On kettlebell training

In my previous post, I wrote about acquiring a 16 kgs kettlebell.  Since then, I've been able to improve on my kettlebell snatch, which was difficult when I only had the 24 kgs kb to play with.  With the lighter kb, I was able to work on technique, a major obstacle in snatching the 24 kgs kb.  Unlocking the technique made everything possible.  Once snatching the heavier bell became routine, all grip associated problems (calluses) associated with snatching the lighter bell disappeared.

Now I've got my sights on the SSST (Secret Service Snatch Test), which comprises AMRAP of a 24 kgs kb in 10 minutes.  You can rest, switch hands, even put the kb on the ground, but when the time is up, that's your score.  It took me about 12 minutes to do 100 snatches with the prescribed weight.  I've got a ways to go.

In other news, work on the planche progresses slowly.  Lately, I've been working on transitions from the L-sit to the advanced tuck planche.  The act of raising my lower body to the advanced tuck position was a minor triumph.  In the past, I'd have to raise my legs into a tuck planche.  Baby steps.

10-3-12
-kb snatches (6x10, 24 kgs; 2x30, 16 kgs)
-hand stands and forearm stands
-L-sit to advanced tuck planche transitions

little yellow kettlebell

You may have been wondering where I have been, that maybe I had given up.  Nope.  Still here.

One of my recent distractions has been a 16 kgs kettlebell, which I bought from http://store.worldkettlebellclub.com/categories/Kettlebells/VF-ProGrade/

Yeah, it's pricey, but I figure it'll be great preparation in case I get interested in kb competitions.   That was the plan when I got the 24kgs competition bell, but that was way too heavy to learn technique.  With this light bell, technique improved exponentially.

7-13-12
-tuck planche holds (6x10 secs)
-HSPU (3x12, 3x12 sec bent arm holds)
-weighted off-set chin-ups (3x8, 16 kgs)
-weighted bent-arm hang (30 sec)
-db hang power cleans (2x6x5, 2x60 lbs)
-kb snatches (2x30, 16 kgs)

It was probably not smart to do the snatches last.  They are the most technical of the exercises and I too pooped to do 100 of them.

achey traps and progress on the tuck planche

Greetings faithful readers.  Sorry for the dearth of posts, I've been distracted by life's little events.  Anywho, a reader asked how my wrist injury had healed and whether the Wristwidget had helped.  Well, I've regained a lot of the lost function in the injured wrist, so I believe the Wristwidget did good.  However, it's my impression that my wrist will always be the weak link, always prone to re-injury.  Lots of tape or some sort of brace will be forever in my future.

I have been able to hold a tuck planche for a few more seconds now;  20 versus 10 at a shot.  That's a positive development.  With the longer tuck planche holds, my shoulders have been taking a beating.  I decided to make it a shoulder mobility day.

Sledge hammer pendulum swings-  Grasp a sledge hammer by the handle and let it hangover the shoulder and behind your back.  Your elbow points straight upwards.  Now sway from side to side.  The sledge hammer head will oscillate.

Sledge hammer casts and swings- I took these from Indian Club exercises.  Look them up.

Sledge hammer trap fixer- Take your sledge hammer and sling it over your shoulder.  Allow the handle to see-saw over the tight spots in your upper trapezius.  My wife wears out her thumbs trying to massage my traps.  The sledge hammer handle works with no effort.

Today's workout:
-HSPU (3x10+10 sec bent arm hand stand holds)
-weighted chin-ups (5, 6, 5; 24 kgs)
-weighted bent arm hangs (3x10 secs, 24 kgs)
-advanced tuck, front lever bodyrows (3x20)

tuck planche

My progress towards the Planche/Maltese on the floor was stalled by my inability to hold a tuck planche.  I would get intense cramping in my abs, specifically the top left bump of the six-pack.  It looked like a hard-boiled egg was implanted subcutaneously, and man did it hurt.  I encountered no such pain nor cramping when doing roll-outs, front lever progressions, or any other ab exercise.  It then occurred to me that some pretty taxing ab exercise usually preceded my tuck planche attempts.  Aha!  A thought bubble formed above my head.  Forget the intense warm-up, just do the tuck planches.  And so I did.

5-7-12
- single db C&P (2x5x5, 24 kgs)
- tuck planche holds (6x10 secs)

On Mondays I like to do squat cleans, but the thought of hoisting the 2 db's was unappealing today.  I grabbed a single db and performed alternating sets of 5 reps at a fast pace.  Before you knew it 50 reps had flown by, and I was breathing hard.  The tuck planches weren't so onerous by themselves.  How far away are advanced tuck and straddle planches I wonder.

more db squat cleans

Yes, I am back. . . not that I had ever left.  It's just that I have been working on the db squat cleans, HSPU and advanced tuck front lever rows with very limited progress.  Just to refresh your memory, the HSPU and the advanced tuck, front lever body rows are laying the ground work for the one armed pull-up and human flag.  The db squat cleans are for general strength and conditioning.

When I reported here last, I was doing sets with 100 lbs.  I have since added a little weight to the db's (104).  Just 2 days ago I completed 50 reps, resting one minute for every minute of work.  I averaged 5 reps per set.  Today, I tried to go for 6 reps per set and burnt out at 24 reps.  Any more and I would have strained a muscle, I'm sure.  It was tremendously difficult to get my breathing under control during the rest periods.  Oh man.  I think I'll build a bigger base of work capacity at 5 reps per set.

5-3-12

-advanced tuck, front lever rows (3x20)

-HSPU (3x10, 3x10 sec bent arm handstand hold)

-db squat cleans (4x6, 104 lbs)

Squat cleans for reps

I love me some db squat cleans! I mean, what's not to like? You develop explosiveness, a strong core, your traps, grip and will. I want to do these everyday.

3-19-12
-DB squat cleans (100 lbs; 10,8,5,5,5)

While we are on the subject of squatting, I thought I'd mention a quick fix for low back pain. The other day I woke up feeling some tightness in my lower back. I had been doing some kb swings and squats days before and slept funny. Anyway, I got out of bed feeling old like Fred Sanford. I guess I am pretty old if I'm using a Redd Foxx reference. Foam rolling, my usual go-to for muscle aches was ineffectual. Same with the lacrosse balls, my silver bullet of late for muscle pain.

What finally worked was just squatting down, heels to the ground and sitting this way for several minutes. Upon standing, I noticed that the tightness was gone. I could speculate that by squatting I corrected the hyper-lordosis in my spine, but I'm not qualified. I just know that I'm feeling much better. Next I'm going to work on my slouching shoulders. Poor posture and decreased shoulder mobility can contribute to lower back pain, so I've heard.

Torn TFCC follow-up

You may recall my first post on my torn TFCC injury back in November of 2011. Well, it has been more than a few weeks and I am happy to report that there has been some improvement. Some improvement is better than none. When pressed, my orthopedist wouldn't guarantee 100% return of function so I don't regret the conservative approach I've taken.

When I say "some" improvement, I mean I can do simple tasks like washing my face without my wrist complaining. On the bathroom scale test, I can support the same amount of body-weight with the right hand as well as the left with a little discomfort. And today, I did 30 handstand pushups without having the wrist wrapped in yards of tape. Improvements to be sure. I have also lost a little range of motion. Then there's the fear that if my wrist undergoes another impact trauma my wrist will explode like a glass jar full of marbles hitting the floor. Karate, Sambo and Judo? Hmmn, I don't know. How many chances do I get to bounce back?

3-12-12
-advanced tuck, front lever body rows (20)
-Bent arm grip transitions (3x10)
-HSPU (3x10)+(3x10) sec bent arm holds)
-kb swings, 2x100x24 kgs

Kicking with the Bulgarian Bag

You may recall mention of the Bulgarian training bag in my tool kit. This baby comprises 40 lbs of pea gravel wrapped up in a truck tire inner tube. It's the Vienna sausage from hell. Spin the bag around for ten minutes and you'll see. Today's workout utilized the bag in a less strenuous manner.

3-9-12
-advance tuck front lever rows (20)
-Bent arm grip transitions (4x10)
-10 HSPU (10 sec bent arm hold), 5 HSPU (10 sec), 5 HSPU (10 sec)
-straight arm isometrics on the Akro Wheels (4x30 secs)
-low stance foot work, 10 mins w/ 40lbs Bulgarian bag
-10 mins jumping hiza w/ Bulgarian bag

The curve in the bag conforms nicely to the neck and shoulders; perfect for today's exercises. For the first 10 minutes of BB work, I hoisted the bag to my shoulders and got into a wrestler's crouch. From there I walked in triangular patterns, all the time keeping the knees bent. Music would have complemented this exercise well. Alas, I had none. The next 10 minutes with the bag was spent throwing jumping knee kicks.

I tried one arm negatives from the chin-up bar. The dominant arm is nearly there. The other still needs work.

Push & Pull

So I skipped lunch for the past week. I'm not on a diet, just a little pre-occupied. Usually, I get cranky when I miss a meal. I haven't heard any complaints. Anyway, today I had lunch with a buddy of mine who popped into town from the 'burbs. We met at Katz's Deli downtown, and had identical orders: Dr. Brown's Cream Soda; pastrami on rye; pickles; fries. I figure, if you're breaking a fast (not that skipping lunch for a week is so onerous), you could do worse than pastrami from Katz's. The pastrami was moist and lean, but not too lean. The fries, eh, you won't miss anything by leaving it off the order.

3-7-12
-advanced tuck , front lever rows (20)
-Bent Arm Grip Transitions (4x10)
-12 HSPU (10 sec bent arm hold), 5 HSPU (10 sec hold), 5 HSPU (10 sec hold)
-DB front squats 25

3-6-12
-DB front squats 4x25x100lbs
-straight arm holds on the Akro Wheels (4x30 secs)

Unrecorded workouts comprised HSPU's and ACU progressions. Been ignoring the conditioning; the skipped lunches are probably to blame.

Follow me

Thanks for following along in my training. If the reading hasn't put you to sleep, I invite to follow my other blog, a better karate. You'll be out on your feet. Click on the title or take one Ambien.

Bodyweight training

I've been wondering how to get past the sticking point in my OACU progressions. I'm stuck at assisted, one arm bent arm hangs; you know, where I pinch the door frame with my free hand for support while I do a one-arm, bent-arm hang off the doorway pull-up bar. It doesn't seem to be helping me get to the one-arm hold, and the one armed negative, which I believe are important milestones to the OACU.

Anyway, I caught a video on youtube of an athlete doing amazing bodyweight exercises (one armed handstands and lots of pull-up variations) and it gave me renewed hope, and perhaps a different tack to approach the OACU. Instead of doing my usual reps of pull-ups or advanced tuck lever rows followed by the assisted one-armed bent-arm hangs, I thought I'd pull-up, and do grip transitions in the bent arm position for time. Simple right? Damn! The guy in the video made it look easy. He moved smoothly from one bar, to another placed about a foot higher and set-back.

For me, with a single doorway pull-up bar, it'll be a little different. Pull-up with a pronated grip, switch to commando grip, switch to supinated grip, continue switching grips. On this first outing I was good for about 12 grip transitions. I did 4 sets of those and finished with 20 advanced tuck, front lever rows.

So there you have my new (for me) exercise. I don't know whether this movement has a name. I'm calling it bent arm grip transitions.

3-1-12
-4x12 bent-arm grip transitions
-20 advanced tuck, front lever rows
-3 HSPU+ 1 min bent-arm hand stand hold, 3 HSPU +42 sec bent-arm hand stand hold

Treating my elbow

So I'm back on track, having sorted out the elbow and shoulder pain. It turns out that spinning the jump rope with excessive wrist motion annoys my forearm extensors. The fix was rather simple: I used less wrist for rope skipping; SMR.

I treated my elbow by applying pressure to the spot on the forearm where the extensors originate. A golf ball or high bounce ball, such as you might find at the dollar store, are usually fine for such a small trigger point. Too bad for me the elbow is not so amenable to massage with these tools. I tried. Applying the Spock Pinch to the elbow while rotating the wrist, much like a royal family member might when waving to the hoi polloi, took care of the pain.

You'll notice HSPU's are back on the scene. I'm anxious to get the shoulder strength up to deal with the demands of the Maltese/planche as well as the Flag (yeah, why not?) I'm thinking of working on 100x100 lbs db squats so as not to completely ignore the legs. The core endurance will also come in handy for the aforementioned goals. On the OACU project, I'm stalled on doing assisted one-armed, bent arm hangs. Previously, assistance was provided by a finger or two on a Rock Ring. Now I'm just pinching the door frame with my free hand as I hang from the pull-up bar.

Today's workout is representative of the types of things I've been doing since my last post.

2-14-12
-advanced tuck front lever rows (2x20)
-pull up to a front lever,10
-assisted OA Bent Arm Hang 2x5x10 secs
-HSPU 3x(10+10 sec bent arm hold)
-db front squat 3x10
-Tabata Row

Changing gears

So it seems that my pull-up/HSPU routine is wreaking havoc with my joints (left shoulder and elbow). Is there any way other than wreaking to bring about havoc? I'm going to switch gears, maybe focus on mobility and conditioning a little bit. I left out the HSPU's and am definitely not going to do anymore db cleans after today.

1-29-12
-29 front tuck lever body rows
-3 mile run

1-31-12
-30 front tuck lever body rows
-Tabata row on the C2

2-1-12
-advanced tuck lever body row (2x20)
-assisted OACU and isos (pinching door frame)
-db cleans, power cleans, shrugs
-elbow lever (3x20 secs)
-Bulgarian bag circles (40 lbs, 10 min)

Swinging a 40 lbs Bulgarian bag in circles is a lot harder than I remember it to be. 100 circles in 10 minutes! That's got to be a record in wimpy, but I'll take it and hopefully improve on it.

Shoulder Pain

Yesterday morning I felt a little twinge of pain in my shoulder. It was as if a tendon got hung-up or was tracking incorrectly. There was no pain if I kept my arm still, but if I moved it a certain way it clicked and felt as if my arm would pop out of the shoulder socket. Your shoulder shouldn't hurt when you're just windmilling your arms- no load, just your arm tracing gentle arcs in the air. Argh.

Anyway, I'd thought about how the pull-ups, HSPU and push presses are probably stressing out all those little muscles in the shoulder. I broke out a small rubber ball, placed it between a wall and my deltoids, and rolled. The medial and anterior aspect of the deltoids seemed to be where the hotspots were. After about 5 minutes of rolling, I gave my arms a spin and presto, no clicking, sticking or pain.

1-27-12
-10 mins shoulder mobility with the sledgehammer
-10 mins skipping rope

1-26-12
-28 tuck front lever body rows
-2x3x2 assisted OACU (doubles with 1 finger assist), 2x3x10 sec assisted one arm isos
-HSPU 4x(8+10 sec bent arm hold)
-100 kb swings
-100 goblet squats
-10 min skipping rope

1-25-12
-10 mins rope skipping
-ab kneeling (eccentric) to standing (concentric) roll-outs, 2x10

Exercise to beat stress

If you're reading this, you probably already know that exercise helps you deal with stress. I've been trying to convince my wife and older daughter of this with limited success until today. Usually, I get the"I'm too busy for exercise," brush-off. The stars aligned for me today and I got my wife and daughter to skip rope: 1000's turns for me and the kid; 500 turns for the Mrs. It's a start.

1-22-12
-26 front tuck lever body rows
-rope skipping
-straight arm isometrics on the Akro Wheels

My younger daughter didn't take part in the rope skipping, but I give her props for working on pull-up progressions. Boo-yah!

west and wewaxation at wast

I caught a bug mid December. It started in my sinus, I developed a cough, and I got tired, so tired that I lost motivation to work out. At first I worried that I'd lose whatever progress I'd been making in the search for the OACU and Maltese progressions, but as the bug persisted I surrendered to it. I went to bed early, and woke up much later when I could.

Yesterday
-8x10 DB HPC

Today
-40 sec bent arm hang
-8 weighted pull-ups (24kgs)
-assisted OACU (1 finger) 2x4x(1+5 sec holds)
-inverted pike push-ups 2x(15+15 sec bent arm hold)
-5x10 db front squats

The db front squats were crying out for 100 reps (10x10), but my back was crying out louder for me to stop. I stopped.