About a month back I wrote out a list of cool gifts to give out as prep for a blog post. As most of you let me know, I fell off the table for that month and never got to the many posts I had written notes on, so, I have decided that it would be great for everyone to have a good new collection of gear for the New Year! Whatever goals you have made for yourself, it's always great to have the tools to support them, and if they are health and fitness goals, well, perhaps my list will come in handy! 1. 2XU Compression gear If you are serious about sport and athletics, you MUST be serious about recovery. These compression pieces are the best out there, hands down. It doesn’t matter what sport you play, they will help your aching muscles recover so quickly! Contact me if you want a special deal! 2. Core Warrior Bars Hands down, the best protein bars in the market, anywhere. Tough to find on the East Coast, but worth the search (online or through Courage Performance is the way to go. Plus you'll get a little discount of you get them through me!). 100% raw, and organic, and tastes incredible!3. A kettlebell Probably one of the most universal tools in the fitness industry; and, one of the oldest. If you want just one thing that can help build strength, stability and plenty of muscular and cardiovascular endurance, simply get one of these balls of steel!4. TRXI would argue this, along with the Kettlebell as another tool you MUST have. A suspension training system you can take literally anywhere and do practically anything with. I use it all the time for myself and with clients as the perfect functional, core strengthening tool. 5. Survival Straps Besides being one of the coolest things a weekend trail runner or adventurer could own (this is my personal opinion of course), these things are a really handy tool to have around. Wear then as a bracelet or belt, and if you’re ever in the need of some tough-as-nails chord, deploy it and you're good to go! 6. A CrossFit membership Most affiliates offer special deals around the holidays for new and existing members, so search around and find the perfect match (the beauty of CrossFit is that there are so many affiliates, you can probably find one near by that fits your demands).7. New Balance trail MinimusI have tried shoe after shoe over the years and in the end have settled on this one as the best. As most of you know, I am a huge barefoot guy, and these are super low profile, but have great lateral support for anything a god trail run or CrossFit workout might throw at you. Get them!8. Ice BathIf you are serious about gains, you have to be serious about recovery. this is one of the simplest ways to recover and also one of the most effective. Simply get yourself a huge trash bin (one that would cover you up past your waist), fill is mostly with water, then dump a couple bags of ice in there. You could also do this in a bath tub as well.9. A Small Video CameraThere are so many on the market today, so pick one that suits your style. This is not to video your latest "Fran" attempt with you ripping your shirt of and acting like a tool, it's to video your lifts so you can break things down and become a better coach to yourself. Being able to see yourself do technical things is the quickest and easiest way to get better.10. Jump RopeThe custom ropes from Rx Jump Ropes are the best I've ever used. And, if you don't believe that jumping rope is a great workout, go try to do 500 double unders for time! Take it on a run to add a little flair to it, use it is any workout as a supplemental conditioning tool, or, of you are a CrossFitter, you know how key these things are so make sure you have the best!there you have it folks, my top 10 list of things to get! Please share any of your good ideas!Never Stop, GET FIT. Josh Courage
The past two days have been filled with some awesome workouts! Let's go ahead and start with yesterday. I worked off the scheduled workout for my powerlifting class, establish a 3RM for the strict press, then there was a little unilateral work and some core work on the TRX. I was able to get a solid 160# for 3 on the press, then failed to get all three reps at 165# on to attempts. Felt pretty good with that mostly because I felt my form stayed very solid. The unilateral work included a lunge to a 1-arm overhead press, and a 1-leg RDL while reaching to a target. Basic work but the type I think is very important to work on every now and then. The TRX circuit was tough as always, but felt so good to get all those core muscles engaged.
Later in the day I hit 5 rounds of 2 muscle ups to a modified planche hold for 5 seconds, just working on controlling the body a bit more. After that I messed around with handstands for a good ten minutes or so. It's really fun messing around with this stuff, but I think I enjoy it more when I have a training partner or a group of people. There's nothing like hanging around the gym with a group of people trying out new things and challenging each other to different body-weight feats. It's fun and very beneficial to work on this stuff, but I always feel like I get so much more out of it when I'm with a group.
Finally, in the evening, I joined up with the CrossFit San Mateo crew at the track and we all hit a 2-mile indian run. Following that we all get 5x100 meters. Brutal little burn-out, but really invigorating. I got :12.6, ?, :13.1, :13.4, :13.0. I am enjoying this added track work and I think it's been helping me out a good deal in all aspects of my training.
Today I had the gym to myself, the weather was great, I cranked up the music and went after a 1RM clean and 1RM jerk. I comfortably got 265#, like super solid, smooth and clean. I moved up to 275# and my damn wrist kept slipping out as I tried to stand with the weight. I was so easy under the bar, just need to clean up the technique in the rack position. With the jerks I got 255# no problem and then missed three attempts at 265# thanks to technique yet again. I locked it out with ease, just couldn't keep it up there as I began to settle with it. Very happy with the progress, but am very aware of my need of some good coaching.
A couple hours after that I hit the main site workout from yesterday. 12 minute AMRAP of 3 bench press at 185# and 5 back squat at 225#. Now this is my sort of workout! I had a goal in mind of 15+ and just found a rhythm and tried to stick with it. I think I could have cut my transition time a little, but in the end I felt good with my 16+4 score. Thanks to the cleans, with those 91 squats, my back tightened up like crazy. So, a good recovery day is in order for tomorrow!! Looking forward to it.
Never Stop, GET FIT.
Josh Courage
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