Blog Archives
The Training Matrix
With the cooler weather kicking in, my exercise program will probably be changing a bit. I won’t be going on such long bike rides but hope to stay frequent enough in doing them. I loathe stationary conditioning work and would rather freeze outdoors than be on a non-moving object for any length of time. To give you an example, I recently bought an elliptical for my wife and it’s in the garage. I debated on whether to use it or get “weather ready” and go for a ride outside. Literally 12 seconds after being on the elliptical I went and got dressed and jumped on my bike and did 22 miles in about 70 minutes. Good choice on my part by far.
So now that you a glimmer of an idea into my likes/dislikes, I am planning on doing the following for the next several months:
Strength Training: 2-4 times per week
Outdoor Biking: 1-3 times per week
Walking: 50,000-70,000 steps per week
Shoulder Mobility Work: 2-4 times per week
Lower Body Mobility Work: 2-4 times per week
All of these aspects of fitness will be addressed as I see fit (no pun intended). Time, weather, mood, needs, etc will dictate what gets done when and how with the ultimate goal of achieving the level of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.
Training Update
Here’s a quick look at the last two weeks of my training as I remember it….
Thursday – June 14th: Full-body workout, 50′s day plus a 2 mile run
Friday – June 15th: Indian Club mobility work
Saturday – June 16th: Interval Training
Sunday – June 17th: Upper Body Only (50′s day)
Monday – June 18th: Off
Tuesday – June 19th: 9 mile bike ride – average speed around 17mph
Wednesday – June 20th: Indian Clubs
Thursday – June 21st: 25 mile bike ride – average speed between 16-17mph
Friday – June 22nd: Indian Clubs
Saturday – June 23rd: Full-body workout with 10/5 rep speed…multiple sets of bdwt chins and dips…low reps
Sunday – June 24th: 25 mile bike ride -average speed between 16-17mph
Monday – June 25th: Indian Clubs
Tuesday – June 26th: Full-body workout with 10/5 rep speed….low reps
Wednesday – June 27th: Indian Clubs
Thursday – June 28th: Full-body workout….very high rep sets, 1 set to failure
With my schedule over the next few days, I anticipate an off day tomorrow with maybe some Indian club work, Saturday either Intervals on the beach or another workout but upper body only and Sunday I hope to get in a long ride again……we will see.
Going Mo-Bile
Today’s Workout
Before I just dump today’s workout into your lap, let me give you some insight as to “why” today’s workout was the way it was.
I’ve been experimenting with a few different variables in my health and fitness program, some of which ares the frequency of my workouts and the speed at which I perform each movement. I traditionally perform 3 full-body workouts a week and use a controlled repetition speed. I also include some interval training in the mix during the colder month’s and have been walking approximately 10,000 steps a day or more all winter and that has been a huge benefit to my overall well-being. 
Now that spring is here, I tend to do more outdoor activities which include some lengthy and intense landscaping (every year I do something radical – you’d think I live on 10 acres the way I create projects at my home) and I will be doing some runs on the beach and definitely will be biking more this year. With that in mind, I have taken the last couple of weeks and reduced training volume, frequency and have backed off the conditioning to allow my body to heal a bit in preparation for the next few month’s. Now, don’t think I go nuts and bike hundreds of miles or run mega-sprints on the beach, it’s not like that, but as an older, experienced trainee and one who knows when one-to-many straws have been added to my back, I realize it’s prudent to be more on the cautious side and allow my body significant recovery to maintain good health. With that in mind, here is today’s workout:
Chins: performed with a 5/5/5 cadence – that’s 5 seconds up, 5 seconds hold at the top and 5 seconds down
Pendulum Shoulder Press: performed with a 10/5 speed – that’s 10 seconds up and 5 seconds down
Pendulum “Quad” Press: performed with a 10/5 speed
Chins: performed with a 10/5 speed
Bodyweight Dips: performed with a 10/5 speed
Indian Club work for shoulder mobility
Total strength training workout time was under 15 minutes.
Today’s Workout
NOTE: 1×50 for example means I did one set of 50 consecutive reps…..how much resistance I used is irrelivant, I worked hard, used very controlled movement and made each as perfect as I could.
Today I did the following workout before I started training clients.
10 Minutes of Indian Club work to warm up shoulder girdle
Hammer Dip Kim Wood Style: 1×50 reps / 20 second rest then got another 25
Negative Chin-Up: 1 rep took 68 seconds. Goal is 90 seconds
Cybex Neck Extension: 1×30
Reverse Barbell Curl w/ 5ft thin bar: 1×25
Pendulum “Quad Press”: 1×40/3/3/4 (goal was 50 straight so I had to rest 10-15 seconds on each set to get to my total)
Captains of Crush Grippers: 1×50 each hand
Bodyweight Calf Raise: 1×50
More Indian Club work for performance, strength and mobility.
Some of my Indian Club Collection
Indian Clubs
Indian Club exercises, when used properly, will improve shoulder efficiency and mobility, wrist and elbow flexibility and range of motion. Indian Clubs also help build strength and stamina in the Back Shoulders, Neck, Chest, Arms, Forearms, Hands and Trunk and promote grace, coordination, balance and agility.
Club swinging is believed to have originated in India by soldiers as a method of improving strength, agility, balance and physical ability. During the annexation of India, British officers witnessed the graceful motions and essential property of expanding the chest and exercising every muscle of the body. The British brought the Indian Clubs to Europe where the Germans and Czechs adopted club swinging into their physical training systems. German immigrants brought the clubs to the United States in the mid-1800s, where they were soon introduced into both American school physical education programs and military physical readiness training. Indian Club Exercises lost popularity in the 1920s in exchange for sports and games.
Improve the health of your shoulders, create more balance and start feeling better by performing INDIAN CLUB exercises.
Sessions start at $25/half hour, $40 for advanced
To get started, contact Fred Fornicola at 908-433-4542 or fredfornicola@gmail.com
Health Priorities
Aside from my daily responsibilities of business and la familial, there are particular physical health priorities that I address on a daily basis. I make sure to address the following tasks as I find it to be rewarding on many levels:
Healthy Eating: My nutritional program is based on eating foods that work for me. By that I mean these foods provide ample health, energy, good digestion and the ability to function at a high level.
My physical activities are equally important and I issue the same weight with regards to “having to complete”. This is not a stressful task as some may see it, but it is a “must do” because it makes me feel good and I will do everything in my power to ge these activities in every day. The first is walking. I recently purchased a FITBIT and being able to measure my activity for the day has given me new insight. Walking a minimum of 10,000 steps a day has been remarkable in giving more energy and mobility. Speaking of mobility, lower body flexibility work and Indian Club training has been a solid addition to my daily activities as well and my shoulder health has improved dramatically. Of course, I address my strength training and conditioning three times a week in addition to my daily activities and I can discuss that a later date.
Now, some of you may think “I don’t have that kind of time”, and maybe you don’t, but it would be wise to address some of these functions for better health with whatever time you do have. And just in case you were wondering, the total time per week to accomplish everything is far less than the average person going to the gym.
