Great LA trip! Friends & Food and some fun!! all in 48 hours!!

Here's a quick shout out to my old friends and some new friends i met during our 48 hours in LA:)
It was really a pleasure to meet the Colin Campbell foundation crew led by Jack Murphy who's a really good and honest person we hope to work with more. Colin they did a great job! Jess and i had a great time, they took care of everything, the lecture went great with a good crowd, lots of variety of people in the crowd (bodybuilders, power lifters, olympic lifters, functional training folks to vegan, veg, plant based all the way to meat based:) The crowd asked alot of great questions and we had alot of fun!!
So the lecture went great but i also wanted to say how fun it was to see my old friends and meet alot of new ones. Met with old friends like Henry Akins (BJJ master), Mr. Matt Zaborowski (MBG Silverback who i hope moves back here to chicago soon!!:) and his lovely lady Jenny "i'm little but tough as nails" Foxx, to JP (John Pierre) a really old friend who i havent seen in about 15 years!!!:) JP is a hard core 30 year vegan who walks the walk, if you want a true person look him up cause he is one:) Last but not least is the MBG Moorpark and MBG Thousand Oaks crew....all supported big time! Thanks Kevin, Justin, Jeremy, Zack!
Then met some new friends like Robert Cheeks from vegan bodybuilding.com and we've played e-mail tag for over a year and finally met! Very cool guy and it was a pleasure! Bryon Au (raw vegan super chef!) this guy is a riot, and i mean that 1000% one of the funniest guys i've ever met and he knows his stuff too whippin' up amazing meals in 5 minutes for us all!! Tasty as heck!! Then also met award winning Shaun Monson the director of Earthlings...powerful movie all should see. For sure check all these kind folks out, they are all kind, conscious and honorable people and i'm very happy to have met them and gotten to talk and hang with them all! MUCH LOVE!!:)
MBG 1 restoration - actually slept about 8 hours each night in LA:) did my Eischens Yoga each morning too:)
MBG 2 training - a bit tired today from our 48 hour LA trip and being crazy busy today so decided to listen and train simple:)

1. Assisted Muscle ups with 3 bands + vest for 10 sets of 10 (this felt really good and strong!)
2. Dips + vest: 5 x 10
3. Chins to sternum with 2 bands + vest: 5 x 10

for how tired i was this felt great!!:) happy when i left:) 3.7*
MBG 3 plant strong eating!

• Water and lemon, then some green drink and water
• raw greens food bar
• potato, tons of spinach, onions, peppers and black beans
• organic food bar
• mixed greens, beets, onions salad, then brown rice, mock chicken, broccoli, spinach
• apple

OVERALL: great trip! One big shout out to VIRGIN AMERICAN airlines, man i'm flying this company as much as possible....great service and business, attention to detail was awesome and much appreciate...if you can fly them, they're really the best i've ever flown:)

My UPCOMING MBG Courses & Events: (please share:)

1. SIGN UP NOW!! CNT Intensive: February 23rd - 28th, 2012, Thousand Oaks CA - located at the NEW MBG Thousand Oaks!! go to www.monkeybargym.com

2. SIGN UP NOW!! Online Lean & Green Warrior Training seminar: Beginning February 28, 2012, 6pm PST for 5 tuesdays in a row - located at http://www.entheosacademy.com/courses/Lean-&-Green-Warrior-Training

3. SIGN UP NOW!! CNT Intensive: August 9th - 14th, 2012, Madison WI - Located at the NEW MBG Madison! (If all goes as planned:) go to www.monkeybargym.com 

   Good trip, looking forward to going back out in 3 weeks for the MBG Intensive listed above to have alot more fun:) 

   Peace!

   Jon:) 

    

Big Week at MBG Chi, LA Expo Lecture & bodyweight numbers still climbing!

Having dinner with my friend Colin Campbell:)

WOW, big start to the year at the MBG's, biggest week ever here at MBG Chicago too which is great! It's so fun and exciting to see so many students in class training so hard and loving it so much! PRICELESS:) above pic we're eating dinner with my friend Colin Campbell:) What an awesome person! This weekend we're going to be in LA at the fitness expo and i'll be speaking at the LA Convention center at 5-5:30 sat night all about my transition to being a plant based athlete, person, strength coach...all areas:) The event should be alot of fun as already we're getting some folks talking about how they want to challenge me on it:) COOL:) Stronger, Healthier, better for me, people and planet....argue that!!:) haha
MBG 1 restoration, sleep - doing the Eischens Yoga sequence daily....feels great as the second part here of sleep, still not great...too much stress:) business was moving too fast and thinking too much at night = poor sleep, 2 hours one night 5 the next x 3-4 months = whew tired!:) So my training if you've noticed is very simple, not feeling strong enough to do anything too challenging so i have been keeping it pretty simple and it's working for me:)
MBG 2 training - 
1.23.12 MONDAY (same asst for all sets on each exercise)

1. Amu *25,   16,  9 = *50 with (3b's + v)

1. Dips + V 22,  15, 11 = 48 (V = vest and is 17lbs)
2. 1 arm assisted chins  using bxt3b + V: 13s, 11s, 10s

Very tired rested alot btwn  3* After my first set of the assisted Muscle ups i listened and did not over stress myself and pretty much coasted on this workout and ended up doing the workout, getting the blood flowing which was good:) glad i listened and did not push it too hard:)

1.25.12 WEDNESdAY: used same assistance and / or resistance with each exercise for all sets.

• Amu with BXT on bars: 2 green bands:  *14, 10, 6 = 30 (great feel)
• Below use same loads (2bands, 2V pushups and 2g + V chins)
• Pushups + 2V:  *30,25,20=75 (2 vests)
• Chin ups + 2g, 2V:  *14, 13,12=37 (2 green bands + 2 vests) yes you might ask why any assistance here
• 3.7* on this workout, despite my fatique i took my time, it felt really good:) 

MBG 3 plant based eating:

1. Green drink and organic apple juice
2. blueberries, banana, sunflower seeds, almond yogurt, chia seeds, hemp seeds, lifes basics
3. dales raw food bar
4. kumbucha
5. mixed greens, quinoa, beans, carrots, beets, onions, corn, pumpkin seeds
6. apple
7. spinach, mock chicken salad, seeds, onions and potatoes

My UPCOMING MBG Courses & Events:

1. Lean & Green Warrior Training lecture, Los Angeles, CA, January 28th - Located at the LA Convention Center, Los Angeles Fitnes Expo.

2. CNT Intensive: February 23rd - 28th, 2012, Thousand Oaks CA - located at the NEW MBG Thousand Oaks!!

3. Online Lean & Green Warrior Training seminar: Beginning February 28, 2012, 6pm PST for 5 tuesdays in a row - located at http://www.entheosacademy.com/courses/Lean-&-Green-Warrior-Training

4. Jon Hinds & Mike Mahler weekend training seminar: Most likely in August:) Madison, WI - Monkey Bar Gym Madison

5. CNT Intensive: August 9th - 14th, 2012, Madison WI - Located at the NEW MBG Madison! (If all goes as planned:)

Good night my friends:) sleep tight!:)
Jon

Snow cant stop us!! This Months RESULTS! MBG CHI Night class crushes Card Deck:)

5pm Friday, Blizzard....no problem!!!

So it's snowing pretty hard here in chi town today and so we closed the MBG tonight....or i thought we did:) Went to walk nuka real quick in the snow and see one guy waiting...he came 45 minutes to train so i couldnt say no so i open up and teach the class thinking just him....6 people came in thru the Blizzard!! Got to love that! Not only did Clara, Jose, Amy, Drew, Kim and John all beat the best class times of the day but clara and john beat the best times of the day too! They were so amped it was awesome, priceless!! When they beat the previous best times of the day by 5 Minutes! Man they all cheered like crazy! That was priceless, that is why i love teaching and training...to see the joy and happiness that challenging, fun and positive social training can do for people!.....Love MBG:)
This week i kept up my training and got continued my improvement each day....Good Stuff!
MBG 1 - restoration training was varied this week, teaching Eischens Yoga this week, doing it on my own, doing the chest expander shoulder drills, wrist 60 drills, JGXT shoulder mobility drills and some stall bar work too....all great stuff!
MBG 2 - training:
1.6.12 MONDAY
Amu *22,13,7,2.=44 (3 bands, 3 bands + vest, 2 bands, 2 bands + vest)

Dips 35,21,11,7=74 (0,1,2,3vests)
Pullups to chest 16,11,6,2=35 (2gr, 2 gr + vest, 1 gr, 1gr + vest, 0)

1.9.12 MONDAY
Amu 21,*15,*10,2=*48 (+4) (3 bands, 3 bands + vest, 2 bands, 2 bands + vest)

Dips  36, 23, 14, 9 = *82 (Did *75 push ups in a row on tuesday night!!!)
Pullups to chest 18, 13, 6, 2 = *39 (2gr, 2 gr + vest, 1 gr, 1gr + vest, 0)

1.11.12 WEDNESDAY
Amy *26, t15, 10,*3 = *54 (+6) (3 bands, 3 bands + vest, 2 bands, 2 bands + vest)

Pushups 45, 20, 14, 6 = 85 (Vest, , 2 vest, vest + r8, 2 vest + r8)
Chin ups to chest 17, 13, 10, 6 = 46 (2gr, 2 gr + vest, 1 gr, 1gr + vest)

1.16.12 MONDAY
Amu *18,*12, *5, 000, 001 = 35 reps (3 bands + vest, 2 bands, 2 bands + vest, 1 band)
Dips *37
Pullups *19 (2 bands) did not feel good so stopped

1.18.12 WEDNESdAY
Amu *20, *13, 4, 000 = 37* (3 bands + vest, 2 bands, 2 bands + vest, 1 band)
Below use same loads (0 assist on dips and 2 bands on chins)
Dips *38, *27,  *18 = *83
Chins *20, *15,  *12 = *47 (touch sternum) (2 bands)

1.19.12 THURSDAY: 30/300/3000 workout
Power Wheel crawl 300 yards then Jump Rope 3000 reps = 27:48!:) love this workout!!:)


1.20.12 FRIDAY
Amu *23, t13, t5, 000 = *41 (3 bands + vest, 2 bands, 2 bands + vest, 1 band)
dead hang amu 2g x 1, 1, this was a tough one so bumped up some assistance some
dead hang amu 3g x 11 good!! like doing the dead hang ones alot as it forces my speed better from the bottom!

BXT 140 (2 yellow bands) hspu 14, 12, 11 = 37 (loved these two combo'd together:)
Chins 2 chest 2g *22, *17, *14 = *53 (2 bands)
same loads for all sets..... great!!

MBG 3 - eating plant strong meals!:)

1. green drink and apple juice
2. soaked oats, raw cashews, sunflower seeds, blueberries, banana, chia seeds, hemp seeds
3. macrobar peanut protein
4. kale, pine nuts, cabbage, cous cous, red potatoes, seitan,  and then some carrots and cole slaw
5. bengal spice tea, apple, cashew butter
6. spinach, broccoli, mung beans and some corn tortilla chips
7. apple and almond butter

Give some props out for yourselves and others who are walking the walk my friends! Training MBG 3, changing the world for the better, making a difference on the planet!!:)
PEACE MY FRIENDS:)
Jon

New MBG Video, Update from the last week of my MBG 3:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSQsKAWI43MNew Monkey Bar Gym Video!!!
This is a brand new MBG video that is simply awesome:)! Check it out, pass it to others!
Man i love this one, my Bar-barian brother slick Rick made this....he's got crazy skills!!!
Just got back from LA teaching a Jungle Gym XT course at a Golds Gym in Marrietta and
it went really great! Full class, eager students/trainers and excellent grasp of how use the JGXT.
After 10 hours of traveling to get there Jessica and I arrived and began early saturday morning.
The class was full, all the GG trainers were really opened to learn and had great energy.
After just a few minutes it became really a fun event, lots of laughing and lots of learning.
Every time i teach it's amazing how much i learn while teaching....each time there are
Golden Nuggets of info that come out...that is just fun:) love that!!:)
After the course jess and i drove up to check out MBG Thousand Oaks;

Stopped in Angeles National Park ... awesome!! here's a Jessie sitting and thinking:)
Then MBG TO....awesome!!!:) Beautiful space right on the main drag, 25' ceilings and over 20 yards of shuttle running space too, they put up a solid monkey bar system too....very well done!
Last week of training has been the same intensity and pretty much keeping the workouts extra simple and easy....not sure exactly if it's my sleep (4-5 hours a night), the growing pains of the MBG or lack of any actual vacations (none in last year and a half) but i'm still feeling pretty tired and so still listening to my body mind and just doing simple workouts ONLY if i'm feeling up to it along with doing my Eischens Yoga as much as possible, sleeping as much as i can and resting as much as i can.
SO:
TRAINING: my training has been Assisted Muscle ups for about 4 ascending sets and even though tired i'm still improving and breaking my best each week. Last week before leaving to LA hit *26 on first set, then tied 2nd set at 15, then 10 tied, then *3 on last set (54 plus 6 from previous best) Monday when i got back and slept for 4 hours i said i'll just do my best BUT i'm gonna start my first set even with my previous workouts 2nd sets (3 bands + 17lb weight vest).
2 WEEKS AGO NUMBERS: 22, 13,    7,    2 = 44 (3 bands, 3 bands + vest, 2 bands, 2 bands + vest)
LAST WEEK NUMBERS: 26,     15,   10,   3 = 54
THIS WEEK NUMBERS:          *18, *12, *5, 0 no kip (1 w/kip but dont count that) = *35
New Levels of AMU:              3 bands + vest, 2 bands, 2 bands + vest, 1 band
SO Despite being very tired still up'd my numbers and form is improving each week. this was the plan if you remember 6-8 weeks ago i was getting muscle ups but my form was not good and i was still having to pull myself back towards and over the bar as my arms were straight when half way up when they should be completely bent.....that is why i changed to using the Power Jumper to assist my MU's and make my form proper and i feel it's working really well!
After doing my AMU's on Monday i then did a simple Jungle Gym XT prison 10-1 workout of chin ups and dips and it felt really great! Look forward to sleeping good tonight and having a good training day tomorrow:)
EATING:

• green tea, stevia, almond milk
• soaked oats, chia seeds, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, almond milk, banana, blueberries
• kale, cous cous, pine nuts, mung beans, pumpkin seeds, tomato, onions, corn
• organic macro bar
• honeycrisp apple, almond butter
• Native foods for dinner - twister wrap, mixed greens salad, african nut soup

Well time to go walk Nuka and Stoney my friends:) I wish you all much peace:)
Jon

Christmas tree from 5th floor video:) training update and More Events:)

It was time to say goodbye to our christmas tree, we live on the 5th floor....simple is better....SO drop it off the porch!!:) haha simplest way to get it down to our car and then to the recycling center:) SO we had to film it of course and it was sort of fun!!:)
Since the last post i've been very busy with work and still in cruise control in my workouts and funny thing is without stressing training hard, i've still made improvements! So that in itself helps my mind and body to feel a bit better.

MBG 1 - did some supine bridge work, focusing on even weight on feet and backs of arms. Then added in some chest expander shoulder mobility circles too....easy and feels great!
MBG 2 - keeping it easy still...at least i thought so...did:
Saturday: heavy jump rope x 50s each way, 10 broad jumps of over 7', 10 split squats each leg, 10 hanging leg raises for amap x in 30 minutes, made it 7 times and whew, good sweat!
Today Monday: i did a workout i did last week, YES i know it's rest and recovery week, well i've been training sort of easy the last 3 weeks so i'm continuing:) Did BJJ this morning as my warm up then got some more PR's on this workout!

1. AMU's: 21 + 3 bands (2 gr, 1 red) / *15 + 3 bands + 17lb vest / *10 + 2 bands / *2 + 2 bands + vest = *48 (+4 from last week!!) 

1. Dips: 36 + 0lbs / 23 + 17lb vest / 14 + 34lb vests / 9 + 51lb vests = *82 (+8 since last week!)           alternated with;
2. PJ assisted Pull Ups to sternum: 18 + 2 greens / 13 + 2 gr, 17lb vest / 6 + 1 gr / 2 + 1 gr, 17lb vest = 39 (+4 from last week)

MBG 3 - 

• bengal spice, stevia
• almond yogurt, life's basics, chia seeds, hemp seeds, green powder
• kale, mixed greens, mushrooms, corn, onions, beans, sunflower seeds, sesame croutons
• peanut protein macrobar
• kumbucha
• mixed greens, onions, tomato salad / sprouted hemp bread, gardein vegan burgers, sauerkraut, vegan cheese (Jessies been making these lately and they are amazing!!)
• apple, almond butter
• vegan cookies:) oatmeal raisin!!:)

My UPCOMING MBG Courses & Events:

1. Jungle Gym XT course, Marrieta California, January 14th - Located at the Golds Gym.

2. Lean & Green Warrior Training lecture, Los Angeles, CA, January 28th - Located at the LA Convention Center, Los Angeles Fitnes Expo.

3. CNT Intensive: February 23rd - 28th, 2012, Thousand Oaks CA - located at the NEW MBG Thousand Oaks!!

4. Online Lean & Green Warrior Training seminar: Beginning February 28, 2012, 6pm PST for 5 tuesdays in a row - located at http://www.entheosacademy.com/courses/Lean-&-Green-Warrior-Training

5. Jon Hinds & Mike Mahler weekend training seminar: June 9th, 10th, Madison, WI - Monkey Bar Gym Madison

6. CNT Intensive: August 9th - 14th, 2012, Madison WI - Located at the NEW MBG Madison! (If all goes as planned:)

   Very busy right now, doing my best to pay attention to how i'm feeling and listening and taking my time with everything i'm doing to make me feel good, rest, recovery, food, training, time with jessie:)
   Have a good night my friends!
   Jon
   
   

Stoney Pic:) Good Soulfull Training!! Upcoming courses!

haha isnt he a cute little dog!!:)

As mentioned a week or two ago i've been really listening to my body and mind and only training as i feel, never more and it feels good and i'm actually improving numbers and beating some records too despite still having some rough nights of sleep (busy business and busy mind .... usually about 3 in the morning til 5:) haha it's a process!!:) haha
MBG 1 - restoration and sleep: Eischens Yoga daily + about 5-6 hours of sleep a night, feeling 65%:)
MBG 2 - training....soul training!!:)
Monday did simple stuff...
Assisted MU's did ascending sets 3 bands, 3 + vest, 2 bands, 2 + vest for same reps as last weeks best.
Then did 4 x 8 of pullups to chest and tiger push ups with 2 vests 34lbs
Tuesday did simple running of the stairs:)
Wednesday did BJJ this morning as my warm up then got all new records on AMU's!

1. AMU's: *22 + 3 bands (2 gr, 1 red) / *13 + 3 bands + 17lb vest / *7 + 2 bands / *2 + 2 bands + vest (this is really great improvement! just a few weeks ago when beginning assisted muscle ups with the Power Jumpers 3 bands i could barely get 10 and not close with 2 bands!!)

1. Dips: 35 / 21 + 17lb vest / 11 + 34lb vests / 7 + 51lb vests            alternated with;
2. PJ assisted Pull Ups to sternum: 16 + 2 greens / 11 + 2 gr, 17lb vest / 6 + 1 gr / 2 + 1 gr, 17lb vest

3.75*:) wasnt feeling great before workout, but felt really good during workout today:) good marks!!MBG 3 - eating:)

• green tea
• kale, wild rice, garbanzo beans
• organic food bar
• kale, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, onions, peas, beans, cashews
• apple, sunflower butter
• veggie soup, spinach salad with tomato and onions, vegan burger on hemp bread with cole slaw!!:) 

UPCOMING COURSES: My friends i never ask much from any of you more than answering some fun questions i've asked and some you've asked:) Tonight i wanted to tell you all of my upcoming MBG courses and ask if you can supoort them yourself and/or by inviting a friend or two to them. Many of you follow my blog that i've never met and it would be my pleasure to meet some of you at any and all of these upcoming events:) So please check them out and hopefully we'll be talking face to face soon!

My next MBG Courses:

1. CNT Intensive: February 23rd - 28th, 2012, Thousand Oaks CA - located at the NEW MBG Thousand Oaks!!

2. Online Lean & Green Warrior Training seminar: Beginning February 28, 2012, 6pm PST for 5 tuesdays in a row - located at http://www.entheosacademy.com/courses/Lean-&-Green-Warrior-Training

3. Jon Hinds & Mike Mahler weekend training seminar: June 9th, 10th, Madison, WI - Monkey Bar Gym Madison

4. CNT Intensive: August 9th - 14th, 2012, Madison WI - Located at the NEW MBG Madison! (If all goes as planned:)

   Peace my friends:) Thank you much for your support as always:)

   Your friend,

   Jon