Strong Realizations

Stephen's Fitness Chronicles

2011-10-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

From weight loss using cycling, rowing and CrossFit, to healthy mass gain using Starting Strength, the whole time while gradually discovering the potency of the Paleo diet - Stephen H. gives you his journey from being overweight to getting lean and starting to gain muscle. All the while he chronicles his progress via graph and chart use and eventually refines his dietary approach (discovering paleo along the way) and manages to avoid med (and oatmeal) pushing doctors along the way! He did, however, leave out his markedly improved performance in his recumbent bike racing from last year. Oh well, here's his story:

My goal was to lose weight.

I know Robb Wolf says to throw out thescale but I like numbers, so I give you a chart instead:

Theabove weight history goes back into high school (155lb) to show myclimb into obesity that was only marred by the occasional attempt toloose weight. There was no real exercise to speak of but I was alwaysa bit of a cyclist. Somewhere around 1999 I started commuting to workand was averaging 1800--‐2000 miles a year.

Thecluster of dots in 2000--‐2002 was the result of my first attemptto loose weight. My methodology at the time was to exercise more. Agroup of us would use the weight room in the building and would climbstairs. No real structure. Needless to say it didn’t last long anddidn’t really change anything.

Somewherearound 2003 is when my weight broke 200lbs and cycling started tobecome difficult. Each year after that I would have more andmore problems such as chafing.

Ithink it was 2007 when my left knee sustained an early season cyclinginjury which prevented me from riding the rest of the year. At thetime I blamed the new set of pedals. Now I don’t believe that theywere at fault but was the final straw. From that point on, my kneewas a constant problem. By 2009 both knees were almost constantlyhurting. I couldn’t go to a movie without my knees seizing up.Airplane rides were murder.

Itwasn't until 2009 that I made my next attempt and was when I bought aused Concept2 rower that fall. I saw a loss of weight for a littlebit but my eating habits soon took care of that. Weight overall wasstill climbing. When I was researching about rowing is when I fistheard about CrossFit but I didn't really pay too much attention atthe time.

2010was a really bad year at work because we were acquired Oct. 1, 2009and my co-worker wisely found other employment in March. Hours,workload, stress and weight went through the roof. I barely even sawthe bike much less rode it. It was June when my weight hit 220lbswith no signs of stopping. Interestingly enough even at this pointsome people still didn't believe I was overweight.

SinceI had no real control over anything else, I decided to lose weight. Iknow there are far better ways to go about that but I'll outline whatI did starting June:

First,I decided to eliminate 500 Cal/day. No I wasn't weighing/measuring myfood or anything. It was simply a matter of eating less ofeverything. Since I knew that 1lb fat is 3500 Cal, this should work.And it did. Sorta.

Atsome point I ran across a discussion about some research about theaddictive nature of sugar. It really hit home as I have absolutely noself-control when it comes to anything sweet. So I decided to treatmy sugar addiction and went cold-turkey. That was a rough couple ofweeks but it got easier as the cravings went away. This also helpedmy weight loss but not too much.

Whatmade the really big difference was the idea that I should actually behungry before I eat a meal. I started making it a point of eating 3meals a day but I would only eat just enough to make it through tillthe next meal. This was quiteeffectiveand the weight was just falling off. Of course, the body goes intostarvation mode and so you have to keep eating lesstocontinue this process. Near the end, I was basically eating snacks totide me over to the next meal but interestingly hunger levels weren'treally all that bad. Somewhere in the middle of this phase I noticedthat vegetables and such and started tasting better and so I startedgravitating my diet in that direction.

Workstarted easing up slightly late Nov, 2009. Now that I had gotten myweight down to a more amanageable ~178lbs, I knew I needed to dosomethingor it will just go back so I started rowing again. Meanwhile, I alsostarted researching fitness programs. I knew the globo gyms weren'tthe answer but I didn't know what was. At some point I recalledCrossFit again so focused my full attention in that direction. Itlooked tough but it lined up with everything that I was interestedin. I did a quick search and found that there was a local gym not toofar from work. After building up my nerve, I signed up for the freeSaturday class on Dec 4.

Thatclass nearly killed me. I spent the entire month in pain andcoughing. But I was improving and enjoyed every minute of it.

OnRampintroduced me to the Paleo diet and so I started reading about that.I immediately cut out wheat from my diet and promptly went intowithdrawal. Cutting out sugar was easy. The weight loss was easy. Iwas dreaming about bread. Just the thought of bread would causecravings. This lasted for a couple of months. Meanwhile I wasrefining my diet more and more. I was mainly eating low density carbswith some protein.

Mygoal became to lose fat. And perhaps not to die after a workout.

Bythe end of OnRamp, I knocked 1:29 off my first workout time. I signedup for unlimited and have been attending an average of 4.3 days/week.For my 6 month anniversary, I knocked yet another 1:06 off mybenchmark time.

ByMarch 19^th,2011, my weight had stabilized at 167lbs. I had lost ~55lbs and wentfrom a tight 38” waist down to a comfortable 32”. I went through2 belts. I was pretty consistent about 1” off the waist per 10lblost. I was now the same clothing size that I was in high school butweighted 10lb more and was stronger. My mother was kind enough to sayI looked like I had consumption (*sigh*). OK, I admit the old clotheswere a bit baggy but by mid March I finally had a body compositionthat I wanted for the first time in my life.

Sincemy weight stabilized for a week or so and good enough is never goodenough, I started wondering what % fat I was and if I could improveit any. So more research, some learning, some practice and after somemonths eventually started to get some consistent numbers.

Notethat with such things, since the data points are calculated, the keyis to utilize a consistent and repeatable methodology. The numbersmay be inaccurate but they all should have roughly the same amount ofinaccuracy. The nice thing is, the work showed me that I already knewfrom the results in the WODs. I was building muscle, losing fat, butnot really changing weight. I should also point out the the 'wild'fluctuations in % fat are more due to the scale of the chart but aregenerally accurate in the 2^ndhalf. Early on it's from dialing in my diet. There was the incidentof a really long car trip, a giant bag of almonds and an even largerbag of jerky in July. And then it was the yo-yo effect of me behavingone week and living off fruit the next.

ByJul, I was starting to reevaluate my diet and fitness goals againmostly because I simply need more muscle and am impatient. Idetermined that I wasn't eating enough protein, was getting virtuallyno fat and generally was living off of a mountain of greens at eachmeal. It was time to make some changes. I tinkered a bit and came upwith a plan late Aug. I switched over to a of protein with a morereasonable amount of fat and switched over to high density carbs. Ialso cut back the fruit to one piece or less a day. Finally, Istarted taking protein powder (specifically one high in Leucine)after workouts. By the way, after this many months of Paleo, I findthat plain squash actually tastes good. The paleo challenge wasannounced soon after the decision (good timing really).j

StartingSept, my goal changed to gain muscle for ~12 weeks.

Exceptthere was one (major) problem. My job. Fortunately, I found a new oneand started Oct 1. However, one word of advice: DON'T try to do aPaleo challenge while changing jobs! I'm sure you can easily pick outin the graph which 3 weeks were affected.

Despitethe diet disruptions, the lines are trending in the right directionsand I've gained ~3.5lbs lean weight in ~2 months which isconsiderably faster than my estimations for earlier.

Hereare my before and after pictures for the challenge. During this timeI was doing Starting Strength Advance Novice Program:

Ok,I know, not much difference. But trust me when I say this isincredibly different a year ago or even from January. Too bad Ididn't take pictures back then.

InMarch I generally had everyone gang up on me and force me to get aregular doctor. He ordered up a blood test:

Needlessto say, he wasn't happy with my cholesterol and promptly startedtalking about medication. I politely declined so he scheduled a 6month follow-up to see how I was doing. I'm pretty sure the intentwas to build a case for putting me on meds but I wanted to see whatthe Paleo diet would do for me. As you can see from the chart, RobbWolf is telling the truth. The funny thing is that my doctor, who wasquite impressed with the improvement, was very insisten that I shouldeat oatmeal. I politely declined that too. At least he stopped tryingto medicate me. I think I'll aim for March to get another test done.Perhaps I'll get them to do more than just cholesterol too.

I'mcurious to see where I'll be in Jan.....

About the Author: Stephen is just an IT desk jockey who is currently trying to make up for the last 40+ years of general inactivity. His website is http://www.asyla.org/

Fitness and Self-Realization by Ben Lewenauer

2011-10-15T06:37:00.000-07:00

As of Friday, October 15th, Ben Lewenauer finished his four week session of OnRamp at CrossFit Milwaukee. Below is his account of his first experience with us when he came in for an introductory class on a Saturday before starting OnRamp a few weeks later. The first workout that we use for our OnRamp is a series of 15 foot shuttle runs, air squats, push-ups and ring rows. Normally this is performed for 15 reps of each of the exercises the first round, then 12 reps of each for round two and finishing with 9 reps on the last round. That being said, we do allow modifications to both the rep scheme and to the exercises to allow for varying fitness levels. Ben did the workout for day one of OnRamp as I just described it, completing it in 4:25. Four weeks later, his time was actually slower - 4:27, but he scaled up from the ring rows to unassisted pull-ups, so I consider this a HUGE win in the power output category.Anyway, here's an account of his first experience with us from his perspective...

Fitnessand Self-Realization

As the world becomes fatter, I feel the social responsibility to become fitter. The fatter they get, the more self-inflicted punishment I prescribe.

After running a couple of marathons, I thought that I was fit. This changed drastically one day when I was thumbing through an endurance running magazine. I stumbled upon a profile of a woman who goes by the alias Dirt Diva. Dirt Diva has run many events over 100 miles and lived to speak of it. She said that the reason she could achieve such a high level of fitness was from her CrossFit training. Naturally, this seemed worth investigating. This is how I came in contact with CrossFit Milwaukee.

CrossFit is an international company with the mission of promoting overall fitness by focusing on metabolic training using free weights and basic gymnastic movements. To clarify, metabolic training consists of completing multi-joint exercises with little rest in between. This program was originally developed for gymnasts, but it is now commonly used for military, fire, and police personnel. As a nation at our fattest, the general public can greatly benefit from CrossFit too.

Walking down the steps to my first session, I was definitely nervous. Prior to class, I had read a story about a middle-aged man who worked so hard in his CrossFit class that he developed rhabdomyolysis (a poisoning of the kidneys from working out too hard…yikes). Probably not the best time to read that article, but I guess it’s better to be informed rather than ignorant, right? I walked into the weight room and was greeted with a warm smile by a brick-shit house named Ryan, the owner and head trainer of CrossFit Milwaukee. Ryan introduced me to the other participants who would join me in the workout that afternoon. I shook each one of their hands, which were just as sweaty as mine. I wondered if they read the article about rhabdomyolysis too?

The first order of business was to be briefed on the structure of the class. We would spend the majority of our time together practicing proper form and execution of the exercises to come. Once we displayed competence, we would try and complete all exercises as fast as possible to gauge our current fitness level. Everything in CrossFit is quantified by time. This way you can objectively see if you are improving your physical performance. Many of the workouts only last 5-10 minutes, however, it is so intense that you do not want to do anymore.

My exercise circuit included: first a 500-meter row, then 30 air squats, then 30 sit-ups, then 20 push-presses, and finally 10 pull-ups. Playing my role of the cocky young male, I figured that I would fly through this series of movements with ease. Oh, how I was so wrong.

I sat on my rower and greedily waited to torque out my 500-meters as Ryan called out the countdown. 3…2…1…and I flew out of the gate. Exploding with my legs and pulling for my life, I watched my distance gauge increase. Around 300 meters into the row, I began to realize that the fun was over and self-improvement was about to commence. Finally, 500-meters completed and I was ready for the next exercise. I figured that the squats would be a breeze since they were only using bodyweight; once again, I was wrong. I didn’t anticipate how gassed my legs would feel from the rower. My body burned with delight as I the finished squats. I immediately dropped to the floor and began my sit-ups. 28…29…30, holy shit, I still had two more exercises to go. I got up and awkwardly jogged to my barbell to commence with the push-presses. At this point, I’m wondering why I chose the heavier barbell as I greatly struggled to pump out the last repetitions. Finally, I approach the pull-up bar. I felt the time ticking away and I realized I’m not as fit as I thought. The first 5 repetitions were a struggle, but I managed. 5 repetitions left. 5…things are becoming blurry, 4…sweet jesus, 3…the end is near, 2…I’m meeting my maker, 1…I am no longer decaying organic matter, 0…release! The next thing I knew, I was down on one knee in a small calm pond of sweat. Ryan shouted out my time, which I immediately forgot as I tried to regain consciousness.

From that day on, I was hooked.

About the author: Ben is currently studying English at UW-Milwaukee. Outside of CrossFit, he enjoys trail running, mountain biking, and exploring other forms of human powered transportation.

Motivational Moments

2011-10-04T16:43:00.000-07:00

During my time as a fitness coach I've had the opportunity to come across some great videos posted online. Although, some of my readers may have seen me post these in blogs elsewhere or on my Facebook page, I thought it might be worth what little free time I seem to have lately to collect them in one place, as these videos are ones that I can watch dozens of times and not tire of.

As I posted each one of these I reviewed them one more time and my mind was making some associations with movies and books that I've experienced in the past which I'll quote right before the video that sparked said memory. Let's see who can figure out where the quotes are from. Post your answers to comments. If you win, you get the full satisfaction that you grew up largely a science fiction geek like myself. I'm making this WAY too easy...

First in the lineup is one from a teacher/poet by the name of Taylor Mali called 'What Teachers Make.' Although it's not solely focused on motivation/success it contains plenty of heart and passion and it's a great reminder not to lose sight of some important ideals on our way to accomplishing our goals:

Next on the list is a clip from "Facing the Giants." In my mind, this video goes a great length towards helping us to abolish preconceived notions of what is and isn't possible. In addition, I think it reminds us each of us has some wonderful God-given talents. It is our privilege, right and duty, both to ourselves and our fellow man to develop these talents to their utmost. We are more than what we think we are. Associated random movie quotes:

"Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter" and "There is no spoon":

The next video (actually the next two) are great ones to watch if you're having an off day. They remind us that failure is a part of the process towards achievement. For every major setback that happened to you in life, I'm betting there's a good chance that a couple of great things happened as a result of the very same circumstance. While watching this video, I was reminded that one reason people don't step up or always perform to their full potential was their fear of failure, which led me to be reminded of this random associated literary quote (OK, it was a movie too, jeez!) which may come in handy at the time you're facing an unfortunate moment:

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.":

Do you know your goals? How committed are you? What steps are you willing to take to accomplish them? What easy short cuts/rest stops are you willing to do without to reach the endpoint? Watch this video and see how you stack up. The NOT so random associated movie quote (this one's a no brainer, Folks):

"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!":

Here's another clip along the same vein. Do me a favor though, when the man says, 'forget about sleep, forget about eating,' please don't take this literally (at least all of the time! - It will hinder your results as an athlete). Please don't let that minor detail detract from the intensity of this message as it is a great one:

There you have it gang - five of the most uplifting videos I've come across in the past couple of years. I sincerely hope that they were worth the time for you to watch them and that they had some magnitude of the impact that they had on me. While were at this, why don't you let me know of some of your favorites? Post them to comments below. That way, all we'll have a nice collection of pick-me-ups on a bad day.

Supplementing Health: Things to do BEFORE Visiting GNC*

2011-09-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Overa year has passed since my initial contact with athletes fromDominican High School, a private Catholic school on the north side ofMilwaukee, WI. It's been a great experience working with the highschool athletes from several sports and I'm excited to be kicking offthe start of the school year as their Head Strength and ConditioningCoordinator. Since starting my personal training career (back in 2005as the 11^thCrossFit affiliate), I learned very quickly from my mentors at thetime the motivational power of the blog. It recognizes results, getspeople talking and helps to generate excitement over the hard workbeing done and the achievements being made. Since there are certainissues in displaying pictures of scholarship bound athletes on thewebsite of a private business, I took the route of creating aFacebookfan page dedicated solely to the students at the high school.This way I could provide good informational links, share somemotivational material, post their pictures of their workouts, etc.without any conflict of interest. The fan page went live in August of2011.

It onlytook a little over one month before it happened. One of my petpeeves. A person became a fan of the page and immediately made a postin regards to a service that he wanted to promote to the parents,coaches
and students of the high school. Don't get me wrong, I knowpeople need to promote and advertise, but for some reason itseriously irks me when they come to a website or Facebook pageuninvited to do so. In my mind it immediately reduces theircredibility and brings doubts to the quality of theirproduct/service, not to mention their manners and integrity. These same feelings were intensified when I clickedon the 'store' link of their website and saw only nutritionalsupplements being sold. On top of it all, there was virtually noinformation on the website as a whole pertaining to their dietaryapproach or nutritional viewpoints. All of this added up, at least inmy opinion, to a business that was promoting athletic success throughthe consumption of their nutritional supplements. Not that this isnecessarily the case, but the thought of heavy supplementationwithout taking some precursory steps is wrong on many levels. You'llspend a lot of money and have very little to show for it.

Doesthis mean I don't believe in supplementation? Nope. When doneproperly, supplementation can have a great effect. But it's nomiracle cure and can't act as a band aid to cover a festering woundconsisting of bad dietary, sleep and fitness habits. It's likeholding up a gauze pad in front of an approaching speeding semi-truck andsaying, 'Come on through!!!' Here are some huge steps you can take tooptimize your performance/health significantly without ever visitingthe local supplement store. Once you get these steps in line, thensmart supplementation can be used to its full benefit (hey, I justthought of another article topic! Woohoo!). Oh yeah, and I'm notcharging ANYONE ANYTHING for this information. Sorry folks, nothingfor sale here. In fact, adopting some, if not all, of theseprinciples might actually save you some dough, especially when thepossibility of future health care bills are concerned....

Protein – are you getting several servings, from a healthy source? If you have any athletic aspirations whatsoever, this is your number one priority. Protein will fuel muscle maintenance and growth, contribute towards stronger bones and immune system activity and helps promote fat loss. Ideal sources include grass-fed beef, wild caught fish and cage-free chickens (and their eggs). These sources not only provide good protein, but will have the most favorable fatty acid ratios. Please don't get me started on soy. If you're a serious athlete (and male, especially) avoid it like the plague.
Carbs – are the majority of your carbohydrate sources coming from mostly vegetables and some fruit? They are the most nutrient dense, fiber containing source and don't have any of the gut irritating qualities that many grains and legumes have. Pursuing your carbohydrate sources using this guideline will likely have no issue in meeting the USRDA's requirements for most vitamins and nutrients. The daily level of carbohydrate intake should correspond to the amount and type of overall physical activity – those engaged in high intensity efforts over extended periods will require more than those that aren't. Remember, lots of veggies, some fruit. Please don't get me started on gluten containing products. If you're a serious athlete (or even if you're not), avoid them like the plague.
Beverages – are you drinking only water (MAYBE some occasional joe (you know – the coffee WITHOUT all the crap in it) or tea)? Beverages outside these categories will likely contain a good amount of generally useless calories, won't do anything to satiate the appetite and most often contain, if not sugar, then artificial sweeteners. And don't get me started on high-fructose corn syrup. If you're a serious athlete (or even if you're not) avoid it like the plague.
Sleep – are you getting enough? (oh wait, I'm addressing high school kids, right? Just shake your head 'no', OK?) Sleep is hugely important. Remember that the way you get stronger, faster, more explosive etc. doesn't happen during the workout. It happens during your recovery period, when your body learns to adapt to the stresses of training. If you're not getting enough sleep at night, you're shooting yourself in the foot from an athletic standpoint. Everything from hormone levels to aerobic capacity to exertion perception levels to muscle repair can be negatively affected from inadequate rest. Getting your rest in a completely dark room will help immensely in the quality of your sleep and its potential benefits. This book is a great place to learn just how important this aspect of your life really is.
Are you taking your fish oil? I know, I know – you're thinking, 'Wait a minute, I thought this was an article on steps to take BEFORE shoving supplements down my throat.' Well, when it comes to fish oil I can't think of many people who shouldn't be taking it. Remember in step one where I briefly mentioned fatty acid balance? In modern day society we've managed to achieve a very unhealthy balance between the omega 6 fatty acids and the omega 3s. Outside of heavy adherence to a paleo diet with optimal meat sources, it's difficult to impossible to restore healthy ratios without some concentrated source outside of normal dietary intake. And please don't get me started on flax seed oil. You don't necessarily have to avoid it like the plague, but there are much better ways to go about achieving the goal of reducing inflamation.

Anyway,there you have it, folks. Five steps, a little diligence and a HUGEtransformation in health and wellness all without popping one pill(OK, that's working under the assumption that you're fish oil iscoming in non-pill form). I'm hoping that you remember theseguidelines when it comes time to deciding whether or not tosupplement. This way you'll not only get the most out of life, butany money you do decide to spend on supplements will be more worthit, because you'll have your ducks in a row (and it's probably OK toeat the ducks too! - provided they have not been corn/soy fed, thatis).

*Andactually, I'd avoid GNC (yes, like the plague). Our friends over atEliteNutrition offer a MUCH better value, especially when you takeinto account the discount offered to members of CrossFit Milwaukee!!

Testimonial by Emiliano Lake-Herrera

2011-09-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

OK, Gang - the next post is from one of my favorite former clients. A few months ago he and his wife moved out to Colorado so that she could pursue an awesome job opportunity. Their presence at the gym has been sorely missed as they are among the funniest, most positive, energizing people I know. That, and they had OUTSTANDING results training with us at CrossFit Milwaukee, and I want to reemphasize with my clients that they can achieve the same type of success that Emiliano had provided they 1.) adhere fairly strictly to a paleo diet, 2.) make strength training a paramount priority and 3.) emphasize consistency of training in their fitness lifestyle.

The following is Emiliano's account in his own words. The only editing I did was to asterisk (or dollar sign, or percentage out, etc.) the letters where a few F-bombs were placed in his article. I did this because my next post will very likely pertain to lifestyle steps that should prerequisite most supplement usage. It will, in part, target as an audience many of the high school athletes who I train at a private school in the Milwaukee area. Since I will be linking to this blog from the FaceBook page I created for them, I thought I would take steps to protect their virgin eyes from such foul language as I'm sure they have no experience in this regard.

Without further ado, I'll let Emiliano take it from here.....

"HOWI UN-F*$@ED MYSELF"

ByEmiliano Lake-Herrera

Istumbled, wheezing - trying to catch my breath. "Maybe I'mjust not used to the altitude or the dry air," I thought as Istumbled along the trail. It was December, and my wife and I werevisiting her family in Arizona for Christmas. On thisparticular day we had set out to hike a trail that ran along thespine of a mountain. The pace was moderate, and the grade waseasy - so why was I sucking so bad? Oh yeah, I got fat and outof shape. It is pretty easy to do here in Wisconsin; the winterlasts 8 months and there happens to be a cool bar on every corner. As a connoisseur of fine food and drink, things snowballed over acouple years and landed me in this situation: fat-fucked and 20minutes from the road, barely making it. The rest of my wife'sfamily strolled along effortlessly with their hands in theirpockets. I expected this from her brother, who looks like achampion roman gladiator, but not from her parents, who are abouttwice my age. I made it through the hike, and back to the car -but not without some serious soul-searching.

Emiliano's in-laws, Stephen H. and
Midori S. are no strangers to fitness

Toadd insult to injury, the next day we were forced to visit myin-law’s gym and watch them complete a special workout for myfather-in-law’s 60th birthday. (Can't we just hang out at thehouse?) They had been doing this thing called CrossFit for acouple of years and wanted us to come see what it is all about. We slumped in the corner of the gym as everyone blasted through 60reps of a bunch of different exercises like it was their job. Fuck mylife, I feel like even more of a slob. The rest of the holidaywas legit - but I didn't forget the low point, and decided that itwas time to take action.

Mywife and I had a heart-to-heart after returning to Milwaukee. We bothagreed that it was time to un-f*&! ourselves and start exercising andeating better. (Whoa, a New Year's Resolution...) Neitherof us had ever been frequent gym-goers, and we’d certainly neverf*%$d around with weight training. My wife had played someclub sports in middle and high school, but I had never done anythinglike that. We had, however, met each other while participatingin a Brazilian Capoeira class. We both remembered being inshape - but didn't know how to get back there.

Aftermuch deliberation - we decided to secretly sign up for the CrossFitMilwaukee On-Ramp class starting in January of 2011. Inaddition, we started eating strict Paleo style according to the RobbWolf book that my mother-in-law so kindly gave us. Already, bycleaning up our diet and sleeping for 8 hours at night, I had a lotmore energy and didn't feel lethargic after eating (or "feeding,"in those days). I could already tell that my pants were fittingbetter, and I wasn't constantly bloated anymore.

Iwas nervous as f!@# when we showed up for the first On-Ramp class. The room was packed shoulder-to-shoulder for the warmup. "Areall these people going to straight up smoke me like thoseCrossFitters in Arizona?" I thought to myself. We wentover some basic drills and talked about technique. Then we receivedinstructions on how to do the workout of the day.. That workoutwas designed to test general fitness for the beginning and the end ofthe On-Ramp cycle. It included Shuttle Runs, Squats, Push-Ups, andSit-ups. Basic enough - yet it completely gassed me. Theruns made me feel like vomiting, and I failed out a number of timesdoing push-ups on my knees. Damn. Once the urge to hurlsubsided - I was hooked. I hadn't felt that rush of adrenalinein so long, and I knew that I had to be able to do at least onesingle legit push-up… or else have my man card revoked. Therest of the On-Ramp got progressively more difficult, and morerewarding. CrossFit helped me grit my teeth and taught me tofinish no matter what. I don't care if it takes me an hour tocomplete the workout - I will finish it, because it can be done. This mentality helped me stay in for the long run and finish theOn-Ramp while the class size dwindled as time went on. About athird of the original January class completed the On-Ramp cycle. They are tough bastards now, and you will see them in the gymrelentlessly attacking the workouts. CrossFit helped me takeownership of my body and realize that I was responsible, and capableof changing myself for the better.

Emiliano sets up for a trap-bar deadlift.

Ryan,Alex S. and Jonathan P. were responsible for introducing me to thebarbell - and I don't think I can thank them enough for that. My hunger for strength is insatiable and now occupies the core of mytraining. Strength training gives me concrete goals, and acourse of action to complete in order to meet those goals. Icompleted my first CrossFit Total in March of this year (2011). For those of you unfamiliar with the Total it consists of making 3attempts at a 1 rep max in the Standing Press, Back Squat, andDeadlift. I pressed #132, Squatted #265, and Deadlifted #335that day - Totaling 732. Coach Chad L. helped me get pissed andpull that #335 that was beyond my mental limitations. I wasfucking high - the rush from lifting heavy weights was soinvigorating and awesome - I needed more. After training hardand consistent I had my next chance to gauge my progress at the endof May. I had been hitting at least three CrossFit classes aweek (M-W-F), and strength training the 3 lifts on Saturday. Hard work pays off. The new Total of 875 was stacked byPressing #154, Squatting #315, and Pulling #406. It is nowSeptember, and those 1 rep numbers are what I use for my 3 x 5training. The other week I squatted a legit butt-to- floor #385for a single.

Thisisn't bragging - it is showing that anyone can come from nothing andbuild up to impressive feats of strength, conditioning, endurance, orsport. This is about changing your mindset and your worldviewto achieve the goals that you set for yourself - assuming that youcurrently have defined goals. If you don't - make some. Now is the time to Un-f*&% yourself. Make a commitment toyourself and keep it. CrossFit Milwaukee gave me the tools toproduce the results that I wanted, and has the ability to adapt toyour particular interests and needs. CrossFit Milwaukee has agreat environment that is friendly, supportive, challenging, andcompetitive. How can you have all of these facets in one gym? I don't know - but CrossFit Milwaukee definitely does. That’swhat happens when you have great coaches and a lot of chalk and sweatin the air.

Karate, I'm Sorry For Being So Harsh..... Random Musings on Karate, MMA Training, Midline Fitness and Lessons Learned

2011-09-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

Duringthe course of life, important moments of growth are often precededwhen fundamental beliefs are seriously challenged. Hopefully, if oneis mature and ready enough, openness replaces dogmatism, new methodserode ingrained behavior and, in the end, an appreciation forms forthe stepping stones and obstacles that necessitates true learning andgrowth. No one ever said this process was easy. Quite the contrary,sometimes one realizes that a colossal amount of time and effort havebeen spent on endeavors that are hugely counterproductive to ourlong-term goals and happiness. We see this in fitness (“I shouldhave spent less time on curls, the pec deck; maybe more on pull-ups,dips....”). We see this in martial arts (“if only I wrestled inhigh school instead of taking karate class” - more on this later).We see this (perhaps) in relationships (“Man, I married the wrongwoman” - Ok, maybe that's just me....) and I'm sure it pervadesalmost any series of events in life's endeavors. It's not unusual tolook back on the activities we mistakenly pursued in disdain as 'amistake' or 'a waste of time' to the point that we fail to notice thelittle gems of knowledge or experience we may have picked up withoutreally consciously thinking of it. Another way of appreciating thisviewpoint would be to look how Thomas Edison phrased things whenconfronted with adversity - “Ihave not failed, not once. I’ve discovered ten thousand ways thatdon’t work.”

Fromthe time I was twelve until I went to college, karate training wasthe focus of my physical activities. Although I dabbled on the highschool swim team for two years (and diving for a year), staring at ablack line at the bottom of a pool for a great length of time justwasn't stimulating enough to remain on the team through my senioryear. This was compounded by the fact that my high school didn'toffer men's sports teams for a lot of the activities I consideredinteresting at the time (gymnastics, downhill skiing and volleyball).Lastly, I wouldn't learn to appreciate the value that three years ofhigh school wrestling could have given me until much later in life.Given the situation, I wasn't about to abandon an activity thatcaptured my attention since I was twelve years old. Anyone who knowsme real well knows that, in retrospect, I don't presently hold thekarate training that consumed my attention during that part of mylife in the highest of regards, especially in light of my growinginterest in MMA related arts towards the end of my college days(Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, western boxing, etc.) My negativecomments normally stem from the perspective that my Mixed MartialArts training that I adopted later was actually impeded, instead ofbeing aided by, such traditional training. Hours of improper practicein certain movements had to be overcome for the new material to beingrained. I was starting from a deficit relative to a newcomer tofight training.

Allowme to explain via use of the round kick as an example. In the sytleof Karate I studied, the round house is usually taught as amulti-jointed, segmented move. The knee is fully flexed, raised andpointed at the intended direction of the kick. Once that first stepis accomplished, the knee extends, the toes of the foot drawn back asthe ball of the foot is accelerated in an horizontal arc toward itstarget. The final phases of the kick involve isolated action from anouter extremity of the body. It lacks power and violates theimportant core-to-extremity fitness principal I would later learnwhen exploring Olympic Weightlifing and, later, CrossFit. On theother hand, the kick looks totallyflashy, and by repeatedly flexing and extending the knee we canthrough a plethora of pretty, frilly kicks that will likely flusterand injure any worthy opponent in the same manner that a swarm ofmosquitoes would the driver of a motorcycle without a helmet,although I suppose that is debatable. In other words, the version ofthe kick that I was taught was great for looking cool but not sogreat for practical fighting.

Contrastthis with the action involved in throwing a Muay Thai kick. Thistechnique, like most of the powerful, land-based human movementsinitiates from the hip and, in this case, that hip energy carriesdirectly through to final phases of the kick. There's a slight weightshift towards the front supporting leg and then the hip of thekicking leg insinuates towards the opponent and begins to rotate asthe entire body turns over with direction of the hips rotating pastthe opponent before the shin lands. The energy generated from thelarge muscles of the torso and upper leg first lead, then radiateoutwards and accelerate quickly the lower leg as the shin tries tocatch up with the already rotated hips and upper leg. The shincrashes into the opponent as if it were the end of a swingingbaseball bat (some like the bull whip analogy better). The force isso great that there is significant danger to the person throwing thekick if the defender is able to anticipate it far enough in advanceand block it with his own shin (Google 'Youtube muay thai shin break'and you'll see what I mean, but don't do this if you are at allsqueamish) Trainees throwing this kick are also taught to completelyspin around in the event of a missed attempt because it's verydifficult to stop the large amount of momentum generated by this kindof technique. Admittedly a little slower in the beginning, it isvastly more powerful than than any kick I learned from my karatetraining. In general, folks coming from such arts as Karate, Tae KwonDo and Kung Fu who could actually hang in a fight with Muay Thaifighters had kicks that, well, looked like that of a Muay Thaifighter! They were the exception to the rule.

Andthis is just one example that illustrates where a great deal offrustration set in. Because I had practiced the vastly differingmechanics of the round house kick literally thousands of times beforeencountering the wonderful properties offered by the Muay Thai kick,I was at a significant disadvantage compared to someone who had NEVERSTEPPED INSIDE A MARTIAL ARTS TRAINING SCHOOL! In essence, I had tonot only learn a new movement pattern but had to deprogram theinefficiencies of an old one to boot! Combined with a completeabsence of any type of ground fighting skill acquisition, this led toone of the most despairing realizations of my life up that point. Theone where you become acutely aware that, given your current goals (inmy case – effective fighting skill acquisition), all of thetraining hours that you have previously put in amount to the samevalue as that of a warm bucket of hamster vomit (any old schoolSaturday Night Live fans here?). Near the end of one of my early BJJpractices, it became blatantly obvious that my training partner, whowas a wrestler during high school, was 'glopping' significantly moreeffectively than I was (think of 'glopping' as applying pressure toan opponent underneath using your bodyweight without giving them aflexed, rigid structure off of which to push off – one analogy myfirst coach used was to act as if your body was made of wet cement).This type of movement, largely second nature to a wrestler, or otherathlete versed in the ground game, was completely foreign to someonesteeped in the traditional stand-up based martial arts (any FredEttishfans still around?) At the end of said practice, I nearly had amental breakdown. I knew that I was, for all intents and purposes,starting over as far as my fight training was concerned, but hadalready fully realized just how effective this new style of trainingwas. It was too late to turn back. 'Cup emptying' moments like thisaren't exactly relished by someone in their early 20's and it wasfrom this jaded perspective that led to unabashed criticism of myformer style of training, should the topic ever arise. One of myoften-stated sentiments was that I would trade my six years of karatetraining for 3 years on the high school wrestling team with boxingpractice in the off-season. In my opinion, no one knows how to bettergive and receive a punch than a boxer. And no one knows how to takesomeone down or prevent themselves from being taken down better thana wrestler and although I would eventually become very comfortablefighting on the ground or on my feet, I was, in my limited fightexperience, never the fighter to actually determine where the fightwas going to go (are you guys paying attention? Razak Al-Hasan, mycurrent roommate, just informed me that entry level fighters are nowmaking $700-$800/fight. I might just make a comeback - Just don'ttell my mom.).

Acouple of concepts have lately been brought to my attention orreinforced through various sources that is making me look at mykarate training in a different, kinder light. In recent months, I'vebeen been going through an intense learning phase as it pertains tomy current profession as a fitness professional. Ultimately what thismeans is that I'm reading voracious amounts of material and likelyremembering very little. Given the fact that there about a half adozen organizations I'd be interested in getting training fromcompounds this issue as I tend to have subject matter attentiondeficit disorder and jump around quite a bit. That being said, I'vestarted to connect some conceptual dots and have come to therealization that there may have been some pretty importantcontributions gained from my traditional martial arts training thatI'm so normally inclined to bash:

Posture. One of the common issues personal trainers and physical therapists have to work to correct today is the slouching, chest dropped, rounded upper back posture of a society increasingly attached to seated positions in front of computers, TVs and/or video game consoles. A lack of scapular retraction in people is something I work to correct almost every time I'm working with my clients. In traditional Okinawan karate this type of posture isn't adopted often, if at all. A nice, elongated spine, flared chest was emphasized in pretty much all of the postures I could think of from the horse stance to the forward lunge position that we used to practice most of our basic strikes and kicks. Maybe, back in feudal Japan, no one ever threw a counter punch that necessitated a person adopting the raised shoulders, chin tucked, closed chest position seen in the modern day boxing posture. Perhaps the laws in place in that day and age dictated that a commoner leave their neck fully exposed to the potential cut of a samurai sword, even if they were using their karate skills at the time to defend against such a fate. Whatever the reason, most karate postures seem to promote a lengthening of the spine and a retracted, depressed shoulder position both of which are conducive to health and wellness (well, at least when you're NOT fighting). I've often been complimented on having good posture by people in the health and wellness field and suspect that my years of karate training may have been a contributing factor.
Midline stabilization and development. At the school I attended we did copious amounts of sit-ups. Another abdominal drill, often encountered in our dojo, was the concept of tensing our bodies either while executing a strike and also in anticipation of receiving a blow. Both in our self-defense drills and in our sparring sessions a certain amount of controlled (or not so controlled, depending on your partner) contact was expected. Not having your abdominals 'turned on' so to speak and ready to contract in any given moment during class time could have its consequences. As I progressed to the advanced ranks this type of readiness extended beyond class time as members and instructors would occasionally throw surprise mock attacks as we hung around the dojo before and after class. Back expert Stuart McGill has done research that shows that top level athletes, regardless of their sport, have the ability to very quickly tighten and then relax the muscles of the trunk. Now I'm not saying I'm a world class athlete by any means, but, at 38 years of age, would like to think that I can hold my own pretty well against most people and I attribute a good deal of any athletic talents I may have to possessing a fairly powerful midline. Some might argue there's a genetic factor involved, but I'm going to make the argument that, even if this is the case, that my karate training, at the very least, helped to optimally express this genetic trait.
Diaphramatic breathing – by learning to breath from your 'hara' or area near your center of gravity (think two inches below the navel), a person can learn to very quickly recover their breath from hard physical exertion. Also, this practice works to relax the muscles of the neck and shoulders, which will try to take over as stabilizers if people resort to the chest emphasized panic breathing associated with the fight or flight response. Although debatable, I suspect that learning to focus one's attention on a deeper seated source of breathing will also help in balance and stability.
Really comfortable clothing – OK. I'm reaching here. But if you've ever worn hakama (think kilt, but really light fabric that breathes easy – although there ARE legs) you know comfort.

Obviously the real lessonhere isn't about clothing, it's about looking back on yourexperiences, even ones that were unpleasant/seemingly meaningless inretrospect and finding the pearls of wisdom, the catalysts, and themotivating factors that led to future, fulfilling growth. Outside ofdoing nothing, nothing really is a waste of time. Karate may not havebeen the best way for me to learn how to fight effectively, but itsure did a good job of promoting certain aspects of my health andfitness. And you won't hear me bashing it quite so much anymore.Perhaps there's a good possibility, that, had I actually followed aboxing/wrestling/Brazilian jiu-jitsu regime during my early years, Iwouldn't have developed good posture, obtained the abdominal capacityor reaped the benefits of focused concentration on breath that Icurrently enjoy. Perhaps I'd be walking around with weak scapularretraction, rounded shoulders and a collapsed chest position.Perhaps, I would have developed my knee problems earlier rather thanlater. Taken in that respect, I can look back on my karate trainingas a significant contributor towards the road as a fitness instructorinstead of as the thing I 'shouldn't have studied,' even if it wouldhave meant that I would have been able to finish a couple of my firstopponents rather than having to win by decision.