Over 100 Done So Far

 The journey continues as I keep grinding with my Hill Sprint Training. Thought I'd share my results so far. There isn't a huge difference but I'll take what I can get and keep getting better and better. I've now reached over 100 Sprints since I started a little over a month ago. Had to reduce the amount of sprints after the first three workouts since I was doing too much just to begin with. I was doing 10 sprints a session and reduced it to 5 each for the next three weeks, I'm now in my second week of 6 sprints a session for 12-15 seconds each. 

Results don't come easy for me and I've actually changed my eating habits around since I started this up again. I've cut back on a number of things and focused more on Steak, Rice, Eggs, Homemade Shakes with Milk & Raw Eggs, Chicken Salads from time to time and some other good stuff. On my days off from sprints, I'll do mainly Isometrics but I also go on walks, play basketball, work with hammers, do circuits and even one workout where I managed 105 slams in 5 minutes with my 20 lb slam ball. I thought I was going to die from that one and that felt more intense than the sprints LOL. 

Isometrics help a lot with the recovery and some days I'll do the intense 7-12 second contractions but other days I'll do 30 seconds or longer doing various positions. Overall like I said there isn't a massive difference in my physique and I still have quite a road ahead of me but I'm loving it and I feel different. I feel lighter even at around 255, my legs feel springy, the definition in the legs is awesome too and haven't felt I lost any strength. Stamina keeps getting better little by little and the endorphin highs are just flat out incredible. 

Not planning to look like Zach Efron from Baywatch but the idea is to slim down more, eat better, drink more water, harden the muscles up a bit and just be in better shape. This is my last year in my 30's and I want to be in the best shape I can be in when 40 hits. Getting a head start isn't a bad thing now is it? I don't want to feel like an old man and still want the ability to keep up. Too many people I know let themselves go after they approach 40 and many younger than me are already starting to wear down from injuries and even dying because of certain lifestyle choices. Although looking like you're in shape and actually feeling and doing things that keep you in shape are different things, I just want to get better little by little and feel like I'm not wearing out and can't keep up. Conditioning and Flexibility becomes more crucial as we age and staying strong is part of that puzzle. 

Sprints are more than just running hard for a few seconds, it's about fighting yourself and discovering where your true strength and will lies. Keep at it and keep being amazingly awesome everyone. 

Mar 20th

Today Apr 24th

 

The Hill And You

 It can be a love/hate relationship and sometimes you just want to quit but when you push because you know what's at stake, you find out what you're capable of. Now that can be a lot of things in life and some will take it to extremes even to the point of extreme conditions to prove how tough they are but in the end, there has to be balance amongst the chaos. For this specific reason I'm going with Hill Sprints here.

When you're at the hill and you sprint up that son of a bitch like your life depended on it, there's a lot of things going on that many don't realize. The hill can be your best friend or your worst enemy depending on how you do it and treat it as such because believe it or not, that hill is like a coach. I teaches you what you're doing wrong, how to correct your stride, how you proceed with the right speed and how to apply the strength of your fortitude to its demanding presence. If you have someone to go sprinting with, that's great and you could push each other and encourage each other but even that is rare to find unless you're training for a sport like Football or Wrestling or MMA. The majority of the time, a Hill Sprinter is by him/herself, locked onto a specific goal with nothing but the clothes on their back, the surroundings and the ground they're sprinting on.

Hill Sprints are of a different animal than other forms of Strength Training or Interval Training. The hill fights you and wants you to not be able to tackle it's angle or dimensions. It doesn't want you to succeed but you push on anyway. It can be intimidating and it can even speak to you saying "you can't beat me, I'll make you feel like you're dying inside" or something along the lines of "Try me and find out what it feels like to know you need everything just to even get pass me by a few yards." It doesn't discriminate, it doesn't care where you come from, it doesn't matter what color, creed or if you're a world champion, it will beat you to a metaphorical pulp if you let it get to you. 

As of late, I've completed about 70 Sprints so far in my training and it doesn't get any easier. I've had to reduce the number of sprints because I did sense something wrong after doing too many of them too soon and that hill was laughing in my face. I still managed them but I was going back home on fumes and my body was in shock along with shot to shit. When I reduced the number to 5 sprints instead of 10 per session, things felt better, I felt stronger both during and after. The hill taught me a valuable lesson and that's to never underestimate its ability to kick your ass and ravage your ignorance. I don't sprint at 100% cause that would only be a few seconds and my legs would be shot, I sprint just hard enough to go for 10-15 seconds to hit that sweet spot. That gives me the opportunity to show that hill that I'm listening to not only it but to my body and finding that balance of going hard but not to the point of possibly getting hurt. 

The progression is simple and I nearly found out the hard way that simplistic progression and not all out high number of sprints is the way to go. I'm not Walter Payton or a Shamrock or Brock Lesnar, I can only be me. Right now I'm in the final week of doing 5 Sprints per session, by next week I'll be going after 6 for a max of 4 weeks and then add 1 more and so on and so forth. I don't bring my cell, I don't bring a backpack or water bottle with me, just the clothes I wear and the shoes on my feet to get me there. Walk to the hill, do my sprints, walk home and that's my workout. Depending on how many sprints I do, door to door takes about an hour or so from the time it takes to get get there, sprint and go back. There's beautiful trees, a cool park nearby and nobody bothers me unless they honk their horns driving by to cheer me on or give me a thumbs up. It is seriously one of the friendliest places I've ever been in. Most of the time with people coming by, I just nod and have us both be on our way. 

The hill I run on is a hill where my grandmother-in-law lives next to and it's a hill that leads up to the mountain where my Father-In-Law lives. Beautiful hill to even just climb up and there's a little trail on the side of the mountain that overlooks the road leading to the lake. Nobody bothers anybody, very civil and very little of the time you see an asshole drive by or some nutjob trying to see how fast he can go in his pickup with a MAGA Sticker & Gun Rack on the window. Always careful where I'm at and aware of any cars coming by cause the lane is barely small enough for a bike. When I walk back down to recover, I shift over to the ditch on the side. 

It's not the steepest hill but it is fun to sprint on and every now and then, you get some deer close by just sitting or looking on. If you like Hill Sprints and have a hill near by, use it to the best of your abilities, just be careful depending where it is. Keep being amazingly awesome and hope you have a great start to the week. 

The Difference Between Being Euphoric And Being A Zombie

 

The first 3 workouts of my current sprint training program didn't start off on the right foot so do speak. I started out at 10 sprints a session and without realizing it, it just didn't seem right. Something was off especially after the sprints and walking back home. When I did my third session and finally understood what I was feeling, I changed it up and went down a few notches. After each of the first three sessions, I was feeling like a zombie walking home. No energy, walking on fumes and feeling dead inside. It felt like shit and my body didn't completely respond well until I decided to make one change. Reduce the amount of sprints to half of what I was doing and progressively build up to 8-10 again.

When I made this one small change, it became something bigger than the previous three workouts. Cutting the sprints down to 5 not only changed my outlook on the workouts but felt the complete opposite of what I was doing before. I felt that I did enough but still had something left in the tank. I felt a sense of euphoria, that happy energy and bustling with life and vitality. Walking back home felt great and easy. Here's the main difference between the two opposing effects of being euphoric and feeling like a zombie: The feeling of euphoria is like a 70's Hippie in a meadow, just feeling great and high without an ounce of hate or negative feelings towards the world. Feeling like a zombie however; feels like nothing matters, the world goes on but you have no life in you, there's no usefulness and the feeling of no purpose, you just don't give a shit. Your body is moving or being still but there's nothingness as well, the energy feels empty and no sense of vitality whatsoever. 

This isn't just a feeling from sprint training, these can happy during any form of training or having such a long day at work or during work that it either sucks the life out of you or give you a reason to be happy and full of life. To me, training is about having something left in the tank but also feel like there's vigor and power that still runs strong while feeling great at the end. If your workout ends where there's nothing left and there's no life or energy coming from you internally or externally, there's something wrong there. If you're a competitor training for a sport, sure you want to work hard and make efforts to go against the competition but if there's no energy left for when the game even starts and you're just playing without an ounce of vital energy, what good was all that practice for? Practice with the intention of being at your best before, during and after whether it's a workout, training for a sport, at your job or whatever that keeps you being vitally strong. 

Now when it comes to awareness, you should always be aware of your surroundings. When you're naturally high and full of euphoria, you still know where you are and what's going on. When you're high out of your skull and have no sense of awareness whatsoever, that has a very high risk of killing you. Overdosing and things like that is what I can't condone and taking drugs to feel good just isn't right. Be vital and strong in your euphoric state with a solid sense of awareness. Don't go so far that that not only life is sucked out of you but there's no energy and strength left to do anything that it seems like you're dead but still moving. Be amazingly awesome and live with happiness and strength.   

100 Seconds Of Fat Melting Training Like Nazis Standing Next To The Ark

 

Certain aspects of training can be hard as hell and you do the best of what your body allows you. Even with a strong mind, your body is quite capable of more than we give credit but there's always a limit that reaches maximum. In Sprint Training, no matter who you are, your top speed only lasts mere seconds. In those seconds however, you are training your body to tackle fat like Kevin Greene took down quarterbacks; hard, fast and with ferocious intensity. 

Sprints separate the men from the boys and turns them into lean, mean fighting machines nearly as fast as the Flash. You can have your life flash before your eyes and still see what it would be like to go so hard that you are fighting for your life at the same time. Sprints are primal, intense and full of benefits that we often ignore because of the various things that it does or doesn't do. In simple terms, Sprint Training gives off Warrior Vibes.

For 10 seconds at a time, you can imagine many things to make this as intense as it's meant to be: Chasing down somebody, running from an animal, racing your shadow, being a character, being a real life superhuman or whatever you choose to do, make it so you're creating the fastest version of yourself. Those 10 seconds can determine the ability to burn off fat at a rate that's almost unbelievable to comprehend. Now imagine working those 10 seconds multiple times and rest 2-3x as long in order to recover. It's Strength Training in its simplest form; no complicated things to do, no machines, no gym noise, nothing but you and the ground. 

Hill Sprints however make fat burning the ultimate workout that ground sprints doesn't get passed. Even by mere inches, Hills make your ground work better and you take on a whole new meaning to the words "Mental Toughness." This past Thursday and yesterday, I took on a Hill nearby the house and went as hard as my body allowed me for 10 Sprints at 10 seconds at a time. I wasn't always my fastest, but went hard as I possibly could and made each sprint and my recovery count. It's that time of year where flowers bloom, the weather gets warmer and the days are longer. It's time to hit the Hill to really make the most of what you want to achieve in having a lean physique fast. 

Like the Nazis standing and getting melted by an ancient and powerful box, your fat won't stand a chance with Hill Sprinting. Like always, pay attention to form but at the same time, pay attention to your intentions as well. This isn't some climb up a hill and going for a hike, you're going to work at the hardest you can possibly make it for those few seconds of training. Intensity is the key and your will to go hard as if your life depended on it. 100 seconds is all of the time it takes to induce the largest amount of Growth Hormone and Testosterone possible. Be able to breathe better, sleep better, eat more and feel that urge of sexual energy that every guy wants to feel. 

Training this way is only needed 2-3x a week and it's best to start off with a small number of sets and seconds if you haven't done them in a while. 4x8-10 seconds would be a good starting point, that's a max of 40 seconds of work. Each month, add one sprint and a few seconds to progressively get more out of it. Max sprints IMO shouldn't be more than 20-30 seconds and on most days, 10-15 is more than enough. Max amount of Sprints shouldn't be more than 10 because you're training merely to get leaner and stronger, you're not trying to match Walter Payton who did so many damn sprints it's a miracle his legs didn't fall off his body. At full speed may not be more than a few seconds and probably no more than 10. It's very difficult if not impossible to stay at 100% speed for 30 seconds. 

To build a program on Hill Sprints, check out Josh Bryant's 6-Week Sprint Training Guide to get you started. Also check out his Speed Training book.

Be fast, run hard and keep being amazingly awesome. 

Sprint 8 Without The Machinery And Summer Results So Far

Changing things up can be a good thing so you can stay interested and take on a different style of the training you're working on. Since about late May, I was working on Hill Sprints and up until now did around 60 Sprints in that time ranging from 4-5 per workout at 10-15 seconds each. I would take about a 20 minute walk to the hill, do my sprints and walk back 20 minutes. It was good for a while but was feeling burnt out and needed to change things up. Doing research and seeing what could work for me, I found the Sprint 8 Program.

Doing a couple workouts with Sprint 8 so far and it's tough but I have greater energy and the timing is better for me since I can practically do it anywhere and not always exhaust myself. If you ever read the course by Phil Campbell it's simply a workout where you do an exercise for 30 seconds fast and "rest" for 90 seconds for 8 rounds. The workout itself takes less than 15 minutes all together and only 4 minutes of intense training.  

The program itself is not really that new and the concept itself as I recall was originally "founded" by Dr. Lawrence Moorhouse who had athletes do this with Burpees or Step Ups (can't remember which one exactly) but it's a good program. Campbell updated this protocol in the modern age by using it for cardio machines that's actually pre-set to the protocol. There's a warm up period, the workout and a cool down which all together takes 20 minutes. This is to be done 3x a week which the trial run is 8 weeks. 

I don't use machines so I just do Burpees for this particular workout because as a bodyweight exercise, Burpees are the closest to the most intense, fat burning and weight loss exercise you can do next to sprint training. The rest period is just walking it off. I would start with a few minutes of Joint Loosening and than get right to it. When I'm done, I hop in the shower and do recovery work the rest of the day. The workout itself is less than 15 but if you include the joint loosening its about 18-19 minutes) and that is perfect for me. 

You don't need machines to do this workout (which I just showed), you can do this with slam balls, bodyweight exercises, sprints in place, Burpees, Step Ups, weights just about whatever your imagination can come up with, just do something fast for 30 seconds and actively rest for 90 for 8 rounds, that's it. With the Hill Sprints and this workout so far, I've lost 7-9 pounds and put on some muscle but it's still a work in progress and got a ways to go so I just need to trust the process. I didn't even diet that much if at all and the pounds were still slowly but surely coming off. 

Who knows where I might go with this but at the moment, I like it and it could lead to my best physique ever but I'm not looking for the beach body, just be in better shape and be in better health little by little. As of July 4th, I've gone from 267 lbs. to 258 lbs. (Pictures at 258), would like to be a little under 250 by the time I turn 38. Is it possible? We shall see.

Hill Sprints: It Does A Body Good

The ultimate form of explosiveness and speed is through Sprint Training period. The funny thing is, you can do all sorts of exercises to play with that will give enormous fat burning effects but the cream of the crop, the big cheese and James Bond of all exercises to burn fat faster than the wicked witch screaming "I'm melting" is hitting Hill Sprints.

The very best athletes on the planet have used Hill Sprints to generate incredible speed, power and explosiveness. To name a few, Ricky Henderson, Marcus Allen, Kurt Angle & others. These types of Sprints are only done a maximum of 3x a week and within a short amount of time, you will burn flab like no tomorrow, have incredible surge of testosterone, recover with greater ease, sleep like a log and have an appetite that would make strength athletes blush (last one was slightly exaggerated).

Because of the way gravity works, the best way to keep solid form as you speed up the hill is stay leaned forward and bringing them heels to that ass. This will help you move with an extra spring and help prevent injuries. I use to do Hill Sprints for weeks nearly months at a time and always felt amazing each session. You don't need to do that many to get the full effect. Doing no more than 10 at 30 seconds per sprint is enough to really kick start your hormones. When you combine this type of training with a solid foundation of healthy foods and (optional) supplementation such as Pine Pollen, Muscle Gain, &/or Titan Post Workout Formula, it will make you feel like a young kid again.

Take a cold shower after session and burn even more calories; think what that can do to shed unwanted pounds, burn fat like butter to a hot plate, grow muscle like a sprinter and have energy that would make friends jealous and your woman or guy wanting you more because of your stamina in the sack. Believe me when I tell you it is the fastest way to burn off fat and you'll be doing far more recovery than running. The recovery should be up to 3x or longer than the sprint time because your body builds up an insane amount of lactic acid that needs to fueled by fresh blood that is being rushed throughout the body, get rid of bad cells and strengthening your tendons.

This is the season to get into Hill Sprints and if you don't have one, sprint on a field or track. Get outside and run like the Flash.

Never forget to....Playout, Not Workout.