Ross Enamait just posted the 13th edition of The Warrior Wire. Summary:

• Link to his new training video. Did I mention the grip-switching pull-ups last time I linked to it?
• Equipment notes on homemade rollout wheels, exercise mats (I've used that Home Depot anti-fatigue mat, it's good stuff), and rope suppliers.
• The "No Excuses" workout (looks like 10 minutes of hell).
• A pointer to the book of the same title by Kyle Maynard, illustrating that there really are no excuses (along those lines I'd also recommend the documentary Murderball).

Enjoy!

An unusual and interesting read, even if I'm not into martial arts myself: "Exercising with the Master". The homemade equipment piques my interest, of course. That pulley/tree stump contraption has me particularly curious. I might have to add it to my "stuff to try" list, although probably with a bar rather than a tree stump (and only if I can find a cheap pulley, which I kinda doubt). I already have the swing hangers screwed into joists in my basement for my rings, so this should just be a question of hanging something different from them. Between wanting contractor bags for my sandbag, PVC for parallettes, and this, a Home Depot trip might be in order...

Given my high opinion of his other books, it should come as no surprise that I was thrilled to note Ross Enamait has a new book coming out in the next couple months! From his forums:

As for products, I've got a new book that I've been working on since the summer. I'm still testing the workout program(s).

The book is called NEVER GYMLESS. It's a bodyweight based program (with some additional tools mixed in such as resistance bands). Basically, a way to train at home without free weights. I'll post more details soon.

I'm also hoping to make a DVD later in 2006.

Sign me up for both, without a doubt.

He also has a new video clip up, The Home Gym (WMV ~6.1MB). I love these videos of his for illustrating so plainly the gap between what I can currently do, and what is possible. Some examples...

After 12 weeks I'm finishing the 10-week Infinite Intensity sample program this week (I repeated two weeks I wasn't happy with), and having just done the "Fast & Furious" workout today (which includes plyo pushups) I know exactly how impressive those clapping push-ups are. It's all I can do to clap in front of my face, and I feel like I manage that more with hand speed than the explosiveness of my push-up. And the the one-arm rollout? Criminy. I still have around a foot to go, maybe more, before I master the two-arm rollout.

Still, rather than be discouraged by how much more is possible, I'm inspired by it. I'm also very happy with the results of my first 10 12 weeks. I've increased by at least a third the amount of weight I can put over my head in various ways (single dumbbell snatches, push presses, push jerks, etc.), I've added probably a foot to my standing wheel rollout, and a good 15% to the ROM on my flag. Various nagging knee woes seem to be improving with all the squatting rather than worsening, although that varies by the day, and it did take some tweaking to find the right form for me. I'm even making progress on the one-legged squat, as I've lowered the blocks I sit-to/get-up-from as I build up the movement. When I do Tabata burpees, I can hit my max for 20 seconds for more than the first set, and by the last set my form and rhythm haven't completely gone to pot (even if I'm well off my max by then).

And, happily, the ankle sprain that only let me enjoy two-thirds of my first Nationals is finally starting to feel healed! Not completely, there's still the slightest bit of swelling, but the post-workout tendonitisy feelings are almost gone, and running/playing feels like it's on the horizon. Oh, how I long for spring...

It's nice to see the actors that will be playing Spartans are training in a relatively Spartan manner. Funny to see a second video of band sprints in such close proximity to the first. I'm starting to think I need more elastic in my life. « via Crossfit »

Ron Zucker, a Hooverball player in the Baltimore area, noticed my earlier post on the sport and e-mailed me an invite to join their game if I'm ever in the neighborhood. Very hospitable of him, and he also gave me an informative answer to my question, "when you catch the ball, does any kind of rule or etiquette govern how quickly you have to throw it back?"

We use the "within reason" rule for throwing it back. In other words, if you dove, you can shake it off, get up, and throw. If you're heavily winded, go ahead and take a deep breath. And, of course, you can take a moment to look around and aim. It should be noted, though, that our experience is that the faster you return the ball, the less the other team has gotten set and the more likely you are to score, so we all try to get the ball back as quickly as possible.

Perhaps, though, an example is useful. At the Nationals this year, Iowa was going through a drought, so the ground was rock hard. I dove for one and caught it flat out. Obviously, that hurt when I hit the ground. Everyone waited for me to catch my breath, get up and return it. That probably took close to a minute all told, as I couldn't breathe at first. I apologized for the delay, but, as one of the Iowans pointed out, I did just hit a *planet* after all...

The other element of etiquette is taking steps, especially when going for the spike. The rule is that you have to get the ball from front court to backcourt. But if you catch it near the net, rising up and throwing as hard as you can right at the midline can be effective, though if the ball bounces before the midline, it's a point for the other team. This is more important with the 4 lb ball, which can be spiked very effectively, than with the 6 lb ball. And we frequently play a couple of games with a 9 lb ball for workout purposes, and that one can't really be spiked effectively at all, though we all try.

We try to use basketball rules for traveling. But it's always a bone of contention, as (let's be charitable here; these are my friends) some use NBA rules while others use college. Nobody calls traveling on the other team. It's a gentleman's game, after all. If you say you had your arms under the diving catch, then it wasn't a trap, and if you say you didn't travel, you didn't travel. But we all try to be honest, and I've been known to call traveling on myself. It's hard when you're close to being able to spike to not take the steps necessary to do it. Especially for me, as I'm a fat 40 year old smoker, so it's rare to be able to spike it. But I try to keep an eye on myself.

Thanks Ron!

P.S. Sounds a lot like Ultimate. An obscure sport governed by spirit of the game, and most laypeople will be surprised to hear there's a national championship.

I've gotten surprising mileage out of my pair of cinderblocks above. I picked them up at Home Depot along with some rubber padding (sold as "anti-fatigue floor mat", or something like that). Nothing high-tech, I just cut the pad to fit and wrapped lots of duct tape around it to affix it. Each is 6" high when laid flat. Uses so far:

• Depth plyometric pushups.
• Standing on one to make the Standing Jackknife on rings more challenging.
• Stacking them and then anchoring my feet in the lower holes during Russian Twists.
• Stacking them and doing step-ups onto them.
• Standing on them to use my wrist roller properly (scroll to near the bottom of the article).

The padding is a mixed bag. The downside is that it makes the blocks unstable when you stand them on the side or on end. Then again, they've saved me from at least one nasty scrape so far when I didn't quite make it back up onto the blocks during my last plyo depth pushup of the day.

Two also isn't quite tall enough for the step-ups. I'll probably buy two more and leave them unpadded. The rough surfaces should keep the blocks from sliding in relation to each other, and I could do a variety of configurations with a padded block always on top.

Fixing the Flaws is a very interesting read on "the ten most common biomechanical weak links in athletes." A sample (emphasis added):

Weak Posterior Chain: Big, fluffy bodybuilder quads might be all well and good if you're into getting all oiled up and "competing" in posing trunks, but the fact of the matter is that the quadriceps take a back seat to the posterior chain (hip and lumbar extensors) when it comes to athletic performance. Compared to the quads, the glutes and hamstrings are more powerful muscles with a higher proportion of fast-twitch fibers. Nonetheless, I'm constantly amazed at how many coaches and athletes fail to tap into this strength and power potential; they seem perfectly content with just banging away with quad-dominant squats, all the while reinforcing muscular imbalances at both the knee and hip joints. The muscles of the posterior chain are not only capable of significantly improving an athlete's performance, but also of decelerating knee and hip flexion. You mustn't look any further than a coaches' athletes' history of hamstring and hip flexor strains, non-contact knee injuries, and chronic lower back pain to recognize that he probably doesn't appreciate the value of posterior chain training.

Also:

Lack of Overall Core Development: If you think I'm referring to how many sit-ups an athlete can do, you should give up on the field of performance enhancement and take up Candyland. The "core" essentially consists of the interaction among all the muscles between your shoulders and your knees; if one muscle isn't doing its job, force cannot be efficiently transferred from the lower to the upper body (and vice versa).

(One of the things I really like about the Infinite Intensity program is that it's complete "knees to shoulders" work is excellent, if not the dominant focus of the program.)

Bonus: the "weak grip" section links to this excellent grip training article.

Virgil Aponte had access to 20 flights for his stairs workouts, but I imagine most of us could get by with one. Some training ideas:

• Stair Exercises for Anaerobic Conditioning
• Stair Exercises for Lower Body Strength
• Stair Exercises for Power Development
• Using Stretching, Jump Ropes, Dumbbell, Barbells, and Other Exercise with Stair Exercises

Stairs... Is there anything they can't do?

Something about the holidays brought lots of interesting stuff across my desk. Or maybe it's coincidence. In either case, here's the trove from the last few days:

Jim at Beast Skills has updated his beginner guide to handstand pushups, and has also added a new intermediate guide and a new freestanding handstand pushup guide. Great stuff, as usual.

Art De Vany on Diabetes, Alzheimer's, and obesity. He concludes:

If this isn't enough to convince you of the need to return to the simple, low-glycemic foods of our ancestors and to work out and stay lean, then you aren't getting your new year off to a promising start.

Crossfit just made The New York Times: "Getting Fit, Even if it Kills You". Coincidentally, Crossfit linked up this great PDF, "Sports Conditioning (a comparison: moderate-intensity continuous activity and high-intensity intermittent activity)" by Mark J. Smith: Some money quotes:

It is also accepted that low- to moderate-intensity activities are useful in recovering from high-intensity exercise and is a necessity in some sports that require repetitive practice to acquire skill. However, while the contention is not that low- to moderate-intensity continuous exercise can improve cardiovascular conditioning and weight loss, the need for significant quantities of this type of training for the field and court sport athlete is indeed challenged.

...and:

It has been demonstrated that low-intensity, long-duration exercise results in a greater total fat oxidation than moderate-intensity exercise of similar caloric expenditure15. However, when endurance training is compared to high-intensity intermittent training, the findings differ. The effect of a 20-week endurance-training program (mean estimated energy cost - 120.4 MJ) upon body fatness and muscle metabolism was compared to a 15-week high-intensity intermittent-training program (mean estimated energy cost - 57.9 MJ)16. Despite the lower energy cost of the high-intensity program, it induced a more pronounced reduction in subcutaneous fat compared with the endurance program. When corrected for the energy cost of training, the reduction induced by the high-intensity program was nine-fold greater than the endurance program.

...and (out-of-context disclaimer attached, however - you really should read the whole thing):

The acknowledgment that the activity did not need to be continuous was a major shift from the initial recommendations of the ACSM. It was even stated, "accumulation of physical activity in intermittent, short bouts is considered an appropriate approach to achieving the activity goal". This concept was validated in another study that demonstrated that three 1-minute bouts of maximal intensity exercise, separated by 1-hour recoveries, constituted 74% of the oxygen uptake of 20 minutes of low- to moderate-intensity exercise.

Three minutes gets you 74% of the benefit (in terms of oxygen uptake) of 20 minutes. Yow.

Finally, Fitness Blueprints is my latest blog subscription.

After a couple failed attempts I figured a homemade slammable medicine ball was impossible, but it looks like I was wrong. What you need is somebody that actually knows what they're doing to apply themselves to the problem. Pierre Auge graciously posted his instructions to Crossfit and gave me permission to repost them here:

Actually its pretty simple as long as you're up for some hard work and have some tools.

You'll need the following:

• A drill with a medium fine bit. (1/8")
• A funnel with the narrowest nozzel you can find. (to fit in the 1/8 " hole)
• A rubber/epoxy high pressure tire puncture plug. (Not silicon, it has to be either rubber or epoxy, or rubber with an epoxy resin.)
• Epoxy resin based high pressure sealent.
• Sandpaper (or die grinder if you're lazy and want to chance weakening the ball)
• Radial tire patch (some cordura or old canvas might work too)

Get the toughest Basketball you can get, drill a hole in it. Sit there for about 2 hours pouring sand through this stupid funnel. (Or you can use a machine like I do) Weigh the ball as you fill it.

When the desired weight is achieved use the tire puncture plug to fill the tiny hole. Trim the excess that is sticking out. Use the sealent on the area in and around the plug. Wait until dry and hard. Now put some air in the ball with a pump. Go back to the area directly around the plug and start sanding with your sand paper until the area is quite rough. Take the radial tire patch slather the area with some more resin and put the patch into the resin. Put more resin on top of the patch. This should give you a good seal after it dries for a few hours. (Overnight)

If you are willing to take on this endeavour all the power to you but it took me several attempts to get this to work properly. But on the other hand its worth it because you get a very tough ball.

Hell I've seen an entire company of guys wail away at these things one troup after another and they are going strong.

Thank you Pierre!

With a hole that small I wonder if my Home Depot play sand would even go through (even new in the bag it is slightly damp and clumpy) or if I'd have to buy finer sand from a garden center. Just something to consider if you're going to tackle this yourself.

As for affordable off-the-shelf medicine balls, I bought an 8-pound Danskin ball from Walmart for around $16. It has a smallish diameter (maybe around volleyball-size?), minimal bounce, and a slightly nubby surface. It works great for a variety of slams. You can also get a 10-pound Danskin ball from Amazon for $23 (buy something else at the same time to get over $25 and be eligible for free shipping). Same size and bounciness as the 8# ball, but with a smooth vinyl surface. I haven't had the 10# ball for very long, but the 8# ball has held up well to some good slam sessions, including hitting a rough concrete seam on my basement wall a bunch of times. In addition to slams, balls of this size/weight are good for holding between your feet or knees for weighted pull-ups and dips, and in your outstreched arms for Russian Twists.

UPDATE, 1/9/06: I originally tried the Walmart ball on Ross Enamait's recommendation, but he just pointed out to me that the ball I picked up is not the same as what he found there. Walmart used to carry the Stamina Products 10# ball for $16, but apparently Walmart doesn't carry that product line anymore. As you can see from that link, you can buy them direct for $20, and it might be a nicer ball than the Amazon/Danskin one I have (for the textured surface, if nothing else).

I'm going to be away from the machine for a few days, but thought I'd leave you with a quick exercise idea. I have lots of equipment stuff I want to write up when I get back. Until then...

If you read my bit on The Evil Wheel and decided you had to have one, here's something else you can do with it: Bear Walks. Wheel on the ground, feet on the ground, hands on the wheel. Start walking. Sprints are worse. Tabata Sprint Evil Wheel Bear Walks are very, very hard (careful of your wrists if you these on uneven ground).

Yesterday's Infinite Intensity workout was intervals followed by "Core Training #3". This included my first efforts at an exercise called a "Turkish Get-Up." It's pretty easy to describe. Lie on your back, with a dumbbell extended overhead, elbow locked (like the top of a bench press). Now stand up, keeping the DB locked out overhead (so when you are finished you are standing and the DB is pressed overhead). Then reverse the process until you are lying down again. Once you're down, that's one repetition (for that side of your body). I started off with what I assumed was a reasonable weight and was immediately humbled. The movement highlights weak links in short order, as you have to stay tight through your core, your balance is challenged, and your shoulder has to hold that weight locked out through 90-degrees of rotation. "Core Training #3" (out of the 10 core workouts you do over the course of the program) was a very interesting workout, as at the time I couldn't really decide if I was working the right muscles, but when I got up in the middle of the night I could feel that the entire girdle from my hips to my shoulder blades had just gotten worked.

Anyway, it seems like a movement that is worth adding to your arsenal. Just keep that elbow locked, especially on the way back down, as the DB is aligned with your head for a good part of the move. You have been warned.

Update: Via the Crossfit forums comes this excellent demonstration from the Art of Strength folks (WMV, 7MB).