Where was I? A massive brain dump (sorry)

I haven't felt like blogging in a while. Not that I haven't been training: I have. 1 Day of TGUs, 1 Day of Swings. Break. 1 Day of TGUs, Swings, Break, break. Repeat. I've been doing this for the last 7 weeks now (this is week 8). Huge gains from 7 weeks ago, but now I'm wondering if I should move onto the "Next Stage" of the game: the RKC-Rite of Passage.

I know it's been effective (I'm noticing definition in my shoulders where before there was none, and the scale is a happy sight...as long as I haven't eaten like crap), and while the workouts are still plenty intense, I'm getting a little bored. The Program Minimum would say "Too bad: you haven't earned the right for variation, yet". But I can C&P 5 times. Not necessarily in a row, but I can do the work. Snatching, well... I can do a couple of reps, but feel like I'm banging my forearm a little. Not sure if moving to working on them regularly to "Grease the Groove" would help or hurt...

So I guess the question is: how do you know when it's time to move on from the Program Minimum to start working into the regular Enter The Kettlebell: RKC Rite of Passage? I'm cracking out into the 100+ range on swings. I can C&P. I can do all of the basic exercises from the book. I've been holding off on making this transition because I've got the Ride for Life coming up in 3 weeks (oh, sponsor me here, please). I don't want to stop, since I've made so many great gains, but I'm not sure what to do from here. This is what I think people mean when they say that they need to be training with a plan in mind. So what do I do? What's my next goal? There was a fairly active post on Josh Hanagarne's site where folks listed their goals...some of mine are very long term, and some of them are <1 year in scope, but hard to nail down. I suggested to a friend recently that the easiest way to do goal setting is to find your goal and work backwards from it to figure out your time-line. Well, that's great, but how do you do something like that when you don't have any idea what you really want to be working on right now?

My strength training will certainly help with this. I'm just mentally flossing here. Trying to figure out if it's a good thing to just stick with the PM through the Ride, taking that Monday as Day 1, week 1 for the RoP... Yeah, I do think that may be just the thing... That would give me 12 solid weeks on the PM with a good idea as to the start date for my work. The only problem I'll encounter is my friend John's wedding coming up the first weekend in October. That'll mean rescheduling my normal workouts so that week I have an extra day since I'll have to bring the Kettlebell with me (can practically guarantee that the Comfort Inn in Dover won't have a Kettlebell to speak of), and don't rightly know what the schedule for the weekend is going to be like yet. Hectic, is a good first guess.

I feel like I may be bordering on over training, but in the long run: it's only going to get worse: we're adding a Japanese Jujitsu class to the dojo's schedule for the fall, and I'm about to start assisting with/teaching Self Defense and Cardio Kickboxing this fall. So how do you fight over training: Nutrition, rest, and "Greasing the Groove". Cycling is going to gear down, with the ride behind me. That doesn't mean I'm not going to ride my bike: it just means I'm not going to be out seeking miles and miles. I will however continue to have fun on my bike!

So that's the plan then, and now I have my short term goal: Finish out my 12 weeks on the RKC-PM. Take an extra "Day off" (by bicycling 100 miles around a lake), then dive into the deep end at week 1 of the RKC-Rite of passage!

So what will that look like when I'm working all the way through the program? Meaning that I'm doing the recommended amount of work on all of the workouts?

Monday "Light Day": Strength:
• C&P ladder 5x(1;2;3)
• Cleans Snatches, oops
• whatever else is in the program (I haven't looked at it in a while)
Classes:
• Self Defense
• Kick Boxing

Tuesday "Variety": Strength:
• TGUs as a warm up
• Work on Greasing the Groove (OAP & Pistols) from the Naked Warrior
Classes: * Karate * Jujitsu * GungFu * Sword/Taiji

Wednesday "More intense than Monday" (a.k.a. Medium): Strength:
• C&P ladder 5x(1;2;3;4)
• Swings
Classes — same as Monday

Thursday "Variety": Strength:
• TGUs as a warm up
• GtG
Classes — same as Tuesday

Friday Rest.

Saturday "More intense than Wednesday" (aka Heavy): Strength:
• C&P ladder 5x(1;2;3;4;5)
• Swings — To limit

Sunday: Rest.

Lather, rinse, repeat. It'll take a while to get there, that's for sure. I'm going to start out with:

3x(1;2;3) week 1a
4x(1;2;3) week 1b
5x(1;2;3) week 1c

Meaning it's going to take 3 weeks before I can work up to doing the whole workout "as normal". So I'll be doing as many as I can of those sets until I'm at the prescribed "dosage". If I can't do the full lower ladder the first time I try I'll probably drop a rung until I can (so that would be 3x(1;2) on Monday, maybe 3x(1;2;1) on Wed, then 3x(1;2;2) the first Saturday), and work it up there. It's gonna be great!