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Training Week in Review

Work Summary

Monday: Convict Conditioning New Fish: Wall Pushups (3x20) & Knee Pulls (4x10), Swings 1x15, C&P 1x(1;2;3) & Swings again 1x20. Cycling: 10.8 miles.

Tuesday: Pumps, Halos, C&P 3x(1;2;3).

Wednesday: Rest, though cycled about 8 miles

Thursday: Halos, C&P 4x(1;2;3), Swings 2x20, Snatches 5 each hand, Swings 1x10. Grip work: 3 attempts to close my CoC "Trainer". none successful. Dangit.

Friday: CC New Fish: Vertical Pulls 5x20, Shoulder-stand Squats: 1x10.

Saturday: TGUs 5 minutes. Snatches 10 each hand. C&P 5x(1;2;3) (maybe 6 sets, I wasn't sure), Swings 3x25.

Sunday: Rest. Cycled 12.4 miles at a fairly lazy 11 mph pace.

Salient Commentary

Halos are fun, but I like TGUs to warm up my shoulders better. I can't always get to them though, so when I can't, I can just do 4 per side, since that's about how many I can get in within 5 minutes.

Shoulder-stand squats will be the bane of my existence. I know this because I have to hold my gut up in the air, and it sucks. I'll work on it better next week, damnit.

Working out later in the day means that I sleep better, but I think that working out first thing in the morning means that I feel better throughout the day. Not sure which is better.

Kelly pointed out that my feet were more splayed out than I thought (closer to a 60° angle than <45° like it should be). Will have to work on that.

I thought early in the week that I'd lost a lot of the conditioning & strength that I had built up in the past. By the end of the week I think I didn't quite loose as much as I thought I had, but sure as shit my Snatches needed work early in the week. We'll see how it feels next week. I plan to Grease the Groove those pesky Snatches until they feel better. Goes back to something that Dan John said: "If it's important: do it every day." Snatches are important to my progress, so I'll be continuing to work on them. Plan on earning a new Kettlebell within the next 4 weeks, and getting up to the standard 24kg (probably going to order it the first week of February, if not before...

Programming through March and long term naval gazing

I just spent most of the morning doing my workout programming through the first week of March. I'd go further, but that's when I expect the weather will start getting warm enough for me to begin adding in cycling to the mix, and that's likely going to cause re-structuring everything again. Note that I haven't stopped cycling per se, I've just reduced my mileage to "back and forth to work with fun rides thrown in when it's warm enough". Once the weather hits in the upper 30s lower 40s I can start adding in 10-ish miles per day until it actually gets warm out. Then the milage will increase, and we'll see what happens with weights.

Basically my plan is to basically restart my training program moving Kettlebells to a Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday plan with Monday and Friday as Bodyweight days. I'll be keeping to those days for bodyweight stuff until I complete the New Fish requirements from Convict Conditioning.

New Fish basically takes you to being able to do up to "Step 6" in Pushups, Pullups, Squats, and Leg Raises. My pushups need work. I've never been able to do a pullup. I can squat thanks to years of martial arts, but I figured I may as well "put it in the bank", as they say. My lower abs are weak thanks to years of carrying around extra weight in that region so I'll be starting from square one in all four of those calisthenics exercises. I'd like to get to "master level" on at least one of the "Big 6" from the book by the end of the year (my money is on the Pistol, a.k.a. one-legged squat, but we'll see), though I'm not in any rush.

Fun things that will be worked up to in the program: Graduating from 16kg to a 24kg Kettlebell (which should happen mid January), 200 two-handed Swings (end of January), 100 16kg Snatches in 5 minutes (end of February), 100 1-handed Swings per hand, and maybe if I'm strong enough, getting up to 5x(1;2;3) Clean & Press with the 24kg Kettlebell by the first week of March. Then I'll likely re-program for finishing the "RKC-Rite of Passage" by the end of May. I'll probably re-evaluate my progress and see what I've accomplished and what continuing goals I've yet to achieve.

I'll also be summarizing my weekly training, and also putting in a weigh in once per week along with everything else. Stick around. I'm going to make 2010 my best year ever.

Feels like forever

It feels like forever since I've both worked out and since I've had a chance to update the blog. I've got some really cool things coming down the pipe for 2010, and I'm excited about them. I'm not sure how much of them I can divulge yet, but I'll be a busy boy that's for sure. So what can I talk about?

I've got 3 planned 100 mile bike rides on the calendar (100 Miles of Nowhere, the Philly Livestrong Challenge, and the 2010 AIDS Ride for Life. That's going to be a lot of biking to train up for, but I think I'll be able to do it, considering I haven't really stopped biking this year, but I'll have to look at my schedule and when these three rides are to make sure that I don't totally burn out between them all (shouldn't really be an issue).

Fitness Goals for 2010

I thought it would be a good idea, since this is my fitness blog, to put down some quantifiable goals for this coming year:

• Drop to 15% body fat. — last time I checked I was still around 30% so this would be a good thing, as heart disease runs pretty rampant in my family
• Complete the RKC-RoP with a 24kg Kettlebell
• 1 strict tactical pull up
• 1 pistol, each leg
• RKC Snatch Test with a 16kg Kettlebell
• Bike all three 100 mile routes on my calendar
• Bike 3000 miles in 2010

Looks like I've got my work cut-out for me! This is gonna be a treat!

Two weeks in Review

Man, it feels like ages since I've actually done anything beyond going to class and teaching at Wells. According to my records it's now been almost 2 weeks since I've really done anything with my Kettlebell, and it's really frustrating me. The good news is that I found a chiropractor who gave me an hour or his time to adjust my back and fix (likely for now) and address some of the imbalances and oddities in my body. He suggested coming back into the office in 2 weeks for another adjustment and "as needed" or "6-8 weeks to make sure you're still in the right spots" for future follow-ups.

The man is built like a tank, which is quite the change from my last chiropractor who is quite skinny, though highly skilled. Dr. Alise spent about an hour with me, going over everything he was going to do and really took the time to understand what I needed. I would highly recommend his services to anyone who is thinking about needing an adjustment in the Ithaca area.

So, onto the plan. Since it's been a few weeks since I've been active with my weights, I think I'm going to join a few other folks on these interwebs with the December project of Turkish Getups and Swings. I think scaling back my workouts and concentrating on working through some of my body's issues will allow me to get back into it this month. Next month I'll restart my Clean & Press work and gradually try to get back on track again. I'm thinking about taking whatever moneies I get for Hannuka this year and put it towards a 24kg Kettlebell...either that or a hand-full of books from DragonDoor. If I get enough monies though, I'll probably do both!

Who remembers what week this is, I don't

This morning's workout had a minor setback at the "end" of my C&P practice. Had the Kettlebell over my head in lockout and felt this click right between the shoulder blades. Hurt like a sunofagun, but feeling a bit better now. Cats woke me up bright and early around 5ish so I figured I'd make use of the early start to actually get back into a groove.

Today's plans include going for a bike ride to try out my new ThermoGnars from Swobo, cleaning my bike up and maybe getting in another set of swings later, depending on how I feel.

I think my 2 weeks off are going to make me scratch my Snatch goal date. I think I should "finish" my current set and bell weight, move onto the 24kg Kettlebell and "start over" with the Program Minimum for 2 weeks with the new bell. Then I should do the Rite of Passage again. By then, if I can stay healthy and complete the RoP, then I'll look into the RKC Snatch test.

What then? I'm not sure. We'll have to see what's doing at that point.

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Workout log for today

Warm up: RKC-Arm Bar 16kg 3x each arm.
TGU 16kg x 10 minutes — yes, I decided to up my TGU time. Practicing slower movement and feeling every fiber. Quite the difference in terms of technique, but I think I like this way better.
Goblet Squats 16kg x10

Workout: C&P 16kg 3x(1;2;3) — click in spine at the end. Decided to go low number wise since it's been a couple of weeks since I actually lifted.
Swings 5x20 before pain/cats took over.

Winter Gift Giving Holiday Wishlist of Random Stuff

Here's a list for anyone who may want to get me anything for holidays. No particular order should be inferred.

• Swobo L/S 753 Jersey size L
• EW&R Boston Bike Polo shirt, size L
• EW&R Riddle Me This, size L
• Spud Inc. 24kg Kettlebell
• CoC Griper No. 1
• CoC Griper "Sport"
• Strong and Healthy Hand kit
• Strong(er) LS T-Shirt, size L
• Viking Warrior Conditioning Book
• IronMind tough as nails MiniBag
• Tough-as-Nails Mini Duffle
• Tough-as-Nails Duffle
• Tough-As-Nails Sandbag Set
• The Rest of Buffy that I don't have
• Lift Strong Shirt
• Size Large Strong(er) long sleeve shirt
• Train! Large sweatshirt (any color)
• P3 Hoodie Size L
• A new wallet

Ouch!

Just when I think I'm getting into a roll, I have some sort of setback. A couple weeks back I managed to sprain (or worse, but this is my unprofessional medical opinion) my right elbow, which has kept me from doing any lifting. This has also made jujitsu class painful, but I've been trying to tough it out anyway (in Jujitsu that is).

This morning, I managed to actually do a little workout before my elbow twinged and I almost dropped 16kg of Kettlebell on my noggin. Good thing I dropped it back into the rack before I dropped it onto my skull. Ah well.

I've decided I'm going back to the Program Minimum for a week as rehab. Also, my calluses are virtually gone from being off for 2 weeks and that's going to play murder on my first set of Snatches, I can tell.

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Workout numbers for today

RKC-Arm Bar x2 each side

Pumps x 5 just to warm up the body

C&P 2x(1;2;3) — elbow tweaked, abandoned after evened out on Left side

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The plan now is to do the Program Minimum for the rest of this week and see if I can re-do my Light day on Saturday.

ETK: RKC-RoP Week 5: Light Day

Hands felt fairly destroyed after the workout below. Had a hard time getting warmed up since it was a little chilly in the house when I started. My Snatching form today wasn't as good as I would have hoped, but the numbers were a bit better than I recall from my last set of efforts, despite having to walk away from my Kettlebell a couple of times to remove a kitty from some place she shouldn't have been. May have been able to get in 50 if not for her this morning.

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Workout numbers for today

Goblet Squats 16kg x 5 — Warm up

RKC Arm Bar 16kg x 5 per arm

C&P 16kg 5x(1;2;3) — found myself counting these weirdly today: the last 2 sets were more like 1;2;3 on the right and 2;1;3 on the left... probably just because it was < 6 in the morning when I was starting.

Snatch 16kg 40 x 5 minutes at about 60% effort — noticed that I had a tendency this morning to let the bell sort of fall onto the back of my hand at the end of the Snatch. I'll probably play with my snatching tomorrow for Variety to see if I can clean up my form.

ETK: RKC-RoP: End of Week 4: Heavy Day: in which Kelly totally shows me up in the Swings deparment

Once again, Kelly is totally showing me up in the swings department... she's already at "150, bitch!" and I don't think she's stopping (10 minutes...she says she's going for 250). I'm going for my 100 Snatch challenge, starting on Monday, and we'll see how many I can do on Monday, and we'll adjust it from there.

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Workout numbers for today

Goblet Squats 16kg x 5 — ass to ankles

RKC-Arm Bar 16kg 5 x each side — I love this exercise!! Wow!

TGU 16kg x 6 min

C&P 16kg 5x(1;2;3;4) — next week, totally going to try for 5!

Swings 16kg 50 x 3 minutes

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Edit: Kelly hit 250 in ~15 minutes. She's totally rockin!...and I'm totally jealous...but we're going for different things. And then she tried climbing the stairs and her legs said, "Ow!".

Goal Setting

Wiser people than me have pointed out that it's a good idea to write down goals. Wiser still folks say that you should have attainable goals, and only a few of them within a year. I'm going to take it 1 step further for my lifting goals. I'll come back to this in a moment.

Inspired/reminded by a recent blog post by Dennis Gill that the best way to increase gains is by cycling (no, not the kind I normally do), but by a gradual increase in weight with an end result in mind.

So what's my goal? Well a good start for me would be the 100 Snatch test with my current bell. I'm going to focus on one specific thing beyond the general Enter the Kettlebell RKC-RoP workout that I'm doing: I'm going to attempt to pass the RKC-Snatch Test, with my current bell: 16kg, as a precursor to being able to do it with my target kettlebell. How to do this?

Well in my last snatch workout I documented here I hit ~ 35. I think the last time I did snatches I hit bigger numbers than that, but that's a good starting point if not. So the goal being 100 in 5 minutes, and adding 5 snatches a week, I should be able to get in 100 snatches in 5 minutes by adding 5 reps per week until January 23rd. I'll update again on Monday when I've actually got my Snatch day, and we'll see if this goal may be sooner than I think!

ETK - Medium Day, or "Failure is not an option!"

I believe it was Ed Harris in Apollo 13 who actually got to say the words "Failure is not an option!". I approve of both the sentiment as well as the training philosophy, and in this morning's workout I almost hit failure, but backed off instead. Is there any good reason to actually "train to failure"?

Going to get more of a workout tonight at Wells. Hopefully it'll go better than Monday's classes...which I feel were disastrous. Better next Monday for sure!

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Workout Madness:

Naked RKC Arm-bar 1 rep each side — I stumbled across a great video on Straight to the Bar on Monday, and I just had to try it out. Next time, I'll try it with my 16kg kettlebell and see how it feels!

C&P 16kg 4x(1;2;3;4) & 1x(1;2;x;x) — The protocol for today's workout was supposed to include 5 sets, but the rule that I've read in Pavel's books can be paraphrased as if you hit failure, you're done for the day, and I really like that idea. So after I couldn't Press that bell on that 5th set, that's it for now.

Swings 16kg 30 in 2 min. — again with the low numbers! My phone clearly doesn't want me to burn a lot of fat this week...

RKC-RoP — Week 3something: Heavy Day

Man, oh man, this one was a total burner. I'm totally smoked, but the best part of this? Kelly did her workout right after me: 200 swings with her 8kg kettlebell in 10 minutes. I can't believe she beat my numbers (she says she wasn't even trying to do so)! I'm so proud :-D

TGU 16kg x 5 minutes — Warm up.

Goblet Squat 16kg x 5 slow reps, ass to ankles — more warm up.

C&P 16kg x 5x(1;2;3)

Swings 16kg 90 in 5 minutes.

Too many donuts today, but needed the heavy workout to minimize the damage...

RKC-RoP Week 3somethingish — Medium day

After being sick for my weekend workout (and doing my heavy day's C&P anyway), I didn't have enough breath on Monday to actually do a workout. Yesterday wasn't much better, but at least I wasn't actually still sick. So this morning, I grabbed my Kettlebell for the first time in what felt like a week and got in a workout. How do you spell relief? I spell it S-N-A-K-E E-Y-E-S, aka: 2. Why 2? Part of the RoP protocol is to "Roll the Dice" for your time at Swings and Snatches (or at least such is my understanding), and I just when I needed a day to not totally kill myself (I still have to head to Wells tonight for Cardio Kickboxing and Self Defense), I got it: 2 minutes on my Swings. So Swing I did!

16kg TGU 1 x each side — Warm up/wake up

16kg Goblet Squat x 3 — more WW-Up

16kg C&P 4x(1;2;3) — Could have done 5. Next week, I'll start in on the actual RoP! Yes!!

16kg Swing 36 in 2 minutes.

Been a while, but training has been happening!

It's been a while since I posted, but there has been a-trainin-goins-on. I've gotten up to 4x(1;2;3), and if my memory serves me correctly, I'll be hitting 5 ladders come Monday's workout (which means I'm just that much closer to earning my 24kg kettlebell, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Still have to do wacky things like save enough money to be able to afford to buy it in the first place, which may or may not coincide with me ordering a whole bloody slew of them (a 12kg for Kelly, who's already finding the 8kg ones she's working with on the light side, and perhaps a "full set" — another 16kg a 24kg and a 32kg for myself — though that will depend on package deal prices, how much I have available to me, and where I'm ordering them from...and whether or not she actually wants the heavier bell.).

Where was I?

No weight workout today

Knee/ankle pain from last night's classes certainly didn't help my cause, but I tried doing 1, yes 1, FTW squat and almost yelped in pain in my left knee. So taking it easy today and skipping putting any extra load on my knee/ankle.

If I'm feeling up to it tomorrow morning, I'll likely do today's workout tomorrow.

RKC-RoP — Week 2a: Variety

Spice of life, huh? Was thinking about doing some TGU work this morning, but decided to cuddle a sleepy kitty on the couch instead after she woke me up at 5 this morning. That's okay: kicked some butt last night at Wells, and abs are feeling good today!

Tonight: Classes!, Tomorrow: Medium day!

RKC-RoP — Week 2a Light Day

The protocol for increasing your C&P is to start with 3x(1;2;3) (or even 3x(1;1;1)), and work your way up to 5x(1;2;3) for the Light Day's workouts. I'm just now doing:

C&P — 16kg 4x(1;2;3)

Snatch — 16kg 31 in 5 minutes — Did something a little stupid on my left shoulder, where it does this roll out of the joint thing when it's at full extension & loaded & and I haven't sucked it into the joint. I wish there was a CK-FMS near me, and I don't know if any PT would cover this kind of problem...

Wells & SToIC tonight! It's gonna be a rough day, I can tell already since I'm the only one in the office with Don on Vacation. Gotta remember to bring my Kettlebell with me to New Hampshire this weekend so that I can get in my Heavy Day before the wedding.

RKC-RoP — Week 1b Heavy Day

Kelly and I biked down to the Apple Festival this morning to meet up with Helena. That was fun, though a little too much food (homemade Apple Fritters from the German baker on the commons + 1.5 Chicken Salad Sandwiches at Simeon's = Good food but lots of calories!). 4.68 miles of cycling with Route 79 in the way...

Warm-up: TGUs 2x5x16kg in 5 minutes

C&P 16kg 3x(1;2;3) — 30 seconds of jogging in place between ladders

Swings 16kg 72 in 7 minutes

Tomorrow is a rest day, and then on Monday, I'm upping to 4x(1;2;3), since I felt like I could go again after I hit the end. I think we'll call it Week 2a. We'll go thorough week 2b then by the time I get to Week 3 I'll actually be hitting up 5x(1;2;3)! I'm looking forward to it!

RoP — Week 1b Variety Day

Man do I ever need about 12 more hours of sleep! Taking today as a rest day, since I've got classes tonight, and I'm feeling last night's workout in my legs and triceps (stiff, but not "sore", though I'm not sure how much is from Wells and how much is from the RoP workout from yesterday)...if I'm feeling like this, I wonder how the kids at Wells are feeling??

On the menu for tonight: Karate/Jujitsu/Gungfu/Sword, with 6-12 miles of biking thrown in for good measure!