AM...PM

In the morning...

I went back to the Burcht this morning with my good friend Chickaro from Washington, DC and did a great interval workout. We took this giant carpet roll (which I found a few days before) taped it up real strong and set it at the bottom of the burcht hill. The idea was to do 5 rounds separated by 2 minutes of rest of the following:

10 snatches

10 alternating shoulder press

sprint to the top

We kept our time for each round and added it up for an aggregate total once done. Chick had a little trouble by set 3, but he was jet lagged and it was early...

In the evening...

We did heavy deadlifts from an elevated stance and heavy bench press, followed by core work.

3, 3, 3, 3, 3 deficit deadlift (stood on a 25 kg plate)

3, 3, 3, 3, 3 bench press

I made it to 170 kg (374 lb) on the deadlift, then did an additional set at 180 kg (396 lb), but stopped after one. For the bench press, I did 130 kg (286 lb) easily (which last time I failed on) and finished at 135 kg (297 lb) with a very little help on the 3rd repetition. Overall I felt great on both of these exercises. And having Chickaro here is a great motivator. It's amazing how big a difference training with someone makes, can't emphasize it enough.

Playground bars

After last night's snatch session with Hank at L.K.V., I was feeling pretty fatigued. Decided to do a quick workout I've been wanting to try at the park.

10 minute AMRAP

1 bar climb

1 pull up

1 muscle up

1 dip

1 handstand pushup

I finished 11 rounds plus one climb and one pull up. The video for this came out a little weird, but I'm going to try and get it posted tomorrow.

Chickaro just got to town for a visit so I think the next few days will be fun. Nice to have someone to train with.

Monday is for Snatching

Tonight was great!

I trained with Hank, as expected, sans young child. He employs a pretty traditional, weightlifting specific program: we worked full squat snatches for triples, doubles, and singles, followed by double sets of heavy low-hang snatch pulls, and finished with heavy sets of back squats. He didn't go too heavy on the snatches, instead working mostly his technique, but encouraged me to keep going up. I didn't get 100 kg tonight, but, watching the video clip, I pulled it plenty high enough to make the lift. And Hank thinks my pull is good enough for 110 right now if I improve my focus during the dive and improve my catch positioning. I included clips of each of our last few sets. By comparison, I appear really loose and a little all over the place, but it gives me a good visual of where I can improve.

Snatch

4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1,

Snatch Pull

2, 2, 2, 2

Back Squat

4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 2

Interestingly, he told me tonight that it's the mental side of it that he really enjoys. Like, how losing concentration for just a split second could mean he pushes the bar 2 centimeters out during the second pull and thus results in a missed catch at the top. Honestly, his attitude toward training is inspiring. He truly does it because he loves it. He's intense when he's on the platform or under the bar, giving it an honest 100% every lift, but in between he was light hearted and intent on helping me improve. As I've expounded on before, finding your purpose for training is perhaps the most important way to ensure you will continue to do it. Whether it's competition, sense of fulfillment, doctors orders, even vanity... Finding that one purpose that will drive you makes all the difference. Hank's is sport. He loves the sport of weightlifting. Even though he doesn't compete anymore, he continues to "play," thus continuing to stay fit and to live strong.

Amen to that.

Rest Day

I went back to the beach today and read & relaxed. Did some stretching in the sand, but mostly just laid around. It was a beautiful day to just be outside away from other people.

Sep 20, 2009

ERG it

So I went in to meet with the owner of L.K.V., who, it turns out, doesn't want to work out with me. However, he did want to introduce me to Hank. Hank is the last remaining member of the #1 Dutch Weightlifting Club in Holland to still train at the gym. The rest have either moved away or become too busy with family, work, etc. to continue coming in regularly. So, of the original 10 or so, Hank is the last man standing. He's still young, very strong, and ultra nice. He brings his 5 year old son to the gym to watch him workout, which I thought was pretty cool.

Anyways, he agreed to train with me consistently Monday nights! I think, along with the help of the owner, this could be an incredible opportunity to learn from some serious Olympic lifters. Now if I could just get some shoes....

My workout today was simple:

5000 meter row for time.

I'd never done a distance longer than 2k, so this was a little scary, and pretty challenging. Having no real frame of reference, I set my goal time at 20 minutes. I was able to finish well under that, at 19:17. I think, when I do this again, a better goal will be 19, and maybe eventually under 18. I definitely felt my legs and back from the squats yesterday, but my heart and lungs held out fine. It was good to get a solid pure endurance effort in... there haven't been enough lately.

From Sep 19, 2009

AM...PM

In the morning...

I was back at Ankerpark doing bodyweight work. The workout was 5 rounds, no time, and no rest.

1 L rope climb

maximum pushups

5 dead free hanging situps

The situps were done from a chain cargo net and were pretty uncomfortable, even with t shirts wrapped around the chain. And they were a LOT harder than a GHD situp. Because the chain swings, its almost impossible to get any rhythm. Also, youre pulling vertically without any fulcrum under your butt. I'm going to work on making it more comfortable for the shins and do lots of these.

I followed this workout with 20, 15, 10, 5, 10, 15, 20 kipping pullups to finish. Took 1 minute rest between sets.

In the evening...

Max effort squat.

3, 3, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1

I finished at 185 kg (407lb) but I felt a little touch from the spotter so I don't think it counts for a new PR.

Perhaps the biggest news, the owner of the gym has been jabbering at me in unintelligible Dutch the past few weeks, and it turns out that he wants me to come train with him on Saturday mornings. So I'm going to go in tomorrow and see what I can glean from him. Apparently he used to split snatch 130 kg and split clean and jerk 170 kg. Eeker...

Rest Day

Woke up pretty sore today. My calves were knotted, and my legs felt very fatigued. I went to L.K.V. and sat in their whirlpool (yes, they have a whirlpool!) for 15 minutes, then stretched my legs and core for 20 minutes. Felt much better afterwards. Hopefully I'll sleep well tonight, big plans for tomorrow.

From Week 2

AM...PM

In the morning...

Weighted stair sprints.

In the absence of sandbags, I've had to get creative. This morning, I took my duvet cover off my comforter and filled it with dirty laundry, heavy jackets, and every pair of pants I own, wrapped it up tight and carried it to the Burcht. The bag probably weighed about 35-40 lbs. Once there, I did 10 sets of stair sprints carrying the load across my back. The rest interval was the walk down: no stopping at any time, no dropping the bag.

From Sep 16, 2009

From Sep 16, 2009

From Sep 16, 2009

In the evening...

The Lullaby. This workout put me out. Building on a AMRAP variation borrowed from Crossfit Coronado, I did 5 power snatches at the top of every minute, followed by AMRAP burpees for the remainder of the minute. I continued this progression until I reached 100 burpees. As soon as this happened, I transitioned to 5 OH squats at the top of every minute, followed by AMRAP double unders for the remainder of the minute. I continued this progression until I reached 500 double unders. It took me 23:27 to finish. I'd love to see someone do it in under 20 minutes. The weight for the snatches and OH squats is 45 kilos (100 lbs).

Ankerpark

Back at the dog park, I wanted to lay off the lower body a bit. This workout required a lot grip and arm strength because the bars were thick.

5 rounds for time:

5 pullup

1 muscle up

5 bar dips

5 handstand pushup

I finished in 8:04 and coudn't move my hands. The muscle ups got really sloppy, as did the HSPUs. Doing this actually gave me an idea for another workout using the jungle gym that I'm definitely going to come back and try.

From Week 2

Go Heavy

Today's workout was originally intended to consist of max weight thrusters and max weight pullups, followed by Fran with prescribed weight. However, L.K.V. de Spartaan does not have a single free standing pullup bar. The closest thing was a combination pullup bar/roman chair/dip apparatus which obviously would not support kipping. So, I scrapped the Fran in favor of weighted good mornings and knees to elbows. Disappointing, but not shocking.

On the upside, I did well on both the thrusters and the pullups, getting 105 kgs and 50 kgs, respectively. (The pullup bar had cheap handles that wouldn't stop rotating, making this infinitely more difficult, but also uniquely challenging). I included video footage of my 5 thruster attempts below.

Active Rest Day

Today I went to the coast and hiked around the dunes at Noordwijk beach, listened to music, and relaxed. Found some good spots for a sand workout in the future, so stay tuned for that.

It felt good to get into some open space and just let my brain go. I think this is undervalued, generally. It's indisputable that intense training wears on your mind as well as your muscles, making it harder to concentrate and get up for big physical challenges. This goes to the heart of the varied intensity training philosophy. Just as the volume of physical work should vary between low medium and high during the course of a given week and a given training cycle, so should the volume of mental work vary. I believe that when people plateau or burn out, it's largely a result of mental exhaustion. Therefore, days like today are really important. For me, they recharge my nervous system, relieve my stress, and get me itching for the next big thing.

From Week 2

The Gravensteen

So this morning I got up early and jogged to The Gravensteen, which means Castle of the Count. It's a building that now houses the international office of Leiden University, but originally it was home to members of the Dutch aristocracy. At some point in the interim, it was the prison, court of law, and site of execution for all of Leiden. This fact struck me as incredible. The international office (where my academic fate is ultimately decided) is essentially renting space from death row. A potentially ominous sign for my studies here. The only way to karmically balance this situation, in my estimation, was to pay my tax in sweat, and hope the ghosts of Dutchmen past were appeased.

Using an old fisherman rope (15 lbs) I found near the river bank earlier in the week, I constructed this workout:

With additional weight (vest, rope, etc) do 3 rounds for time:

20 strict pullups

10 pistol squats (each leg)

run 200 meters

Upon reflection, that's a lot of strict pullups with weight. By the final set I was mostly doing singles. Also, the bar I used was square. Tough on the hands after that many repetitions. The pistol squats took forever towards the end. I kept losing my balance falling backwards/sideways as the rope shifted on my shoulders.

Overall, this workout was challenging from a strength and technique perspective, but not in terms of stamina. I think I could have finished in under 10 minutes if I could've gotten the pistols down a little better. Either way, the location was incredible. Almost eerie it was so quiet. Will be a challenge finding places to top the Gravensteen.

From Desktop

AM...PM

In the morning....

4 mile run. Got up early and ran the perimeter of Leiden Centrum (central Leiden), passing by many wonderful historic sites. The city is bordered on all sides by water, so it forms a natural loop that is fairly easy to follow. Only bummer about this route is that it's very flat. I would like to find somewhere to run that has hills, but apparently they don't exist in the Netherlands.

In the evening....

3,3,3,3,3 bench press followed by 1,1,1,1,1 elevated bench row. I was going for the maximum weight possible on each and recorded the top successful sets. I finished at 130 kg (286 lb) on the press and 100 kg (220 lb) on the row. Finished with 3 sets of 30 situps and back extensions.

From My First Week

From My First Week

Rest Day

How to Eat Healthy for cheap in Leiden...

This has been more of a process than I anticipated. Honestly, coming in, finding food was the least of my concerns. But as soon as I moved into my place I knew it was an oversight. The kitchen situation is minimalist: 2 electric burners, 2 square feet of counter space, and a miniature refrigerator (with no freezer space beyond ice trays). Needless to say, the days of microwavable brown rice and frozen vegetables were long gone. And no oven, no grill.

The first week was full of trial and error with local grocers, i.e. buying too much food, buying shitty food, not understanding the labels on anything, and struggling to use foreign currency. However, now that we're into week 2, I think I've hit my stride. Every Wednesday and Saturday, I've discovered, local growers and merchants sell nuts, produce, meat, eggs, fish, bread, cheese, sweets, and pretty much anything else you can imagine along either side of the Rijn river that runs through the middle of town. The earlier in the day, the more expensive the prices. (Also, the better the pickings) With my fridge situation, a 3 day menu is about the most I can handle anyways, so the wed/sat is perfect. Yesterday I bought bell peppers (red,green,yellow), spinach, avocado, blueberries, bananas, Oude Kaas ("Old cheese", and the best cheese you've ever had), a small bag of potatoes, 1 kilogram of salmon, 3 chicken breasts, a dozen farm fresh eggs, and about a kilogram of an assorted raw nut trail mix (walnuts, almonds, cranberries, and god know what else). My fridge is at max capacity, but there's nothing superfluous and all of it will be gone by the weekend. Anyways, the best part is that all of this cost me about 35 euro, 15 of which was the salmon and chicken. When added to the non-perishables I got in bulk at the natural foods store (brown rice, cous-cous, canned kidney and black beans, lentils, salt, pepper, hot sauce, dressing) and some greek yogurt, I'm completely set. Every morning I'm able to scramble eggs with peppers, spinach, cheese, avocado and potatoes. Every night I alternate between fish and chicken with salad and grains. Snacks are combinations of yogurt, nuts, and fruit, plus leftovers. I've been frequenting a sandwich shop just about every afternoon when I'm out and about, but all their food is fresh as well. All in all, it's like I've been forced into a more agrarian, paleolithic diet than I've ever had because of INaccessibility and my INability to store things. Kind of ironic that the more choices we have, the worse ones we make, and vice versa.

From My First Week

The Room that Time Forgot

This is a look inside the L.K.V. de Spartaan Olympic lifting room that I anticipate will be housing a lot of my strength and heavier metcon training. Was feeling the hips from the bear crawling and the back from the deadlifts. Good thing tomorrow will be for rest.

The workout was 10 minutes, As Many Rounds As Possible of five 185lb Push Jerks and 50 Double Unders. This absolutely gassed me. I was able to complete 7 rounds, plus 1 additional Jerk.

AM...PM

In the morning...

10 rounds for time:

10 pullups

20 pushups

30 squats

I did this at a local park, Ankerpark. It's essentially an underused playground that now is populated mostly by dog walkers. Going to save this location for better videos in the future- lots of cool stuff to be done here. My time was 14:00.

In the evening...

Deadlift Bulgarian progression (10 sets with the repetitions as follows):

3,2,1,3,2,1,2,1,1,1

The idea is to start at around 50% of your 1 rep max, add 5% per set, and finish at that max or just over it. If you make your last set, continue adding weight and do singles until you fail. I finished at 200 kg (440 lb).

I did this at L.K.V. de Spartaan, my new home for weight training and olympic lifting. This is the 4th and final gym I was able to find in Leiden. Didn't show up on a google search-- I actually got lucky at the student gym (all 50 square feet of it) when some guy saw me doing hang cleans and recommended I check it out. I don't want to spoil the visual by describing it too fully here, but, suffice it to say, it's a rare beauty.

From Sep 8, 2009_2

7am at The Burcht

Found this place on one of my lost adventures getting to know Leiden. Figured it would be a good spot for my first workout, being that it's historical and simple. It's very cool and always open. Just me and the garbage men at 0700. Here's the workout...

5 rounds of:

Stair sprint up (30 steps if skipping stairs)

5 burpees

Bearcrawl down (60 steps)

5 burpees

The Reason For This Site

For the past 3 years I've lived an almost exclusively physical existence. I worked as a personal trainer, competed in various competitive athletic endeavors including several adventure races, a marathon, the Crossfit Games, and pretty much ate, slept, and breathed fitness. For these things I am not in the least bit ashamed. On the contrary, I am proud. Some of my more intellectual brethren have failed to see the importance or lasting value in committing so much time and effort to activities that essentially amount to a simple, albeit efficient, caloric burn. So, being the responsive, open-minded student of theory that I am, I asked myself, "What is it that I enjoy so much about fitness?"

Answers came fast and loud.

There's the scientific knowledge that I'm preparing myself for a lifetime of health and strength, curbing my chances of contracting a whole myriad of ailments like heart disease, diabetes, even certain types of cancer. There's the physiological response, a sort of competitive cocktail, that occurs when raw adrenaline and exercise-induced endorphins mix with the fear of failure and the joy of success. If you've been there, you know what I mean-- "sense of accomplishment" doesn't quite cover it.

Then there's something else. It's a bit deeper down and was a little harder for me to put my finger on. I'm not sure everyone feels it to the same degree, or perhaps some just don't recognize it as quickly as others. It's the idea that our bodies were built for action in the same way our minds were built for thought. While our brains were meant to reason, explore, and problem solve, our bodies were designed to stand up to the forces of nature and its many elements. Now, naturally, times have changed and the level to which said strength is a necessity has changed with them. But, as developed and evolved as we are, primitive cortexes and neuro-pathways still exist that really enjoy when the body fulfills its intended purpose. Imagine the feeling you get after you've just watched seasons 1-4 of The Office back to back on dvd; the lethargic, stiff, rooted to the couch, slovenly portrait of modern civilization that now substitutes for your body. Now imagine you're on that same couch, 20 minutes after scaling a climbing wall, or moving 10 yards of dirt from the front yard to the back , or doing 5 rounds of "Fight Gone Bad." You just challenged your body in the physical manner for which it was intended and it responded. Sure, it was painful. Sure, you were convinced half way through that you'd never do it again. But now that it's done...

So, armed with these answers, I concluded that my physical pursuits were not only justifiable in the face of critical scrutiny, they were essential. In order to feel truly fulfilled, I need to be challenged in all aspects. Wherever I am.

Now we come to the real purpose of this blog. I have just begun a History Master's program that will require me to live in several European countries, none of which have the available resources for fitness that exist in the United States. Without going into too much detail, the culture over here isn't exactly what it is in America. This presents an interesting problem, for as I will obviously be engaging the mental side of things, I won't have access to many of the traditional physical outlets from home, leaving me potentially and woefully imbalanced. As this is unacceptable, I have made it my mission to put together a user's guide for staying fit in circumstances such as these by tracing my path over the course of the next year. I will seek out local gyms and Crossfit affiliates. Where there are none, I will go to parks, churches, etc.

I intend to maintain a regimented schedule similar to that which I kept back in Washington. If at any time, people have ideas, suggestions, or local knowledge, please share it. Also, if anyone can get Cricky over here to train with me, that would be great. I will try to post pictures and videos of the workouts as often as I can.