Hats Off to the Ladies

After a long week, without getting any training in, except for snow shoveling, I was able to squeeze in a short session today. I decided to single bell it today, 20kg. And work through a few lifts that are atypical from my usual session.

One Arm Jerk: 20kg - 4 minutes @ 16 rpm

Rest 2 minutes

Cleans: 20kg - 4 minutes @ 16 rpm

Rest 2 minutes

One Arm Long Cycle: 20kg - 4 minutes @ 10 rpm


Now, I like to think that I'm in pretty good shape. At least relative to most of the folks around me. But this workout was tough! I don't think I'm in as good shape as I could be. I think I might have to work this type of training for a little while.

And now when I look at the ladies who are training for sport, using the 20kg bell, and going for 10 minute sets, I am absolutely humbled. My hat is off to all of you. I can't wait to see the results from the competition being held at The Arnold next weekend. Ladies, do your best and make me feel small! =)

The Emperor's New Shoes

Today I had snatches on the agenda. Along with that, today was the first time for me to try out my new Olympic lifting shoes. I ordered a pair of Do Wins from MuscleDriverUSA (see below).

And let me tell you that I really like the way they feel. I definitely felt much more grounded than usual. Nice and planted into the ground. Good!!

OK, on to the workout...

Snatch: 24kg - 4 minutes @ 12 rpm

One Arm Overhead Quarter Squat: 28kg - 15/15

Snatch: 28kg - 5/5, 5/5, 5/5

Clean - 28kg - 6/6

Jump Rope: 2 min on / 2 min off for 5 rounds

Tomorrow I have an Assistance Day planned. Yippee!!

Catch Up Training

Wow, now that the holidays are half over, it's time to start catching up on my training. I've been pretty lax in the past weeks, just very busy preparing for the holidays as well as year end stuff at work. So now I'm getting moving again and can really feel the effects of the layoff.

That being said, I'm ramping up slowly. Here are the last two training sessions...

Saturday, 12/26
One Arm Jerk: 20kg - 8/8
Jerk: 2 x 20kg - 3 minutes @ 7 rpm
Windmill: 16kg - 5/5
Squat: 2 x 16kg - 10
'Lazy' Swing: 16kg - 20/20

Monday, 12/28
Swing: 16kg - 10/10
Snatch: 20kg - 4 minutes @ 14 rpm
One Arm Clean: 20kg - 2 minutes @ 16 rpm
Superset:
Snatch: 2 minutes @ 16 rpm
Clean: 2 minutes @ 16 rpm
Double Swing: 2 x 20kg - 7, 8

That's it and that's all!

Saturday Class & Training

It's a hot and humid day here in New York. I started off the day with a 9am class in the park. Two students attended today's class. We went through the Swing, Clean, Push Press and Squat. First we reviewed each technique individually to make sure we had the movement down. Then at the end of class, we linked them together into one long circuit. I think my students were thoroughly pooped at the end of the hour.

A few people have requested that I post another video of one of my AKC Fitness workouts. Using today's class as my reference, I filmed my 12 working-minute session after I got home from class.

I decided to upgrade to the 16kg bell today. With that, I decided to slow down my pace just a bit from what I was doing with the 12kg. So please excuse some of the choppiness of my pace, as I was not used to this tempo and had a few instances where I either was moving too fast or too slow and I tried to let some time pass or in opposite tried to catch up to my desired pace (I know, I shouldn't be chasing reps, bad me).

So this is what today's session consisted of...

1-Arm Clean: 16kg - 4 minutes (24L/24R)

1-Arm Push Press: 16kg - 4 minutes (24L/24R)

1-Arm Long Cycle Push Press: 16kg - 4 minutes (16L/16R)

Since YouTube does not allow you to upload a long video, I broke it up into one for each set. And this is what it looked like...


1-Arm Clean...


1-Arm Push Press


1-Arm Long Cycle Push Press

The Long Islander

Moving right along, I am trying out some of the various sample routines suggested within the AKC Fitness Protocol. Today was the Long Islander, categorized as an intermediate workout.

To warm up, I performed Z-Health R-Phase thoracic, neck, shoulder and elbow movements.

Workout looked like this...

1-Arm Clean: 12kg - 4 minutes (32L/32R)

Half Snatch: 12kg - 4 minutes (20L/20R)

1-Arm Long Cycle Push Press: 12kg - 4 minutes (20L/20R)

That was it for today. I intentionally kept it easier today following yesterday's heavier work.