Fifty's

Tried a new workout I got from Charley a while back. After reading through I thought a lot about what might be the correct weight of kettlebell. When I first looked at it I thought I'll do it with a 24 Kg. Of course I wasn't really going to do it right then so naturally I though a 24 Kg.
Today I decided to really try this workout. I didn't want to fail so I went with a 20 Kg. If I make it through with a 20 Kg then next time I'll go for the 24 Kg.
Good thing...its a tough workout!
Here how I did it.
25 Snatches L
25 Snatches R
2 x's
50 Total
25 Push Presses L
25 Push Presses R
2 x's
50 Total
25 Cleans L
25 Cleans R
2 x's
50 Total
10 Jerks L
10 Jerks R
5 x's
50 Swings L
50 Swings R

Fatigued a bit, but it would have been ugly with a 24 Kg...next time.
I feel this was more of a strength workout than a cardio workout, at least the way I did it. I had some rest in between exercises. I would like to try this with lighter weight and speed it up a bit for a good cardio session...

Class at The Club

Lots going on here. Jay and David just returned from "The Boys are Back in Town" Vegas show. Mahler, Cotter and the rest all showing their best. To add to that - Terri just came back from the RKC Challenge in Minnesota, so their was a lot to tqalk about. More on that latter...
The workout
David has some new things to add from Vegas -
A little different warmup, a little different workout -
Lots of swings, a new approach to the get up and more swings..and snatches..

Whoa!

It's been almost a week since I last posted. Is that indicative of my training program? I hope not, I still have a lot of things to accomplish.
Recap -
Thurday 10/18/07
Class with Jay at The Kettlebell Club
- I was his lone student, this was kettlebell training at it's finest. One teacher, one student and one agenda - To test my ability to adapt and overcome new exercises. This was my most difficult day as a kettlebell student. No other people to blend in with or hide behind. Just Jay and me. He asked me to do exercises that I didn't think I could do, why? Because I had never done them before. He would show me something that looked awfully difficult and said "you do it". I said I don't know if I can...so I just did it. I found out the bodys' abilities can exceed it's percieved limitations. This is what kettlebell training is all about - to push past the mental boundries that the mind creates.

Saturday 10/20/07
Class at the Kettlebell Club
Taught 2 enrgetic students. One veteran and one new comer who has caught on on very quickly. Tested their ability to recover from one exercise to another. Finished with a 100 swing drill to find a weakness. The hands or arms, legs or the breath. It was the breath....

24 Kg Lite Day

Todays workout -
Warm Up
- 24 Kg Jerk Set
3 Minutes
6,6,6
- 24 Kg Snatches
20/20
- Push Ups
10 Reps
- Circle Drill
5 Reps
- Seated Twist
20 Reps
- Plank variations
2 Minutes

Hands recovered from last weeks swing fest. Had just 30 mintues to get in a little workout. Weight is a little heavy at 174 pounds after a weekend of rest, relaxation and some poor food choices. No big deal though! I feel good...

Fives

My hands have not fully recovered from the 1000 swing workout, a couple hot spots are a little tender. So todays' workout consisted of exercises that didn't require much of a grip.

Warm Up
- 16 Kg's
5 Minute Jerk Set
6,6,6,6,6
- Kettlebell Push Ups
10 reps
5 Sets
- Kettlebell Rows 24 Kg's
5/5
5 Sets
- 20 Kg Circle Drill with Press
5 Sets
- Kettlebell Shoot Throughs
5 Reps

Just happy to keep it going...The jerk set was easier than I remember, so I will add on 2 minutes and see how my body reacts.

1000 Swings...

Tried 1000 swings today within 60 minutes. I reduced the number of reps per set and instead of just 2 hand swings, I included 1 hand swings as well.
Here was the plan:
10 Left Hand
10 Right Hand
10 2 Hand
30 Reps = 1 set
Every 2 minutes: 30 sets x 30 =900 Total Swings

When I got to the 28 minute I realized I could get to the 1000 Mark
Added 2 sets plus a 40 swing sprint at the end
Total Swings: 1000
24 Kg x 1000 = 53,000 Lbs.
Time: 59 Minutes 34 seconds

My body was tired. I felt that this was more of a marathon with a sprint at the end. The sprint was a killer. Imagine get so close to 1000 swings and then failing, it was not an option.

I will do variations of this 1000 swing workout...All 2 Hand, All 1 Hand, 50 rep sets and 100 rep sets etc.

Next Up:
10 Minute Swing and Snatch Tests - How Many can I get in 10 minutes...

New Goal - 1000 Swings in One Hour

I finally have picked a goal - 1000 Swings in one hour. I was talking with Jay Armstrong RKC Team Leader about the 1000 swing challenge he was working on...he told me he hasn't made it to 1000 swings within the alloted 60 minutes. He is in GREAT SHAPE and I said that's hard to beleive he can't do it. He asked me if I've tried it....No I haven't. I hadn't even thought of it before.
So I decided to try it. 1000 Swings in 60 minutes is alot of swings....
I didn't want to set myself up for immediate failure so I set out to do 500 swings in 30 minutes. This is something that I knew I could do and it will allow me to gauge what this kind of test will do to my body. Where will I start to fail first? Hands, Arms, Legs, Breath or in the Head?
By the end of the 500 swings my hands and arms started to tire so I think thats what I need to toughen up to get to my goal of the 1000 swings.
Here's My workout:
Warm Up - I was very stiff today so it took me 1/2 the day to loosed up
Stretching, some swings, more stretching, more swings 3 hours later....
Two Handed Swings
24 Kg
50 Reps x 10
500 Total
29 Minutes

Plan to get to 1000 - Increase number of reps till I get to 100 swings, then repeat 10 times. Next time I will do 600 Swings - 10 sets of 60 swings.

Kettlebell Club with Terri

Terri is the next memebr of the club to go to the RKC certification. She goes in the next couple of weeks. Is she ready?
Yes, but she is a little dissapointed with the snatch requirements for females. She says its a little too easy. I agree, they should increase the requirements to set the bar a little higher for the females...
Anyway Terri ran the class today. Over 45 minutes of kettlebell exercises and judging by the exercises she likes the Swing and the snatch, we did alot of each. I can't remember everything but I know she tested my conditioning and strength. She also held true to my new standard - 200 swings. I wrote before in another post that 100 swings is my minimum, but now its 200 swings. 100 was not enough!
Good class - pace was even, a variety of exercises and if you used the proper kettlebell, you got a great workout! I used a 24 Kg....A good workout!

100 Swing Minimum

I have decided to implement a 100 swing Minimum with my workouts. I seem to get caught up in snatches, presses, Get ups etc. I have lost focus on the single best exercise kettlebells can provide...The Swing.
I don't care if its one handed or two handed, it dosen't matter! Just do as many as you can.
In all my workouts I intend to swing the kettlebell at least 100 times. You can break it up and swing it 50,50 or go for it and do 100. One addition - if your strong and in good shape you a kettlebell 1 size up that you normally work with. I use a 24Kg in most of my exercises so...I use a 28Kg for the 100 Swing Minimum.
Todays Workout:
Warm Up
Two Hand Swing
28Kg 100 Reps
Jerks
28Kg 5x5
2 sets
Push Ups
15 Reps
2 Sets
24 Kg Snatches
10x10
2 sets

Cogswells Beg #1

David had us go through one of his beginning basic workouts.
3 times a series of 5 exercises:
Deck Squats 10
Cleans 10/10
Presses 5/5
Get Ups 3/3
Deadlifts 20
Swings 30
Then Ballistic Swings
Then Abwork from the floor
Stretch

Simple yet effective!