Back on the grind

Wow, I've been slacking a bit on the posts here. Well, I definately have not been slacking on the workouts. In fact, I've really ramped them up a bit and am adding a few more training days to my weeks now. a lot has been going on, so intensifying the training has helped to release a lot of tension. I will post the workouts for this week and today in this post. I've been focusing more on medleys more this past twp weeks, due to time contraints and the holidays. In other words.....there's no excuse not to get your training in....just readjust...improvise...but get it done!


12/11/05

Cycle 1: Each done right after the other for one complete cycle w/ 90 secs rest for 3 total cycles

1. Ab Wheel Roll outs (x 10)
2. Burpees w/ 10 lb Med ball (x 10)
3. Sandbag Military Press (26 lbs) (x 10)
4. Shadowboxing (1 minute)

Cycle 2: Each done right after the other w/ 60 secs rest in between each set
1. standard push ups (x 25)
2. push ups on fists (x 25)
3. diamond push ups (x 25)
4. staggered push ups (x 25)


12/14/05

I was a little amped up this day, because I got the results from my yearly exam with the good Dr. marrie. My cholesterol was 134, my triglycerides were 48, thyroid was at 1.5 and everything was good or excellent. Hell yeah, outside of getting hit by a bus, I shouldn't be dying anytime soon...woo hoo! this is how I celebrated the good news.

warm up: jump rope (100 x 3)

Each done right after the other for one complete cycle w/ 60 secs rest for 4 total cycles

1. Straight Jabs on Heavy Bag - 1 min
2. Burpees x 10
3. jump rope x 200



12/15/05

I was a little pressed on time today, so I got in this little quickie....

Each done right after the other for one complete cycle w/ 30 secs rest for 5 total cycles

1. Push Ups (x 10)
2. Plank Raise (x 10)


12/16/05

1. Jump rope 3 x 3 min
2. Jabs on Heavy bag 3 x 3 min
3. Elevated Diamond Push ups (nonstop for 90 secs)

(1 minute of rest between each rep/2 minute rest in between each exercise set)

Sports Entertainment...At What Cost?

Eddie Guerrero
1967-2005
Rest In Peace








I'll admit it. I've been a fan of professional wrestling for most of my life. I grew up in a household where you loved all things Dallas Cowboys and wrestling Southern family dynasty, The Von Ericks. I also grew up watching Chavo and Eddie Guerrero. Thus, when Eddie died last Monday, November 15, from heart failure, it felt strange, yet oh so familiar.

It will be strange not to see him every Friday night on Smackdown...no more "Latino Heat," no more "Lying, Cheating, & Stealing," no more "Lowriders." Yes, pro wrestling is entertainment; however, the beating these guys put on their bodies (inside and out) each day and night, is real...all for the sake of entertainment. Years of addiction, stressful working conditions, hardcore training in order to remain one of the top tier stars in the WWE, and just plain old "hard living," finally cause Eddie's heart to fail, as such conditions have done to many young professional wrestlers in the past few years.

No matter how you may feel about the sport, there are a great many kids out there aspiring to be like these modern day "Gladiators," who beat the crap out of each other (scripted ot not) simply for our enjoyment. As Russel Crowe's character in Gladiator, Maxximus, would ask, "Are you not entertained?" So many of these athletes go on stage night after night, peforming with all sort of debilitating injuries, but use drugs such as pain killers continuously, in order to keep performing in fear of losing their jobs, or star status, due to taking time out to heal. Such behavior is not just limited to the world of professional wrestling, yet transcends to other pro sports such as football, baseball, etc.).

Is this what we want for our future young athletes? Like it or not, especialy if you are in the good old U.S. of A., there is probably a kid or teen close to you, who desires to be a sports star. Why? Because that's who the majority of we Americans love and place in the limelight. What child wouldn't want to grow up and be a star? However, at what price is it worth for a young athlete to be considered a star, and remain as such, according to our high standards as ticket-buying fans? Instead of trying to create the next Jerry Rice, Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson, or Mark McGwire, we need to emphasize to our young athletes to just practice and learn as much about there skills and technique as possible, stop looking for the easy way out by using performance enhancing drugs, get ample rest, eat right, let injuries heal, and most of all, just have fun.

Athletes, such as Eddie Guerrero, should not have to die at such an early age in order to satisfy our thirst for insatiable sports entertainment. Yes, most of these athletes are grown men and are able to make there own choices. However, there are teens and kids who look up to and emulate these athletes, and think that these addictions are the only way they "will make it." So as another young athlete is somewhere injecting Roids in their behinds, or popping pain killers in order to play injured as to not lose their starting position, for the sake of keeping you, the fan, screaming in the stands; ask yourself, "Are you not entertained?"

Today's Quick 20 min workout:

1. Burpees: 3 x 10
2. Mountain Climbers: 5 x 20
3. Rollouts : 3 x 10
4. Sandbag Front & Back Lunge (31lb bag): 2 x 10 each leg
5. Stability Ball Push Ups 2 x 15

Plus, mowed and raked the lawn for an hour this morning. I also added 20 minutes of chasing my Jack Russell (or would it be Jane Russell since she's a female?) around the backyard for 20 extra minutes. (chasing her is always a good workout!)



Mi perrito says, "Bring it on muchacho grande!"

Holiday Tip Of The Day

Holiday Tip #2

Don't skip meals!

We all have been there. You know, waking up on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day (or whatever your festive holiday of choice), and deciding you were not going to eat until all of the food was ready, for fear of not having an appetite by the time the festive meal was served.

Big mistake....because once you sit down to eat with an empty stomach, 4-6 hours after waking up, you are just setting yourself up to define the term "pig out!" Eating one big festive meal, plus a load of desserts afterwards, is a recipe for disaster in regards to your fitness program.

Wake up early enough to have a big, balanced/healthy breakfast composed of a lean protein (eggs, fat-free or reduced fat milk, lean meat), fiberous carbohydrate (i.e. whole grain cereal, or oatmeal), and a serving of fruits or veggies.

If your festive meal will not be ready within 3-4 hours after breakfast, eat a small snack for lunch such as fat-free or low fat yogurt, a serving of fruit with a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter, or a salad full of various greens with a tablespoon of olive oil.

In doing this, you insure that your metabolism does not slow down, which can lead to fat storage, as well as a reduction in energy. Oh, you thought "tryptophan" was the reason your felt so sleepy after your big holiday meal....bah, humbug!

It's because you starved yourself for most of the day, and overly stressed your digestive system by craming a plate-full of turkey and dressing (not to mention seconds), various slices of cake and pie, and egg nog, all in one sitting. Don't forget the random nibbling everytime you pass by the kitchen in the aftermath of your stuffing spree. It's no wonder your stomach is tired. Therefore, when the old gut is tired, guess who's next?

Just remember to keep your metabolism going by continuing to do what you do on a daily basis, eating small frequent meals. Once the festive meal is served, instead of doubling up on the stuffing and rolls, double up on the veggies, and let your source of lean protein (don't forget to remove the skin and fat) be the basis of your meal.

Once you've finished eating, wait a couple of hours (typically, by the time the football game ends), grab a few family members and take a walk together, in order to burn off some of those unwanted calories. This is the perfect time to catch up, reflect, and reconnect. Isn't that what the holidays are really about anyway?

Raising Your Expectations

One of the cats over at USC.com, the boys from Diesel Crew, posted a great quote from Elitefts.com's Jim Wendler that I would like to share here.
"Raise our expectations"...and great things will happen." - Nuff said.....

Healthy Holiday Tip

When shopping at the mall, park as far from the front door as possible. Better yet, to add more to that calorie burning shopping spree, skip the elevators and/or escalators, and take the stairs. If you shop as much and as long as my wife does, you will burn a lot of calories doing the one thing you love. Isn't that what a good workout plan should be about anyway?

If you think I'm twisted....

If you think some of my workouts are twisted, peep how my boys over at Underground Strength Coach get down. Just click the image.

Juan meets Pebbles

Here's one of my latest clients, and friend, Juan Romero. Juan is an amateur boxer, 19 years old, and soon, will be kicking mucho culo en el cuadrilatero (boxing ring). On this day, he was getting his first taste of "Pebbles," our favorite homemade sandbag.

Yesterday, I had about 20 minutes in between my Fitcamp classes to get a quick workout in at the park, so here's the result.

1. Hill Sprints w/ backpeddle on descend x 5
2. Slow uphill/downhill Sandbag (26 lbs) OH carry x 3
3. Med Ball (10 lbs) OH Squat and Smash 10 x 5
4. Med ball (10 lbs) chest pass/grab repeat Hill sprints w/ med ball extended backpeddle on descend sprints x 3

Yes, the heart was on fire, as well as the rest of my body, but I loved this one. I will definitely add something like this about once a week to add variety to my conditioning days for the next few weeks. A workout like this will definitely burn calories and distract you from stressful situations, like my Astros getting swept by the Whitesox. Oh well, I still love my Stros. As for the other baseball team lovers out there hating, at least my boys made it to the big Fall dance...despite their date being a mean, dominating chick named Chicago...lol... If you want to get down with your own workouts like this, give me a shout by clicking here.

Sincere~

When life gives you lemons.....

Ah, just finished a cool workout, old school style. Before I log what I did, I must set up the reason for this 20 minute beauty. You see, as I prepared to leave and start my 7 PM Fitcamp, I put the old keys in my car, and guess what....she decides not to start. What a sour way to end such a beautiful day. Today is the first time temperatures remained lower than 70, and not an ounce of Houston heat. Thus, I was more than ready to push my 7 PM Fitcamp to the limit. However, my car saw otherwise. After a quick call, long apology, and solo workout instructions for my Fitcampers, let's just say I was a little "agg' (Texas slang for aggravated!). Oh well, there's no use to letting a cool, breezy night go to waste, so time to pull out the old 10 lb sledge and put a whooping on an old tire. Suffice it to say, the workout was killer, and yes, my car still won't start. I figure it's one or two things. Either, it's finally time to replace my spark plugs, or .....I'm out of gas.....If it's the latter, it's definitely time to get my gas gauge fixed and/or get a Vespa! As always, there is always a bright side to a bad situation. You either let life beat you, or smack it up side the head with a sledgehammer. Here's the workout and a few photos of how this workout looks in the day. Enjoy.

Sincero~

Diagonal Sledgehammer Swings on Tire (Left & Right) - 3 x 10 (1 minute rest in between each set)

Superset of the following:

Hindu Squats: 1x50, 1x40, 1x30, 1x20. 1x10
Overhead Sledgehammer Swings: 1x30, 1x25, 1x20, 1x15, 1x10

rest= 30 seconds after each superset

My apologies...

Ok. I got a little side-tracked last month, thanks to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita affecting the area I live in. However, now I am back. During the drama of packing things up, I now cannot find my weight and bodyfat progress from the past 3 months. I will continue to look. In the meantime, during the drama of both storms, I managed to lose a couple of pounds. I just hope it was not at the expense of any hard earned muscle. I do remember during September's weigh in, I gained 3 or 4 pounds of muscle. Despite, not being for sure, I am treating this month's program as if I did lose muscle, as well as weight. Thus, I will be busting my ass with some hardcore strength training and conditioning. I know I need to get back on track with my meals. However, when evacuating a hurricane, it's kind of hard to stick with chicken breasts, fresh veggies, and sweet potatoes. No worries. I am back on it now. My program pretty much consists of 3 days of conditioning, and 4 days of resistance training. My goal is to get my bodyfat down to 13 % this month. It's current;y at 15.24%. My weight, at the time I measured myself on 10/02/05 was at 180. Lean body mass is at 152.57 with a resting heart rate of 71 (which may be off by a few since I had to go back and forth upstairs prior to measuring myself). My RHR is usually around 58-60. However, I have backed off the long cardio, in favor of a couple of 10-15 minute sprint sessions each week. I definitely love sprints. It's just the old school track training in me, I guess.

What's Up

Well, after taking a few years hiatus from blogging, I decided to come back. A lot has changed since I last utilized this program. I'm no longer as involved with the music industry as I used to be, It was becoming too unhealthy for me. As a matter of fact, I ballooned to nearly 215 pounds because of it. On that note, I changed career paths to the fitness industry. Thus, I am happy to say I am now 185 pounds, and 30 lbs. lighter than I was 2 years ago. During the process I became a certified fitness trainer and health & fitness consultant. You can find out more information about my fitness company at JoshOne Fitness.

I created this blog; however, to track my personal fitness regimine online and drop some of my health & fitness gems on yall every now and then. Therefore, you can have a look into how I train myself. Don't worry, this will not turn into some boring infomercial testimonial spot, but for those of you who know me, know there will be plenty of comedy, sarcasm, irony, and so forth....in other words, I plan on being just good old....me. If I offend some of you with "my charming wit," please don't hold it against me. It's all love.....lol.

Sincere~

Did I look uncomfortable or what? Yes, that's me, the puff-boy on the left....
Here's a little "Then & Now" action (in other words "Before & After")
























As of May, 2005, this is were I am. I will upload the June & July updates soon.