Blood and Iron

New Study

Colin — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 22:09:14 +0000

Hey guys!

So I’m currently sipping on a delicious bubble tea between my management class and my wellness and health promotion class and I wanted to let you know about an exciting new project I’m working on. With the help of my good friends, Matt McConnell and Matt Struck, were doing a research study on the effects of High Intensity Training. Head over to my new site dedicated to following every step of the process: HIT Research Study

Thanks and take care!!
-Colin

Thrifty “Sandbag”

Colin — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:01:02 +0000

Today’s installment of my thrifty series introduces my poor-mans sandbag. I’ve taken a regular backpack and filled it with books and sheets and use it to perform numerous lifting exercises. It’s a really simple idea, pretty self explanatory, so check out the video and go try it out yourself!

Home “Equipment”

Colin — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:12:01 +0000

Hey guys, so here’s a video I put together for my good friend, Sensei Mong Phu of Fusion Mixed Martial Arts. If you haven’t heard of his dojo, you definitely have to check it out, he is one of the premier trainers in NYS.

www.fusionmma.com

After hearing my sister complain about how tired she was from work and opted to not workout because she didn’t want to have to drive all the way to the gym just to work out, or for my own personal reason, I don’t feel like giving Gold’s Gym my hard-earned money for things I can do at home, I decided to share my creative exercise ideas. This video explains 6 exercises you can do with just a regular, everyday swing set. Most homes have them, and if you don’t, there must be a playground near by. In the video, there are two back exercises, two chest exercises, and two core exercises, so with these 6, you could complete a pretty grueling interval style circuit without spending a dime. So without further adue, check out the video!

New Year, New Logo, New Workouts!

Colin — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 23:48:20 +0000

New logo for the new year.

Been a long time since I’ve had any time to focus on this but with a new year brings new opportunities. So, in that spirit, here’s a fresh new logo to kick off the new year and get things going right.

19th Annual Kyokushin Tournament

Colin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:47:05 +0000

I recently had my first fight at the 19th Annual Kyokushin Karate Tournament on October 10th, 2009. Because MMA is still illegal in NYS, the fight was held under different rules:

Round 1: Bare-knuckle Knockdown Karate
Round 2: San Shou Kickboxing
Round 3: Submission Grappling

My opponent was Chuck Mady. He’s been fighting MMA for a few years now and fights professionally for King of the Cage Canada. Quite a bit of an experience gap between the two of us but it was a great taste of what to expect. Here’s the YouTube video of it:

Concept: Sport Specific

Colin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:10:13 +0000

One of the key things I try to incorporate into all my workouts is SPORT SPECIFIC exercises. These are exercises designsed to re-create actual movements of the particular sport I am training for. Take for example: punching with resistance bands. Resistance bands are extremely versatile and you can accomplish a lot with just one band. Now for myself, I am training for an upcoming fight and I want to improve not only my punching power, but my muscular endurance in my arms. So what I will do is attach my band to a hook placed roughly about ankle high. I use a timer and punch non-stop for the set duration of time. This is great for re-creating the act of punching with resistance to build better punching power but also, by utilizing a timer, I’m re-creating the constant “explosiveness” of a real fight.

When it comes to making your own sport specific exercises, it’s all about being creative. Another example: Using my agility drills set up,

Agility Drills Set-Up

after I go through the rope ladder, instead of just jogging back to the start, I have 7 wood “Hurdles” set up that, in my fighting stace, I weave in and out of. By doing so, I get to practice my actual footwork of moving forward and side-to-side as if it were an actual fight. Now say you are a soccer player, maybe you practice your footskills in and out of the hurdles, or a baseball player, you can practice side shuffling and pretending to catch a ground ball and throwing it back. It’s all about being creative! If you have any sport specific exercises you’ve found or come up with yourself, leave them in the comments!

“Intelligent Training”

Colin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:50:25 +0000

This is a great video of an incredible Strength and Conditioning coach; Rafael Alejarra. He coaches fighters like Wanderlei Silva and Demian Maia. It’s a little long but the content is well worth it. Great video, you can take a lot from this.

“To Carry the Load”

Colin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:41:26 +0000

“To Carry the Load” is an all out leg workout and the beauty of it is, you don’t need ANY equipment. All the exercises are body weight exercises. This workout consists of descending rep sets for each exercise and the entire workout is done for time.

“To Carry the Load” – Reps of 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3 of:

Jump Knee Tucks
Calf Raises
Alternating Jump Lunges
Squats
Lateral Hops

Again, this is a great leg workout for someone who has NO equipment. You can do this anywhere; outside, in your basement, in your living room, ect. Enjoy.

“To Build a Mountain…”

Colin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:39:10 +0000

This is a high intensity Chest and Back Circuit workout designed to keep the heart rate up and, in true “Crossfit” fashion, it is done for time.

Equipment needed: a pull-up bar or tree limb, free weights and/or a barbell. Whatever weight you can handle or have available.

“To Build a Mountain…” – Round 1: Reps of 15, Round 2: Reps of 12, Round 3: Reps of 10, 1 min rest between rounds.

Clap Push-ups
Wide Grip Pull-ups
Diamond Push-ups
Regular Grip Pull-ups
Wide Push-ups
Close Grip Pull-ups
Chest Fly
Back Fly
Chest Press
Back Row

After each exercise, perform a 40 yd run, i.e. “Diamond pushups, 40 yd run, regular grip pull ups…”

This is a great upper body workout; push-pull to the max. When I do it at home, I do my push-ups about 40 yds from a tree that I do my pull-ups on. Once I’m done with my push-up exercise, in order to get a good time, I have to really hustle to do my pull-ups. This again is a great home workout, the equipment needed is very minimal and I’m sure you can easily find substitutes for the free weights if absolutely necessary.

Homemade “TRX”

Colin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:31:11 +0000

I’m not sure if you are aware, but there is a new trend going around of suspension training. Tons of people are getting into it….but here’s the thing, to buy the TRX suspension training bands, you’re going to spend $150, $200! I don’t know about you, but that’s a little out of my price range. Now don’t get me wrong, there are TONS of exercises you can do with these but is it really worth that much money? Not when you can make your own. Here’s what I did. I had an old bench style swing set that I removed the swing from so it is just four legs and the bar going across (which I use as a pullup bar as well!). Then I wen’t to a local pet store and checked out the clearance dog leashes. Luckily for me, I found two identical leashes that both had padded handles (I highly suggest this!). Just wrap the leashes around the crossbar of the swing set and let the handles swing down. Here’s an example of what mine looks like:

Thrifty "TRX"