Formosa Fitness

I want to start talking a bit about my own training. I'm a little worried about this, though. I'm afraid that people won't understand.

As a trainer, I design programs for other people and often I have done them myself, sometimes for quite a while. I don't like recommending programs I haven't done and am not intimately familiar with. But just because I've done those kinds of workouts doesn't mean I'm doing them right now or that I do them non-stop and do nothing else.

Also as a trainer, my responsibilities are greater. I have to be competent in a wider range of training modalities than your average fitness enthusiast in order to train people as I think they should be trained. For me, intimate knowledge of kettlebells, body weight, and endurance programming are essential to what I do. And it takes me lots of time to build skills in those areas. So I have to spend quite a bit more time than the average guy testing out what works and what doesn't.

So just because I recommend a specific client do a 20:00 workout with 10lbs. dummbells doesn't mean that's what I do everyday. :)

Here's what I did yesterday:

workout 1

L-sits: 10x 0:06

Tucks: 10x 0:06

Dips: 10, 10, 10

Pullups: 10, 7, 7

KB Clean and Press 20kg: Alt. 12, 14, 14

Double Kb rows 2x20kg: 12, 12, 12

KB chest press 24kg: 10/10x3

workout 2

20:00 jump rope no rest

I do two workouts a day because I maximize EPOC that way. EPOC= excess post-exercise oxygen consumption. Basically your body continues to burn calories after a serious workout and the maximum benefit from EPOC comes from doing two sessions a day. So I'm maximizing my calorie burn. Also breaking it up helps me control the lactic acid a bit better. Long, intense workouts generate more lactic acid than my body can handle. As the process continues, my uric acid levels go up -- not good for a gout guy like me. Two sessions a day keeps that under control. 

One important note about workout #2. Steve Cotter told us during the IKFF cert that doing reps can really limit your abilities. What happens is that you get this number in your head and then once you start getting to that number, your body starts backing off. You actually are limiting what your body can do.

I've noticed this in my rope jumping -- an exercise I like very much. I usually rope jump as active rest or a warmup and I do sets of 200 continuous jumps. But I noticed that even after 6 straight months, those 200 jumps were about all I could do continuously and that didn't make sense to me.

So yesterday, I just set a timer for 20:00 and sure enough, I did it all the way through. I didn't count reps but just kept going. Counting reps had really limited my ability. So going for time took the brakes off. Try it out for yourself.