Condition Kettlebell Gym

Thursday 8/13 - Light Day

As you can tell, my “days” are all mixed up.  I am cramming in my light, medium, and heavies because of being sick last week.  I do a good but of joint mobility every day when I teach classes so I am counting that as my variety until I can catch up to a normal schedule and start bending on variety days.

Light Day 4PM

5x (2,4,6,8) VPP with 2 8kg’s

8kg front raise snatch 2×15 per arm

8kg side raise snatch 2×15 per arm

Undereating

2 miso soups

2 coffee with cream

cranberry, orange, pineapple juice

Arden’s detox juice

FEAST - went to Park Tavern to have dinner with the dog outside 9PM

salad w/ginger dressing

hummus with sesame crackers

2 bison patties (no bread) with gorgonzola, hummus, and wasabi sauce

Friday 8/14 Medium Day

Long Cycle Clean and Jerk 5x(2,4,6,8) with 2 12kg’s

If you aren’t used to doing these, they are no joke.  I thought that 12’s would be easy but they werent - it took me like 1.5 hours to complete this!

And here we come to the Warrior Diet.  In the bastardized version I have been trying to follow, I allow myself 1 day completely off and and one “half day” where I fast but dinner isn’t following the Warrior Protocol (not eating salad first, having refined sugar, etc..) Today I ate a sandwich at 2PM and then went for pizza that night.  It really doesnt fit as  half day but it wasn’t too bad either.  And even though I am doing a halfway version of the Warrior Diet, it is better than the way I was eating before and I am training ALOT more consistently (did I write at some point that between the RKC II and the beginning of this program I had trained 2-3 times in I think 6 weeks??) So even though I am not being as strict as I could be, I am still seeing results.  When it gets to be 4 weeks out from the show (this weekend) I will have to follow theeating program more strictly, but the point of this experiment is to have freedom and not go crazy for 3 months straight while training for a show.

Saturday 8/15

I guess this would be a variety day.  2 classes, 2 private sessions, plus a workshop then waitressed for 6 hours.  I didn’t “train” but I felt like I worked really hard. I am definitely quitting my waitressing job, though.  It just doesnt make sense anymore…  Anyway!

I had to eat early - around 3PM because I had a private session and just enough time to get to work after and I work at a fondue restaurant so A. it’s impossible to eat that quickly on the go before/during the shift and B. I have worked there since 2000 (minus my 3 years in San Diego) so it’s not like there is anything new or exciting there!  I followed the Warrior Diet much better than I thought I would eating at 3PM and working until 1230AM.  There was one big slip up - a table brought in a chocolate cake and gave me a slice - and it was from the delicious French bakery down the street and so I had a piece - and then I had a chocolate cake shot to match it.  So aside from the chocolate cake slice and shot, I did ok - haha.

Sunday 8/16 - off

After a 13 hour standing workday I decided to chill today.  It was my whole day off from training and WD.  It was a good recharge.

Monday 8/17  attempted Heavy Day

First with the eating

2 coffees with cream

miso soup

handful of walnuts

I decided to try my first heavy day of the ballistics block with the numbers I had projected.  5x(2,4,6,8) LC C&J didn’t sound hard to me.  Until I tried it!!!  You see, I hadn’t had much as far as undereating goes and had been standing teaching class from 5-8PM. I thought “I will knock this out really quickly before I mop and feast.”  Yeah right.  I did 2,4,4,2 and then aborted the mission.  I wasn’t sure if it was becuase I was hungry or tired or because I couldnt do more but I decided to just eat dinner and try again the next day.

FEAST - 8:15PM

Salad in a Glass

carrot , onion, lentil soup

BBQ chicken - sauce sweetened with cane juice)

Tuesday 8/18 - Heavy Day (for real this time)

2 coffees with cream

emmenthaler cheese

fruit cup

FEAST - it’s the half day off

BBQ chicken

BIRTHDAY CAKE

hummus, cannelini bean paste, more cheese

Kombucha (pre workout)

HEAVY DAY - Did less ladders but at least I could DO them

LC C&J 3x (2,4,6) I finished in about 45 minutes and probably could have done more but decided to stop.  Next week I will add the next ladder in.

Monday 8/3 - Light day - train at 9AM

Think I can get 5x(1,2,3) on my heavy day, so I am adjusting for those numbers.

5 x (1) 16+8kg

5 squats in between each double press

2×20 deadlifts - jury still out about what I am doing here. High reps low weight or low reps high weight.  I am still leaning towards  low reps heavy weight - it’s my gut feeling.

UNDEREATING:

2 coffees with milk

Greek Yogurt with Raspberries (PWO)

Ginger Jive juice (unpasteurized)

Arden’s Detox

2 cheese curds

FEAST - 8PM from Whole Foods Hot Bar

Week 2 of WD for Fat Loss focuses on high good fats and no non vegetable carbs.

salad - spinach/romaine/carrots/artichokes w/olive oil and baslamic vinegar

steamed zuccini with olive oil

collard greens

turkey picadillo

medium avocado - I counted this as my “nuts”

Notes: I probably did better today than any other day, but was STARVING by 8PM after teaching classes.

Tuesday 8/4

Variety Day - Trained at 5:30PM

Ken Froese is heling me with a snatch program for a fellow RKC and he asked me to test my grip strength by doing as many snatches with a 16kg switching hands only once.  I only got 22R+22L = 44 total.  Boo.  He said it was a good start - haha.

UNDEREATING:

Because I ate dinner so early some is before the Feast and some after the feast

Before: coffee w/cream, 16 oz Arden’s Detox juice

After: 2 cheese curds, Beware It’s Pear unpasteurized juice, Grand Slam from Arden’s Garden (1 oz wheat grass, 1 oz cranberry juice, 1 oz lemon juice, 1 oz pressed ginger - all unpasteurized)

FEAST 1:50PM

pea and pecorino salad with salt and olive oil

pickled eggplant, shallots, and celery

meatballs

2 handfuls of Brazil nuts (which I found that my dog likes, too.)

2 hours later, I ate a couple spoonfuls of hummus and bean paste

Notes: probably NOT the best day.  Haha.  Cream in my coffee, peas and pecorino probably doesnt REALLY count as a salad, fermented veges are not exactly cooked veges, meatballs are NOT lean protein sources, you get the picture… This was about as much of a stretch as there could be!

Wednesday 8/5

Medium Day
Undereating

coffee w/cream

Veg-a-holic juice (unpasteurized)

FEAST - 9:15PM

It was SO good. I went to a pre-book launching party for an organization called Crave thinking that there were be appetizers that fit into this week’s feast.  There weren’t so I had to wait until after.  Two glasses of wine and a “crave-tini” at the party and I was ready to FEAST.  We went to the restaurant in my building called Serpas and I ordered the grilled scallops and julienne zuccini.  I double checked that there was no rice, potatoes, or grits and the server guaranteed there wasn’t.  Well, there was.  Boo.  At that point I ate the mashed potatoes hidden under the giant scallops and veges.

Thursday 8/6/2009:

Did my Medium day this day instead of Wednesday.  I spoke to Dan John about the deadlift dilemma.  We talked for about a half hour (he is very very nice and super helpful.)  He suggested that instead of doing 5 squats between press ladders that I do his clean and squat ladders 3x(1,2,3) after presses and then keep the lightweight deadlifts for 2 sets of 20.

5 x (1,2) 12kg+16kg

Clean and Squat ladders 3X(1,2,3) 16kg+16kg

2 x 20 deadlifts

Undereating:

unpasteurized watermelon juice

2 coffees with cream

unpastuerized veg-a-holic juice

nori bites (raw nuts and seaweed)

2 cheese curds

1 egg

greek yogurt

FEAST

The Z health crew came in tonight so we went out and had pizza.  It wasn’t structured the was a feast should be.

Friday - 8/7/2009

VARIETY DAY

Hosted the R-phase certification so all weekend was devoted to DJM.

Undereating:

coffee with milk

latte

unpasteurized veg-a-holic juice

2 miso soups

seaweed salad

yogurt

FEAST 7PM

salad with cucumber wasabi dressing

turkey chili

2 beers - I know, beer is not on WD

Sat-Tues

A big blur of Z Health, taking cold medicine and getting the A/C fixed.  Didn’t train or eat correctly and I am going to have to crunch it all in next week.  I know that isn’t recommended, but that is what I am going to do.  Heavy day Wed, light day Thur, med day Fri, heavy Sunday.

Tuesday 8/11

still sick so not training

Undereating:

coffee w/cream

fruit cup

coffee w/cream

FEAST 8PM - high carb day

salad (spinach, walnuts, gorgonzola, olive oil)

steamed zuccini

green beans w/olive oil

cous cous w/pulled pork (no sauce)

1.5 glasses of wine

Wednesday - 8/12

Heavy Day (that I should have done Saturday)

I was completely out of gas.  Probably from being sick and not training since last Thursday.

clean/squat ladders 3x(1,2,3)

deadlifts 2×20 16kg+16kg

I hate hate hate squats so I did them first and alternated with the deadlift sets.  Don’t think I am supposed to do that, but I tried it because I always dread the squats at the end and wanted to get them over with. By the way my press ladders went, I dont think it was a good idea.

Press ladders 16kg+16kg

1x (1,2,3) 2x (1,2) 2x(1)

Feast 8:15PM - High Protein day

cucumber/tomato salad

cabbage(steamed)

cilantro lime chicken

coconut chicken w/zuccini

2 glasses wine

Friday 7/31

VARIETY DAY: worked on joint mobility.  Ordered a bag of white and a bag of green nails to do some bending on variety days in the future.

FOOD:  I am allowing myself to take one afternoon a week off and not have a structured feast.  At 3:30PM I ate at my favorite restaurant, Shorty’s - best pizza ever. Don’t want to talk about  it today, though.

SATURDAY 8/1

HEAVY DAY

3 x (3,2,1) with 2 16kg’s

5 squats with 2 16kg’s after each ladder

2×5 deadlifts with 2 40kg’s

UNDEREATING:

2 cups coffee w/milk

unpasteurized beet, apple, carrot, parsley juice

2 cheese curds

young coconut juice

FEAST: early today 2:15PM

Went to a Mexican restaurant that I have been to a few times before.  I never noticed how gross and processed their food was until today.

Salsa - obviously out of a can

2 black bean tomales - I am counting masa for the carbs

plantains with peanut butter - definitely not natural pb

a few bites of hummus, cannelini bean paste, and lentil salad that I had in the fridge a couple of hours later.

wine at a party later that night

Where I went wrong: the feasting foods werent optimal and I drank the wine after the 4 hour window

Wednesday 7/29

OFF Training Day

Undereating:
coffee w/milk

Ginger Jive unpasteurized juice

coffee w/cream

Feast 3:40PM:

carrot/apple/celery juice

brussel sprouts

antipasto salad (grape tomato, farro grain, feta cheese, olives, olive oil, parsley, garlic, thyme, lemon juice, salt, pepper)

cannelini bean dip (cannelini beans, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, sage)

lentil salad (lentils, oranges, currants, shollots, parsley, grapeseed oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, pepper, salt)

hummus

Where I went wrong: Again, put cream in coffee bc the coffee shop (a different one!) only had cream.  I go to a good number of coffee meetings to network so maybe I should consider bringing my own milk! Also, the first week of Warrior for Fat Loss is supposed to be wheat free.  I got “Farro Grain Salad” at the Farmer’s Market and was eating it while Googling it and found out it is a wheat grain.

Notes: I ate very early today bc I was starving. I also ate WAY too much, in my opinion. I think it’s because I drank fruit juice in the morning.  The last time I was on Warrior I noticed that on the days I ate fruit or fruit juice before noon, I was hungry all day.   I ate 3 times in the 4 hour window that WD allows but I ate ALOT.  It also may be because I got all these cool salads and mixes from the farmer’s market and wanted to taste it all.

Thursday 7/30

MEDIUM DAY

3 x (1,2,3) 12+16kg presses

5 squats between each ladder

2×20 deadlifts 12+16kg

I am still not sure whether I want to DL beasts and bulldogs for low reps or follow the RTK rules and use the same bells for the presses for 2×20.  I had a hard time concentrating for 20 reps of a grind so I am leaning towards 2 sets of 5 with the heavy bells.  Suggestions?

Undereating:

logan fruit

2  cheese curds

32 oz Arden’s Garden Detox Juice (grapefruit, lemon, orange juice) banana

miso soup

coffee w/milk

Feast:

Salad in a Glass (beet, carrot, parsley juice)

roasted brussel sprouts

rice pilaf/jasmine rice/cannelini bean dip/hummus/red lentils w/onions

lentil salad for “dessert” - the fruit in it makes it sweet.

some vino - the wine rep was at the restaurant where I work on Saturday nights and I had stopped in.  He had us tasting some of the new wines he had in.

It is 8 weeks out from Fitness-Dixie show and so now I have to really get serious.  I am going to see what can happen with the Return of the Kettlebell protocol and try to gain a little lean mass.

DAY ONE 7/27

LIGHT DAY:

3 x (1,2,3) ladders 16kg+8kg - switching sides each time.  Except I got distracted and did (1,3,3) for the second ladder

5 squats in between each ladder

2×4 40kg sumo deadlifts

Warrior Diet:

Coffee w/ a little cream

J. Robb shake with a banana

Greek yogurt

DINNER:

roasted brussel sprouts (olive oil, salt, and pepper)

Rice pilaf/lentils with vegetable stock/hummus

2 glasses of wine

Where I went wrong: Cream instead of milk in my coffee but the coffee house I was meeting someone in didn’t have any milk option, I should have had a salad before the brussel sprouts and had planned on legally cheating with Arden’s Garden “Salad in a Glass” (unpasteurized beet, carrot, and parsley juice) but both stores by my place were out.  It also said that wine was best had with the high fat or high protein days and this is detox week, but I took the “best” to mean that it was “ok” this week.

Day Two 7/28

VARIETY DAY:

Z Joint mobility drills - RTK says to take it really easy on variety days.

Warrior Diet:

Coffee w/milk

banana

fruit cup

cold leftover brussel sprouts

DINNER 4:45PM:

roasted brussel sprouts

rice pilaf/jasmine rice/red lentils/hummus

Kombucha

Where I went wrong: again not eating (or drinking) a salad first, eating cooked brussel sprouts during undereating phase.  Even though they were cold.  Still have 45 minutes in my overeating 4 hour window… May have a glass of wine.  Still debating.

     I decided yesterday (for sure) that I am going to compete in the Fitness America - Dixie competition on September 19th and use only kettlebells and the Warrior Diet to prepare.  I have been happy with results training with kettlebells only for fitness shows, but have never tried using the Warrior Diet.  In my opinion, nutrition is 80% of what your physique looks like so we will see what happens.  I started the “Warrior Diet for Fat Loss” protocol yesterday and am curious to see what happens by the end of the 3 week cycle.  It has 3 phases: Week 1: Detox, Week 2: High Fat, Week 3: cycle between high carb days and high protein days.  There are no sweeteners, alcohol, or animal products (aside from some dairy and eggs) the first week so I am a little moody right now :-)  Next week, I can add in some meat and a glass (or two) of wine with the feast so I am looking forward to that! Until then, it’s detox time…  I will let you know how it’s going…

Today I started over on some Viking Warrior stuff.  Back in October I could do 80 sets of 8 reps with the 12kg but havent really done a serious VO2 Max session in about 3-4 months.  I hope what Kenneth said at the RKC II is true.  Once  you take some time off it gets much harder but doesn’t take much time to bounce back.  Tonight, I did the cadence test and had 30 reps in the 5th minute so I rounded up to 8.  I made it through the cadence test and 30 sets before I couldn’t get my 8 reps per set in.  Wow,  I need some work!  It will come soon enough.

Last weekend at the RKC II, I was having a discussion with some of the other participants.  We noticed that a good many attendees were extremely tense throughout their entire body in their swings.  We also recognized how great we felt after Senior RKC Jeff O’Connor’s movement-based section that included a piece on “taking the brakes off” which we did while swinging.  So the question seemed to be “How ‘hard’ is Hardstyle” in relation to the kettlebell swing?

There were people with solid, tense arms, hands crushing the handle, scrunched up faces, and necks jutting out.  These RKC’s looked like they were in massive amounts of pain – and if they weren’t at the moment they would be later if they continued to swing that way.  Swinging “hardstyle” doesn’t mean tense up every muscle in your entire body as hard as you can.  There should be a balance of tension and relaxation.  If you find yourself swinging with every muscle in your arms, neck, shoulder, and face tightened, you may have an overactive startle reflex.  Do you find yourself making awful faces when drills get tough in your training?  Or outside of the iron game, do you get overly tense in your neck and shoulders when stuck in traffic or working on an important assignment for the day job?  If so, be conscious of that and purposefully relax bin your face, neck and shoulders.  Whether it’s sitting still on the highway or military pressing your 1 rep max, relax your face – I promise you’ll still get the weight up and you’ll feel better driving in your car.

Use the plank to swing analogy.  Get into a plank.  Your glutes are tight.  Your abs are tight.  You are flexing your quads and hamstrings.  But what about your face and neck?  Your face should be relaxed and your neck should be loose enough to be able to shake your head.  Apply that to your swing.  At the top of your swing you’re driving force into the ground with quads and hamstrings tight, glutes tight to lock your hips, abs tight to not leak power and to protect your back.  But then what?  Your shoulders are connected in the socket acting as a pivot point – connected but not squeezing so tight to be as tense as possible to the point of inhibiting the movement.  Your arms are like ropes and your hands like hooks – not crush gripping the handle.  Now check your neck and face.  Your spine should be neutral not allowing your neck to jut out like a chicken or pull back to give you a triple chin and your face should be relaxed, not squished up in what looks like agonizing pain.
Losing that balance of tension and relaxation is the first step on the pathway to inefficiency.  Once that balance is gone you’ll begin to lose your synchronized breathing, then your posture goes.  What are you left with then?  Really bad form.  And since you get good at what you practice doing you are getting good at doing really bad swings.
Catch the problem on the first step and correct it.  By being conscious of tensing when and where necessary and relaxing at the right place and time, your swings will be still tough and effective and you should feel “ready to battle a kingdom” (not ready to fall over dead) at the end of your training session.

Let me start by saying that this past weekend was one of the most fun and most challenging I can remember.  The RKC II was a weekend of learning from and connecting with others in the RKC community and was an absolute blast.  The instructors and team leaders delivered excellent information and helped us become better RKC’s.  It makes me look forward (even more than I already was) to this coming weekend with Kenneth Jay, David Whitley, and Sara Cheatham and to the Oklahoma workshop with Whitley and Jeff O’Connor this Fall.  I can’t wait to learn more from these amazing instructors.

 Hey guys!  Just wanted to write a post to say how excited I am that Dustin Rippetoe, RKC II has confirmed as an attendee for the Kenneth Jay/David Whitley workshop Fourth of July weekend at Condition and has also announced a workshop at his own place in Guthrie, OK (just north of Oklahoma City) October 17-18th with Senior RKC (and all-around good guys) David Whitley and Jeff O’Connor.  It will be celebrating the opening of his new Way of Strength facility so if at all possible, get out there.  That should be a great time for everyone.