Saturday Training

No Bells yesterday.. Busy day at work and also had a 1 year old's birthday to go to....
Today was snatch day..

24kg Snatch 10 minutes 15 rpms... feeling good with my new form, but it starts to crap out on minute 4... gotta really focus then... conditioning is definitely better...

10 minute rest

20kg snatch set 10 minutes 16 rpms...

ANDI score

Have you seen this new food rating system at Whole Foods? It stands for Aggregate Nutrient Density Index. They assign a rating to foods, from 1 to 1,000 (according to nutritional value).
This will be interesting...

Some people feel that anything they buy at Whole Foods is nutrient dense and ecologically responsible...

I saw a father get a bowl full of chocolate chips with a couple of pieces of grain on top for his kids... His version of "trail mix"? The kids loved it!

Rating food on how nutrient dense it is is a great Idea, people get all screwed up about food. A lot of people love to brag about what they do not eat anymore.   If you eliminate a food that is Objectional to you for some reason, talk about the better  food that you now eat instead. We are defined by what we DO eat, not by bragging about what you don't eat anymore.

With all the information around food theses days, the most important question I can ask myself is, Does this Food produce or prevent health? If yes, then eat it. If not, don't. This simple question has gotten lost in all of our political correctness.

Don't get Greedy

I never would have put this term together with training with kettlebells. I always associated the word greed with money. To me, this word means that you want more than you deserve, or more than your share of something. In this case it would be reps.

When I first started getting help with my training, the progress came fast. I was getting to new levels every week and it really felt amazing to me. Having never really trained n this fashion, I fully expected the fat progress to continue, uninterrupted. So one day I was talking to VF and I was feeling sort of braggadocios.... anyway, he asked me what my goal was and I said something not really within my scope and he said to me, "don't get greedy". This was a polite way of  letting me know I was in dreamland! 

One time I convinced myself that I "should" be able to do a certain number of reps. Now this was not based on any actual numbers from my training, I hatched this idea in my head, and it was based on dreams. Well it didn't go good and I hurt myself. Later when I was telling VF how I was screwed up, he goes, "ok, what's screwed up, exactly"? I started talking about how my shoulder hurts in the front... He goes, " no, you see, your shoulder is not the problem actually... It is is your head that is broken, this happened because you get greedy"!  

Thursday 4/28 training

Jerks
16kg OAJ 20/20
20kg OAJ 15/15
2x20kg 2 min 12,12
2x24kg 2 min 12,12
2x28kg 3 min 8,8,8
2x28kg 3 min 8,8,8
2x28kg 3 min 8,8,8
2x24kg 2 min 12,12
3 min rest between all sets... tougher than it looks...

30 day challenge.. Completed

Today was day 30! I made it happen... like 90 plus miles later... I feel great, looking forward to the next 30 day challenge...

Not my Problem

Due to the savage winter we had here in Boston, some sections of road are really torn up bad. I was in town last week waiting to meet somebody and I noticed something interesting. The section of road I was parked near had some severe potholes... I mean big bad craters! Most of the traffic in that area is heavy trucks. What occurred to me was that the guys that didn't own the trucks, like Fed Ex guys and UPS guys and Drivers that worked for large trucking outfits, did not care about slowing down or maybe taking it easy through the rough part.. they seemed to be totally indifferent to the huge holes they were crashing into. The others end of the spectrum was guys that own the rig and need to pay for any damage they do, they have a vested interest in keeping the damage low. You see tons of caution used by these drivers.

What doesn't make sense to me is people who train like the guy driving the borrowed truck! I see and hear about people that seem to take pride in the fact that they are doing damage to themselves. Somehow they feel like they are Hardcore athletes that blow themselves up in order to improve? Your Body is not somebody else's problem, when it breaks, you get the bill. Senseless, self inflicted beatings are nothing to brag about. Not doing damage, while  making progress is the Goal.

Tues training

4/26/11 

24kg snatch 8 minutes 16 rpms

10 minutes rest

20kg 10 minutes 16 rpms 

day 29 around the loop.. got some new kicks.. I like them

Best Grip Tip

Relax, For most people the weakest link on snatches is the grip. Once the grip goes, you are toast. I have seen ultra fit people flop way earlier than they should have because of the grip failure. I am not going to give you all kinds of clever grip building exercises to help. The reason for early grip failure more often than not is OVERGRIPPING the bell. That means you are using too much force, too quickly, which leads to early finish.

I have seen some unreal snatch sets done by high level guys, what amazes me is that the chalk on the bell is still perfect afterward. I saw Valery Fedorenko do 150/150 snatches in 20 minutes with the 24kg and he didn't wear any chalk off of the bell. Ivan Denisov snatched a 24kg KB for 35 minutes straight 730 reps with one hand change and his hands looked perfect afterward.

It is clear to me now that the key is not specifically increasing grip strength that really helps, it is grabbing the handle as gently as possible that is Key. Imagine that you are catching an egg. Your grip will last longer that way.

Monday training

4/25/11

Day 28.. I did the loop first today because the weather is was supposed to get worse (rain) later... Jogged the whole lap today.. felt pretty good..  no records today though...

jerks today
2x20 2 min 14,16
2x24 2 min 12,12
2x28 2 min 10,9
2x28 3 min 8,8,8
2x24 3 min 16,14,12
2 to 3 minutes rest between sets... My legs were flat from the jogging today... I wanted to do 2x3 minute sets with the 28kgs... that the way it goes...

I Don't Know

Has anyone else noticed how many experts there are around now? The thing that is so amazing is that they don't just know about one thing... Nope, they have skills in all areas, nutritional, spiritual, GPP, SPP, powerlifting, strength training, fat blasting, mobility, agility, you name it they have done it or have learned all about  it from the guy that started it back in the day!! Lucky for you, you met them!! You are in great hands, because if the one thing doesn't work, they have plenty of other stuff to try out on you! 

I love when a person admits that they don't know something. I went to this chiropractor one time, he and his wife did good adjustments, then they started selling supplements, and classes, and wellness seminars. They developed a following of patients, then figured out that they could sell other stuff to these people. But what ended up happening was that it got to be a pain in the ass to go there because they were always pushing some kind of bologna on you... Magnets or pillows, and water filtration stuff... Books...

 

I ended up going back to a chiropractor I had gone to before. This guy doesn't sell anything, you don't need an appointment, you don't even need to tell this guy what is wrong, you lie down and he adjusts you... No sales talk, no vitamins and no nonsense. He doesn't give dating advice or any sort of life coaching. He doesn't care if you make another appointment. He says only come back when you feel like it... and he is always busy...  I have deliberately attempted to get this guy to give me advice on things outside of his area... He always says, "I don't know about that stuff"!   I Love that!

Happy Easter

Today is day 27. Woke up early and got the lap out of the way before family stuff. The weather was beautiful today for a change. I haven't decided what the next 30 day challenge is going to be yet. It is going to be outside cardio for at least 1 hour a day... I have been itching to do some bike riding... Mtn and road...
Have a nice Easter!

Moving forward

Today is day 26 of the 30 day challenge. I am looking forward to a day off soon! When I started this I just wanted to commit to a doable thing for 30 days and just see what happens... A few different things have happened. First of all, I feel healthier and fitter. My cardiovascular levels have improved and my kettlebell lifting has also improved. I really haven't lost much weight.. like about 5 pounds, but I feel like my body is changing. The thing about improving your fitness levels is that it is addictive, I mean when I go around the loop, Im thinking of other stuff I want to do as a result of being fitter... Anyway, I am going to come up with a new 30 day challenge after this one.
One other big benefit of this was that my Girlfriend did 90% of the loops with me. She plays basketball and has no interest in lifting Kettlebells, so this was our first time doing some training together. It is something we both look forward to... Nice way to wrap up the workday...

Friday training

4/22/11

20kg snatch 10 minutes 16 rpms 80/80
15 min rest
20kg snatch 10 minutes 16 rpms 80/80

day 25 around the pond... sucked... but I did it.

One arm jerk.

The One arm jerk should be a major part of your training. It doesn't matter what event you compete in, this movement has huge benefits and carry over to all kettlebell lifting. Here are some reasons I like this exercise...

1. Great warm up move with lighter bell, wakes up your CNS.

2, Lower risk than 2 bells, perfect for when you are just starting out.

3. It allows people to find a workable rack on one side, allowing the "rack challenged" to get some relief and extend there ability to stay under load... Less overwhelming than 2 bells parked on your chest.

4. The ballistic nature of the jerk is the same with one bell or 2, so there is big carryover to doubles.

5. Using a  heavier bell for assistance work exposes differences between sides, like flexibility or stability

weaknesses that need to be addressed.

6. One bell also allows you the ability focus on your overhead position. Strong lockouts and fast fixation are the key to getting a fast count from a judge, one arm jerks are the place to really dig into this aspect of your game. Overhead rest is a a skill that is developed while doing one armed jerks. Fixating like a pro is a highly athletic skill that takes practice.. Use One arm jerks to address these points.

Thursday Training

4/21/11

Jerks
2x20 16,16
2 min rest between all sets
2x24 15,15
2x28 10,8
2x28 10,9,9
2x24 12,12,12

Day 24 around the Pond...

How about the bad days?

Some days just don't go well. The fact is that training has to be progressive in order to work, that means it gets harder and harder... the loads increase, the duration increases, the intensity increases. But you are standing there in your workout costume, trying to get your head correct, you bend over to grab some light bells and they seem like they are screwed to the floor!!  Oh Boy, now what?  You have specific numbers with much heavier bells to hit... it went well yesterday?? You haven't had one of these days in a long time?

At this point, you can only do 2 things that make sense. You can ignore the real signals that you are getting from your body and force yourself to make it do the work. Or you can intelligently read the signals and let go of your original plan,  take the pressure off yourself and have a "fun" session doing something light and enjoyable. I have done both, the second way is smarter. 

The real trick here is being able to recognize the difference between normal mental push-back, and legit signals of potential trouble.

Day 23

No bells, jogged around the pond... Felt pretty good.

Skill Building

The day you are all done with skill building is the day you should hang it up. Ivan Denisov told me that he is constantly thinking about how to do things better all the time. Denisov trains with light bells and most weeks he dedicates one whole training session to working on technique only. Can you imagine that? The most amazing lifter on the planet doing long cycle with a pair of 12kg? They are very light for me, what must they feel like to him? He makes them look exactly the same as the 32kg.... Everything is the same light or heavy.

Take a free lesson from possibly the best lifter ever, use the light bells to develop the correct movement patterns, always be skill building while lifting. Lighter weights remove the distraction of effort, which allows you to fully focus on improving the quality of your movement...

Tues training

4/19/11

20kg snatch 10 minutes 16 rpms 80/80
10 min rest
16kg snatch 10 minutes 16 rpms 80/80

day 22 around the pond, in the rain...

Power- _______ ?

I don't know about you, but nothing sets off my Bullshit  alarm like the word Power in front of stuff... Like power-shake, power-walk, power-nap, power-yoga, power- lunch, power- meeting.. You get me??  This term is used to punctuate the fact that it was NOT the regular stuff, it definitely was not the average shit that you would do.. it was high level, no nonsense, intense activity that the general public is just not capable of...

I wonder why we cannot start some new applications for the power prefix? Like Power-talker, Power-Poser, power- excuse maker, power-bullshitter, power-self congratulator?

Monday training

4/18
day 21 around the pond... walked/ jogged..

jerks

2x20 jerks 3 min 13 rpms
2 min rest
2x24 jerks 3 min 12 rpms
3 min rest
2x28 jerks 3 min 9 rpms

32 OAJ 15/15

legs were dead after the 2nd minute on jerking the 28kg

Have you ever met yourself?

Have you ever been all fired up about some new method or scheme to get into Maximum Physical Condition? MPC... (Patent pending)  If you are anything like me, I know that you have... That means you have watched the clips, researched the history, maybe even done some testing on small animals. In the middle of one of these manic rants I was having... I started to explain to my Special Ladyfriend the new program and all that it would entail... the hours, the diet, the special supplements, the roadwork, the stretching, the herbal teas, the liver packs, the raw drinks, the 600 dollar blender, the life coach, the  breathing, the intervals, the chalk, the special certifications, my trip overseas to see the guru, the new shoes, the magnets, the videos, the raw cheeses, the Farmers market... You getting me?

Anyway, during  this one particular rant I was hit with one of the most sobering comments I have ever been hit with... She goes." Have you ever met yourself"? In other words... WHo are you shitting?

Day 20

Took a nice lazy walk around today... Felt pretty good.

Do Something... Everyday

I read an article about Clint Eastwood in Muscle & Fitness a long time ago. Now here is a guy that I find really impressive, he was old back then and still in better shape than most Americans half his age...  Anyway, in this write up, he talked about the stuff he does to stay fit, he lifts weights, hits a heavy bag, jumps rope, body weight exercises, walked, jogged, played golf a lot... He was kind of loose about what kind of training he did, The only thing he was Rigid about... Do something, everyday.

Saturday Training

Day 19 of the pond challenge.. I was a little banged up from yesterday... More than a little, to tell the truth..
About an hour afterwards...

Fitness Protocol...
12kg snatch 6 min one switch 20 rpms
3 min rest
16kg snatch 6 min one swithc 18 rpms
3 min rest
20kg snatch 6 min one switch 16 rpms

Thats it for today...

This is from my Old Blog.. on 4/29/10

Now What?

Ok... lets suppose now that you have been training with kettlebells for a little while now. Chances are you might have taken a workshop, gone to get certified... bought DVD’s ....You study YouTube videos of Russian Lifters, You have totally forgotten about golf, tennis, biking or whatever silly sports you used to do before this obsession happened... Now you are training with your own Kettlebells, you bought the shoes, you have chalk all over the place... Your spouse is pretty sure you have completely lost your mind with this whole thing.... Does any of this sound familiar?  Is This you? The good news is... you are not alone...

I am going to go on a little bit of rant right now about what I know to be true about kettlebell training...

1. 1.This sport is fucking hard!!! I know that you heard all about the mind blowing benefits of lifting kettlebells... but it is hard to get better at the sport... I though we should get that out of the way first.  
2. 2.There is a huge difference between exercising and training for a sport... Zoomba will not help you on the platform..
3. 3.Training wise Long Cycle is less demanding on your time than the Biathalon...
4. 4.No matter what event you do, one arm jerks will help develop correct overhead position... Great lift with huge carryover in all competition lifts, including the snatch.
5. 5.Don’t major in minor things. Assistance work is just that, to assist, not a substitute for your main set. 
6. 6.If you train alone, (like many of us) Video your sets and watch them daily!! I have busted myself doing stuff I thought I had fixed a long time ago...
7. 7.Fundamentals are the most important. For some reason people are very attracted to shortcuts the secret is work!! But keep it down...Shhhhhh!!!!
8. 8.Training has to be progressive... In order to do that, you have to track it... Write down your training sessions... Also write down anything that might be effecting your training.. poor sleep, feel sick, ate crap... It all has an effect
9. 9.Ask for help... This has made the biggest difference for me... I have seen plenty of very talented lifters go by the wayside because they were unable to ask for help and follow the directions... They get frustrated or injured and move along.
10. 10.It really helps to have a support system of like minded people around you... very easy to do now with the facebook and  internet groups... Be careful, people are making money off of coaching now... check out your coach before you send any money... 
11. 11.At first you will make great progress with just some regular training... the longer you stay with it.. the slower the gains and the tougher it gets... Kettlebells will expose your weaknesses.. this doesn’t feel good!! Nobody ever orders humble pie.. You just end up with a big plate of it in front of you mysteriously... 
12. 12.The snatch is the funnest lift in the beginning... once you realize how many you need to do... it becomes very difficult.
13. 13.Training 5 days per week is the best way to go about making progress. One money set per day is best... You don’t want to over do it, but you cannot sandbagg it either... working at about 85 to 90% of your capacity is good.
14. 14.your mind usually quits way before your body does... Mental toughness is a must develop quality...
15. 15.The order of sound progression is Time, Pace you work, and finally weight.. If you cannot go 10 minutes snatching the 16 kg at 15/16 rpms.. forget the 20 or the the 24... 
16. 16.People have been supposedly lifting these things for a very long time... If you are getting injured, it is a signal that you are doing something wrong... Kettlebells are only metal... they are not out to get you!!
17. 17.Better than training is practicing... People that exercise get bored easily.. they need variety.. that is fine... This is a sport and like every sport we have to practice... People that change up the training to keep it fun or interesting are full of shit... 
18. 18.Even when you do everything correctly it takes time to get good... Be patient, focus on getting great at your event and diligently work your ass off... the results are the by product of doing it well.

Day 18

It was a beautiful day here today.. I jogged the whole thing today and to my surprise took 2 minutes off my best time from tues... I am excited about this... time 43:30... 

Bells tomorrow...

Overcoaching?

When a person reaches out to me for help, as a coach I need to remember a few important things. The first is that the person is frustrated and confused. If they could have "you tubed" there way out of the problem, they wouldn't be talking to me...My job is to get to the bottom of the real fundamental issue and simplify the person's life around what has to happen. 

A good coach will not try to fix all of your problems in one whack. I usually give a person 1 thing to work on at a time.  My job is to help the person improve, not impress them with my ability to pinpoint every single technical nuance they are making just to hear myself talk... 

Thursday Training

4/14/11
Woke up feeling he effects of my "Hot lap" yesterday...
I wanted to do a longer set of jerks today, like 7 or 8 minutes.. so, here is what happened
2x24 jerk 12,12,10,8,8,8,8,8
My legs went completely dead after 2 minutes... Had to scale it back to 8 rpms...

Did my lap for the 17th day in a row... it was slow and ugly...

"Not going to die today"

I see this guy about 3 or 4 days a week around town. He has had like 4 heart attacks, cancer 3 different times, and he is like 80 something years old. When I see him I ask him, "how you doing Bruce?'... And he will say, " I feel like shit, I can't eat, I can't swallow, I can't sleep, I can't shit, somedays I can't get to the bathroom by myself.... "It sucks," he goes... At the end he always says the same thing... "But, I ain't going to fucking die today'!  WOW!
It just hit me how long he has been saying this to me... I bet he has been saying this to me for over 2 years!! Imagine that? 2 years of suffering and all that misery, now he is driving himself around and taking care of himself, and it all comes from his mentality of. "Not going to die today"!  Not sure why I thought of him today, but I am glad I did... People like this keep things in perspective for me..

Day 16... New record!!

Today is proof that how you feel has NO bearing on how you can perform. It has been raining here all day, it is about mid 40s, raw and miserable. I had been thinking about my lap around the pond all day and I have not been looking forward to it. I got home from work at like 3:30. I came in the house and changed into my stuff, then I laid down on the couch for a quick little "napa roosooski"... 2 hours later... I got up, and headed outside into the weather... I walked for about 100 yards and started jogging to stay warm.. I was slightly underdressed... anyway, long story short.. I had the best lap time ever!! I just put my head down found my rhythm and worked...
So this lap is approximately 3 miles. The first time I timed how long it took to walk around here.. It was 1 hour 8 minutes.... I jogged 2/3 the way around it one day and my time was 54:35 seconds... I was all busted up the next day. A couple days later, I walked this at 58 minutes, and the next day I was fine. So I figured walking is more efficient and sustainable. A few days later, I walked it as fast as I could and did it in 52:40. Today I jogged it the whole way my time was 45:25 seconds... Pretty Happy about this!!
Amazing what can happen in 16 days..

Grip Killer!

One of the biggest, if not the biggest problems that murders your grip faster than anything else is rushing or cheating your backswing. Not allowing the Bell to finish it's natural pendulum causes a whole host of problems. The main one is grip, timing this wrong can
make a 24kg kettlebell feel like a 40kg bell.

It pays to learn how to relax and just "Let" the bell finish it's backwards motion. Yanking too early will also cause you to mis-time the leg extention which leads to more totally avoidable difficulties...
Notice how your weight shifts during the backswing from the balls of your feet to the heels, then the bell starts to move forward, your body weight shifts back onto the balls of your feet. Wait until you feel this last shift forward to apply force.. This will put you in the optimal position to efficiently get the bell where you want it to go UP.. Not Out!

1/2 way point

Today was day 15 of my 30 day challenge. I wore new sneakers and that always make you feel faster. 

Anyway, Im feeling fitter and have more energy than I did 2 weeks ago. I am looking forward to see how this next 15 days goes... My next race is a 5k May 7th. I like the progress I have made so far...

Kettlebells today..

Snatch
16kg 4 min 18 rpms

24kg 6 min 18 rpms..

Thats all...

Buckshot or Laser?

I read this somewhere online, it is from Dan John. He was talking about a problem he had with his hip. He had a breakthrough only when he stopped doing a bunch of stuff that should help his hip and started to really do some intensely focussed mobility work to attack the exact issue. So his quote was " I was using the Buckshot approach when I needed a Laser".

I have been guilty of this in my training. Focussing on your weakspot sucks, but that is what separates a champ from a chump...

Monday training..

4/11/11
Jerks
2x20kg 3 min 12 rpms
3 min rest between all sets
2x24kg 3 min 12 rpm
2x28kg 3 min 12 rpm
2x32kg 3 min 6,6,6. Tough!

Day 14 Around the pond... Today's loop was really tough, as I went right after my set with the 32kg... My legs just didn't want to work... Took like 40 minutes to get them feeling normal...
Glad it's in the books...
Who's idea was this anyway?

Brand New Week

Mondays are usually a big training day for me. This is for a couple of reasons. The first, I usually don't train on the weekends with kettlebells, so I am rested and anxious to get back to it. The second is no matter how bad I screwed up the week before... This is a brand new week. I need to let go of any nonsense that didn't go my way, or targets I didn't hit and refocus on the week ahead... I like to think of Mondays as a sort of a mental re-boot, where you can execute better, train smarter, be more efficient, take better care of yourself... For me... these things all start on Mondays...

Day 13..

So it's almost halfway to the 30 day goal... I woke up feeling dinged up a little bit... Not going to think too much about it... just having some coffee and then it is out the door. I am looking forward to getting this lap behind me... I have a feeling no speed records will be broken today...

Race Day...

Today was the first Road race of the year. 1 mile run. My goal was to not hurt myself and have some fun.. I am not thinking I want to turn into some kind of runner.... I finished in 12:35... Not great but not bad.. I now have a baseline to work from... I will be trucking around the pond later...

Friday training

4/8/11

24kg snatch 6 min 20 rpms

Lap around the Pond...
Snatches felt good... a little cardio goes along way...

Breathe at the top..

When you have a kettlebell or Kettlebells overhead, train yourself to relax and breathe. I see way to many people hold there breath and rush the fixation Processs to drop the bells back into the rack position. This is a huge mistake. It is counter intuitive to relax when you have a hunk o metal over you most prized possession...(your head) but, this is the perfect place to take a couple of nice big unrestricted breathes. Learn to shift the load from your muscles to skeletal system. This will help to extend your time under the bells...

Thursday training

I did my Lap around the pond before I lifted because it was so nice out today.
Afterwards
2x24 jerks 7 min 10/11 rpms..
That's all...
My legs didn't really want to fire correctly after my trip around the pond... Had to do alot of lighter one armed jerks to get things working right...

Diesel Baby

So I'm 10 days into my 30 day challenge. So far so good! I find myself actually looking forward to getting out there now. I think the trick for me is not making it too hard. I am not putting all kinds of pressure on myself to cut my time down every day. Some days I go quick, some days I suffer around the loop. The main point is to be steady, like a diesel engine.

I know the experts say that steady state aerobic training is a waste of time and all, but high intensity sprint intervals right now would spell disaster for me... So I will keep chugging around the pond for the next 20 days... I am feeling better for sure...

VF Sporting the Shirt...

Are you Stuck?

I know that nobody talks about getting stuck.. I imagine it is bad for your imagine as a great trainer to talk about sticking points or even worse, reversals... Nobody wants to talk about going backwards, but it happens... For the self coached athlete, these reversals can be devastating... What usually happens is performance suffers, so the athlete blames themselves for not training hard enough, so they return to training with a renewed level of effort to improve... Surely upping the intensity will fix it... The truth is not always...
The first rule of getting out of the hole you are in is, "STOP DIGGING"!! If you have been working at an intense level for a long time, you may need to back off and re-evaluate things. Often times the self coached athlete is unable to see what is really lacking... I remember once when I was racing bikes that I wanted to get better at contesting sprints in criterium races...So, I went to work doing speed work, fast pedaling, sprints, explosive starts, and jumps at speed... I got quicker and more powerful, but I still wasn't there at the end of the races... What was lacking was my overall fitness level needed to be elevated in order to not be so spent at the end of the race so that I could cash in on my power, which wasn't lacking at all... So the answer I though was more speedwork... the real answer was more volume of steady state riding to elevate aerobic fitness levels... Exactly the opposite of what I though..

Tues training

4/5

quick one today..

16kg snatch 4 min 20 rpms
2min rest
20kg snatch 4 min 20 rpms
2 min rest
24kg snatch 4 min 20 rpms

I went for day 8 around the pond... I am feeling busted up... I walked like halfway them jogged like 1 mile and and walked the last half mile... I am delusional thinking I am going to go from basically no jogging to jogging everyday 3 miles... So I am sticking with my goal of dragging my fat ass around the pond every day for 30 days... Day 8 is in the books...

Stress...

Training is placing the body under Stress. The body adapts to this stress, we make progress. The more stress I can handle, the stronger or fitter I become. Training must be progressive, that means systematically upping stress levels to get better results. The problem is that life is full of stress. With work and deadlines, quotas, financial targets, mortgages, kids, commute, economy, radiation in milk... You get the idea... We can only handle so much pressure before we snap or get sick or shut down... SO how are we supposed to handle progressively larger amounts of training stress? When we are already MAXED OUT??

I have found that developing and adhering to rhythms really help to simplify my life. There are many things outside of our control, it is pointless to try to manage those things. Let us focus on what we can control. You already know this stuff, but it cannot be repeated enough... Have food in your fridge before you start the week. After training you gotta eat, scrambling around when you are crazy hungry = bad decisions... Train, eat, go to bed, and wake at the same times. Have hard days and easier training days, I know everyone out there is busting it up it every day... Great for them... I need to balance out high intensity out with lower intensity...
Push/ Pull movements, this is self explanatory... Doing the same thing on the same days is another rhythm that helps.. Like jerks monday, snatch tues, Jogging wens... I am not a human behavior expert, but I know that people do better when they know what to expect. Since I am a people, I should stop surprising myself with unnecessary drama and suspense, it takes away from progress... Strive to keep things regular and simple, this I have found to be a great help in training...

Monday training

sunday lap around the pond.. felt good.. jogged 3/4 of the way...

Monday..4/4

2x20 jerks 2 mins 14/14
2x24 jerks 3 min 12/12/14
2x28 jerks 5 min 9 rpms
2x32 jerks 2 min 7,7
jog around the pond....

Laurels

"To Rest on one' s laurels, to be content with one's past or present honors or achievements"....
Perhaps the quickest way to end up circling the drain...

30 day challenge

Ok so here is the deal... For 30 days straight.. No rest days or off days... I am going to drag my fat ass around the pond behind my house. It is a nice trail that is about 3 miles long. My goal is simple, jog ,walk, crawl, hop... whatever it takes to get around it for 30 days..I have no idea how I came up with this time frame.. I guess it comes from knowing that it is going to take at least that long to have any real effect on my overall fitness level.. The 30 days is a manageable goal. Basically it is a trick designed by me for me to trick me into doing this... Today is day 6... First day it was kind of exciting because I have never been around this pond before... It started to look more Like a lake actually... funny how that works.. I started thinking what's the difference between a pond and a lake? WHo gets to decide this? Day 2 little stiff, but went with my girlfriend and we jogged most of the way, I was really stiff the next day, Getting out of bed was pretty comical... Day 3 I went alone and had all kinds of unfriendly internal dialogue, I just ignored the noise and keep walking... it is a bout 8/10ths of a mile to get to the train... By the time I reached the trail I was feeling loose and jogged the whole way in the woods... Day 4.. miserable.. Definitely feeling busted up from the day before... It snowed enough to have to wear boots... This was a forced march that pretty much sucked... Day 5, I went again with my girlfriend and suffered my way around... I had been sick the night before and forced myself to get it done... So today is day 6... Gotta get out there... Have a good day!

Training.. Friday/saturday

4/1-4/2 friday-saturday

friday i was feeling kinda strange, decided to go for a walk around the pond behind my house.. It is like 3 miles..
when I got back i started to feel weak and off... then I got the worst case of diarrhea ever... I was up most of the night.. it was aweful... i know charming...

Saturday.. slept most of the day... felt better after.. not 100%...
Needed to do some snatches...
20kg snatch 8 min 16 rpms.. glad I did this
walked around the pond...3 miles...

We are pretty lucky...

I am sure that without the internet, there would be no Kettlebells in the US.. Think about it, no Youtube, no Google, no Yahoo, No Facebook? Seriously we see fresh training and competition footage in hours of it taking place all the way on the other side of the planet? That was totally unbelievable not that long ago...
I remember seeing the first competition videos of Valery Fedorenko posted on youtube... MInd Boggling.. He jerked 2x32kg bells 130 reps... I tried to clean 2x32kg bells in my living room and almost face planted into the sheetrock... Previously the closest I got to that World was in a 38 dollar book about pickles juice, vodka and hard living comrades... Seems comical now..

Well, as it goes in Life, you solve one problem, you discover another one. The first problem was lack of information, now we are over run with it. I'm sure you know... it is not all equal..

I encourage you to investigate and try new methods, this is the way to find your Path... Do not allow others to dictate what is best or not best... Time and results will be the final convincer....

Attack the Snatch!

It is easy to enjoy something that you are good at. Seriously, who wants to look like a goofball trying to do something that showcases your weakness? Nobody that I know...for instance, A lot of people prefer long cycle over Biathalon training due to the technical nature of the snatch. This is why we are seeing more and more men and most of the women gravitating towards long cycle competitions. Long cycle is more forgiving technically than biathalon. The biathalon is made up of the jerk and snatch... The jerk requires explosive power and flexibility,while the snatch requires technical proficiency and high level of cardiovascular fitness to succeed...so most people with high fitness aren't really that powerful and powerful people naturally lack endurance...so, most people are better at one lift than the other one... I am stronger in the jerk than the snatch, so my weakness is cardiovascular fitness... Guess what I like to train and what I hate to train? Correct... I like to train jerks and I dread snatch training.. Why? Because I like to do what I'm good at and I duck what I'm Not so good at....
In conclusion, I NEED a higher level of cardiovascular conditioning in order to improve my snatch numbers... And you can bet that once this starts happening, I will magically start to look forward to snatching... Funny how that works...
Train what you need not what you like...