Workouts that work!

Hi guys,

Here again with some more advice on workouts. My particular goals are all about rehabilitation and so far it has been going great! My back is getting so much better amazingly quickly. Here is another workout I did the other day (note I'm not putting every workout up!):

Warm up

Jog 2 km
Mobility stretches

Main

Legs

TRX squats (really still warming up) 30 reps x 3 sets

Kettbell Front squats 2 x 24 kg 8 reps x 5 sets (+1 warm up set on lighter weights)

TRX one legged squats 5 reps x 2 sets (each leg)

At this point my legs were well and truly toasted!

Back

Dead-lift

60kg x 10 reps
100kg x 6 reps
140kg x 5 reps
144kg x 4 reps
145kg x 3 reps

Core

Turkish getup

3 x stability training with shoe
3 x 8kg
3 x 12kg

Plank

1min x 3

Cool down

Row 10mins
3 x tai chi 24 form
Full stretch

So notes on this one. Firstly, there is a big early emphasis on the legs. Lots of squatting is an essential part of this plan as:

1) It really gets your metabolism going and I want to loose weight
2) Squatting correctly will help my lower back recover (so far it has been doing wonders)
3) Squats are simply great functional training for martial artists, everything depends on the legs!
4) Kettlebell squats, front squat variations and one legged squats also build a killer core and balance

Then I threw in my first big dead-lift session of the year. Now this was good and bad. Good that I could do it, pain free for the first time. Bad that I am puny compared to pre-injury times. This is natural, but my one rep max used to be in the 220 kg area and I was easily clearing double body weight for reps. Oh well, just have to get back into it slowly and rebuild.

The getup was much better this time, doing the stability training is an absolute must. To do it, balance a shoe on your closed fist and perform the get up, nice and slow. This will absolutely make sure that your form is spot on and wobble free. For a video of a total boss doing a heavy get up see HERE

The final note is make sure you cool down and do a proper stretch. My stretch routine will feature in another post, it is an absolutely essential part of the workout especially when you have injuries.

Healthy lunches

Eating out can be hard when on a healthy eating plan, we suffer especially as ours is a low carb, high veg and fish program and most restaurants like to lay on the greasy, fatty, starchy and sugary. Xuan normally cooks enough food at dinner time for lunchboxes the next day, but occasionally we are out or don't cook (or I eat it all at dinner time! NOM NOM NOM XX). So, here are some lunchtime gems we have picked up so far in the time we have been going at this:

Picante: Mexican lunch

Mexican food is a favorite of mine, but wait I hear you shouting it’s all fried stuff with rice, cheese and bread! Well it doesn't have to be if you go in and order a box rather than a burrito. Then promptly ignore all offers of rice and cheese (along with sour cream and other sauces) load up on beans, shredded chicken, tonnes of salad and awesome homemade guacamole. It’s a pretty healthy way to get a decent meal for lunch. At about £5.80 (£1 extra for guacamole but totally worth it) it’s a great deal and definitely leaves you full. On top of this it is a family run business that hasn't sold out to the man. Check out this awesome burrito box:

Find them here: PICANTE 

Leon: Boss salads

Salads are mostly boring as hell (I agree…boo boring salads! XX) but every once in a while you find a few killer ones. Leon delivers the salads that leave you satisfied and food envy free. There is one around the corner from my office in Blackfriars so I have been stopping off a few times already! I'm a big fan of the sustainable mackerel salad, full of healthy fish oils. Find their menu here: LEON

More of these will appear as I grow ever hungrier!!

Mark

Another delicious healthy meal!

I just thought I would post this photo up, another awesome creation from Xuan Xuan's kitchen. I'm staying true to the diet and so far I'm also really enjoying it! Long may the enthusiasm last.

Description and recipe to follow from the master chef herself:

Marks cardio program

As one of the main goals of this health and fitness program is to get me to lose some weight, it is important to be burning more calories on a nearly daily basis, weights and body-weight training are all good but I think a general increase in my activity levels daily would be a great benefit.

So I’m cycling into work every day.  This equates to:

2 X 20 minutes cycling 5 X a week

I vary my pace, at the start of the week it’s a pretty high intensity sprint and might only take 15mins and at the end of the week when I’m knackered it’s a 25min gentle roll.

I’m also including some high intensity sessions, maybe 1-2 per week.  These will look something like this:

Skipping 3mins

Bodyweight circuit

Press-ups 10

Squats 10

Burpees 10

Lunges 10

Repeat 3-5times

Cool down stretch and some core work (plank)

I did one of these sessions this morning (and some time on the heavy bag) before my bike ride in! It was a killer, barely managed three rounds before I was totally out of breath.

I like both kinds of training, the cycle rides get the blood moving around your body and keep your metabolism up day to day. The high intensity stuff really gets your lungs moving air, encouraging that deep powerful breathing and generally gives quite quick gains in endurance. For martial artists its absolute essential to be doing this type of training (and most are!), as it more accurately reflects what happens in a fight; maximum effort with whole body movement for short periods of time. 

The dreaded starting weight post

So I thought about not doing this, but because one of my goals is straight up weight loss, I feel obligated to do some form of recording of my weight here.

January first I was 105.4kg, which is huge. It is the largest I have ever been and I'm not happy with it. This puts me in the obese category based on my BMI. Now I'm not the biggest fan of BMI as even at my peak of fitness it classed me as overweight and I haven't lost all of my muscle mass yet. Nevertheless, its bad news and cant be denied. I tend to be one BMI band above what I should be, so this puts me at least in the overweight category, so time to get to work!!!

I'm aiming to get down to 85kg but I'm not sure if this is possible during the three month period. I will be doing my best! All the support you can give would be much appreciated. (as a side note this weekend my Aussie friend David decided that he would deliberately eat and drink as much as possible to rub it in my face...cheers mate)

As of 6 days in I'm at 103.2kg which is a pretty solid start...lets see if I can keep it up.

First workout of the year

Here is my first workout of the year, I'm recovering from a lower back injury I suffered in training (taking a hard fall) at the end of last year so the aim of the game is to get my lower back, legs and core back up on form and then go from there. Core and rehabilitation are my first key goals. I also have a cardio program, but more on that another time!

Warmup

5km walk with wife in Greenwich followed by 1km jog

Main

Legs back and core

Squats 5 sets of 12 reps 40kg

Dead-lift 5 sets of 20 reps at 80kg

Chest

Dumbbell bench-press 3 sets of 12 reps at 2 x 22kg

Core

12kg Turkish get up (3 each side)

Core Superset (x2)

24 kg kettlebell swing 12 reps

24kg kettlebell low halos 10 reps both sides

24kg kettlebell sqauts 12 reps

Finisher superset (x2)

2 x 12kg kettlebell squat 12 reps

2 x 12kg kettlebell clean and press 12 reps

Cooldown

Tai Chi 24 form (1x)

Full body stretch

So there you go, I got through it but only just. I really wanted to do three of each of the supersets and I could barely wobble out my 24 posture form by the end of it (and getting up the stairs to the changing room was hard!!). There was a heavy emphasis on squats, which I really think are the king of exercises. I’m naturally much better at dead-lift, but I feel the squats really help the core, back and posture if done properly (doing lots of big dead-lifts is cool, but isn’t what I want for my back right now).

I threw the benchpress in there as a one off, next time I will leave it for another day. I was very unhappy with the Turkish getups. My form was a bit wobbly and I really wanted to do 3 to 5 reps. The Turkish getup is the king of core exercises, it is a technical beast but worth the effort to learn how to do. I think I will be dropping the weight down and getting my form spot on over the next week (maybe with a shoe balancing on my fist to keep the wobbles down). It's an exercise that really highlights your weaknesses, and I could feel the lower back injury causing me to loose strength in the middle part of the move.

All in all a pretty good first session back with a few specific things to address.

Mark

Xuan Xuans first post

Here is Xuan Xuan's first post:

First day of the new year, the fitness regime begins. I am never a big fan for sports, my record for 50m sprint is over 10 seconds, I know, quite pathetic. Nevertheless, with the help of my lovely husband, we come up with a moderate exercise plan specially designed for someone with zero endurance. The plan is 20min sessions on the spinning bike (a nice easy start, especially for someone who has a pathological hatred for running M) and some basic weights (a few basic exercises, low weight high rep to build up the fundamental strength M) I know it is not much, but for me it is a great start without the risk of putting me off exercise.

However, in the kitchen department (the other leg of our plan), I am a true master (whilst I am a total chump! M). I love food and cook everyday even if I finish really late at work. For me, kitchen is heaven and cooking is the best past time. So the only challenge is to cook healthy food. I have received a steamer from Father Christmas this year, and I have decided to put it into use. So for the next three months, the steamer will be very busy with providing us with lovely steamed seafood and vegetables (more exciting updates on food from XX to follow M).

Have a look at our first meal of the new year:

Steamed trout with ginger and spring onion

(The recipe for the trout is available here)

Grilled mushroom with garlic

Home-made salad tomato and avocado with Thai dressing

Looking forward to more updates!! 

Xuan Xuan