Gryphon Strength & Conditioning

Rowing intervals

Today's workout was a default program that comes with the Concept II rower:

• Row 1:00, rest 1:00
• Row 2:00, rest 2:00
• Row 3:00, rest 3:00
• Row 4:00, rest 4:00
• Row 3:00, rest 3:00
• Row 2:00, rest 2:00
• Row 1:00, rest 1:00

Grip strength is important

Did you ever notice that in movies the burly hero always has to hang from something to show how strong he is? Whether it's Sly Stallone dangling off a rock in "Cliff Hanger" or Ahhhnold clinging to a moving helicopter in "True Lies", Hollywood associates strength with gripping power. So does the wife who says, "Honey, can you get the lid off this jar for me?"

So don't neglect grip work in the gym. A strong grip makes a big impression on people and it comes in handy too.

From left to right: The #2, #1, Starter, and Guide Grippers.  195, 140, 100, and 60 lbs. of force to close these. Not shown: the Sport, #3, and #4 Grippers. The Sport closes with 80 lbs. of force. Close the #3 and you'll get a special "Captain of Crush" certificate. The #4 requires a whopping 365 lbs. to close and has only been closed by 5 men in the world. Most grippers found in sporting goods stores take around 40-60 lbs. to close.

Today's workout:

3 rounds for time and load

• 5 reps each of Press, Push Press, Push Jerk without pause between exercises
• 15 reps of standing barbell shrugs

Scaling the workout

Today's workout

50-40-30-20-10 reps of:

• Box Jumps 20"
• Swings 30 lbs.
• Wall Ball 12 lb.
• Situps

Done for time.

To scale this down, some people did rounds of 50-30-10 and substituted step-ups and lighter weights. Scaled down even further, others did 30-20-10 with lighter weights and lower boxes.

Time to completion this morning ranged from 24 minutes to 33 minutes.

Getting the rack position of the front squat right

Click on image to view animation.

Ten Sets of Three

The workout today was 10 rounds of:

• Back squats, 60% x 3
• Press, push press, jerk, 60% x3

Done for time.

A little stretching

Bunch of activities

Yesterday's workout:

• Deadlift 5-4-3-2-1-1
• One arm press 5-4-3-2-2-2

Last night's Sedona Referal Club Mixer:

Today's workout:

Row 5,000 meters

(Scott: 25:30)

Bill & Kathy doing squat cleans for the first time:

Download 100_1100.mov

Monday, monday

For time & load

• 50 dumbell hang clean & push jerk
• 10 situps
• 40 dumbell hang clean & push jerk
• 20 situps
• 30 dumbell hang clean & push jerk
• 10 situps
• 20  dumbell hang clean & push jerk

Sunday Dance Workout

Today was another good S&C (strength & conditioning) session at Paragon Dance in Tempe.

"Kelly"

"Kelly" is 150 wall ball shots, for time.

Deadlift Push Push

This morning's workout:

• Deadlift 5x5, increase weight each set
• Standing Press 5x5, increase weight each set
• Push Press 5x5, increase weight each set

Deadlift set position - eyes up, hips down, shoulders over bar, minimize any rounding in low back, bar close to center of gravity.

A good first deadlift session with Bill B. and Kathy