumbell curl as you lunge. When you are in the lunge position you do a shoulder press and then reverse your movements back to the starting position. I used 20 lb. dumbells on these. It was very good.

1 minute work-2 minutes rest Focus Mitt punching intervals.
3 sets.

This was great. It has been awhile since I have done these. It felt great.

Measurements and Food Diary
I took my measurements and body fat and really didn't see much of a change this week. I was hoping to see something, but it's only been a week.

I happened onto a phenomenal website. http://myfooddiary.com/ It is a site that allows you track your diet, among other things. You just enter what you have eaten and it adds everything up for you. They have a database of over 50,000 items and you can also enter your own. You can do more than just track your food on there , too. You can track your exercise, weight and compare it all. I think I'll mostly use it for the food section, though. You really should go there and check it out. I think it's very important to keep track of what you are eating. Most people don't really know what they are eating although they think they do. When it's all down on paper, things can look different. It costs $9.00 a month to join, but I think it's well worth it. When I start training people, I plan on making this site a big part of what I do. I plan on really being able to fine tune my nutrition with this.

Other than that, studying continues, Iron Man tomorrow and Rush in two days!!!!!!!!
Have a great weekend.

Mitchell Rothbardt
www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
(coming soon)

April 30th Workout

Stiff Leg Deadlift/Bent Over Row Hybrid - 6 reps - 50lb. Dumbells

Medicine Ball Kneeling Shoulder Press (Kneel on two medicine balls as you are shoulder pressing) - 8 reps - 30lb. Dumbells

Mogul Squat - (These are basically jump squats holding a medicine ball where you rotate your hips from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock each squat) - 20 seconds

Swiss Ball Push-Up - 10 reps

Russian Twist with a medicine ball - 30 reps

5 sets 1 minute rest between each set

The Stiff Leg Deadlift/Bent Over Row Hybrid exercise was originally written as a barbell exercise, but due to logistical constraints I had to do it as a dumbell exercise. (I had to use the studio space at my gym. I can bring a set of dumbells in there, but it's not really feasable to carry a loaded barbell halfway across the gym.) It really didn't work here. The 50lb. dumbells weren't nearly heavy enough. Maybe it would work with 75's.

I probably could have gone heavier with the shoulder presses, as well.

Everything else was pretty good, although I'd have to that I wasn't a huge fan of this particular complex. I took the rest period down to one minute from two minutes and that helped, but it was only OK.

Clean and Jerk - 12 reps

1st set 85 lbs.

2nd set 65 lbs.

1 minute rest between sets

These were great. The good old C&J is a fantastic exercise. It hits nearly every muscle in your body as you take the bar from the floor to over your head. 12 reps is a lot for these with any weight. It is very challenging.

Tabata Push-Ups - 6 reps

For those of you that don't know what Tabata means, it is an exercise protocol where you do 20 seconds of an exercise as hard and as fast as you can, then take a 10 second rest. That is one round. You do eight total rounds.

It is very tough.

You can do it with nearly any exercise although some work better than others. It should be an exercise that can be done relatively quickly and repeatedly. Deadlifts wouldn't really work, cleans wouldn't work, bodyweight squats work well, stationary biking works well, etc. When you are doing a rep oriented exercise you count your reps as the least amount that you did during any set.

Ideally you want the most you did and the least you did to be pretty close. With push-ups that's kind of hard. As you can see, the least amount I did was 6. The first two or three sets went well, right around 15 or so then after that it was mouch tougher and I had to finish the last four or so on my knees. Also, keep in mind that this was the last thing I did today. I don't want anyone thinking that I can't do all that many push-ups.

Mitchell Rothbardt

http://www.mitchrothbardttraining.com/

(coming soon)

P.S. Don't forget to vote in the poll! 4 1/2 days to Rush!!!!!!!

April 28th Workout

Front Squat 12 reps
Chin-Ups/Curl Grip Pulldowns 12 reps
Step-Ups 12 reps each leg
Dumbell Push Press 12 reps
4 sets with a 60 second rest between each set

I did front squats at 95 lbs through all four sets.
I did my first set with 12 chins, my second set with 8 chins and 4 130 lbs. curl-grip pulldown, 3rd set with 6 and 6, 4th set 5 and 7. I probably could have powered the chins most of the way through, but I felt it was more important to keep the pace up.
I did my first set of step-ups with 32.5 lb. dumbells, my second set I did the first 13 reps with the dumbells and then finished with only bodyweight and the 3rd and 4th set was bodyweight only. Again, I might have been able to power through here, but I wanted to keep the pace up.
I did the push presses with 32.5 lb. dumbells all four sets.

Deadlift 20 reps
Dumbell Bench Press 20 reps
Walking Lunge w/Side Bend 20 reps each leg
Cable Seated Row 20 reps
2 sets with a 60 second rest between them

I did 95 lb. deadlifts, 32.5 dumbell bench press, 10 lb. dumbell walking lunges, 90 lb. cable seated rows. I could probably have gone a little heavier on the bench presses.

Hanging Leg Raise 10 reps
2 sets with a 60 second rest between them

Very good overall today. I might have been able to go a little heavier on a few exercises, but not enough to really make that much of a difference in the overall effect.

I will keep going.

I'm interested in what people think about my emphasis of pace over load. Is it better to push through with a faster pace at a lighter weight or do all of the reps at a slower pace but a more challenging weight?

Let me know what you think. mitchrothbardttraining@yahoo.com

Mitchell Rothbardt
www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
(coming soon)

April 26th Workout

Deadlift 6 reps

High Pull (onto toes) 6 reps

Squat Clean 6 reps

Military Press 6 reps

Jump Lunges 6 reps

6 sets 45 sec. rest between sets

1 minute sprint at 9.3 mph - 2 minutes at about 3 mph

3 sets

I started out with a 95 lb. barbell and after the first set switched to an 85 lb. barbell.

I can honestly say that this was one of the toughest workouts I have ever done. Very exhausting. I have done all of the complexes that Alwyn Cosgrove created from this article and this one was, by far, the most difficult. Complex D was hard mainly because keeping all those reps in the back squat position really was difficult as far as shoulder flexibility, but as far as conditioning this one was certainly the hardest.

I usually go to about 10.5 mph on my sprint intervals, but I couldn't get there after this one. It was very good all the same.

Mitchell Rothbardt

www.mitchrothbardttraining.com

(coming soon)

P.S. 8 days to Rush!

April 24th Workout

Today's workout was pretty direct from Alwyn Cosgrove and Lou Schuler's "New Rules of Lifting" book. http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lifting-Maximum-Muscle/dp/1583332383/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209073997&sr=8-2

Long link but a great book. The workout consisted of two Giant Sets. What that is is four or five (in this case four) exercises done back to back with no rest until the full giant set is over.

Anyway, here it is with the weights and comments:

1. Deadlifts 12 reps 135 lbs. (started at 155 lbs. and very quickly realized that this would be too heavy during the later sets)

2. Explosive Push-Ups 12 reps (this is a push-up done so your hands come off the floor when you push up)

3. Bulgarian Split Squat 12 reps each leg 45 lb. dumbells (this was easily the toughest part of the whole routine. Very hard to balance on one leg as I got more and more tired.)

4. One-Arm Dumbell Row 12 reps 45 lbs. (maybe I could have a done a few more pounds but certainly not enough to make a real difference in the overall metabolic effect.)

4 sets with a 60 sec. rest between each set.

This was very tough and very good. Real hard on the grip.

The second set is as follows:

1. Squats 20 reps 65 lbs. (probably a little light)

2. Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown 20 reps 80 lbs.

3. Step-Ups 20 reps each leg 20 lbs. (probably a little light)

4. Dumbell Shoulder Press 20 reps 20 lbs. (a little light)

2 sets with a 60 sec. rest between each set.

As you can see I probably could have pushed the weight a little here, but with this kind of workout it is better to err on the side of lighter weights. The rep scheme is the most important thing here and once you start the set you shouldn't interrupt it to get another set of dumbells. I will go a little heavier the next time I do this particular set, though.

1. Swiss Ball Crunch 10 reps

2 sets with a 60 sec. rest between each set. This was a good finisher. It really highlighted how much stability we used on the other two sets. It was very nice.

Overall I would say it was a very good workout. We were pretty much finished when it was over and I see why you shouldn't do this kind of workout two days in a row. We were able to do everything basically at one station so we didn't have any problems there and we solved the problem of two people doing this together by staggering the starts of the sets. I started with Deadlifts and Squats and when I was done with my initial set of those Tim started his set. it worked fine and we should be able to continue with this kind of protocol in the future with these workouts.

I took my measurements last night and while I won't post them all, I will say that my body fat percentage is at 9.3% at the moment (although, I don't know how accurate my measuring skill is, I am confident that it's not too far off) and my weight is 182 lbs. That would mean I am carrying about 17 pounds of fat. If I lose my goal of 5 pounds of fat that would put me at carrying 12 pounds of fat at 177 lbs. That would put me at about 7% bodyfat. We will see. I will take my measurements each Wed. night and weigh myself at the end of the first workout after that.

Talk soon.

Mitchell Rothbardt

www.mitchrothbardttraining.com

(coming soon)

Here We Go!

Tomorrow I start my month-long fat loss program. I plan on posting all of the workouts I do for the next month and my impressions on how they went. I will also post my body fat percentage and measurements weekly to see how those things are going. I am planning on eating pretty clean for the next month. I usually do, although I might have a cheat meal or two too many during the week. I will cut down on those a little and I plan on cutting my general portions just a little, too. Generally, I eat pretty well so I don't think drastic changes are needed.

My main challenge is going to be designing workouts for a commercial gym where I do a lot of different exercises back-to-back. Most gyms are not set-up for that kind of thing. Also, designing workouts that I can do with a partner in that setting will also be a challenge. The good thing about all of this is that when I do get certified as a trainer, this is the kind of thing that I will have to be doing for clients, so it's good to be doing it for me first.

I think my main goal for this month is to lose about 5 pounds of fat. Not weight. Fat. That's a very big distinction. I'll be able to keep track of this by taking my body fat percentage each week. As of last week I weighted 182 lbs. at 9.9% bodyfat. That's about 18 pounds of fat. If I can get that to 13 pounds of fat without losing any muscle, that would put me at about 7% bodyfat at 177 pounds and I'd be pretty darn happy with that.

The percentage part is important because I don't want to lose any muscle. I hope to accomplish that by keeping up my glutamine supplementation and keeping my protein intake at about 1 gram per pound of bodyweight a day. We'll see. I'll take my measurements every Wednesday night and make any adjustments I need to. To reach this goal would be pretty great not only for myself, but I would know first-hand that this kind of training works and I would be able to help other people lose fat knowing how to do it.

The eventual goal

On a seperate note, thanks for your enthusiastic voting in this weeks poll! It was a real close race to decide everyone's least favorite exercise. It was so close there was actaully a three way tie between the Mangled Larynx Throat Lift, the Olympic Nipple Pull and the Eye Toss. That's tough. As much as I really enjoy doing the other Olympic lifts, my Olympic Nipple Pull numbers have always been pretty bad.

For this weeks poll, in celebration of the Rush concert on May 4th, vote for which Rush song is your favorite. I'll have the voting up until after the show to give everyone time to think about it.

As always, let me know if you have any ideas or comments or questions or tell me to shut up or anything at all. Leave a comment here or email me at mitchrothbardttraining@yahoo.com

Thanks for reading.

Mitch Rothbardt
http://www.mitchrothbardttraining.com/

(coming soon)

Study Time

Even though it's in the title of this thing, I realized that I haven't actually written about my personal trainer certification studies. Right now I'm going over the nutrition chapter in my study manual. I just finished up the anatomy chapter and, I've got to say, it wasn't easy. I had a basic knowledge going in of the medical names for the muscles and some bones, but geez, there's a lot of these things. 206 bones, for example. It 's not easy and I still have a long way to go before I feel that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to this technical kind of stuff. I think once I start getting into program design and things like that it should be a bit easier because I feel I do have a fair amount of knowledge in that area. (At least I think I do.) We'll see. Overall it's going well, but I do wish I had more study time.

The good news is that before I started studying I took two practice tests. I got a little over 50% on both of them. I took them again last week and I got around 70% on both this time. I think I'll be OK when it comes time to take the test. I still need to take the CPR/ED certification, too.

Only about a week before my fat loss month begins. I'm looking forward to it. I did do a killer fat loss workout this morning mainly to try and adapt some of Alwyn Cosgrove's complex style workouts into something I can actually do at a regular commercial gym. Most of his complexes (by the way, a complex is a number of exercises done right one after another with no break) involve a lot of different types of equipment and it's not realistic to be able to use three of four seperate pieces of equipment at once for an extended period of time at a regular commercial gym.

The one I did this morning went a little like this:
Dumbell Snatch-Overhead Squat - 6 reps
Swiss Ball Rollout - 8 reps (kind of like an ab wheel, except with a swiss ball)
Windmill Lunge - 3 reps (these are lunges done in front, to 45 degrees, straight out to the side, 45 degrees to the back, then straight back. Then do the other leg. In other words, each rep is actually 10 lunges done to different areas.)
One Arm Dumbell Rows - 10 reps
Swiss Ball Wood Chops - 10 reps
5 sets with a 2 minute rest between sets

It was tough but real good. The only change I had to make from it's original form was that the Dumbell Snatch - Overhead Squats were supposed to be done with a barbell. I also could have used a slightly higher weight on the rows. I did everything with 35 lb. dumbells. If you go here: http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness/24 I believe it's actually workout B. You can see pics of all the exercises there, as well.

Before I start, I will take my body fat and measurements and keep track throughout the month.

The other big thing in my workouts lately has been a drastic improvement in my olympic lifts. I feel that I have a good handle on form for most exercises, but starting the olympic lifts has really felt, at times, like flying blind. I have done a lot of video watching and reading and I think I'm really getting a handle on this thing now. About three weeks ago I watched a video that said that 90% of the form problems with these lifts occur right from the set-up (go here to watch: http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html#Oly scroll down to "The Set-Up" parts 1, 2 and 3.) Over the last three weeks or so, I have dramatically improved my set-up and over the last week have improved the whole pull.

The big difference has been in my abililty to know when to really explode and get the quadruple extension through the ankles, hips, back and shoulders. It's not right off the ground. It has been night and day and I look forward to finally seeing some improvement in my numbers here.
For example, this morning after my complex workout, I did a few snatches just for the heck of it. Even being pretty darn tired, I snatch 135 lbs. with not much problem. That had been a number that I could barely reach previously, and then only for one rep, maybe. I felt I had at least two or three more in me this morning. I'm excited. I will continue with the olympic lifts even through my fat-burning month. If I start the workouts with these, I should be able to make some big improvements this month. Not to mention that these are great full body exercises, anyway that can definitely aid in the fat-burning. If you're not a believer, do 10 clean-and-jerks and see if you're breathing normally. (You won't be.)

Check above for some incredible video from the last olympics. The last lift is about a 580 lb. clean and jerk olympic record that the guy gets off the ground like it's a pencil, and then holds it over head and yells to the crowd. Beautiful.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Let me know what you think about all this and certainly let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions or questions.

Mitchell Rothbardt
http://www.mitchrothbardttraining.com/(coming soon)

A Few Things

Just a couple of quick notes:
1. There's a new poll. Please vote and let me know what you think.
2. In about two weeks, I am completely changing my workouts for about a month. I am going from a hypertrophy-strength periodization cycle to a month long fat-burning extravaganza. I am going to use mainly different kinds of complexes, such as the ones that Alwyn Cosgrove talks about.

Go to http://www.alwyncosgrove.com/ or here http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness/24 for a little taste.
These are very high intensity workouts.

I have incorporated certain aspects of this sort of training into my workouts for a while with very positive results, but this is the first time I will be going full scale into these and only these for an extended period of time.

I will write more about them as I get into them and let you know how it goes.

Rothbardt, out!

Mitchell Rothbardt
http://www.mitchrothbardttraining.com/
(coming soon)

Hawaii Beach Workout

Well, I just got back from a week in Hawaii with my family. It was great! We all had a wonderful time being together in the beautiful state that is Hawaii. One thing I did when I was down there was take advantage of the beautiful setting and have a few workouts on the beach, in front of the endless horizon. Since I was working out with the family I decided to take it a little easy on them. I read in the latest issue of Men's Health a quick little workout that Dan John wrote. It was very simple:

30 second pushup plank

30 second sprint

30 second Jumping Jacks

30 second sprint 

30 second rest 

8 total sets

That's it. Like I said, I was working out with the family so I decided to scale everything back to 15 seconds, do a sprint-plank-sprint-jumping jacks pattern and do only three sets to start. 

Now, I don't do sprints a whole lot in my normal workouts, but when I do, I'll usually do 20 or 30 second sprints. I'll do tabatas or something like the workout I just wrote out. A 30 second all-out sprint is no picnic but I can do them, however, I was totally unprepared for beach sprints. I figured with scaling everything back it would be somewhat easy. I was wrong. The combination of the uneven ground and the give of the sand made those 15 seconds seem a heck of a lot longer. I would estimate that those sprints were probably 3 to 4 times harder than sprints on a hard surface. 

After those three sets we were all really worked. It was great! It wasn't only the sprints either. We did some stretching that was very different as the sand would shift under our feet. (Doing lunge stretches really test the balance there). The jumping jacks also required much more effort. I was expecting a nice vacation workout with the family and I got a really cool surprise. 

Later on in the week I did this workout:

10 pushups

20 second sprint

15 crunches

20 second sprint

15 squats

20 second sprint

1 minute rest-3 sets

(another Dan John workout)

followed by

15 second jump squat

15 second speed squat (body weight squats as fast as you can)

15 second pause squat (hold at the bottom for 1 second)

15 second hold squat (hold at the bottom for the full 15 seconds)

45 seconds rest-3 sets

(an Alwyn Cosgrove workout, also from Men's Health)

It was a good one. The whole thing only took about 20 minutes and I felt absolutely finished when I was done

Anyway, it was a really eye-opening experience that I wanted to share with you and it shows once again that pretty much wherever you are or how much time you have, you can get a nice workout in. It also shows you that when are somewhere like Hawaii, get the heck out of the stuffy gym and take advantage of your surroundings! You can bench at your home gym all year long! You'll never know what you might discover.

Apollo knew a secret!

Mitchell Rothbardt

www.mitchrothbardttraining.com

(coming soon)

P.S. Thanks for voting in the latest poll. It was unanimous! The Philadelphia Phillies will be the 2008 National League Eastern Division champions! We are all very excited. 

Poll Results

Wow! The Rush poll really came down to the wire. According to the results, Rush is offically the Greatest Band in the World! That's quite an honor, although the other choices of their being either phenomenal, brilliant or tremendous weren't far behind. Thanks for participating! Don't forget to take the currrent National League East poll.

Mitchell Rothbardt
www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
(coming soon)

Push!

Just a quick one today. No matter how many different plans and workouts and no matter what your goals in the gym are, there is one thing that everyone agrees on: Overload. What that means is that to improve in any one area you must push body harder than it is used to being pushed. If you want to get bigger, you must lift more. If you want to lose fat, you must keep your heart rate higher for longer, etc. How this can apply to you can vary.

Something that I have been concentrating on lately is rest periods. I have always been conscious of my time between sets, but lately I have been much stricter about it. If I am in a strength progression, I allow myself either 90 seconds or two minutes, depending on the exercise. If I am in a hypertrophy (muscle growth) progression, I give my self one minute. I have a little timer (http://www.gymboss.com/) that I start as soon as I am done one set, and when it goes off my set starts. That means I ready myself to start the set at about 10 seconds or so to go.

A great workout tool for only $20

Anyway, keep this in mind when doing your next workout. Push!

Mitchell Rothbardt
www.mitchrothbardttraining.com
(coming soon)

Range of Motion

Just a quick one today. Not part of the popular "Basics" series. I just wanted to write about something that my friend Tim mentioned to me the other day: Range of Motion. When you go to the gym and look around, you see people doing some exercises with tons of weight and barely moving the weight. The squat, bench press and leg press are the primary offending exercises here. When you do an exercise, you must do it with a full range of motion. What that means is getting full natural extension and contraction. The key word here is natural. Do not over-extend or exaggerate the movement in an attempt to expand your range of motion. This can put you in an unsupported and bad position physically, and can lead to injury.

If you aren't using the proper range of motion you, quite simply, aren't getting the most you can out of an exercise. Very often you are either getting pretty much nothing, or you are working only a very small part of the muscle. Doing that leads to muscle imbalances that can eventually cause injury.

Think objectively about your form. Are you feeling the exercise where you are supposed to feel it? Do a quick set with little or no weight. Is your form the same?

The keys on the three exercises I mentioned are:

Squats: the midline of the thighs should be parallel to the ground or, preferably, lower.

Bench Press: the bar should touch your chest. Not bounce off your chest, just touch it. If you can't touch the bar to your chest with no weight on the bar, you need to work on your shoulder flexibility.

Leg Press: your kness should go past your chest. Keep in mind that you HAVE GOT TO KEEP YOUR LOWER BACK ON THE PAD!!!!!!!!! This exercise is a prime example of one that you could really hurt yourself on if you overexaggerate your range of motion. If you cannot bring your knees that far back with only a little weight on the machine while KEEPING YOUR LOWER BACK ON THE PAD (that's a mouthful), then go only as far back as you can while KEEPING YOUR LOWER BACK ON THE PAD. Better yet, just forget this exercise and do squats instead.

Again, the best way to make sure that you are using the proper range of motion is to do the exercise with little or no weight, and see and feel where you are in your movements. Really be conscious of how you feel and your placement. Also, ask a training partner how your form looks. It can be hard to feel your form at times as the weight and adrenaline goes up and up and up.

MitchellRothbardt
http://www.mitchrothbardttraining.com/
(coming soon)

P.S. Due to the overwhelming response, I have decided to continue the very important Rush poll for another week. Don't forget to vote!

Basics Pt. 2

Paralysis by analysis. That is what happens when you are so bombarded by information that you have trouble choosing what information you need or even what to pay attention to. This is what happens when you are looking into cell phone plans or new computers and, boy, does this ever happen when trying to research an exercise program. You read and see so many different methods and each promise the best results whether it's gaining the most muscle, losing the most fat, looking like the guy in the Bowflex ad in 10 minutes a week. It's all very confusing, especially if you're just trying to get started and aren't really sure of the best way to go about it. Here's the thing, though: It's really not that hard.

Today's topic: Do Something!!

(With apologies to Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove for giving me the title of today's topic from their excellent book "The New Rules of Lifting"). To be sure, certain programs are better than others. Some programs have more thought and research behind them than others, but doing a crappy program is always better than doing no program. Doing something and giving a good honest effort at it will always get results at first. Don't worry about six months from now (yet). Just worry about working exercise into your daily life. That is the most important thing. Remember, you are changing the habits of your life and you need to get started! Once you have gotten into the habit of exercising you can then go from doing something to doing something better. (By the way, there's ALWAYS something better, whether you've been working out for 2 days or 25 years).

I've seen a video where Herschel Walker talks about how when he was young he didn't know what to do for exercise so he would just do push-ups and crunches on every commercial break while watching TV. If you don't think this laid a foundation for him you've never seen Herschel Walker. Even as a pro football player he would do 100 crunches every hour on the hour. Dude was, and is, a phenomenal specimen.

Is Herschel in shape?

If you are still wondering how to get started, here's a very simple program you can do at home in your living room with only your bodyweight:

1 set of squats for 10 reps

Keep your head up, eyes straight and squat between your heels.

1 set of lunges for 10 reps.

Keep your head up and your eyes forward. Get a good stride.

1 set of pushups for 8 reps.

Keep your back straight. Do these from your knees if you need to.

Hold a plank position for 30 seconds.

Keep your back as flat as possible. (It's hard for me to do with my big butt.)

Do these sets back-to-back with no rest in between. This is one complex set. As you get better, add complex sets with a 90-120 second rest period in between. As you get better from there add a few reps and do shorter rest periods eventually going down to a 45 second rest period. Do this three times a week.

There you go! You have just gone from doing nothing to doing a program that works your legs, hips, chest, shoulders and arms. One round should only take a couple of minutes. Perfect for those long commercial breaks when you're anxious to find out who got voted off of "American Idol".

Hopefully you'll find that doing this makes you feel and look better and makes you want to do some more advanced stuff. Most of all I hope that this makes you realize that it's not hard to get started and I don't know anyone who hasn't felt better once they did.

Let me know if you have any comments or questions.

Thanks for reading!

Mitch Rothbardt

http://www.mitchrothbardttraining.com/

(coming soon)

P.S. Don't forget to vote in the very scientific Rush poll. There's only two days left!

P.P.S. Thanks for to the lovely and talented Mrs. Kristi Rothbardt for the photos!

Basics Pt. 1

Hello. This is my first post. How interesting for all one or two of you that might find this. Anyway, I wanted to just to kind of break down a few things about working out, going to the gym, training or whatever you want to call it for those people out there who want to do it, know they should do it, but don't know how or are kind of intimidated to do it.


You see, one of the amazing things about the benefits of exercise is that it's one of the very few things that nearly everyone agrees on. If you can find me someone who honestly believes that it is healthier to sit on the couch and watch "Full House" re-runs than to do some sort of physical activity I would be very surprised. Given this fact it is astounding that so many people don't exercise. I can only think that it's because a large percentage of those people don't know what to do and are intimidated by the fact that they think if they go to the gym, they'll either be confronted by a bunch of musclebound, sweaty, screaming guys throwing 350 pound dumbells across the room, (while this is certainly how I work out, it doesn't accurately represent most others), or they'll be thrown into a sea of strange looking pulleys, bars, machines and iron plates and they won't know what to do.

Not your average gym member.

In any case in my next few posts I'm going to focus on a few very simple things you can do to make yourself feel better and healthier. These are things that you should be doing before you worry about what crazy new program you're going to do if you are already exercising, or they are something you could start to do to build a foundation for your new healthy lifestyle if you are not already exercising. Basically, if you are not doing these things, you are putting yourself into a hole and guaranteeing yourself that you won't get the results you want.

Today's topic: Eat Breakfast!!

Eat Breakfast! I know. You don't have time. You're not hungry in the morning. The dog ate your homework. The checks in the mail. None of that matters.

Here's the thing: when you eat, you raise your metabolism. Your body says to itself, "I'm getting some fuel, that means I can get rid of some of this stuff I already have that I don't need anymore." That means your body burns off fuel. That means your body burns off fat. When you don't eat, your body says to itself, "Hold on there. I don't have any fuel coming in, so I really need to hold on to what I've got." That means your body stores fuel. That means your body stores fat.

The longer you don't eat, the more your body wants to store fat instead of burn it off. When you break up the word breakfast, what do you get? Break. Fast. You are breaking a fast. You haven't eaten in 8 or 9 hours so your body really needs something to get it's metabolism going. All you are doing when you skip breakfast is slowing your body's metabolism down to a crawl and guaranteeing that whatever and whenever you do eat, it will all be stored as fat. And by the way, research shows that when you are overly hungry you are much more likely to eat sugary, fatty junk food, making the situation much worse.

If you are looking at all of the latest workouts and gym equipment and you are not eating breakfast, you are very nearly wasting your time. Like all of the things I will be adding to my "Basics" posts, eating a good breakfast is a foundation that you should build your whole healthy lifestyle on. Start at the beginning and take each step as it should come and you will get healthier, feel better and look better.

By the way, a piece of chocolate cake doesn't count as a good breakfast.

Mitchell Rothbardt

http://mitchrothbardttraining.com/

(coming soon)

P.S. Look for more posts. I will try to update on a regular basis. Please leave me comments if you have any suggestions or loved it or hated it. Thanks for reading!