Tag: RKC

Keep Up

speed_dialSince the infamous Body Beast on Wednesday I managed to squeeze in an RKC workout at work on Friday, an Insanity cardio workout on Saturday and a Deadlift workout on Sunday. Add that to the Bootcamp from last night and I seem to be almost on a roll of sorts.

I picked Pure Cardio for my insanity workout mostly because I had soreness in my shoulder and didn’t want to do too much of the plank or burpee action. My deadlifting is still sadly lacking and I am barely squeaking over 205lbs all the while being careful not to shatter my spine. I am going to try and get up to at least 225lbs in the next month and from there, who knows.

My RKC workout that used to be just ladders of clean and press with pullups is now changing into a more challenging and varied kettlebell workout. I have started to incorporate much more squat, high pull, snatch and swings into the workout to keep it more interesting. I have also managed to get my hands on another Art Of Strength workout titled Providence which I am hoping will add more fuel to the fire. Here’s the latest bootcamp, feel free to tell me if you find it challenging…

7.4.1 – Weights and stability ball

Chest Press
Chest Fly
Chest pullover
Single arm hammer tricep
Kneeling press
Kneeling curl
10 Wallball with pushup

Plank row
Plank row with pushup
Military on db
Kneeling press
Kneeling tricep extension
Kneeling bicep curl against knee
10 wallball with in and out abs

Med ball crunch
mb foot hold in and out
Side crunch hold mb high
mb knee hold crunchy frog
foot to hand vsnap passes
mb chest hold full situp

Chest press alternating
face up overhead fly alternating
Overhead pullover alternating
alternating shoulder press
alternating bicep curl
Single tricep extension overhead
10 wallball with military

High Pull
Halo
Ribbon (extended halo)
Hammer double curls
Military clap
Regular Clap
Plyo Pushup with clap

cooldown
Twisting half moon both sides
warrior 1-3 both sides

RKC at Work – No Excuses

kettlebellworkDon’t have time to work out after work and don’t want to get up sooo early to do it? I work at a “desk” job (albeit a standing desk) and if I bring my workout stuff with me I can squeeze in a quick 30 minute workout during lunch. Now I know people whine about being sweaty and I assume smelly, well, here is the thing. Shower the night before or the morning of, wear newly washed workout clothes and once you are done the workout cool down to the degree that you are no longer sweating and you can return to normality. If you have showers at work then you have zero excuse, we don’t so my cool down is imperative to make sure I am not still sticky or sweaty when I get changed. Guess what, it’s a great time to work on your stretching and / or mobility issues. Recently they had installed a pull up bar in the small workout room so I was able to do this:

5 minutes stretching, hindu pushups, halo etc.

12345 ladder clean and press @45lb with pullups +20 swings at the end
12345 ladder clean and press @45lb with pullups +20 two hand swings and 20 one hand swings at the end
5 Snatches plus 5 Clean and Press x 3 with 60 seconds of alternating 1 and 2 hand swings 15s each.
12345 ladder clean and press @45lb with pullups +20 swings at the end
12345 ladder clean and press @45lb with pullups +20 swings at the end

10 minute cool down including lower back stretch, leg stretch, groin work, 5lb dumbbell to work on the knots in my scapula region, intermittent dead hanging off the pullup bar to stretch my spine.

Back to work.

Finally, Kettlebells Come To Bootcamp

I have been trying to get this workout to Bootcamp forever but since we don’t have any KB at the gym I had to bring 2 of mine and one participant had her own so it was time! Why are kettlebells so good? Partly because of the extended leverage the bell gives, partly because they are handy and easy to transport but mostly because they are simply awesome.

Pavel Tsatsouline calls them the “Strength Secret Of The Soviet Supermen” and promises that with the simple kettlebell you can outperform almost any other gym full of equipment. My all time favourite quote from him goes like this:

“You are next. You are now in Soviet Territory and you are becoming a better man. If you don’t know how I will teach you. If you don’t want to, I’ll make you!”

Suffice to say, once I heard that it was game on and I devoured the Russian Kettlebell Challenge and was amazed at what an incredible workout you can get for such a simple lump of iron.

Last night it was the turn of my bootcamp participants. I have to admit, it’s not often that my heart rate goes over 170, but last night was one of those times!

Here is what we did:

5.11.2 Kettlebell Weights

x10x2
Sumo deadlift
SDL High Pull
Halo
Wallball
Chin ups or turnarounds

x10x2
double Swing eyes
pass around
Sinlge legf deadlift
Single alt press
Chin ups or hand turns

x10x1
clean
dbl Swing overhead
clean and press 5ea
Dips on pbars or dip station
leg lifts

x10x2
Dbl sumo high pull
single swing row
Laying chest press
Laying pullovers
Halo

10×2
Clean and Press
Burpee
Clean and Press
Clap Pushup
Pullups

x10x1
Double swing
1 leg squat
Single swings
Sumo DL
Horse Stance Hold 30

10.74-78 – Weekend Catchup

This is a short one, I took lots of rest this weekend mostly because I was still feeling the effects of the shit splints and soreness from last week. Not only that, stress from work had crept in leaving me short on sleep and feeling a little out of sorts. After Thursday’s bootcamp I did a short Olympic lift workout on Saturday and then took Sunday off since we went out of town to visit with family. Monday I did an RKC workout at work since they installed a chinup bar in the workout room and tonight is Bootcamp. It’s actually supposed to be cardio or agility but with the Mud Hero race this weekend I think we will skip cardio this week due to the risk to my shins. That’s all, look for the bootcamp recap tomorrow.

 

10.19-10.21 – Greasing The Groove

 

 

10.19 – Off
10.20 – FOY Yoga with Tony (Too sore for anything else)
10.21 – RKC 34543 with 55lb and pullups

The great news is that by the time I have finished Tuesday’s bootcamp I will be up at exactly 70% participation for this session. I am also trying to get my pullups back into shape since at the moment I am having trouble stringing 10 together during my workouts.

I am scouring mobilityWOD to try and get some more information on stretching and manipulating the joints and surfaces to get some progress in the bridge / splits and shoulder mobility of my girls. The field of stretching and mobility is not glamorous and is often overlooked but I am trying to find good resources for increasing mobility and flexibility beyond what 90% of sites will tell you. Most of them act like PNF is the latest development in stretching or that blindly stretching more will give more results. Since we are talking about high level athletes here, it’s tough to find much reference material, even going through gymnastics sites hasn’t really provided much information. So if you have any to pass along, it would be more than welcome.

I am also realizing that for the first time in a while I have a small window of “me” training rather than each day having to worry about bootcamp or resting after said event. For now once I am done Thursday I can feel free to exercise on Friday knowing that I have days to recoup until WOD Monday and Bootcamp again on Tuesday. I am hoping this will get me into a groove of satisfying my own strength and mobility needs (read Olympic lifting and Yoga) and help me to fight off what is apparently a roughly 3% fat gain over the last few months.

The exciting news is that my scale should arrive tomorrow. It is partly a Fathers Day gift for me, partly a Mothers Day gift for Nicole (since we get a food scale free and she says ours is toast) and partly a more accurate way to determine my body composition. I will tell you what I think once I get my hands (and feet) on it.

10.12-14 The Two Extremes

I think due to my preference to take the day after bootcamp as a rest day I am going to have to take Wednesday and Friday as rest days. Unfortunately that means I will be working out Saturday – Tuesday without a break. It sounds brutal but unless I can get over my hangup about the day after Bootcamp that will have to do. After bootcamp weights on Thursday I took Friday off and changed RKC Friday into RKC Saturday instead. The only problem with that is my 45lb KB is at work, so if I don’t do RKC at work then I have to do it at home with my 55lb KB. In the spirit of pushing myself, this is what I did:

3×3 Clean and Press with 55lb
9 chinups
3×3 Clean and Press with 55lb
9 chinups
4×3 Clean and Press with 55lb
12 chinups
4×3 Clean and Press with 55lb
12 chinups
3×3 Clean and Press with 70lb
9 chinups

I have to admit I was shocked at how hard it was to use the 55lb being only 10lbs heavier. Then again I almost crushed my head and tore my arm off using the 70lb which I have never actually used with any regularity, I suppose that is the next part of my RKC goal setting, making sure that I can lift that bad boy with regularity and ease after all, it’s the standard by which Russian Men are judged.

Sunday rolled around and knowing that I was going to have a 4 day stint including a WOD day and a bootcamp day I was in the mood for a little flexibility work. I have started the summer training at gymnastics by introducing a stretching and flexibility schedule and it has highlighted my own shortcomings with glaring clarity. So with that in mind I set about my first Yoga workout in several months, a quick search indicates that it was January 2012 when I last participated in a Yoga class and it sure felt that way last night. I remember being comfortable with yoga, being able to do most of the stretching, even able to balance in many of the poses but last night showed serious flaws in my training. I am glad that I will be doing more flexibility with the girls, I think it will give us all a chance to improve what we have but regardless I think I need to add Yoga back into my schedule at least every other week.

Maybe I can make Sunday my yoga day! I have P90X yoga, Fountain of Youth Yoga from Tony Horton 1 on 1 and of course X2 Yoga to choose from.

I hate to admit it, but I kind of miss yoga…

 

 

10.4/5 – Wrench In The Works

10.4 – Rest (sick)
10.5 – RKC at work (scheduled as WOD at gym)

234.4
21.1%

I am not sure what it was, but the last couple of days my stomach hasn’t been right. For that reason I took the day after Bootcamp as a rest day and then in preparation for not being able to do conditioning at gym I did my RKC at work. Turns out it was a good call, the kids didn’t show for class so I was given the night off.

My RKC at work was basic

5C&P per arm x3
20 swings
5C&P per arm x3
20 swings
5 snatch per arm x2
20 swings
5C&P per arm x3
5C&P per arm x3

It’s usually over in about 30 minutes and it is the perfect portable workout.

I’m trying to recover from the mysterious bloating and cramping I am feeling, hoping it’s just a mild stomach bug.

 

R9D53/4 – Bootcamp 2.12.1 Weights and RKC

*EDIT: Now paleo is curing cancer… Go cavemen!

 

I finally stuck to my guns on Tuesday and did an RKC workout at work even after Bootcamp Monday. The RKC that I do at work is a little different because there is no pullup bar but it goes something like this:

Warmup:
3x
10 pumps
10 weighted squats
10 halo

3C&P per side
3C&P per side
20 swings

3C&P per side
3C&P per side
4C&P per side
20 swings

3C&P per side
3C&P per side
4C&P per side
5C&P per side
20 swings

3C&P per side
3C&P per side
4C&P per side
20 swings

3C&P per side
3C&P per side
20 swings

3 Snatches per side
4 Snatches per side
5 Snatches per side
4 Snatches per side
3 Snatches per side

My back was very sore after last Friday which can only mean one thing… I haven’t been doing enough KB work to keep my back in shape. Being as it is that I have whined incessantly about not doing enough there is lots of room for improvement. Luckily after this round of RKC I already feel much better.

D23 – 2.12.1 Weights

20 squats
20 lunge walk or barbell lunge
20 weighted MKs
10 weighted long jump
Farmers Waddle 4 lines

Farmers Waddle 4 lines
10 weighted long jump
20 weighted MKs
20 lunge walk or barbell lunge
20 squats

No weight

20 super skater per
20 1 leg squat knee raise
20 MK
20 air squat

With DBs or BB

15 Double curl
15 weighted box dips
10 alt curl each or BB curl
15 weighted box dips
15 double hammer curl or french BB curl
15 weighted box dips

15 strict press
15 side raise or front BB raise
15 high pull
15 front raise
15 strict press

15 Double curl
15 weighted box dips
10 alt curl each or BB curl
15 weighted box dips
15 double hammer curl or french BB curl
15 weighted box dips

15 strict press
15 side raise or front BB raise
15 high pull
15 front raise
15 strict press

COMBOS

15 DB thruster
15 double db curl and press OR BB full clean and press
10 front side high pull or BB front front high pulll

R9D29 – Work Out At Work

Today our cafeteria at THE HOSPITAL decided they would offer potato chips (freshly fried) as the “vegetable” with their entree. Sometimes I just have to shake my head. It’s almost as bad as Planet Fitness offering their members pizza, bagels and tootsie rolls. At the far end of the spectrum I decided I would go to our small but adequate workout space and do my RKC workout for the day. It was short and tough but it kept me awake for the afternoon meetings!

10 minutes of standing spin bike, squats, pumps and halos with the 45lb.

3+3 clean and press with 20 swings
3+3+4 clean and press with 20 swings
3+3+4+5 clean and press with 20 swings
3+3+4 clean and press with 20 swings
3+3 clean and press with 20 swings

5×5 high pull rows

5×5 snatch

Add a short cool down and I was in and out in under 40 minutes. The only downside was that I had to opt for 2 bananas and some of my personal raw nuts and seeds mix for lunch. But hey, it’s better than potato chips!

R9D15 – Many Happy Russian Returns

I took the opportunity to work out during lunch today in our work “getaway” room. I had my 45lb KB with me and as I have said many times in the past, that’s all you need for a great workout. It went like this (since I didn’t have a pullup bar):

Pumps, halos and squats for warmup

1-2-3 Clean and Press
20 swings
1-2-3-4 Clean and Press
20 swings
1-2-3-4-5 Clean and Press
20 swings
1-2-3-4 Clean and Press
20 swings
1-2-3 Clean and Press
20 swings

5 snatches per side x 3

It was a quick 25 minutes or so.

It’s funny actually, the questions I get the most about my workouts are not about P90X or even now about P90X2 but rather about kettlebell workouts. People seem fascinated by the idea that you can get a full body kick-ass workout from a heavy metal ball with a handle. I guess I was pretty skeptical too at first but after you do your first few swings, you get the message! I know a lot of people use kettlebells for some of their work, maybe a few swings here and there witha sumo deadlift or two thrown in but I don’t know of many people who actually do full kettlebell workouts. If you haven’t tried it and you are looking for something to supplement your P90X/Insanity workouts then why not try the RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge) as outlined in the Art Of Strength workbook and work through the Enter The Kettlebell workout video. I can guarantee you will feel a massive difference in your strength, especially your core and back.

Give it a shot, it’s a new year after all!