I definitely have a love/hate thing going with Mondays focus on high rep sets. On the one hand I love what the high reps are doing for me; conditioning and gpp wise. Now if its not a hundred rep set it seems like it's nothing. But I freaking LOATHE doing them,lol. Thank goodness Joeis here to count my reps and yell at me. Helps a lot.Its just a reflex by now for me. Tell me I'm slacking and to push harder in a set and I just go. THis is even better if I am dying inside and want to quit. Something clicks and it just overrides the weakness.
I do have to be very careful with this though as I should NOT override deep fatigue or technique breakdown ever again. Can't afford it. But I feel pretty safe with 16 kg swings,especially at the ass end of a hundred rep set and I am too fatigued to call up much in the way of real force. And I feel square and plumb enough to push things a bit thesedays.Not too much, but just a bit. Gotta have some fun eh?Truth is just not being in searing pain is a lot of fun. Pain puts things in perspective pretty quickly.Have to keep reminding myself of that as I do what I do naturally, keep going forwards.
Warmup:
around body pass( left to right ONLY. same as my pommell horse circle direction)
around knee pass( as above)
figure eights( as above)
12 kg, 5 reps per move x 2 set
16kgx 5 reps per move x2 sets
One arm swings
16 kg x60/60
x30/30/20/20
x 20/20/20/20
x15/15/15/15
x20/20
400 reps
14,400 pounds( this weeks magic number it seems)
The first big set was not that bad and I conciously relaxed my grip at the top of each set( as I rooted) and that helped a lot.Last week 50 reps torched my grip and this tiem 60 was ok.Plus my next set was not impaired as it was last week. The first set worked the grip endurance, the next 4 worked systemic endurance and weren't that bad at all. recovery between sets was solid and Joe and I alternated 3 setsof him to my 1 as he was doing deadlift singles.Still wind was solid and I sprinted the last 20 to 30 reps of each set, pulling the bell down and really standing up as fast as possible.
The first part of each set was very relaxed and focused on pacing.
The 120 rep set took 3:20.Have no idea what pace that means for me yet.Thinking I could train to do 100/100 and that would be a feat,lol. Of pure mascochism.It seems to be going that way on Mondays now.
Two KB/One hand Press
8kg and 12 kg(20 kg)x3/3
12/12kg (24 kg)x3/3x 2 sets!
12kg and 16 kg(28kg) 3/3x 2 sets!!!!!
wow, had to try these again to see if them not hurting my right shoulder was a fluke or not and it doesnt seem to be! Doing aa triple with 62 in my right arm PAINFREE was very wierd. Very interesting groove for me.It did NOT activate my biceps tendon or my teres. Most excellent :))
Something also about the very WIDE grip is not messing with the biceps tendon and having the two kbs stacked on top of each other makes it HARDER, I think to internally rotate the arm. I get stuck just where I need to be. At least thats the hypothesis.
It also seems like the press tension starts at the mouth area rather than from below my chin,even thought thats where the hand is, because of the stacked bells. much higher combined center of mass but it makes it easier, not harder, for me.I dont seem to have a sticking point like I do with the single bell press. I am strangely built and wired, thats for sure.
Halos
12kg x10/10x3
16 kg8/8x3
Rack Walks/16 kg
300 feet per arm
600 foot per lap
3 laps + 200 extra on last pass
2000 feet.
these are getting tough after these 100 rep sets and working all morning. But they are also what test me the best. I so want to give in and cut the reps down and not push my self to do more,especially at the end of the walks when I just want to sit down; but then I ask 'how bad does it really hurt? Let it hurt, how bad is it? Is it gonna kill you? ( thanks furman, though I've been saying that too for years. True knowledges.) Let it then. Just freaking die right here. Go ahead. Ok I'll finish the damn 2000 feet. Good, I win again. Winning, at anything is good for you and builds testosterone as well as confidence.
Everytime you dont do what you set out to do you lose, and lose testosterone and confidence. Doesnt matter what the challenge is, it's good for you to win. Set the bar as low as you want, don't matter,just acomplish it, THEN raise the bar and repeat.
BW 163.2
BF 8.2% ( havent seen this in eons.)
Water 61.5% ( all the extra tea is helping)I guess the weight increase is water in the muscle. Most excellent.
dats it, gotta stretch.
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This has proven to be a most effective method of taping hands as a preventative to tears or after one has already torn.I used it for years ... -
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KJ killing the Beast. Training to increase Max Vo2 with a kettlebell. I will share with you one of my best advanced protocols for improving... -
Its amazing what disapears first on me when I have to miss training. My glutes and hips go first; amazingly quickly too, and then the quads....
18 comments:
Rock on man. You are seriously kicking butt dude. Those long sets are killer. I haven't been brave enough to try the 2 kb one hand presses yet.
Its really awsome to read the blog and see the presses in there!!
I am going to do some 2 kb one hand swings though in a while!!
hey your setup works for the two kb presses as well.thanks too for the kind words, the body seems to be holding together a bit more.its nice.
Hey Rif, regarding your question on my blog. Yes, my quads have always overpowered my hips. I'm feeling there is an important bit of advice coming...
if you have weaker hips relative to your quads you should squat as wide as you can on the box to build them up BUT use a closer stance for competition lifts,without the box.
I take nick though this cycle getting ready for comps
4-5 weeks free squats raw
5x5 adding weight each week til max of 5x5
4-5 weeks
box squats with chains 6-10 sets of 2 70-90% of box squat max
2-3 weeks
competiton free squats with light gear doubles
2-3 weeks
competition free squats with tight gear singles only. ending with 90-95% of goal.
the raw squats build size and basic strength, the box squats power and accleration and the gear cycle skill work for the comp and overload.
brought his squat up 130 pounds in year.
the key to squats and deadlifts is REALLY strong hips, glutes, upper hammies, erectors and abs. voila, the posterior chain,lol, but one has to learn to use the hips when they squat ,same as they have to learn to use the hips when they swing. quads finish the lift not start it.
very cool, I'm going to archive that template. Hips is where I feel weak at when I get low. I was going to do zerchers for abs today but the box squats FRIED me. LOL
130 lbs in on year, that's astounding by the way!
Nice post with the program Rif.
I have a question I hope you have the answer for. See, my psoas is pretty f*cked at the moment, so do you have any advice on how to regain my strength as fast as possible. Right now I am doing some light movements without causing pain, ride my bike etc. should I start with some light static stretches or do you have any golden exercises you would recommend?
Best regards
Jacob
guarden,
sorryt o hear about the psoas, it is a very tough muscle to rehab,imo.it needs to be opened up and stretched more than strengthened, usually, when it is tweaked.
It get facilitated very easy and curls back up with little encouragement.the best results I got was from LOTS of Active release work, back bends over a stability ball, decompression hangs from a chin bar and upward facing dog pose on the floor.
As far as any insane moves you will be far more likely to impress than I at the cert although I am working on my best tricks!lol.
I would focus on opening up the psoas as much as possible pre exercise then again after loading. I would stay away from cyclic flexion exercises as they will tighten up without much benefit either strength or cv.
royce, go very slowly lowering that box, as you found out,lol. start right above where you feel good and lower it 1/4 -1/2 " at atime, after you have adapted to that new depth.
Thanks a lot Mark.
I will start out doing the exercises you prescribe. Grrrrr, hate to be injured. I need a central control brake mechanism which will deactivate my body before I do hazardly stupid things, heheh..
I am sure that you will impress at the RKC. Maybe you can teach me some pommel moves. Always wanted to be able to do the butterfly etc. on the floor. Looks awesome, and must be one heck of a workout.
Jacob
beleive me, as far as being injured and hating it I know how you feel! One foot on the gas and the other on the break sucks man. BUT really forking yourself up sucks even worse and like it or not , as we age we lose recovery ability ,elasticity in the connective tissues etc. Plus our accumulated mileage starts to add up and be accumulative microtrauam.
This is why I feel prehab work focused on balancing the weak points in the system andheading things off at the pass is so important.
as well as modulating training load and intensity. but when one is constantly changes exercises, angles, loads etc its so hard to program.coming from a powerlifting background there are less varibables so its much simpler.
"fitness" is so much broader and even though the absolute loads are lighter the accumulated forces are not. same with gymnastics.
let yourself heal, it pays off in the long run.trainig hard when you are in pain ALWAYS messes up the neuro programing.believe me I know :))
yeah, you are so right.
I just feel like exploding inside if I don't get to do a workout once a day. grrrrrrr.
Good point about how hard it is to periodice and the increased need to when being a weekend warrior. *LOL* Why is it called weekend warrior, why not full-time warrior? It makes it even more complicated when putting extra sports into the game such as martial arts...
Stay strong comrade..
full time warrior. couldnt agree more. I have tried to live as a professional athlete for most of my life and it is a more than full time committment. but its in the blood and I never think of it as a negative thing.Its what I love thinking about and figuring out.
as I got older and more injured I had to realize that more and more of my 'workouts' will be what I used to consider rehab, stretching or prehab.the intensity's wave cycle will get longer but still can go up, over the long haul.
injuries can set one back for years.
thats what so great to me about the kb is that I can train with tons of volume, really good intensity and it DOESNT kill you or your joints! Great for killing those demons!
very therapeutic on many levels.
I love reading about your journey. It gives me motivation, ideas, and ecouragement.
Thanks.
tim
glad it is helpful to you. glad to see you posting again.
Why just the one direction, Mark?
steve,
I just do the one direction as part of my assymetrical corrective exercise approach.
my entire right side,quad, glute,psoas,ql,etc is stronger and tighter than my left so if I do both sides evenly it perpetuates the imbalance.
by doing just theoneside it brings me closer to neutral.
I started doing this after I forked my back in 2000 and realized justhow tight and locked the right psoas was.
by stretching the tight side and strengthening the weak side I rehabed things and got out of pain.
this is why kbs work so well for me as long as I do them singly. bilateral moves still dontwork well as my strong side takes over and torques me.
why i had to give up squatting and deadlifting.
steve,
I just do the one direction as part of my assymetrical corrective exercise approach.
my entire right side,quad, glute,psoas,ql,etc is stronger and tighter than my left so if I do both sides evenly it perpetuates the imbalance.
by doing just theoneside it brings me closer to neutral.
I started doing this after I forked my back in 2000 and realized justhow tight and locked the right psoas was.
by stretching the tight side and strengthening the weak side I rehabed things and got out of pain.
this is why kbs work so well for me as long as I do them singly. bilateral moves still dontwork well as my strong side takes over and torques me.
why i had to give up squatting and deadlifting.
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