4 Weeks of the Rite of Passage

I write this entry with a heavy heart on Halloween night. Is it because my kids are now too cool to have me take them trick or treating?  Hell no, it’s 38 degrees with snow on the ground.  It’s because Kris Humphries was served with divorce papers by Kim Kardashian after 72 days.  I mean I thought they would be together at least 72 months and on their way to 72 years!  Those kids were perfect for one another.  I refuse to believe that this was a publicity stunt for money.  Does anyone else think you could stick a beer tap up her butt and pour yourself a glass of beer?  Anyway, moving on as these two are, I finished four weeks of the Rite Of Passage single kettlebell program.  I used a 70 lb. bell.

Basically the goal of the Rite of Passage is twofold.  First is to clean and one arm military press a kettlebell that is closest to 1/2 your body weight.  For me, it would either be the 40 or 44 kg bell.  The second part of it is to snatch a 24 kg kettlebell 200 times in 10 minutes.  Last time I tried, I did 151.  The author suggests sticking with the program until you can achieve both.  Last year I did this program for 20 weeks with a 28 kg kettlebell  and a 32 kg / 70 lb kettlebell.  I stopped because 1. I was completely burnt out and 2. was getting a little nicked up.  The program consists of pressing and pulling 3 days.  1 heavy day, 1 medium day and 1 easy day.  After you finish your presses, you do your pulls.  Either swings on heavy and medium day and snatches on easy day.  You roll dice.  Whatever you roll, that’s how long you have to do your pulls.  So if I roll a 9 on Easy Day.  I have to snatch for 9 minutes, 50-60 % of my work capacity.  For me, it would be 9 rounds of 7 reps each hand.  Medium day would be 70% of swings.  Heavy day, 80%.

Presses were done in a ladder fashion.  The goal is to do 5 ladders each time.  On easy day you work up to 3 reps, medium day 4 reps and heavy day 5 reps.  While doing your presses it is suggested to superset them with pullups.  On days when I worked out at home, I did double rows instead.  So a ladder goes like this.  1 clean and press left, 1 right, 1 pullup.  Rest 2 left, 2 right, 2 pullups.  Rest 3 left, 3 right 3 pullups.  Etc.  Repeat until you’ve done this 5 times.  Basically you are waving the reps.  On easy day, it’s 30 reps each arm.  Medium day 50, Heavy day 75!   I remember complete feelings of dread doing heavy day last year.  Pullups just add a little more to the party.

You also have 2 variety days.  On these days you practice other movements.  For me, I did Turkish Getups, Squats, Swings and Back-up Presses with my 88.  To a comfortable stop.  Not balls out.  You also get two days off.  I took mine back to back on the weekend after heavy day.  I did Easy Day Monday, Variety Day Tuesday, Medium Day Wednesday, Variety Day Thursday and Heavy Day Friday.   I had done mostly doubles work in the past year and was looking forward to doing some unilateral stuff with one bell.  I also wanted to see how challenging it was for me.

There is a lot to love about this program. First  it’s simple and extremely effective.  It’s for any kettlebell lifter, beginner, intermediate or advanced.  The beginner girevik benefits in learning how to build strength with one kettlebell.    You are doing only 4 different movements.  Clean and Press, Swing, Snatch and Pullups.  Second, it’s great for your conditioning.  When you are doing clean and press and supersetting pullups, your heart will be beating pretty hard.  Especially if you keep the rest periods short.  Then finishing with swings or snatches, you will be pretty tired.  Third unilateral training is fantastic for addressing any imbalances you may have.  It forces your weaker side to catch up.   Fourth, you’re waving your training, so although you are doing the same movements, the rep scheme is different.  I also really enjoy rolling the dice to see how much pull work I have to do.  In the four weeks, there was feelings of relief when I rolled a 3 twice.  There was also a feeling of dread getting an 11 on one heavy day.   Workouts last 40-60 minutes.

Like all programs, it does have its’ weaknesses.  Although it will put you well on the road to achieve your goal, I think you need to snatch a lot more than one time a week to pass 200 reps in 10 minutes.  Second, it doesn’t address your lower body as much as it should.  Goblet Squats with one kettlebell should be in the program somewhere.  I did mine on variety day, but it’s never mentioned in the program.  Because you are cleaning the bell 50-75 times, doing snatches and pullups, your hands are going to get beaten up a bit.  I developed some callouses on my fingers, the first week, one broke into a mini blister.  A lot of Pedi-Egg treatment and Cornhuskers Lotion.   Finally, in order to make the jump you need to buy intermediate bells or tape weight plates to the bottom.  I have a 28 kg bell I like a lot, but I don’t use it that much.  From a pressing standpoint I own it.  I can snatch a 32/70 for reps.  I don’t have that much use for it right now.

I would deem my four weeks on the program a success.  After a year of doubles work, using 55′s and 70′s, using one 70 was a welcome change.  I own the bell.  Easy Day I could clean it once and press it three times.  The last easy day I did, I tested my rep max and did six strict military presses with just one clean on each side.  My last medium day, I was home and didn’t have a pullup bar so I did double rows.  I decided without the challenge of pullups, I’d make the presses a  little harder.  So I did medium day with double 70′s.  I was able to get 44 out of 50 reps.  I couldn’t quite clean and press double 70′s for four on the last rung of each ladder.   Heavy days did not have their old feelings of dread.  Would I stiffen up toward the end of the 4th ladder like before?  Yes a little, but I was able to overcome the fatigue.   On heavy day, I was able to cut the rest periods down so that each ladder took about 8-9 minutes vs 10-11 minutes last year.  The rest period between the 5th rung at the end of one ladder and the beginning of the new ladder was cut way down to under 1 minute.   My pullups really improved as well.  I had done a lot of pullups during the Russian Bear Program as well as Farmers Walks.  The improved grip translated well with pullup repititions.  For swings, I focused mostly on 1 hand with the 70.  After using the 88, it felt like a toy.   One issue I have is my elbows and forearms have been a little sore.  Not the back of he wrist where you rack it, but toward the elbow.  It’s not debilitating, but I don’t want to turn it into a lingering problem.  I had wanted to do a snatch test as well as clean and press volume test, but I have decided to hold off a little bit.

My next 4 week program is back to an old favorite.  Escalated Density Training or EDT.  I’m going to use the 70′s and will keep you posted.  I’m going to drop my workouts to 3 days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday and see if more rest will give me maximum benefits.  Of course, that was decided before I decided to drown my sorrows over the demise of the Humphries/Kardashian marriage by binging on some Halloween candy.  By the way the Snickers almond bars are phenomenal!  Happy Halloween!

22 things I think I know

Purging the mind of informaton

1.  Don’t lift in running shoes.  You should lift in bare feet or flat soled sneakers.  I was guilty of it for a long time, I don’t anymore.  Adidas Shell Toes.  With all the cushioning and inserts in your running shoes, it’s like squatting or doing swings on a mattress.

2.  When doing presses, either military or bench.  Flex your lats in order to pack your shoulders and protect them.  Bring the weight down with your lats.  Think pulldown.  While pressing, keep everything tight, flex your glutes, grip the the bar or dumbbell.  Breathe out at the top so you don’t leak strength,  and imagine pushing yourself through the floor.

3.  Want great abs?  Put the fork down and lower your carb intake.  Forget about crunches.  Do pullups and squats.  You’re better off doing 12-15 pullups than doing 30 lat pulldowns.  And even if you can only do 1 or 2, focus on the negative on the way down.  Unless you’re a bodybuilder, pullups and rows will be all the bicep work you need.

4 Don’t do upright rows, or shrugs.  If you want traps, farmers walks with two dumbbells or kettlebells.  It will also do wonders for your grip and cardiovascular system. 

5. Everybody should squat.  If you drop your hips back correctly, you will not hurt your knees, you will feel it in your butt and hamstrings

6 Magnesium chloride is the wonder mineral.  It helps Type II diabetics by improving insulin sensitivity, it cures migraines, it helps you sleep better, it cures muscles soreness, helps produce the DHEA hormone which manages stress, it helps lower cholesterol, it’s a natural muscle relaxer, it helps with asthma and the list goes on. Use the epidermal vs. oral.  14-17 sprays on your skin twice a day rub it in.

7. One can get big doing nothing but Bench Press, Military Press, Pullups and Rows for the upper body.  Squats and deadlifts for the lower body.  I wish I didn’t waste 20 years of working out.

8.  My soon to be 12 year old son throws a better spiral than I do with a football.

9. He also kicks my butt in tennis.

10. Listening to Ke$ha is a guilty indulgence.  Whenever I hear the .38 Special or Billy Squier on satellite radio, I always leave it on.

11. The first Obama 2012 bumper sticker you see will probably be on a Prius, if not it will be on a Subaru.

12. I hate renegade rows.  Really hate them.

13. Did Mike Brown of the Cincinnati Bengals wear a blue or red bandanna over his face when he traded Carson Palmer to Oakland for a number 1 pick?  Absolute robbery.

14. November is the ugliest month in New England.  The leaves are brown and down, there is frost every morning, the sky is always gray, It’s 40 degrees and feels like it rains forever.  As if we haven’t had enough rain this year, sometimes I think I’m going to have to pay a boat tax on my house.

15.  The Jaguars 12-9 win over Baltimore will have higher ratings than the Texas/St. Louis World Series.  12-9, what a rock fight.

16.  Bottoms up presses are really humbling the first time you do them.  KevinGKnapp.wordpress has a great blog on the movement.

17. Was feeling experimental with the kettebell today, did a Turkish Getup and at the top shifted my feet and did 2 windmills then went back down.  Talk about shoulder fatigue coming back down. The only think I didn’t like was shifting my feet twice at the top. 

18. The double snatch with 55′s still eludes me. 

19.  The beauty of baseball is how things change from one game to the next.  The Cardinals bang out 16 runs Saturday night in Texas and then only score 2 in the next two games. 

20.  Donovan McNabb hasn’t hit a receiver in stride in at least 3 years.  For a while, he was the worst good player  in the NFL (how is that for an oxymoron)  Now he’s just done.

21.When you are aggravated in traffic due to being cut off, an accident, bad drving maneuvers, at least 8 times out of 10 a Toyota Corolla is involved.  If you haven’t noticed, you’ll notice now.

22.  If Republicans want to gain back the White House, they need to migrate toward the center and get the Independent votes, not the Tea Party.  The Tea Party/Christian Coalition will vote for the Republican candidate no matter what.  The Independents are ripe for the picking.

88 lbs. Bulldog Update

Driving home last night from work,  instead of flipping the radio around and listening to talk on the satellite radio, I put in my favorite Rolling Stones CD, Exile On Main Street.  The album has hits like Tumbling Dice,  and Happy.  It also has great rock/blues songs on it as well.  Most of the songs, you’ll never hear on the classic rock radio stations.  I mean the only 5 Stones songs you ever hear regularly on those stations are Satisfaction, Start Me Up, Brown Sugar, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, and It’s Only Rock and Roll.  As I was pulling into my driveway singing along to the chorus to Sweet Virginia, “Got to scrape the shit right off my shoes..” (The beauty of singing to a Rolling Stones chorus, is as bad as I croon, I’m not as bad as Keith Richards.)  I came up with what next to share with you in regard to using kettlebells.  Unless you want to be bored with my thoughts on the Red Sox choke job.  For the record, the  talk radio surrounding the soap opera on Yawkey Way has been so entertaining, listening to it is almost as much fun as if the Sox were in the Series.  Thankfully, the Yankees got bounced in the first round, so it was easy to get over unlike other heartbreaking losses.  See 1986 Red Sox, 2007 Patriots, and 2010 Celtics et al.  Can you believe the Patriots have the gall to hang a 2007 16-0 banner in Gillette Stadium?  No Patriot fan wants to remember that season.   Clueless.  The World Series starts tonight, I’ll take Texas in 6, thank you very much.

Anyway, back on topic.  I bought an 88 lb. kettlebell from Kettlebells USA about 3 months ago. Definitely an indulgence purchase, but also a good standard to measure one’s strength.   Since then, I’ve been working out with it 2 days a week, Tuesday and Thursday.  Taking a page from Enter The Kettlebell’s Program Minimum, I’ve been doing Turkish Get Ups for 5 minutes and then doing swings with jump rope for active recovery for 12 -15 minutes.  In the past couple of weeks I’ve added a couple of more drills as well.

When I first pulled the bulldog out of the box, I could not get over the thickness of the handle.  I have a 62 from Kettlebells USA and the handle is significantly thinner then the bulldog.  This has helped my grip a great deal.   However, I think it has also provided me with some confidence issues in regard to what I can do with it.  I have decent size hands, but I’m using almost the whole length of my fingers to grip it.  For example, I can snatch a 70 for reps with my Troy kettlebell which has a thinner handle.  I worry the bell will come flying off my finger as soon as I transfer the handle from my fingers to the palm as I pull back and punch up.   I also have to use a lot of chalk for tack on the handle.  The paint has flaked off my two 70 lb. handles through wear and tear of cleans, swings and snatches.  From a cosmetic standpoint it looks a little rough but the grit on the handle is perfect.  My hands seem to sweat a lot when I use the 88 and keep having to re-chalk to keep them dry.   The problem with chalk is it beats on your callouses.

All right enough complaining.  For Turkish Get Ups, I have done a set of 8 on each side alternating each rep, however, usually I keep it at 5.  Getups with an 88 are downright scary.  The hardest part for me is getting back down.  Your shoulder stabilizers start fatiguing, and you have to hold the bell up above your head extended, while coming back down.  When your going up, your body is all in synch.  The extra 18 lbs.,  from the 70, makes a big difference.  There are times, that bell is wobbling to stay still.  When I’m finished, any thought my ego has of TGU’ing a the Beast, 48 kg/106 lb.  is punished with a big slab of humble pie.  It’s also a big mental game.  Doing a TGU with a bulldog requires a lot of concentration, because one slip up, that’s a big cannonball of iron, coming down.  So you really have to take it slow and it gets tiring.  The past couple of weeks, I’ve noticed that I haven’t done any wobbly reps and I’m able to do them at a quicker pace.

I still can’t press it with one hand, but am working on it.  On www.dragondoor.com  there is a special report you can download for free that gives you tips on pressing the bell the next size up.  In my opinion, this should have been included in the original Enter The Kettlebell book.  If you’re spending $30 + shipping you shouldn’t have to download it as an addendum.  One of the drills Pavel recommends is to clean the bell with one hand, tighten everything up, and as you press it, use your other hand and assist the bell up.  5 sets of 1-3 reps.  This is a fantastic drill.  First it helps you practice your clean.  The key to a good press is a good clean.  You swing that heavy bell through your legs, and driving it to the rack position provides you with confidence.  From there, you’re tightened up, the bell moves a couple of inches and the assistance helps bring it over head.   Bring down under control and switch hands.  I don’t care how much assistance, there is a nice sense of satisfaction when you do 5 sets.  And it’s tiring, you feel like you’re working.  I do this drill after my 5 minutes of Turkish Get Ups.  On Tuesday, I did 4 sets of 2, 1 set of 1 on the right, 3 sets of 2, 2 sets of 1 on the left.

Currently I am doing the Rite of Passage program from Enter The Kettlebell.  It’s a great program for beginners, intermediate as well as advanced gireviks.  However one of the issues that I’ve always had with the program is squats aren’t included in the program.  Enter the Bulldog!  At the beginning of my workout, when I transfer the kettlebell from my office to the gym, I do a 1 hand suitcase walk with it.  Whenever I have to switch hands I grab it by the horns and do a set of 5 goblet squats.  Once I get to 5 sets of 5, I stop.

The last part of my workout with the 88 is doing 2 hand swings alternated with jumping rope.  For 12-15 minutes, I’ll do 10-15 swings per minute followed by jumping rope as fast as I can for 20 jumps.  Rest 15-20 seconds, start the next set at the top of each minute.   This usually comes out to 170-200 2 hand swings for me and when I’m finished, I have to pick my lungs up off the floor.  On Tuesday I did 12 sets of 15 and on the last minute, jumped rope until the end.  When I jumped on a treadmill to walk to warm down, my heart rate was up at 174!   When I’m done, I really feel it in my hamstrings and grip.  If I didn’t do the jump rope, I would do 1 hand swings, but with the 2 hand, I’m able to snap the bell up to chest level.

Tomorrow, I’m going to see if I can do a windmills with it.  I 100% agree with Mike Mahler that you should train with heavier bells.  He has two great articles on his website about single and double kettlebell training and how to break into working with heavier bells.  www.mikemahler.com.  The biggest benefit of the 88 is it has made the 70 feel almost like a toy.  I used to think the 70 was heavy to carry, lift, snatch, but doing the ROP, it is flying up.  In my opinion, if you’re going to own kettlebells and your goal is size and or strength, you need to at least own a 16kg/35, 2 24kg/52 for doubles work, and at least 1 32kg/70.

For the record, I’m amazed St. Louis is in the World Series.  Tony LaRussa may completely overmanage sometimes, but this is his 6th World Series and it might be his greatest season as a manager.

The Russian Bear Program with Kettlebells

At the beginning of September it was time to do another 16 week double kettlebell cycle.  Based on Mike Mahler’s Aggressive Strength Solution for Size and Strength suggestions, you change the program every four weeks.  I decided to go with a volume program to start, which was the Russian Bear Program.  Based on Pavel Tsatsouline’s Power to the People book, it’s a program where you do a difficult set, rest 5 minutes, then do a less difficult, but challenging set, rest a minute  and then do sets of 3 up to a max of 20 sets with a minute rest in between.  The workout focuses on intensity and volume which will help you gain size. 

I chose to do the workout, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I also locked my ego in the closet and chose double 55′s vs. double 70′s.  I’m glad I did.  The exercises I chose were, double military press, double rows, double squats, one arm snatch and pullups.  Monday looked like this:

Double Military Press  Set 1 1 x 8-10 Rest 5 minutes.  Set 2 1 x 6 Rest 1 minute, Set 3-22 x 3 rest 30-45 seconds

Double Row Set 1 x 12, Set 2 x 10 Sets 3-22 x 4 rest 30-45 seconds

Double Squat, Set 1 x 12 Set 2 x 10 Set 3-17 x 5

Wednesday

Double Military Press

Pullups Set 1 x 8  Rest 5 minutes Set 2 x 6 Set 3-16 x 3 1 minute rest

Snatch Each side, L, R Set 1 10-20 Rest 5 minutes Set 2 10 Rest 1 Set 3-22 x 4 30 seconds rest

Friday

Double Military Press, Double Rows/Pullups, Double Squats.

The Double Rows were too easy for me so I switched in week 3 doing pullups 3 times a week instead of double rows.  For mid section (I hate the word core)  work, I did the Program Minimum TGU’s and Swings/Jump Rope with my 88 on Tuesdays and Thursdays and rested on the weekend.

First the good news.  It works!  Big time.  I added a set each week  up to 20 work sets except on pullups.  I also set personal records for repetitions each workout.  On the final Friday of the program, here were the numbers.  For Double Military Press with the 55′s.  My first set was 10 reps, and my total reps were 80.  For pullups, my first set was 10 and total reps were 60.  For Double Squats, first two sets were 15 each and did a total of 100 reps.  The final time I did double rows,  I made the century club,  cranking out 100 reps.  For the one arm snatch, on the last Wednesday, I did 20 with each arm for my first sets, 12 for my second and a total of 224.   This past Saturday, I tested my max reps on the clean and press with double 55′s and cranked out 12.  Then a couple hours later, I wanted to see how many one arm snatches I could do with each arm with only one hand switch.  I cranked out 25 on each arm, probably had another 2 each side in the tank, but didn’t want to break form.  

I kept my diet pretty clean and felt like I put on some muscle.  One of my cousins told me I looked thin and my weight had increased to 188 lbs. which used to be gray territory for me of having to watch what I ate.   I felt my form in all exercises vastly improved.  Because you’re only doing sets of 3-5, you can focus making sure everything is tight.   Plus with good reps comes good practice.  The practice made me better.  Especially with snatches.  I didn’t have any lousy, smash the back of the wrist fatigue reps. They all seemed crisp.  I also added Farmer’s Walks as a finishing exercise.  This I could really feel in my traps and grip.  Walking a 100 yards with 55 lb. kettlebells in your hands is a great way to build up traps and forearms as well as your cardio conditioning. 

Now the bad.  It’s BORING and long.  Really long.  The last workout was 90 minutes.  I thought it was never going to end.  Was I overtraining?  Perhaps, but the way I looked at it was, a. It’s only 4 weeks/12 workouts and b. you have to push yourself once in a while.  By Friday each week, I felt a little beaten up, mentally as well as physically.   One Thursday, I was sore and backed off the kettlebells and did sprints and jump rope in the parking lot.   I was glad when it was over.

I’m in my first week of doing the Rite of Passage from Enter the Kettlebell with my 70 lb. bell.  I finished Easy Day and Medium Day so far with the ladders and pullups.  Although only one bell is required, I forgot how tough it can be.  Last year, I would get feelings of anxiety and dread for heavy day and I can already feel that coming back for Flynn Friday Fun.  I’m still doing the Program Minimum with the 88 on variety day, but have added 5 sets of Goblet Squats as well. 

Would I recommend the Russian Bear?  If you want to put on some size and improve your form while setting personal records. ABSOLUTELY.  You just better have the time as well as the mental fortitude to finish it.  Will I do it again?  Yes, but I think it’s a program you can only do 2 times a year.  I would have blown out like Britney Spears if I did it for 1 more week.