Strength

• Band Bicep Curls: 10 x 3 sets.
• Decline Push Ups: 10 x 3 sets.
• Sit Ups: 10

Conditioning

• 4 x 3 min rounds 16mins of Bas Rutten All Round Fighting audio

Skills

• Learn fencing – Booked and starting on the 8th January.
• Ju Jutsu – Attain green belt by December.
• Iai & Ken Jutsu – Continue practice throughout the year.
• Yoga – head stand (forget the proper name).
• Yoga – A proper “Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana” (see pic)

Strength

• 5 Pull Ups – By February.
• 10 Pull Ups – By March.
• 15 Pull Ups – By July.
• 1 Handstand Push Up – By December.
• Single Leg Squat – By March

Endurance

• 50 Push Ups – By February.
• 100 Push Ups – By October.
• 100 Burpee Challenge – By July

Events

• Action Heart 5 mile run – A simple, but hilly, road run in the West Midlands of the UK.
• Running – At least 2 other 5 mile runs
• NJJC Kumite Competition – My clubs kumite competitions.  I think these happen in spring.
• Grappling Competition – October I think.
• Fencing – One fencing competition!

I’m sure I’ve forgotten loads – I’ll be updating this tomorrow so stay tuned and subscribe to the blog!!

So what are your goals for 2009?

Strength Circuit (Sat)

(2 minutes rest between each set)

• Pull Ups: 3 x 2 sets
• Calf Raises (dumb bell and bucket): 10 x 3 sets
• Decline Push Ups: 10 x 3 sets
• Chin Ups: 3 (just for the hell of it!)
• Core…
  • Sit Ups: 10 (5 sec hold)
  • Plank: 1:30

Strength Circuit (Sun Morning/Afternoon)

• Forearms…
  • Dumb Bell Wrist Curl: 10 x 3 sets
  • Wrist Roller: 2 x 3 sets
  • Wrist Twists (sledge): 8 x 3 sets
• 1-Legged Squat (to table): 5 x 3 sets
• Chin Ups: 3 x 3 sets
• Wide Grip Pull Ups: 1

Core Workout (Sun Evening)

• Core Workout…
  • Sit Ups: 10 x 3 sets (3 sec hold)
  • Hanging Leg Raises: 5 x 3 sets (3 sec hold)
  • Side Bends (Sand Bucket): 10 x 3 sets
• Core Circuit…
  • Side Plank (Right): 30 secs
  • Side Plank (Left): 30 secs
  • Plank: 1 min
  • …2 min rest…
  • Side Plank (Right): 30 secs
  • Side Plank (Left): 30 secs
  • Plank: 30 secs

Conditioning Circuit (Sun Evening)

• 15 Burpees
• 3 x 3 minute rounds of the All Round Fighting Audio.
• 15 Burpees
• 20 Chinnies

Strength

Still hurting from Sunday’s strength workout.

• Pull Ups: 2 + 2 + 1
• Wide Grip Pull Up: 1
• Calf Raise: 10 x 3 sets
• Decline Push Ups: 10 x 3 sets

Core

• Ab Wheel from knees: 10 x 3 sets
• Sit Ups: 5 (5 sec hold)
• Sand Bucket Side Bends: 10 x 2 sets
• Back Extensions: 10 x 3 sets

Was ju jutsu today and had to do 20 burpees at one point.  I got to ten and started flagging.  So I’m going to add a new conditioning day to the week.  Stay tuned…or subscribe to the RSS.

But I hit todays strength goals with extreme vigour and my morning routine was upgraded with a mini circuit of pull ups, chin ups and push ups.

The Main Strength Circuit (3 times)

• Pull Ups: 2
• Ankle Raises: 12
• Decline Diamond Push Ups: 2
• One-Legged Squat (to table): 5
• Wide Grip Pull Up: 1 (needed boost on last set then sloooow on the negative)
• Wrist Twists (sledge): 8 each hand

Core Workout (3 times)

• Sit Ups: 5 (5 sec pause going up & 3 secs down)
• Sand Bucket Side Bends: 10
  
• Turkish Get Up (using dumb bell): 5
• Sand Bucket Lift: 10

There’s at least 6 different methods used to determine how effective a certain protein source is for the body and each has its drawbacks.  So I decided to bring together all of them to get educated and understand the whole mess better.  First some interesting points that affect all of these.  Accurately measuring protein utlisation by the body is almost impossible due to the huge array of ‘other’ factors such as:

• Additional foods which may interact positively or negatively (anti-nutritional effects)
• Metabolic rate.
• Levels of protein intake (see: Bilogical Values drawbacks)
• Organism recycling of amino acids.
• Not basing the science on humans (PER was done on rats)

Biological Value

This value is based on the fact that protein is the body’s main source of nitrogen.  For the sake of science it assumes it’s the only source and so it measures the ratio of absorbed nitrogen to excreted which gives you the protein usability.  This is the most common source of values quoted by the protein supplement industry due to its favourable figures on whey protein and ease of understanding.  Egg is often used as a standard and placed at 100.

Drawbacks: Althoguh one of the most oft quoted this measure of protein usefullness is full of holes – worthy of a post in its own right.  But I’ll summarise…

• The measurement is taken when sub-maintenance levels of protein are taken.  The BV drops as protein intake increases.  For example milk has a BV of 100 but drops to 70 when you double the intake.
• When protein is digested very quickly – as is the case with whey protein isolate – it is sent to the liver for gluconeogenesis.  In other words it gets burned as fuel instead of protein synthesis.

Net Protein Utilisation (NPU)

This uses a similar method to the Biological Value by measuring amino acid intake against nitrogen excretion.  I won’t bore you with the formula but a value of “1.0″ indicates 100% usage of the supplied protein.  It has all the usual drawbacks though and its now been superseded by the PDCAAS (below).
I also couldn’t find a table of comparison values for this so its useless.  If you know of one then let me know.

Protein Efficiency Ratio

Uses an unusual and less than scientific method.  Invented in 1919 by measuring the body weight increase of a test subject divided by the intake of a particular food protein over a period of time.  The drawbacks to this method are obvious but its legacy still lasts as the RDA of protein is determined using this method in the US.

Nitrogen Balance

This uses similar ideas to the NPU and BV values.  Its the value of nitrogen in – nitrogen out.  Its tested by measuring the nitrogen balance of urine and has three main levels:

• Positive – You’ve got more going in than coming out.
• Negative – You’ve got more going out than in.  Sign of illness or malnutrition.
• Equilibrium – The bare minimum your body should be.

There are no values about the NB level of foods as its more of a body-state indicator that is used by other measuring methods to find the protein usefulness of foods.
Interesting article about it here: Nitrogen Balance

Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS)

This is the biggy that everyone uses – World Health Organisation, US FDA, FAO, etc.  But just because everyone and his uncle uses it doesn’t make it the best.  It measures the quality of proteins based on human amino acid requirements and adjusted for the relative digestibility of these proteins.  Its upper limit is 1.0 and lower limit 0.0 with a value of 1.0 meaning 100% of the essential amino acids are provided for.
Drawbacks:

• It doesn’t take into account where the protein was digested.  Some can be digested by bacteria for example.
• Also it suffers from the same effects as the others as it doesn’t take into account anti-nutritional factors of mixing foods.
• Having a varied diet means the PDCAAS value of the individual components becomes meaningless as a food lacking in essential amino acids can be covered by one of abundance.  You’d need to ascertain the PDCAAS value of an entire meal in that instance and a good meal will most likely have a value of 1.0.
• All proteins have a max-cieling of 1.0 which poorly reflects true values.  For example egg has an actual score of 1.19.

Conclusion

So just which is the best?  Well according to the numbers above you’re better off with Whey (PDC, BV, PDCAAS) or eggs (PDCAAS, PER).  I think it all ultimately boils down to what your mother tells you: “A good varied diet will make you healthy and strong”.
I’ll be covering protein requirements in another post.  If you’re interested then subscribe to the RSS feed or bookmark below.

• Pull Ups: 1 + 1 + 1
• Chin Ups: 3
• Wide Grip Pull Ups: 1

I can now do pull ups without band assistance which feels great.

I then followed up with some pushing:

• Decline Push Ups: 10 x 2 sets
• Dumb Bell Bench Press: 6 x 3 sets (I need a heavier weight – getting too easy)

Then some core work:

• Decline Sit Ups: 10 x 2 sets
• Sand Bucket Side Bends: 10 x 2 sets (Failed on this.  My core is still suffering from yesterday)
• Sand Bucket Lifts (back exercise): 10 x 2 sets

Can’t forget my forearms:

• Wrist Roller: 3 + 2
• Dumb Bell Wrist Curls: 10 x 2 sets (failure)

Finally some leg work:

• Band Hamstring Curls: 10 per leg
• Single-leg Squat (to table): 5 x 2 sets
• Single-leg Calf Raises (with dumb bell and sand bucket!): 10 x 3 sets (getting easy – need more weight)

If you’re anything like me then you’re probably horrendous in the morning.  Doesn’t matter how much sleep I get, I HATE the mornings like hell.

But here’s my new routine and I guarantee you’ll love it for 4 key reasons:

• Greasing the groove.
• Wake you up.
• Warm you up (I live in the UK and its damn cold in winter!).
• Its just a good way to start the day – active, alive and moving!!

So here’s the routine which I’m gonna stick up around my place and I’ve put a PDF at the bottom so you can print it out and have it up on your wall.

Stretches

• Neck Rotations
• Arm Wheels
• Tricep stretch
• Shoulder stretch
• Wrist stretches
• Quads (grab with both hands!)
• Good Morning
• Front Kicks x 5 (getting progressively higher)
• Round House Kicks x 5 (getting progressively higher)
• Hip Flexors stretch
• Splits – Knee Touches – Head to Floor

Strength/Conditioning

• Pull Ups x 1
• Chin Ups x 2
• Push Ups x 5
• Sit Ups x 10
• Jumping Squats x 5
• Ankle Hops x 5

Those numbers are low on purpose.  Like I say – I hate mornings but also they’re meant to be ‘greasing the groove’, not ‘tearing me a new arse hole’.

The stretches I got from two sources.  One was Pavel Tsatsouline Relax into Stretch book and the other was Bas Rutten’s Big Book of Combat.  Both excellent books and well worth reading.

Morning Routine PDF

I’m always on the look out for new methods of working out to keep myself fresh.  Nothing worse than getting bored of workouts – motivation killer!!  While I was out I decided to stop by the DIY shop and buy a bag of sand to do hand training (grabbing, punching, etc).  I saw the buckets next and grabbed one of those too.

Well my bucket + sand has now turned into a new set of exercises.

Sand Bucket Exercises

• Side Bends – With the bucket at my side its great for bending and lifting to get the abs working.
• Front Lift – This is similar to the band-through-the-legs-lift that Ross uses in his books.  Basically have the bucket in front of you and lift it carefully – using your back not your legs.
• Lift Round – I got this idea from Ross’ books but he uses a dumb bell for this.  To help with core rotational strength and speed you can lift the bucket from one side of your body to the other.  Sounds simple but trust me – this really works the whole of your abs.
• Calf Raises – The dumb bell wasn’t enough.  I was able to knock out 20 reps of calf raises with no probs.  So now I have the bucket in one hand and the dumb bell in the other.  Now I can do 10 and after two sets I fail.
• Punching and Grabbing Drills – I’m old school when it comes to hand training for punches – I just need some dit da jow.  Also good for grabbing and twisting – if you haven’t got sand use rice.

Today’s Strength Workout

Well it was a big one that I’d been working up to all day.  I only did 20 push ups in the morning as part of my new greasing the groove routine.  After the hard Saturday I spent most of the day recovering.  After a hearty meal of chicken and potatoes I set to the following:

• Pull Up Bar: 1 + 1 + 1 pull ups; then 1 chin up.
• Elevated (my feet up high) Push Ups: 10 x 2 sets
• Partial Single Leg Squats (to table): 5 x 2 sets
• Calf Raises: 10 x 2 sets
• Dumb Bell Wrist Curls: 10 x 2 sets

Core Workout

• Sit Ups: 10 x 2 sets (slow – 3 count midway up)
• Sit Ups: 20 (fast)
• Sand Bucket Lift: 10 x 2 sets
• Sand Bucket Side Bends: 10 x 2 sets

I cant do this

Second maximal strength workout this week.  I’m much prefering this 7 day programme as it fits around my life much more logically.

• Chin Ups: 3 + 2 + 2
• Hamstring Curls (with band): 10 x 2 sets
• Dumb Bell Curls: 6 + 4 + 2 (I don’t remember this dumb bell being so dam heavy!)
• Dumb Bell Calf Raises: 15 x 2 sets
• Dumb Bell Press on Bench: 6 x 3 sets