I’m always reluctant to publicly post my training schedules in detail. The reason is that most people will see it and make assumptions based off only what they read. Since my livelihood is focused on “fitnessing” there are also other things I do that I don’t include as part of my training schedule per say. Things like shooting videos, taking photos for articles, teaching, and also testing out programs. Those are all physical things that can be workouts in themselves that I take into consideration every day. That is why I auto-regulate my training based on the other things going on in my job and life.
Over the past year, I’ve traveled so much and my training has had to correspond with my travels meaning it’s been pretty random. Now that I’m back in Japan for a couple of months I am able to set up a regular training schedule.
Here’s what I’m focusing on right now.
- Gymnastic Rings
- Floor movement
- BJJ
My training sessions follow the 5Ps of Programming from GMB Fitness. You can learn more about the 5Ps here.
Here’s a basic breakdown of my three areas of focus.
Ring Training 2x week
I recently returned from teaching in Brisbane, Australia and got to train with one of our Lead Trainers, Junior Vasilliou. He’s doing some incredible stuff with the rings and has inspired me to get back to ring training. Check out some of Junior’s ring stuff here on his IG account.
Junior has me working on a rings complex twice a week during my PUSH section – fairly similar to the GMB Rings 1 flow.
Prep
General Warm-up Shoulder prep using rings
Practice
Back Lever to Front Lever
Push
Here’s the complex that I’m doing without resting or letting my feet hit the ground.
Set clock for 4 minutes and complete 1 complex. Remaining time after the complex is rest period. Work up to 5 complexes.
The Complex
- 1 Muscle-Up
- 3 L-sit to Bent Arm Stands
- 5 Dips
- (Fall back) to 3 Skin the Cats
- 5 Chins or variations of like Roll to L-Chin, etc.
- Rest Do 4 more complexes
Finish up with shoulder mobility/stretching.
Floor Movements 2x week
Earlier this year I took a private lesson with Shira Yaziv. I plan on spending some time working on the challenges that she presented to me during our time together. Check out this vid of her.
This is just an example of some of the things I’m doing.
Prep
General Prep Bridges
Practice
Bridge Rotation to QDR HS lower to QDR. Maybe throw in some OAHs (One Arm Handstands). 🙂
Play
Continuous Locomotion exploration for 30 minutes trying not to stop. Focus on pacing and breath. This is plenty of leg work and is really helping with my stamina and mobility for BJJ.
Brazilian Jiujitsu 3x week (2-hour sessions)
This has become a big passion of mine and I can’t tell you how much I love it. I train three times a week for 2 hours each time. During that time I’m drilling and rolling with my training partners and my instructor. Twice a week I have a private lesson with my instructor and those 2 hours each time are pretty intense. I love every minute of it.
Other Daily Stuff
I meditate daily and still do some light mobility and stretching in the evening with my daughter.
The above might seem like a lot of work but it’s actually a LOT less, probably half, of what I used to do. The rings session is maybe 45 minutes total, if that, and the floor movement session is around 1 hour.
I’m feeling really good both physically and mentally plus really enjoying myself. A big part of that is thanks to my recovery time in the form of nutrition and sleep. I don’t really drink alcohol at all anymore and I follow the Precision Nutrition way of eating that my GMB Lead Trainer Chris helped me out with.
3 meals a day (including breakfast) with carbs, fat, and protein. Here’s a great link to help you figure out what and how much you should be eating.
Depending on the day and what I’m doing I’ll adjust up or down for what I need.
Sleep is by far the biggest contributing factor to my ability to keep going. Thanks to my daily meditation I’m able to fall asleep quickly. I get between 8 and 9 hours of sleep every damn night. Even on the weekends when I need to be up at 5:00 to take my daughter to swim practice I make sure to get in at least 8 hours. That means going to bed early and not drinking alcohol.
That’s me and how I do things. I’m not telling any of you to cut out alcohol or whatever but I’ve found that I do so much better without drinking when I’m home in Japan.
I say when in Japan because usually when I’m teaching overseas I’ll have a drink post-seminar with friends if they feel like drinking. In other words, I’m not against it, I just prefer not to since it affects my sleep.
There you have it. That’s my current training routine in a nutshell. 🙂
