Blog Archive

One of the features of MadLab School of Fitness is that you all have your own personal coach. When you first walked through our doors, you spent 10, 15, 20 (some people 30) hours with your coach via one-on-one training before you began group classes.  You two bonded during those sessions and likely shared a laugh or two. Your coach saw you in a vulnerable state; there were moments where you almost broke down in frustration, and there were definitely moments where you left cursing your coach because you knew you were going to feel it the next day. But you made it through, graduated to classes, and here you are today.

Although you’re not in personal training anymore, one of the things we want to reiterate is that you’re always welcome, and encouraged, to go back to your coach and freshen up with some one-on-one coaching.

In your first 6 months to a year of group classes, you likely saw, or are seeing, huge gains just by showing up and hitting the daily workout. But eventually you might get stuck on a certain movement or skill. Maybe you’re super close to getting a muscle up, or maybe your pulling strength has reached a plateau and your pull-ups just aren’t coming along as quickly as you want. Or maybe you’re realizing that your ankle or hip mobility has caused your squat to plateau – no matter how hard you try you’re just not able to keep your torso upright. Or maybe you just need some advice, or want a strength program, to help you put 30 lb. on your back squat.

If you’re feeling like you could use a little more help on a specific skill, movement, or weakness, or you want some additional individual programming or ideas of things to work on before or after class to get you to that next level, don’t hesitate to contact your coach for some one-on-one time.  

In light of this, here’s a quick story.

I did a one-on-one refresher session with my client Adam just last week. I asked him if there was anything specific he wanted to work on. He said, “Yeah, I can’t seem to get a muscle up. I know I’m close, but I haven’t been able to get one.”

I sat him down and we talked about the components of the muscle-up. He had the strength aspect already – he can do 15 plus strict pull-ups and ring dips. He seemed to have the confidence that he should be able to do one. But what he was missing was some technical understanding in regard to both the transition and the kip. So we spent 30 minutes working on transition drills and kipping drills. After just a short session, his hips to ring kip looked awesome and his transition, too.  I told him to give one a try. And BOOM – Adam’s first muscle-up! (Here’s a video of his 4th muscle-up that day. He went on to do a total of 10 that day and has since been rocking them whenever he wants).

 Friday’s Lesson Plan

W/U: 

Coach’s Choice

Skill:

3 pos Power Clean (Mid Thigh, Knee, Ground)

W/O:

In teams of 3,

17 Power Clean (135/95Lbs)

17 Pull Up

17 Dball Slam (20/12lbs)

AMRAP in 20 min

Saturday’s W/U:

Coach’s Choice

Include DB Windmill   

Saturday’s Skill:

A1. 1.1.1 Squat Snatch, 4 sets

A2. 5/5 (difficult, possibly weighted) Pistols, 4 sets

Saturday’s W/O:

11.1

30 Double Unders

15 Power Snatches (75/   )

10 min Amrap

Hallowe’en Part this year will be a slightly more intimate affair – all activities will take place in the small box.

As requested, CHESTY will be DJ-ing the night, and the old Pink Pig will be making a cameo DJ appearance part-way through the night.

If you’re new, this is the BEST way to dive right into this unique community we consider our family.

See you Saturday night – Doors open at 8 pm!

Thursday Lesson Plan

W/U:

Coach’s Choice

 Skill:

A. Bench Press 1, 1, 1

B. AMRAP Push Up (-1), rest 1.5min, Repeat 

 W/O:

Burpee/Pushup Beep Test

Athletes must cover 10m and perform a flop, no jump burpee before each beep.

Miss two beeps in a row and they’re out.

Leaderboard score is the last completed round.

A few of our members who are aspiring to make it in the film industry are part of a pilot project titled Fat ass.

Local directors and actors have teamed up to participate in a competition hosted by the CBC.  The purpose of this contest is to create a pilot for series that will air on CBC next year.

The theme of the pilot is following an overweight copywriter at a women’s health magazine who is trying to become a full time columnist. It’s a relevant concept that discusses issues with women and their weight.

Two of our members are involved with this project. Sarah Kresak is one of the recurring roles, and also Isaiah Sweigard has taken on the roll of director.

Check out the link below to watch their trailer and mini-episode. 

http://comedycoup.cbc.ca/fat-ass 

Remember to vote! If they win you could see these folks on CBC next year!

Tom

W/U:

Coach’s Choice   

Str:

A. Box Jump, landing in the power position, 2 reps, 5 sets

B. Back Squat, @ 95%, 2 reps

C. Speed Squats, @ 65%, 3 reps, 5 sets

D. Pause Squats, 5 seconds, @50%, 4 reps, 5 sets 

In my younger days, I spent a considerable amount of time attempting to meet men online. I have some very memorable, scary, humorous, ridiculous stories about first dates with men from Plenty of Fish, Fitness Singles, Lavalife, Match, OK Cupid – you name it! I was an online dating pioneer. In fact, I met my first boyfriend on Craig’s List of all places, in a time when people lied about where they met because it was too embarrassing to tell their friends their romance came about on plenty of fish.

Today things are different. It’s weird if you’re single and not on Tinder.

But apparently, sticky situations still arise in the online dating world.

Today, Donkey (Damian Murray) shared this on Facebook, and I thought I’d share it with all of you. His status that accompanied this article about a woman getting stuck in a man’s chimney (a man she had met online) was:

“One peril of online dating: Dates trying to get into your house through the chimney.”

WATCH THIS VIDEO of the woman being pulled from the chimney.

Confess your best or worst online dating adventure in the comments!

-Eunice

Tuesday

W/U:

Coach’s Choice

Skill/Str:

A1. Push Press 2, 2, 2, 2

A2. Reverse Flys* 6, 6, 6, 6

*These can be performed from a bent over row position, or lying face down on a raised bench (2 X 45 bumper plates). Either way, keep elbows straight and the movement strict.

W/O:

20 Cal Row

30 WallBall (20/14lbs)

40 Mountain Climbers*

50 Double Unders

AMRAP for 15min

*Try to step on your pinky finger. For this workout, each ‘step’ is considered one rep.