Bar-barian visit to MBG Chi and JGXT certs!

Bar-barians hanging with Me and Aussie's Foggy!!

What a last week!!
Jungle Gym XT course all day saturday
Jungle Gym XT master course sunday, Trained daily with my good friends the Bar-barians at MBG Chicago after each day!! haha Man it was great!! We all had a blast hanging out and training and challenging each other with all types of wicked workouts:) Those guys are incredible on the bars and equally humble and nice as people too!! Fortunate to also have visiting another good friend Paul Fogg from MBG Darwin he's a very cool person who came up for the course and is now gonna lead the way down under on the JGXT courses! Foggy, Jess and i have a goal....to become the heaviest (Foggy), the first female (Jessie) and me the oldest folks to achieve......

"The Bar-barian requirements": All to be finished in under 6 minutes.

• 5 bar muscle ups to 
• 45 dips to 
• 25 pull ups (no kips) to 
• 55 push ups to 
• 5 bar muscle ups 

NOTE: Got to do each in straight sets with perfect form! Man that is no joke!! Thought i did it a few months ago but after meeting them in person the truth proved that wrong:) haha as i did walk up muscle ups...got to do no walking up:) or hardly any kip at...just make em all clean muscle ups...AND i broke the sets of muscle ups into 3 and 2 each time!!:) haha...also on the pullups i did 25 with slight kips not pure pull ups so that gave me a good kick in the ribs:) haha SO i know what i got cut out for me and mark my words I WILL PASS THE REQUIREMENTS BY YEARS END I PROMISE!!! And FOGGY and JESSIE are gonna do it too!! haha!!:)
Here's a sample of one of the Bar-barian workouts we did ON TOP OF our MBG workout!!!:) haha
5 wide pull ups with 10 count hold under the bar (head to touch under bar) on last rep
Zef, Me, Andy, Jude, Rick, Foggy did this in groups of 2 and alternated WE GO, U2 GO, U2 GO:)
They call it building houses...it started out easy, then just kept building tougher and tougher til we began have a tough go of it around set 16....zef made it to 20 sets!!
Another one i loved was 10 straight bar dips to 5 muscle ups to 10 pull ups to 10 count hold under the bar to 30 push ups....we each did this 1 at a time while all watched:) haha then reversed the order and man that was much harder but we all did it and smiled after as it was some really fun training!!
Got to say what a pleasure it was to hang with some cool friends who love training as much as i do:)
Hope some day you all can join US out there and have a big fun day in the park!! Nothing beats hanging with friends, training and challenging each other to higher heights, then hanging and having some good healthy food and talk:) It's the best!!!!:)
More to come soon my friends!
peace
jon

Un-Break-able!!! JGXT certs this weekend, Vegan Pizza!!:)

Jessies Home made vegan pizza is just off the charts!!:) After working all day, training and then driving thru crazy traffic i made it here to chicago to teach a Basic JGXT course tomorrow and a Masters JGXT course on sunday! So what did my sweetie do for me? Made my favorite pizza!! It's the best!
JESSIES AWESOME VEGAN PIZZA: Corn meal crust from whole foods, homemade tomato sauce, basil, uptons sausage, daiya cheese, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms and spinach....it's amazing! She should sell it:) haha
MBG 1 restoration - been doing the basic Eischens Yoga sequence at home mixing in back domes.
MBG 2 training - "Unbreakable" 4 rounds of 5 exercises of 25 reps each

1. Push ups with feet on 12" box - 25,25,25,25 = 100
2. Body rows w/feet on 12" box - 25,25,25,25 = 100
3. 30" box step ups L/R total - 25,25,25,25 = 100 (did 13 left, 12 right, then alternated each round) Did these instead of 30" plyo jumps due to left knee aggravated a bit.
4. JGXT plyo curls               - 25,25,25,25 = 100
5. Power Wheel crawls + 20lbs - 30,36,36,36 = 138 yards (total so far this cycle 60, 110,110,138=418 yd

Got this done in 50 minutes, did not rush but kept at a good pace.
GOAL FOR NEXT WEEK:  Complete Unbreakable Power Level in the same time plus go 40 yards each PW crawl set AND DO ALL EXERCISES while wearing a 20lb vest:)
MBG 3 eating - 

• Kuchicha tea
• soaked oats, goji, walnuts, blueberries, coconut oil, sunwarrior plant protein and barley
• kuchicha tea
• frozen mangos, bananas, almonds, coconut water, SW protein
• ezekial bread 4 slices with raw cashew butter and raw honey on them
• kuchicha tea
• 4 slices of jessies awesome vegan pizza:)

Tough workout today!!...BUT i loved it:) haha good week of training:)
Looking forward to meeting lots of cool people this weekend and seeing lots of my close friends who have come into take the master level course to then go back and lead the JGXT courses in their neck of the woods:)
sleep well my friends and have a great weekend!!
jon:)

Crawls, climbs and more Power Wheel Crawls!

Super long day today, 8 hours of meetings, work on computer for 2 more...THEN got my workout in:) haha....yes tired:) so just wanted to post my numbers for today...keeping it real simple:)
Sargeant Slaughter: 5 x amap of alligator push ups (PW) and cliffcrawls
Now as much as i love both the gym was so full of students when i got there about 6 that i just went outside and trained at my local playground so had to modify

1. Alligator push ups: 5 x 20
2. Wide pull ups to close chin ups: 5 x 10 usually sets of 7 wide and 3 chins
3. after this went home and did 100 more diamond push ups and wide pull ups for extra measure:)
4. Then did 110 yards power wheel crawl...hard today:) but i did it:)

Had good simple meals too:)

1. soaked oats, goji berries, dates, walnuts, sunwarrior protein and barley
2. kukucha tea
3. ezekial wrap, carrots, kale, cucumber, tofu, chili sauce
4. kukucha tea 
5. organic food bar - protein
6. kukucha tea
7. kale, spinach, corn, onions, mushrooms, beans,  brown rice
8. popcorn, coconut oil, sea salt, flax oil

Whew sleep time:)
peace!
jon

Sweaty One works:) haha plus some more playground fun!

Jessie and I just trying to relax a bit:)

Gonna get to the point on todays blog as i'm busy as heck and ready for bed:) Loved todays workout "Sweaty One" especially since i havent done a kettlebell snatch in almost a year:) i was interested in seeing how i'd do....AND cause since having lung burn awhile ago i've been a bit hesitant on doing anything hardcore and the ssst 10 minute for part 1 of todays workout is no doubt a lung tester!!:) SO it was 10 minute SSST (secret service snatch test) with a 24k and i did not feel too bad...took it sort of easy and got 193 reps (my PR is 241 which i did when in top condition right before getting lung burn:) Second part was 10 minutes of jump rope which i used one of our Lifeline weighted speed ropes (yellow 1 pound) and this too i did at a good but not too intense pace and hit 1,350 reps. For this workout i goal set folks to get over 300 total. This comes from KB test reps (193) plus JR reps minus the last digit (135)...SO my total is 328 reps! Feel pretty good about today since i feel i was going pretty easy and cause my lungs did not burn!! Next Goal is 400+!!!! Hey hey hey!!:)
After this jess and i went to a local park and played around doing L seat wide pull ups alternated with L seat dips for about 5 rounds...then did a very nice "buy out" as my Bar-barian brothers say of 10 wide pullups to 10 close chin ups and 50 push ups off this 2x4 bench i have and that felt awesome!! Loved the workout and loved the second half and for sure the finisher!! Felt good to have a good strong workout after LA:) haha
That's it for today my friends!!
QUESTION : What did you get today?
Peace my friends:)
jon

LA business, maintanance workouts and vegan restaurants in LA!

NUKA being bad, jumping up on massage table:)

Well started the week AND the new 8 week cycle off very strong and man did it hit a wall when we traveled to LA. One day of travel, meetings and more travel = fatique.
Same on next day = fatique....both of these started the whole week in LA sort of rough and taught me some good lessons....although i was traveling to a place i generally have a good time in (LA), i still need to get adequate rest and recovery. Dont schedule meetings on the same travel days:) Make sure to be more patient with my time and not rush to get places and get meetings and travel done. In doing so i really zonked myself and then did not sleep well either....SO...i tried to train and continue to follow the workouts all week long but honestly did NOT have it any day while in LA...so instead i listened to my body and mind, rested more and did easy workouts each day and although i still felt tired all week i still got a bit better with rest each day and look forward to this 2nd week of training.
SO generally while in LA all week here is what i basically did:) i hope this might help some of you while you travel and gives you the okay to just do maintenance workouts instead. IF this is the case pop ups or simple 10 x 10 easy exercises are both great substitutes. (explained them in a previous blog post for you all)
MBG 1 restoration - Eischens Yoga a few various poses every day, rested more than usual:)
MBG 2 training - usually did 10x10 of variations of push ups and pull ups almost each day and then did some 1 leg step ups and some jump squats and back domes on other days...these i liked alot...super simple...20 jump squats (touch fingers) alternated with 20 count back domes = felt good, nice sweat! YES this was super easy but that is the point, do not overdo it when you feel exhausted...yeah sure sometimes i've had my best workouts ever when tired...intelligence though tells me check it out for a few sets and if i still do not feel good then do the pop up or easy 10x10 and that is what i did each day. Back to it tomorrow though:)
MBG 3 eating - had alot of fun here eating lots of healthy foods all over LA and santa monica.
green drink from local health food store - kale, spinach, parsley, beet and apple
had some soy latte's a few times:) followed by alot of water and more greens to re-balance it:)
all hale kale salad at veggie grills - kale, cranberries, nuts, peppers and grilled mock chicken (amazing)
kukicha tea - now a favorite!! add some stevia and it's off the hook!!
vegan burrito at real food daily - brown rice, peppers, onions, carrots, black beans, avocado
maybe a vegan cupcake OR vegan pie....man this is a weaaaaakness when traveling to big cities that have vegan places to eat like veggie grill, golden mean, better life, planet raw, rawvolution and more in santa monica!!:) no worries though my friends, i enjoy it and it makes me happy and that is totally cool, dont get all freaked out, enjoy it and make a special event out of it....
LAST dinner in LA jessie, henry, mr. matt and jenny and i all decided to have some fun and i highly recommend you all try this at some time too someday.....nix the dinner and go straight to deserts for dinner!!!:) haha Henry and i did it once while training Antoni Hardonk in Amsterdam....bought a vegan pie, vegan cake and vegan ice cream and had a great time eating it all instead of dinner and laughed all night while eating and watching talledaga nights....woke up the next morning feeling great too!! Why? cause we truly enjoyed it and did not freak out about it...we really had fun and so our bodies and minds felt okay with it...heck we even felt ripped the next morning!!!:) haha
SO we did the same again in LA; planet raw (vanilla and chocolate puddings), better life (vegan pie, cake) http://betterlifecuisine.menutoeat.com/ , golden mean - here we went crazy:) cake was amazing so we got 3 types, a cheesecake, some pudding and of course coconut ice cream....again...felt great!! and no sugar hang over the next day!! :) haha
Got to have fun my friends....friends, good food, lots of laughing...lots of sugar will do that!!:) haha
try it out sometime my friends and make sure to invite lots of friends and map out lots of great locations:)
peace my friends!!
jon

Bar-barian Rick + Power Wheel on Wall video!! Big 1st day!!! Power of Plants!!

Slick Rick on the Power Wheel ON a wall doing press ups....can you say hard!!!!? hahaha
Man i was so excited about this next 8 week cycle that i could not wait til tomorrow and i did monday's workout today:) haha That and i'll be traveling all day tomorrow to LA for the rest of the week:) So i got to say the 1st day of the cycle is AWESOME!!! I love it!!
This last week of rest and recovery must of helped me out as i felt very good and am happy with my first day of this cycle:
MBG 1 restoration - Eischens Yoga, wrist mobility, chest expander shoulder routine...rested alot:)
MBG 2 training - J Rock 2 (descending sets with a goal of 20 plus reps )
Started the workout with 5 sets of planche press, roll to L seat to box MU's
Alternated that with bar MU to around the world to lever hold...first time i got a clean muscle up!!
EXERCISE:                                                               SET 1             SET 2          SET 3     TOTAL
1) Wall Press ups + 0, bxt 70, bxt 140:                       4, 6, 10 (20) / 3, 5, 8 (16) / 3, 5, 7 (15) = 51
2) Bar MU, walk up MU, wide CU, PUR160 CU   *4, 3, 2,9 (18) / 3,4,2,9 (18) / 2,3,2,10 (17) = 53
GOT A PR ON BAR MUSCLE UPS TODAY:) straight and proper form too!!:)
Extra work - 100 wide pull ups to chest PUR 240 (8") and 100 dips (half kick out, half planche)
3) Power Wheel crawl - 1 x 60 yards (not bad after all this stuff:)
MBG 3 eating like a gorilla - 

1. maca cafe
2. black beans, corn, tomato, veggie patty
3. kale, lemon, honey
4. sesame seeds, cashews, peanut butter, honey 
5. juiced sweet potato, orange = amazing drink
6. kale, cous cous, cranberries, pine nuts, pecans, beans, sunflower seeds
7. soaked oats, almond milk, cranberries, almonds, life's basics

Hey Hey Hey my friends, IT"S TIME!!!!!
Let''s make this an amazing 8 weeks my friends!!!:)
peace!!
Jon:)

Leaner & Stronger Training Tips and Another Bar-barian & Power Wheel video!!

Bar-barian's Andy doing Power Wheel Alligator push ups!! These guys are all very high level and Andy is one of the best in the world at push ups, dips and pull ups and watch how challenging the power wheel is for even him! This exercise is in our upcoming 8 week cycle too so use Andy as inspiration and try to hang with one of the best in the world!!!
This week as you know is rest and recovery week and so far been doing good, i'm actually not doing any push ups or chin ups!!:)
Q & A: I've been asked many times what is the best way to get stronger & leaner while being plant based AND doing bodyweight training. 
For getting Stronger:
CHALLENGE & ADAPT: To me it is always simply a case of constant challenge and adaptation to various skills and movements...find various movements that challenge you at your level; push ups, pull ups, squats, hip extensions, etc.
CHALLENGE THE INTENSITIES: find a level of each that challenges you and then train them as often as you can while challenging each with various types of loads...for example pure strength one day, pure power another and then maybe pure static holds on another OR maybe a mix of all of them in a metabolic type workout.
KEEP TRACK AND PROGRESS EACH WEEK: here i like to keep track of them each and progress them each week like we are currently doing in our 8 week cycle. IF you do this you will adapt and progress on each and all of the movements over the 8 week cycles. THIS is how you get stronger.
How do you get leaner: It is simple as well...
EAT STRONG PLANT BASED MEALS: no fluff, eat only foods that when you hold them and feel them you know them make you strong! Kale, beans, sweet potatoes are great! In general colorful vegeatables, fruits, nuts, seeds, pseudo grains and roots!
EAT ONLY WHEN HUNGRY: dont eat by the clock, eat when HUNGRY!!
EAT ONLY TIL SATISFIED: very important again, eat ONLY enough to satisfy no more! Think if you had to workout again right after eating or within a half hour how much would you eat? This is how animals think about it because their life is on the line, do the same and get the same results. You may eat more often during the day with smaller meals but you'll have greater energy and never feel sluggish and tired. BIG point here is you train when slightly hungry too and you'll have MUCH better results. NO ANIMAL hunts when it's full right?:) They hunt when they're..........HUNGRY!!!!:) haha
THIS is how you get leaner!!
Do one and get very good results, do both and get leaner and stronger!!!!
Hope this helps you all out my friends!!
Peace,
Jon

What an amazing week! Trained 4 hours a day! Added some great friends too!!:)

Me hanging with my Bar-barian friends Zef, Andy, Rick, Jude and Keith (Abz...how'd he get that name:) haha dang!!

Man jess and i just got back from NYC and have to say that was one of my funnest times of my life! Got to do what i love...train bodyweight all day long with my friends, learned a ton of great stuff, gained a bunch of new friends/family! and ate like a champ!! tons of great places to eat! and then hung out in my favorite hood in nyc the Lower East Side at my good buddy Gavin's place and then got to ride my bike all over too!! Paradise!!!:) hahaha
You know what was so crazy was these guys (the Bar-barians) are all super cool dudes, humble, honest, super hard working...crazy hard actually:) and they have crazy passion for what they do too!! It was just amazing, we hit it off great and for sure will be hanging and training alot more in the near future!
EACH DAY SYNOPSIS: 
jess and i wake up about 6am...yes that is a habit:) haha no matter what time we go to sleep:) haha
then we'd have some pure water, then maybe walk over to my good buddy marcus's "The Juice Press" place and get some green drinks and maybe some of his off the hook soaked oats with berries!! Then we'd walk to Soho, got some funky vivo's while there at a vivobarefoot store too which tons of folks liked as we walked the streets:)
Then we'd go train for about 2 hours maybe on our own or with Rick. He's a super cool guy who is an incredible athlete, can do everything really well! So we'd do a simple push up and chin up workout that was something like this 10 push ups, then walk a bit then repeat to a certain marker...that was very challenging:) then do something similar on the bars for pulling...this was always fun and challenging...we'd do this for about 2-3 rounds and then do a finisher to crush it and then we were done.
After training then it's off to eat, usually something like whole foods salad bar or TJP or some other great plant based joint...nyc has a bunch!! I loved that!:) Then chill for a few hours and read and take a nap. Jess and i also made it a habit of taking a daily massage down in china town...man those were awesome foot massages and then back, neck, shoulders, head and hands too....ahhhh:) haha
After that it's back to the park to workout with all the Bar-barians!! Zef & Jude (the originators!) train late when it's cooler and less crowded which is cool for me! We'd do something like we did earlier in the day but Zef always did stuff super hard versions!:) hahaha man i was like dam my friend haha first set might be 25 pull ups with 5 count holds between every 5 reps...that crushed me:) Then something similar for pushing...it was all great!! Keep doing that til the end of about....2-3 hours!! Then do a finisher...yesterday it was 10 muscle ups without kipping or stopping...if you break form or your set you had to do 50 triangle push ups....NICE!!:) haha So i had to do the push ups hahaha
Cant explain what a honor and privilege it was to train with these guys:) each day i was exhausted but we just kept going and it worked! As it went longer i felt better and stronger and so did jessie:) She actually impressed them alot and they think she'll be the 1st Female Bar-barian!!!! She was crushing the chin ups to almost her sternum! Then the strict full dips and push ups...they were all saying dang she's strong as hell:) haha It was great!!!
So after the finisher at night then we'd grab some more good food from a place called quintessence and man that place is wicked good and healthy and again it's close...1 block from TSP!!!
So get this...Gavins is literally a 5 minute walk from TSP, the Juice Press 1 block too!! Man it was awesome!!!
Each day was pretty much like that give or take a meeting now and then for business and working on the computers each day too for a few hours.
Another thing i loved was how open they were to doing Eischens Yoga which they really dug:) They all felt the positive change immediately!
We had a great time and i took 35 videos so get ready cause i'll be showing them alot over the next few weeks:) Most of the videos are of zef, jude, rick, andy and keith using the power wheel, jungle gym xt, the power push up, the power jumper and did some chest expander work too! Really cool how they picked it up and just started thinking WAY outside the box and did some wicked stuff immediately on them all....no doubt the favorite as usual was the power wheel which Zef said he's not bringing out anymore so he can train on it just on his own:) haha Told him the PW crawl world record and he wants it so we'll see!!! Hope to have video it or show it in person and break it! That would be awesome as the record of 260 held by Pete Brooks has been un-approached for about 5 years...no one else has even hit 200 yards yet!! Zef is gonna go for it and i think he might get it:)
You'll see some of the stuff they did which is insanely hard with the power wheel!!!
Well my friends, as much as i want to keep training super hard i'm chilling like a Gorilla this week and going to be doing EY privates daily along with massage daily, super healthy eating as usual and only very light bodyweight stuff for mobility and stability only....the temptation to train will be hard but it will be worth is when i feel Strong as a Gorilla starting next week!!!!:)
Peace my friends and stay tuned to LOTS of great videos!!
jon

Hanging with the Bar-barians at Wingate Park today!! Then Super Strong PB Eats!!!

Wingate Park where most of the best Bar Guys in the World Train!!

Man what a cool time i'm having here in NYC training with the Bar-barians 2 days in a row right now! Since arriving on Tuesday night we've been training crazy hard, yesterday went up to a park here in the LES and ran into a young Bar-barian named Christian an 18 year old kid who just crushed the bars and he was super cool and very generous with his knowledge....we played on the bars for 2.5 hours!! Okay so now jess and i are tired so we go back to my buddy Gavins crib to chill for a few hours...then back to Tompkins Square Park at 8:30 to meet and workout with Zef, Rick and Jude for another 2 plus hours!! Can you say dang my arms!!? haha IT WAS GREAT! Man these guys are super cool and really knowledgeable on the bars and dang can they do everything with flawless technique!!
Then today jess and i walked all over Soho, then met a business friend from Dale Carnegie name Stephen and this guy is awesome! Super helpful guy who goes out of his way to help us to grow the Monkey Bar Gym just cause he loves our business so much! How cool is that!
After that went to Wingate Park to meet Zef and Rick and some more training:) haha these guys are crazy with the amount they do but i love it, would love to stay for a month or two and just train with these guys every day cause they love it too! So while there we did some great stuff for pulls and pushes and it crushed me again:) but it was fun in an odd way:) Then B-Rock, Juice and about 2 other famous Bar guys walk up and start training too! This is the place for sure the big boys train at and it was cool for sure to be there!
It's very cool to learn lessons, no matter where, no matter from who...while here i've learned alot from zef, rick, jude and their young buck christopher....their form is tight! They're all very open and honest with their feedback, they are all very sincere people! Also learned alot from Stephen Holgate at lunch today, a very cool and very knowledgeable DC guy who i always call on for business guidance and he always delivers well!! My friend Rasul, this guy i hadnt seen since 2004 when he took my CNT course and then yesterday he walks on to the TSP floor to workout and it was great!!:) Big part of the reason why we hung out training for so long! He is a good man who honors his friends and his family, i saw alot of love for both in this man as well as the Bar-barians...ALL honest and loving people! How lucky i am to have such friends and to be able to share them with my sweetie jessie:) Very lucky indeed:)
MBG 1 restoration - not alot of this since arriving:) haha and yes i feel it, my body is very tired and i really need to do more Eischens Yoga than just a few poses....BUT i'm already getting ready to Fully Recover upon returning back home after...getting massages everyday by MBG bad ass massage therapist Chad Yonkus and going to get some Daily EY work too with one of our top trainer Ali who is a bad ass in the Eischens Yoga:) In both cases i am fully embracing the week off cause i need it:) haha
MBG 2 training - whew alot of reps here for both days so far:) basically tons of push ups, dips, planches, levers, pull ups, muscle up training and more....and doing them often one after the other:) wicked but fun:) 
MBG 3 eating like a Gorilla - man days, afternoons and nights we've been eating super strong foods and tons of juices while here. My good friend Marcus owns this place called the Juice Press and it's really awesome, we get super green fresh drinks all day long and then maybe some great plant meal for dinner.

• Kale, spirilina, apple, coconut water, coconut young meat and lots more....amazing!!!
• organic raw nuts, goji berries, etc
• mixed greens, tomatoes, onions, white beans, bell peppers and lots more!!
• macro greens bar
• horny gorilla - this drink is pure water and maca and man it's delicious!!
• seaweed salad, sesame seeds, mixed greens, onions, tomato, raw nut burger, flax chips
• raw almonds
• tons of water:)

Really enjoying my trip here to NYC and as always look forward to training more with my friends!
Peace my friends!
Jon