Happy Friday!

It's a beautiful Friday afternoon and training in a place where you can see the daylight and feel the air blowing is awesome! (I'm getting spoiled, ain't I?) Today I warmed up with some light barbell squatting - nothing serious, just an empty bar and then hit some bells.

Warmup: Empty Bar - Front Squat & Overhead Squat - 3 sets of 5 reps for each lift

Snatch: 24kg - 5 minutes @ 12 rpm

One Arm Jerk: 32kg - 4 minutes @ 10 rpm

That's it and that's all.

Mix It Up Monday

I've decided to mix things up a bit. You know, keep it fresh. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to be straying far. I've built up a nice foundation with my lifting and am not looking to have it all go down the drain for the sake of variety. Here's today's fun...

Snatch: 20kg - 6 minutes @ 12 rpm

One Arm Jerk: 24kg - 6 minutes @ 12 rpm

Swing: 24kg - 25/25

Snatches felt good. I need to concentrate on not overdoing it with these. With the heat and humidity, my hands have been taking a bit of a beating. The heavier OAJs following were tough. After they were over, I looked at the bells again knowing that I wanted to swing and I got a sick feeling in my stomach. So I rested a bit more, then did what I could.

(My) Snatches Suck

Still struggling with grip issues. Maybe it's the high humidity that I've been training in, I'm not really sure. But I will be focusing a lot more on swings to try to help bring this aspect of my lifting up.

Snatch: 20kg - 6 minutes @ 12 rpm

One Arm Jerk: 32kg - 15/15

Swing: 28kg - 30/30

That's all for today.

Catch Up

Haven't posted in a little while, but have been busy training. Let's see if I can catch you up...

Thursday, June 24th
Jerk: 2 x 24kg - 5 minutes @ 8 rpm
Jump Rope: 5 rounds, 2 min on/1 min off
Snatch: 24kg - 2 minutes @ 12 rpm

Friday, June 25th
Snatch: 20kg - 8 minutes @ 12 rpm
Jerk: 2 x 24kg - 4 minutes @ 6 rpm
One Arm Jerk: 24kg - 4 minutes @ 12 rpm

Monday, June 28th
Snatch: 20kg - 8 minutes @ 12 rpm
Jerk: 2 x 24kg - 3 minutes @ 6 rpm
One Arm Jerk: 32kg - 8/8

Tuesday, June 29th
Snatch: 20kg - 8 minutes @ 12 rpm
One Arm Jerk: 28kg - 6 minutes @ 6 rpm
Treadmill: 20 minutes, 1.5 miles

Whew! That's about it. All caught up now!!

Snatchcentricity

Today's training was focused on snatches. Thus it was a snatch-centric day. My snatches have been lagging my jerks and I need to start devoting some more time to them. Here's how I attacked the snatch today...

Snatch: 20kg - 8 minutes @ 12 rpm

One Arm Jerk: 32kg - 4 minutes (2 mph) @ 6 rpm (12/12)

Swing: 20kg - 30/30

This might not look like much, but completing this in a relatively short time frame, I was exhausted - in a good way!

Internal Dialog

Me @ 6am: "No training today, you need the day off."
Me @ 7am: "OK, maybe just some assistance work today. Nothing too strenuous, just get moving."
Me @ 8am: "C'mon, let's hit it hard! 8 minute jerk set, let's do it!!"
Me @ 10am: "If I hit the jerks hard, I won't be able to hit my snatches hard. And I want those snatches!"
Me @ 11am: "Maybe I should just rest today..."

Here's what happened come noon...

Snatch: 20kg - 8 minutes @ 12 rpm

One Arm Jerk: 28kg - 20/20

Swing: 28kg - 15/15

This week seemed to wear me down. It was a good week. Trained four days in a row. Now I can rest!

The End of a Short Week

No training since Monday, until today. Blame work. Here's my first training since the beginning of the week...

Jerk: 2 x 20kg - 5 minutes

Snatch: 20kg - 6 minutes

One Arm Jerk: 24kg - 15/15

That's it for today. Tomorrow morning I teach bells, so maybe I'll throw in a set or two for myself.

Goal Attained

Even though I've come down with a bit of a cold, I took advantage of my rest day yesterday to hit my goal in the Jerk. Today was another good day. I like seeing these. Positive progress on a consistent basis is great for the moral and one's enthusiasm. Here's today's session...

Jerk: 2 x 20kg - 5 minutes @ 10 rpm

One Arm Jerk: 28kg - 15/15

Swing: 20kg - 20/20

Treadmill: 20 minutes - walk/light run

Now that I've hit my goal of 50 jerks in 5 minutes, I will be shooting for 60 jerks in 5 minutes (12 rpm). I will also get back to snatching next week as my hand should be fully healed come Monday. Time to enjoy the weekend!

Inching Upward

Good training session today! I think I made a wise decision to stick to 5-minute jerk sets until I am able to hit 50 reps in that time. It is keeping me focused on my technique and conditioning to continue to make steady progress. And I am just about there now. No snatching today, nor for the rest of this week, as I need to let me hand heal up well.

Here's today's session...

Jerk: 2 x 20kg -

5 minutes @ 8/10/8/10/10 (46 reps total)

2 minutes @ 10 rpm

One Arm Jerk: 28kg - 8 / 8

Swing: 20kg - 20 / 20

Treadmill: 20 minutes - intervals of walk/light run, 7 min/13min

That's it. Tomorrow is a rest day. Looking forward to hitting it again on Friday.

Climbing Back

Yeeeaahhh... feeling good and climbing back up to where I want to be. I was surprised to find my quads a bit sore today from the treadmill work. Well, not really too surprised. It's been a while since I've done anything close to running. But that wasn't a factor in today's session. I decided to skip snatches today, just to give my hands a day off. But up for it in other ways. Here's the scoop...

Jerk: 2 x 20kg -
5 minutes - 8/10/8/10/8 (44 total reps)
short rest
1 minute @ 10 rpm
short rest
1 minute @ 12 rpm

One Arm Jerk: 28kg - 10/10

Swing: 28kg - 12/12

Jump Rope: 5 min on / 2 min off / 3 min on / 1 min off / 3 min on

All felt good! I'm undecided on what to do, if anything for the rest of the week. I want to rest up a bit because this weekend I will be attending the AKC Coach's Certification. Two full days of kettlebell lifting with some of the best lifters in this country. Giddy up!!

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! =)

Fun Mon Day

Good, fun session today.

Snatch: 20kg - 6 minutes @ 14 rpm

One Arm Jerk: 28kg - 12/12

Swings: 20kg - 20/20

Jump Rope: 5 min on / 2 min off / 2 min on / 2 min off / 3 min on

L-Sit - Tuck: 3 rounds of 20 sec on / 40 sec off

Weighted Dips: 25lbs - 3 sets of 5

Today was the first time hitting a 5 minute set of jump rope. Yeah! And adding some weight to my dips felt good too. Very nice session, indeed!

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!

Greasing the Wheels

I've been under the weather all week, so today was my first training day since Monday. Monday's session, which wasn't anything special, trashed me. I'm hoping to be back to full strength on Monday to resume my quest for Rank II. Today's session was intended to get the rust off the old hinges and get the wheels greased for a Monday explosion.

One Arm Jerk (OAJ): 28kg - 20/20, 20/20

Swing: 28kg - 15/15

Rope work

Two sets of OAJ, one hand switch, no time involved, just straight reps depending on how I felt. I felt pretty good! Swings felt good as well. Rope work was just some messing around with different jumps, e.g. double unders, crossovers, one leg, running, etc.

Off the Cuff

Today's workout was an off the cuff session. I didn't have time to train on my lunch hour today and thought the day was a loss. But got home and the wife and kids were still out, though on their way home, so after prep'ing dinner I decided to run into the garage for a few minutes.

With my 20kg's in the back of my car, I decided to experiment...

Jerk: 2 x 24kg - 3 minutes @ 6 rpm

One Arm Jerk: 28kg - 4 minutes @ 8 rpm (2 min per arm, 1 switch)

I was planning on going longer with the jerk set except right at the 3 minute mark the motion sensor light in the garage shut off leaving me in the pitch dark. I could have continued, but for how long?

I then quickly grabbed the 28kg and threw in that set. My left forearm sure didn't like having that weight pressed up against it. Too bad. Get used to it. This is your future!! =)

how.e.b Snatching the Lemons

How do you like my new stage name?

how.e.b

I thought it had a nice ring to it.


Anyway, today was Day 1 of starting work with the 16kg bells again. Or as I like to call them, "The Lemons". Here's today's session...


Snatch: 16kg - 6 minutes @ 14 rpm

One Arm Jerk: 24kg - 12L/12R


I am now trying to be very conscious of my Snatch technique in trying to make it feel like a Jerk. It's all about timing the hip pop and getting that bell to float up over your head.

Today's session felt good. I was on the verge of getting winded but my breathing held strong. All in all a good session!

10 Minutes with the 12kg

Early morning session today, outside in my driveway. The air was cool and sun began to sparkle through the trees as I started my Snatch set.

Snatch: 10 minutes @ 14 rpm

One Arm Jerk: 20kg - 10L/10R

Snatches felt good, never lost my breath and at that pace I was able to rest every 30 seconds holding the bell overhead.

OAJ's felt good as well, just like old times!

Tomorrow we shoot for 10 minutes of Jerks.

Rank IV Work

As I ramp my training back up, I realize that given my Jerk set yesterday and my Snatch set today, I've performed the reps necessary to qualify me for Rank IV of the World Kettlebell Club requirements. Cool!

Here's today's action...

Snatch: 12kg - 8 minutes @ 14 rpm

One Arm Jerk: 16kg - 2 minutes @ 16 rpm

Eventually I'll get back to performing both Jerk and Snatch in the same session, but as I said, right now I'm allowing my body to get used to training daily again (or at least Monday through Friday).

Tomorrow I'll bump up the duration of the Jerk set!