Nov 3rd: Fighter Training

I planned to workout with my fighters today, which was a blast. Always fun to train with others to help you push yourself to your max. This is why training with a buddy or trainer will always help you train harder than you would train yourself. This isn't true for many people, but for the vast majority it will do nothing but help to have a partner in crime.

1:30-12 oz chicken breast, 4 oz avocado, olive oil, red onions, 2 cups spinach, F1 Multi

2:45-Pure Powder

3:00-Trained

4:00-30g whey, 8 oz almond milk

5:00-mixed nuts, ½ slice cheese, 1 slice salami

7:00-AMAZING turkey burger from Slaters 50/50 here in Anaheim Hills, Ca. This thing was a beast! F1 Multi

9:30-1 oz mixed nuts

Started with complexes with a 95lb bar

Deadlift

Row

Clean

Snatch

Push Press

Back Squat

Good Morning

-finished with plank

--20 seconds per exercise (except plank)-3 rounds.

20 sets of 20 double unders

Medicine ball circuit with the 35lb ball

-slams

-throws

This was a brutal workout!

Nov 2nd: Another Day of Squats

Squat (based on a 320 max)

555-175-7

65%-210-7

75%-240-11 (seeing stars)

I love squats. There are very few exercises that make you feel as powerful as the squat. If you hate squats, do them anyway! You will learn to love how it feels. Start with KB or DB goblet squats and work your way up. Squatting doesn't hurt your knees and back. Bad squatting hurts your knees and back.

Double KB Front Squat (32kg)-5,4,4

Double Outside the Leg Swings (32kg)-10,10,10

-90 seconds between sets

RDL (w/straps)-(270)-6,6,6

Standing Calf Raise (88lb KB)-8,8,8

Finished with an unconventional Cardio routine. This one was Awesome!

2:00-1 cup FAGE nonfat yogurt, 15g protein, medium banana, F1 multi

3:00-HPN P3

5:00-2 servings golden grahams, Flame Broiler beef with white rice bowl

9:00-12 oz chicken breast, 8oz potatoes with ketchup, large salad, pita chips with hummus, F1 multi

Oct 31st: Halloween Candy Fun

Today starts the second cycle of MB8. I’m feeling stronger, leaner, and faster. Like a freakin’ athlete should!

Pre-Workout: HPN P3

Bench (based on a 255 max)

55%-140-7

65%-165-7

75%-190-8 (failed on the ninth)

Fat Grip Curls (105)-6,5,5

Bar Dip (88lb KB)-6,5,5

-90 seconds between

Ring Fly (feet elevated, body parallel to the ground)-6,6,6

Ring Row (feet elevated, body parallel to the ground)-(55lb)-11,9,9

-60 seconds between

Rope curl (70lb)-6,6,6

Triceps Ext with Lat involvement (EZ bar +55)-8,8,8

-30 seconds between

Finished with a circuit involving bike sprints, jump rope, and MB45 Essentials (about 15 minutes worth) with a 20kg bell.

Solid workout today. High carb days are also fun:)

2:00-Chicken, sweet potato

4:00-HPN P3

5:00-Train

7:00-Ground beef, rice, raisins (sounds gross but it wasn’t bad), handful of M’Ms. (I love me the peanut ones)

10:00-Protein shake with casein

Oct 29th: Stadium Saturday and more Progress Pics

Stadiums were a blast, as usual. After about 30 minutes we moved on to the field. 6 sets of 50-yard sprints

9:00-Pure Powder Pre Workout Supp

10:30-BCAA

1:00- Large chicken salad, raw cashews, coffee with light milk

5:00-12 oz grass-fed steak (very lean), 4 eggs, 1 slice bacon

The key takeaway here is that as long as you get your macros, the meals are not as important. This gives you an amazing amount of freedom. Of course, there is discipline involved (and lots of it) but it’s not the typical change your body way of chicken and broccoli for six meals a day.

Here’s a before and after of Sean (about the same time frame.) He’s a little flexed in the second while the first not much, but you can absolutely see the difference. Plus, his strength is going up! Can’t beat that with a stick.

Till next time.

October 28th: Friday Boulder Shoulder Day

Today was de-load day for Military Press. This meant higher reps which I hate when it comes to shoulders, but what has to be done has to be done. I've always hated working pressing, but I'm learning to love it.

Log Press: I definitely overestimated my max with this. I had it at 165 but it’s more at about150.

40%-5 (58lb)

50%-5 (72lb)

60% -16 (88lb)-harder than I thought it would be but that’s my own damn fault for practicing handstands all day yesterday!

Ring Pull ups (32kg)-4, (BW)-15

Incline Barbell Shrug (265)-8 (225)-20

-90 seconds between sets

Lateral Raise (40lb)-6 (30lb)-20

Double Clean and Jerk (16kg)-2

sets of 2:00 minutes with 1:00 minute rest. My hat goes off to all those Kettlebell Sportsters out there.

Finished with Tabata Ropes (double slams, alternating waves, side waves, etc)

This was a surprisingly fun session. My pull-ups are going up. My pressing is getting better (which has always lagged) and my cardio is awesome. I can’t WAIT for this next cycle.

What’s funny is I’ve never been so consistent with tracking, my plan, my diet, etc. Here’s the secret:

You don’t think yourself into a new way of acting, you act yourself into a way of thinking.

IT’S AS SIMPLE AS THAT.

So many people look for the “perfect plan” and while I’ve written extensively about this it bears repeating. There is no perfect training or diet plan. There is only the plan that you can follow. I’ve tried many. I happen to enjoy this one A LOT. It quenches my thirst for strength as well as my quest for better conditioning for Jiu Jitsu and any sport I attempt. Not to mention body comp.

Here's a recent progress pic from this (Saturday) morning compared to 3 weeks ago all while enjoying Yogurtland and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Not bad for about three and a half weeks. Can't WAIT for the next four and half!

Yes the hair is awesome. I know.

12:00-2 cans tuna, 8oz sweet potato, spinach, ketchup

3:00-HPN P(3)

4:00-Train

5:30-Flame Broiler Beef with White Rice (my next business may be opening up a Flame Broiler. Save some money)

8:00-1 cup white rice, 8oz pork chop, salad, Maduros (fried bananas Cuban-style), 3 bites Tres Leches cake (amazing)

11:00-3/4 cup brown rice, 3oz beef

The weekend is now upon us. Good luck my friends. Stay focused!

Oct 25th: Low Carb Day

Cardio day. Took me all day to get motivated. FINALLY got to it around 5:30 PM. Took my Pure Powder 30 min prior. That hit the spot.

Worked in with my 5:30 class. Lot’s of jump rope and kettlebells. Good times were had by most?

12:30PM-chicken leg, thigh, wind (no skin), 2 slices low carb bread (6g per piece), 2 tbsp almond butter, 1 cup broccoli

4:45PM- HPN Pure Powder

6:30PM- ½ cup cottage cheese, 2 scoops Biochem, ¼ cup coconut milk

8:45PM-6oz chicken breast, 1 cup steamed broccoli

11:00-2 slices low carb bread, high protein peanut butter (2 tbsp almond butter, ½ scoop Casein, 2 tbsp Fage yogurt)

Had a great meeting regarding the MB8 eBook and program with Sean Torbati of HPN. So stoked at how this is going. More to come!

Oct 24th: De-Load Week

Today was the first de-load, high rep week. This begins the 4^th week of the plan so I’m almost ½ way done.

12:00 PM-HPN P(3) + 10g BCAA

12:45 Bench Day

40%-95lb-5 (not even warmup weight)

50%-125lb-5 (not even close)

60%-145lb-hit it hard to get 25 reps. Basically till my arms were going to fall off

-2:00 min between sets

Fat Grip curls-(105)-5 (70)-20

Bar Dip (40kg)-5 (BW)-20,15,10,5=50 reps

Ring Pushups (45)-10 (BW)-25

Ring Row (45)-12 (BW)-22

Great workout. Definitely got a good sweat in.

2:00 PM-cinnamon toast crunch, almond milk, chicken breast, sweet potato, ketchup (I was in sweet cinnamon heaven)

4:00 PM-Banana

7:45 PM-1/2 chicken (no skin) pita, garlic sauce, 1 cup white rice

10:00 PM-chocolate almond milk, casein, light chocolate syrup

Another great workout. It’s amazing looking back through the workouts and seeing the progression. That’s my favorite part of this. Tracking!!! So crucial.

Oct 2nd: Training Journal Series

October 2^nd: Sunday

Woke up bright and early and hit the trails, Runyon Canyon in Hollywood to be exact. Used my MBody Plate Vest with an additional 20lbs in it. That was a fun idea:) I’ll post the video for it soon.

Since I did this fasted, I drank my Pure Powder from HPN 20 minutes prior and had a 32oz Nalgene bottle with 10 g of BCAAs throughout the hike. After, I had a coffee and that was it until about 2. We started hiking around 8:20 and got back to the car around 10 something. I didn’t run straight through, but I did some sprints at different points especially the steep parts.

The thing about fitness is that is has to be enjoyable. I don’t care what the studies and research says about the latest and greatest. The plan that you can stick to is the plan that is right for you. Enjoy your training and it will take care of you. Hate it and will destroy you. Was that dramatic enoughJ

8: HPN Pure Powder (pre hike)

9:00 10 g BCAA. (during and after hike)

10:00-coffee with light cream

1:45-8 oz roast beef

3:30-2 slices whole wheat bread, cheese, salami, bowl of cereal with chocolate almond milk and a little chocolate dessert (carbing up after that brutal hike/sprint/run.

8-10 oz NY Strip steak with green drink.

Training Journal Series: Wednesday 9/22

Sept 21th: Wednesday

I'm not a big fan of working out in the early AM. The only time I do it is if I absolutely have to. Today was one of those days.

Training ended up being great (as expected.) Went in with my plan, dominated and called it a day. Worked on Bench and Reverse Grip Rows, had some fun with arms and then worked on some Swiss Ball training like in my "Paddle Board-Inspired Core Workout." All in all it was a great workout. Kept the intensity high and the workout fairly short. I've been supplementing with BCAA and Creatine as well as some coffee pre-workout but I've been talking to a great company called HPN. I found out about them and wanted to find out a little more. From talking to the owners and seeing what they're about I'm pretty excited to give it a shot.

Of course, I'll be posting my results. No recommendations here until I see/feel something!

Diet today was nice and "clean." (I use quotations because there is no real definition of what clean means)

6:30-Pre workout supps (BCAA+Creatine)

8-post workout shake

12-salmon salad

3-can of sardines (great source of Omega 3)

5-handful almonds

9-3 eggs, organice sausage link

Great (long) day today. Exhausted, but feel accomplished. Got a lot done and training was spot on. Upped my numbers from last week which is progress which is why I can't stress keeping a journal enough. More to come tomorrow.