Didn't expect that.

You never know when you are going to just feel good, and have a stellar workout. Waking up with a bunch of weird and (relatively) knew tweakies, I wondered how much I could do with the two pood, which was one the schedule today.
Even my warmups felt good which was a total surprise. My left hammie and glute( which had been tight from a bunch of tgu demos I did yesterday) felt fine and my left shoulder, which also had been 'rattling' around around yesterday felt locked in and solid!

One arm swings
16 kgx10/10x2
24 kgx5/5x2

32 kg
5/5
6/6
7/7
8/8
9/9
10/10 x 2 rounds
180 reps
12,960 pounds

This felt great from the start and the two pood moved the best it ever has! Found myself keeping my head up more than usual and sitting back more as well.Tracy talked about using her legs and hips as 'shock absorbers' and I like that analogy.
Also, I really focused on just using the claw/hook grip and NOT letting it get deep into the hand. I think that gripping too tightly has been causing me to bend the arm a bit. It overworks the forearms flexors to and then it is working it's way up the chain. I have strong fingers so it wasnt a problem, just a habit .

Two Hand Swings
32kg x15x5 sets
5400 pounds

18,360 pounds! Not a bad total at all.

I stopped at seven sets as the power was gearing down and the reps were getting slower and less explosive. BUT they felt great and my back felt great too.
Lots more leg work here as well.

Snatch holds
16kgx30 sec
24 kg x45 sec
x60 sec
x60 sec

These felt very solid.

datsit, time to stretch.

Now THIS is a serious combo.

Not only does my wife has stellar endurance, she also has a very creative imagination when it comes to kb combinations. This a piece of a freakin 2 min set, which she did ten more like it!
If I had to use the 24 kg for this( just to even feel close to manly,lol) it would kill me for a week.IF I could do it.Her routines have a great flow to them.

staying neutral

Keeping my body even close to square,plumb and neutral is time intensive work. And the more you do it the better you feel so the more actual work you can do. Which leaves LESS time for the bodywork necessary to stay healthy.And more actual load on the body.

It's been a very busy ten days and I've done more movement but have had less time to really get myself stretched out and back into neutral. And I've noticed the tension creeping into my soleus and gastroc, lower hamstring and, subsequently, my quad tendon.And creating a nice winding between the femur and the tibia. Lovely.

The first thing to go is full knee extension and that causes the hammy to get tighten as well, as full stretch is never achieved. The hammy stays flexed a bit even in the stretch part of the cycle.Not good.

SO it needs to be stretched out as well as everything else,but that takes serious floor time( think yoga class or equivilant) at least once a day(I never said this stuff doesnt get boring; believe me it does and I know it). But the other choice I could make is to let the body get tighter and twisted and not fix it.Not an option.But it sneaks up on you and if you aren't really paying attention you are tweaked and you'don't know why'. But we know why.You have to be devoted and that ain't easy. You have to pay attention to your body and that ain't easy either. Plus, you have to do what you don't want to do and that's perhaps the ultimate 'that aint easy'.

But once you can see it coming you have to get out of the way, at the very least.

Same thing with my back. If I let myself get re stuck in flexion;which is VERY easy to let happen, I start to feel those warning twinges again. Usually I listen then and head out to the chin bar to decompress and then get on the floor and open up my abs and arch my back.

And you can't get greedy. Or at least I can't; anymore.

Back on the floor.

Snatches, swings and some freestyle training.

Still reading the manual and intrigued by all the fun things that one can do with a kettlebell. I have been so simplistic and minimalistic in my training( by necessity)that remembering just how cool the more advanced moves are is a study in frustration for me. I can do more now than at any time in recent memory and it just makes me want to do even more. BUT I do appreciate all that I can do now and I don't forget that either.

Hybrids
snatch, windmill, negative press ( left only)
16 kgx3x2
20kgx3
24kgx2

these were cool. It would be great to have a right shoulder that could do this. eventually,perhaps.

Hanging leg raises
tactical pullups style
5 minutes of practice
this definitely brings back gymnastics memories and motor patterns. the extra close grip is much different and more to my liking and history anyway. THis will set me up to practice some tactical pullups again. I just have to realize that I dont have to do a million pounds or a million reps to enjoy doing the movement.

Snatch
16kgx5/5
20 kg x5/5
24kgx5/5x5 sets
50 reps
2650 pounds

Just always want to practice snatching when I come home. Damn move is the most athletic thing I can still do and I can do it well. Not much left that I can say that about, lol!Just have to keep the volume down. And, the straight arm swing snatch is the style for me.

One arm swings
24kgx10/10x10 sets
200 reps
10,600 pounds

these felt great! Hip snap was strong today, as was rooting. I can feel my feet gripping the floor now for the first time in my life. Man, my feet were weak!!!

One kb jerks
16kgx3/3
20kgx3/3
24kgx2/2

oh well I tried. left side is great. right side is UGLY. Left knee and right shoulder do not like this although it was actually a jerk and not a push press, which is progress,lol.

Rack walks
1200 feet
200 feet per arm

This is getting suprisingly strong. want to get up to 2000 continuous feet.

BW 161.4
BF 8 % !! bout time I revisted this place.
Water 61.5 %
I was dehydrated.Good to be back on track.

Datsit, gotta get more loose.

Valantin Dikul!

rebuild.

Pretty beat by now but know I will be fine once I get a sweat going. Didnt get to sweat enough this weekend. Usually that's not a problem. Want to experiment to see whether my back will tolerate two kb cleans. I know I can do some two handed swings; this will be a nice addition.

Two kb cleans
(2)16kg x
8
10
12
14
16
20

80 reps 5760

not bad. These are hard for high reps and it seemed fine on my shoulder and back.Skipped 18 because I knew I only had one set in me. Nice workload too as the two bells,even though they are light, add up to a two pood. cool. Didnt have to setup too wide either as that bugs me usually.The 2 24's might be a problem but they are a long way off.

One arm Swings Max Vo2 training
16 kg kb x 15 sec on/ 15 sec off for 15 sets.
8 reps per 15 sec
120 reps
4320 reps

This was from Kenneth Jays study and is one of the protocols on how to build max V02 levels. Kenneth used and recommended the snatch as the primary lift,saying the swing worked well but not AS well.This isnt critical for me as my competitive days are over. I will use the swing. I LOVE training like this. Short work bouts and short rest bouts, just like powerlifting speed .
work, The good news is that the study actually used the 16 kg and came out with incredible results. Nice to not feel guilty about using light weight.He recommended 20-50 sets. I will work my way up( at least I think is that protocol; my manual is at work) . This will sub out for mondays 100 reps sets I think.

DARCs with 24 kg
5 sets of 20 reps
100 reps
5300 lbs

took my time between sets, 1.5 minutes or more. starting to fade.Didnt eat much this weekend either.

Snatch holds
16kgx30 sec each arm
20 kg x30 sec each arm
24 kg x30 sec each arm

these went well

Face pulls, stick presses,stick squats, glute medius abduction with bands( left only)
left arm curls complex, lateral raise, 2 rounds each.

BW 159.6
BF 10.4
Water?

I am dehydrated for sure.

dats it, time to get loose again.

"A back of iron and legs that never quit"

I'll have at least 8 weeks of uninterrupted training before I have to go back to Minnesota and that means I can build a decent head of steam again. I've learned to not train on the Wednesday before I leave for a cert and of course I miss Saturday's training. I used to have to miss Monday's as well as I was so wiped from the teaching, standing and walking that it literally took me all week, or more, to recover.

So although I am fresh for the cert( which is key) I have to start rebuilding again right after as top end strength and conditioning starts to fall off. My base is strong enough so it wouldnt go too far down but I can still feel the difference and I do not like how it feels. Weak never feels good.

This month, with two certs two weeks apart, really tweaked my training but it worked out well in the end. My work capacity is monumentally higher than it was six months ago and insanely better than just one year ago; which was the best it had been in ages,lol!

This cert had much more standing rather than walking and I found that more fatiguing in the legs. Plus, all the bent press demos( as few as they were)that I was doing loaded up my left hammy and it was tugging on my fibula head late saturday and sunday.Still, I walked strongly through the airport after 4 long days and that is the key and the goal.

I can focus mostly on how my knee feels, I have realized, because my back no longer bothers me if I use the least amount of common sense.Sitting on the plane used to KILL my back and I would be wrecked after a flight like that. Now I can actually rest on the plane and my back is staying mobile loose and functional. Just need a knew knee,it seems.

I always come back from these envious of all the things I cannot do that so many do so easily;and take so much for granted.But now I know that having a really good work capcity and ' a back of iron and legs that dont quit' is the most important goal and what will help me the most over the next 50 years. Being able to pullup the Beast and snatch the two pood is great, but keeping my functional work capacity way high will have to do. Swinging and walking, dats the ticket for me.

What a day!

As I said yesterday, I am always amazed at how much I learn at these certs,even though I come to teach. Today, Brett gave one of most amazing presentations I have heard at the RKC. His lecture on the Functional Movement Screen program was simply amazing and is some of the best info on assessing and correcting movement and muscle imbalances and assymmetries I have seen.It is truly state of the art stuff! Very basic and right to the point with some very demonstrable changes in very little time.
It is also extremely accessible to the regular trainer that needs real time tools to assess his clients in the primal movement patterns and make real time changes.Very, very impressive.

It was an excellent day and Kenneth Jays presentation on the cardiovascular effects of the snatch was also enlightening and provided great scientific data on how to utilize the snatch to increase vo2 max as well as overall cardiac condtioning with the kettlebell.While not as physically demanding as the RKC level 1 the incredible information provided really is going to help the rkc intructors provide their clients with even more state of the ar training.great stuff.

Now I just have to get through my presentation tomorrow and it is smooth sailing!

http://Functionalmovement.com

day one done.

No matter how many times I come to these certs I am always amazed at how much I learn and how inspired I get.The energy is so high and the community of athletes so remarkable that I never notice the passage of time.
This time it was even better, as I have never been to a level two cert before,nor seen a Naked Warrior workshop, so the information on Pavel's technology for pullups and pistols,which got covered in depth today, brought all kinds of things into place.As usual, there are layers under layers and what seems so simple has a unique depth all it's own.
So many great drills,corrections and information it can keep one focused for many moons.
Off to dinner now and another long day tomorow.The knee held up great,even better than last time.The fact that there are some serious high density foam rollers all over the place helped tremendously.
More later.

Off to Level Two Cert.

The psoas. Man, don't piss this guy off!

Man I can't beleive it's already time to go back to Minnesota for the Level Two RKC.I recovered from the June cert much quicker than I did from the April cert and I think this should be stronger as well. I've got my packing minimalized already!Lol. Get to do a two hour presentation on Sunday on Length/Tension relationships, imbalances and using the foam roller for myo fascial release, can't wait,this is going to be great.There is going to be SO much great information on such a large variety of topics that it is going to be a whirlwind for sure.

Took today off and just stretched out.the stick press and stick squat pattern work is really paying off. I am consistently more to the left than I should be and squaring up makes an immediate difference in body tension and joint rom.

I can feel though that the deadlift put me back on my right leg/side too hard again. when you have had such big strength imbalance as I have when you do bilateral moves the strong side just overwhelms the weaker. Too much tension on one side creates rotation in the core and thats where the whole problem started orignally! I'll stay with the unilateral kb swings. It seems to be the thing for me.

Will be posting from the cert as I can.

Heavier.

After watching Doug Nepodal bottoms up clean and press a full water bottle I realized just how weak I've gotten. I have to psyche up to change the bottle these days as the heaviest thing I pick up is the two pood. Now, being weak and being able to walk, move, etc. with little pain is prefeable BUT, all things being equal being stronger is better.
My squat pattern is much better and my stick squat position is getting more square everyday.So I decided to try some clean grip deadlifts. I haven't deadlifted in more than two years but knew I wanted to pick something heavier than a kb up.Of course, this is how things start to go wrong but hey, lets see.

So, no belt double overgrip olympic style deadlift:
135x3x2
185x2x2
225x1x2

woo freaking hoo. Felt like I had pr'ed,lol. Very square and even pull. Won't know of course til tomorrow but I should be fine.Not sure though how much tension I should put through my back.Could be that it's the squat pattern I need to build first, as I already have the swings as a solid pull pattern that is safely working.

KB press( left arm only)
16kgx5x2
20kgx4
24kgx5x2
28kgx2x2

these felt good.havent pressed in long time.
One arm swings
16 kg
70/70 pr= 140 reps
25/25/15/15/2o darcs 100 reps
20/20/10/10/20 darcs 80 reps
15/15/15/15/20 darcs 80 reps

400 reps
14,400 ( that number again)

the 70 rep set was not that bad and my left grip was harder than the right for a change.my cardio was solid. I know I could do 100/100 but the question is : why? do I really need to do that?lol. For awhile I thought the cardio would be the problem now I think the grip will be more painful.

The rest of the sets were good and switching definitely makes it easier to go on. More load on the system and not one individual area or muscle group.easier to keep higher force/rep levels.

snatch holds
16 kg right only x
40 sec
45sec
50sec
60 sec
60 sec

45 sec rest /sets

I swear these seem as hard as the 24 kg!


db curl/ lateral raise complex with 12# db.
5-8 reps in each position 3 times

I noticed in the stick press that my right biceps shuts off just where the shoulder "kinks up" in my overhead movement. I was trying NOT to use it as it seemed overly tight but now I'm thinking maybe it's just weak and not activating. This could increase the load on my shoulder itself during ROM.

So I did a combination of:
supinating curl
supinated curl
hammer curl
reverse curl
lateral raise
lateral raise 25 deg adduction
lateral raise at side
pronated lateral raise
pronated lateral raise 25 degrees adduction

I did this the other day and the shoulder felt much better this am.Left arm doesnt need it.
Muscle stuck in flexion too long can get very weak it seems too.

Rack walk 16 kg
1600 continuous feet! PR.
Just for my right arm
switched hands every 200 feet. definitely makes the legs much more of the weak link instead of my arm and upper back. just want I wanted.


datsit. I will do some light training this wednesday but no walking.

datsit, staying loose.

Stretch it out.

ALthough I don't need to be able to do the splits to be healthy and functional on a daily basis, I have found that the more I get back to the flexibility that I had during my developmental years the better I feel. Since I am a trainer and an athlete, not a scientist, I care more about what works than why it does.
As Pavel has said many times, "do you want to understand hydrodynamics or do you want to swim? Understanding is a delaying tactic."
I have been in the deep end of the pool all my life, I just want to be able to keep swimming. The more I stretch the better I feel. That's good enough for me now.

Back to Basics.

I got the snatching out of my system and went back to my basic swing routine.The swing groove is much better for me and works my weak points( glutes/hips) much better and really saves the shoulder.Snatch holds will have to suffice for snatch fun.

One arm swings
36x10/10x3

53x10/10x10 sets
200 reps
10,600 pounds

this took awhile to re find the groove after all the snatching I have been doing.Had to re link the shoulder in and really force the elbow straight.Sucker wants to bend badly.

Two hand swing
53x15x5 sets
75 reps
3975 pounds

This went well; it's a shorter stroke and I can keep my head up, long spine and use my quad as well. This worked me well,especially after the one arms. No problems from Wednesdays foray into two hand land. Great new! I will love to add this to the toolbox, it's a very satisfying movement for me.

total reps= 275
total tonnage= 14,575

Snatch Holds
36x45
53x 40 sec
x 45 sec
x50 sec

havent done these with the 24 in awhile and it felt heavy at first! last set was much better.

Halos
26x10/10x3 sets

stick presses, stick squat stretches and some rifga afterwards. Felt like I didnt do anything; this is good.

datsit, staying loose.

Tracy's 1600 swings in a hour

Dustin Silveri RKC, was trying to emulate tracy's prodigous swing capacity and didnt know how she got the 1600 swings in one hour that I had talked about. Here is a copy of the post I made on Dragon Door detailing the incredible feat of endurance and power.


1600 swings in 60 minutesFrom: rifstonian Subject: FitnessDate/Time 2006-11-04 18:29:37Remote IP: 71.131.11.228
Message
Mrs. Rif is at it again.Tracy did one arm swings with the 12 kg for 60 seconds on 30 seconds off for 60 minutes straight.40 reps per minute for 40 sets.
That's 41,600 pounds in the hour with 40 minutes of solid work and 20 minutes of rest.
The only way you can do more work in an hour is to use a heavier bell. talk about training work capacity!


She regularly does 1000-1200 swings per hour,even with the heaviest bells! Since she is trying up get her muscle mass up she is doing less volume and heavier weights lately. Still insanely impressive.

This video is part of her 1200 heavy swing workout

Graduation!

I am SO proud of my son Gabriel, who graduated Westmont High School yesterday. He is off to be a Spartan, a San Jose University Spartan. RKC Team Leader Chris Holder is the head S&C coach there and has EVERYONE on kettlebells! Gabe will have access to them in college. Cool. It was such a great feeling watching him fulfill this part of his journey. I couldn't love him more.

More mass = More strength?

In bodybuilding world the way one increases their strength is to increase their mass. All things being equal the larger the muscle contracting the stronger it is. But just as bodybuilding training is like having an 8 cyliner engine with only 2 working and strapping on another 8 cylinder engine which also has only 2 working Power to the People methods also increase muscle mass to increase strength; but in a totallydifferent way.

.PtP increases your muscle mass not by increasing the size of the individual fibers but by increasing the total number of muscle GROUPS that are participating in the lift. By hyper irradiation and feed forward tension and conciously activating max number of fibers in the entire body, way more mass is pulled into the effort. Total body effort = great strength. Especially the more skilled you are at activating.

I should know better

there is no keeping up with the Jones's. At least not for me and 99% of everybody else. This guy is strong. I had not forgotten but that video was a good reminder. Don't try this at home folks.



I should know this by now. I am 50 years old and have been beating my head( and other major joints) against the wall since I was 14.But inspired by Mr Jones's incredible compliation video I decided I needed to get a little more leg bend into my swing and snatch techniques and see whether I can tolerate that( I am not injured btw,so the story ends well). I always want to be stronger and Mr Jones looked AWFULLY strong in those moves.

I so wish I would have had youtube to study mechanics from when I was a wee lad as I can ( and have learned tons by studying physical movement frame by frame and in slow motion. Watching the exact mechanics of a really heavy lift teaches us so much about what really goes on in max effort lifts as opposed to what many theorize as to what goes on.
SO I decided my 'built to deadlift' swing mechanics might allow for a little more squat to 'spread the load" as Pavel says.I can do it but it's not how I'm built to maximall produce force in a posterior chain move. Just aint me. Maybe not ever and definitely not now.

ANd NOT listening to what my body was telling me to do when I was powerlifting contributed greatly to my further hurting myself, I now know. I should have been squatting with a closer stance, with an olympic boot and looking down. Just how I pull( minus the boot). SO this time I should listen to what I know to be true.
You are only really strong in one or perhaps one and a half positions. Find them, cultivate them, love them. They are precious and can be fleeting. Like a baseball players swing.Train your weakpoints. Compete your strengths.
But as my stick press is making my overhead positions more fully extended and stable the stick squat is doing the same to my lower body and my squat pattern is coming back. ANd my sumo squat stretch( floor) and Pavels hip opening stretch are doing just that.
I rotated slightly to the right to re orient myself( as per my gait) and swung that way. Felt great and I felt square even though I felt turned.Two hand swings rock! They are the power squat of the ballistic world. And swinging that 88 is no joke! My wife is tough!

Two Hand Swings
16kgx10
20kgx10

24kgx10
28kgx10
32kgx10
88kgx10 x 3 rounds. 2minute rest/sets

120 reps 5160 pounds

way off usual training schedule and decided to power up abit as I have to taper again next week and will miss normal training when I'm at the Level 2.These felt great and I was using both legs and hips and had my center of gravity much more in the middle of the base. Felt strong.If I can do these like this; and for power I will satisfied.

Snatch Practice
30 minutes of working on the snatch in sets of 5, sometimes alternated with swings.Playing with different swing grooves and hip snap timing. I am NOT a OL style snatcher as my shoulder and biceps do not like it at all. I can certainly do it well enough and it feels good my the bones dont like it,.
BUT, what the hell am I doing???? I should not worm my way back into training this as alift again, just as I cannot train the squat as a lift again. It's just stupid.

Rack Walk
one lap, 1200 feet, switching arms every 200 feet.

wow, this was good.

BW 159.5!!!
BF 9.9%
Water 59.5%


wow, I am light. Warrior diet rocked at the cert.its hot too which is great. I can always tell when i am in good shape when I am heat adapted. The heat at the cert didnt bother me at all. I love to sweat.

But one can see how easily I can , and have, gotten myself in trouble by trying to always be better than I currently am.And when I see someone doing something I know how to do I always think " hell, if he can do it I should be able to!" Or least an approximation. I love strength and always want to feel and be stronger. The better I feel the more It want to push.

Shoot for the stars, end up on the roof. Shoot for the roof, maybe not get off the floor.

Brett Jones, Sr RKC./ Strong Man

The RKC School of Strength rocks on! Check this out:

It just had to be done.

As Joe says, after I come back from a cert I always want to snatch. I haven't been doing snatches in my program other than snatching the weight overhead for my holds as regular snatch work just seems to irritate my right shoulder.But it is such an explosive, dynamic, athletic and just damn COOL move that when I go to the cert and see everybody 'getting' to snatch I am envious.

So:

Snatch
16kgx5/5x2
24 kg x 5/5 x10 sets
100 reps
5300 pounds

One arm swings
24 kg x 5/5/5/5x5 sets
100 reps
5300 pounds

200 total reps
10,600 pounds

Snatch holds
16 kg x30 sec x 4 sets

man these are always as hard as the 24 kg!LOL.

spent a lot of time tweaking my form relative to the nuances I have made lately in my stance, gait and torso rotations.My right side move is definitely a different and unique motor pattern as compared to my left. I am only realizing the true depth of this lately and how badly being allowed to twist in the wrong direction in gymnastics really set the stage for all these imbalances and injuries.

These nuances made a huge difference to me while I went through the physical demands of this weekend and really drove home that I am on the right path. For instance, I made it through April's cert better than the one before but I couldnt train on that next Monday and had to do major bodywork all week after to get even close to 'neutral'.
This time I feel fine and was walking strong through the airport last night! Work was no problem even though I can feel the adrenaline let down coming a bit.But I feel healthy ,loose and balanced.

I barely had to use the thumper all weekend although I was doing lots of palms open close stance squatting and 'no stick' open palm stick press patterns all day to keep things square and plumb.Being barefoot helped ALOT. As well as all the time being barefoot and standing this last month.

So I have to figure out the unique rotation that will let me snatch with my right arm without the biceps tendon getting impinged. I am getting the correct static posture and gait I need but I still need to grok the dynamic posture.

I brough my stance in a bit today and adopted my eyes and shoulder to the right posture and it was interesting. But the biceps tendon still gets tired early.
Could be not having an intact shoulder capsule, torn posterior AC ligaments and bone spurs, arthritis and plenty of miles on this 30 year old injury. Hell, what am I expecting?lol.
Rode hard, put up wet.


datsit,good to be home. Gotta stretch.


PS I just realized that perhaps the dead snatch might hold a clue to the correct position/rotation for the right arm. will experiment.

Jeff Steinberg tames the Beast!

Stud athlete and Team Rif member Jeff Steinberg became the lightest man to Tame the Beast this weekend when at 170 pounds he crushed the challenge with the 106 lb kb manhandling the pistol, press and pullup.His pullup was especially effortless. But the press and pisotl were easy too!Jeff had just pressed the Bulldog for the first time a few weeks ago.

here is Jeff deadlifting behind the back 500 for 3


and sumo pulling 600 for 4!


Congrats to Jeff.

day two done.

It's amazing to me each time I come to a cert to see the incredible transformation that each student undergoes, from the first day and all the incredible amount of work that somehow doesnt kill them but sees each and every one getting stronger and better as the day wears on. Despite incredible physical fatigue, torn to shreds hands and and an unbelievable amount of data that has to be grokked they keep going and going and going.

Seeing people who had horrible form the first day get so much better after a few thousand swings, cleans, snatches, presses and squats is always an amazing sight.Pavel says its from greasing the groove neurologically all weekend and he must be right because at the end of the second day Team Rif was hitting weights and reps with better form than the first day when they were all fresh and un tore up.
I got to get a little training in myself while teaching the snatch segment and it always amazes me too that I need no warmup to press snatch and swing weights that always need quite a bit of preparation for at home.Adrenaline is such a great hormone....
Doug Nepodal, who came out to support one of his clients taking the cert, actually told me( unsolicited) that he thought my gait was much better than when he saw me in April.So nice to hear something positive about my funky knee and walk.It blows me away that it isnt killing me at the end of two twelve hour days of being on my feet.
I've stayed barefoot all day and that has helped as well as the adjustments I've made to stance and weight distribtion.So weird to feel like I can actually walk without pain. way cool.
making myself stand at work for the last month has also helped alot. I stood alot before but the last month has been virtually on my feet the whole time.that has helped find a much more stable and pain reduced stance. Cool.
One more tough day of evals and then I'm home.Also cool.

a good day

Its the end of a very long very good day at the RKC and I am very happy with how well my knee has held up this time. I have made some very different adjustments to my stance and mechanics and it has been very successful in keeping the pain down and the knee bending as well as it has in a long time.
for instance even though I have been standing and walking on it since 7 am and its now 11pm minnesota time I havent even had to use the g5 thumper to calm down spams and the knee feels pretty decent!

It probably doesnt look much differnet to those who obseve my gait but it sure does feel different and I will take that!
I have a great group of trainees and I really enjoy this very different teaching process more each time I come out here.
I spend so much time doing one on one training that being able to work with groups and teach in front of large groups is very exciting.
I teach the snatch tomorrow,not today and that is fine.I gave my lecture on 'what is the RKC'and it was very well received. One of my favorite topics!
dats all for now, time to get some rest.

I love the smell of kettlebells in the morning.

Ah yes, its 4:30 am (PST) I am jacked up on Peets coffee(never leave home without it!) just finished stretching out and going over my notes formy presentations today. I love this shit!
I actually feel good for a change when traveling and my knee and back cooperated very well going through the airport and sitting on the plane for 4.5 hours.I hope this is a good omen for the rest of the weekend.

I used to feel this way going to powerlifting meets. Getting to leave the regular routine behind and spend the weekend with a bunch of hardcore lifting nuts and talking nonstop about training and the sport. Now powerlifting has been replaced with kbs and getting though the weekend strongly has become my 'competition'. even though I am not 'training' through the weekend it is serious physical challenge for me; 12hours a day for three days straight of standing,walking,teaching,lecturing and demonstrating.Great stuff!
I got to meet Dustin,Takei( who is on my team!) Franz and Yoanna and so many others last night at the meet and greet.Everybody asked if Tracy was here; she is definitely missed aleady!
Time to get to work, I get to teach the snatch segment today and I can't wait!

Off to the Cert.

I am off to the Cert today. I am bringing my laptop so I hope to be able to blog a bit each day and keep in touch, although one never knows....

One thing I think people forget about the RKC Certification course is that it is an INSTRUCTOR course. It is not a user course but for those interested in teaching KB's to others and who want to do so safely and efficiently.

The average person who just wants to use a kettlebell does not need to know all the detail and minutae that an instructor will need to know to observe,analyze and correct the mistakes of a variety of different students.
Datsit, gotta go get on a plane!

Ron Morris RKC Team Leader's Website

I haven't seen this before and that's too bad, it's a great site. Don't get any more real deal than Ron.
Click on the title to get to his site.


http://www.usakettlebells.com/

More stupid strong.

New School


Old School


Watching a Japanese Olympic gymnast perform on the rings in the 1972 Olympic Games is what inspired me to get into gymnastics and so begin this incredible physical odessey that has been the last 36 years of my life.You can also see how it could destroy one's shoulders. Its all a give and take.

P bars.

Insane montage of my favorite event.these guys fly.

David Whitley RKC Team Leader

Now THIS is something else. Plus he smiles when he's doing the heaviest stuff, gotta love that.

Light swings.

Definitely wanted a light one today, in both volume and intensity to start the taper for this weekend. So instead of straight swings I decided to include Darcs, which always make the set easier.
No warmups needed for this stuff, lol.

one arm swings/darcs
10 left,10 right, 10 darcs, 10 left, 10 right= 50 reps
8 sets of these.
400 reps
14,400( there's that magic number again,lol)


Its amazing how easy a 50 rep set can feel when you are used to doing 100.Definitely made the reps crisper and more forceful since I had so few to do. Makes a difference even in these low reps; is obviously much more work and you tire earlier.
The more I endure baby workouts like this the more I am impressed with Tracy's work capacity and power. Its really amazing.And her recovery is incredible as well. The next day she was just fine; it was just another workout.

Snatch holds
16kgx 60 sec x 3 sets

didnt get enough in monday and am skipping wednesday.

Rack Walk
1200 feet at once. switch hands every 200 feet!

This was great! I have never tried that before an it worked just like DARCs. A switch is as good as a rest.Very happy.By trying to keep on just one arm for as long as possible I am just letting the fatigue of my arm be the weakest link, instead of my systemic condition.Switching from now on for longer distances per set.

BW 162
BF 9.5%

forgot to take water. Weighed after workout instead of normal before.

Datsit, gotta stretch.

Rifga

Did not get stretched out yesterday and can really feel it today. I videoed Tracy's ssst yesterday and missed my normal stretch out then just skipped it yesterday afternoon. SOOOOO it had to get done yesterday as all the same characters started to lock up this AM.

1) close stance dl stretch to floor

2)upward dog

3) horse stance with dorsiflexion

4)downward dog,alternating feet

5) frog squat stretch

6) tuck and roll on back

7)straddle stretch

8) pike stretch

9) single leg "L" sit and hammie stretch

10) cross over IT band stretch

11) cross leg glute stretch

12) cross leg glute/ham stretch

13) stick press

14) stick squat pattern, OL style,close stance

15) stick behind neck stretch.

Tracy does 295 reps in the SSST!

This was the first time she tried this challenge. She has done 140 reps in the five minute version. This is just an unbelievable performance!This clip is from minute 8 to 9!She's already been snatching for 8 minutes!


Crazy woman 'finshed' her workout with another 30 minutes of kb work including another 5 sets of 20 each arm in the SNATCH! Now I have been known to be excessive in my love for volume training but even I have to take my hat off to that kind of conditioning.

Last heavy day before the cert.

Next weekend I'll be teaching, standing and walking all day for three days so this is the last tough day I will have this week. I'll train Monday but skip Wednesday and just stretch out.
All pumped up from watching my Star Wife put up close to the record in the Secret Service Snatch Test the first time I was ready to train!
Tracy is a natural athlete with really good natural strength and coordination. Not to mention a freakish level of endurance! The first time I took her for a ride on a racing road bike( first time she had been on one) I had not been far removed from fairly serious bike training and took her for a circuit called the 'loop' in Palo Alto. She crushed it like a bug and it didnt seem to faze her much at all.I was impressed then and also impressed when she squatted and deadlift 245 lbs weighing just 150.
But this performance was the most impressive I've seen her do. Amazing. Congrats Honey! 300 plus is coming.

One arm swings
16kgx5/5/5/5x2
24kgx5/5/5/5x2

32kgx5/5/5/5x12 sets
240 reps pr
17,280 pounds. nice.

these felt really good although my forearms were still a bit cooked from wednesays and just work. The groove felt solid and the speed was good as well.

Two kb one arm swing
16kg+12 kg( 28kg)x5/5
20kg+16kg(36 kg)x5/5
24kg+16 kg( 40kg)x5/5
24kg+24kg(48kg)x5/5
280+360+400+480=1520 kg/3344 pounds.

this was tough. I was much more tired from swings than last week. plus I didnt get my grip right on one set on the left hand and felt just how much stress their can be on the fingers if you dont set up right.might not be a moved that needs to be trained; just done occasionally.

two kb one hand press
2 12 kgs x3/3
12 + 16x2/2 x 2

this was tough today as well. done here.

Snatch holds
16kg x45 sec
24kgx45 sec x2

Halos
12 kg x 3x12

datsit and congrats again to my studette wife!

Some gems from the late Dr Siff

Been going back and re-reading Supertraining by the late Dr Mel Siff and am even more amazed than the first time I saw this monster. Supertraining is the bible of the scientific analysis of strength training methods and practices and Dr.Siff was every bit the genius for writing it.A real deal guy who lived as a multi sport athlete and an intellect of the highest order.
Someone should be teaching a course on training for strength, sport and fitness using Supertraining as the only course text. It would be a year long course,at least. Even now reading through it again it is daunting.
The density of information is not to be believed.
Name a topic or aspect of athletic,fitness or rehab training and Siff has thought about it, analyzed it, corrected it and wrote about it! From the physics,biomechanics,physiological and neurobiological aspect of sport and training Siff was into it at the highest levels.

An excerpt:

" The sequence of recruitment of muscle fibers by exercise also has important consequences for training. The ST( type 1) fibers are recruited first for muscle tensions up to about 25 %, the FTa( type 2a) are recruited next and the FT ( FF or Type 2x) fibers last, as the intensity of the activity increases towards a maximum or as the ST fibers becomes seriously energy depleted. Thereforeif the intention is to train FT fibers for a particular sport, it is vital that high intensity training be concentrated upon.

Further research reveals that this high intensity is not necessarily dependent on on the use of 1 RM( 1 repetition maximum) or near 1 RM loads, but the degree to which the relevant muscle fibers are recruited during the effort.In this resepct, the terms fast twitch and slow twitch do not necessarly mean that fast movements recruit exclusively FT fiber and slow movements ST fibers.To analyze the involvement of different fiber types, it is vital to determind the force that needs to be produced. If large acceleration of the load is involved, Newton's Second Law of Motion decrees that the resulting force will be large. Thus, the maximal force generated from the rapid accleleration of a 100 kg bench press easily can exceed the maximal foce produced during a slowly accelerated 150 kg bench press.

Both a small load accelerated rapidly and a heavy load accelerated slowly strongly involve the FT fibers.Likewise,expsolsive movements rely heavily on the action of FT fibers."

Dr Mel Siff Supertraining Chp 1.12 page 59/60

No wonder Louie and Dr Siff got along so well.