Rifs Blog: May 2005

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Girya Strength Rocks! : Kettlebells, Strength, Fitness, Martial Arts

Girya Strength Rocks! : Kettlebells, Strength, Fitness, Martial Arts

Kudos from Mike Mahler.These are the things that mean something to me.

Monday, May 30, 2005

Pavel's Weekly Russian Kettlebell Challenge Tip

Pavel's Weekly Russian Kettlebell Challenge Tip

Now THIS is KB training at its best.Strength and conditioning at the same time by Pavel.

Snatches

tough tough day today. Too distracted to find my groove . One of these just get through it days.

snatch
26x5+5
36x5+5
44x5+5

53x6+6
53x8+8
53x10+10 not finding my hips enough.
53x11+11
53x12+12
53x10+10
53x8+8

windmills
36x5+5
53x5+5x5 sets! yes now this was on.Got my right side to touch on all five reps on my last two sets. best this has been.

one arm swings
53x10+10
53x12+12
53x14+14
53x16+16

this kicked my butt. Mike C was here today and the pace was fast.

arms bars
36x5+5
44x5+5
53x5+5x3 sets

datsit.

Sunday, May 29, 2005

The Tin man

walking around stiff as a board today after my 14 hour day yesterday at work and at Mike Mahlers seminar I am amazed how stiff and sore I get from NOT training. Just from daily life. I hardly did anything yesterday, in a real work sense, other than standing on my feet for many hours but I am one tight and hurting puppy today.

It also reminds me that I am not stretching enough. It always makes a difference with lower body spasms and too much tension.When I get too caught up in volume and training intensity and dont give enough time to light stretching out it always catches up with me.

Friday, May 27, 2005

Fridays are always hard

Havent had a Friday workout in----FOREVER--- that wasnt tough. Its just the END of the weak and I be tired. Its also my longest workday and earliest wake up( 3:45 AM). doesnt make for high energy or strength. Just a " get through it" workouut. But get through it I do. Cause THOSE are the workouts that really make you strong.

swing flip squats
36x10
44x10x2
53x10x6 sets

Rapidly becoming my favorite KB exericse of ALL. It gets everything and it flows.

bottoms up cleans
36x5+5
36x5+5 these are getting SOLID.
44x5+5
53x5+5x3
x6+6x2

KB Waiter walks ( barefoot in grass)
One arm overhead as you walk. these are TOUGH on my right side.
26x 200 feet.
36x200 feetx2
36 above and 36 at side x200feet x2

man I NEED these walking drills. I am so weak in them.

datsit. Mike Mahlers seminare tomorrow and I do my first seminar presentation. talking about posture and injuries. This will be great!Bringing a foam roller, a stick and a jumpstretch band.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Wednesday with Mikey

Wednesday is my toughest training day because thats when Mikey comes over to show us all how to do kettlebells properly. The man is a physical genius and I dont throw that word around lightly.

He is so amazingly creative with what he does with a kettlebell it has to be seen to be believed. So strong but fluid at the same time. the kettlebell lets that happen. You cant do that with any other weight tool. You have to tame the arc to master the kettlebell and mike has that down.Big mits help too.

DARC swings
36x30
36x20
53x30
53x20

72x30 this really shows me where my legs are.
72x35
72x40 this was "interesting".

72x50

I think I would have rather done 80 with the 53! OUCH!!!AND my goal is 100? what's wrong with me.?This reminds me of climbing hills on a ten speed more than it does anything else. Pure pain with no where to go. You can always ride the momentum a little bit and keep going. IF you want to.

windmills
36x5+5
36x5+5
44x5+5x3 further adventures in my twisted hips and spine. man am I crooked.and I think I tore some lat tissue when I dislocated my shoulder in '77. it looks different from the left.

H2H flips
36x10 minutes. these are getting better.

kb catch( 2 person) this is wierd. and fun. gotta do this outside~!

Damn, forgot to do overhead squats.Good thing I dont write things down ;}}

datit,

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Fabulous story from a woman who just reviewed From Russia With Tough Love: Kettlebells, Strength, Fitness, Martial Arts

Fabulous story from a woman who just reviewed From Russia With Tough Love: Kettlebells, Strength, Fitness, Martial Arts

another KB " what the hell" effect. Unbeleivable.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Interview with Ethan Reeve

Interview with Ethan Reeve

A great interview with brilliant strength coach, Ethan Reeve.

So much for my no routine routine.....

OCD wins out again

heres a great schedule

monday
snatch
windmill
bottums up clean

tuesday
morrison get ups
Arm bar

wednesday
overhead squat
Darc swings
H2H flips

friday
kb cleans
windmill
lunge

saturday
two hand swing
swing flip squat
waiters/farmers walk

Snatches

Now that I dont have to train for the RKC snatch test, snatch workouts are fun again. I love this movement, I just dont like doing it to muscular and cardiovascular failure. Its such a fast and fluid exercise.Sometimes it you go to snatch it and you dont know how the bell got overhead. It kind of "just happens".

Now that I dont feel compelled to use the 72 for high rep snatches it takes a lot of pressure of the move as well. I can do the 53 safely any number of ways. With the 2 pood there is only one safe path.Getting too light for that thing.

And too old,lol!

snatch
26x5+5
36x5+5
44x5+5

53x10+10x 6 sets only 120 reps. felt harder than that. will work up to 10X10x10. 200 reps. now thats a lot in one workout.

windmills
36x4+4 have to REALLY pull the right shoulder down for the rotation to work.Major concious effort whereas on the left side I dont have to think about it. It just happens.
36x4+4
44x5+5 much better touching on right side.
53x5+5x4 sets solid.

turkish getups
26x2+2 ug, my right side hates this.
36x2+2
36x2+2 outside. LOTS harder on grass.this is not a great move for me.

datsit.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Saturday fun

A little bit of everything.two hand swings36x30
36x20
44x10 swings, 10 swing squats, 10 swings
53x10x5 swing,flip squats . I love this move. each rep got deeper.
overhead lunges18x5+526x5+5 man this REALLY works my right shoulder stability
36x5+5
44x5+5 I like this too.
H2H Kb flips: ten minutes outside. over the top an under hand flips about ten to fifteen each side.
walking swings 2 laps with 36.one hour workout. short and sweet.

Friday, May 20, 2005

The movements

1) two hand swing
2) one hand swing
3) Transfers
4) Snatch
5) Windmill
6) Turkish Get up
7) Arm Bars
8) Morrison Get Up
9) Swing squats
10) Lunges ( 3 rack positions)
11) swing, flip, squat, pushpress hybrid
12)Bottoms up clean
13) Farmers walk
14) Waiters walk
15) Overhead squat
16) KB clean
17) Crescent swing
18) Walking swing
19) KB swing flips
20) Slingshot

Shoulder revelation

I just had a revelation. Just as my knee seems to be able to tolerate, or actually LIKE swinging movements as opposed to static squats I bet I should lay off the heavy pressing for my shoulders and just concentrate on the stabilization exercises such as Turkish get ups, snatch and windmill. just as I cant do pullups or rows or isolation exercises like that I probably shouldnt direct press anymore.

My shoulder never feels good afterwards.Especially with the two pood. :((I guess I will be balancing out my lower body.

BUT it does like lots of rack postitions. This is good.

Grinds

I decided to forget the idea of finding the perfect routine and I have just put a list of my top twenty exercises on the blackboard and do what I feel each workout. I either do snatch, windmill or a high rep swing as my main exercise. then follow up with the exericse I didnt do, with less intensity, and then a fun exercise( hand to hand flips, farmers walk, bottoms up cleans,etc).

I'm ready to focus on deepening my skill with all these exercises. Had a real breakthrough on windmills today, following mondays great( and weird) windmill session. Kept my right foot more forward( I am already twisting to the left structurally, no need to help it more)and focused on leaning forward, not sitting back and BAM! I was fingers to the floor each rep! FINALLY!!!

ALso let more weight come onto my front foot and this helped a lot as well.I really read too much into things and do better when I go by feel. I should know this by now.

windmills
18x5+5
26x5+5 better right from the start. lots of overhead stretching with right arm
36x5+5 feels little right hammie overstretch. its not used to this position
44x5+5 best ever. feels like a freakin WINDMILL for a change!
53x5+5x4 sets. yeah.
44x5+5
36x8+8 need to explore more varied rep ranges here.

kb press
53x5+5x2 long cycle version one clean one press
53x5+5 press only. right teres is tight and so is shoulder. need to do arm bars.
72x3+3 havent done this in a few weeks
72x3+3 better, nowhere near tight enough. heavy weights force you to get tight.
72x3+3
53x5+5 strict

kb cleans
53x10+10
72x5+5x5 these felt great. fast and easy. lots of leg and hip.

RIS with JS band for windmill. this is really helping my position I think, PUlling myself down into the windmill.

Overhead squat with JS bands, working on position and stretching my shoulder out.

datsit.

ps havent had almonds in the am for the last three days and havent felt any energy lag. This will help get me to 160 and under 10 % BF. This warrior diet ROCKS!!!

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Beggining strength training for teenagers and young adults: Kettlebells, Strength, Fitness, Martial Arts

Beggining strength training for teenagers and young adults: Kettlebells, Strength, Fitness, Martial Arts

Nobody cuts to the chase about training more concisely than Steve Maxwell. Great information aobut training kids.

GiryaStrength.com is Live.

The new home of Girya Kettlebell Training. A new era in my career and my training.Growth is good.

Rifs training log

Now that I have a real website that links to this blog I thought I would start keeping my workouts and thoughts about training, nutrition and injuries online. So this is the first entry although today is my off day so NO TRAINING.

Of course recovery is the most important limitation of training intensity. That is you can only train as hard as you can recover from. THis is why so many turn to ergonomic aids such as anabolic steroids and anabolic supplements. Of course the most important recovery aid is REST.

If there is no down time, I mean REAL sit back and put your feet up down time, recovery becomes very difficult. As will increases in training intensity and progress towards your goals.

Active recovery is almost as good as pure downtime.SO things such as joint mobility, flexibility work, hydrotherapy and massage really speed up your recovery ability. At my age and with my injuries if I sit around too much I get as stiff as not recovering enough. So as usual, the key is balance.