I was very happy with the thoughtful comments (that are still ongoing) to my post of a few days ago called Hypocrite?. I have another one now for the readers.
Airing now on a newtork called AXN is a show called Contender Asia.
Sports
Hypocrite?
In the past I have been known to tell people who “share” music online that they are thieves. Not as if they are doing anything worth throwing them in jail for – don’t get me wrong there. But the fact that people who share files that happen to be copyrighted music to me smells like stealing. In other words, the product is being taken and used, and no royalty paid.
Petaflop – Oskee Wow Wow!
An awful lot of bragging goes on in these parts about the U of Chicago and the accomplishments of that legendary university, and rightly so.
I am a distinguished alumni of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and I would like to do a little bragging myself about something I know absolutely nothing about. Well, one thing I know a lot about and one I don’t.
ChicagoBoyz Physical Fitness Series, Continued…
I have mentioned before that my primary method of staying in shape (and hobby) is Muay Thai kickboxing. I picked it up originally to compliment my biking, but it has pretty much taken over my life and everything I do now compliments my Muay Thai.
After our Muay Thai lessons at the gym, we have always done conditioning, whether it be running outside, ab work, cardio kicks, pushups, or a combination of all of the above. As of late, we have been doing circuits. They look something like this.
Of course the guy in the video is a professional, training for a professional fight. Our circuits are not as long and not as many (in the video, you are supposed to do each exercise for one minute, then go on to the next exercise for a total of a five minute circuit and then to 2-5 circuits), but the idea is the same. Different exercises to the point of exhaustion, short rest, then do it all over again. It almost sounds something like what Zenpundit posted the other day. Maybe this is a fad. I like it though. And after 45 minutes of Muay Thai training, and then doing several circuits, I guarantee you that you will get in shape. I don’t know much about Crossfit, but from the way Zen was describing what was going on in his gym, it seems like perhaps it is an extreme form of circuit training.
Addendum to the Physical Fitness Series
I’ve been training with weights for over twenty years and have passed through various phases of bodybuilding, powerlifting, “strongman”-type odd lifts, crosstraining and other forms of conditioning. I’ve seen a wide variety of training techniques, been employed as a personal trainer and met a number of professional athletes, coaches and world class amateurs in my time. I’d pretty much thought that I’d seen everything there was to see in a weight room.
My gym is quite large and it keeps a sizable number of personal trainers on a staff, including a couple of advanced specialists. Recently, I’d noticed that among them were a handful of trainers who had their clients regularly performing a rather odd combination of exercises in very short succession – they were hoisting kettlebells, then running over to a bench press followed by a set of power cleans to exhaustion. I’ve seen them pull out gymnastic rings, squat while holding an olympic bar in overhead press position and try to chin themselves into a back spasm. Today, one of the few female trainers who doesn’t look like she emigrated from the old German Democratic Republic, had a middle-aged dude trying to do some kind of deadlifting circuit, then bench then clean and jerk with a deep squat position. He was sort of fading on that exercise.
Generally, I mind my own business when I’m working out but I finally had to ask what in the sam hill they thought they were doing.
Evidently, there’s a kind of weightlifting cult out there revolving around a website called Crossfit.com that publishes a workout of the day that is religiously followed by devotees in gyms across America. Despite some of the kookiness I’ve witnessed firsthand, the training philosophy Crossfit offers has some merit, particularly if your real passion is another sport for which you need improved conditioning. They have trainees moving weights as athletically as possible using compound movements with very little rest, which replicates how your body might apply strength with speed while in motion. The program is not going to build overwhelming strength or size but from my observations the serious Crossfit trainees get the kind of rugged, muscular endurance and short bursts of power you see in good collegiate wrestlers. They also tend to lean out a bit, an added bonus, though this is negated by the glassy-eyed look trainees get when they discuss the work-out of the day. Too reminiscent of Amway salesmen and Hari Krishna guys at airports.
I’m not going to join the cult. I like specializing in lifting very heavy weights (ok – relatively heavy weights these days) but I might sneak in their more practical routines to round out my fitness profile.