Last Workout of the Year

What a year it has been. I was hit with the kettlebell sport bug and trained hard for the first 6 months of the year just nearly missing CMS ranking in the biathlon before a mysterious left shoulder injury, that continues to nag me to this day, has kept me from continuing to train for kettlebell sport. In the meantime, I have re-discovered the power of the basic swing and have found that I have been able to keep up my general level of fitness with swings alone. Whether or not I will return to the platform will be determined by both my shoulder and the upcoming year which will provide some new work responsibilities and therefore less training time which may make training for kettlebell sport more difficult........we will see.

Yesterday, I was surprised how sore my shoulder girdles were from the indian club swinging I had done on Wednesday. I did a short session yesterday....

Warm Up

Indian Club - 6 minutes of various exercises

HS Roundabouts(24kg) 40 reps in 1 minute/30 sec rest x 20 sets (30 minutes work/800 reps)

Anybody know of any other indian club resources (books, DVDs, YouTube clips) besides Ed Thomas's DVD which I already have?

Wednesday's Workout

Warm Up: Played with Indian Clubs for about 30 minutes. Very enjoyable

HS Swing(32kg) 20 reps in 30 sec/15 sec rest x 20 sets (400 swings)

SLDL(16kg) 10/10 x 3

Saw The Fighter tonight.....great movie. Christian Bale should win an Oscar for his performance. Absolutely brilliant acting. Check it out if you like boxing movies. You won't be disappointed.

Back In the Groove

Finally have made it through the Holidays. Now I can start to hit the bells regularly again. I have a few days off and plan to get back on a regular schedule. Santa brought me some Indian clubs and I am looking forward to playing with them in the next few days to start working on my shoulder with yet a different approach to see if things will continue to improve. Only downside of the clubs for me, is that my basement doesn't have high enough ceilings to allow me to do a vast majority of the clubell movements. For those, I will have to wait for the weather to warm up a bit.

Warm Up

HS Swing Roundabouts

*Alternating sets between 24kg and 28kg bell

*40 reps in 1 minute with 30 seconds rest

*Completed 17 sets

RBT Core

RBT Cross Over Squats - 20 reps x 2 sets

Thursday Workout

Past few days have been crazy between work and getting ready for the holidays, but today I finally carved out some time to get a quick workout in:

Warm Up

Snatch(24kg) 6 minutes @ 16 rpm - 1 hand switch

HS Swing(32kg) 20 reps in 30 sec/15 sec rest x 10 sets

Squatrx Tribute

I have been a longtime fan of Boris Bachman's blog, and this week in particular, it has spoken to me in several ways. The first post I found interesting was a special "birthday" post in which Boris documented 40 "pearls" that he has learned over the course of his 40 years. They are all health/fitness related and the vast majority are spot on. However, the pearl that spoke the most to me was #37:

37) Stress will ruin your posture, your breathing, and your mobility. We stress over this and that, and we stress about stress. We lose sleep because of stress and drink "stress in a can" to get us through more stress. Stress will destroy your mind and body. Stress can kill you. Stress becomes a multi-layered smothering blanket if you can't or won't step away from it.

This pearl really hits the mark. Whether you are aware of it or not, stress is taking its toll on you physically and mentally, especially in our modern, Western society. There are many ways to manage your stress, but the first step is recognizing that it is a problem. Exercise is a critical slayer of stress for me personally. I have recognized this since I was much younger, but as my life has evolved and become more complex, I also began to realize that exercise was no longer enough. Over the past year, I have become a strong believer in the benefit of mindfullness. The cornerstone of which, for me, is daily meditation. Focusing on my breath alone for 15-30 minutes a day has had a profound impact on my daily outlook and my ability to overcome the crush of stress that I encounter on a regular basis. My attitude towards work and my personal life, especially my family, have greatly improved. I am much happier and I believe much more productive. I am living in the moment, I am enjoying the sunset, the beauty of my surroundings, and am able to give my full attention to my children and wife when I am home. I am no longer replaying past events that I no longer have control over or thinking about events in the future that are not worth worrying about....instead, I am enjoying the NOW.

Today, I also decided to give one of Boris's workouts a go. He posted video of this on his most recent blog post. It is a combination routine using an escalating ladder for reps. The routine is composed of cleans, jerks, and overhead squats. The bell is never put to the ground until you are done, however you do switch hands after each rung of the ladder. For example, on the left - 1 clean, 1 jerk, 1 overhead squat, switch to right hand, 1 clean, 1 jerk, 1 overhead squat, switch, etc.....

Warm Up: Pec Stretch, Stick Shrug, Face Pull, Rotational Scap Pullaparts

Work Out: Clean/Jerk/Overhead Squat (24kg)

*Rep ladder from 1 to 10 reps in each exercise with each hand

*23 minutes of nonstop work

*Heartrate at completion - 160

Boris, thanks for the great blog and the great workout......keep it up.

30 Minutes of Swing - Tracy Reifkind Style

Read an interesting article about swing programming by Tracy Reifkind earlier this week and thought I would give some of her ideas a test run today. I had a lot of energy and tried swinging for 30 minutes today using Tracy's roundabout technique. Things went well, and this technique definitely helped break up the monotony of long swing sets and also helped preserve my hands (although they are a bit tender tonight).

Warm Up: Pec Stretch, Stick Shrug, Face Pull, Rotational Scap Pullaparts

HS Swing Roundabouts(24kg)

*1 minute work - 4o reps

*30 seconds rest

*20 sets - 800 swings (19,200kg lifted)

RNT SLDL(12kg) 10L/10R x 2 sets

SLDL(12kg) 10L/10R x 1 set

Swing Drop Sets

Warm Up: Pec Stretch, Stick Shrug, Face Pull, Rotational Scap Pullaparts

HS Swing Drop Sets

*40kg, 32kg, 28kg, 24kg

*10 reps each weight in 1 minute (40 reps)

*30 seconds rest between sets

*10 sets (400 reps)

RBT Split Jumps 10 x 4 sets

Sunday Snatches

Had a great 5th Rolfing session yesterday. Huge imbalance found in the right illiacus and psoas when compared to the left side. That portion of the session was quite painful. Overall, I feel that my posture is much improved and I am feeling taller.....

Warm Up: Pec Stretch, Stick Shrug, Face Pull, Rotational Scap Pullaparts

Snatch(20kg) 20 minutes @ 16 rpm - switching every minute

RNT SLDL(12kg) 10L/10R x 2 sets

SLDL(12kg) 10L/10R x 1 set

Friday

Warm Up: Pec Stretch, Stick Shrug, Face Pull, Rotational Scap Pullaparts

Snatch(24kg) 6 min @ 16 rpm

2 min rest

OAJ(24kg) 6 min @ 14 rpm

2 min rest

OALC(24kg) 6 min @ 8 rpm

Was really sucking wind after this workout. Need to keep after the conditioning......

More Swings

Although the shoulder is feeling significantly better, it still is not totally right. I have decided to back off the snatches a bit and continue the swing fest for a while longer......

Warm Up: Pec Stretch, Stick Shrug, Face Pull, Rotational Scap Pullaparts

HS Swings:

*32kg and 28kg

*20 reps 2 Handed HS swings each weight in 60 seconds (40 reps)

*30 seconds rest

*Completed 10 sets (400 swings)

SLDL(20kg) 10L/10R x 2 sets

Sunday Drop Set Swings

Warm Up: Pec Stretch, Stick Shrug, Face Pull, Rotational Scap Pullapart

HS Swing Drop Sets

*40kg, 32kg, 28kg, 24kg

*10 reps each weight per set in 60 sec

*30 sec rest

*10 sets total - 400 swings

RBT Assist Pistols 5L/5R x 1

GO BROWNS

Thursday Workout

Warm Up: Pec Stretch, Stick Shrug, Face Pull, Rotational Scap Pullapart

Snatch(24kg) 6 min @ 16 rpm

2 min rest

OAJ(24Kg) 6 min @ 14 rpm

2 min rest

OALC(24kg) 6 min @ 8 rpm

Was sucking wind tonight.