On The Road – Day 5 – Unbelievable

Day 5.  One word.  Unbelievable.

Let’s get the eating thing out of the way, because the exercise part of today was unique.

Day 5 – Eating

Excellent day for eating.  By now you might be a little bored so I’ll skip the details except to say that

• I ate really well in terms of food quality
• I ate less food than previous days (I’ve shared the idea of calorie cycling here, where the basic idea for building muscle and shedding fat at the same time has little to do with your workouts – it’s about calories in and calories out; so I do 2-3 days of over-calories and then 2-3 days of under; I’ll explain more another time or if someone asks a question specific to this)
• I timed my simple carbs perfectly around my workouts (see here)
• I did a really good job planning ahead (for example, for lunch I ordered two lunches, and asked that one be packed “to go”; that way, 3 hrs later, I had food  [protein and veggies] with me at the business conference)

Now for the really exciting part…

Day 5 Exercise

A week ago, knowing I’d be in San Diego, I scheduled time at one of the top 10 gyms in the country:  Fitness Quest 10 .  I have no idea what the “10″ means since this is the only location, but Fitness Quest 10 is run by Todd Durkin.  He’s renown in the fitness industry for some real groundbreaking stuff for performance athletes – particularly football and baseball (that’s “American Football”), not to mention the US Marines.

For example, he trains one of the hottest QBs in the NFL, Drew Brees of the Saints as well as running back LT (LaDainian Tomlinson) of the Chargers. (In fact, I did almost the same workout as LT did there just two weeks ago.  But I’m getting ahead of myself…)

The key is that his principles apply to everyday people too.  It’s all about training movement. And these pros seek Todd Durkin for his specialty in movement performance, strength training, massage therapy, and more.

I couldn’t get a session with Todd himself, so I set up an appointment with one of their trainers, Tommy Cox (who was fantastic) and I’ll share a few highlights below.

But I DID get to talk one-on-one with Todd who is smart, passionate, and intense!  He gave me a tour of the original facility (they expanded about 3 years ago in the same building) and so I got to see where it all started.  It’s no wonder he has one of the top 10 gyms in the country.  For me, this was kind of like meeting a rock star.  And I got 20 minutes of his time.

Now, there was way too much that happened for exercise in the 2 hrs I was there; I can’t go over every detail.  But I’ll break it down into three sections:  metrics, evaluation, and training.

Metrics

Tommy did various mobility screens (a deviation of Grey Cook’s “functional movement screen” for those of you experts out there) and body fat measurement.  I was psyched to see that my mobility and flexibility were all very high (see, weight training doesn’t make you stiff if you do it right!).  My bodyfat was 10.2%, a little higher than I was hoping for but still acceptable for me.

Having a pro who works with high-end athletes work through this with me was invaluable, as most trainers just teach the average person, or maybe high school athletes at best.  These guys at FitnessQuest10 have a level of knowledge I am inspired by.

Evaluation

Let me pause here a moment.  Notice something.  Even though I might be pretty knowledgeable about fitness issues, I can always learn more.  Tommy was easily 10 yrs younger than me, but clearly had some practical experience I can learn from.  That’s true for you too.  No matter how experienced you are, you can keep learning.

Case in point:  I specifically requested a trainer with deep understanding of deadlifts and squats, two lifts I love and that I always want to improve.  So I had him evaluate my front and back squats and my deadlifts and RDLs.

Great news:  my deadlift and RDL form was spot on.  I was proud that he was pretty much speechless and had zero corrections to advise.

Not so great news:  my squats were suffering from a problem I didn’t even know existed.  This problem showed up in the metrics section earlier but this gets complicated so I’ll keep it short:

My left foot doesn’t point out as much as my right foot when squatting (and actually, for any leg-dependent movement).  Somehow, I never noticed.  Shame on me.

As a result, that knee moves inward a little more than it should during my squat (and similar movements like lunges).  The result is that my left quads are stronger than my right, but my left glutes are weaker than my right.

Now, everyone has slight imbalances.  But when lifting heavy, like I try to do with my squats, the problems can lead to weaker lifts.  In other words, my squats are limited by my “weakest link”.  But it’s not as simple as left vs. right.  It’s that my weakest link is twofold:  left glutes and right quads.

Remedy:  a) gradually work on correcting my form during two-leg movements (including my running, where the same left foot angle appears) and b) work on strength via some single-leg movements at the end of my workouts.    In the coming weeks I’ll let you know how that goes.

That insight alone was worth the fee I paid.  But there’s more…

Training

I think Tommy was secretly excited to see how far he could push me!  He took me through a series of drills doing exercises I had never done before.  Lots of plyometrics, TRX work, full-body work like rope slams and hammering against tractor tires, etc.  Real metabolic work.  [For those of you familiar with my Fat Burn Furnace workout, it's like that except more intense and with more single-leg, bodyweight, and non-metal equipment.  Some of the workouts in The Truth About Six-Pack Abs are also metabolic in nature.]

There was a point where I actually told him I had to take a break or else I’d vomit.  I got dizzy just before the hammering and we agreed it was best if I wasn’t dizzy while swinging that thing around!

When I said earlier that this routine was similar to what LT did, I’m sure he didn’t get all woozy and sissy-boy like I did.  And I’m sure his speed, power, and intensity would make me look like a child.  But it’s still cool to say I was there, in the same place, doing the same routine.

………….

So that was Day 5.   Two more days to go….  Questions?

If you are enjoying this series, keep the comments coming.  And share this series with other people you know who travel a lot.  They might like it.

New to WorldFitnessNetwork.com?
Download a copy of this 100% free e-book about how to change your body type within 90 days: 3 Months to a New You.

Related posts:

1. On The Road – Day 4
2. On The Road – Day 6
3. On The Road – Day 7

Tags: diet, Durkin, traveling workouts