Training must always have a purpose. It’s that simple.
You turn up and you conduct movements with an overarching purpose. That may be to elicit a calorie burn, to add muscle or to get stronger, faster or to develop a skill. Whatever the purpose or purposes, you should ideally choose purposeful movements. Think I’ve made that clear… next point.
The word functional gets a fair amount of use and misuse in the training world. Maybe it’s me, but when I consider function, I immediately visualise movements that relate to our daily lives and occupations. Movements like lifting things up and putting them back down again, pushing, pulling, pressing and of course bracing ourselves to handle those activities.
Just for a moment, reflect on your day-to-day physical activities outside of the gym and then consider how they fit into the above range.
Go on… I’ll wait for you.
These movements above are what I think of when talking about functional training. One more activity that we can’t ignore is carrying ‘stuff’.
How often do you carry armfuls of shopping, maybe gardening activities, carrying those 25s to the bench to press them and a myriad of other carrying? You might find these chores challenging too, exposing your weaknesses. The carry has a much great purpose than just incidental transportation of things, it transforms your weakness to a strength.
The action of successfully carrying heavy implements has a multitude of physical benefits that’ll be sure to toughen you up and give you some real-world ‘strong’.
So what do carries do?
If carries had a sales pitch:
Putting carries into your life will tighten up your posture as good as granny making you walk around with books on your head. Your upper back will get strong like ox whilst your shoulders will boast some impressive wolverine shadows (the hair is a different story though!). Expect your grip to take on a vice like quality… everyone likes a firm handshake. Talking of firm, your backside will develop mighty fine hardware to go along with a torso only the Gods of Mount Olympus could forge. “Holly abs of Zeus”!
How to do carries?
The rules of the carry are simple. Pick up your weight and carry it for a set time or distance. Vague I know, but committing to the carry is vital. Yeah, it might suck a little as every muscle on your frame gives you feedback that time is up. Rule two then is this… don’t let go, don’t give up. Rule three, maintain your postural integrity. We don’t want to see any hunch-backing, bending over sideways or other ugly positions. Stay tight, stay upright, stick with it.
What kind of weights or implements depends on what you have. I like kettlebells because they’re compact and often heavy. Specialised bars can be used as well as dumbbells, barbells, heavy bags, a wheelbarrow full of rocks, rocks by themselves. An adventurous mind will be helpful.
Carrying isn’t just limited to carrying by your side. Here’s a list of options:
Farmers walk with two weights by your sides
One arm carry by your side
Racked on your shoulder, one or two arms
Overhead carry, one or two arms (depending on shoulder mobility this might or might not work)
Sled pull and carry anything, anyhow, any way
Sled pull with a harness, a weighted vest whilst pushing a wheelbarrow – I have never done this one, but wowsers, it sounds pretty cool.
Here are a few videos:
Coach Dan John calls carries the Game Changer. Read what he has to say– just in case you don’t believe me!
An adventurous mind will be helpful but stick to the rules and really do try to include some kind of carries into your training week.
I challenge you to experiment over the next month with carries. You’ll not be disappointed.
I’ll soon be teaching a kettlebell user workshop (June 2017) with a friend and fellow kettlebell lover. We totally see the curiosity in some people who want to learn how to use these odd-looking handle-embellished cannon balls. But, as I promote the workshop I want to prepare myself for the usual eyebrow raisers who question the kettlebell. Let me share with you some of my feelings and those of the superstar coaches involved with kettlebell coaching.
What is it with kettlebells anyway?
People ask me all the time, “Why kettlebells? Is this type of training really any different from a dumbbell, barbell or other gym exercises?” Every time I’m asked that question, I start to feel the passion build and I have to contain myself. Kettlebell training is radically different from any other form of training I’ve personally experienced in my many years of weight training.
Surprisingly often, many people just have ONE kettlebell to start with and you know what, one kettlebell is all you need for a surprisingly good training program. Because of its shape, the kettlebell lends itself for fast, propulsive movements like the swing, clean and the snatch. These torch calories and turn the power muscles of the body into overdrive.
The kettlebell proves a great tool for pressing, squatting, hip hinging movements and rowing. It’s a take anywhere gym.
Without wasting time fluffing around all the other things you could be doing in a gym, a minimalist approach with a kettlebell encourages you to do what needs to be done, without distraction. Swing, squat, press, pull and carry.
Here’s what other have to say.
There is a real need in this industry for “One Kettlebell Workouts”, and I love them. I enjoy driving to a park, meeting with friends, walking a bit with my kettlebell, training, and then enjoying a nice picnic. I keep this tradition alive every weekday morning when people join me to workout at 9:30. – Dan John
Primarily because of its offset handle, a kettlebell, makes your body work harder by recruiting more musculature and increasing ranges of motion.
In the first example, holding a kettlebell over your head is a much different feeling than holding the same sized dumbbell over your head. A dumbbell will pitch side-to-side since the weight is evenly balanced in the hand. A kettlebell will pull your arm backward, because the majority of the weight is below the handle, and in doing so, will force your shoulder musculature to work harder.
In the second example, increasing ranges of motion, we can take a look at the Swing, an exercise where the weight is passed between and underneath the legs. The offset handle increases the lever arm pushing the hips further back, and stretching their muscles to a greater degree than with a dumbbell. And you can’t even do that with a barbell. – Geoff Neupert
The kettlebell swing is a perfect example of the uniqueness of kettlebell training. Why? As Tracy Reifkind, RKC and author of the great book The Swing puts it, it’s a two-for-one exercise. It combines the benefits of resistance training and cardiovascular conditioning in one very powerful exercise. There isn’t an exercise that addresses so many things at once as does the kettlebell swing. – Scott Iardella
In Russia, the kettlebell traditionally has been a training tool for tough people. When I started teaching kettlebells to Americans, I saw the same pattern; my early students were military operators, fighters, and other hard men.
What pleased and surprised me over the years is how this hardcore tool went on to appeal to people from all walks of life. My teaching goals used to be narrow: Make the tough even tougher. Today they are broader: Enable regular folks to join the tough. Finally become the man or woman you used to want to be. – Pavel Tsatsouline
If you would like to learn more about kettlebell training, please get in touch now.
What I’d really like to talk to you about today is making your coffee a super-drink. Yeah, I know, you may already consider coffee a super, awesome drink but how about making it better, healthier and much more beneficial. Coffee, caffeinated of course (don’t do decaf… yuck!) offers a great morning wake up smack as well as having antioxidant properties and has been shown to provide other health benefits.
However, a cup of coffee also increases insulin resistance and spikes blood sugar. Now, if you like you coffee before exercise, this is great but if not, and your plans include driving to work to sit behind a desk for the day, meh, it’s lost some of its health points.
However, spicing up your Joe can counter these negative affects. In recent studies half a teaspoon of cinnamon a day reduced blood sugar levels, LDL cholesterol, and total cholesterol levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Even if not diabetic and not too concerned about insulin levels, cinnamon has other benefits:
it enhances antioxidant properties of other ingested foods
it aids in reducing inflammation in joints and muscles
it helps to control appetite by slowing down gastric emptying and thus blood sugar levels / spikes
So, maybe mix in a little cinnamon to your morning coffee to boost your day… just not before exercise though, you want black coffee for that job.
Yep, that’s my cinnamon laced coffee right in front of this post getting written!
Now, back to the main topic of the post. Today I am going to talk about an exercise programming concept that is sadly not used enough…
…Welcome to the Jedi magic of getting stronger the easy way!
LADDERS
… did you fall off your seat with excitement?
You’ll most likely have heard of sets, reps or repetitions and if you do train you’ll have used them as a way to accumulate your training volume for the session. The most commonly used structures are 3x 5 or 6 for strength, 3x 10 for muscle growth and 2-3x 15-20 for muscular endurance. Throw these at any newbie or young trainee and they’ll get results – for a while anyway.
Whilst these work to a point, say up to the first year or so of training, they do come with baggage, the kind of baggage that can slow down your progress, get you hurt or bore you to tears!
Fatigue in the gym is what a lot of people seek. They associate fatigue with results and of course soreness the next day along with the accompanied inability to do much else that day (that sucks doesn’t it?). Soreness isn’t an indicator of progress. Lifting more weight, better muscular development and lifting more volume is indicative of progress. Being unable to move without discomfort the day (or two) after training is just plain dumb. If you’ve a career, a family, a set of stairs – what use is it to be miserable and sore?
Back to fatigue. Maybe, just maybe, fatigue isn’t a good measurement of when to stop a training session. It’ll sure stop you and it will stop you making potential in a gym session. We’re mostly concerned with gaining muscle strength. Exercising a muscle to fatigue is a common route to muscle strength gain but it’s tainted, rarely successful not the only method.
In most training programs, total training load or volume is a variable that we aim for and want to increase. Let’s basically define volume as the total reps x the load moved. There are lots of ways to express this but, essentially volume is going to increase over the term of a program lasting 4 to 6 weeks. Either the load (kg or lbs) is going to creep up or if you’re a minimalist, the weight remains the same while the amount of ‘accumulated’ repetitions goes up. Simple, yeah? The latter is my preferred method.
With a standard 3 x [enter desired rep range] each set will typically be taken to the point of fatigue and in most cases, muscular failure. This is an absolute waste of energy. Okay, let’s examine that too.
If you are completing 3 x 10 to fatigue in each set, how easy will it be to add more fatigue? You could push harder, take a hit of caffeine or other mega stimulant, risk tweaking that old injury or lose form and create a new injury.
Maybe not?!
When operating at high levels of exertion all the time it becomes increasingly harder to find progress. Is this motivating? If you are a ‘three times a week exerciser for health’ is this going to encourage you to keep turning up to the gym? Hell no my friend.
So how do you add progression, this added volume?
BRING IN THE LADDER
What the heck is the deal with ladders in a training program?
In publications written by Pavel Tsatsouline in and around 1999 or 2000, he wrote of a structure of strength training that avoided fatigue yet allowed trainees to build ‘strength’ and ‘strength and endurance’. The program discussed was primarily used for building pull ups in Special Forces for the Spetsnaz requirement of 18 dead hang pull ups wearing a 10kg bullet-proof vest. This program method has proven to work with most other strength movements.
He explained, trainees would start with 1 pull up, brief rest, then 2 and so on 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. At this point the trainee would repeat the 1 – 10 rep ladder. This 1 – 10 progression carry out once would take less than 10 mins and build up to 55 reps!
‘High-volume plus specificity minus burnout’
This systematic approach to accumulating training volume in a specific movement creates the perfect stimulus to build strength endurance without burnout, fatigue or getting into the injury territory.
For most purposes of building strength we work with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ladders with a 8 rep (almost) max weight. This accumulates 15 reps. Programs generally start with 2 ladders (30 reps) and build up over a number of weeks to as many 5 ladders of 1-5. Yes, a total of 75 reps…. all acquired without burnout, fatigue or maxing out with hideous facial expressions (no-one cares to see your pain face really).
Imagine trying to do 70 reps with traditional 10 rep sets?
Proof is in the pudding!
A recent trainee at FitStrong followed this particular method which many before have followed. The original program had already been detailed out by coach Anthony Delugio in the ‘Rights of Passage’ program based on Pavels methods.
The program is built around the 1,2,3 ladder progressing to the 1,2,3,4,5 ladder with the kettlebell military press.
To be honest I rarely pursue the program through to the end with 5 ladders of 1 – 5. Why? Well, I’ve found over numerous occasions that waving up and down the 1 -3 and 1 – 5 ladders for no more than 3 ladders (scaling down when the body needs it and building up when the body is saying “hell yeah”) proves successful and it eliminates the risk of trainee boredom!
Our trainee started by testing out his pressing strength. He could successfully press the 24kg multiple times, 28kg a few times and get an ugly 32kg press and a pretty disgusting 36kg press x 1 right and nothing on the left.
The program commenced and finished with the 24kg kettlebell press with 1,2,3 ladders and over 4 weeks build up and down towards 1,2,3,4,5 ladders x 3, pressing 3 sessions per week.
Not a single set was taken to fatigue. Every rep was pursued for excellence, practicing good, better and best form.
By the end of the 4 weeks the trainee had had so much exposure to good, better and best pressing that his pressing looked seamless, effortless and smooth. Well practiced in other words.
Test day came along and to cut a long story short, he could press the 36kg perfectly with ease on each arm. “Bazinga”!
So, why do I like Ladders so much?
I can sum this up very quickly with a couple of points.
Deliberate practice without the distraction of over exertion. If every set is taken to the fatigue, this becomes the objective, the outcome and the top of mind element. If your goal at the start of the ladder is to accomplish 1 really good rep, well then, it’s done. You repeat the same with 2 reps, then 3 and the sets of 4 and 5 are the sets where you simply put to practice what you’ve already done but with just a little bit more effort and repetition required.
While you work appropriately hard on the 5 rep sets the shorter sets provide you more volume. Now, you wouldn’t pyramid following ladders as in, after the 5 rep set, you wouldn’t go back to 5,4,3,2,1. The objective is steer clear of fatigue. So after the 5 comes 1 rep set; time to recap on what best form is in other words, before building back up to the 5 rep set.
You may be thinking of dropping all the 1,2,3,4 rep sets and just work with the harder 5 rep sets and indeed, some programs do call for multiple sets of 5 reps. If your goal is to get really good and proficient with a lift though, the added time dedicated to practicing the skill of strength is invaluable. Dropping the 1,2,3,4 three times and just doing 3 sets of 5 actually costs you 30 reps of practice whilst you only train with 15 reps!
Got you thinking?
Well, why not try this method on your favourite lift. Consider your squat, deadlift, bench press or military press, pulls or even use the concept for conditioning movements.
With a weight you can safely handle for a hard set of 8-10 reps, you start your journey.
Commence with 3 ladders of 1,2,3 until you can accomplish 4 – 5 rounds before moving to a 1,2,3,4 ladder for 3 rounds and again, build up to 4 – 5. At this point start the process with 1,2,3,4,5 ladders until again, 4 – 5 ladders are in the books.
You may feel that you have earned your best at 3 – 4 rounds however. Listen to your body.
Don’t be afraid to reduce ladders in any session you feel low on steam or off for some reason. The aim is to wave up and down the volume as you build up to the end.
In case you’re wondering, the original Rights of Passage program is available on different websites, google it if you like.
If you’ve any questions about this program concept or other unconventional, against the norm style methods, get in touch.
Coach Dan John has been an incredible influencer of many trainers over the past 10 years+, myself included. He has an incredible way of breaking down exercises and training methodology into the simplest nuggets of information that even the slowest of idiots, myself included can digest.
He also has a talent for creating programs and routines that’ll build any man-child into a warrior and any girly-girl into a feisty warrior princess!
One such routine is called the Eagle, which I wrote about before. Check it out
Down to Business
The following 8 week program is just one of many solutions to help accomplishing the Eagle program described below by Dan John. I am pretty sure many other trainers could build a method to take on and of course, complete the Eagle with ease and mastery. My plan is simple, direct and yes, it works fine. Just follow the dam plan.
‘The athlete simply does 8 double-kettlebell front squats and then drops the weight to his sides and does a farmer’s walk for 20 meters. He then does another 8 squats. Repeat until completing eight circuits and then hurl in a bush because the workload is incredible. The suggested load for a high school male is two 24-kilo bells while females should start with 12-kilo bells. (While the suggested load may seem light, oftentimes the goal wasn’t met.)’ Dan John
Now, the program below is written to look like it takes a linear progression, gradually building up the volume and work capacity. However, what I heavily suggest doing are back-steps any time you feel the need. For example, let’s say you get to week 5, day 5 and realise you cannot complete the session. I’d suggest that the following session you return to week 3 and repeat it for a slightly less stressful week. You may of course just go back one week if week 5 was only slightly unbearable! Be reasonable with yourself.
I personally completed this program in 12 weeks haha. I back-stepped a couple of times to gain better mastery of the squat volume and arm endurance. I’ve weak arms!
Even though this is an intensive 8 week program it isn’t worth busting yourself up over. Consider this program a ‘mastery of the Squat and Carry’ combination. You don’t want to complete it feeling crap and beaten up. You want to finish the complete Eagle challenge session at the end, competently, safely and with a smile on your dial.
Each week the program comprises of a mobility and conditioning session, a medium effort squat and mixed loaded carry session and a heavier going squat and farmers walk session. The work to rest ratio is different for these squat and carry sessions.
Maybe follow a Monday, Wednesday and Saturday plan of assault but, ultimately it is up to you how you lay your week out with other factors considered, just don’t try to complete the sessions on back to back days. Rest more if needed.
Ideally take a day or two of active rest between these 3 sessions. And talking earlier of not getting beaten up, the days when you’re not squatting and carrying, I wholeheartedly recommend that you carry out a full routine of Original Strength resets along with wrist mobility (VIDEO HERE).
Once you have the program completed, take 4 days active recovery before tackling the Eagle.
Prerequisite
The Eagle and this program, requires the trainee to be able to perform front squats and farmers carries with two 24kg kettlebells for gents and two 12kg kettlebells for ladies. If unable to squat and carry these loads for 10 reps, then another program is required to be able to do that before tackling this. If that is the case, get in touch and i’ll sort you out.
Without further ado, here’s the PLAN…
Session 1
This session should remain relatively consistent throughout the program, only progressing any of the moves as and when you feel it necessary.
Week 1, day 1 starts with this – measure yourself… just in case anything grows or shrinks!
Measure hips at widest and waist around the belly button line.
Measure your thigh circumference too, mid way between your knee cap (knee bent) and the crease of your hips.
Routine
Warm up with Original Strength movements
Spend 10 mins alternating between a hardstyle plank and active hangs.
Or
Spend 10 mins alternating between the hollow and suspension ring rows
Finish with the Brettzel Stretch and rolling
There are no specific reps or sets, just work within your limits, do what feels like you’re working something but not busting your gut.
SESSION 2
This session works on increasing work capacity (the ability to do more in a given time) using ‘on the minute’ (OTM) timing. Each minute on the minute, you start the superset of squats and carries or cleans as specified. Whilst the sessions may only be 5 to 8 minutes in length, they pack a punch. Enjoy!
Warm up with a thorough mobility session of Original Strength movements.
Cool Down with rocks, rolls and the brettzel stretch. I’d recommend wrist mobility exercises too.
SESSION 3
Session 3 builds endurance as you gradually superset the squat and carry more and more over the sessions. This time however, the carry remains the farmers walk. The carries build up in frequency over the weeks.
The final session sees you actually accumulate the Eagle volume of squats and carries at which point, carrying two 24s will be feeling more comfortable.
The squats will be increased with a simple rep ladder progression, from 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 reps building up to 8 sets of 8 reps.
Work to rest periods are similar to session 2, roughly a 1:2 work rest ratio but as you progress, feel free to play with this.
I encourage the use of rocks and head nods as a reset or active recoveries between sets.
When you (c. 20) this simply means to carry for 20 steps (we’re just considering a step a metre for this program) immediately after the squat set, as a superset.
Warm up with a thorough mobility session of Original Strength movements.
Cool Down with rocks, rolls and the brettzel stretch. I’d recommend wrist mobility exercises too.
Take four days active rest, then tackle the Eagle. You might want to measure out the 20m for the carries so you’ve one less thing to worry about during the challenge.
This rest period would also be a good time to retake those measurements from Week 1, Day 1.
Let me know how you got on and what size differences you recorded if any.
DISCLAIMER The author and publisher of this material are not responsible in any manner whatsoever for any injury that may occur through following the instructions contained in this material. The activities, physical and otherwise, described herein for informational purposes only, may be too strenuous or dangerous for some people. Always consult a physician before engaging in an exercise regimen.
Look, any workout called the Eagle is not necessarily worthy of attention… except when it’s the offspring of Dan Johns eagle eyed appreciation for simplicity (see what I did there? What a literary genius I am!)
Two exercises that alone are challenging to accomplish for 8 sets of roughly 20-30 seconds each are made even more warrior building when alternated for the same 8 sets – CONTINUOUSLY!
Correct, you interpreted that bold typed word precisely. Non-stop by another name but all the same, a gruelling combination of two simple moves. One a great loaded patterning movement and one, a grinding compounding lift.
8 Double Kettlebell Front Squats & Farmers Walk for 20 meters X 8 rounds!!!
The beauty of these two lifts can be repeated with other combinations I’ll list later, but the combination of the squat and carry make for such a comprehensive training session. The metabolic thrust it’ll produce will make you want to raid the kitchen larder before raiding the kitchens of your nearest neighbours, once you’ve stopped crying of course when you finish it – if you actually finish it!
Your grip will strain like never before, leading to the necessity to find ideal ways to clean those bells to the shoulders every round. Breathing will become your nearest opponent after the kettlebells as you gasp and suck wind. If your head is in the right place you’ll soon discover that taking control of your breathing will make your time more bearable, but you’ll probably not be able to make time for the luxury of thought once you get through the 4th round.
Sorry, I’m beginning to make the Eagle out to be a winged demon from hell. Abezethibou, actually a fallen angel, probably fell because he failed to finish the Eagle!!
Now look, feel free to go for it now and attempt to conquer the Eagle without prior preparation. However, how if we take the completed Eagle and reverse it to form a program to step us up to being able to conquer it?
Well, that’s my plan.
Quick recap. The Eagle is 8 rotations of non-stop 8 Front Squats with two 24kg kettlebells, followed by dropping them to ones side and carrying them for 20 metres before re-cleaning them to squat once more etc etc.
The biggest challenge in the Eagle is endurance, not really leg strength if you’re an accomplished kettlebell squatter and carries alone aren’t really that bad.
I’ll be putting together a program that will focus on playing with rest periods between sets, gradually reducing these and starting to group the super-sets together. It’s actually not a very difficult task of writing this but I’m sure if many others done it, to help make undertaking the complete Eagle without doing harm to oneself or those around us… trust me, no one wants to hear the kind of breathing this workout makes a trainee make, it’s just vile and offensive to the ear haha.
Anywho, to be continued on the program front.
Other pairs of patterning and grinds that could be carried out include:
Leopard crawls and pull up bar hangs
Goblet squats and Swings
Deadbugs and Single Leg Deadlifts
Push ups and rows (with the suspension rings or TRX)
Double kettlebell swings and Loaded Carries
Double kettlebell swings and Renegade Rows
The timing or rep protocols should be kept within 20 – 25 secs for each exercise.
Training programs are like trees in a forest… really, hear me out. Some are flimsy and get blown over with the slightest breeze. Others are old, woody, evergreens, firmly rooted and never change and don’t do much. Others however, look oddly simple for most of the time until they bare their fruit. See what I’ve done there… sigh, I know, my writing skills need a bit of attention!
What I’m getting at is that some programs are weak and aimless, some are steeped in traditional program modelling with a strong following of trainees busting a gut but getting no where quickly or safely. However, some other training programs are simple to look at, don’t conjure up much outcome expectation but then, whammy, after a couple of weeks following it you realise you’ve stumbled upon a forbidden fruit. Bam!
KISS principles (keep it simple stupid) along with Paretos 80:20 law suggests taking away the activities that provide very little bang for their buck or low returns for the energy investment you put in. They suggest you spend your time on the activities that offer the biggest return. In the case of the 40 Day Program these happen to be fundamental human movements, for 5 days a week, for 40 sessions.
A hip dominant movement that could be a deadlift or squat pattern
A push variation
A pulling variation
A ballistic exercise such as the Kettlebell swing
and an abdominal bracing exercise.
The 40 Day Program subtly gives consideration to mastery of skill in its high frequency training model and not over stressing the central nervous system. In the program you never max out, never push to the point of missing a lift. You work to a comfortably moderate limit where you may leave 1 or 2 reps in the tank per set. This program is a good example of what to strive for over the vast majority of the year between trying out other higher stress programs or peaking for events.
Many programs have shown that accumulating between 200-280 reps of any big lift at an average level, is optimal over the course of a month. Take a look at most standard programs that suggest 2 exercises per ‘body part’ or movement with a 3×10 structure – this accumulates 240 over 4 weeks. However, these tend to require very infrequent training, maybe once a week and don’t allow a trainee to really spend time getting to know the exercise aka mastering the skill the movement. They smash out their 60 reps and don’t do the exercise again for another 5-7 days!
The 40 Day Program has benefitted many trainees around the world, both beginners and very experienced lifters. Many report great strength improvements without ever really stressing. Many report losing body fat without ever getting really out of breath or reaching for the puke bucket. Many report gaining muscle despite never maxing out, drop setting, pumping out.
Mmmmm… Yes, there are many methods and training models outside of the standard bodybuilding models.
How does the program work?
Paul McIlroy of Centaur in Belfast recently talked about this approach of training and gradually increasing our training limits by working throughout the ranges of our comfort zone at intensities between 60% ish to 85% ish.The podcast where he talks about it is here.
My simple thoughts: By increasing the range of our comfort zones we push up the limits of our strength. By more frequently and moderately stressing our muscles we invite hypertrophy. By training at submaximal levels we are allowed to train frequently and burn off more calories.
How I modified the program to suit my needs
A combination of factors lead me to choose my 5 exercises.
A recent hip irritation and glute / hamstring imbalance lead me to take on the single leg deadlift.
A target of mine for the near future is to front squat double 40kg kettlebells. I’m using the 40 sessions to develop a strong base to push forward toward this goal.
Bottom Up (BU) Press. Shoulder pains have bothered me for a few years now (read, many years, “sigh”) so I thought I’d commit this time to developing rock solid shoulder stability with the BU Press. You press a kettlebell upside down, that is, holding onto the handle with the bells base pointing up. Check out the video below.
Single arm kettlebell row. An old classic but one I’ve skimped on, so why not.
The 40 day program suggests the Ab Wheel. I have had a fear of god type regard towards this one for years after hurting my back doing it poorly, yeeeaaaars ago. Much learned I have since then! Let’s give it a go…
Now, the program does call for a reasonably set out plan, but here’s the thing. There’s always a thing and here’s my thing.
Life is varied game of ups and downs, high energy days and conversely low, low energy days. Days packed full with personal training and looking after my wonderful 8 year old. Living in Australia and running this program in the later stages of summer in an outdoor setting presents a new additional element to the game… lots of heat, humidity, rain and storms. Not excuses, just stuff that happens. With this in mind, I took an auto-regulated structure to my daily efforts.
I did commit to the 10 reps daily made up of any combination I felt appropriate to me. 2×5, 3×3, 5/3/2, 2/3/5, just a set of 10, 10 x1. I let the day direct me. I let the weights just drift up. Being a kettlebell kind of guy I did commit to using the same weight per exercise per session. No mixing it up. Just getting sh$t done.
Below are the videos from sessions around number 18 and 19. In a later post I will clearly layout the progression of my 40 Day Program.
New Years Eve isn’t a time for spending too much time in the gym, much like any session I suppose. You go in, get the job done then get out and recover and get on with your life.
Anyway, todays agenda was to spend time with the basics and some preparation for future training.
The basics, spiderman crawls for all the great reasons you should all crawl. Coordination, core activation, vestibular enhancement and pulse raising. The secondary basic was the upper back theme for the past 6 weeks, active hangs, championed by Ido Portal.
I spent a very short time completing 5 rounds, non stop between 30 seconds of both crawls then active hangs. 5 minutes… bang – done!
The second section I dedicated to spending low load efforts at double kettlebell presses mixed with the unfrequented arm curls, no, not for the new year celebrations (although I did get a nice pump) but as some prep for the ensuing pull up training I’ll be investing in soon once I finish the foundation period of hangs.
Just because I like ladders I structured the sets as follows:
5 arm curls and 10 presses
6 arm curls and 9 presses
7 arm curls and 8 presses
8 arm curls and 7 presses – this is when the arm curls started to get challenging!
9 arm curls and 6 presses
10 arm curls (just about) and 5 presses
A total of 45 reps of each in about 8 minutes I think.
And, here’s the short video montage of my efforts!
Kettlebell presses are one of those exercises that a lot of people, especially many in the kettlebell community, get really into. In my opinion I believe many trainees do too much to the expense of their long term shoulder health and to time that could be spent doing other great things for their shoulders that do not involve pressing.
I am now finding myself getting more from doing less in terms of pressing overhead. I maintain my ability to press both single 24kg Kettlebells or doubles (2 bells). I have only recently returned to pressing over head after a couple of neck problems and hence shoulder irritations throughout 2014. My current plan has me cycling through 1, 2 and 3 ladders of no more than 5 presses. I press the 24kg or doubles only once per week and accompany this with Turkish Get Ups and at certain times, overhead carries aka waiters walks. These would not be on the same day but rather spread over a week.
When I press with lower volume I include more kettlebell snatches. When I increase press volume I reduce the snatches. So, in other words I sustain similar amount of over head exercise strain by rotating between a press or a snatch focus. This typically works over a 6 week cycle.
Anyhoo, todays session was a medium volume (for me) press session with an accumulated 30 presses each arm. In between each press sets I completed 5 swings with two 24kg kettlebells for a total of 50 swings. Two rounds / 10 minutes was the limit.
Part two of the days session saw me undertake a little experiment of sorts that I had though of whilst out walking a few days ago.
I am forever telling students to keep the movement the movement, either when working under pressure, with larger loads, fatigue and so on. If you are squatting, keep the movement pattern the same. If you can’t, then stop.
The notion I had was to work from regressions to progressions of the squat using a variety of means and tools.
The list and sequence of exercises are listed here:
Deadbugs
Rocks
Elevated rock
Ido Portal style squat mobiliser
Body weight squat x10
Goblet squat x10 @24kg
Single arm squat Left / Right x 5 each @24kg
Zerchers Squat x5 @50kg
Double front squat x5 @dbl 24
Barbell front squat x5 @50kg
Back squat x5 @50kg
Overhead squat x5 @24kg Left / Right
This took just under 10 mins… Was great fun at the time and not about the weights but rather a sequence of the movement.
Recently I have started a new venture towards a big goal, for me anyway.
Up until a few years ago squatting to me meant a barbell pulled onto my back and pushing upwards of 200kg on a session. These days I’m focussing on a different strength squat, that of the double kettlebell front squat. Whilst my aim of a double 40kg front squat is way below my 200kg back squat, it is a totally different strength that is required to hold onto two large bells on the front on ones shoulders.
I have a 16-20 week progressive plan that aims to get me to this goal from my current level. If you would like to peruse the plan, just ask. You may see identify any flaws or cautions that I’ve missed or overlooked!
Anyway, todays simple session commences with the usual Original Strength prep followed by some work with the Turkish Get Up to load me up a little whilst opening up my hips. I do like to use a chalk and cheese approach when I’m squatting to ensure I am well mobilised and activated.
The main Squat routine is a basic 1-5 ladder with double 24s followed at this stage with double 28s for 4 rounds of a 1 and 2 rep ladder.
The aim of the session at this stage is to get used to maintaining form over short rep sets before slowing increasing the reps with ladders to 5 reps. Once I can comfortably 5 rep the 28s I move up the 32s.
Boxing Day in Australia; you could probably conjure up pictures of scorching sun with a gentle breeze but no, today it’s gloomy, humid with threats of storms.
My Christmas season training approach is one of training program minimum. I am taking one main lift supported by a secondary lift. To be honest, the older I get the simpler my training becomes. When you take out all the stuff that probably has no real purpose, you’re left with beautiful simplicity and specificity. Paretos Law states that 80% of benefits arise from 20% of invested efforts. So, that’s what i’ve done today!
Todays delight is a starter of Active Hangs with suit case Deadlifts to warm up my hip hinge in readiness for the Swings to follow.
The Active Hangs (fantastic suggestion from Ido Portal) are simply a pull-up regression to build a strong foundation from which to build very strong pull ups later on. Aim – an accumulation of 6 minutes with a variety of grips and sets between 30 – 45 seconds each.
Here’s what other have to say.
