Kb Jumps Around, Gets Fitter

They say the older you get, things get taken from you. Unless, that is, you learn new modalities like soft tissue release and joint distraction. Then you can get older and be better at the same time. I found this out at Fuel Training Club, and I want to pass along the cool stuff I’ve learned. 

In January 2014 I started training there 4-5x a week.

Full disclosure of affiliation: we promote each other, so technically I am bias. But everything I’m writing here is true.

It’s intense lifting and cardio. Here is A short clip-vid of us training on Family Day.

People say, “Oh that’s like Crossfit.”  Not really. Yes both Fuel and Crossfit provide intense group exercise. But I’d say that’s where the comparison ends.

I got a progress report in May.

Injuries Baseline

My physio says I’m a delicate flower. One of the ways I managed my chronic back issues over the years has been eliminating movements like deadlifts, jumping, overhead presses, and bent over rows. Forget about kettlebell swings, are you crazy?

I guess since the Tough Mudder was so easy last year, I felt like maybe I was ready to do fun stuff again. But to train at Fuel I had to do the scary stuff. Kettlebell swings too. They let me start slow and light, and build at my pace, but still be part of the class.

Injuries Progress

Nowadays, I get minor tweaks about the same or less than usual. That’s just part of life. What I’m trying to convey is that I get hurt just as much when I DON’T do ballistic movements. So this type of training isn’t any more dangerous for me, even though looking at it, one would assume that.

I’m more agile and flexible like I used to be when I was an athlete.

I have less chronic back pain. If and when I do irritate something, which I can do washing dishes, I can recover faster now using the techniques they taught us.

If you’ve heard of foam rolling, that’s like the kindergarten version of soft tissue work. Here is an example of a game-changing move for neck pain.

I also benefited from the changes they’ve made to my form. No matter how careful I am, I can’t see myself lift from all angles. They are highly-educated and experienced trainers.

All in all, I’m training more intensely and getting hurt less. Awesome!

Body Composition

Excellent results. 192 lbs 15% to 193 and 13% fat.  That’s a four pound fat loss and four pound muscle gain in 3.5 months. It’s hard to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time, especially when I’m already kinda fit, and 37 years old.

I’d call bullshit (measurement error) but there are subjective measures backing it up. The shirts I got at Christmas hardly fit at my chest and my belt is cinched in a bit. My rectus femorus is way bigger from all the jumping.

And in case you think it was a nutrition change, nope. I ate the same way I always do. I did however eat more than usual, just to cover the extra output. I used my appetite to guide me.

Eating more explains the muscle gain, but why the fat loss? I guess I was still creating a deficit to burn fat at some points of the day.

If I ate a less calories I would have lost even more more fat and not gained as much lean tissue.

Strength

It’s up despite less hours per week spent lifting. I went from not deadlifting since 2008 to starting again in Nov 2013 with 65 lbs… to pulling 295 April 6th. 295 is nothing to brag about, but for me, it’s a huge accomplishment.

I have the third-best pull-up score in the club (13 in a row, my personal best) and can produce the 3rd highest wattage on the Airdyne (1750 watts). The two guys that (barely) beat me outweigh me by 40 lbs. We also broke a bunch of Airdyne’s b/c we are so explosive haha. Sorry about that.

I know where I stand in the club because they have little “olympics” where we compete against each other in a friendly environment. Participation is optional. Supporting each other is not.

Conclusions

It’s feels really liberating to move back into more athletic-types of movements. Maybe you can only understand if you’ve been injured and had a “don’t do this” list. For now I can do pretty much anything. And like I said, I live in less pain. I’m very thankful and continue to be careful and do my core “pre-hab” work to keep myself injury free.

I’m not a physiotherapist but I have helped a few clients live in less pain because of the techniques I’ve learned. I encourage them to continue their physiotherapy and I even work with their therapists.

It’s been really fun being a part of something, like a team. Opposed to my training being alone or occasionally with a friend. Not to mention I’m getting my form checked a few times per class. So much value for the price!

Heavy lifting with intense cardio might not be for you, and that’s ok. If you feel like you are limited with how your body moves, there might be something out there you haven’t tried. Stay out of binary or dogmatic thinking.

Fuel provides intense and supervised small group classes. You get a comprehensive and specific warm up, you lift for 20 minutes, and then do killer cardio for 20 minutes. It’s organized (periodized) so each class builds on the next. The instructors stop you if you’re exhibiting bad form.

Here’s a video of us doing stuff that felt like football camp (fun).

Here’s a photo of some of the gang after one of the competitions:

Members recovering from a challenging circuit