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We are halfway through Re-test Week for Cycle 18 – the last training cycle for 2018. If you’ve enjoyed success in the re-testing, please share in the comments! I’ll share one extraordinary achievement so far – Monica Martinez has made her way onto the leaderboard for Bench Press 1-rep max with a 3-rep max of 143 pounds. Way to go Monica!
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THURSDAY’S WORKOUT
RE-TEST
A) Tidal Volume Breathing Test:
Overhead Squat
B) 20 Minutes to find Heaviest Load:
1 Hang Snatch + 1 Snatch + 2 OHS
FRIDAY’S WORKOUT
RE-TEST
“Chelsea”
EMOM 30:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Air Squats
Your body is precious. It is your vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.
- Siddhartha Gautama
This quote is from the book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga by Deepak Chorpa and David Simon. In the past few months my yoga teacher training has had me reading a lot of books, as well as practicing breathing, postures and meditation. There has been a lot of talk about the mind and the control that it has over our actions, reactions and feelings. Most of our minds are insanely busy, with the cell phones, computers and endless streams of media, they don’t seem to quite down. And when we are aren’t on our devices, we might just be thinking, or overthinking a situation or how to do something. This battle of balance of thinking and non thinking is constant. This can be helped by quitting the mind.
Quieting the mind through breath is a wonderful way to bring attention out of the mind and into the body. We’ve been practicing it here in a variety of ways (breath class and regular class) and many of you have seen the benefits. Some of you are able to find this state in a workout, you’ve practiced a movement so much you don’t have to think about it, you can just find your flow. It’s a beautiful thing. Bringing more focus to breath while moving can help bring calmness, awareness and more efficiency to you body.
Quieting the mind through breath and sitting is another wonderful tool to connect with yourself. Find a quite space, look and focus inward. The more we connect with ourselves the freer we can be in life.
As we are in day three of Re test week- take a look at what you want to accomplish, what time or weight you want to beat, how you want to it to feel or look when you are doing it, then focus on the breath!
Wednesday’s Workout
Re-test Week
For time:
Run 1 Mile
50 DB Alt. Box Step-ups (50/35) (24/20)
Run 1 Mile
Thursday’s Workout
Re-test Week
A) Tidal Volume Breathing Test: Overhead Squat (12 minutes)
B) 20 Minutes to find Heaviest Load: 1 Hang Snatch + 1 Snatch + 2 OHS
THURSDAY – RUN CLASS
FT
1 mile Run
-rest 4mins.
800m Run
-rest 3mins.
400m Run
Hi All-
This Saturday, November 17th is my birthday!
Like most people, when my birthday approaches I tend to reflect on all the things that have happened in the last year. As well as come up with some ideas of things I would like to do and/or achieve in this coming year. Some of those may be personal, professional or from an athletic standpoint. All different, but all attainable.
With that being said, I challenge you all, to join me on this quest. Below you will find a few ideas that I have for you. Not only will they help you inside the gym, but I truly believe you will see a change over all.
1. Take a cold shower. Whether you finish off with just 30 seconds at the end or take an entire shower cold, it does make a difference. You’ll see changes in skin, hair, recovery and overall tolerance to weather changes.
2. Go Reusable: Invest in a portable coffee mug, buy reusable straws and bags. Whatever you can think of to help eliminate plastic usage.
3. Eat the Rainbow: For one week, try and have at least 3 different colors in every meal…or keep it simple, eat vegetables every meal!
4. Limit phone usage: Get outside, read a book and relax away from the screen. Get yourself into a parasympathetic state.
5. Step outside your comfort zone at the gym: If you typically only show up on the endurance based days or tend to go lighter on a workout just to finish, this is for you. Try and add that extra 5 pounds that you never do. Show up on a practice day, to work on your weaker movements. MOVEMENT CAPACITY AND WORK CAPACITY = A BAD ASS MF!! If you’re unsure what I just said, stay tuned.
6. Read one new book before the end of the year! 7 weeks left (that’s plenty of time).
7. Get to know one new person at the gym!
Yes, I know we all tend to go to the same class times. But if you see someone you don’t know, say hi. Welcome them. If you go on the weekend, try and partner up with someone you haven’t worked out with before. This is a very easy way to get to know the community.
8. Self Care: There are 24 hours in a day. There is no reason, one of those hours can’t be all about you…or spread it out throughout the day. Stay ahead of those aches and pains. I like to refer to this as maintenance. You’ll never get away from your body. Listen to it. Be proactive. I wish I could say that all you need from a self care or maintenance standpoint is for you to come to class, that’s just not true. YOU GOTTA START DOING THIS S**T ON YOUR OWN!! #healthyhabits
9. Set your alarm 15-20 minutes earlier than you normally do. Take this time to read, breathe, stretch. Anything that helps your day start off smoother and slower.
10. Be Kind! We could use a lot of more that in our would.
Retest Week
Tuesday
A) Bench Press
Find a 3-rep max (20 minutes)
B) Sumo Deadlift
Find a 1-rep max (20 minutes)
Wednesday
For time:
Run 1 Mile
50 DB Alt. Box Step-ups (50/35) (24/20)
Run 1 Mile
Monday’s Workout
Re-Test
A) 8 Rounds :20:10 (Tabata)
Row (meters) @ Gear 3 Breath
— Rest 6 minutes —
B) For time:
Row 500m
Tuesday’s Workout
Re-Test
A) Bench Press
Find a 3-rep max
(20 minutes)
B) Sumo Deadlift
Find a 1-rep max
(20 minutes)
Be the reason someone still believes in the goodness of people.
Friday’s Workout
Practice
EMOM 10:
6 Overhead Squats (50% of 1RM Snatch)
Rest 2mins
EMOM 8:
7 BB Floor Press (50% of 1RM Snatch)
Rest 2mins
EMOM 6:
8 DB Reverse Lunges (alt) (Quality Load)
Rest 2mins
EMOM 6:
6-8 Strict Chin-ups
Monday’s Workout
RETEST WEEK!
A) 8 Rounds :20:10 (Tabata)
Row (meters) @ Gear 3 Breath
— Rest 6 minutes —
B) For time:
Row 500m
I have started reading Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and though I am only a few pages into it, I am blown away by how profound a work it is. The book explores the question: When do people feel most happy? Csikszentmihalyi figures if we can answer that question then maybe we can order our lives so that happiness plays a larger role in it.
I’ll share more from the book in the coming weeks, but as we conclude the last practice week of the cycle and prepare for re-test week I’ll leave you with this: “The best moments,” Csikszentmihalyi writes, “usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”
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THURSDAY’S WORKOUT
COMPETITION
“Bubba”
For time (12-minute cap):
9 Cleans (135/95)
18 Bar Facing Burpees
6 Cleans
12 Bar Facing Burpees
3 Cleans
6 Bar Facing Burpees
6 Cleans
12 Bar Facing Burpees
9 Cleans
18 Bar Facing Burpees
Rest 4 minutes, then
Find a heavy 3-rep Back Squat (10-minute cap)
FRIDAY’S WORKOUT
FINAL PRACTICE DAY OF CYCLE 18
EMOM 10:
6 Overhead Squats (50% of 1RM Snatch)
Rest 2 mins
EMOM 8:
7 Barbell Floor Press (same weight)
Rest 2 mins
EMOM 6:
8 Barbell Alternating Reverse Lunges (same weight)
Rest 2 mins
EMOM 6:
6-8 Strict Chin-ups
SxB=R is a very practical formula I refer to as a way to help myself and others align behaviors with desired outcome (s) (result). Moreover, this formula takes into account how a desired outcome is influenced by context (situation).
Let’s consider this formula as it pertains to our programming (practice, competition, and mental toughness days) at Oak Park.
| Situation | Behavior | Result |
| Practice | Pace: Slow/systematic; Priority: Task, process, goal oriented | LEARN |
| Competition | Pace: Fast/spontaneous; Priority: Outcome, ego oriented | TEST |
| Mental Toughness | Pace: Depends on student Priority: Goal oriented specific to the challenge |
CHALLENGE |
Notice that the primary desired outcome for each of the contexts is different. This does NOT imply that practice days can’t be challenging nor does it imply that you cannot learn something valuable on a competition day. The point is that in order for you to get the most out of the context, you have to understand the main purpose of the context, i.e., the WHY.
Why do we practice? We practice, so that we can learn. The learning is often specific to the contents of that day and specific to the growth needs of the student.
Why do we compete? We compete, so that we can test our abilities and capacities against others and/or against a previous version of ourselves. While the gray area of process is important, so is the black/white of measuring one’s ability very specifically with hard numerics, e.g., how much weight did you lift versus how did the technique of that lift look (more valuable question on a practice day).
It can be more difficult for people to understand the difference between a mental toughness day and a competition day. Therefore, I find this definition helpful: Mental toughness is about purposefully digging yourself into a hole to see how well you can get out of it. Pragmatically, on a competition day, it would not make any sense to dig yourself into a hole because you are trying to “win”. This nuance is important because it helps to understand why we program mental toughness days the way we do, AND how you can get more out of mental toughness days by being more deliberate about how you choose to behave in the workout that is most aligned with challenging yourself.
The context of a workout refers to WHAT, the associative, desired outcome refers to WHY, and the behaviors are HOW you go about achieving that desired outcome.
There are an infinite number of behaviors that can be considered, especially when taking into account the infinite ways a workout can be designed. What I have done in the chart above is give you two main filters of behavior (priority and pace). Again, just like how practice days aren’t only intended for you to learn something, the priority and pace listed for practice, competition, and mental toughness days are NOT ALWAYS appropriate given the workout but, for the most part, they are the behaviors best in service of honoring the primary desired outcome–learn, test, or challenge.
When the desired outcome is learning, it is most fitting to prioritize the task and process specific to the goal of that practice day, and, often, the best way to do that is for your pace of movement to be slower and more systematic.
Whereas, when it comes time to testing yourself, get out of your head, and just move, i.e., allow yourself to behave more fast and spontaneously.
I wrote “depends” for the pace on mental toughness days. The reason being is that what is challenging for you may not be challenging for someone else. For instance, some of you struggle with “putting the pedal to the metal”; therefore, it will be more appropriately challenging for those of you on a mental toughness day to move fast. Whereas, others struggle moving slower or even holding positions for a longer period of time; therefore, going fast would be the path of least resistance and not nearly as challenging.
My hope is that this formula S x B=R and thinking about each day of training in terms of What, Why, and How helps you to 1) see each day of programming as being much more intentional than just exercises to be checked off, and 2) gives you a more strategic and tactical sense of how to approach workouts given the context of the day. In part 2 of this post, I will dive into considering the intersection between the external context of the day (practice, competition, mental toughness) and your internal, personally relevant context.
Tuesday
Practice
A) 5 RFQ :40:20
Sumo Deadlifts @ 50-65%
Jump Rope (Gear 2)
B) 5 RFQT:
12 DB Front Squats (50/35) (G4/G5)
Run 300m (G3)
C) Reflect
Wednesday
Practice
A) QAMRAP 10:
3 Strict Pullups, 6 Kipping Pullup
3 Tempo Pushups (3-2-1), 6 Plyo/Reg Pushups
250m Row (Around 22 SR), 250m (Above 25 SR)
B) 3×3 Floating Snatch Pull
C) 3×3 Low Hang Snatch High Pull
D) 4x 1 Hang Snatch, 1 Snatch, 2 OHS
Monday’s Workout
Mental Toughness
A) AMRAP
Teams of 2 or 3
12 TTB
60 DU
24 KBS (24/16)
B) AB for Cals with partner
Tuesday’s Workout
Practice
A) 5 RFQ :40:20
Sumo Deadlifts @ 50-65%
Jump Rope (Gear 2)
B) 5 RFQT:
12 DB Front Squats (50/35) (G4/G5)
Run 300m (G3)
C) Reflect
My half marathon trail race last Saturday through Oakland Hills Redwood Park offered some of the most beautiful scenery I had ever seen. A rich dirt path, where arcing roots surfaced and dove back below, was lined with lazy ferns and towering Redwoods that made each part of the trail feel intimate. This was my first half marathon and I couldn’t have been more thrilled to do it on a trail in Northern California.
The first nine miles felt amazing. When hills got steep, I stuck to my plan to power walk up and run on flats, downhills, and slight inclines. During that first nine, I couldn’t believe I was about to crush my first half exactly how I wanted.
But after nine, things started to fall apart.
My first mistake was that I forgot my camelback at home. I imagine all destination races can notoriously be a venue of things forgotten. On the race website, they boasted many aid stations along the way, which eased the inclination to kick myself. During training, I never ate much before a run because I have a …. sensitive stomach when it comes to running. Shyly, I had asked the race director, “What if you have to go to the bathroom during the route?” I was informed there were a couple campsite bathrooms along the way. “Or jump behind a tree,” he said. So, mistake number two was that I didn’t fuel myself hardly at all before the race.
There were not many aid stations along the way as boasted. This is directly related to mistake number three: not fueling enough during the race.There were, in fact, two aid stations; one at mile six and one at mile nine. I ate three-fourths of a banana in total and a couple cups of water. I contemplated drinking their electrolyte concoction, but I was imagining how my stomach would protest in the most humiliating of ways so I declined. Rounding the corner from the aid station, the next mile started as a ridiculous hill that caused my jaw to slack when seeing it. There were three huge hills in this race. The mile-seven hill I handled pretty well, but looking at the wall confronting me after mile nine I thought, “Welp, one foot in front of the other, Rivera.” The hill finally eased after a mile, but by then I was starting to have an Uh-Oh moment. I settled into a jog, but my energy was drained. I decided that by sheer will alone I was going to get through the last hill, which was a straight-up ascent starting at the eleven and a half mark. Joy has to be good for a mile or so, no?
But here’s the deal: As mentally tough as I like to consider myself, my mind couldn’t fully compensate for a real physiological bonk. Starting up that last hill, I couldn’t believe I couldn’t force my legs to move faster. I began feeling lightheaded with tunnel vision. “F*#k!” I yelled at my feet. A couple runners passed me, which pissed me off more. “What’s my problem?” I thought. I stopped and looked at the trees. I asked for help from Nature, the goddesses, from my inner effing self. I thought that would give me a boost, but it didn’t.
A photographer who was perched on a huge tree stump primed to document runners’ misery, taunted us as we struggled. I was not in the mood for that. I think he realized I was having a tough time and he hopped off the stump to walk with me and talk to me for about eight hundred meters. Nature had sent me help after all.
I crossed the finish line much later than I had hoped feeling like shit. Mina was there, thank god, and she handed me an orange soda. She knew to give me the soda because everyone who had crossed the finish line before me ranted about how brutal the course had been and how they needed sugar or salt immediately. When I downed the soda, I felt immediately better. I thought to myself, “Oh.” I ALMOST wanted to redo that last part so I didn’t feel like it had got the best of me.
I totally disrespected my fuel for my first big race. I had not underestimated the training, the cross training, the mobility, or recovery. But I had not spent any time dialing in fuel. Me of all people!
My husband used to ask our daughters, “Do you want to learn things the easy way or the hard way? Up to you.” I obviously picked the hard way last Saturday. But I’m excited to figure out my race nutrition, and I can’t wait to try it all again.
Friday’s Workout
Competition
5k Row FT – Leader Board Time!
***PLEASE JOIN US FOR A FREE PERFORMANCE BREATH CLASS ON FRIDAY FROM 12:00-12:30PM***
Saturday’s Workout
Leaderboard Day!
Followed by a Bondsy-Q
$10 to go toward Westside Food Bank for Thanksgiving
$10 to go toward the BBQ, all to Bondsy.
Sunday’s Workout
20 MIN EMOM–You choose what you play with
ODD MIN: A movement (user’s choice)
EVEN MIN: A different movement (user’s choice)
Monday’s Workout
Mental Toughness
A) AMRAP
Teams of 2 or 3
12 TTB
60 DU
24 KBS (24/16)
B) AB for Cals with partner