Incline Walk & Pikes/Dive-Bomber Push Ups...

Today I needed to take a break from regular training so I walked for 20 minutes at between a 10% and 15% incline. I burned (according to the treadmill) 235 calories.

I finished by doing 25 reps of:

Floor Pikes/Dive-Bomber Push Ups

German Volume Training (GVT) - Legs...

My training looked like this today:

Double KB Front Squat - 24kg bells - 5x10 - 50 reps
Barbell Deadlift - 135lbs - 5x10 - 50 reps
Bruiser Front Swings - 45lb clubbell - 5x10 - 50 reps
Shoulder Park Squat - 45lb clubbell - 5x10 - 50 reps
 
I finished with:
 
Barbarian Squats - 45lb clubbell - 10x5 - 50 reps

1,000 Swings!

I decided to so dome swings today to get back to basics while trying to get my heart rate going. I know that Viking Warrior Conditioning is really meant for the snatch but I figured if I could swing for 50 minutes and 1000 reps - I would be wiped out.

My training looked like this:

I did timed two-handed swings with the 24kg bell and 20kg bell today.  I did 100 sets of 10 in 49 minutes and 45 seconds. I dropped from the 24kg bell to the 20kg bell after 200 reps because I knew my grip would go very early at that weight. I did sets of 10 with approximately 15 second rest between round.
Swings - 24kg bell - 20 sets of 10 - 200 reps - 10,560 lbs
Swings - 20kg bell - 80 sets of 10 - 800 reps - 35,200 lbs

45,760 lbs total.

My grip is fried! I had trouble opening my water bottle when I was done.

German Volume Training (GVT) - Arms & Shoulders...

My training looked like this today:

Dips - 35lbs - 10 sets of 10 - 100 rep

Alternating Seated Incline KB Hammer Curls - 16kg bells - 10 sets of 10 per arm - 100 reps per arm

Viking Warrior Conditioning (MV02) - 49 Sets of 8 - 40,000 Total - Happy Thanksgiving!

My training looked like this:

I did timed snatches with the 16kg bell today. I did sets of 8 with each arm with approximately 15 second rest between hand switch. I did 49 sets of 8 in 24 minutes and 15 seconds.

Snatch - 16kg bell - 40 sets of 8 - 392 reps

As of today I am @ 40,000 total snatches in the Snatch Challenge

I finished with:

•50 Double Swipes (2 Club bells)
•50 Mills Alternating (25 Right / 25 Left)
•50 Hammer Swings (two-handed: 25 Clockwise / 25 Counter-Clockwise)
 
All with the 15lb clubbell

Day Off......Maybe...

I am probably taking today off from trainig after yesterday. I might do some clubbell exercises to get my heart rate up and loosen up my muscles. Tomorrow I plan on doing Viking warrior Conditioning with the 16kg kettlebell before my Thanksgiving free for all.

German Volume Training (GVT) - Chest & Back...

My training looked like this:

Kettlebell Incline Press- 32kg bells - 10 sets of 10 - 100 reps - 14,080 lbs

Chin Ups- 8kg bells on feet - 10 sets of 10 - 100 reps - 20,000 lbs (165lbs bodyweight + 16kg)


Incline Kettlebell Flys - 20kg bells- 2 sets of 10 - 20 reps - 1,760 lbs

One Arm KB Rows - 36kg bell - 2 sets of 10 each arm - 20 reps each arm - 3,168l bs

39,000 total lbs lifted!

Core...

 I just did some flexibility and core work today.

My training looked like this:

Hanging Leg Raises - 25 reps
Arm Behind the Back Windmills - 16kg bell - 50 reps
Spiderman Plank - 25 reps

German Volume Training (GVT) - Legs...

My training looked like this today:

Double KB Front Squat - 20kg bells - 10x10 - 100 reps
Double KB Deadlift - 24kg bells - 10x10 - 100 reps
Bruiser Front Swings - 45lb clubbell - 3x10 - 30 reps
Shoulder Park Squat - 45lb clubbell - 3x10 - 30 reps

I finished with:

Snatches - 16kg bell - 100 reps
 
25,580 total lbs lifted.

Viking Warrior Conditioning (MV02) - 40 Sets of 8, Bruiser Clubbell Front Swings & Xvest Training...

My training looked like this:


I did timed snatches with the 16kg bell today. I did sets of 8 with each arm with approximately 15 second rest between hand switch. I did 40 sets of 8 in 19 minutes and 45 seconds.

Snatch - 16kg bell - 40 sets of 8 - 320 reps

Then I did:

Bruiser Front Swings - 45lb clubbell - 50 reps

I finished by alternating walking @ 4mph for a half mile @ a 10% incline while wearing the 40lb Xvest. It took me 8 minutes. It felt great to get the vest off at the end!

German Volume Training (GVT) - Arms & Shoulders...

My training looked like this today:

Dips - 25lbs - 10 sets of 10 - 100 rep

Alternating Seated Incline KB Hammer Curls - 16kg bells - 10 sets of 10 per arm - 100 reps per arm

Two Handed Shield Cast - 25lb clubbell - 3 sets of 10 - 30 reps

Crucifix - 15lb clubbells - 3 sets of 10 - 30 reps

I finished with:
Shrugs - 40kg bells - 50 reps

I added 25lbs per rep to my Dips for and extra 2,500 lbs lifted and an extra 8kg to my KB Curls for an extra 1,760 lbs lifted.

Day Off...

I am taking today off from training today. Back at it tomorrow.

Clubbell "Trial By Fire" Practice & Kettlebell Snatches...

I did 100 reps with the 15lb clubbell in each of the Trial By Fire exercises: Swipes, Mills and Hammer Swings.

My training looked like this:

•100 Double Swipes (2 Clubbells)
•100 Mills Alternating (50 Right / 50 Left)
•100 Hammer Swings (two-handed: 50 Clockwise / 50 Counter-Clockwise)
 
I finished with:
 
Snatches - 16kg bell  -150 reps

German Volume Training (GVT) - Chest & Back...

My training looked like this:

Kettlebell Incline Press- 28kg bells - 10 sets of 10 - 100 reps
Chin Ups- 4kg bells on feet - 10 sets of 10 - 100 reps

I finished with:

Incline Kettlebell Flys - 16kg bells- 2 sets of 10 - 20 reps
One Arm KB Rows - 32kg bells - 2 sets of 10 each arm - 20 reps each arm
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I went from the 24kg bells to the 28kg bells on the incline presses and added 8kg total to my chin ups for a total of 16kg total added per rep to my training.
 
16kg x 200 reps = 7040 extra pounds lifted from last time!!! I am going to try to increase it again next week to the 32kg bells for the incline presses and the 8kg bells for the chins.

Day Off...

I am taking today off from training.

German Volume Training (GVT) - Legs...

My training looked like this today:

Double KB Front Squat - 16kg bells - 10x10 - 100 reps
Double KB Deadlift - 20kg bells - 10x10 - 100 reps
Bruiser Front Swings - 45lb clubbell - 3x10 - 30 reps
Shoulder Park Squat - 45lb clubbell - 3x10 - 30 reps

I finished with:
Clockwork Squat - 25lb clubbell - 5x10 - 50 reps

Change in Training & Diet....

While still training with kettlebells and clubbells I have decided to change up my training and diet for the next 4 weeks.

I plan on doing German Volume Training three times a week:

• Chest & Back
• Arms & Shoulders
• Legs

Using both kettlebells and clubbells. I will also include a day of just kettlebell snatches "Viking Warrior Conditioning" style and a day of high reps clubbell work like "Trial By Fire" to keep my cardio in check. This plan also calls for two days off from training a week.

During the same time I plan on moving away from my weekly 5 day no carb/2 day high carb eating plan and am going to a more medium protein/medium car and lower fat diet. I hope to stay on this plan for four weeks before I change it up again. It will be interesting to see the progress that is made.

German Volume Training (GVT) - Arms & Shoulders...

The goal of the German Volume Training method is to complete ten sets of ten reps with the same weight for each exercise. You want to begin with a weight you could lift for 20 reps to failure if you had to. For most people, on most exercises, that would represent 60% of their 1RM load. Therefore, if you can bench press 300 lbs for 1 rep, you would use 180 lbs for this exercise.


My training looked like this today:
Dips - Bodyweight - 10 sets of 10 - 100  reps
Alternating Seated Incline KB Hammer Curls - 12kg bells - 10 sets of 10 per arm - 100 reps per arm
Bent Over Lateral Raises - 12kg - 3 sets of 10 - 30 reps
Seated Iron Cross - 16kg bells - 3 sets of 10 - 30 reps
 
I finished with:
Shrugs - 40kg bells - 30 reps
Behind The Back Shrugs - 48kg bell - 20 reps

Viking Warrior Conditioning - Submaximal Vo2max - 20 sets of 9...

Today I stepped up my Vo2max training and added another rep to the 15:15 protocol to make it 9 every 15 seconds. This adds 12.5% more work in the same amount of time and takes me to 112.5% of Vo2max.

Check out the book from Kenneth Jay - Master RKC - Viking Warrior Conditioning - The Scientific Approach to Forging a Heart of Elastic Steel: An Application of The Theory Behind Proper VO2max

My training looked like this:
I did timed snatches with the 16kg bell today. I did sets of 9 with each arm with approximately 15 second rest between hand switch. I did 20 sets of 9 in 9 minutes and 45 seconds.

Snatch - 16kg bell - 30 sets of 9 - 180 reps

I finished with:
 
Hanging Leg Raises - 25 reps

"Trial By Fire" Practice....

I did 100 reps with the 15lb clubbell in each of the Trial By Fire exercises: Swipes, Mills and Hammer Swings.

My training looked like this:

• 100 Double Swipes (2 Clubbells)
• 100 Mills Alternating (50 Right / 50 Left)
• 100 Hammer Swings (two-handed: 50 Clockwise / 50 Counter-Clockwise)

I plan on taking tomorrow off from training! The German Volume Training from yesterday created a lot of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) today. The clubbells worked out the soreness but I need to recover before I head into Viking Warrior Conditioning on Friday.

German Volume Training...

I decided to switch to from Escalating Density Training (EDT) to German Volume Training for the next couple of  months or so.

The goal of the German Volume Training method is to complete ten sets of ten reps with the same weight for each exercise. You want to begin with a weight you could lift for 20 reps to failure if you had to. For most people, on most exercises, that would represent 60% of their 1RM load. Therefore, if you can bench press 300 lbs for 1 rep, you would use 180 lbs for this exercise.

Check out more: German Volume Training

My training looked like this:
Kettlebell Incline Press- 24kg bells - 10 sets of 10 - 100 reps
Chin Ups- Bodyweight - 10 sets of 10 - 100 reps

I finished with:
Double Kettlebell Swings - 24kg bells- 2 sets of 10 - 20 reps
One Arm KB Rows - 32kg bells - 2 sets of 10 each arm - 20 reps each arm

Active Recovery....

After my last three says of hard training I just did some light stretching this morning and threw around the 12lb shot to get the blood flowing.

Clubbell "Anabolic Bruiser Conditioning"...

I used the 45lb clubbell this morning and increased my total reps from 90 last time to 144 by going from 3x5 to 3x8.

My training looked like this:
Front Swing - 3x8- 24 reps
Clean to Order - 3x8 - 24 reps
Front Pendulum Lunge - 3x8 each leg - 24 reps each leg
Barbarian - (Gama Cast to Flag Position) - 3x8 -24 reps
Whack a Mole - (Gama Cast into Flat Foot Squat in Order Position) - 3x8 - 24 reps
 
I finished with:
Brusier Clubbell Front Swing - 50 reps
Kettlebell Snatches - 16kg - 50 reps

Escalating Density Training (EDT)...

My training looked like this:

PR One - 10 Minutes:
Smith Machine Incline Press - 185lbs - 40 reps
Kettlebell Snatches - 16kg bell - 80 reps

3 Minute Rest
PR Two - 5 Minutes:
Bear Crawls - 32kg bells - 20 steps
Triple Crush- 16kg bell - 20 reps

I finished with:
Farmers Walk - 32kg bells - 10 reps @ 150 feet each
Shrugs - 40kg bells - 50 reps

Viking Warrior Conditioning - Vo2max - 30 Sets of 8 & Clubbell "Trial by Fire" Practice...

I did timed snatches with the 16kg bell today. I did sets of 8 with each arm with approximately 15 second rest between hand switch. I did 30 sets of 8 in 14 minutes and 45 seconds.

Snatch - 16kg bell - 30 sets of 8 - 240 reps

Then:

I did 50 reps with the 15lb clubbell in each of the Trial By Fire exercises: Swipes, Mills and Hammer Swings.

50 Double Swipes (2 Clubbells)
50 Mills Alternating (25 Right / 25 Left)
50 Hammer Swings (two-handed: 25 Clockwise /25 Counter-Clockwise)

I finished with:

Double Snatches - 16kg bell - 25 reps

For more info on the above workouts click below:

Kettlebells - Viking Warrior Conditioning
Clubbells - Circular Strength Training

Kettlebells - 6 Years And Counting....

I got to thinking today that at 40 years old I feel the best that I have ever felt (physically and mentally) in my life. I think I owe a lot of it to kettlebells!

 It was about 6 years ago last month that I bought my first kettlebell after seeing an ad in Muscle Media 2000. My wife was just about to give birth to our triplets and I know getting to the gym on a regular basis would be an even tougher task than it already was with one child who was 5 at the time.

Little did I know that the one decision to buy that single 16kg kettlebell would have such and pronounced affect on my thoughts about training. Since then I have become certified from various places in kettlebell lifting (RKC, AOS & AKC) and got my wife Fabiana hooked as well! She and I became RKC's this April and she is currently training local clients at an rapidly increasing pace.

I started this blog about 3 years ago as a way to track my training and it has morphed into a great way to share ideas with like minded individuals. The kettlebell, clubbell and "alternative" training community has been a great place to spur my growth physically and mentally as it relates to training and nutrition.

My life was changed forever when I found out I was going from one child to four - in one pregnancy but I think also having the kettlebell enter my life at the same time made the process easier to tackle and also more enjoyable.

I think that any other girevik would agree!

Day Off...

I am taking Thursday off from training. First day off in a week. I may shoot for 80x8 on Friday in Viking Warrior Conditioning.

Anabolic Bruiser Conditioning...

I used the 45lb clubbell this morning and it was a commitment to say the least. I kept it short as to not over-do it and stopped after 3x5. I was aiming for 5x5 but felt that my form was deteriorating.

My training looked like this:

Front Swing - 3x5- 15 reps
Clean to Order - 3x5 - 15 reps
Front Pendulum Lunge - 3x5 each leg - 15 reps each leg
Barbarian - (Gama Cast to Flag Position) - 3x5 -15 reps
Whack a Mole - (Gama Cast into Flat Foot Squat in Order Position) - 3x5 - 15 reps

Snatch Challenge Update - 38,438

At the end of October 2008 I decided to start snatching more and counting my snatches on a daily basis. I found a website that makes my job easier in a effort to reach 50,000 snatches.

It is - http://www.personaltrainingmanager.com/sc.asp

According to the website: "We have added Snatch Challenge to the menu. This is a temporary add-on feature supporting a current 50,000 snatch challenge. The feature will display a list of all participants complete with their total number of snatches and total number of points. In addition, you will be able to view details for each daily entry (what date, how many snatches, which kettlebell and notes)."

I have moved away from snatching multiple days a week and have been only doing "Viking Warrior Conditioning" about once a week. I am going to ramp up the volume as the year ends to get the 50,000 done!

As of today my snatch total is 38,438. I hope to break 50,000 by my 41st birthday - February 3, 2010.

Got "The Bruiser"

My 45lb clubbell came today. It seems crazy heavy. I am going to have to take it easy at first so I do not end up at Mass General Hospital with a separated shoulder. Good times!

The picture with the wrestling shoe is just to show you the dimensions of the club.

Triples...

My training looked like this:

Barbell Clean & Press - 135lbs - 3x3 - 9 reps
Smith Incline Press - 225 - 3x3- 9 reps
Barbell Squats - 185lbs - 3x3 - 9 reps
One Arm Row - 48kg - 3x3 each arm - 9 reps each arm
Kettlebell Pullover - 36kg - 3x3 - 9 reps

Swings & Push Ups....

I backed off today and took it easy on purpose. My shoulders need a rest as I get ready to get "The Bruiser" clubbell this week.

My training looked like this:

Swings - 24kg bell - 100 reps
Push Ups - 50 reps

Snatches, Swings & Swipes...

I did timed snatches with the 16kg bell today. I did sets of 8 with each arm with approximately 15 second rest between hand switch. I did 20 sets of 8 in 9 minutes and 45 seconds.


Snatch - 16kg bell - 20 sets of 8 - 160 reps

Then I:
 
Walked a half mile with the 40lb Xvest @ 10% incline @ 4MPH
 
I finished with:
 
Swings - 24kg bell - 100 reps
Double Swipes - 15lb clubbell - 100 reps