Workout of the Week

Welcome back. Miss me?

Max rounds in 30 minutes:
10 Thrusters
10 SumoDeadliftHighPull
10 Box Jumps
1o Burpees

Record rounds and loads. The push yourself, but be honest with your ability. Refer to the video demos for technique.

R & R

That's it my friends. I am officially on vacation. I'll be back starting with a new workout of the week on Tuesday, Sept 29th.


Mahalo

Girevoy Sport Comes to Manhattan

Here’s another event I wanted to get out there. Any of you kettlebellers that haven’t gotten plugged into competing yet, this is a great and very accessible event right here in the city. I'm a hundred percent looking forward to it. Come on out and get your feet wet.

National Long Cycle Championships

Hosted by Ironworks Fe

Oct 17th at Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis H.S. in Manhattan

9:00am – 7:00pm

Weigh in: 8:00am

Events:

Men’s Long Cycle and 1 arm Long Cycle at 16kg, 20kg, 24kg, 28kg & 32kg

Women’s 1 arm Long Cycle at 12kg, 16kg, & 20kg

Team Relay: 4 members performing for 3 minutes each. Men at 24kg & Women at 16kg.

Entry Fee: $75

Space is limited, so if you’re interested in competing, sign up as soon as possible by visiting www.ironforeverybody.com

Workout of the Week

4 rounds of the following

10 pullups (pulldowns or modified as needed)

20 ball slams (suggested 20# for intermediate men and 12# for intermediate women)

30 16" to 24" box jumps

40 Pushups

50 Air Squats

Mark time and loads.

Use caution and work to your own ability!

Tip & Technique: Sandbag Drag

We're always talking about moving objects through space. Pushing, pulling, dragging, whatever, just move yourself and a load through space to train your body, your machine in a total systemic fashion. So, here's a couple of examples of that very thing using a sandbag and a TRX. No TRX? Get on it and buy one. It's one of the best $150 you've spent in fitness. But for now, no problem. Pull a couple of grips off the cable cross machine, or take a rope from the garage and go to town.

Now MOVE!

Working Out vs. Training

There’s a serious distinction that needs to be understood between simply working out and the idea of training that we teach here.

When someone says, “I have to go workout.” What do they mean? Is it that they feel a sense of guilt for the Chili’s appetizer sampler they called lunch that day and see the treadmill as an appropriate tool of repentance, or is it that they are fulfilling a commitment they’ve made to themselves to improve their own health/fitness/performance level?

It’s the difference between using your time in a reactionary way and being proactive in the way you approach your fitness?

“Oh no!! I gained 5 lbs this weekend!” or “WHAT?!? I can’t fit into these jeans anymore!” Do not let yourself get into the pattern of waiting until you fall behind, reacting and spinning your wheels in frustration at the gym simply to get back to where you started, get distracted and fall back down again.

Train instead. Find inspiration in your performance. Set yourself a goal in which you’re actively involved. Maybe it’s to develop your long distance endurance, so your primary mode of training is to set progressively longer and longer distance goals. Maybe your goal is power, so you practice moving loads through space with ever increasing speed and efficiency. Very possibly your goal will have something to do with your kids or family; keeping up in a back yard soccer game, toting around a little ‘un that can’t possibly be growing as fast as he/she actually is!

I don’t care what it is. More to the point, it doesn’t really matter so long as you have one. Set yourself a progressive goal and gear your training around it. When you go to the gym or the park, you have a goal set firmly in mind. You’re an athlete. Athletes have to train in order to improve their performance. Once you do improve, once you hit that goal, it should automatically evolve to challenge you again. Shave another 5 seconds off your mile. Lift another 15lbs. Last another inning with the kids.

In this way you keep progressing, you keep improving. Until he retired, when did Magic Johnson ever get worse or lose his conditioning? Never, because he was in training the whole time and probably never just worked out the entire time. Stay ahead of your game. Be proactive. Set your goals and get involved.

Workout of the Week

If you've been able to work up to it by now, substitute in the kbs with a clean and jerk on the man makers. If not, just use the dbs as you normally would. In either case, these do include the front squat with each one. Refer to last week's video demo for reference.

20 minutes max rounds

3 Man makers w/front squat

6 Pullups (modified as necessary)

9 ball slams

Record number of rounds, load and type of load used on the makers.

Thursday Blowout

What would you normally expect to see as a rep count on an exercise in your average workout day? 15 reps over 3 sets? Maybe 20 over 4?

What happens when you take that number and blow it up? What happens when that number hits 50? 100? 200? More? We don't live in a world where every demand comes at you in neatly tied bunches of 10 or 15. It's similar to my point about loading with water or sand. The loads our world throws at us are very rarely evenly loaded with a nice convenient ergonomically pleasing grip. We get what we get and it rarely shows up right at our 10 repetition max.

We regularly explore the higher regions of rep counts in my clients' programs. So this isn't anything really new to them. However, a couple of weeks ago we set some seriously high goals, in the hundreds, on some very difficult movements. I wanted to take these particular folks on a journey.

What happens when you're standing at the base of a sheer rock face, there's no way back and you have to get to the other side? The path of least resistance becomes straight up. Where do you go mentally? Do you tell yourself it can't be done? Do you defeat yourself immediately? Do you jump in, hoping for the best, and live, mired in self doubt, asking yourself if it's worth it at somewhere around the 217th rep?

Or do you find that place of trust and faith? Do you find that place of inner strength and resolve that doesn't give you any option other than success? Given time and determination, you will finish. It's a test. In the case I mentioned above, it was a place we needed to go. Self doubt and darkness overshadowed the faith in one's own ability and conditioning. The goal was to push through as a group, to encourage each other through some of the most difficult and demanding training they'd ever seen in order that they would lead each other to the well of self confidence and faith deep inside. I don't mean to sound like a cult leader here or anything. Our daily grind often times doesn't seem to foster a sense of faith in one's ability to out perform expectation, so we forget it's there. We just have to dig down and find it.

You know what? They did it. They found it.

I'd put that same challenge out to you. When was the last time you seriously tested yourself? When was the last time you set out a task that lies on the very cusp of your ability and just went for it? When was the last time you searched and scratched your way forward until you finally found that well?

Stop in one Thursday. Tap into your well.

Tip & Technique: Man Makers Redux

"Progress is impossible without change..." Geprge Bernard Shaw

So, it's time to change. Here we go. Take something familiar and change it in order that we can progress. Again, don't get hung up on thinking you have to increase the loads you're lifting on order to progress. Repetitions, rest intervals, sets and complexity are all easily manipulated to generate a growth response in your body. Today...complexity.

Orange Kettlebell Comes to West River

Ok, so it's time to make the official announcement. I am proud to welcome John Wild Buckley & Nazo, the Orange Kettlebell Club crew, and Coach Denis Kanygin for a two day Advanced Kettlebell Sport Workshop on Oct 24th & 25th here at West River Health & Racquet Club.

If you do or have interest in competing as a kettlebell lifter, this is a weekend you'll seriously want to consider. Denis has spent considerable time as a coach to some of the top lifters in the sport. We'd all do well to pay attention. Additionally over the past few years John Wild and Nazo have been literally traveling the globe, coaching and training with athletes from all points. They bring a huge perspective and range of experience to the table.

Denis is a postural therapist and human biomechanics expert. As a personal girevoy sport (kettlebell sport) coach he's coached such athletes as Steve Cotter, Ken Blackburn, Jason Dolby as well as John Wild. The guy's been training with kettlebells since he was 8 years old. Name one thing you've been doing since you were 8 year old... Thought so.

This workshop is an advanced workshop and prior kettlebell experience is recommended. If you are not certified and would still like to attend, please contact John and tell him about your experience. JohnWild@orangekettlebellclub.com

Visit OrangeKettlebellClub.com or WorkoutIQ.com for more details.

I hope to see you here.

Workout of the Week

Warned you about this. Here it comes. If yo missed the late video posting on Sunday, go back and take a look.

For intermediate fitness folks, I'm suggesting the following loads. Adjust based on your own ability. Men: 30# to 40# Women: 20#

Start with your non-dominant side.

Press to failure. Do not put the load down.

Immediately push press to failure. Do not put the load down.

Immediately jerk to failure.

Switch hands without resting the load on the ground.

Repeat on the dominant side.

Rest 2 minutes.

Repeat cycle two more times. Record load and reps for each set.