Exercise of the Week: Half Kneeling Around the World Slam

The one thing missing from our facility is a concrete wall to do some rotational medicine ball throws. Yes, I can do some partner throws with clients, but once the weight of the ball and the power of the throws goes up so do the chances of jammed fingers, broken windows and innocent bystanders getting plunked.

So that leaves me to doing slams and slam variations for most of the medicine ball power training. Here's one I particularly like:




After working on this for a couple of weeks I would progress this up to a standing position and then maybe to a split stance or single leg position.

Nutrition Tip of the Week: Eat Breakfast

Got Pain?

Accelerated Fitness will be offering a rehab based class on Saturdays @12:30pm. This class, run by Marco Sanchez, will show you the best exercises to help reverse and prevent aches and pains in the most common joints. Classes start soon, so sign up now!

Marco is a Strength & Conditioning Specialist experienced in rehab protocols for all major joints having worked with many college and professional athletes from the NHL, NFL and MLB.

Exercise of the Week: Single Leg Squat/Deadlift

I'm using the Airex pad as a reference point by trying to get the unsupported knee to touch, not crash into, the pad each time. If you can not get that low initially start off with a higher contact point. Maybe a couple Airex pads or a couple aerobics steps.

Accelerated Fitness Transformation Challenge

The challenge has been issued.

Accelerated Fitness will be starting it's first transformation challenge on March 14. Yes, it is a contest and there will be prizes awarded. But it's not just about a contest. It's not about what Charlie Sheen would call "Winning". It's about the challenge that you are about to impose on yourself. Can you dial in your nutrition and training for twelve weeks? Can you find the time to get that extra workout in over the course of the week? Do you have the willpower to say, "No, bread please".? It's time to stop telling yourself "I can't" or "I don't want to". It's time for some accountability.

Transformation Challenge Guidelines

•The challenge is open to everyone. You do not need to be a client of Accelerated Fitness in order to participate. If you know someone who might be interested please pass this information along. Long distance contetstants are welcome to join.
•There is no cost to participate. Maybe the cost of some mental anguish from time to time.
•The contest will run from March 14 to June 12. Please get me your before pictures by March 14. Yes, before and after pictures are involved. If you need help with your before and after pictures we can do them here at the facility. Also, if you would like to do body composition measurements we can take those at the facility also. Body composition measurements are not a requirement, but nice to have.
•There will be one judge, yours truly. First and second place prizes will be based on who has made the biggest change with their before and after pics. Oh yeah, there is a short essay required before the end of the challenge about what you have learned about yourself over the course of the 12 weeks. Get your pencils ready.
•One other requirement. Let's have some fun with this thing. If you're going to complain or be miserable for twelve weeks, I reserve the right to boot your *ss out.

If you have any questions please send an email to rich@acceleratedfts.com or call (781)538-6664.

Exercise of the Week: Val Slide Bodysaw / Plank Walk Up Combo

I'm not reinventing the wheel here. In fact, I'm sure there are plenty of other strength coaches or trainers who already came up with this exercise. I'm just taking two of my favorite core stability exercises, the Valslide Bodysaw and the plank walk up, and putting the two together.

Random Thoughts

• Your carbs should be earned. Days that you have performed a workout you can be a bit more lenient with your carbs. This doesn't mean woofing done a bag of chips or guzzling down a liter of soda. More fruits. Maybe some grains. Some extra carbs in your post-workout shake such as some honey or rolled oats. Good carbs from good sources. Days when you're not getting a workout in, cut back on your carb intake. Try to limit it to mostly fruits or vegetables. Or maybe you can get away with some carbs in the morning when you to tend to be a a bit more insulin sensitive.


• I love talking about carbs. Here's a tip I picked up from the book, Ultimate You. To decide if a packaged food has too many carbs for you go to the label. Add up the grams of fiber and protein. Subtract that number from the grams of carbs. If that number is greater than 10, that food is too high in carbs. If that number is between 5 and 10, that food is acceptable. If that number is below 5, good choice.


• "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail". Are you just doing workouts or are you on a program? Do you have the time blocked out over the course of the week to execute your program? Do you have the necessary foods to put good meals together? Do you know what your next meal is going to be? Just some things to think about if you want to get to your goals.


• I'm sometimes amazed at the little things people will not do to help themselves when it comes to injuries or injury prevention. Most of the injuries they are dealing with are of the overuse variety which could probably be aided by some foam rolling and stretching. Or increased water intake. Or taking some fish oil. Or getting some decent sneakers or shoes on your feet. Instead they constantly hurt and complain about being constantly hurt. I'll stop ranting there.


• I just finished finished up Eric Cressey's Show and Go program which is a 12 week program I'd recommend for anyone, male or female. Great programming. Great variety. It was probably the strongest I've gotten in the last 10 years and without the motivation or help from a training partner. Trying to do one rep maxes in the bench press is not exactly a good idea. But I also set new PR's with my weighted chin ups (2 reps w/100lbs of added resistance) and a new one rep max in the front squat (305). I attempted 315, but that didn't go so well. Had to dump it in the bottom position.


• Now it's on to another training program, the Lean Hybrid Muscle Program. I'm using this to get ready for a couple of these crazy obstacle type of races that have suddenly become popular such as the Tough Mudder, Warrior Dash or Spartan Race. Also doing it to have a bit more fun with my training. Sometimes I think we lose sight of that. Training is not always going to be fun, but it should be fun from time to time. We deal with too many stresses to not have fun when you step into the gym. And as we get older we tend to do less things that are fun from a physical standpoint. Get some fun back into your training from time to time. Just do not take that to mean doing Crossfit or some other crazy s**** that just doesn't make any sense. Actually Crossfit and crazy s*** are the same thing, huh?


• Speaking of training, I love reading and watching all these stories about these NFL prospects getting ready for the NFL combine. I love the numbers: the 40 yard times, the reps is in the bench press, the vertical jump heights. I love watching the ways these guys get ready for these tests. Maybe I'll try getting for the combine next, but I think my days of running sub-5.0 second forty's were over about ten years ago.


• Coming back from the Functional Movement Screen seminar got me to realizing how crappy most people move and even how crappy I move. I've been fortunate enough to stay clear of injury for the last 4-5 years despite training pretty hard, but one day it might catch up to me. It's not only from an injury perspective where it's a problem but also from an efficiency perspective. If I can move better, movements become more efficient. Moving with more efficienctly will hopefully lead to more strength, speed and power. Now if I could move well enough to make my golf swing become really efficient, I will kneel down and pray to the FMS gods.


• This post is aimed at parents of kids who are playing hockey, but I think it applies to most sports. Take a look here.


• Going to be running our first body transformation challenge. The challenge is going to start on March 14. Who's in? Come on get signed up. Bloat yourself up for the next couple of weeks, stop training, let your posture go to hell, get your before photos taken and then game on.


• Can someone tell me why every Crossfit workout is named after a chick? And then explain to me the purpose of a kipping pull up. To me it just looks like a pull up gone bad. Why not take the time to develop the strength to do a good set of chin ups or pull ups?

Excuse me for the f bombs in that video.

Alright, enough beating up on Crossfit...for now.