Military Press PR and Swings

Everything I do is based around getting me to be able to snatch the 24 kg bell 100x in under 5 minutes.  That is one of the physical requirements for the StrongFirst Kettlebell certification I want to do some time this year or next.  Pavel says Getups and Swings are the best way to get ready for the SFG cert so I'm doing Getups 2x a week on their own and 1 or 2 handed swings 2x a week.

I've also read that it is recommended anybody attempting the SFG Kettlebell cert should be able to press a pair of 24 kg bells for multiple sets of 5.  For the past 4-5 months I've been pushing my military presses and am happy to report I finally managed my first set of 5 decent looking reps.  Here's todays workout:

Kettlebell Military Presses 6 sets done on the 2nd minute 53's x5x3x2x2 reps, 40's x7x5 reps
2 Handed Kettlebell Swing 12 sets 30 seconds work 30 seconds rest, 4 sets w/53 lb bell, 8 sets w/40

My 2-hand swings are stagnating a little but.  It's my grip that is failing me more than anything else.  I think I can fix this with barbell deadlifting but still have not picked up an Olympic bar and some plates like I've been meaning to do the past year.  I'm also thinking some Farmer Walks with the 53's could help.

My weekly training routine currently looks like this:

Mondays  Presses and Swings
Tuesdays Getups and hiking
Weds OFF
Thursdays Heavy Snatches, 1-Arm Swings and  Front Squats 
Friday Getups and hiking

My hikes usually have 2-3 uphill sprints thrown in which are incredible for conditioning.

snatches and front squats

I have not done the snatch test in a few months so I thought it would be a good idea to give it a shot.  The snatch test idea comes from Pavel/StrongFirst of course.  The idea is to do 100 reps with the 53 lb bell in under 5 minutes.

I've been training primarily with the 40 lb kettlebell so testing with the 35 felt nice and light.  I managed to do 100 reps in about 3 minutes 50 seconds.  I have a feeling my lockouts wouldnt pass a StrongFirst certification so that is something I need to work on.  My conditioning is improving because last time I tested it took 4:47 to finish the 100 reps.   It still feels like I am miles away from snatching the 53 lb bell 100x but I'm enjoying the process with no signs of my motivation lagging.

I also attempted to do 6 minutes of  30 second work/30 second rest Front Squats with a pair of 35 lb bells.  Halfway thru the 5th set I thought I was gonna puke so I stopped there lol.

Training is overall going great.  Sometimes I dont think I am doing enough actual strength training but the numbers dont lie.  Next week I'm going to see if I can press the 24 kg bells for 5 reps :)

Back-off week -How to avoid overtraining.

Every 4th week I make it a point to back off on the intensity at least a little bit.  If I train full-out 100% every time I train my progress slows down, I dont enjoy training as much and I am prone to injury.  Those are all signs of overtraining and if there is one thing I have learned as an up and coming old fucking man is how to avoid overtraining.

Typically Mondays are a day I try to set some sort of PR in the press and/or snatch but since it is back-off week I'm going a little lighter and mixing in some new stuff.

Strength Work: 5 kettlebell cleans followed 5 kettlebell presses x 8 sets w/16 kg bell.

My initial intention was to do traditional clean and presses but I have to set my legs quite wide apart for the clean and it felt funny adjusting my feel between the clean and the press.  I figured doing 5 cleans followed by 5 presses would give me the same results as 5 clean and presses. 

Conditioning Work: 8 sets of 20 reps 2-hand kettlebell swings on the minute.   First 4 sets with the 24kg bell, last 4 sets with the 18kg bell. 

Finished with the usual stretches, 10 breaths x 2 rounds of backbends on the ball, seated twists and forward bends. 

Military Press PR

Kettlebell Military Press 8 sets x 5 reps on the 2nd minute with 40 lb bells
On the 3rd set I put the 53 lb kettlebell in my right hand and did 5 reps for a personal record.
Kettlebell Snatches 6 sets of 8/8 reps with 40 lb bell

I would typically do a 15-20 minute conditioning round but for whatever reason I was feeling very tired today so all I did was 5 sets of 20 reps of the 2 hand Kettlebell Swing with the 53 lb bell.

Anti-ageing Getups!

It has been proven that seniors who can bring themselves from the seated position to the standing position live longer, have lower chance of injury and have an overall higher quality of life.  I figure if I can do Getups with progressively bigger weights as I get older I will live forever!  And if not forever at least I can avoid asking for help just getting in and out of chairs.

Todays workout is something of a 'tonic' workout.  A tonic is an old-school expression that means I am doing a different variety of exercise than usual, typically at a lower intensity than my usual workouts.  The goal of the tonic workout is not to gain strength but to instead speed up the recovery time in between stronger workouts and simply get the blood flowing. 

I did 3 rounds (from standing to prone, back to standing) on each side with no weight followed by 3 rounds with the 8 kg bell.  I rested as much as I wanted  in between sets and made it a point to not break a sweat.  I have an upper back issue that makes it somewhat painful to hold my arm overhead for more than few seconds which I why I am using the small weight.  I'm looking forward to putting bigger weights overhead in the Getup but I'm in no rush!  Since I've been doing these Getups my upper back has been feeling much looser/better so I'm gonna stick with it :)

Heavy 1-arm swings & hi-pulls

"Get a good pump with heavy weights. Take long rests. Do not train to failure."   Dan Jon

Today I did 2 20 minute rounds.   First round for strength, second round for conditioning.

First round I trained on every 2nd minute, averaging 30 seconds work, 90 seconds rest.
1-arm swings 40 lb kb x 7/7, 40 x 8/8, + 3 rounds 53 lb kb x 8/8
1-arm High-pulls - 4 rounds 53 lb kettlebell x 8/8, 1 round 40 x 8/8

My high-pulls are terrible because I have not been practicing them at all.   You would typically learn the kettlebell snatch by learning first the kettlebell clean followed by the swing. The next logical step is the high-pull but of course I skipped this step in my eargerness to figure out the snatch.   Now that I am seriously attacking the 24 kg kettlebell I realize I have to do high pulls before I consider throwing this bell over my head safely.  I'm also working my Military Presses and Getups which are both complementary to the snatch. If you cant Military Press a weight for 5 reps or do a full Getup with it you probably shouldnt be doing snatches with it!

2nd round is my conditioning work.  I did a 20 minute round of 30 seconds work/30 seconds rest. I wanted to mix it up so I did some rare combination work. Using one kettlebell and working one side at at time, 1 rep per exercise for 30 seconds I did this combo:

Kettlebell Clean, Front Squat, Military Press, Snatch
Used the 40 lb bell for most of the round except for the early warmup and a few times when my left side started talking to me. 

40 minutes training time, finished with 3 rounds of 10 breaths each back bends on ball, seated twist, seated and standing forward bends.  I believe this little series of exercises done after training has helped me keep my mobility and possibly minimize the chance of hurting my lower back immediately after training. 

This is maybe the 10th time lifetime I've trained high-pulls so excuse the ugly form.

Heavy presses and snatches, light swings and cleans

Kettlebell Military Presses done on every 2nd minute (about 90 seconds rest between sets)
40 lb kettlebell X 5, 6, 7, 6, 5 reps
Kettlebell Snatches  - 40 lb kettlebell  - 7R/7L x 5 sets

2 minutes rest followed by:

14 minutes consecutive of 30 seconds work,  30 seconds rest
2 hand kettlebell swing - 40 lb kettlbell, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53, 40
1-arm kettlebell clean - 18 lb kettlebell, 26, 35, 35, 40, 40,40

Good overall workout.  Been a while since I've done any cleans, they are always fun and I got a great pump. 

What makes a "real" poker player?

I want to thank everybody who came out for my home poker game last night.  I had a great time running the game and am looking forward to doing it again :)

There was some talk during the game about what makes a "real" poker player.  There is a certain way that  a serious poker player plays his cards and handles himself at the table which makes his/her 'realness' obvious.  There was also some talk about whether or not the size/stakes of a game makes a game "real" or not.

Here are my thoughts on what makes a real poker player.

1) A real poker player plays the same regardless of the stakes.  Even if a poker player is playing in a small game way below his/her bankroll he will still take the time to think out every decision as if they were playing for higher stakes.   We take the game seriously, the money is a necessary part of the game but it does not dictate how good we want to play. 

2)  A real poker player does not think to him/herself,   "I'm gonna crush this game, these players have no chance against me because I am so good."  A real poker player knows that on any given night luck will play more of a role in winning than skill.  We also know that if we play long enough against unskilled players we will eventually crush them.  It simply takes time to get into the long-run and the long-run is where real poker players thrive.

3)  Real poker players handle his wins/loses pretty much the same.  We do not excessively celebrate when we win a pot and we do not bitch and moan when we lose a pot.  We do not celebrate when we win because we are being respectful to our opponent.  Sure, you may have just won the biggest pot of your life but how do you think your opponent feels?  Maybe they can barely afford the stakes you are playing and that money is important to them? 

4) A real poker player has suffered at the poker table.  If all you know about poker is how exciting and fun it is than sorry, you are not a real poker player.  This game is a true human drama and like any good story will have a wide variety of ups and downs.  Shit will happen to you in a poker game that will feel almost unexplainable, as if the poker gods hate you.  It is a sad fact that you need to lose, and handle those loses properly, in order to be proven a real poker player.

5) Probably most important a real poker player studies the game off the table.  We read every book available on the subject and talk about the game incessantly.  We also are active on poker discussion forums.  Discussion forums are even better than books because you can post hands and situations you find yourself in and see what other, more experienced players would of done in your shoes.  I said last night, if you think the answer to "Do you know what 2+2 is?" = 4, you are not a real poker player.
2+2 Poker discussion forum - http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/2/general-poker-discussion/

Some Easy Strength and Not-so-easy Conditioning work

Splitting the workout again into 2 categories.  Heavy weight with long rests and lighter weights with shorter rests.  I am not sure how much I enjoy training only 2 days a week like I've been doing recently.  I feel strong and my body feels pretty hard but I may switch to 3 days a week since I enjoy training so much.  Here's what I did today:

8 sets 7 reps each side 1-arm kettlebell swing on every 2nd minute.  16 minutes total with the following weights: 35 lb, 40, 40, 53, 53, 53, 53, 53.   The 53 lb bell feels heavy as shit as I've never really did 1-arm swings with it.  I am training this way because I want the 35 lb bell to feel light when I do this conditioning work with it as follows:

Kettlebell Snatches 6 minutes 30 seconds on 30 seconds off with 35 lb kettlebell. 
No resting, followed by
Kettlebell Snatch Holds 30/30 again for 6 minutes.

A very strong 12 minutes!