zercher squats and KB floor pressing

11/23/14

Warm-up, Jumping jacks, jump rope, goblet squat, joint mobility, Indian clubs for shoulders, stretch bands, 100 sit-ups. 20 push-ups.

500 meter row: below 2:00/mi. pace. At 5# damper.

Zercher Squats with 2” bar: 70# to 190# in 8 sets of 5. Full depth on all. 5 box jumps after each squat set.

Floor Kettlebell press: 16,20,24,28,kg. for sets of 5 reps. (Next time the 32kg.)

One arm Dumbbell row: 60,75,80,85 lbs.

Hammer Curls: 3 sets of 10 with 50lbs.

Prone Dumbbell tri extension 3 sets of 10 reps.

I love the Zercher squats as it is spine friendly with little compressive back forces. It also has great Posterior activation as well as abdominal contraction. The only down side is the pain inflicted on the intersection of the bis and forearm. This can be alleviated by using a 2” bar or adding various padding. It’s good to do inside the power rack so if you have to bail out, you can set safety pins and the drop is unloaded by releasing the arms.  ( that is an older picture when I was 80lbs heaver a year ago, but I still can lift the same amount.... its all good!)

11/22/14

Too cold outside for bike ride..pussy! Ride on turbo inside for 40 mins. With some intervals thrown in. Not bad session. Used training vid.

Ken

This mission is sacred

basic kettlebell "coyote" workout for any one.

11/16/14

35min on bike turbo. Set up my computer with You Tube training vids. It really helps to keep you focus on intensity and spin rates.

Later in the morning.

Warm-up, Jumping jacks, 100 abs, jump rope, globet squat, joint mobility Indian clubs for shoulders, stretch bands.

Barbell dead hang power cleans; sets of doubles. Lost count of sets.

Dumbbell power cleans: 5 sets with 55 lbs. with hold at shoulders.

WOD

“Coyote” is a three exercise challenge used by Dan John’s strength program. The challenge is to perform 20 rounds of 15  Kettlebell swings, 5 Goblet squats, 3 pushups. I did 10 rounds to start, which took about 15 min. Therefore, it’s a 30 min session. As you progress, then you can add more weight and increase the pushup. its high volume of the 3 exercises and still maintain form.

Ken

This mission is sacred

Coaching Crossfit Kettlebell class

11/16/14

Warm-up, Jumping jacks, jump rope, globet squat, joint mobility Indian clubs for shoulders, stretch bands.

My workout before Crossfit class.

Barbell Zercher squats: 95lbs to 200 lbs, 8 sets of 3.

Kettlebell floor press. 12kg to 32kg in 6 sets of 5 reps. (the 32kg presses were solid, but slow.)

WOD with Crossfit class.”Kettlebell from hell”  http://crossfitorangeny.com/

 

53 reps each; RKS,SDHP,AKBS, and KB good mornings, all for time.

good class sessions and they got the work done.

Cool down with 500 meters on C2 rowing.

Ken

This mission is sacred

High volume MET com session.

11/15/14

Warm-up, Jumping jacks, jump rope, globet squat , joint mobility-mostly legs and back, foam rolling.

10 min. trap bar dead lift 250 lbs.x3 followed by 2-65 lb. dumbbell farmer walk.

Rest 5 min.

10 min set; dumbbell one arm snatch followed by 2-20kg Kettlebell swings.

Rest 5 min.

6 sets of 2 kettlebells 16kg, “man-makers” complex, followed by 250 meter row at less than 2:0 min per/500 meter rate. (Very high suck factor)

Best session this week. Good living I assume.

Ken

This mission is sacred

basic cardo day.

11/14/14

Warm-up, joint mobility for running.

2 mile run-walk warm-up, then 7 ~100 meter hill sprints Not full out but just to get legs speed up from the walking and slow running. I hate running slow.

Later in the day: 35 min. on bike on turbo setup at high spin rate.

 A real mind buster, but I have to get use to doing bike turbo training, as the winter suck factor sets in.

Ken

This mission is sacred

EDT training experiment.

11/13/14

Warm-up; 100 jumping jacks, 100 abs sit-ups, pushups stretch bands, Indian clubs, joint mobility

WOD

10 min. EDT session; safety squats (ass to grass) and barbell snatch grip high pull.

10 min.triplet: 250 meter row, 28kg Kettlebell swing, burpees.

not a bad workout. I did not invent the EDT training protocol I will explain latter.

Ken

This mission is sacred

some VO2 enhancement

11/12/14

Warm-up; 100 jumping jacks, 100 abs sit-ups, pushups stretch bands, Indian clubs, joint mobility 100 kettlebell swings with 2-16kg. KB.

WOD

Later in the day:

I min row on C2 and DB box step-ups 5 rounds. Keep rate a greater than 250meter/min. 1 min

burpees and barbell high pull clean. For 5 rounds; and 10 burpees per min. rate

30 min spin on bike turbo.

Today programming was to target VO2 continuance as I am not on the road biking as usual.

Great day and some good living! 

Ken

This mission is sacred

Rough day at the office

11/10/14

 

Warm-up; 100 jumping jacks, 100 abs “Flags”, stretch bands, Indian clubs, joint mobility.

WOD

DB farmers walk: 60-75lbs with 5 trips. Great for grip if you go for a min. walk.

2 kettlebell swings: 16-20kg sets of 10reps 5 sets.

2 kettlebell “ racked” walk for 3 trips with 20kg. ( great ab activation)

“Manmaker” 2-12kg complex for 5 min. 30 reps total. Great finisher

10 min. on heavy bag with hard punches and kicks. 1 min intervals.

Later in the day:

Short bike ride on the roads as it was 50deg. Out

Great day and some good living! 

Ken

This mission is sacred

full day of fun

11/9/14

1 hour ruck walk in park. Temp 35deg. Did some light running to keep heart rate up.

Later in the day:

Warm-up; 100 jumping jacks, 100 ab exercise, stretch bands, Indian clubs, joint mobility.

WOD

Zercher squats with 2” barbell(easy on arms), Dumbbell row, and I arm dumbbell clean and press. 5 sets of 5 reps. Not rest.

Finisher; burpees, and Kettlebell I arm swings for 10 min.

Great day and some good living! 

Ken

This mission is sacred

active rest day

 

11/8/14

1 hour ruck walk in the morning with some running in the mix. Temp. 35 deg. Very good session. Rest day.

Ken

This mission is sacred

Tought times never last, but tought people do. (R.Schuller)

11/6/14

Warm-up: jump rope, Max pushups, goblet squat stretching, ab rollouts, weighed sit-ups, KB fig.8 and catch 50 reps, 100 2-KB swings with 16kg., leg mobility work, Indian clubs.

Today’s training: 6 sets of 2-Kettlebell 20kg. cleans 5 reps, with shoulder retraction. Six sets of 2-dumbell 55 #  cleans from the floor for 10 reps. No rest between sets.

C2 rower; 10 sets of 30sec work, 30 sec low rate intervals.  

 Note: I time all my workouts and rest periods, to maintain intensity. It adds extra pressure and focus since I train mostly solo. If I set a rest segment to a routine, let’s say on heavy squats, it’s to get the needed rest and recovery to maintain power output. In my gym I have 4 clocks, stop watch and gym boss interval timer, so there is always pressure to maintain pace of the training.  

Ken

This mission is sacred. 

Landmine press...sounds explosive!

11/5/14

Back to the my personal  “box” today, for working on things I don’t do enough of. That list in long!

Jump rope,100 heavy Kettlebell swings, joint mobility concentrating on legs and shoulders, Indian clubs, bands stretching, and weighted sit-ups.

For the winter months it’s going to be working on things I don’t do enough of or I suck at. Therefore today, its Farmers walk with dumbbells, landmine pressing, and two Kettlebell front squats for today.

I have a Landmine apparatus attached to my power rack for all types of exercises that can be performed with a barbell and plate using on end of the bar. Its very user friendly and great for glenohumeral mobility. You normally don’t see this used too often, but it has value for working angles and movement patterns you don’t get with the basic lifts or exercises.  It can be directed in a push-pull motion or in traversal movements for a great ab exercises, which I use as a warm up.

5 sets of 5 reps Landmine press, 2 kettlebell front squats 5,3,2,2, reps up to 24kgs.6 sets of farmers walk with 2 DB, up to 65lbs each hand.(great for grip) And finish up with 50 burpees.

Later I worked on the heavy bag for I min rounds. Life it good!

Ken

This mission is sacred. 

Recovery bike ride on rail trail.

11/4/14

Today I went for recovery 20 mile bike ride on the local rail trail. You can’t crush you ass day after day and make progress. Riding a bike or even running on a rail trail is good for mental balance, so you can concentrate on your body assessments, as there is no hills and no one trying to make you a human car hood ornament. It like doing a time trial of  unbroken spinning at high cadence and a continuous heart rate.  The weather was good so I did not have to wear everything I own to keep warm in November.

I did a short stretching  and mobility session afterwards at my gym so it was a good recovery day.

Ken

“The mission is sacred.”  

what to hell have you been doing this year?

11/4/14

Yes, I have been guilty of unsustained blogging during this spring and summer. The truth is in simple terms; I have been real f*#king busy, if you have to know! During the winter months, which was a real bitch in New York state, I got my body weight down to below 170lbs using a sensible diet, lots of load carrying rucking, thousands of Kettelbell swings and long Crossfit style WODS. I can now see some abs which was not my goal, but more over, to be more functional in my skin and bones. It pays to be lean!

The short version of my physical makeover, is most of the spring and summer allowed me to go back to some serious road biking at my reduced body weight. It pays to be lean.  As I quickly learned, riding with the local bike club was a pleasure this year.  What was I thinking anyway, maintaining such a high body weight in past years, which was well over 200lbs, just to lift heavy weights?

 It was a pleasure to ride my bikes on the roads again without the extra 50-60lbs of weight on my ass. So I added the daily bike rides to my fitness training and changed my Crossfit sessions to more strength, since I was getting plenty of endurance activity on the bike. I did find that I lost some upper body strength, like pressing and picking up heavy shit, but I expected that. You see, body mass provides you with more leverage and support, even if it useless fat.

Instead of blogging, my idle time for recovery and mental exercise was devoted to my “Kindle”. The books on “Kindle” makes it easy to down load and go back to review without a big pile of books taking up space. My wife calls books, dust collectors. In the future I will review some of material I got out of the 14 fitness titles I read up to now.

Today’s training on a rather nice Monday for upstate NY, so the focus was on sucking up the sun and getting in two training sessions.

Morning session:

General warm-up of Indian clubs, 100 sit-ups, 100 jumping jacks, some jump rope, and joint mobility work. 100 KB swings with 2-16kg bells.

Then hit the C2 rower for a hard interval session of: 1.2.3.4.3.2.1 min sets. After the row, I finished with 10 min. on heavy bag kicking and punching one min work, 30 sec. rest. That was for the morning ate lunch with is really my breakfast as I still do a modified intermitting fasting which worked so well keeping me lean and fat free.

The afternoon session  was a crossfit style WOD performed outside next to my “box” gym. I used my tactical boots for foot wear, since this I what used successfully during last winter’s training sessions.

The WOD is an AMRAP for 30 min.time, using 2-20kg Kettlebells for load carry at the chest, run to my sled pull devise, pull the sled along the driveway, run back to the gym, do 10 burpees and 5 pull-ups.  Did 7 rounds.  Great session even getting back to running in boots instead of running shoes. The hot tub was finish of a fruitful day!  

 Ken

“The mission is sacred.”  

Winter is coming on like a freight train

11/2/14

Well winter has arrived, based on the temperature, clocks turned back and the short day light days.  Myself, I try not to get into a funk and not go out and train in the elements both endurance and strength.  Suck it up and move on.

To motivate one’s self you have to program your brain in Spartan mode, that you will not be detour you work.  Do what is necessary to dress and find new ways to accomplish your outside training, as not to lose the momentum of your sunny day, fitness levels.

This also goes for inside the gym workouts, as I see an obvious decline in smiling faces as the year comes to an end. This does not mean that you can’t do some tapering of effort; as you can’t push year round when you should be cycle your program for the next stage.

Today I went out and did a bike ride for an hour in area where I could bail out if I got too cold and my equipment selection was not right for the conditions. It was not comfortable riding in 30-40 deg. Temperatures and windy, but it was not bad as soon as I was out for awhile. However, body temperature does drop so I will not have to limit the time on the roads and make it up with some quality time on the turbo or C2 rower. It’s all good!

As for my indoor training I will spend more time perfecting techniques that I suck at. Boy, that’s going to be fun!

Today training:

100 24Kg one arm Kettlebell swings/100 jumping jacks/100 sit-ups/joint mobility drills/

100 kettlebell one arm swings.

Goblet squat with KB for mobility.

Three exercises performed continuous without rest periods:

Step up squats off 16” box. 5 sets of 5 with 2-25,30,35,40,40lbs DB.

Trap bar DL: 150-225# 5 sets of 5 reps

KB alt pressing 5 sets of 5 reps 2-16Kg.

Weighted carries: 2-dumbbell 60-75lbs farmers walk

 Ken

“The mission is sacred.”   

NO New Years resolutions...just keep up the "Good living"

\1/1/13 

Today training:  cold 18 deg. NYS  2014

2 mile run.  Easy pace as roads were not bare of light snow.

Warm-up: jump rope, bands stretches, Indian clubs and shadow boxing.

Practice KB swing; lots of sets of 5 to improve form and more volume.

Floor press; lots of sets to work on get up.

Situps with KB; 5 sets of 10.

Joint mobility.

No New Years resolutions; just keep up the “good living”

      With the New Year, I will not be changing much of what I do except to have more fun with Go Ruck and improve my form on training exercises. Today was working on my Kettlebell form so I can use heavier weight more routinely. My running is improving but still have aways to go so I can get the mileage without injury or overuse.

Ken

The mission is sacred.

 

 

 

 

12/31/13 

Today training:  cold 12 deg. NYS  2013 reps of exercise to end the year 2013!!

AMRAP to get 2013  reps total. Sit-ups, air squats, step-ups, pull-ups, flutter kicks, burpees, heavy bag kicks, punch’s, mountain climbers, lunges, Kettlebell swings, jumping jacks.

All weakness is a weakness of will. —Friedrich Nietzsche

Annual evaluation of training journal.

          The end of the year is coming fast for us when I see the gym members wane in their attendance. That’s not a bad thing as we all have been trashing ourselves most of the year and we can all do with some recovery so you can step back to revaluate the progress or lack off you have made. Now if you are keeping a training journal, this is the time to do some review of all your training sessions, with its accomplishments or failures. In reviewing my annual training journal I found the following;

·        Most of the first 3 months during the winter was the same from the previous year but I was dealing with a right foot Achilles tendon issue that prevented any prolonged biking, rowing, running session. Most of my training sessions focused on strength movement with lower reps. even dead lifts affected my foot issues. My sleeping was not good and has to be adjusted for recovery.

·        In the spring after you shed your winter cloths, I found that since I was not weighting myself, my body weight cheeped up from lower work capacity sessions and heavy weights, at lower reps. At this point I started to get concerned that changes had to be made to lean down without getting stupid.

·        In May after I did the Memorial Day “Murph” that sucked much more than ever, I hatched a plan to change from my typical WODs and train more tactical military style exercise program. Also in investigating a new eating plan to coincide with the different training exercises. That’s when I found Go Ruck and IF.  

·        In June I went full speed in a “Go Ruck” training program which was a complete change from my previous routines and diet. That meant I will be doing more body weight exercise, long rucks(with weighted packs) and IF or intermitting fasting. My Doctor, during my physical indicated my vitals were good but my body mass was too heavy for my age, which will hasten  degrading of my skeletal system and joint capitals.Doc  encouraged weight lose and his BMI chart put me into the obese category. Enough all ready!

·        In July and August I did a lot of research on exercises and training routines that would help my “Go Ruck” programming and lean down in body weight. My walking rucks become longer, pack weight become heavier, so as time when on and my foot issues subsided and started to sleep longer. Work capacity and consistency of training started to show big improvements.

·        Sept and Oct, I could see some real progress in regards to my general fitness and body weight. At this time in Sept. I also turned 70 and jumped into a new age group if I ever wanted to compete in some races. That pulling the age card! I was training daily and sometimes two sessions as I had more energy to workout with the weight loss and new eating program. The plan coming together.

·        Nov. and Dec. my “Go Ruck” and weight loss become my success for the first time in many years. My weight was 180lbs (the lowest in 8 years), my waist contracted from 38 to 33 in just 6 months by the end of the year. Started to do some running and walking together to build up that aspect. All in all it’s been a great year! No need for New Year’s resolutions…………just stay the course.

You all have a great 2014!

Ken

The mission is sacred