Monday 8/2 - Noon Kettlebell Series - Condensed Goodness

Today's Monday Kettlebell WOD is brought to you by the letter C.

• Condensed
• Compressed
• Complex

15 minute AMRAP, switching arms after each set:

• 5 lunges with bell in rack position
• 10 kettlebell military presses
• 15 kettlebell one-arm swings

Don't forget your GYMBOSS!!

Monday 7/12 - 15:15 mVO2 Protocol

Monday's workout was mostly a skill session.  If you didn't have your swing and get-up down, you focused on those skills, if you didn't have the snatch, you focused on that.

The biggest piece here was the introduction of the 15:15 mVO2 protocol as described by Master RKC Kenneth Jay in his book "Viking Warrior Conditioning".

While the effort wasn't geared to attain the full 80 sets (yet), it was good practice for the snatch.  By the end, everyone was snatching cleanly and with much better form.

Remember:  practice!

Is it too light?

If you've been swinging with the same kettlebell for a while, it may be time to get a heavier one.  How do you know if you are ready to change bells?  Or, how do you know if you're ready to train the single hand swing on the bell you have?

One way to tell is by doing 100 swings for time.  If you're able to get 100 swings in two and a half minutes, it's reasonable to assume you've mastered the swing on that bell, or it's so light that you are able to flail like a crazed monkey with it.  In the first case, it's time for something heavier, in the second, you need to come out for a noon workout and get that FIXED.

Today's WOD:

• 100 Kettlebell Swings for Time
• 5 minutes of Turkish Get-ups (2:30 on each side)
• 100 Kettlebell Swings for Time

Mobility drills (hamstring, and MCL stretches)

Learn About Adventure Racing!

Kettlebell training applies to a wide variety of sports.  Adventure Racing is no exception.  Ever heard of the Eco-Challenge?  Want to test your limits? Or..  would you rather learn about it from the other side?  Help out out a local race director and get RACE CREDIT!

From the Big Blue Adventure folks (friends of ours):

Big Blue Adventure is hosting a variety of fun racing events and is in need of volunteers.

 

Volunteering will earn you $10/hr of race credit to put towards any of the future Big Blue Adventure Races (Race Calendar here: http://www.bigblueadventure.com/pub/main.asp?daPageID=561) as well as a t-shirt, and BBQ +Beer.

 

Below are some of the events we need volunteers for.  If you would like to volunteer or know someone who would, email Angel at angel@bigblueadventure.com

 

Burton Creek Trail Race- Sunday. June 20th from 630am- 2pm, Tahoe City, CA

XTERRA Tahoe City, Saturday June 26th from 530 am- 1pm, Tahoe City, CA

Donner Lake Triathlon 630am- 2pm, Truckee, CA

 

Adventure on
Angel Garbarino

Event Manager

541-908-1626

www.bigblueadventure.com

Monday Noon Kettlebell Series - Single Arm Swings

Single Arm Swings
Today's WOD involved focusing on keeping the shoulder tight, body square and tightening the glutes (among other things).

The swing, while a very simple movement to watch, has a surprising amount of depth to it when it comes to doing it yourself.  Tension, breath, foot placement, timing, hands...  a lot of things you want to think about and get right.

Today we followed a basic 15:15 protocol and reached 30 sets.  80 sets is the stretch goal.  Once we're comfortably swinging to that level, it's time to increase the weight.

Monday Noon Kettlebell Series - Doubles

Today's workout focused on double kettlebell work.  Double swings, double clean and press, double front squats.  After the warm-up we all reviewed the techniques and worked on trouble-spots.  Once we reached a medium of happy technique we jumped into the main WOD.

You can get the hard-to-find (i.e. 10#, 14#, 22#, and 31#) kettlebells here: http://www.dragondoor.com/kettlebellkettlebells

It's Not About the Bell

It's not about the kettlebell.  Sure they're cool to use, and they are tremendously effective for burning fat.  They also are extremely simple to use, and could theoretically replace all other home and gym training devices.  That's not what this post is about though.

This is about movement.  For many of us the time when we were on the playground running, jumping, climbing and throwing is mostly a dim memory.  Training with kettlebells is one way reconnect with the ability to play with confidence and competency.  Being able to move better opens your training options.

The last 30 years of popular fitness training have focused on isolated, body-building movements that completely disregard / ignore that the body is one system.  Training needs to be comprehensive, yet simple.  Tough, but scalable.   Kettlebell training meets this criteria.

Two primary examples of the kind of movement training I am referring to is the basic swing, and the Turkish get-up.

One is a fast, dynamic movement, the other a slower, strength move.  One way to look at this is that you can build whole-body strength with the get-up, and conditioning with the swing.

Do you have questions on how to do these movements?  Send me an email at "brandon dot  nugent at gmail dot com".  Or come out to the Monday Noon Kettlebell Workouts!


Get your Swing on!

-Brandon