Vacation Workouts Yes or No?

Greetings from Punta Gorda, FL.  I’ve been up since 4 AM and was supposed to
take a 7 AM flight out of here.  Our
flight was cancelled yesterday because of Hurricane Irene.  The blessing was we were able to spend a
glorious extra day in Naples.  We’re getting
our comeuppance today.  The plane has a
“mechanical issue” that was minor and should be fixed in 5 minutes.  It’s now 3.5 hours later and they don’t have
the part to fix the problem.  So they are
debating whether to get the part or a new plane.  As I write this, they are taking the luggage
off the plane so I guess they’re getting us a new bird.  So I guess I’ll pass the time writing.

There is always a debate on whether to work out or rest when
on vacation. One party is of the opinion that you should take a vacation from
exercising as well as work.   You will
come back stronger both mentally and physically.  I am in the party of maintaining and doing
some exercise during vacation.  When I’m
away, I like to eat, drink and be merry.
With that comes the payback of gaining weight.  Instead of taking a break from exercise, I
will take a break from kettlebells and do something different.  Usually this amounts to doing pushups and
running.  I rarely run anymore, so it’s a
good challenge to test my conditioning and the pushups work the chest, triceps
and shoulders.  I’ll run 3-5 miles and do
between 100-200 pushups in a ladder format.
Recently I went away on a cruise that had a nice fitness center and an
outdoor track on the top of the ship.  It
was a 7 day cruise and with all the eating, I worked out 5 of the 7 days.  Here’s how it was broken down.

The first full day or Day 2, I
went up to the top of the ship and ran 3 miles.
Nine laps equaled 1 mile and I did 10, 100 yard sprints during the
run.  Running in the Caribbean is a real
shock to the system.  It’s extremely
humid in August and the sun beats down on you.
However, there is also a nice breeze as the ship is moving so it made
the run tolerable.   After finishing the
run, I went to the front of the ship to the spa.  The gym contained state of the art
treadmills, elliptical, cycling and stair machines as well as weight machines
and dumbbells.  I didn’t want to go balls
to the wall so I did 5 x 5 training with dumbbells.  I have hardly used dumbbells since
discovering kettlebells 2 year ago.  It
was quite a surprise because the way the weight is distributed is completely
different from a kettlebell.  I took
double 40’s   and did military press
alternated with double rows.  5 sets of 5
reps and then switched to double squats and overhead lunges.  Same rep scheme.  Got my party pump, off to Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.

On day 3, I was a little sore from
running in my hips and hamstrings, so I went to the gym and did 200 pushups and
found a jump rope.  I decided to do a
jump rope session which was quite difficult to say the least.  The rope was a short, wiry piece of junk and
I started using it in the aerobics room.
It kept getting stuck in the soles of my running sneakers.  At least the ceiling was high enough.  After 10 minutes all of us in the room had to
leave so the two British trainer twits could do a nutrition session with the
subject matter being, “eat more, weigh less.”
Don’t even get me started on this type of bad information.  On top of the fact, you’re on a cruise
ship.  You have 3-4 course meals,
buffets, 24 hour pizza bar, dessert bars etc.
After spending a week on a cruise, believe me there is no cure to the
obesity problem that plagues the US.  I
saw people of all shapes and sizes taking elevators one floor instead of taking
15 stairs with a landing in between.  Women
in bikinis who should have stuck with the one piece.  And note to European men; The Speedo makes
you the object of ridicule.  Every
American is chuckling at you when you walk by.
Anyway, after hitting the ceiling with the jump rope a few times I gave
up.

Days 4 and 6 were similar to day 1
except for doing different exercises such as seated military press, renegade rows,
(still hate them) and squats and stiff leg deadlifts.    Day 5, I did 100 pushups and jumped
rope.   I got frustrated with the jump
rope and threw it in the corner.  Did
about 30 burpees and called it a day.
Day 7 was a party day in Cozumel.

We got backed to Naples on
Saturday by 11, way too hot for a run.
On Sunday did a 5 mile run and about a 1.5 mile walk.  Got on the scale this morning on Monday,
gained 1.5 lbs.  I’ll take that after a
great vacation, any time.  So, needless
to say, in my opinion it’s worth it to work out on vacation.  Do something different something lighter, but
as the Nike slogan goes, just do it

Back to hurrying up and
waiting.  They’re making us get our
luggage and go back through security.
What a complete Mickey Mouse operation.
I should be at my house by now and seeing if my 2 sump pumps were able
to keep the 6 inches of rain out my basement.

My Favorite Kettlebell Exercises

In the last two plus years of kettlebell training, I’ve learned a number of different kettlebell movements.  Some gave me the “wow” effect right off the bat, others I’ve learned to appreciate as necessary movements but haven’t perfected, and others I would just rather forget about.  The movement I would like to learn but have not perfected the timing is the clean and jerk.  I just have not been trained or practiced it enough to get it right.  I’ve done them with double 35′s as part of a metabolic conditioning workout, but Lord knows how bad my form must have been. 

The exercise you can file away is renegade rows.  Hate them.  When I used to lift barbells, back was the one body part I dreaded.   I had to drag myself into the gym on Friday afternoon to do back and biceps.   I am now on speaking terms with back exercises.  I can do pullups and I like double rows with kettlebells.  But the renegade row just doesn’t feel right to me.  One time, the bell came out from under me.  Boom right on the cement.  It hurts my core as well as shoulders.  The other issue is I don’t feel it in the lats.  I would rather do pullups any day of the week.  

Most movements I enjoy doing.  The clean and press, the military press, double squats, and swings fit into this category.  But I have two favorites.  The Turkish Get-up and the One Arm Snatch.  If you ask me which two give you the most bang for the buck as far as entailing both strength and conditioning, these are my picks.   Now most people will tell you the swing is the thing, but I prefer the snatch.   The snatch is based on the mechanics of the swing, but you drive it overhead.  It’s an explosive movement that encompasses your whole body including the grip.  It also is FANTASTIC for conditioning.  Once you learn to perfect the movement, I think you’ll agree.  However there is a learning curve and can cause some bruises in the beginning.  It also can be brutal on the hands, especially if you overgrip the bell.  The key to a successful snatch is the hip snap.  Your hips and hamstrings drive the bell up, not your arms and shoulders.  You need to hold the kettlebell with a hook grip and shift it into your palm by trying to stab through the handle with a swift punch up.  If done correctly, the bell will come to a rest on the back of your wrist.  Done incorrectly, BONK off the wrist and you have large round freckles on your forearms.  It took me a solid 9 months to get the timing of the punch.   It took a lot of practice and patience.  You also need to learn how to drop the bell from the palm into the hook grip without dragging it over the bottom of the fingers where you are prone to callouses.  You will feel it in your hamstrings, abs, shoulders, forearms and biceps.   There is even a book out, Viking Warrior Conditioning by Kenneth Jay that states if you want to maximize your oxygen intake, or VO2, the kettlebell snatch is the exercise.  This VO2 measurement is considered the best indicator of an athlete’s cardiovascular fitness and aerobic endurance.  His protocols which involve snatching just a 35 lb. kettlebell can reap amazing cardiovascular benefits. 

I’ve tested myself with snatches using a 55 lb for 5 minutes as well as 10 minutes.  Both are a test of will.  I can snatch a 70 for repetitions, but have not tried the 88 yet, (nor do I have the intention to try it anytime soon).  Along with the single arm snatch.  The double snatch doubles the fun or pain however you see it.  I am still working on double snatching 55′s.  Double 35′s no sweat, but the times I’ve tried the 55, I felt like I have almost decapitated myself.   I need to practice double high pulls and it will come.  With snatches comes taking care of your hands.  A skin grater such as the Pedi-Egg and Cornhuskers Hand Lotion are required. 

My other favorite exercise is the Turkish Get-Up.  You will not find a more complete total body exercise than the TGU.  It strengthens all the stabilizer muscles in your shoulder and back. It hits your obliques and abs, as well as your quads and hamstrings.    It also does a good job working your cardiovascular system.  I like using it as a warm up or warm down exercise.  For me, it kind of gets everything working in sync.  In the old days, young strongman apprentices were required to do a TGU with 100 lbs. before they were taught any other exercises.  You can do them with a kettlebell, a dumbbell or a barbell.  Barbell TGU’s are tough because you have to balance the length of the bar in your hand while going up and coming back down.   For me, the kettlebell is the best tool due to its compact size and the way it rests on the back of the forearm.  

You start by lying down with your left leg bent and the bell in your left hand extended overhead like the top of a bench press.  Push off your left foot and do a side crunch onto your right elbow.  Now extend the elbow so you are resting on the palm of your right hand in a one hip bridge.  Keep your head still and looking up at the bell.  Now lift your hips off the ground into a bridge, high enough to sweep your right leg behind you as you would be in the bottom of a lunge.  Now, bend to the left and straighten out.  Now stand up as you would to get out of the lunge.  Now go back down in the opposite direction.  Switch hands by moving the bell BEHIND your head and repeat on the other side. 

I would suggest when learning the exercise to do it without weight.  This is called a naked get-up, stay clothed please.  Then start with a weight you can handle, go slow and set a time limit, say 5 minutes.   For some people, you might only be able to do certain steps of the get-up.  Perfect each step and build up to a full get-up.  I immediately made gains doing getups for 10-15 minutes at a time.  I started with a 26, moved to a 35, than a 45.  Once I could do 15 minutes of continuous getups with a weight I would move up a bell.  All my shoulder injuries are long gone and my press has gone up.  I can do 70 lb. getups for 15 reps each side alternating hands and am currently working on the 88 doing 4 reps on each side for five minutes.  With the 88, I have to go really slow and concentrate.  It’s amazing what 18 lbs can add.   If you don’t have heavier bells, a great way to make it challenging is to do continuous getups with one arm for reps of say, 5 before switching to the other side.  Doing that with a 55 for me is tough.  3 sets of that and I have a pump in my shoulders and I’m huffing and puffing.  Heavy getups will make you feel strong. 

Give me a 55 lb. kettlebell and these two exercises and I can be strong and in great condition for life. 

 

 

Follow Up MBody Strength US Secret Service Snatch Test Program and Test Results

Yesterday, I finally completed the MBody Strength United Secret Service Snatch Test program.  It is a 6 week program that will enable you to have the conditioning to pass the Snatch Test which is taking a 24 kg (52.8 lb.)  kettlebell and snatching it for 10 consecutive minutes.  The goal is 200.  When I tested 6 weeks ago, I did a solid 150.  When I was finished, I was absolutely fried.  My throat was burning, my hamstrings barking and I couldn’t make a fist with my left hand because of my grip.  I previously blogged about the program 14 workouts into it.  I finished 35 out of the 36 workouts.  I missed a Saturday last week due to going away for the weekend.

I give the program an A.   Even if the snatch test isn’t your goal.  My conditioning and shoulder stability are vastly improved.  My grip has improved as well.  I did make a couple of adjustments.  On Mondays and Saturdays instead of doing alternating swings, I took my new 88 and did 1 hand swings for sets of 10.  On Wednesdays, instead of doing 15-20 1 hand swings with the 70, I did 10 swings with the 88.  The handle is significantly thicker on my 88 and I really wanted to focus on that.   I gained about 3 lbs. of muscle and made some great strength gains.  For example, I was able to do hand stands for 3 sets at 1 minute apiece.  I military pressed double 55′ s for 5 sets of 6 with a minute rest in between, and after that I did 5 sets of 10, 10 snatches with a 55 and 20 seconds rest in between.  I was able to do reverse overhead  lunges with a 70 for a set of 10.   I also improved skipping rope.  At the beginning, being the jump rope novice I was, I wanted to do 100 consecutive jumps without stopping.  By week 6, I did 450 and when I stopped, I grabbed my 88 and did 20 2 hand swings each time for active recovery.   As previously written, I thoroughly enjoyed the sprint workouts.

I did my test today in the garage.  It’s a pouring rainy Sunday with a lot of humidity in the air. I chalked up my 55 lb. Body Solid kettlebell.   The results were good and bad.  First the bad, I only scored 151.   Being the glass is half full guy, I am, let’s focus on the good news.  I wasn’t junk when I finished.  My wind was really good and I recovered extremely quickly.   I wasn’t on the floor in the fetal position crying for my mother!  I didn’t even have to sit down!  I walked over shut off my 1950′s game clock timer that was found at a yard sale, grabbed my towel, wiped the sweat off and drank some water.  It was raining too hard to take a walk.  I brought everything back to the basement.  Did I enjoy myself?  God, no!  Take the test, it’s an exercise in misery.  It’s a great way to find out whether you are in shape or are really in shape.  As Marcus says, it identifies your weaknesses, and boy did it ever.

Now the post test analysis and my imitation of Red Sox pitcher John Lackey, as I make my excuses.

1.  I shouldn’t have taken the test today.  Not enough rest from the last workout.  My left bicep was a little sore from doing cleans yesterday.

2.  Too humid.  I would love to take this test on a crisp 55 degree day with a breeze blowing into the garage.

3.  Wrong bell.  My 55′s are Body Solids, which are a great bells with thick handles.  Unfortunately, the handle is smooth and doesn’t hold chalk well.   I also had to wipe condensation off the bell before I started.   When it gets wet, it gets really slick which make you have to grip tighter.  The handles are thicker than my 70 lb. Troy’s which hold chalk extremely well and have great texture.  Also, it’s 2.2 lbs. heavier, which doesn’t seem like much until you take the test.

4.  Interruptions.  I cannot have people around me when I do this.  As Thoreau said in that insomnia curing book of his Walden, “I’ve never found a better friend than solitude.”  When I am testing, I concur.  My 8-year-old and his friends, however thought that was a great time to walk into the garage which threw off my concentration.

Now that the horse manure is out-of-the-way, here are the 2 real reasons.

1.  Grip on the left hand.  To paraphrase the last Democratic president to oversee a good economy… “IT”S THE GRIP, STUPID!”    It has improved significantly but toward the end, my hook grip was giving out and in the back swing, the bell was too low.   I felt myself do a kind of “hang’ snatch at the end.   I tried to take this out of the equation by switching hands every 5 reps, but it reared its ugly head a little.  Lots of 1 hand swings with the 88 will continue to improve this.

2.  And the main reason… I PUT THE BELL DOWN.  Here is the key, do not put the bell down unless absolutely necessary.  Rest at the top of the movement.  For the first 3 minutes, I had a good cadence going did 60 in about 2:50 and decided to rest after that.   I was doing sets of 5, 5 switching hands and even though I was fatiguing a little, I thought, “Gee let’s recover for 15 seconds and crank it up.”   WRONG!   MEOW!  I have no problem picking the bell up and continuing, once I put the bell down, the issue is I will continue to do so each minute until I’m done.   Which is what I did.  The rest periods became more frequent.   And I never got into the locomotive rhythm where you’re doing 22-24 snatches a minute.  The last 7 minutes, I averaged 12.5 a minute which is about 6 per side.  And it was all mental.    It’s the same when I used to run.  If I stopped, I never got started again.  It’s the same in doing sales.  When you make the calls consecutively, you are much more productive than starting and stopping.  It’s easier to continue than start again.   I need to build that mental toughness and work through the fatigue.

Now what?  Well I am going to continue in my quest to do 200.  Twice a week I’m going to do the ETK program minimum with the 88, which is 5 minutes of Turkish Get Ups along with 12 minutes of swings and active recovery.  I”m going to bump the Manmaker/Swings part from  12 minutes to 15, like an old prize-fight, do 1 hand swings (to improve grip)  and for active recovery jump rope.  There is also a great article on Dragon Door about doing 10 sets of 10 snatches and resting one minute in between.  Each week drop it by 10 seconds.  When I did 100 snatches in 5 minutes, I was successful implementing this strategy.  And being able to do 5 sets of 10, 10 with 20 seconds rest, I could either drop the time to 10 seconds, or add a set each week, from 5 to 6 to 7 until I get to 10.  I’m also going to focus on doing longer sets with less hand switches.  For conditioning, I’m going to do the My Mad Methods, Lean as a Lion Strong as an Ox program 3 days a week.  So for the next 6 weeks, it will look like this.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday  Lion routine

Tuesday, Saturday  Snatch and then Program Minimum

Thursday, Sunday, off.

Best of luck to everyone and enjoy the workouts!

The Joys of Sprinting

One of the few benefits of my old job was a free gym in the office park.   I had a hard 40 mile ride and would leave at 6:15 in the morning to beat the traffic to the office.  If I left on time it was a 45 minute ride.  If I left at normal rush hour, 1:10.  My new job is 10 miles closer, but the commute can still get hairy.  And the new office park has a gym that is $25 a month.  Right now during the summer months, my commute is 40 minutes. so I’ve been working out at home in the morning.   Once Labor Day comes, it will be the best money I spend.  Driving eastbound into the solar glare is a nightmare I’m not looking forward to.

I love everything about the summer.  The heat, the long days, the night as it starts to cool down.  But my favorite time of day is dawn in the summer.  The world is at complete peace and the sun is coming up on another beautiful warm day.   In the summer I don’t bounce out of bed, it’s more of a slow crawl due to the humidity, but once I get moving and have my 2 cups of coffee, it’s time to workout.  During that 1/2 hour, beforehand, I like to read my book, or surf the internet and ease into the day.   Then it’s usually time for kettlebells!  However, the program I am doing right now calls for sprinting 1 day a week for at least 25 minutes.  And today is sprint day!  Do as many 15 second sprints as you can.   Rest as long as you need.   

Today, there is a great upward trend of people committed to staying healthy and fit.  Whether it be jogging, doing the stairmaster or the elliptical machine everyone is concerned about cardio.  One thing you hear from people is how their metabolism slows as they get older and if they could just get that last 10 pounds off their body.   Now, reflect back when you were young.  You could eat anything you wanted.  You played tag, ran hard, jumped rope and swam.  You NEVER jogged.  And guess what?  The  fat melted off.  Now understand, we have families to raise, careers to focus on, houses to upkeep, but if we are committed to staying healthy, why not shift the paradigm to what works from what doesn’t.  And long stretches on the stairmaster does not work.  But sprinting does work.  And you can do it in less time and have better benefits than sweating away on the elliptical machine with the fat burner program plugged in.

What are the benefits of sprinting?  First, it increases human growth hormone (HGH).   An increase in HGH promotes muscle-building.  The more muscle you have the more efficiently you burn fat.   As I’ve said before, have you ever seen a fat sprinter, a fat wide receiver or cornerback?  They’re all ripped and muscular.  Secondly it helps with your cardiovascular health.   Brief intense periods of activity followed by a period of active recovery strengthens the heart.  It also increases endurance.   Sprinting will help your running program.   It tones  your legs.  A sprint of 8 seconds or more will activate fast twitch muscle fibers.  When activated, these fibers grow which will give your legs a leaner muscular look.      It is also time efficient.  A hard workout of 15, 100 yard sprints with a minute recovery will take 20-25 minutes versus a 3 mile jog. 

For the first four weeks I went to the high school track and did the 100 yard dash,  walked or jogged back and repeated.  Now in the first week, the soreness was something I had to deal with.  If you decide to do a sprinting workout, you will have aches in the muscles in your groin, hips, and hamstrings that you never thought existed.    You will have activated and used dormant muscles.  See it as good pain and that you are better for it.  For me no matter how much I stretch, the first sprint or two are more herky jerky versus smooth.  But then around the third sprint, I start feeling this nice pump in the back of my legs and I start to loosen up.  I focus on landing on the balls of my feet and not my heels to take pressure off my Achilles’ tendons.  I breathe in through my mouth and exhale.  I do this rhythmically, trying to push my diaphragm down and expand the stomach.  Two or three strides as I inhale, two or three as I breathe out.      Pick the legs up, point those toes forward and repeat. 

The high school track has been closed the last two weeks so I have had to switch venues and run at the baseball field in the center of my town.  It is a beautiful field surrounded by two streets and houses with a small stone wall in left field and trees in center and right field.  There is also a bandstand, playground and tennis courts.   Think of a town common with a baseball diamond.  I start at the left field line and run across the outfield to a big oak tree out in right center field.    It’s about 150 yards long.   Today was a particularly enjoyable experience.  My i-pod, filled, with my favorite Beatles and Wings songs was dead (to many I know that would be the reason but not for me)  so I was going to have to be entertained by the sounds of an early morning.   The sun was rising, the grass, still wet with dew marking the path as I ran out to right center.  Walking back looking at the playground where I used to take my sons.  Seeing the pond across the street  with the condensation rising off the surface.  Looking to the left at the diamond and wondering what it was like 50 years ago, when the mill was still in existence.  I’m sure they had a team that played there on weekends against neighboring towns.   I did 20 sprints in about 35 minutes and felt great.  Legs had a nice pump and I had a good lather going.   I don’t start feeling my heartbeat kicking in until 10 seconds after I stop and walk.   I’m sure there are people driving or jogging by thinking, “look at that fool doing sprints in the outfield.”   The funny thing is when I played high school sports, I was notoriously slow, which has been inherited by my older son.  I feel like I’m motoring, but I’m getting nowhere fast.  I’m sure it looks a bit odd, but at 42 I don’t care.  I would rather be one of the unique few with the answers than the masses.  

The program I’m doing incorporates two activities that I have never done working out;  sprinting and jumping rope.  I realized that I enjoy both more than I ever thought I would and will continue to do both on variety days.  Even if you are confined for time, you can get a fantastic workout  doing sprints once or twice a week and will be better for it.  When you don’t feel like going to the gym and doing the same old chest and tri’s routine or dreading that 3 mile run on the treadmill, try it!  Get outside and enjoy the world.  I know you will love the results.