Athletics Department All Workouts

About the Exercises

These workouts will be based on common strength-building exercises, including pushups, crunches, squats, and more. We will get creative and use resources we have around our homes, since most of us don’t have access to gym equipment right now.

If you are brand new to strength-building exercises, these workouts may not be suitable for you at this time. 

Please consult your doctor before doing any physical activity, and follow current CDC guidelines regarding health, safety, and social distancing.

Disclaimer: No liability is assumed for the information provided on this website. The text on all pages of this site is intended for informational and educational purposes only and does not provide medical advice on exercise or diet. Specific medical advice should be obtained from a licensed health-care practitioner. Always check with your doctor before beginning any type of exercise program or diet.

1. Write out a schedule for your work week. Weekly schedules can help us stick with our fitness routines.
2. Take a jog or walk around your residence and neighborhood to see what resources you might have, including hills, steps, and objects that you can use as weights. Take note of anything you can lift, carry, push, or hang from. I took a 25-minute run around my neighborhood to see what I have around.

Once you have these two assignments completed, you will already have had one day of light aerobic exercise, and will have the tools gathered to do some warm-up, hill training, and a strength-training circuit at our first workout!

Yours in health,
Coach Boyko

“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight.” — Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Now it is time to get to work. Here is today's workout. I apologize in advance for the length of this one. There are a lot of helpful tips I am going to go over that will maximize this workout and will help your future workouts. This is a progressive adventure that we are on, so stick with me for a couple of weeks until we get into the swing of things. A good coach teaches self-sufficiency and adaptability. You are your own best coach!

Warmup

1. Foam Roller Warmup
2. Continuous Warm Up #1 (To be honest I did not do the inchworms in my driveway and on the street in front of my house!)

Workouts

Hill Sprint Ladder

Remember the scouting mission from Day 1? Well, here you go. A perfect grade hill. Not too steep, not too long. Here is a picture from the bottom up (with the guard rail on the left) and from the top down. If you look on the left side from the bottom up you will see a telephone pole on the left, a tree by the road, and a telephone pole at the top. These will be the 3 distances. I paced out the approximate distance of the telephone poles around my neighborhood. Regularly spaced telephone poles are approximately 75 yards apart. I use this to gauge my distances when doing sprints out on the road. You could also go to a track when it is not busy and time yourself doing various sprint lengths and just transfer the time you ran each length to the road.

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Do x2, 50-75% intensity hill sprints to get loose. You pick the distance.

Here is the workout:

50 yards x100% (first pole)
Walk down
75 yards x 85% intensity (tree between poles)
Walk down
100 x 75-80% intensity (last pole)
Walk down and repeat the ladder.

The goal is to accelerate out fast and hold your speed for the duration of the sprint without slowing down. That is why it is most effective and safest to choose a hill that is not super steep. Training at too steep an incline will ruin your running mechanics and cause your body to train at a slow fatigued state, which is not best for performance and may cause injury.

Strength Circuit

Now it is time to hit the weights. The resistance workout today is what I call a strength circuit. It involves some load or resistance, and each exercise should be done with perfect form, and your last few reps should be difficult. It is not like a traditional circuit because it is OK to slowly move to the next exercise to allow for some recovery, so you can go harder for each set.

I will try not to get into too much detail, but there are few important things to go over to help you get the most out of your workouts:

Safety and Form

Be sure to watch the squat tutorial on the Strength and Conditioning website to learn how to properly execute a squat from square one!

You can try the pushups slightly uphill or downhill to feel the difference and pick what you like. Please be sure to modify in both directions of incline (harder or easier) depending on your individual needs. Remember, form is key to staying healthy and making gains.

Please be sure to have a tight back when you do these exercises, and you can always break the set up and do half the reps or so and reset if need be to make sure your back is tight.  If you are unsure about your form and feel like you may be doing something improperly, please do not do it.  You definitely want a slower negative on the RDLs to make sure you can keep your back tight and hinge at the waist. Only go as far as your body will allow with a tight back!

Tempo

The first variable is the tempo of the exercise. Every exercise has a positive (which is the harder of the motions and is against weight or gravity), a negative (you guessed it, this is the easier of the motions and is with the gravity of the weight), and a transition between the two. In traditional exercise it is usually customary to go slower with the negative and faster with the positive. When you have limited weights and resources, all of this can go out the window to try to make the exercise program harder. Basically, you can make a lighter weight feel heavier by doing a slower tempo at certain times.

Here is how a tempo is traditionally laid out on a workout.
(+0/1/-3)
I always start the tempo where I start the exercise. For example this could be the tempo for a biceps curl where you would curl up as hard as you can within reason, pause for a second at the top, and lower the weight with a 3 second negative.

This will make more sense later and I will show some of these manipulations in some of my videos.

Weight or Load

The next variable that we should go over is weight or load. The more weight or load you can add, the greater the strength response will be. This is tricky without a lot of equipment. That is why I want you to do your best to be creative with finding load, and to make exercises harder by decreasing points of contact, lengthening levers, and changing the angles of the movements. I am going to skip the physics lessons on this one. You will just have to trust me by trying some of the modifications I give in my videos to feel the differences in manipulating these variables yourself.

Repetitions

Increasing repetitions and sets is the last way I am going to go over in this post and is pretty simple and must be mentioned. If you have almost nothing in terms of weight, then do a bunch of reps with short rest and that is the way to get the best bang for your buck.

Feel free to make any and all of these modifications depending on your unique situation. I will do my best to guide you and give you the tools to get through not having gym access, but you must learn how to take these tools and use them to maximize your workouts! Note to readers, if I do not go into pre-exhaustion with isometric holds or doing smaller joint exercises first in the next few posts, let me know about it!

The Circuit

Time to start the strength circuit! If you peek at my inventory photos, you will see my father’s old flat-bed, a backpack with a stack of bricks wrapped up (what, doesn’t everyone have a ruck sack with a bunch of bricks wrapped up in their possession?????), and a pair of 10 lb dumbbells (DB’s). All you need to get a kickin’ strength circuit in.

Here it is:

Squat to Upright Row w/Back Pack Off Truck x8 (see squat tutorial for proper form to avoid injury)
Back Pack Swing x8
DB Curl (+0/1/-3) or (+3/1/-3) or (+3/3/-3) depending on weight (can also use pack) x10
Step Up w/Back Pack and DB’s x10ea
Back Pack Squats (-3/1/+0) x10
Back Pack Pushup x8
1 Arm Off Truck Back Pack Row x8ea
Off Truck Back Pack RDL x10

If you notice on the curls the first three reps were done with different tempos. First was fast, second was (+0/1/-3), the last was (+0/3/-3). Just showing some options on how you can make the exercise tempo fit your needs for intensity!

You were probably wondering why I had a beat-up old Ford flat-bed in my inventory? If you try to do certain exercises with a backpack, you need to be able to let it hang below your feet. The truck also makes a good waist-height platform for weights, weighted pack, and speaker to blare some obnoxious rock and roll music in a quiet neighborhood! I did the curls with a couple of tempos on the first video to show what I was talking about. Pick the one that works best for the weight you have, level of fitness, and level of fatigue.

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Benji was super supportive on the final section of the workout in the last video! Definitely need the truck again for the rows so the pack does not hit the ground. I started with a (+0/3/-3) tempo to make these more difficult.

Thanks for your time and I hope this is helpful. I miss the interactions I am used to with all of you and please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you need anything.

Yours in Strength!
Boyko

“People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Good Morning Friends! Thanks for sticking with the “Cooped Up Coach Blog.” I came up with the name since we have chickens and it was my way to try to introduce a more personal element and a little bit of levity to this blog.

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Today was a day to get up before Duke the Rooster and it is going to be an indoor workout day since it is cold and rainy. I plan on going over a variety of workouts that will be indoors and outdoors over the course of this blog. I highly recommend getting outside as much as possible if you can, but I think it is essential to have some indoor workouts in your toolbox.

Here is a picture of some of the equipment that you will need today. As you can see the animals in the Boyko playroom are very curious to see these foreign objects in their territory. I know equipment can be difficult to come by, but a small investment in a variety of bands can be very cost effective and useful for now and beyond. These items can be purchased at www.performbetter.com (I don’t get a kickback for plugging them, I just think they are a great company that sells quality equipment and has excellent customer service!).

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I always recommend doing soft tissue work before a workout. This is where the foam roller comes in and here is a link to the routine that I use with people I work with. Soft tissue work helps increase blood flow to your muscles and the main theory behind using it is that it should help break up any scar tissue or adhesions that may have developed in your muscles from training, overuse, or injury. Once there is blood flow to your muscles and your tissue quality is better, you should be able to better move.

Once you are done with the foam roller it is always best to do a general warm up that targets the main muscle groups of your body to further increase your core temperature and increase range of motion so you can get the most effective workout possible and stay healthy. Often these areas are neglected in training with the thinking that it is more important to get more sets, or reps, or miles, etc. My philosophy is you can’t train if you are hurt, so it is best to get into a routine of doing these “self-care” parts of your training. The first video below will be of what I call our "Dynamic" in place warm up.

Time to do what I call the station workout. There are 11 exercises done for 20 seconds of work with 20 seconds of rest between. I normally do this as a warm up or active recovery workout. When done multiple times in a row with short rest between sets it can be a great total body workout with strength, mobility, and injury prevention elements throughout it. Seems like we have more interested observers in the Boyko playroom. Georgette and Alexander have taken an interest in watching the workout and kind of resemble Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets.

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Training inside is a great opportunity to do some barefoot work. If your feet are healthy, barefoot training in moderation is a great way to strengthen and work the proprioceptors in your feet. If your feet are strong then all the forces will be properly transferred throughout your body. If your feet are giving you the right feedback on where you are in time in space then you will have better balance, alignment, function, and be less injury resistant especially in this time period where shoe choices may not be ideal.

This workout utilizes bands during a good chunk of it. Bands are relatively inexpensive, are easy to store/travel with, and are very effective when used properly. A great feature of training with bands is that they train the theory of accommodating resistance. When you wrap a band around you during exercises with significant range of motion, the band tension gets easier when you reach a sticking point and heavier when your body had a mechanical advantage. This can be a great way of training your body to break through plateaus and give it a different stimulus to adapt to opposed to traditional weight training.

Here is the station workout! Remember, 20s each station, 20s rest wait about 1 minute and repeat 2 more times for 3 rounds total.  The second video below shows the exercises in sequence.  I tried to show the set up of the exercises and give a few variations that you can try out to make it harder or easier.

Station Workout

Body Weight Squat
Yoga Pushup (pushup to downward dog)
Band FWD Monster Walk
Accordion
Standing Band Bent Over Row
Band Speed Squat
Forearm Plank to Pushup Plank
Band BWDS Monster Walk
Banded Pushup
Standing Big “X” Diagonal Band Pull Apart
Alternate Spider Lunge w/Reach

I like to have people do the squats as fast as they can with good form. Form should always be a priority over speed or reps. Please modify the pushups as needed at any point in any workout to ensure good form. In the yoga pushups it is best to have your feet wide so you can go right into the downward dog. Make sure your spine is neutral on all pushups! For the band monster walks the band will be around your ankles. Keep your spine neutral (or belly tucked slightly) with your knees bent and toes straight ahead. Feet should be just outside of hip width. Try and keep your chest up and hinge at the waist for the accordions. A plank or crunch can also be done as a modification depending on level of fitness or if you are working around injury. Please be sure to hinge at the waist to get into the band row position. I see too often people in an “angry cat” when they do rowing activities. This is not an ideal position for your back or to maximize the effectiveness of the exercise. In the video, I go over some variations you can add to spice this workout up by altering the tempo or doing one arm at a time! As always modify the pushups accordingly. Try not to do the banded pushups when the movement slows down considerably. You can see I did some in "tall kneeling" position as a way to make it easier if you get tired.  Take a short break and finish the 20s working instead of resting if possible. For the Big “X” pull-aparts it is important to keep a neutral low back with your shoulder blades pinched back. If you use half of the band then you will want to put the other half around your back so it doesn’t whip you in the face. I made this mistake one time and one time only when I was demonstrating in front of a group and would rather you not go through the pain and possible embarrassment that I went through! Arms should stay straight during the entirety of this exercise. Lastly the alternate spider lunges are a great total body stabilizing movement with the added benefits of hip mobility if you drive your hips forward the entire time with your knee on the ground as you open up and reach.

Last piece of the workout and what should be done at the end of a training session when your body is significantly warmed up is to static stretch. Here is a link to a video that I call the “Rope Stretch” even though I use bands all the time with it. If you do not have a band, then feel free to use a towel, belt, or piece of rope.

Thanks for sticking with me for this long. I hope this is informative and entertaining!
Best to you and yours,
Boyko

“When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us
becomes better, too.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

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Happy Monday! Rain and 60 mph gusts makes this an indoor workout day for me. I thought I got up early enough to have a nice quiet workout, but found the Boyko playroom was buzzing this morning with Alexander in with his headband for a serious match with Georgette on the chess table.

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Bunnies were still out after holiday weekend festivities  and since the Boykos do not have enough going on with 3 kids within 18 months, a dog, work, 6 chickens, and doing all this through a pandemic, you guessed it we bought 12 baby chicks since we had an unsuccessful try at hatching our own. Check out the “Cribs” edition of the brooder that the girls made for the chicks in the first video at the bottom of the post. Josie especially went to work on this custom home complete with gated upper level patio, slide, snack bar and pool (it is really their water, but we can call it a pool for entertainment purposes).

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It is always best to foam roll if you have access to it. I will skip putting this into the workouts from here on out as I have already posted a link to a roller routine and why it is best to do before a workout in my last post.

The next section of the work out is Glute activation with a green mini band. Your gluteals are powerful hip extensors and help you move fast, protect your knees, and spare your back and hamstrings. It is important to get them “activated” before you work out so you can get the full benefit of the workout and using these muscles. Here is the first phase of my glute protocol and the second video shows how to do them.

Glute Protocol

Bridge 45 s
Clamshell 30s ea
Straight Leg Raise 30s ea
Fire hydrant 15s ea

The next part of today’s workout is to do the Dynamic Warm Up routine that was introduced in blog post 3 last week.

It is now time to get your joints more mobile since your soft tissue quality is improved, your glutes are firing, and your core temperature is up. If you want to increase the range of motion and ability of your joints to move more freely then you can’t just stretch. You need to passively move the joints through range of motion. There is a demonstration of what I call the “Mobility A” series in video 3 below.

Time to get to the workout. This is a quick, but effective workout that only takes 20 minutes! Here is how it works. There are 4 basic exercises you are going to do. A core, an upper (push half the time/pull the other half), and a leg. Put 20 minutes on the clock. Once it starts you will do the following

• 5 repetitions of a core exercise. To start with we are going to do a reverse crunch.
• 10 repetitions of a upper body exercise. To start we are going to do pushups and inverted rows or band bent over rows. You will do pushups on the odd minutes and rows on the even minutes.
• 15 repetitions of a leg exercise. To start we will do bodyweight squats.

Here is how it would break down.

Start the clock. You have from 0-59s to try to do the following:

5 reverse crunches,
10 pushups,
15 bodyweight squats.
Take whatever remaining time you have to rest before the clock reaches 1 minute. Once you get to 1 minute you will have from 1 minute to 1:59 to do the following:
5 reverse crunches,
10 inverted rows or band bent over rows if you do not have a suspension trainer or rings
15 bodyweight squats

Keep repeating this cycle until you get to 20 minutes on the clock. At the end of the workout you should have completed 100 reverse crunches, 100 pushups/100 rows, and 300 body weight squats! This is just a sample of what you can do and as always feel free to substitute exercises for your level of ability and if you have equipment. There is a demonstration of this cycle in video 4. I showed some variations to the core from round to round and showed some variations to the inverted rows to make them harder by extending my legs. I was able to do this hanging from gymnastics rings that I hung from eyebolts in my basement. A good friend of mine constructed a homemade suspension trainer out of lock cable, a canoe strap, and some handles. If you don’t have something like this then you can do band bent over rows or dumbbell rows. Variety can also be added to the squats and pushups. I show some examples in video 5 below.

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Final block of exercises is extra work. This is feel good time. Some isolation biceps and triceps. Do 3 or for rounds of these exercises for 10-12 reps back to back with little to no rest. Examples of band curls and triceps exercises can be found in video 6. Get a good burn in and feel a little swell in your arm muscles.

As always, finish with a static stretch. The rope stretch from last post will work well. Turn the lights low and put on some relaxing music and allow your body to relax and lengthen. I will add more stretches as time goes on.

I hope you are having half as much fun reading this blog as I am making it!
Boyko

"And, when you can't go back, you have to worry only about the best way of moving forward.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

I would say happy “hump day,” but I can’t say the weekdays and weekends seem to be much different right now! Today is a big day for us. I am going to introduce the “12 Days” workout structure. My good friend and former fitness boot camp instructor introduced me to this style workout 10 years ago. This style of workout has become legendary in the circles of people I train and the feedback when they are done is usually positive. Notice I said “when they are done!”

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As always, and I have to keep saying it, foam roll, soft tissue work, and a proper warm up should be the beginning of any workout session. You have access to Continuous Warm Up 1 and 2 on the Strength and Conditioning website as well as the Dynamic Warm Up I posted in the blog on Day 3. You could even do the indoor station workout as a warm up (just do it once instead of multiple rounds).

Now that your body is primed for exercise, here is the structure for the 12 days. It follows the structure of the holiday song “The 12 Days of Christmas” with just a few substitutions. You would say “exercise” instead of Christmas and “Boyko” instead of “true love.” So to start, you would say “on the first day of exercise, Boyko gave to me”……..1 repetition of the exercise on the first day, then do a 25 yard down and back run or jog. You can substitute high knees, or jumping jacks, or plank variations for the run/jog if you need to modify. Once that is done, then you would say “on the 2nd day of exercise, Boyko gave to me”…….2 repetitions of the second exercise, 1 repetition of the first exercise, then a run/jog/modification. You would continue this all the way up to day 12, doing 12 reps of the last exercise one time and working your way back down to day 1 doing 12 sets of the exercise on day 1 followed by a run/jog/modification after you complete the first day every time. Clear as mud? You better believe I have a video for you where I go over the exercises below and attempt to show the structure of the workout in “jackrabbit” speed and efficiency!

Here is a list of the days in the video:

1. Squat Jump
2. Backwards Foot Elevated Reverse Lunge x2ea Leg
3. DB Seated V-Twist
4. Leg Lower w/2s Hold
5. Bottom Up Pushup with Isometric Hold
6. Backpack Front Squats with a 3s Negative
7. Alternate Forearm Bridge w/Foot Lift and Hold
8. Inverted Row w/Isometric Hold and Slow Negative
9. Build Up Mountain Climber
10. DB Single Leg Stiff Leg Deadlift x10ea
11. 1 Leg Foot Elevated Backpack Hip Extension w/Hold x11 ea
12. Full Burpee w/Pushup

I went through the first through 4 days on the video the way the entire workout should be structured then just showed examples of the exercises without the sprint after that for your time sake and for my sanity when editing. Remember the nylon strap in my inventory and the picture of the basketball hoop from my first post? I did this workout with a pair of 10 lb. dumb bells and hung the nylon strap from the basketball hoop for inverted row. If you are creative enough, you can get a great workout in without a lot of equipment!

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Please be sure to land “soft” on any plyometrics you do like the squat jumps and you can always modify with a basic body weight squat if the jumps are too intense. I elevated my feet for the backwards lunges to make them harder. You can always do them on the ground to make them easier or add load to make them more difficult. I used dumb bells for the seated V-Twists and you can get rid of the load or do a side plank to make them easier. I chose leg lowers for the core and you can make the same modifications suggested in blog post 4. Bottoms up pushups were chosen to add some variation to the workout. You can see my hips are a little high. I often see people doing pushups and planks with an “arched” low back and I tend to over exaggerate pulling my belly button in and rotating my hips back when I plank/pushup to prevent this. You can get rid of the load to make the squats easier or add more load and tempo to make them harder. A basic plank will work to make the bridge with a foot lift easier. You can raise your opposite arm and leg and hold to make it harder. Sorry the video is not totally clear of me doing the inverted rows. Good thing about using a basketball hoop for the rows was that I couldn’t go too fast on my tempo. Band rows or backpack rows will work as well if you don’t have a place to hang. Build up mountain climbers start with 1 rep, then a pause, then 2 reps, then a pause, then 3 reps and work your way up to 9. I used DB’s for the SLDLs and please be sure to keep your back tight and do them in a controlled fashion. Bands or a backpack could also be used for these. I used my backpack over my hips to add some load to number 11. Feel free to not add load or do them with 2 feet if they are too difficult. In my opinion, a full burpee always includes the pushup. Feel free to not jump or take out the pushup if you need to.

I hope you enjoy this one! If you haven’t noticed I have been inserting quotes from my favorite book “The Alchemist” at the end of my posts. I could probably pull great quotes for years from that book, but have decided to get your help to be involved in this blog because this is for you. Please feel free to email me a motivational/inspirational quote to attach at the end as I would love to have you be more a part of this blog!

Best,
Boyko

I can’t believe I am blogging for a Friday already!

Today should be a quick hitter. I am going to go over the 20 minute Core/Upper/Lower Circuit again, but now outdoors!

I am lucky to have the yard and resources that I have. My father did a majority of the work on a kickin’ tree house for our kids and I have an amazingly creative wife that found the idea for a skateboard swing that I made to help accessorize the house. The primary function of this area is for play, but can very easily transform into a workout area! Not only can you see the features of the tree house, but also notice our trampoline in the background.  This will come into play...get it...later.

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Here is a refresher of the workout that I did indoors and the updated version for outdoors.

5 reverse crunches
10 Skateboard Swing Pushups/Inverted Rows alternating every round
15 BW squats

On the minute for 20 minutes

Since you already know the structure of the workout from before the main point of this post is just to show you how to take workouts to different areas and to show you some modifications on how to make them different and keep things fresh and exciting! You will notice from the videos below that doing the pushups and inverted rows from something unstable adds a considerable balance component which helps change the training stimulus so your body can continue to adapt and see improvements. We had a special guest appearance by my daughter Eliza in video 2 and as almost always, Benji there to do quality control!

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Watching her exercise also provides the ability for me to “coach up” technique. It is common during squats to go up onto your toes and have your back round. This causes potentially dangerous stress on the knees and lower back. Remember, you can’t train if you are hurt! I go over some coaching cues and you can see immediate corrections during video 2. We also go over pushups and proper body alignment and positioning to make sure they are done safely and effectively as well.  The skateboard swing was a little much for her, so we used the trampoline for the inverted rows.  It is more stable and higher which takes some of her body weight off to make it more managable.

I hope you enjoy and can’t thank you enough for reading.
Best,
Boyko

The Boyko’s are fortunate enough to be able to sneak out of town and try to make it seem like we are having an April vacation.  We headed to the beach and it was windy and cold, but we forged on and braved the elements at the beach anyway.

When packing I am sure most families are packing clothes, toys, music…you know vacation stuff.  Your favorite Strength Coach made sure he packed his bands, suspension trainer, and 2 empty gallon milk jugs.  That is right, fill them with water, sand, or rocks and you have some instant kettle bells or DB’s.  I am the weird guy in the streets doing conditioning, warm ups, and in the back yard using milk jugs to exercise because staying fit and healthy is good for me.  

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My big helper Eliza took the measuring cup at one of the driftwood structures and started packing sand close to where we were staying.  Of course, after the jugs were nearly full the crew decided there was a better structure 20 minutes down the beach so we loaded all of our stuff and then some to the new spot so they could make “Hotel Vagabondo” with a unique room for each of the kids. 

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Once it was lunchtime we made the long trek back and bringing these jugs back proved to be quite a warm up.  While the girls were eating I took the opportunity to head to the back yard of the house to sneak my workout in.  The workout for today is just holding various positions in a deep and safe range of motion to build up strength and stability.  I have been fortunate enough to have some great young help in the weight room and one of my graduate assistants Andrew brought this style of workout to my attention and it has been very useful for getting people started on workout routines after breaks and a great workout for people nursing various injuries.  You also don’t need a lot of equipment and you will see in the video below that all I use is the milk jugs filled with sand from the beach!

Here is a list of what I call the “Isometric Hold Circuit #1.”  All exercises are held for 30s.  Normally, I prescribe 30s rest between exercises and 1 minute rest between rounds.  Repeat twice for 3 rounds total and add load, modify exercises, or take more or less rest as needed for your level of fitness and equipment availability.  I ended up just going right into the next position without any rest after the first round to get a better training effect and to not take too much time so we could get back up to “Hotel Vagabondo!”

Goblet Squat or Front Squat

Pushup 

Groin Squeeze w/Ball

Left Off Knee Side Plank

Right Lateral Squat

Right Off Knee Side Plank

Left Lateral Squat

Bent Over Row 

Left Rotational Squat

Bent Over Row to Armpit

Right Rotational Squat

Remember, these are all isometric holds.  No need to move, just get into position and hold it!  I started the video holding the milk jug in “goblet” position then showed how to do it with the jugs in “front rack” position.  It was a little easier to hold in goblet position and you will see my thighs were parallel to the ground in goblet before I moved into the front squat.  I believe I have been over the pushup holds and how to vary pushups.  In the video I picked up my feet a few inches to make it harder.  I wouldn’t use anything larger than a basketball for the groin squeezes.  Pull your back flat down on the ground and then squeeze as hard as you can.  I used a few different angles to show the next few so you can see proper alignment.  On the side planks the jugs add load to your core and legs and stability to your shoulders.  Hopefully you will notice my head, shoulders, hips, and knees in alignment.  The jug is a little behind my shoulders due to how the weight is distributed.  You can always not use weight or stack both knees over each other to make this easier.  I put the other jug on the ground as a reference to pick up my hips and not to bring my other leg up too high or too low.  For the lateral squats I did them in goblet and front rack position as well.  Notice the angle of my shins and back.  They should be the same and I shift my weight forward to the ball of my foot to engage my glutes more.  When you normally exercise and dynamically move through range of motion you should not have your weight to too far forward.  During isometric holds this is very safe and is recommended to get the most out of the exercise as long as your knee does not drive forward.  It is a weight shift we are looking for, not a knee drive.  For the rows you will notice my back is flat and my hips are high.  Hands are in by my waistband and elbows are tight.  On the rows to armpit later in the video everything is the same except my elbows flare out to get my upper back.  For the rotational squats it is helpful to imagine you are standing on a clock face.  Keep one foot at 12 o’clock and the will go to either 4:30 or 7:30.  Drive your weight forward and try to match your shin and chest angles like you did on the lateral squats.  I could definitely of done a better job of driving my hips forward more on these!

I hope you enjoy the workout and this is a great addition to your toolbox if you are traveling, working around injury, just getting started on a fitness routine, or don’t have a lot of equipment.

Right when I thought I was done with this post and was getting ready to pack up the car to head home, my eldest daughter looked up at me with her big brown eyes and said "Daddy, can we have one of the logs from Hotel Vagabondo to put in mommy's garden?"  Luckily I had my lumberjack shirt on and figued I better add in to my post when I got home what a great core and cardio workout heavy carries can be if done safely.  Now I am done.

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Have a great week!

Boyko

I'm going to be upfront and apologize in advance if you are looking for an entertaining blog filled with the exploits of the Boyko family with a little bit of life fitness weaved in-between.  I am deviating from the format of most of the posts in this blog to give my 2 cents on a lot of the other workouts and workout programs out there right now to once again, give you all the tools necessary to make the right decisions about training especially during the challenges we currently face.

All of the workouts I have provided have balance.  Not too much of any one thing and not to little of any one thing.  To me, this is a very safe formula to follow that sees fantastic results.  It is engaging for the mind, keeps the body healthy by not overworking or underworking any one area, and keeps the body guessing by changing the training stimulus.  I have been getting a lot of questions about programs that are currently out there and a lot of them have some real strengths.  I have also been doing my own research on what other personal trainers and college strength coaches have been giving out so that I can hopefully copy them and present it to you as my own work and make this whole blog thing a lot less time consuming (I am not deviating totally from the format and will still try to sprinkle a little bit of humor in this episode).  I will attempt to address some areas that I think you should be aware of the rest of this post if you are doing workouts from other sources.

Not a lot of equipment = a lot of pushups and “anterior dominant” exercises.  As a former exercise boot camp instructor I can tell you it sure is easy to meet people out at a playground or field and have them do a ton of burpees, pushups, bear crawls, planks, and mountain climbers and have them leaving the workout saying, “wow, what a workout, I am crushed.”  Then the next time you see them you have half the group come up to you before the workout saying their shoulders hurt and they can’t do any upper body.  If you do too much of any one thing you will get an overuse injury that can be acute or create something that becomes chronic.  This is especially true for the shoulders.  We as a society spend a lot of time hunched over screens and doing overall less manual labor and this is causing us to be “anterior dominant” with tight, strong shoulders and hips in the front and loose, weak shoulders and hips in the back.  This is part of the reason why there is so much back pain these days.  Your workouts need to have more “pulling” exercises than “pushing” exercises to counter act all of this and try to create a more balanced body.  I usually say this analogy to people and hope it makes sense.  You wouldn’t build a car with a huge, fast engine and put old rusty Volkswagen Bug brakes in it would you?  The front of our body tends to be the engine and the back tends to be the brakes.  Make sure your brakes are right and pull more often (more sets, reps, exercises) and pull as much if not more weight than you push.  If you can’t pull what you push then that is fine, just take your time working up your strength on you back muscles and cool it on the front ones until they catch up!

Lack of warm up and progression throughout the workout.  If there is not a dedicated warm up in whatever platform you are following then you probably should not stick with them.  Any really solid program has dedicated time to a warm up that will increase your body temperature, jazz up your nervous system, and get you ready to get the most out of your workout.  This is universally accepted.  If a program just has you do some toe touches and arm swings and gets right into explosive or intense movements then that is a recipe for injury.  One of the major goals of training is to prevent injury.  Take the time to warm up and only follow programs that preach proper warm up that progresses from lighter intensity exercises to more intense ones.

Too intense too soon.  Hopefully I am not being redundant on this, but it is worth having its own section.  Anyone can pick the five most miserable exercises you can possibly do and do a ton of reps of them for a half hour or 45 minutes and have you sweating profusely during the workout and so sore you can’t sit the next day.  Problem with that is you can’t work out the next day and you may find you get injured and lose your compliance mojo that I spoke about in one of my earlier posts.  If you haven’t been working out and start following a routine that has you jumping around like a kangaroo then you are going to hurt your knees.  Same applies for pushups and anything on your hands.  You are supporting a good amount if not all of your body weight during this stuff.  It can be intense.  Same thing applies for this one.  If you are not used to doing it you may like it during, but may pay for it later.

Target workouts.  Doing 15+ minutes of just one body part probably is not a good idea.  

“That’s about all I have to say about that.”

Forest Gump

Since my call out for inspirational quotes has only yielded 2 responses, I figured I would get back on it every so often.

Who the heck are you?  This is my last point that I want to make in this post and probably the most irritating.  There are a lot of fitness “professionals” out there that have limited education, look attractive and fit, and are good at marketing, but have very limited education in the area.  It is easy to get sucked into someone that you love their workouts, do them for a month, then all of a sudden are hurt because you can’t keep up with their program that is not based on science that they can make look easy because they won the gene lottery.  Any good trainer/strength coach will have a bachelor’s and hopefully masters in exercise science or some related field.  They should also have reputable certifications that involve continuing education to keep them.  Some even require a degree in a related field for them to stay certified.

I hope you have a great rest of the week and promise an action packed Friday post with plenty of Boykos and friend!

Boyko

Ellie usually gets up just after “Duke the Rooster” and did a workout or two with me in the morning and word got out in Boykoville.  Ellie set her alarm for 6:30 to get ready for a 6:45 am arrival of Chief Carter. 

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Josie decided to jump in if she was up in time and unusually sprang out of bed this morning to join us.  We are fully aware that we need to keep our distance and the plan was for only a small group of us, outside, not sharing equipment (besides, Chief is in charge of all that is health and safety at Amherst College, so who better to train with to make sure we are taking the proper precautions).  I find it valuable to still connect with other people.  This can be very beneficial for getting a better workout, being accountable, and keeping bonds with family and friends during this challenging time as long it is done responsibly. 

I have reflected a few times during this blog on how lucky I am and will probably continue to keep doing so from time to time.  I am so fortunate to have such great friend and colleague like John Carter that is willing to come to my house so early in the morning and train with me, engage with my family, take video, and demonstrate exercises.  Thank you for being such an amazing friend Chief!

Some people may be wondering about 8 and 9 year old children being involved in these workouts.  In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with kids doing strength training as long as their form is good and the load they are using is not too heavy to hurt their growth plates.  It has been stated by many associations that do research on youth strength training that it is actually beneficial to get kids started young to learn proper form and get the benefits of increased motor learning and connective tissue strength.  The bands are perfect to not have too much load even if my children are learning form while using them.  It is always best to work with a trained professional, like yours truly, to make sure the right habits are being created and the intensity and volume of the sessions are appropriate.

For the workout today we did a comprehensive warm up as always.  We did the hill sprint ladder that I went over in my first blog post.  Chief and Eliza ran together on opposite sides of the street and I ran with Benji.  Benji got the benefit of some high intensity running for once and I got the benefit of him setting the pace.  Check out Video 1 so you can get a better idea on what a “Benji Sprint” looks like.  If you have a pet that needs exercise I highly recommend not just going for long walks or slow jogs, but doing some speed work with them.  I used a 20 foot piece of rope as a leash so he did not have to slow down for this 40+ old man to keep up with him.  I just needed to coil up the rope as needed so he or I didn't trip!  

After the warm up and hill sprints we all walked back to the driveway to catch our breath before starting the workout.  We did the 12 days structure workout and used only bands and bodyweight for the exercises.  We went from the 12th day down in both videos below.  The second video below is more entertaining with my kids and Chief in it.  The third video is the boring instructional video with me in it.

I am not going to go through all the exercises and clips like I have done in the past and will just give you a couple of brief points to check out.  We missed a couple of days due to sketchy camera work in the fun video with my kids, but we made sure those days made it into the instructional video, so don’t get nervous if you don’t see day 8 and 7 right away.

In the fun video, Chef did band deadlifts instead of band squats.  Jo did some great looking squats and they would have been even better if she had the band more towards her mid foot and heels to allow her to sit back instead of towards the balls of her feet which made her shift towards her toes.  The service truck load of woodchips in the driveway is not for staging, it is my weekend exercise in my wife Andrea’s quest to be a “homesteader.”

If you get t a chance, check out Eliza’s outfit.  After a couple of workouts with me she somehow got the idea that she should try working out in tights, mesh shorts, and a ¾ sleeve baseball shirt.  I was really flattered when she laid this out the night before.

There was close to a group finish with Chief on their video.  It was very nice of him to wait for Eliza.  Once they got going together and started coming back, you will see Jo had just about enough of all of this workout stuff.

In my video I did the SLDL’s with the band in my hands and behind my neck/shoulders.  The behind the neck/shoulders is a little more difficult on the hamstrings, but easier to control the tension on the band.  I did the bent over band rows and band squats with a few different tempos.  Check out the staging for the pushups on our front door stairs, nothing but the best for our viewers!

Jo was entranced by the high quality of my leg lowers on the 4th day of exercise.  We did have my iPad and a small speaker out there and unfortunately you cannot hear the wide range of music we were playing out in my driveway at 7:15 am in the morning after a comprehensive warm up and some Benji Hill Sprints.  Our ace videographer Chief Carter put some on the spot slow-mo feature on the squat jump and finishing sprint at the end of my video.

I hope you are enjoying this blog and please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions.

Best,
Boyko

Hello Again Friends!

I am back at it after a beautiful weekend in Western Mass filled with a lot of outdoor time for the Boyko Family. I know you have been eagerly awaiting an update on our baby chicks.

Here is a picture and, as always, we are breaking all of the rules to raising chicks. We have become attached and the girls have named them. I proudly introduce:

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• “Reecie”
• “Peecie” 
• Hagrid or “Haggie” 
• “Pickles”
• “Hufflepuff”
• “Ravenclaw”
• “Henny Penny”
• “Happy” or The Chick Formerly Known as “Hurt Butt” (we haven’t made a symbol for it yet)
• “Scooby Doo”
• “Featherina Fancy
• “Mr. Filch”
• “Ms. Norris”

I am not sure if you noticed a theme for a good chunk of these, but the family has been reading Harry Potter before bed and are on the second book.

It was an early morning for me on this post and the only creatures stirring were the chicks. I am doing the second Isometric Circuit. Same principles apply as the other post. Just different positions. I am doing this one indoors with weights and bands.

I have come to the reality that the future of fitness is pretty uncertain. I was watching the news the other night and saw some gyms in Georgia opened. I was shocked that they opened and even more surprised that people would go and work out there despite the gyms best efforts to create a space that conforms to social distancing. Bottom line, time to gear up and make at home, outside the box fitness training part of your life if you have not already. I highly recommend you start doing some of the things I have suggested in this post as we may need to be healthy and fit without gyms for a longer period of time than we may have thought originally. The first thing I would do is buy some bands like I mentioned before.

Here is the workout:

Foam Roll
Warm Up/Mobility

Iso Hold Series #2

Suspension Trainer/Stability Ball Forearm Plank
1 Leg Across Bench/Chair Glute Bridge do each leg
Band Lat Pulldown Hold
Left Hamstring Bridge foot on step/box
Suspension Trainer Face Pull
Right Hamstring Bridge foot on bench
Seated Band Row Hold
Right Cross Under DB/Plate/Jug Lunge
DB Posterior Fly Hold
Left Cross Under Plate Lunge
Band Face Pull
Rope Stretch

Only 1 video today! I put towels in the rings to protect my feet as wooden rings on the tops of your feet do not feel particularly pleasurable. If you don’t have a suspension trainer or rings you can use a stability ball for your forearms or feet or just do a basic plank. Remember, I tend to plank with my hips a little high to protect my back.  If I had someone to watch my form I would try to have them a little lower. I used a stool for the bridges and a chair should work as well. I used my backpack as load to make this more difficult. I usually like to just lift my foot an inch or 2 off the ground to avoid my hips dropping. I added a leg extension in the video just to show some variation. Do both legs in succession on this workout. Normally, we would alternate one leg then an upper exercise then the other. I did the Lat Pulldowns in half kneeling position and noticed my shoulders were shrugged up and remembered to pull them down a few seconds into the video. The hamstring bridges are a terrific exercise and I recommend not starting with load. Lay down in front of an approximately 12 inch box or step with your legs at 90 degrees.  Scoot back so that your legs go to approximately 120 degrees on the box then pick your hips up. I recommend only lifting your non-working leg an inch off the box. For demonstration purposes I did both in succession. Please alternate on this one when you do the workout. On the face pulls you can adjust how much body weight is on the trainer by moving forward or backward. Keep your hands up high by your temples, elbows back, and “pull your rib cage down” to avoid hyperextension. My shoulders were high again in the seated rows and you will notice I drop them down after I shimmy to the left to give you a better view. Crossunder lunges follow the same principles as the lateral squats in the Isometric Hold Circuit 1. My hips are a little high and I wish they were lower. Try to have your chest and shin angles match!  I did these in succession for the video, but please break them up for the workout. The dumb bells were a little heavy for these posterior flys. Make sure your elbows are slightly bent, weights stay in alignment with your shoulders in “T” position, and your back should be flat. Same positioning on the face pulls as with the rings. I did them Half Kneeling and Standing to show you some variation.

I am not sure if you noticed in my video on the chair to the left, but my early riser/resident bookworm Eliza was up and decided to read this morning instead of getting her fitness on!

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Have a great week!

Boyko

Today is just going to be my thoughts and an information-based post. Sorry if you were looking forward to another amazing workout that scratches your lifetime fitness itch.

In my opinion, now is the time to act and invest time and possibly a little bit of money into taking care of your health and fitness with your own equipment at your residence. Trust me, you can do it and it is worth it. I urge you to find the means to get bands, equipment, or videos/subscriptions, as the length of not being able to go to facilities may be substantial.

Try to look at this time in your life as an opportunity. Now is a great time to attempt different modes of exercise that you may not have had time or motivation in the past. This could be at-home video programs like P90x, Tai Bo, Hip Hop/Dance videos, and/or yoga and Pilates platforms. The first grouping usually has a structure that’s for a certain block of time and can help with accountability and compliance. They are usually minimal equipment formats and the workouts are not very time consuming—and you never know, may be fun to do on your own or even with family (especially the dancing ones!).

The second group of videos is one that I always wish I did more of when I am training regularly in the fitness center, as I’m in the habit of always doing more sets and reps with weight as opposed to taking time to do yoga or Pilates. I was recently introduced to a yoga platform and found it to be amazing. This is from a guy that has difficulty slowing down and paying attention to slow, controlled movements for extended periods of time. There are a variety of instructors and workouts on this particular platform that have a large variety for all levels of ability and the workouts can be more intense or restorative. I find that it’s especially helpful during this time to do something that may cause you to take some time to relax and focus on your breathing, as well as all the other great benefits of core strength and flexibility that go with yoga. Find something like this and give it a good 3 or 4 workouts before making your decision on if you like it or not—especially if it has different instructors and levels of intensity.

I hope that you find this somewhat informative and empowering. I believe the key to getting through the challenges we face is the ability to get out of our normal comfort zones, as well as not be afraid to try different things and not get discouraged if you try things and don’t like them. Keep trying and let me know if you need any help!

With Mother’s Day coming up this weekend I would like to close with a big thank you to all the mothers out there that sacrifice so much for their families. I am very lucky to have my mother as such a great part of my life, and to have married an unbelievable wife that takes such amazing care of my children!

Have a great weekend. We will be back at workouts next week!

Best,
Boyko

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I am a big believer in modeling (behavior and physically demonstrating exercises for more visual learners) when trying to educate people on how to best be healthy and fit. My wife thinks I am crazy for getting up so early to do work and then workout before joining my family to start our day. My response is that I believe it is important for me to take care of myself and to also show others “a way” that training through these challenging times can be done.  Please note, I said “a way.” I am not telling you “the way,” I am just showing “a way.” Not everyone is wired to get up before Duke the Rooster and/or the sun coming up over the horizon.

I choose to because that is what works for me and my schedule to take care of myself and still be around and available for my family.  It is up to you to find the schedule that works best for you.

On this day I did get up early and most of my workouts are done in the morning, but not all my workouts are done first thing. I have said it before and I will say it again, I am lucky to have made some great connections at Amherst College on this day I made a fitness playdate to go for a run with Nicole Sibley from Advancement. She is one of the many great connections that I have made through the college and doing things like this is super helpful to add some sort of normalcy to a very abnormal time.

Here was the workout I did before we headed off for a leisurely 3+ mile run around my neighborhood:

5 Leg Lowers with a 2s hold
10 Staggered Pushups (5 ea stagger)
15 Body Weight Squats
10 Inverted Rows

Repeat with cycle of exercises with little to no rest between exercises and cycles for 10-15 minutes.

I did this as a warm-up while I was waiting in my driveway for Nicole to show up. These are all body weight exercises and can serve as a warm-up/workout.  Here are picture examples of how to stagger your hands for the pushups.

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This technique is just a simple way of adding variety to your pushups and introducing a different stimulus to your body. I find it to be a great way to work on a more functional type of pushup that may help with injury prevention.

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Have a great day and get ready for workout content overload for Thursday’s post!

Best,
Boyko

Friends,

There will be a lot of workout content on this as promised so I will get right into it.

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We did a warmup out in the street with Benji before he took is supervisory role during the workout.  We then did some Isometric holds (squat, pushup, row) like I mentioned in a previous post to pre-exhaust our muscles before the strength circuits.

This workout is broken into 3 blocks of exercise and you can run right through all of them for a workout with a lot of variety or you can pick a block, do it 3-5 times and then save the other blocks for another day. I am sorry if I am losing you on this description and will put examples of how this can be done below to hopefully clear things up.

Option 1

Do 1 Round of each “Block” and just run down the list of all of these exercises:

Strength Circuit Block 1

Block 2

Block 3

Static Stretch

Option 2

Do one “Block” 3-5 times and do the other blocks on other days to create more variety of routines.

Workout 1
Warm Up
Iso Holds to Pre-Exhaust your muscles
Block 1- 3-5 Rounds
Stretch

Workout 2
Warm Up
Iso Holds to Pre-Exhaust your muscles
Block 2- 3-5 Rounds
Stretch

Workout 3
Warm Up
Iso Holds to Pre-Exhaust your muscles
Block 3- 3-5 Rounds
Stretch

In the video below my trusty assistants and I gave demonstrations of most of the exercises. A few that were omitted have been gone over in detail in previous posts and our editing department (me) decided to work smarter, not harder by just putting a title slide with the exercise in and no video.

I did the SLDL’s elevated so I could go deeper and not have my pack hit the ground. Chief showed modifications without elevating and Ellie was a great example of how challenging the balance component can be on these if you go too fast. Feel free to modify your tempos as always to accommodate your needs and be sure to keep your back tight.  Please be sure not to run with a weighted pack or do any plyometrics with a weighted pack as this could result in overuse or injury.  Remember, a strength circuit is meant to be a “heavier” stimulus. Take more rest between exercises and rounds to try to work harder during your sets.

I hope you enjoy this workout as it is probably my favorite right now. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Best,
Boyko

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Boyko playroom has transformed from a nursery to a construction zone. Nursery has moved upstairs and you will see in the video below that there are legos and Lilly’s Eastern European magnetic wooden construction set. There is still a tutu or two—get it, tutu or two—laying around as Josie and Eliza had a home dance recital yesterday.

It has been amazing to watch my kids grow up and which areas of interest they gravitate to. Lilly sure has blossomed into a future engineer as she loves building and rigging and I never know what I am going to get tangled up in when I step into her room or the playroom.

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We would set fitness dates around our work schedules or early in the morning. If you pick the right workout partners, you will not want to feel their wrath by changing the time or not showing up. You can see that I am what I call “recovery position” after a fairly intense workout.

Working out with others that are highly motivated, have different fitness skill sets, and are reasonably entertaining has helped push me mentally and physically to places I could not have gone on my own. As you can see by the pictures and my reasonably entertaining comment about my colleagues, we were having a little fun with one of our missing former colleagues (which I am shown riding like a rodeo bull at a Tough Mudder we signed up for) by making a representation of him in “recovery position.” The liberal arts part of being at Amherst College rubbed off on us on this rough sculpture. This is a reminder that we should stick (get it, stick...) to our day jobs.

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Result: my overall fitness improved greatly and I started getting into the best shape of my life!

Okay, enough of the flash back stuff. Here is the workout today which was a staple of our training sessions with colleagues and is still a big part of my training and the training of the athletes I work with. It is called the “Spartacus” workout and I adapted it from a Men’s Health article I read over 10 years ago when there was a huge craze of Hollywood making gladiator type movies and pop culture popularizing the workouts and trainers that made the actors ready for these films.

The first phase of the Spartacus series is below.

Goblet Squat
Squat Jumps
2 Hand Swing
T-Pushup (on Light DB's (5-10lbs?)
Cycled Split Squat Jumps
Inverted Row
Alternate Lateral Lunge
DB Pushup Row Combo (Light DB’s)
BWDS Alternate Lunge and Rotate
Seated Shoulder Press

I use an interval timer program on my iPad. I have a variety of timing setups and you can pick the one that works best for you for your level of fitness. Here are the timing options:

Round 1- 45s on, 45s, off
Round 2- 30s on, 30s off

Round 1- 60s on, 60s off
Round 2- 45s on, 45s off

Optional additional “lightning round” where you go 15s of each exercise with no rest.

I recommend starting with the lower time options first to gauge the intensity of the workout and then increase the amount of time and add a lightning round as you become more fit.

Basically do as many high quality reps as you can with great form for the prescribed time, then rest for the same amount of time and work your way down the exercise list. After you do your first round you will take a few minutes to get full recovery before starting the next round. It is important to make sure you fully recover so the quality of the next round can be kept high. The main battle of this one is to keep battling fatigue and not let your form break down!

In the video below I go over the exercises as usual and feel free to substitute equipment and make modifications accordingly depending on what you have at your disposal and your level of fitness. If I have done my job correctly with this project, you should be fully capable of thinking outside the box about substitutions/modifications without me suggesting them. In the video, I showe how to use my arms on the squat jumps and did some without. If you do not use your arms you will not jump as high and I did mine without since my vertical is so fantastical with my arms I did not want to risk putting a hole in the playroom ceiling (just kidding, my vertical is actually pretty embarrassing). T-Pushups are another great pushup variation with added core and shoulder stability. Make sure you rotate your body as a whole unit and don’t have your hips rotate around and shoulders lag behind after. I used DBs and feel free to do them with bodyweight first before trying weights. I also show how to a modified pushup from my knees, then go to the “T” position from my toes. Keep your core tight on the pushup/alternate row combos. I often tell people to stiffen their core before pulling the weight off the ground and do it slow initially to figure out what you need to tighten. Other than that things are pretty basic from here on out. All you need to do is watch for the “Benji Bomb” in the video and stick your head through your hands on the seated shoulder presses at the end!

I hope you enjoy this workout! I will be taking a break from this blog as I need to focus my attention to a few other things. Thursday will be the last post in this string of blogs and get prepared for a final post that hopefully puts a nice cap on this series. Get it “cap,” graduation….

I need to stop.

Boyko