5 rounds x:
10 SA Swings L (24kg KB)
10 SA Swings R (24kg KB)
10 Push-ups

Execution:
-start timer
-execute first movement/reps
-at :30, begin second movement
-at 1:00, begin third movement
-at 1:30, repeat

Continuous through five rounds.

Totals:
7 min 30 sec
100 swings
50 push-ups

Sugar on top:
5 reps x:
-TRX Side Plank L
-TRX Side Plank R
-TRX Body Saw
-TRX Chest Press (shallow angle)
-TRX Lunge L
-TRX Lunge R
-TRX Low Row
-TRX High Biceps Curl
-TRX Reverse Biceps Curl

Live Alive.

DRILLit.

Small bites big flavor.

Sat 9-10-11
20 min total
Trx mobility
53# kb 70 paces carries on r and l:
Farmer
Waiter
Overhead
3 x 10 (53# kb swing and pushup
3×10 35# kb SA lateral swings r and l

Live Alive. Drill It.

Direct from the hog butcher to the world – a little saturday getsum
Aerodyne – 5min, 1min intervals hard/easy/hard/easy/hard
20 lunges, 10 wall squats x 2
20 diprack knee-2-chest, 5 dips x2
5 25#db heromakers, 5 pullups x2
5 35#kb goblet squat, 5 35#kb elevated russian twist x3
10L/10R 35#kb snatch x2
20 35#kb swing x3
drillit

Okay so it’s been a minute since a brain dump from the Drill it HQ. Rest assured the legions have been breathing fire.

Through the emerald gates to the East, C4, aka the Cause For Alarm, spits flames while on the rugged shores of the South EMP kicks down for the get down.

Out in the Golden Gate fog, HQ is in the midst of active rest after a hard block that follows months of experimentation striving to find the perfect balance between raw strength, power, and on-bike magically delicious anaerobic and aerobic fitness + bike skills.

More on that experiment to come, at length. It’s a delicate dance.

Todays’ get-up-and-go, brought to you by Dial Soap, the letter V, and the number 3:

GPP Run and Gun:
Loaded carries, each set unilateral L, then R, first 70 paces clutching 25# sandbag then second set 70 paces with 53# KB as follows:
Farmer’s carries
Waiter’s carries
Overhead carries

Between each 25#/53# set:
10 x 53# KB swing
10 x push-up

Then an hour of casual offroad riding on road bike with flat pedals and 20# pack, because that’s what HQ had to lug around for some pre-ride bike surgery on TV’s new rig and to haul (organic, locally grown, fraiche) produce home from the Haight/Stanyan farmer’s market.

Active rest, #comecorrect #drillit y’all.

Christmas eve trip to 24 Hour Fitness (again) for a cardio strength/metcon trip to the pain cave. Peace on Earth and goodwill to all firebreathers. Merry xmas.

WOD elapsed time: 50 minutes:

PROTOCOL:
Trx warmup (12 minutes total) (all x 10 reps/movement/(and per side on unilateral movements):
-chest stretch
-windmill
-hip hinge offset
-SL hip hinge
-fig 4 squat
-xovr lunge
-side lunge
-Golf Swing/T-spine rotation
-runner getup

Completed following in 10 min:
Trx (all x 10/mvmnt/side):
Leg lift
Windshield Wiper
Low back
Power pull
Sprinter start
Ham/hip press
Trx lunge (bth sides)

+
10 x trx bicep curls
10 x trx tri press

12 min for following
(All moves x 10 reps. 2 full circuits, one w oly bar + 20 #s (total), one w just oly bar, no break btwn circuits)
Weight circuit:
-ft squat
-deadlift
-push press
-hang clean
-db swing
-RDL

10 min c2 tabata (thx fraserquelch for awesome c2 form tips) 1 min on/30 sec off, ouch

That’s Santa taking a ride on HQ’s bicep on a TRX high bicep curl.

Live Alive.

DRILLit.

Busted this one on my nephew tonight.  he hung in there w 15#dbs

50 jacks
25 squat
15 air squat

3×6 burpie
10 heromaker 25#db

2 rounds, 16 min.

drillit

HQ finished packing and cleaning the digs at 1 a.m. the previous night, up at 0410 to head to OAK airport to jump on a plane to Kansas City, MO (that’s fuckin Missouri, not Kansas, thanks) to celebrate Christmas with the HQ family.

Off the plane at 1 p.m., freezing ass cold outside. Quick trip to Oklahoma Joe’s, world’s best bbq for pulled pork sandwich and ribs (take that paleo bitches). Shortly thereafter, in search of WOD options in 20 degree temps, borrowed younger bro’s (expired it turned out) 24 Hour Fitness membership card and headed to the local mall to get nasty in the Globo.

Wow. Have not been in a normal ‘gym’ in a long time, and it was shocking to walk in and see literally hundreds of weight and cardio machines of all sorts and zombies either 1. ‘bodybuilding’ with nonfunctional movements (personal favorites I saw: wrist curls, behind the back heavy oly bar shrugs, and the classic balancing on a bosu ball with 5 # dumbbell deal with a personal trainer watching) or 2. watching TV while pumping elliptical machines etc. Everywhere I looked, I saw people who were headed for injuries and pain from executing nonfunctional exercises incorrectly. Oh well. One day, they’ll all train a better way.

As for HQ, I headed to the single squat rack in the entire 10,000-square-foot facility (no joke), anchored my gen 1 TRX Professional model to the rack, warmed up, then hit the TRX and Oly wod below. It was challenging to work with the octagonal weights and low-grade bar, but whatever. It was weight and it worked.

Didn’t use super heavy weight. Tired and a bit destroyed from heavy work/life/training obligations recently, just wanted to grease the groove, keep the CNS dialed in and the motor patterns for my primary lifts dialed in. Stomped at the bottom of every squat/deadlift movement, a tip I picked up from @trxprofessor Chris Frankel that has been a huge help with squatting efficacy.

Total time for WOD: 1 hr 15 min.

Wod:
Trx wu (all x 10 reps/movement/(and per side on unilateral movements):
-chest stretch
-windmill
-hip hinge offset
-SL hip hinge
-fig 4 squat
-xovr lunge
-side lunge
-Golf Swing/T-spine rotation
-runner getup

2 sets x 5 reps each following:
Ft sqt (135 #’s set 1, 155 #’s set 2)
Deadlift (225 #’s set 1, 275 #’s set 2)
Push press (135 #’s both sets)
SL DL (90 #’s both sets)
SA chest press on stab. ball (50 #’s both sets)
DB swings (no kettlebells, sub’d DB swing for the preferred standard, used 35# DB both sets, had to watch the backswing/hike to make sure I didn’t hammer my nuts y’all)

____________________
Tactical push-up/pull-up x 10 each
Pistol Squats (15 x per side)
____________________
Trx (all x 10 reps/movement/(and per side on unilateral movements):
Low row
Chest press
Oblique crunch
Pendulum

Live Alive.

DRILLit.

Merry xmas!

WHY IT’S RAD: I started my cycling career at 13 wearing a Bell helmet of the styrofoam cooler material with lycra cover variety. Next I moved onto a Bell Image, the lid John Tomac popularized and endorsed following his use of Troy Lee lids. The Troy Lee-painted Bell Image was THE status signifier among xc mountain bike pros in the early ‘90s. Those days, those fuckin’ days. . . But like six-figure salaries for dirt racers, those days are gone. Initially I gravitated to Bell helmets because that was what was available and relatively cheap. Later Specialized lids became my brain containers of choice. In the interim, I’ve tried many helmets from many manufacturers and wanted to circle back and see what Bell had happening at the high end. The Schleck brothers and Fab Cancellara wore the Volt for a few seasons as did many other top pros. It’s about 100 grams heavier than other top end offerings from helmet manufacturers and the weight is noticeable if you’re used to rocking an ultra-light lid. It’s unclear if the extra weight translates to extra material to disperse shock when you go head-first or just heavier straps, retention system, shell and materials.

But when it comes to helmets, your first concern should ALWAYS be fit. A good helmet is one that will stay on your head and do its job when you slam your skull into pavement or dirt. People tend to have either elongated oval heads or round heads. Specialized helmets best fit to heads that are longer than they are wide. Giro helmets tend to fit rounder heads better. And Bell helmets also have a round shape. For some reason Giro helmets while great, well designed, and purty, don’t fit my head well. The medium is too small and presses against my forehead so hard it leaves marks and gives me a headache. The large makes me look like Marco Pantani in a sombrero and doesn’t afford the level of protection I prefer.

After several months of testing on and off road and commuting in the city, I’m stoked on the Volt. It fits my head very well–snug without being too tight. It has good ventilation–but not as good as the gold standard, any Specialized helmet with their signature mouth port over the brow. The retention system works well and hasn’t malfunctioned or broken. The pads appear to be plenty durable (Specialzied brow pads tend to disintegrate after protracted use). And it’s a very sexy looking helmet available in a broad range of color schemes to meet popular kit colors.

Overall, this is an excellent helmet and has become my go-to for all of my riding.

BUMMERS?: Would be even better if it were lighter. This lid is slightly heavier than comparably-priced offerings from Specialized and Giro.

Another gut-wrenching round of metcon cardio strength hell from Blake.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

brutal DL/metcon that sent me on a MELLOW rec ride the day after, honestly, the ladder on this one took the gas out of my tank for like 2 days.

10x single arm snatches (10 each side) @40#+
15x GHD sit ups+
30x Box jumps @ 24′ box
(5 rounds)

then
10-1
DL @225#+
swings @70#+
OHS @65#+
Weighted Pull Ups @25#
(woof!)

then
15 toes to bar (or knees to elbows)+
15 dips
(3 rounds)