Pressing the little Beast

In the world of kettlebells the 48 kg bell is called The Beast and only the worlds strongest can snatch or press it.   In my somewhat smaller world the 24 kg is as big as I will personally every need to use for most lifts.  My 2 primary goals at the moment revolve around the 24 kg bell.  My goals are to snatch the 24 kg bell 100x in 5 minutes and be capable of doing multiple rounds of 5 strict pressing a pair of these bells.  I am still looking to buy a 2nd 24 kg bell but there is no rush because I'm very far away from being able to press a pair of these even once!

Here's one of my first shots even attempting to press the 24 kg bell.  Before each rep I do a few specific things.  I grip the ground with my feet, squeeze my thighs, glutes and midsection. I imagine a sponge in between my upper arm and side ribs, squeeze the sponge to activate the lats.  The lats are the bridge for the press.  It is no bs to say that this is a full-body lift!  I try to keep my left arm "alive" by squeezing squeezing the left side of the body as if it was pressing a bell too.   If you try the same exercise without attention to firming the entire body you will be shocked at how weak you will feel.  I will press a pair of these bells 5x before the next 6 months is up!

Kettlebell Muscle!

2012 was a solid year for training!  Considering I lost about 2 months total to rehabbing injuries I am pretty happy with where I am at as the year ends.  The past month has been particularly gratifying because I have been adopting some bodybuilding/powerlifting principles such as longer rest periods and lower rep schemes.  It feels like I have put on some muscle training this way and I am looking forward to more of this kind of training in 2013.  The conditioning work I am doing is definitely working, my resting heart rate was 42 when I had it checked at a recent dr. appt.  I credit high-repetition kettlebell snatching and swinging for making my heart so strong. 

Here's a brag pic to close the year out - 42 years old, 5'9", 165 pounds, under 10% bodyfat.

For 2013 I simply want to keep building strength and muscle while keeping my body fat low.  I do have a few specific goals:

Kettlebell snatch for 100 reps in 5 minutes with the 24 kg bell. (so far only done with the 16kg bell)

Kettlebell Military Press a pair of 24 kg bells for 3 strict sets of 5 (so far my best is the pair of 40's for 7 sets of 5 - I still need to buy a 2nd 24 kg bell lol)

I also want to make it a point to buy an Olympic bar and bench because I want to start deadlifting and bench pressing.  I've avoided these 2 lifts for different reasons.  I have not done the bench press or "the d-bag" press as I like to call it, since my early 20's.  Strength coach Dan Jon has me convinced I can add it to my routine and not be a d-bag.  I need a horizontal press in my workout and the bench will fill this purpose.  The deadlift I avoided because of my "bad" back.  I say "bad" because I have a feeling there is much more "bad" about my deadlift technique then my actual lower back.  I think the past few years of kettlebell training has me ready to safely attack the DL.  At least now I understand the the deadlift is hip driven and should leave the lower back alone if I do it right.  And if kb swinging has taught me anything it is how to load my hips properly to pick up something heavy!

  Happy New Year friends!

Snatch it!...and some Front Squats

I look forward to snatching the kettlebell on Fridays because it is the only day I allow myself to do it. My training schedule looks like this:

Mondays - Swings
Tuesday - Endurance walking
Wednesday - Military Presses
Thursday - Sprints
Friday Snatches & High-rep Front Squats
I practice Get-ups on at least 2 non-consecutive days of my chosing.

If I want to take a day off I skip the walking but I try not to skip any kettlebell training days. 
Every exercise I do to complements the other which is why I only train each exercise 1/7 days. When I am practicing swings I am also practicing the same exact arm and hip movement as the snatch. When I practice my getups I am practicing the above the head portion of the snatch.  It works the other way too so when I am practicing snatches I am improving my 1-arm swing and getup!  The Front Squat is the true beast because it improves every other lift!

The 16 kg bell felt light as a feather and I managed a little work with the 18 kg bell as well.  I did 5 sets of 6 and 5 sets of 7 today.  I meant to do a third round of 8 reps/set but wanted to save some energy for Front Squats. 

Since I am trying to gain muscle I figured it is time to get over myself  and start squatting!  I did a decent amount of back squatting in my 20's and have been avoiding it ever since.  I think my personal record was 225x5 reps or something close to that.  I was never very strong at it and looking back I think my form was probably horrific.  I have decided to focus on the kettlebell front squat instead of the back squat.  It seems safer and  will seriously  help strengthen my military press.  I also wont need to buy an Olypmic bar and squat rack.    My first goal is to Front Squat my 18 kg bells for 50 consecutive reps.  Today I did 3 sets with about 90 seconds rest of 20, 15 and 15 reps.

Here's some snatches with the 18 kg bell.  It's a little too heavy for me but I like playing with it so long as I am warmed up.  My form is pretty bad here.

Press it! ..and a Secret Santa Crossfit Party

Grace took me to a xmas party thrown by the owner of her Horsepower Crossfit gym in Studio City on Saturday.  I was looking forward to talking to a large group of people who do Crossfit!  I really only wanted to know a few things - what do they like/dislike most about Crossfit?...and what experience with kettlebells have you had at Crossfit?

I talked to about 6-7 Crossfitters and was surprised at the different answers I got. As far as what they like most about Crossfit,  3 people said they liked the variety, 2 people said they liked the wallballs and 2 people said they liked training with a group of like-minded friends.   The wallballs do look like fun but I dont think my neighbors would appreciate it!  When it came to what they did not like about Crossfit -   2 people said they disliked any exercise they had to modify to peform.  I think they call this RXing an exercise, like when you use rubberbands to help your pullups or drop your knees for pushups.  1 person said she hated double-unders.  I just nodded my head since I did not know what they are.  Oh, with a jump rope, I get it.  1 guy said he hated running the most. 

I asked about kettlebells and got answers that I pretty much expected.  Yes, we definitely use the kettlbells.  No, there is nothing really memorable about training with them other than the fact that all of the exercises are rigorous and demanding.  Seriously, that about sums up what I could squeeze out of people when it came to kettlebells.  As far as most people knew I may as well have asked them if they like training with dumbells.  I do not see this changing much in the future btw.  I think Pavel has taken kettlbells as far as they can go and they will always be sort of an niche method of training.   Regardless, I am addicted to training kettlbells and believe they have brought me very far in a short period of time. 

Of course I was prepared to answer the inevitable question, how come you dont train Crossfit?  My basic answer was, "I prefer to train myself and am focusing on kettlbells at the moment."  If pressed I explained that I had a lifetime of classroom training behind me and had nothing against training with a group.  Believe me, I remember what extra energy you get when you get that group energy going!  I tend toward specialization and Crossfit will readily admit that they are generalists.  It is a fantastic school of training and I am lucky to be able to watch Grace progress with them.

They had a Secret Santa at the party and somehow I luckboxed myself into a 25 lb kettlbell!  Even better, Santa left a receipt taped to the bottom of the bell and I was able to trade it in for a 40 lb bell which is what I really needed!  I hope you like the miniature samurai sword set I gave you!  Cmon, this is a good Secret Santa gift.  As a jew my thoughts on secret santa are this - you should give something that you would enjoy receiving yourself but would not actually spend money on.  Miniature samurai sword FTW.

Weds is press day.  I did 10 sets of 5 reps, mostly with the pair of 40 lb bells.   There is more info on my training in the details of this clip.

Set 5/10 - 40 lb bells

Snatch it!

Feeling strong today.  My calves are sore as fuck from yesterdays experimental run but they are not a big part of kettlebell snatches.

Very happy to be getting back to full intensity snatches!  If I am not at 100% since my upper back injury I am very close :). 

All that time I spent practicing technique with smaller bells has really paid off.  It feels like I am getting the kettlbell deep in the hole (the backswing) without leaning to one side and my lockouts look decent.  I did 3 rounds of snatches today, all done on the minute. 5x5 and 5x6  with the 16 kg bell as well as a 5x6 round with the 18 kg bell.    Here's my second round.

Running

I do not like running!  When I was forced to do it as a kid during organized sports it was hell for me.  My knees and low back would hurt and I would gas out very quickly.

For the past year I have been very dedicated to my kettlelbell practice as well as hiking regularly.  The hikes have gotten easier over time so I resorted to doing things like hiking the steep parts 2x or adding pushups and/or squats througout the hike.  Adding this little bit of high intensity intervals has really brought my conditioning to life and even though I hate running and almost never do it I am convinced I am in better shape than the average runner.  I seem to pass every single person when I hike the Ridge at Runyon - I even pass runners because they need to stop running and start walking the moment the path starts going up the hill.

So today I decided to add a little bit of running to my hike up the ridge.   I did 3-4 short burtss of jogging as I went up the hill and ran about 50% of the way down the hill on the paved road.  It felt overall pretty good but my calves were killing me when I finished!  I hope I dont wake up unable to walk tomorrow..gonna heat em up and see if I can get Grace to massage me a bit :)

My time from gate to gate was 29:45.  I timed it from the gate nearest the left turn off the paved road that leads to the ridge. I came down on the paved side because it is probably safer to run down the paved road than the steps which tend to be slippery.

What is your best time on the ridge?  Wondering if anybody can beat me!

Attacking the weak spots

Ever since my shoulder was dislocated in my early 20's I have been avoiding presses of all types.  I could go years without doing a pushup and I am pretty sure it was more than a decade in between overhead pressing any serious weight.  I am getting semi-competent at the ballistic kettlebell movements, mainly the swing, clean and snatch, but have been avoiding the overhead presses.   I am going to start doing 1 day a week of a certain kind of  old-school strength work.  I dont really know what it is called but it is similiar to what bodybuilders do in the gym - they tend to lift as heavy as they can for 1-10 reps and then rest for as long as they want, sometimes exceeding 2-3 minute rest periods.  It is a method of training where there is no rush because you  want to stay as fresh as possible for your next set.  In this approach of training you also avoid training to failure.  I have a feeling that I held myself back for years as far as gaining strength through weight training because I was a huge advocate of training to failure every time I worked out.  Studying kettlebell technique and the way kettlebellers, particularly the Russian type,  has really opened my eyes and I can feel myself growing stronger by the week! 

I decided that my own old-school approach would be the very simple 5x5 set/rep scheme.  I'm doing 5 sets of 5 reps with a weight that makes the last rep in the last set very difficult but not impossible.    Even though you can do this routine and rest for a very long time in between sets I had to draw the line somewhere.  I did one 5x5 round on the 2nd minute which was way too much resting.  The 5x5 on the 1.5 minute worked much better.  Here is a clip of one round of 5 with the 16 and 18 kg bell.  I am using different size bells because I dont have a 2nd 18 kg bell!  My right arm is also still a little stronger than my left so I feel the asymetrical training can only be good for me.