Stephanie

                                                               
                                                                   

    What does a person leave behind when they go? I think it depends alot on how they lived their lives while they were here. Who they were every day, and how they influenced others along the way. We aren't going to remember someone for the way they left this world, but for the way they impacted our lives while they were here. Here is to an incredible mother, an excellent grandma, a wonderful aunt, and most of all, an altogether amazing person. You'll be missed greatly, and loved always. We may have lost a loved one, but Heaven just gained a great new angel. Death serves to remind us of our mortality. It serves to remind us that our time here is finite. It also serves to remind us to slow down and cherish those little things that you won't understand how much you miss till they are gone. So we will bring out the iron, and put ourselves through the paces, to remind ourselves of our own weakness, our own mortality. But also to remind us just how much heart we have, and to remember just how much heart she had. This one is for you aunt Stephanie. You may be gone from this world, but you will never be gone from our hearts.

Stephanie

3 Rounds for time of...

21 KB Swings
20 KB Snatches per side
20 Presses (10 per side)
20 Pull Ups
5 Squat Thrusters

Poker Face

    Not an entirely new concept, but a fun one nonetheless. Some of you may have heard of it, or even done it before. The deck of cards workout. Basically all it consists of is four movements, each represented by one of the four suits of cards. The cards are shuffled and athletes draw cards, performing the number of reps designated on the card, and the movement designated by the suit of the card. We decided to take it a little bit further, to ensure no slacking happened. We created a "hardest set possible" rule. This rule simply states that you should be doing the most difficult version of the movement possible for a set. So say if you draw a 3 and you are supposed to do presses, well than they should at least be strict presses, if not doubles! But with a card like a 10, understandably one is allowed to split those reps over both hands. Or if you draw a 10 of pullups, you do kipping pullups. Draw a 5, do dead hangs. Draw a three or a 2, do muscle ups. You get the point. Always make it hard, even the low rep cards. All face cards are worth 10 reps, and for the lucky fellow who draws an ace, it's worth 12 reps. This workout is alot of fun, and the difficulty creeps up on you. You may even find yourself getting crushed by poor "luck of the draw". When is the game over? Once all the cards in the deck have been drawn, or you give up. Whichever comes first.

Poker Face

Clubs: Snatches (Do full number of reps designated with each hand, don't be lazy and split them)
Hearts: Presses
Diamonds: Pushups
Spades: Pullups

Or you can do the movements we did on Saturdays WOD...

Clubs: Squat Thrusters
Hearts: Presses (Notice a trend? Presses are hearts because we heart presses)
Diamonds: Ring Dips
Spades: Tire Flips

   Realistically you could do any movement you want with a deck of cards. These are just a couple suggestions. Either way, it'll be a tough workout. If it's just you, you will be crushed for sure after doing all 52 cards. You can also "play" the cards with another comrade, taking turns each time. You can continue the "play" idea by splitting larger groups into 2 even teams, then the card drawn will be performed by the entire team. Throw Jokers in too for extra fun, and give them a sinister assignment, like 25 burpees.

Head to Head

  

    Pretty simple concept. Get a few athletes, hand them a standard weight KB, provide access to a pullup bar and a couple of sets of rings. Give them a set number of reps for each movement. And 3.. 2.. 1.. GO! It's on, may the best athlete win. This style of workout is very popular in the crossfit world, especially since it fosters so much competition. We will be rolling out with more wods like this in the near future too. Because everybody likes a little competition right?

Head to Head

For time...

100 KB Swings
80 KB Snatches
50 Pullups
25 Ring Dips
10 Heavy Squat Thrusters

   All pullups are kipping or scaled. Standard weight KB should be used for swings and snatches. Squat thrusters are to be performed with a pair of heavy kettlebells, not standard! Those last 10 reps should hurt. that's it. You're done. A sub 20 minute time is fast, a sub 30 minute time is respectable.

Ladders

    We all love a good old 5x5 lift setup. We realize it is a great way to build strength and strength endurance. It can be applied to almost any exercise too. But it does have it's shortcomings. What about when you cannot perform 5 clean reps with a given weight or movement? Should you just give up and reduce weight or return to progressions? Of course not! So you find you can press a heavy KB of a given weight and you want to get better at it, lifting a lighter one can help, but it won't have the same muscle memory effect that lifting that heavy KB will. Another example might be that you have finally gotten your muscle up and it's looking pretty cleantoo, you just can't do 5 full reps, 5 times yet. Of course you want to keep working your MU, it's one of those movements that you get alot better at just by doing the darn things after all. So a 5x5 won't work. Of course you can do a 2x5, a 3x5, or even a 4x5 if you wish and that is all well and good. But there is another option. Behold the Ladder concept. it is very simple, and allows you to preserve as much of your strength as possible throughout the ladder. It allows you to practice explosiveness and repetition all at the same time. Basically a ladder works like this, you perform 1 rep, then a short rest, then you perform 2 reps, then a short rest, then you perform 3 reps, and so on and so forth until you reach your goal number of reps. Upon reaching that goal you have completed that rung of the ladder, you then start back at 1 rep and work your way back up to your set number on the second rung, and the third, and so on until you have reached your goal number of rungs. Ladders are simple, and can be very boring and time consuming. But they build strength. Period. So if entertainment is what you want, go watch amovie or something. If you want strength, button down and do some ladders!

3 Things you will never out run

    We all have our pride. We hold our heads high and remind ourselves of just how awesome we are, and just how hard we work to be that awesome. Every day. We build our self esteem, our social aptitudes and our relationships with others based on how we feel about ourselves. I mean, if you had little or no self worth, you probably wouldn't be very motivated, nor would you be any fun to talk to. It's good to talk to confident people, ones that motivate you. Even if the motivation is rooted simply in the fact that they seem proud, and happy, based on their accomplishments. Whether is be a college degree, a good job, a successful year of training, it reflects in our mannerisms just the same. Whatever it may be, you often wear a bit of that pride right ot there for all to see. In the workplace, we all know who the kayaker guy is, or who the traveler girl is, oh and there is that guy with that 69' Mustang he's always talking about. The naturalist, the journalist, the hobbyist, and the veteran. They are allvery proud and will gladly tell you of their exploits in their given field. They may even talk your ear off about it. I myself have a bit of a reputation for being the "kettlebell guy" at work. I may be better of being known as the guy who works the hardest, but I like the designation that has become my reputation. I will gladly talk for hours about kettlebells and strength training in general. Because I am proud of where it has taken me over the years. And I want to share that knowledge. But what about when that pride gets away from you. When it becomes a burden and not a positive boost in confidence? What about when you become so obsessed in your pursuit of one thing that you neglect another, all in an effort to reach those goals that you can be proud of. Well, any number of things can result. Today we'll talk about the three main things you cannot out run, no matter how fast you think you are. Things you cannot out lift, out swim, or out swing. Things that are pivotal to your success, no matter how much pride you have in your abilities or accomplishments.

Push and Pull

 Time to drop the intensity a bit and crank up the strength. This is important to do every once in awhile, especially as we work our way towards goals like Beast Challenge. So we will break our circuit down into individual sets of each movement, instead of our usual all-in-one workout. Much like a traditional strength routine. The exception to this theme will be our Balding Bear complex that we will throw into the mix just to get that heart pumping a bit to warm up.

Push and Pull

Balding Bear Complex x 5
5 2 hand KB Swing
5 R Hand KB Swing
5 R Hand KB C&P
5 L Hand KB C&P
5 L Hand KB Swing
5 2 Hand KB Swing

5x5 Heavy Squat Thruster
5x2 Heavy TGU
Heavy Double x 5 Weighted Pullup
5x10 Tire Flip

    There is it comrades. This is one of those workouts that should leave you sore, and ready to down a good hearty meal afterwards. There is no running, sprinting, sledge swinging or anything "cardio". I hate that term "cardio". It laways brings to mind a row of drones running on treadmills at a gym,watching "The View" on their mini tvs. Balding bear consists of swings, cleans, and presses. Not exactly the movements most folks think of when they think "cardio". But trust me, you heart will be ready to jump out of your chest after a set of this complex! Not to mention the fact that 10 tire flips will also make you question conventional "cardio" workouts as you struggle to recover after round 5.

Hold Up!

    Wednesdays WOD is a good old circuit routine.This will be a three round burst circuit. Maximum effort for each round. Get ready for a good time. Get ready to get motivated!

Hold Up!

3 Rounds for time of...

3 Muscle Ups / 5 Pull Ups / 10 Ring Rows
5 Press each side
3-30 Second Hollow Holds
1 Minute Plank Hold
1 Minute Side Plank Hold
1 Minute Side Plank Hold
1 Minute Zercher Hold
10 Sumo Squats
20 KB Swings

   Just to explain a little. First of all, if you cannot do a Zercher Hold with the slosh pipe, move on. Don't worry about it. there will be an easier slosh pipe coming soon enough. Sumo Squats are basically goblet squats with a 5 second pause at the bottom. So basically the cadence would be down ,one, two, three, four, five, up. I will explain all the holds in further detail in session. For those who want to know ahead of time, there is plenty of instruction on them on youtube.

Spetznaz Grinder

    So tomorrow's WOD will be a good warmup for the Bear Challenge on Saturday. Don't be fooled though, if you can't make it Saturday this WOD will certainly be enough to get you by till Monday!

Spetznaz Grinder

5 Rounds for time of...

400m Run
10 Squat Thrusters
20 Burpees
30 KB Swings
20 Pushups
10 Pullups

Scaled Spetznaz Grinder

5 Rounds for time of...
(35 minute cap)

200m Run
5 Squat Thrusters
10 Burpees
15 KB Swings
10 Pushups
5 Ring Rows

There you have it. Bring your motivation comrades!

Getting Sloshed

 

  Time to break out our new friends the slosh pipes today. We'll also have an opportunity for weighted pull ups and dips as well. Basically, it's gonna be another torturously fun day in the park.

Sloshed

6 Rounds for time of...

400m Run
20 KB Swings
10 SP Presses
5 Pullups
50m SP Zercher Carry
10 Ring Dips
10 SP Overhead Squats

  It's time to have a nice long talk with your abdominal muscles, they aren't going to like you much after today.

Low Tech. High Effect.

    A lot of folks have to misconception that the dollar value of a training tool is a measure of it's true worth. Well this can be true if you are purchasing a rowing machine or something that you could never build yourself like a quality road bike. But this is usually not the case. Even iron isn't all that expensive when you opt for the less fancy brand names out there. All you are paying for at that point is the weight itself anyways. What about all those odds and end you find in a real, quality high intensity gym? The pullup bars, the accessories, things like plyo boxes. What about that stuff? Well sure, you could run out to a reputable supplier and have it all shipped directly to your door. But how much would you save if you could just make some of it yourself? You can save a ton! And in a lot of cases you can even build tools that better fit your specifications and needs. And sometimes some seriously effective tools aren't even available commercially at all. Here at Bear Fitness, we hate the idea of a typical big box gym and it's fancy, high dollar padded chest pumper machines. We'll leave all that chrome and foam for the tank top trainers. Today we're gonna talk about a couple of cool ways we can add some awesome equipment to our bag of tricks, that will keep up with our heavy demands, without breaking the bank.

Bear Challenge

    Circuits, intervals, amraps, we do alot of different varieties of exercises here at Bear Fitness. I have a personal love of circuits myself, but in order to shock the system and continue to develop as athletes we must constantly vary our training. I throw all kinds of different stuff into my own workout routines, and I advise many of our comrades to do the same. Whether it be walking, running, or playing an organized sport outside of their dedicated training. Something different is always good. A good friend of mine recently competed in the Spartan Race. It is an event held all over the country, and they even have a couple different variations of difficulties and distances. Check them out here. He did the Super Spartan distance and loved every grueling mile of it. Myself and some of our athletes are also going to attend the Tough Mudder in Tampa this December. Tough Mudder is similar to the Spartan Race, but with more of a military twist, and more teamwork based obstacles. Both competitions are obstacle course runs that vary in distance from 6-12 miles in length, and almost always take place in rural environments with plenty of sticks, mud, trees, and torture. So this got me thinking, why not take the concept of these tough guy obstacle races and compress it into a timeframe and distance that would better fit a Bear WOD. A heavy duty obstacle sprint if you will. Enter the Bear Challenge. It is a unique type of workout in that it is simply out and back, one time, for time. It will feature a set of "obstacles" which for our purposes will be exercise movements, and it will be a total of between 1-1.5 miles in length. The finisher for men will be a tire flip of around 100m, and for girls a bear crawl of the same distance. the exercises in between will be a mystery until Challenge day. The very first Bear Challenge will be this Saturday! So stay tuned to the main site at http://www.girevikbearfitness.com/ for details!