PT

Swim/PT
10 sets of:
100m freestyle
20 Pushups
20 Abs of choice

Pull-up pyramid:
2,4,6,8,10,10,8,6,4,2

Dips: 25,20,15,10

Neck exercises:
Up/down: 25
Left/right: 25

Results
Swim/PT = 37.43

PT (back on the wagon)

Weird military facility holiday hours mixed with bad planning have pushed me right off the PT wagon. Today I got back on.

Swim/PT
9 sets of:
100m freestyle
20 pushups
20 abs of choice

Pull-ups 5 x 2, 4, 6, 8 reps

Regular grip
Reverse grip
Close grip
Wide grip
Mountain climbers

Neck exercises
Up/down: 25
Left/right: 25

Results
Swim/PT = 31.07

Why an Ex-Reporter joined the Marines

Every once in a while I come across guys at work who aren't the usual 18-year old, fresh faced kid from high school. Sometimes you'll run into an enlisted guy with a college degree, closer to 30 than 18 with some civilian life history. My buddy Ed fits this bill. He's like....45 or something and worked a desk job and made great money after college. For whatever reason he decided to leave this all behind to join the life of cleaning, being away from family, not having much say over his life and not making nearly as much money to do so. The military intrigues some people for whatever reason (jet planes, bombs, top secret this, big guns, etc.) but the reality is that like many other jobs, there' s more downtime than "go" time. Apparently this is the case even in the high speed units (as my friend, stationed at SEAL Team 10 recently told me). Which brings me to this article in the College Journal section of the WSJ. I can't exactly tell you why someone would leave an established civilian life and join the military but it does happen and happens more than you might think.

PT

Swimming
200m warmup
500m with fins
500m without fins
3 x 100m freestyle sprints at 1 min. 45 sec.
200m cooldown

Results
500m with fins = ??
(accidently erased from watch)
500m without fins = 10.25

Malcolm Gladwell

Easily one of my favorite authors right now, you may know him from his recent book Blink or from his best seller The Tipping Point. The following describes his writing well and comes from Fast Company:

By the time you finish a Gladwell article, you feel as if you've watched a movie and read an academic journal all at once. Your brain is exercised and entertained, your perspective changed.

Check out this intro to Gladwell courtesy of Fast Company or check out his website listed to the right.

PT in the middle of the ocean.

Crossfit WOD (in the morning)
21-18-15-12-9-6 and 3 rep rounds for time of:
35 lb. Dumbbell burpee, hang squat clean, thruster
Pull-ups

Note: The "dumbbell burpee hang squat clean thruster" is a burpee with dumbbells followed by a hang squat clean and then a thruster.

Running (in the afternoon/evening)
Mile sprints
Run 1 mile
Squats - 40
Run 1 mile
lunges - 40
Run 1 mile
Squats - 40
Run 1 mile
Lunges - 40

Results
Crossfit WOD:
Kicked my ass. Only finished first 2 rounds of 21 and 18 reps. Had to stop short due to time and pride issues. Time for first 2 rounds = 25.30

Running
Only finished first 2 miles before I was interupted because we had to move the treadmills around. Time for 1st 2 miles = 21.46

PT in the middle of the ocean.

Upper Body PT/Abs
Repeat 10 times:
Pushups - 20
Situps - 30
Tricep pushups - 20
Reverse crunches - 30

Lightweight shoulder workout (5 lbs dumbbells)
Repeat 2 times:
lateral raises - 10
lateral raises (thumb up) - 10
lateral raises (th up/down) - 10
front raise (thumb up) - 10
cross over jacks - 10
military press - 10

Results
Upper body PT/abs total time = 45.25

PT in the middle of the ocean

Running
4 mile timed run

Abs (2x's)
Atomic crunches - 25
V-ups - 25
Flutterkicks - 50
Scissors - 50
Leg levers - 50

Results
4 mile timed run = 34.46 (treadmilll at 0.5 incline)

Jane vs. Jessica

Trophy wife or someone closer to reality? Perfect 10 or an 8/9 with some attitude? Chris Shugart at Testosterone Nation (once you get past the title you'll find a wealth of workout, nutrition and even steroid info) raises some great points about "plain Jane's" vs. Jessica.

Blame Wal-Mart?

Came across an interesting article in the Nov 28 issue of Fortune. The author, Geoffrey Colvin, makes a good point: Wal-mart can't drive mom and pop stores out of business, only customers can.

Todays PT

Swim/PT
8 sets of:
100m freestyle
20 pushups
20 abs of choice

Upper Body PT
Pull-up pyramid: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2

Dips: 25, 20, 15, 10

Neck Exercises
up/down: 25
left/right: 25

Results
Swim/PT time = 24.48

PT for 07DEC

Navy PFA
Max situps in 2 min.
Max pushups in 2 min.
1.5 mile run

Lower Body PT
Squats 3x10
Lunges 3x10
Frog Hops 3x10
Heel Raises 3x15
Jumpovers 3x15

Results
Situps = 100
Pushups = 93
1.5 mile run = 10.58

Australia: Drinking with the old man

Many of you know I went on vacation over the summer. One of our stops was Australia, a small town called Bunbury just south of Perth. Here's a pic of my buddy Ed and I with the old man at a bar in town (we're sailors, bars are where we go).

As a few of you may know, pop culture recently suffered a great loss with the passing of actor Pat Morita. Bill Simmons has THE write up of Morita's seminal work: Karate Kid.

Todays PT
Swimming
200m warmup
500m sidestroke
3 x 100m sprints (side)
4 x 50m sprints (side)
200m cool down

Tri-max
Max pushups in 2 min.
Max situps in 2 min.
Max pull-ups.

Results
500m sidestroke = 11.13

Max pushups = 71
Max situps = 66
Max pull-ups = 14

Today's PT
Crossfit WOD
Five rounds for time:
135 pound Bench press, 21 reps
Run 400 meters

Results
Time = 22.25

Today's PT
Running
4-mile timed run

Crossfit WOD
Overhead squat 1-1-1-1-1
Front squat 1-1-1-1-1
Back squat 1-1-1-1-1

Try to increase the load on each of the fifteen sets.

Results
4-mile timed run = 33.52 (8.28/mile)

Crossfit
OHS = 65,85,95,105,115
Front = 155,175,195,205,215
Back = 205,225,245,255,265

PT
Swimming

Hypoxic Swim pyramid:
2-10-10-2

10 x 50m freestyle with 10 sec. interval (rest) in between each 50m (each level of the pyramid is 50m).

Upper Body PT
Pull-ups 5x2,4,6,8 reps
Regular grip
Reverse grip
Close grip
Wide grip
Mountain climbers
Total pull-ups = 100

Abdominal PT
Do 2 cycles of:
Regular situps 40
4-way crunches 40
(40 each way)
Leg levers 40
Flutter kicks 50
1/2 situps 40

8-count Bodybuilders 15