The whole...

is greater than the sum of its parts. Gestalt theory tries to explain human processes with the concept which states, "what we are is more than what we're made of." For example, when we look at something, our eyes sample the light information, modulating neurons in the visual cortex. Some how, something in our cranial goo breaks down this information and makes sense of it. The output is greater (in information) than the input. But WTF does this have to do with exercise?

The people of a gym are the input, and together create a greater output. No matter the quality of the equipment, the size of the training area, the smell, the temperature, noise, fleas or rodents; the athlete can excel. The individuals at the gym are more important than anything one can buy or build. A dumbbell will not push you. A medicine ball will not praise your success or cheer you up on failure. In fact, failure is an option for a chinup bar, but not for the one holding the timer bitching at how slow you are.

I couldn't get to BJJ/wrestling today due to my work schedule so I called up The Dude and it was game on. As part of the plan each week is 2 minutes added to the workout. Whether we workout or not.

Today's workout was a simple fighters workout.
4 exercises x 2 rounds
2 minutes each + 1 minute break = 23 minutes of heart pounding death and destruction.

1. Jump rope fast
2. Box the bag until your knuckles bleed
3. Squat thrust + pushup, jump to a chinup bar and do a chin up
4. Kick/knee the shit out of the bag

No pics today of the devastation. This workout was seriously cardio intense. Muscle fatigue was not even an option, this was purely the cardiac pump controlling the action. The chest burning reminded me of my first no-gi BJJ tournament 4 years ago. After 5 minutes into a stalemate, we had a 3 minute overtime. During the very short 1 minute break, I distinctly remember the thought that the burning in my chest was due to lava pumping through my aorta. I slammed my mouthpiece onto the mat, and bitched at my coach I was gassed. He just glared at me... I picked it back up off the dirty mats, stuffed it into my even dirtier mouth and went back out for more. He won, only because I jumped guard during his takedown attempt and lost two points... It was at that point I knew fitness was just as important as technique and the first concepts of The Bat Dojo were born. I went home and wrote one thing down, "build some sort of workout, which will make my chest burn like it did today." Today's workout was just that.


I have a BPM chart below. One can clearly see the long mountain peaks of heavy heartrate work. Interestingly both of the jumprope segments exhibited a "U" shaped dip. We believe this was actually due to the screaming of The Dude telling me I was a pussy and to hurry the hell up. Amazingly, it worked.
It's also easy to see in the 2nd round of four exercises, the acceleration rate into the activities was much less aggressive than the prior round. Ideally, I want the leading edge to nearly slam straight up, much like the 1st exercise in the 1st round.

Recovery rates in during the breaks were averaging around 25 BPM +- 10 BPM deviation.

And the protein part of today's dinner :)

-Enjoy!
Mark