A vacation from Kettlebells?

April 30th.

"He enjoys true leasure who has time to improve his souls estate"

David H. Thoreau.

WO du jour:

Warmup: joint mobility, 100 abmats, 100 air squats, 50 ring pushups.

Deadlift: 5,5,5, 3,3,3, 1,1,1,1,1,1 reps ( form is great and pull was fast)

Deload back after session

second session: Bike ride. Cold for this time of year, so the pace was hard. Working the hills. 15 miles.

One of the gym members asked me to make them up a routine for when they are on vacation. This is a good trend as the person do not want to back off of training nor regreass in hard earned body conditioning. I do this often and have a series of basic routines if nothing is available in regards to equip. Therefore I suggest a confourtable set of exercicse and some cardio based on location, so the person can contine progressing if so desired.

However, only the most movtivated train as I suggest. The majority do some exercise which is good, but most require some recovery down time anyway. Besides, its a vacation so you need to detach some from your regular lifestyle, including hardcore fitness.

Planned over training

April 29th.

" To be warn out is to be renewed."

Lao-Tzu

WO du Jour:

Warmup: bands and mobility

Heavy Kettlebell Thrusters: 15 singles starting with 16g and ending with 32Kg.

Most of my training can be construed as over training by the casual observer, However, It is planned and calculated to be random overload, light load and recovery. Then on occasion, when physical adoption is working well, an extreme session is performed to see if the recover stage is working. I really can't nor do I like the classical Periodization, for it is too structured and may not bring the level of fitness intended, based on other activities within my lifestyle that impact my energy reserves.

Lets move outside

April 28Th.


" No price is to high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself."
F.Nietzsche

WO du jour:

for time with no rest between sets.
100 meters row
25 pullups
200 meter rowing
50 pushups
300 meters rowing
75 lunges
400 meters rowing.
100 air squats
300 meters rowing
75 lunges
200 meter rowing
50 pushups
100 meters rowing
25 pullups

time: 24:54 ( the lunges really put the pain where it belongs)

Second session:
heavy bag
tai chi
300 situps

Since the weather has been great in the last week or so, I been doing most of my training outside and my skin is beginning to go back to that South American look. To add to my "garage gym" this year, I will be installing some pullup bars and climbing ropes and an area for juggling kettlebells . Once the bars are installed this week, should have every thing I need to train, inside or out. Most of my resistance and sometimes endurance training requires only a small area anyway, as most exercise is done with Kettlebells, Dumbells, OL weights, ropes, chains, boxes, jump ropes, boxing bags etc. There is nothing wrong with doing your training in a gym or health club, but its anyway good to get outside for fresh air and natural sun light.

Kettlebell change of pace

April 27th.

"to avoid criticism, do noting, say noting, be nothing."

Elbert Hubber

WO du jour:

On the H.S. track this morning for some run sprinting and Kettlebell intervals. Overcast and damp conditions, so it was a good day for running.

2 miles of sprinting the straight ways and jog the bends. after each 400 meters, do 20 kettlebell snatches. Some old dude was watching me, but did not inquire what I was doing. I wonder why!

200 kettlebell snatches total.

Running much better since I started to do more sprinting and less jogging.

There was an article in the local paper entitled " Newly paved trail Disappoints" April 27th Sunday Middletown Times Herald-Record The large picture with the article shows a lady on roller blades and a gentlemen on a bicycle on the local rail trail. What the lady was complaining about, was the resurfacing was not to her liking, by being a little grainy.

My first impression was I was disappointed that two mature adults were rollerblading and biking without any helmets or protective gear, which to me is a poor example for young people who use the trail system. What? you don't want to have you hair messed up! Well if you fall on that ruff trail and hit your head or skin you knees, the local emergency responders will have to trek in an come to your aid. Stupid is stupid does.

Getting to her complaint, yes the local trail was resurfaced last year, using a sealing process, at a cost of $21,000 for about 2 miles of work. Great price and it was an improvement over the holes cracks and bumps as the trail matures. Is it real smooth? no, but it is much better that what was before. I used the trail often and don't find it hard to bike and it is a little grainy for roller blading, but so are twigs, stones, leaves, dog poo, and other debris that litter the trail.

The trail is a multi use trail year round subjected to the weather, so conditions will never be perfect. If you want a perfect trail, then you have to go to a velodrome or speed skating track, where the surface is excellent but they will require you to wear protective equipment.

There is plans in the future to expand this local trail system by adding many more miles to this section and others in the state. However, if people continue to make maintenance and construction an unpleasant or unappreciated effort, then we will not see many more miles of these wonderful trail for all to enjoy. I would rather that the monies, time and planning goes into increasing the trail length, then pristine resurfacing of existing system. Lady get a life!

Kettlebell GVT

April 26th.

" Good advise is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example."

Unknown

WO du jour:

Morning session: 18 mile ride at stiff pace and attack hills in the saddle. Cool temps so it was a good ride with little stress. Heart rate at 75 percent or so. Good way to get rid of 1000 Kcal.

Afternoon session: GTV: No rest between sets or exercise single arm each rep.

Kettlebell clean and press. 20Kg for 10 sets.

Kettlebell single arm row. 36 Kg for 10 sets.

I just heard something crazy the other day, where a lady wanted to loose weight and went to a doctor to see if he would not do bariatric surgery. However, doctors will only take the real obesity examples with high morbid fat percentages. Well this lady did not have the required tonnage, so doc refused to do the deal. So what does this fine lady to? pig out and gain the required weight to meet the criteria. Marvelous, simply freaking marvelous!

Time for a quickie

April 24th.

" The goal of life is living in agreement with nature."

Zeno 250 BC.

WO du Jour:

Morning bike ride. 19 miles, 16.8 MPH pace. very good ride and starting to get my grove back but a long way to go.

Afternoon: basic "300" session.for time.

25 pullups

50 reps 135#deadlift

50 pushups

50 reps box jumps

50 reps 2-16kg kettlebell push jerks.

50 KTE

25 Pullups

13:58 best time ever. Pullups still suck and the KTE are too much hanging like a monkey.

I had not done the 300 routine for sometime since I started using more Crossfit. I almost seem too easy. Anyway it was just a session where I only had a few minutes to spare.

Hard kettlebell push-pull

April. 22nd.

"Spring is a true reconstructionist."

H. Timrod

WO du jour:

warmup kettlebell "griptastic", heavy bag, battling ropes.

Singles of each with short rest between each.

KB weighted pullups: 10kg-24kg. (24kg was the most I ever used for pullup prior)

KB Press: 12kg-36kg. ( the 36kg was slow but the most I done in a long time)

second session: 20 mile bike ride on the Rail trail. Heart rate at 75 percent most of the time.

while riding today I recalled an article in the local paper on the NYS parks commissioners has plans to have government and Private monies to convert 700 new miles of rail trails.Well, what are you waiting for? If they don't act soon the rail beds with be taken over by other land uses. Rails that have been converted so far are widely used by all types of recreation and added to the quality of life.......something increasing becoming remote.

Power to the people

April 21.

" The great secret of power is never to will to do more than you can accomplish "

Ibsen

WO du jour:

warmup: heavy bag, rope swings with KB, joint mobility, KB abmat, pushups, air squats.

Back squats: 5sets of 5

dead lifts: 5sets of 5

Second session: bike ride for 13 miles. maintained a 80% heart rate. attacked the hills at 90%.

Easy rider.

April, 20th.

"pleasure is natures test, her sign of approval. When man is happy he is in harmony with himself and his environment."

Shelley

WO du jour:

warm up: joint mobility, jump rope.

4x5 min. sessions on heavy bag with hands and kicking. (full gear: gloves, mouth piece, and shin guards)

DB renegade Rowing: 5x5 with 75#

KB Floor press: 5x5 with 32Kg.

took a long ride on my new HD motorcycle. Now riding a motorcycle may appear like an easy activity, sitting on ones butt tooling around the countryside. However, you must use all your muscles as you would be riding a horse. Years ago, when I was not in the condition I am in today, coming back from a long ride, I would be stiff and sore. today's ride was sure pleasure! Need I say any more.

Where is your package?

April 19th.

" come without a "package".so stay home until you get one.

boss man.

WO du Jour:

20 mile bike ride in the morning. warmer so my heart monitor works as you can now sweat a little. 16.5 MPH average. monitored heart rate on hills. Good ride.

afternoon session:

4 sets of "Helen" times 5 with situps (20 sets total)

4 sets of long cyle with 2-24kg Kettlebells for 10 reps after each 5 sets of "Helen"

34min.

.

Note: do not try this unless you can handle high work volume.

My former boss, when I was working would always insist that anyone who worked for him, when required to attend a staff meeting, that you come with something in your hand to contribute to the meeting process. He would say to anyone attending one of his staff meetings, if you had noting in your hand, he would ask " where is your package"? No he did not care about you personal package, it was journals, data, examples, materals that could be used during the meetings.

Getting to my point. I see most people enter the gym with nothing in their hands except for a smile. To be productive in your training you need a few items of a personal nature, that the gym does not supply as they are sized and maintained for sanitary reasons by its owner for training support.

In that regard, if you do boxing or mixed martial arts, you will need month guard, gloves, shin protectors, hand raps etc, for personal protection. If you are a runner, you will need several pairs of running shoes depend on the distance. If you are a weight lifter, you will need a leather belt, knee raps, solid shoes, and chalk.

Therefore If you are doing an aerobic class, you would not do the class in running shoes or combat boots. If you weight train, and you don't have a belt, straps, or wrist raps, you may not be able to lift as much.

All VO2 is not created equally.

April 17th.

" Anyone who believes the competitive spirit in America is dead has never been in a supermarket when the cashier opens another checkout line."

Ann launders.

WO du jour: Heavy bag warm up: Outside today.

kettlebll Swings:
16kg 100 reps one set.
24Kg 200 reps sets of 20
32kg. reps 100 sets of 10


Did " Angie" 11:42 sec. Pullups still suck.



I was reading Alwyn Cosgrove article on VO2. In that he reminded me that VO2 fitness like strength is very Pacific to the activity. The great example he used what Greg Lamont who we all know has one of the highest VO2 recorded and yet when he ran the New York Marthon he only came in all most 900th place and wasted. What we tend to forget that aerobic fitness in not that transferable form one activity to the next. Therefore just because you can run a sub 32 10k does not mean you can time trial 40k in less than one hour.

Muscle efficiency must come first, then the aerobic effect imprinted to that action. There will be some carryover, but not at the same level.

ride the rails

April 16:
" Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work."
Horace.

WO du jour
18 mile bike ride on R/R path. Steady pace of 16-19 MPH.

Although there are no hills(2% grade at most) you never get to coast like a time trial. Maybe I not to coast anyway.





this sign was posted on the grounds of the state capital in NYS.


Should also say no "street walking" "hooking" or "escorts"

Say Grace with Kettlebells

April 15th.

" Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance. "

WO du jour:

warmup: Ab roller, heavy bag, battling ropes, joint mobility.

Kettlebell "Grace times 3"

12kg-3: 20

16kg-3:52

20kg-4;22

the routine was for form taking each from the floor dead stop. Next time start with 16kg up to 24kg.

later in the day did 500 push ups: See not all "push ups" are bad.

where are all the men gone?

April. 14th.

" You never know the worth of water until the well goes dry"

English proverb

WO du jour:

warmup: battling ropes for 5 min. 100 abmats, "Griptasic" for 15 min.

Kettlebell snatches: 16-28kg 200 reps total. 15 min.

second session: bike ride....16 miles in less than one hour. more hills but keep RPM's up.

I was reading in the fitness business trade journal, where some of the "poor performers" of the Bally's fitness chain, in chapter 11, is selling them off, to World Gym. It like when you were a kid and you had a toy of no use so you sold it to your friends. Bally's gym chain has only one good thing going for them to keep people coming through the doors, and that is the group classes. So World Gym, which is a Planet Fitness clone now that they discourage hardcore weight training, and has group classes that Planet fitness can use.

On the other side of the fence, Planet Fitness has plans to start up 30 plus gyms in Pennsylvania, to expand their model of what a fitness place we all want. Did I say we all want? No, we all don't want the Planet fitness model of " no intimidation zone" Screw you, just because you use heavy weights, does not mean you are intimating some of the other members as you train.

Iask myself what is to happen to the serious body builders, power lifters, football players and Olympic lifters? You know, those big,bad, 'muscle heads" we have grown to demonize.

Kettlebells for longevity

April 13th.









" We are made to persist. That is how we find out who we really are."


Tobias Wolff

WO du Jour:
warmup: foam roller, bands, joint mobility, Jump rope for 2 min. 100 admats.

TGU: 5 sets on each side.
Windmill 2 set each side.
KB "Griptastic" 12kg for 16 min. without setting the KB down.
for speed:
BB deadlifts: 225# 8 sets of three reps
BB standing press: 8sets of three reps
total session: 1:12:00

later in the day: bike sprints for 35 min. mostly on flat road.
longevity in regards to maintaining fitness regiment, takes a few considerations as one ages.

First you must have goals to focus on in short and long term, even if you are just maintaining a moderate level of fitness. By having a focused goal of some degree, you can keep to a continuous program instead of haphazard, or freelance workouts. I write them down, review them often, and alter them if they are working or not. A simple goal would be to do a long cycle with 2-24kg Kettlebells for 50 reps. The goal is a measurable performance, just like running a 5K in 20 min. Just don't put the goals too far away from reality.

The most important consideration when training after many years, is consistency. You would think you would just get into a grind and never stop, but more often the training has lost some of its shine. There is a tendency to slack off or go into an comfortable level of complacency. After some time, you start to have more and more time off, or breaks in training,therefore unless you are consistent regardless of age you will unlikely achieved "all you can". Maintain the effort rain or shine, day in day out, year round. Even a short session keeps your mind and body in the game.

Train to prevent injury all the time. As you age you don't recoup or heal as fast, so you have to keep in you plan some level of body maintenance, such as joint mobility, flexibility, body weight control, rest. If you don't maintain joint health especially, any thing you do will be have limitations.

Tai Chi and yoga can add balance to any ones training. They are not as physical, but they have a unique body mind connection. when you do hardcore strength training your body can become rigid and joints tight. By adding tai chi,yoga or qi gong you concentrate on the much needed joint health and mobility without the body trauma.

Adding more verity to your training will keep interest high and provide a much needed balance that mostly was not used when training for sports or specialized events in the past. There are so many ways to add cardio, strength, endurance components to your fitness training. Crossfit and kettlebells are to good examples of activities that would take a several life times to become stale.
Lastly as we age we need to concentrate on maintaining muscle balance to body fat ratio. To accomplish this, all exercise should have a strength component and intensity levels to generate growth hormone. So as you train, you should spend more time on shorter more intense training sessions and less on longer low energy session of greater than one hour in duration.

crank up the miles along with the reps

April 10th

" We actually have in our body and its muscles to allow us to be under our own power"

Allegra Kent.

WO du jour:

warmup: abmat, bands, pushups,jump rope, air squats ,Battling ropes.

10 sets of 10 reps of the following for time:

dumbell squat cleans: 25#x10 x5 sets

kettlebell squat cleans: 14kg x10x5 sets

clapping pushups: 10 sets of 10

15:45

Stiff session after a couple of days off. split the squat cleans with dumbells and kettlebells. The dumbells are hard on the wrists, and the kettlebells are easier on wrist, but effect the legs the better. The weight used was light and will use more the next time, but the pushups need some work as I don't normally do plyo pushups in thoes numbers. I did put a pad under the chest as I lost strength toward the end and my chest slammed into the ground due to slow timing on the pushup return.

Started a plan for getting back to my biking to some level of consistency with has been lacking since the start of winter. This means the sight seeing trips are over except on the weekends. My quads are killing me already.

Did a 15 mile loop in interval form but at a moderate heart rate and started to pick up the stress on hills. I am real lucky to have lots of hills be make my life uncomfortable.

How much work is needed

April 6th.

" Work capacity is the general ability of the body as a machine to produce work at different intensities and duration using appropriate energy systems of the body"

Mel Siff

WO. du jour

Warm up: bands, jump rope, 5 min. on heavy bag, Kettlebell joint mobility, abs and deck squats.

5 min. H2H with 12kg KB

2min. swings with 16kg. KB

1min. snatch with 16kg KB

2min snatch with 16kg KB

3 min snatch with 16kg. KB

2 min. bottoms up clean with 16kg KB.

2 min. clean with 2-20 kg. KB

2 min clean with 2-20 kg. KB

1min press with 1-20 kg KB

2 min. Press with 1-20 kg KB

2 min. press with 1-20kg. KB

One min rest between sets.

How much work is too much or too little will be debated forever

It always been a debate on how much work or exercise stimulation is required for training effect. The text books, organizations and magazines will tell you to get power, you use 1-3 reps, strength use 5-8 reps, Hypertrophy you need 8-12reps and muscle endurance is reps 15-25 reps. Dr. Mel siff stated in his " Facts and Fallacies of fitness" that any rep volume can do any one of the same end results depending on a number of training and physical factors. So when a trainer tells you will have to do x amount of reps to build muscle, so my use low reps and others may use dozens. Fitness and strength is not a pure science nor predictable.

HIT kettlebell routine

April 3rd.

" I never think of the future, as it come fast enough"

Albert Einstein

WO du jour:

warmup: 5 min. of 2" battleing ropes", 50 situps, 50 pushups, 20 pullups.

8x3reps: 2-20Kg box squats 12"box

8x3reps: 2-20 Kg clean and press from the floor.

8x3reps: 2-32kg renegade rowing

8x3reps: 32kg swings

8x3reps: 2-16kg snatches

18:10

only took about 10 breaths between each set as rest to keep intensity high. all reps performed at max speed-strength.

Note this routine is not for beginners as you must select the proper weight, concentrate on each rep for max velocity and be able to recuperate from such a intense session.

Took my Ropes out for a good test ride outside. Makes a good warmup as long as you keep the time to a few minutes on each set. You could make a complete workout but it more fun to just add to a routine with mixed exercises.

Please, no Kettlebell aerobics classes.

April: fools day.

" Everyone is entitled to be stupid, except some abuse that privilege."

Unknown.

WO du jour:

warmup: foam roller, heavy bag and burpie couplet for 10 min.

Power cleans: barbell 10 sets of 10 with 115#

wall balls: 20# ball for 10sets of 10reps.

floor extensions: barbell 5 sets of 5 125#

I have been seen as of late some aerobic class trainers, using kettlebells like a dumbell, such as curls and other basic body building exercises. Why I am not surprised that its like a threadmill, you jump on a method and your body goes into auto pilot. Yes you can perform curls with a kettlebell but there are much better "full body" exercises that are more beneficial then isolation exercises which the kettlebell was intended to be used as.

In my limited 4 years of using kettlebells and attended many training sessions, exercising with kettlebells in a aerobic class format( lasting 45min to 1hr) is not in the cards for all but a few very fit individuals. You see if you are using full body exercises like swings, clean and jerks, snatches, I doubt you can last more than 15mins to 30 at most. Few can even perform continuous snatch like the 10 min. SSST without falling apart.

So if you are exercising in a group format with kettlebells( latest fitness fad), and you are not on the verge of heaving you guts out, you are not getting the best out of your kettlebell fitness.