Condition Kettlebell Gym

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

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.

As suggested by Kenneth, I waited 2-4 days (well, 4 to be exact) and did the following press workout.  I thought it was going to be harder than it turned out to be.

15 singles on each arm with an 8kg stacked on a 12kg (hand through both handles - not the bottoms up with a bell stacked on top. Ha.)

At first it seemed like it was going to be impossible, but I think the more I did it, the better I got at stacking the bells

So today I tried out the new RKC snatch requirements and disappointed myself.  For those females who weigh 123.5 and up, we have to now perform 100 snatches with a 16kg in 5 minutes.  I tested this for the first time tonight and only got 92

After speaking with Master RKC Kenneth Jay about the workshop here July 4th, I asked some press advice.  He kindly informed me I was on the completely wrong track with regard to training for pressing the 24kg.  He gave me a little advice which I started implemented into my training today.

Today’s training:

101 presses each side with the 16kg in an hour: 13 sets of 5 reps and  9 sets of 4 reps (not in that order, but mixed together.)

At first it seemed impossible but at the 51 rep mark seemed doable and by the end I was still surprising myself by being able to do some 5 rep sets after the 75 reps per side mark.

Yesterday I did a mini VO2.  There really is no excuse…  25 minutes.  First 15 minutes 7 reps/set with a 12kg and last 10 6 reps/set with a 12kg…

This morning I took Stephen’s early class at Condition:

1TGU + overhead squat each side 20kg

1TGU each side 20kg

I moved between 16, 20, and 24’s except for the deadlifts where I used 40kg and 48kg’s

3 rounds 30 secs on, 30 secs off

Swings

Dragon Twist

Squat, Press R

Squat, Press L

Renegade Rows

Alternating Swings

Seesaw Press

Deadlifts (sumo)

This is going to sound really girly, but I got (a really bad) haircoloring today and was told that if I washed it before Sunday it might turn pink, so instead of the VO2Max training I had planned for tonight, I switched out for one of the PTTP - inspired RKC Prep trainings.

1 pistol R/1 pistol L (TRX assisted)

1 tactical pull-up

5 presses R/ 5 presses L (16kg)

1 pistol R/1 pistol L (TRX assisted)

1 tactical pull-up

5 presses R/ 5 presses L (two 8kg’s stacked)

1 pistol R/1 pistol L (TRX assisted)

5 sumo deadlifts (two 48kg’s)

1 tactical pull-up

1 pistol R/1 pistol L (TRX assisted)

1 tactical pull-up

5 sumo deadlifts (two 40kg’s)

1 pistol R/1 pistol L (TRX assisted)

1 tactical pull-up

Get-ups: 5 each side with a 16kg

If you are wondering why there were no RKC II prep trainings posted last week, it was because I took a detour to shoot some online workouts for a company called PaceFit.  I wanted to wait until their site was up to post this and give the link, but since it’s just launching it’s taking a little longer than expected.  Stay tuned for those links…  But for now, it’s back to the plan:

4/21/09  10:30AM

Today I felt the need to have some heavy iron in my hands.

TGU 2R/2L w/24kg

2 pistols each side, 2 pull-ups (using TRX and assistance band.)

3 presses each side w/20kg

2 pistols each side, 2 pull-ups (with assistance)

2 presses each side w/20kg (was going for 3/3 but couldn’t get the 3rd one up on the left)

2 pistols each side, 2 pull-ups (with assistance)

5 Sumo deadlifts w/two 48kg’s

2 pistols each side, 2 pull-ups (with assistance)

5 Sumo deadlifts w/2 40 kg’s

2 pistols each side, 2 pull-ups (with assistance)

Off to the dog park with my computer to start writing the outline for the kettlebell DVD we are shooting on Sunday!