Tough love: High-gear, end of year VWC

I received a loving roundhouse kick to the ass today from my friends Rif and Jordan.

The topic:

Meeting my second MVO2 goal by the end of 2009 (80 sets of 7 with the 16kg).

So, I've got a month. Perfect! I have been uber-shamefully-lax with my own training, with travel, study, work, class, and teaching schedules taking over my waking hours. While it's not like I can cut that down any, I just have to suck it up and beat the fatigue right out of myself, and do more training. More volume. The kind of volume I should be doing - and used to do. Not just deadlifts and pullups and a few swings, snatches and getups here and there... I've got a big goal to meet, and virtually no room for distractability.

I actually did (just) 24 sets last night, before my 100 16kg presses, and it felt good to get some volume in again. Hands are still fairly well conditioned. I'm stoked to hit this hard, and to have such a short time period to accomplish it in.

Progress will be posted on the blog.

(Thanks, guys.)


Epilogue:

The other 2009 goals that have NOT yet been met include:

2x BW deadlift (new deadline: March 2010)
20kg BU TGU (so close, so many times - I'll get this this month, also, I'm deciding. Maybe tonight.)
28kg press (this will have to wait for late in 2010 or even 2011)
28kg pistol (mid-year 2010)
40kg TGU (still not able to even floor-press it. This may be a year or two away, which is perfectly fine. The idea is that I continue to train TGUs, and I do love the heavy ones. Now that I'm the proud owner of a 32kg, I should have lots more time to practice.)

(met goals: 6 rep 16kg MVO2 80 sets, 16kg BU getup, 20kg BUP)


So, the focus for this last month of 2009 is:

7 rep 16kg MVO2 3 times a week
Deadlifts twice a week
Pullups, HLR twice a week
100 16kg presses, 2 or 3 times a week

[variety days: 24kg snatches, overhead squats with sots press, bent press, sets of 100 swings (loving this), 32kg TGU, and some bottoms-up work.]

Face-the-wall squats a piece of cake?

Now that you can do these without much difficulty, with your toes touching the wall, of course - try them with your arms overhead, sort of a naked overhead face-the-wall squat. :)

Enjoy!

The Psychology of Posture

From today's Reuters news:

"Sitting up straight isn't only good for your back -- a new study has found it also boosts self-confidence and reinforces positive thoughts." Article linked below.

What does this have to do with kettlebell training? Well, seeing as how hardstyle kettlebell training is everything to do with posture and movement - quite a lot! I can tell you first-hand that the body mechanics you practice and develop with hardstyle training become habitual. And that's a good thing. That means better posture when standing, sitting, walking - because it feels "right." It happened to me.

Yes, bad posture looks bad, we've all seen it. But it's worse than that. Over time, slumped posture will increase the incidence of back and neck pain, and the imbalanced musculature can lead to injury. Shortened anterior muscles will hold you there in that slumped-over posture, and it truly feels like it is your "straight." It soooo isn't. Well, to clarify - it doesn't have to be. You need to work on stretching and re-lengthening those muscles again, and strengthing your posterior muscles, so you can once again have "straight" FEEL like "straight," rather than feeling like you're working really hard to stand tall and pull your shoulders back and down. This is how it can become natural again, and not uncomfortable. This is especially true for anyone who spends a lot of time at a computer. Or someone who does a whole lot of bench presses and other anterior-dominated strength training. It does not take a long time for a consistently forward head, rounded upper back posture to become your "normal," present in everything you do. Seriously, how often do we think about our posture when we're reading, eating, brushing our teeth? Wouldn't it be great to not HAVE to?

Sure, you CAN simply work on having better posture just by thinking about it all the time. And, maybe that will actually work to some degree for some very motivated people. :) Maybe! But when you train with kettlebells according to the RKC system, you FEEL it, and DO it, without having to think about sitting tall or walking straight "just" for its own sake. It is more obvious. You FEEL the difference, you have no choice. How brilliant is that? That is part of what we're talking about when we say the kettlebell is just a tool. It helps us see and feel what's going on with our bodies much more effectively, and that's the important thing. Improved posture becomes a really great side-benefit.

Now this additional side benefit of reinforcing confidence and positive thoughts is interesting, and not surprising! I think we have all felt it, after performing a kick-ass set of hardstyle swings, or getups, or squats, or presses. And when I say hardstyle, I mean "proper," and that means with full attention on a long spine and neutral head position. You feel like a badass. You have control over your body, and that is a powerful thing. It has nothing to do with the number of reps - but HOW you've done them.

Look around the field at any RKC event. Notice the posture of every one of the instructors present. It is not a coincidence! :)

Link: http://in.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idINTRE5951JO20091006

Mystery right arm weakness

*shrug* No idea.

Floor press - lost about 15# of strength, with no explanation.
Military press - most tries miss the 24kg press. (yet I still have a BU 20kg press.) The frustration after each miss is exquisite.
24kg continuous TGU - can only achieve 3, rather than 5.

What is going on???

My left arm (non-dominant) is all of a sudden stronger than my right. More precisely - it hasn't gotten stronger, my right side has gotten strangely weak. No injuries, nothing weird that I can think of....

Yikes!

Floor Press

I tried something new last night... after my deadlifts at Gold's Gym, I walked over to the "free weights," grabbed a 75lb dumbbell, and did a few sets of floor presses.

Why?

It seems like the floor press (pressing to firing range position) is the weakest part of my TGU. The other day, I tried a 36kg (79lb) TGU again, and couldn't even floor press the thing. After getting ten SOLID getups with the 32kg just a few days prior. Frustrated, I decided that's what I should start training, somehow.

So, the dumbell was a fine solution, I guess. I DON'T like the wrist extension, however. Uber uncomfortable. Not painful by any means, but just yucky. I realized how nice it is to be able to support such an enormous weight while holding your wrist neutral or in flexion, as with a kettlebell.

So, I'll train this several more times, maybe work up to 85lbs, and then give the 36kg another go. :) I've been lucky to have one of my student's 32kg bells for a couple days during the week lately to train TGUs with... and swings. I love heavy getups! (Thanks again, Spence!)

Wish List

CK-FMS Cert in May (biggest wish)
OC Workshop in September
Ventura Workshop (and it's sold out now.) in October
Sacramento Workshop in December
RKC II Cert in February

Funds to pay for it all.

:)

http://www.dragondoor.com/author_workshops.html

Interesting.

I like it.

24kg TGU descending ladder, continuous reps each side.
4L/4R
3L/3R
2L/2R
1L/1R

Low-Tech

What to do when you're working on swings or snatches, and your hands are slippery or greasy?
I put on some sunscreen earlier, and even after washing my hands with lots of hot soapy lather, TWICE!, there was STILL some slippery residue left when I started snatching. So if washing it off doesn't work, what does?

Rubbing your palms in the grass. Like magic!

Today and Friday, practiced 24kg snatches. Focused on loading onto and punching from heels. I've noticed a tendency recently with heavy snatches to roll off them a bit, putting some weight onto the balls of my feet. I've even had to curl up my toes to help, and it DOES help - properly rooted heels made every rep better. Also focusing on a later hinge, and a perfectly vertical punch-through with a tall c-spine.

Other variety work: 16kg sots press, BW and 16kg pistols, 20kg + 16kg single leg deadlift (3 reps each side for a few sets - LOVE these.) 16kg inline (tightroped) kneeling presses (love these too). 16kg bottoms-up press. 24kg TGU 2 reps per side, continuous. Got a couple nice pullups at the gym during my deadlift session Friday, to collarbone. Should get back to practicing these more.

April '09 RKC Certification Video

I don't believe I posted this before.... so here it is.
:)

On footwear - again, CONTEXT is King.

As many of you know, the topic of appropriate kettlebell training footwear has been discussed exhaustively, on blogs, at RKCs, in books, on the forums.
The standard is: Barefoot, or a thin, flat, hard sole. Nothing cushy.
[If you are not yet familiar with the reasons for this, the primary reasons are: 1) Rooting and 2) Activation (as opposed to suppression) of mechanoreceptors.]

Until today, I had considered the Nike Frees to be an acceptable choice... and then I thought about it. The Nike Free is designed to: more closely resemble the mechanics of barefoot running, as compared to that with traditional running shoes. (The 5.0 is considered a half-way compromise.)

And the keyword there is: RUNNING!

The reason the Free falls into the "barefoot" shoe category is the deeply waffle-cut sole, which allows the shoe's sole to bend and flex with the foot, as it rolls through its ground contact with each stride.
What's important to note, is that there IS no such motion involved in kettlebell training. We don't, ever, roll from our heels and push off our toes. We stay ROOTED through our heels, always connected with the ground.

The Frees still have cushioning. It's simply a flexible cushion. It is still designed to soften the impact of runners' heel strikes (which, by the way, turns out to be a self-fulfulling prophecy - buy a shoe to "soften" the impact, and you end up striking harder! And the "requirement" for the cushion is reinforced...Brilliant. See the article linked below, for additional information on this.)

Of course, in the context of kettlebell training, that "flexible cushion" feature is completely wasted. Cushion the heel? That's the opposite of what we want in kettlebell training! Stay rooted! Tension from the ground up. STRENGTH from the ground up. Can you shoot a canon from a canoe???

Hardstyle Kettlebell Training:
Zero impact.
Strengthen joints, rather than pound on them and weaken them.
Become more in-tune with your body.
Superior cardiovascular conditioning. In 2 minutes, you know it.
Balance of anterior and posterior muscle chains, stabilizers along with movers: nothing is over- or under-developed (common to runners and traditional weight-training, and yes - this leads to injury).
The carryover to every other movement and/or performance and strength-based activity is second-to-NONE.

And by the way, just because a trainer has you using a kettlebell - remember that it's just a weight. It's just a tool. Nothing more. EVERYTHING depends on how it's used. I see a LOT of people performing bad movement with a kettlebell. It's not the kettlebell that makes training good (safe, effective), it's the movement. A kettlebell simply allows the perfect execution of movement, with an added load. Please be aware of the difference!

So I went off-course for a moment, but the conclusion is: the Frees are officially off my "ok" list.

(Still on the list: Vivo Barefoots, Vibram Five Fingers, Chuck Taylor Converse, others upon inspection)

And here is another recent article regarding the problem with running shoes (thanks for sharing it, Brett).

Another Hazard in Kettlebell Training

Long fingernails!
Keep em short, otherwise you'll squeeze them right into the flesh of your palm. Not good!

And on the topic of hand care, my two favorite callous tools are:
PedEg. They're at most grocery/drug stores, or online.
Diamancel callous conquerer, also online, and also to be used dry. You need a file to reach the callous under your ring fingers (PedEg won't reach it), and this one works wonderfully. It's heavy-duty, and very long lasting. (I've had mine for several years now).

Many people include corn huskers lotion in their arsenal. I own it, and never use it. Just don't find it necessary. Others swear by it. To each his own. :)

But most importantly, keep your fingernails short, and file your callouses regularly! They WILL get better over time, so just be patient.

Caution - A Hazard of Kettlebell Training

If you practice hardstyle kettlebell training, you may undergo sudden, unexpected fatloss. If this should occur, you may experience simultaneous loosening of your training shorts or pants. Please be advised that when your pants start hanging off your hips, butt and thighs, performing a tight backswing (as with kettlebell swings or snatches) becomes a challenge, as the area of your pants formerly occupied by a sagging rear-end now hangs right in the path of the hiked kettlebell. If and when this should occur, you must attempt to tug the pants up and cinch or roll the waistband tighter. If the problem persists, you may need run inside and change into a smaller pair of training pants before resuming your kettlebell session.

Okay Now Tense Even Harder

You know how Pavel says that when we tense "as hard as we can," and are then told to tense even harder...and we do... so that obviously, the "as hard as you can," wasn't really?

Principle in action last night, practicing 20kg presses.
(Which, by the way, have gotten much weaker! Lack of practice.)

Anyway, the point of the blog post is this: I am FULLY aware of the importance of tightening your whole body to perform heavy presses. Feet, heels, knees, legs, glutes, abs, lats, fist/grip... right. I always say that you should be feeling the work in your legs from doing heavy presses, and it's true... but EVEN SO, I realized at points last night that when I clean and establish that full-body tension for a press, it is OFTEN (if not always) still a few steps below that maximum tension. When I pause for a moment, and find more places to squeeze even harder... it works. The press is stronger.

One place specifically - pulling up my kneecaps.
You hear Pavel point this one out frequently. It was major for me last night. Squeezing squeezing, and then, oh, kneecaps - and BAM! THAT's the tension I was looking for.

It takes practice. And awareness. ALL the time.
Good study last night.

BTW, Deadlift (for record keeping) was 175# for 2 sets of 5, then dropped down to 170# for the 3rd set of 5. The 175# got REAL heavy on those last reps. Dropping down was a good move.

MVO2 is a real A$$ Kicker.

Really.

Wednesday finally made it to 50 sets of 7 on 16kg :15/:15 MVO2.
Annoyingly, Monday's 40 sets were much easier, but restricted to 40 on account of blister threats. So it goes!

Did not do any pistols. I don't think pistols go with MVO2. Where to fit them in... Fridays probably? Randomly during the day, whenever? I'm realizing why setting up a specific schedule has been so difficult! :)

Also, because the deadlifts are only 2 or 3 times a week, I'm doing three sets of 5 reps, rather than 2 sets. Last session was 165#. Will probably test my 1RM after this cycle - I've never actually tested it.
Presses are ROP ladders.
Still loving heavy getups. Realized I've left no room in the training schedule for 24kg snatches. Uggghhhhhh, more tweaking needed!