Max

There will be no parking tonight at Venice past 5:30! The parking lot is being rented out for the evening. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Wednesday,  September 10, 2014

PreHab

Gristle/Groiner
Hollow Hold, 1 minute
Active Hang, 1 minute

Warm Up

2 Rounds:
Plank, 60 seconds
15 Tuck Ups
10 Burpees

Cool Down

Active Hang, 1 minute
Straddle Stretch on wall, 2 minutes
Roll out quads and glutes

Fitness

Strength

Every 90 seconds for 18 minutes (4 sets), perform the following:

Dumbbell or Barbell Push Press x 6-8 reps
Plank on rings with turnout x 45-60 seconds
Strict Toes to Bar x 8-10 reps

Notes:  Db/Bb should work up to heaviest set possible.  Change the angle of the rings to allow for a quality turnout.  More advanced athletes may perform a ring support with feet off the ground (like the top of a dip), but the rings must be turned out!  Try not to lean back on the strict T2B, no swinging and control both up and down.  Use a spotter if needed and if available, use a bar that has a back support.

Conditioning

Every 60 seconds for 5 Rounds:

10 Heavy Kettlebell Swings
Max Effort Thrusters with the remaining time

-Rest 60 seconds between rounds-

Notes:  Recommended weight is 95/65.  Scale the KB down to russian style for any mobility issues or newer athletes.  Your score will be total thrusters performed.

Advanced

Strength

15 minutes to work up to your heaviest 1RM Power Clean

Notes:  Your footwork should look the same as your squat clean, except above parallel.

Conditioning

Every minute, on the minute, for 18 minutes:

Minute 1 – 15 Unbroken Wall Ball Shots

Minute 2 – 12 Toes to Bar

Minute 3 – 12 Burpee Box Jump-Overs (24?/20?)

Notes:  Yup, similar to the past few weeks again!  Focus on pacing, efficiency and quality reps.  For you competitors, make sure your wall ball hits the target every time, you squat below parallel for every rep and your toes touch the bar every rep.  Train the way you need to compete!  (If there is a 30lb ball available, use it:)

Before and After of Max Bronfman

When Max walked into the gym for his first private session, I immediately knew he was going to have a long, tough road ahead of him if he wanted to reach any semblance of fitness, as he expressed were his goals. I truly had my doubts as to whether he would stay with the training as our first few sessions together often ended with Max in the bathroom or having to stop from overheating. Over the next few month, Max showed up day in and day out and pushed himself to the limit every single session. I have never been more impressed with a client or a had a client who was so adamant about never missing a workout. If I ever had to miss one of our usually scheduled days, Max would immediately ask when my next availability was in order to get his in three sessions each week. Very quickly, I was being challenged by Max to make sure that I was throwing enough at him on a daily basis. He started attacking workouts, quickly learning the Olympic lifts, and generally being completely thankful and supportive to everyone else in the gym. After a few short months, Max was attending group class and putting up great times on the daily workouts. The before and after photos that you see above have very, very little to do with what I offered Max as a trainer. I was lucky to be able to facilitate the desire that Max had to truly change his life and he put in incredibly hard work in doing so. Everything I asked him to do, he responded to. He made drastic nutrition and lifestyle changes all on his own and stuck with those to become to “after” that you see above. Max is now a vital member of the gym and one of my proudest successes as a trainer.

Here are Max’s own words regarding the change he made and the work he put in to change his life:

My Paradiso Crossfit Success Story

My transformation started in September of 2013. I was turning 29 years old and I was in a bad place mentally, physically and emotionally. I pretty much was doing nothing other than smoking weed and drinking “lean” or prescription cough syrup 24/7. I was 240 pounds and completely isolated myself from living life in any meaningful way. I was stuck on the couch & I couldn’t even get dressed in the morning without sweating & I felt miserable all the time. I knew that I had to save my life and make some really drastic changes. After quitting the “lean” and weed and doing half ass workouts in my apartment gym for 3 months I was down to 230 pounds. Then my best friend and fellow PCF member John Holcomb literally signed me up by requesting personal training sessions for me via my email. On January 15^th 2014 I had my first training session with the legend himself, James MCcoy.  I don’t remember much about those first few months except that I was sore a lot and struggled every workout but I saw happiness existed at PCF and started to feel better about myself every week. Little by little I got more serious about my diet, my habits, and my life decisions. All of a sudden I was down to 190 pounds and started to come to the box 4 times a week instead of three. I also transitioned into doing group class as well as personals with MCcoy and working with other amazing coaches like Jackie, Frank, Lauren, and of course Diso. Now 9 months into my journey of transformation I have a new lease on life. My life today is better than I ever imagined it could be. I honestly credit Paradiso Crossfit, my coaches and friends for this because they believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. Now I weigh 183 pounds, I try to only do the advanced workouts and I eat healthy and make positive choices and surround myself with positivity. Sometimes I cant believe how much has changed in such a short time for me but I feel like the luckiest guy in the world. Now I’m about to turn 30 at the end of the month and I’ve never felt better and I am in the best place I have ever been in my life. I am truly blessed in so many ways and words cant express how thankful I am to be a member of Paradiso Crossfit and to have the life that I never believed was possible for me. Although so much has changed for me I realize that this is still just the beginning, The beginning of a life worth living, The beginning of making my loved ones proud of me.  More importantly making myself proud of me. Beginning to actually take advantage of this blessing called life and enjoy working hard and constantly pushing myself to be better. I realized that the biggest thing holding me back was me not believing this was possible for myself. Now I am a happy to look myself in the mirror and all aspects of my life have improved. I am forever grateful to James MCcoy, Jackie, Frank, LG Thunder, Diso, Martina and the entire PCF crossfit community. I look forward to pushing myself to learn more and improve each day in and out of our gym.