I have not really worked out since about April, 2015. Those of you who know me will be stunned by that but those of you from my former gym know that I essentially dropped off the map last spring.
My work and travel schedule was such that I had neither the time nor the energy to hit it properly. Bad approach I know, but that's the approach I took.
So now I need to get back in it.
Our permanent place in Nolensville won't be ready to move in until the end of April.
Until then we will live with our daughter and her family about 10 minutes away. I don't know if I will join any kind of gym down there or not. It won't be CrossFit if I do, unless I could possibly find just the right place that could tolerate my modified approach and basically let me do my own thing. That's unlikely but you never know.
There are some "ironhead" gyms in Nashville that have some appeal to me but that's also not really me in the long haul. If I could find the right boxing gym I would go that route for awhile, I love boxing conditioning and a little ring time would be fun for an old guy. There are plenty of standard gyms and rec centers but I have to get in to them and actually see what kind of equipment they have.
I still toy with the idea of opening something on my own. I haven't given up on the idea yet.
It would be called Independent Thinkers Gym. Pretty original huh? In other words it would be owned by an Independent Thinker and only Independent Thinkers would be allowed to join.
We would have to interview each other first. There would be no contracts. You would pay weekly, in cash. I think all the e-commerce stuff has removed an important component from commercial transactions, the part where buyer and seller look each other in the eye and agree that they are reaching a fair deal.
So every Monday you would stand in front of me and we would both decide if it was worth spending another week in the gym together. If you think not you don't offer the money. If I think not I don't take it.
I would tell you everything you want to know about my opinions on conditioning. You decide what you like or don't like, what you want to do and don't want to do, and what your goals are.
I'm not your Dad.
I'm not your cult leader.
You are an independent thinker.
This is America.
Make some decisions.
I am here to help you get done what YOU decide you want to get done.
Think Right. Train Right. Eat Right. I think those are the key components and they should occur in that order. Eating only gets fixed after your mind and body start to feel good enough to do something about it.
But in the meantime I need to get my own sorry ass doing something so here's the approach to start.
A lift, a strongman event, and some version of interval training 3-4 days per week. Add in some extended walks. Do as much outside as possible.
I have some weights but no rack so heavy squats are out as are heavy deadlifts. That's ok, lots of other stuff I can do.
An example workout would be strict presses, farmers carry, and hill sprints.
I love strict presses. They are great for the shoulders of course but the whole torso as well. They're rarely done and rarely taught, except in CrossFit gyms, for which Glassman deserves all due credit.
I should really say carries instead of farmer's carry. Any carry of any object qualifies, just vary the weight and the distance.
My daugher lives halfway down a hill. I would estimate it to be 50 yards or so up to the stop sign. Sprint up, walk down, repeat.
I have a 48lb. weight vest that comes in handy.
I probably need to buy a sled.
I have the pulling hardness already.
I'm also going to restart the Turkish get ups. What an absolutely underutilized strength building exercise. It's so simple to do but most people don't even know what it is. You can do low weight high reps, or go for one 1RM, just like any other lift. It will give you a real lesson on balance and the difference between your dominant and non dominant sides.
That will get me started. We will see what happens from there. The gym thing I just don't know yet. It's too early to jump into something like that. But on the other hand......
KS
My work and travel schedule was such that I had neither the time nor the energy to hit it properly. Bad approach I know, but that's the approach I took.
So now I need to get back in it.
Our permanent place in Nolensville won't be ready to move in until the end of April.
Until then we will live with our daughter and her family about 10 minutes away. I don't know if I will join any kind of gym down there or not. It won't be CrossFit if I do, unless I could possibly find just the right place that could tolerate my modified approach and basically let me do my own thing. That's unlikely but you never know.
There are some "ironhead" gyms in Nashville that have some appeal to me but that's also not really me in the long haul. If I could find the right boxing gym I would go that route for awhile, I love boxing conditioning and a little ring time would be fun for an old guy. There are plenty of standard gyms and rec centers but I have to get in to them and actually see what kind of equipment they have.
I still toy with the idea of opening something on my own. I haven't given up on the idea yet.
It would be called Independent Thinkers Gym. Pretty original huh? In other words it would be owned by an Independent Thinker and only Independent Thinkers would be allowed to join.
We would have to interview each other first. There would be no contracts. You would pay weekly, in cash. I think all the e-commerce stuff has removed an important component from commercial transactions, the part where buyer and seller look each other in the eye and agree that they are reaching a fair deal.
So every Monday you would stand in front of me and we would both decide if it was worth spending another week in the gym together. If you think not you don't offer the money. If I think not I don't take it.
I would tell you everything you want to know about my opinions on conditioning. You decide what you like or don't like, what you want to do and don't want to do, and what your goals are.
I'm not your Dad.
I'm not your cult leader.
You are an independent thinker.
This is America.
Make some decisions.
I am here to help you get done what YOU decide you want to get done.
Think Right. Train Right. Eat Right. I think those are the key components and they should occur in that order. Eating only gets fixed after your mind and body start to feel good enough to do something about it.
But in the meantime I need to get my own sorry ass doing something so here's the approach to start.
A lift, a strongman event, and some version of interval training 3-4 days per week. Add in some extended walks. Do as much outside as possible.
I have some weights but no rack so heavy squats are out as are heavy deadlifts. That's ok, lots of other stuff I can do.
An example workout would be strict presses, farmers carry, and hill sprints.
I love strict presses. They are great for the shoulders of course but the whole torso as well. They're rarely done and rarely taught, except in CrossFit gyms, for which Glassman deserves all due credit.
I should really say carries instead of farmer's carry. Any carry of any object qualifies, just vary the weight and the distance.
My daugher lives halfway down a hill. I would estimate it to be 50 yards or so up to the stop sign. Sprint up, walk down, repeat.
I have a 48lb. weight vest that comes in handy.
I probably need to buy a sled.
I have the pulling hardness already.
I'm also going to restart the Turkish get ups. What an absolutely underutilized strength building exercise. It's so simple to do but most people don't even know what it is. You can do low weight high reps, or go for one 1RM, just like any other lift. It will give you a real lesson on balance and the difference between your dominant and non dominant sides.
That will get me started. We will see what happens from there. The gym thing I just don't know yet. It's too early to jump into something like that. But on the other hand......
KS
If you can do Turkish getups at your age ,Ken, that positively goes to prove you are in superior condition!
ReplyDeleteWe miss Strongman Saturdays with Ken! Thank you for the introduction to Crossfit and Strongman Ken workouts... you changed our views on fitness, that's for sure.
ReplyDelete