"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.

Viking Warrior Conditioning & Clubbell MVo2 (Mills) ...

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 did:
 
Clubbell Viking Warrior Conditioning - MVo2 - 40 Sets of 7...

I did timed One-handed Mills with the 15lb clubbell today. I did sets of 7 with each arm with approximately 15 second rest between hand switch. I did 40 sets of 7 in 9 minutes and 45 seconds.

One-handed Mills - 15lb club - 20 sets of 7 - 140 reps
 
300 total reps in 10 minutes total work time.

Clubbell 5x5 and Xvest Training...

My training looked like this today:

Double Swipes - 25lb clubbells - 25 reps
Two-handed Shield Cast - 25lb clubbell - 25 reps
Barbarian Squat - 25lb clubbell - 25 reps
Two-handed Swipe - 25lb clubbell - 25 reps
Crucifix - 15lb clubbells - 25 reps

Then I:

Ran half mile with the 40lb Xvest in 4:30.

I finished with:

Pull Ups - 40lb Xvest - 25 reps
Push Ups - 40lb Xvest - 25 reps

I am beat!

Feeling Great: Because of Kettlebells & Clubbells...

I was just thinking about the fact that I turned 40 this year and feel the best I have in my life! I attribute most of this to my training, my diet and more time for rest and recovery. I have been training with kettlebells for 6 years now (ever since my wife gave birth to our triplets in October 2003) and am still hooked on them. There is nothing better than looking forward to training. I love it so much I have certifications from 3 different places (RKC, AOS & AKC) even though I do not train any clients. It is just a passion of mine.

Recently I have started using clubbells and feel that they are the perfect complement to my training. The clubbells have "filled in the gaps" in my training and my shoulders have blown up size wise while never felling better. They are everything that the kettlebells are....only different!

I feel better at 40 years old than I did at 20. My only question is how young would I feel at 20 if I could have started then??

The main point - find what you like and just do it!

"Trial by Fire" - 15lb Clubbells...

I completed the "Trial by Fire" this morning with the 15lb clubbells in 30:44 which is 4 1/2 minutes faster than my first attempt at 35:18. It seemed tougher than last time because my grip was gone as I approached a third of the way through! It became as much mental as physical as I just kept pushing to get done. Definately a good feeling of accomplishment when I put the clubs down after my last double swipe.

My training looked like this:
Trial by Fire is done with a set of 15 lbs Clubbells®, and consists of:

130 One-handed Mills on each side
130 Double Swipes and
130 Two-handed Hammer Swings (65 per direction)

I plan on taking tomorrow OFF from training.

Got My Second 15lb Clubbell Today!

I plan on trying the "Trial By Fire" on Wednesday with the 15lb clubs. It is meant for the 25's but I do not have them yet and have not even tried double swipes with the 15's. Should be interesting.

Just to recap:

The following is taken from Coach Steer's blog about clubbells:

"The Trial by Fire is quite simply one of the most grueling full body tests of strength-endurance that I can think of".

The official Trial by Fire is done with a set of 25 lbs Clubbells®, and consists of:

130 One-handed Mills on each side
130 Double Swipes and
130 Two-handed Hammer Swings (65 per direction)

The exercises themselves are presented on the following link in the middle of the page:

http://www.squidoo.com/trialbyfire

"Suffice it to say that the Trial by Fire will rip the skin off your hands and wring every last ounce of muscular strength-endurance from your entire body while it taxes your cardio-vascular system to its limit. It will test your mental toughness and require absolute technical efficiency".

For me it is something to shoot for as I get more familiar and adept at clubbell training. I am going to have to work up to using double 25lb clubbells but I make the comparison to a kettlebell snatch test - How fast can you complete a number of reps with good form.

Clubbell Viking Warrior Conditioning - MVo2 - 40 Sets of 7...

I began my experiment with MVo2 and clubbells this morning. I started doing sets of 8 but found I had to reallly rush to get 8 reps per 15 seconds and I was sacrificing form. So 7 is the number with the 15lb club for me. My heart rate got up there quickly and I felt great after I got into the grove but I will say that my grip started to go after the 30th set. You can really see the difference in grip strenth between kettlebell snatches and clubbell mills. I do not know if 80 sets of 7 is possible without launching the clubbell a few times as your hands and grip start to tire. My shoulders, arms, lats and chest were all wiped at the end.

My training looked like this:

I did timed One-handed Mills with the 15lb clubbell today. I did sets of 7 with each arm with approximately 15 second rest between hand switch. I did 40 sets of 7 in 19 minutes and 45 seconds.

One-handed Mills - 15lb club - 40 sets of 7 - 280 reps

I am taking tomorrow off from training and plan to start to take at least every Tuesday & Thursday off. I may even try to add a third day off a week for a while to ease back and recover.

How Do Kettlebells And Clubbells Differ?

As I have begun to train with clubbells in addition to my kettlebell training I have been getting questions about the difference between the two and how they compliment each other. I found a series of articles that deals with that very question.

"Kettlebells and ClubbellsTM do tend to emphasize different parts of the body as you use them. The kettlebell, as used in exercises advocated by the party, works the body in more of a "ground up" fashion. The clubbell works more from the hands down. When you pick them up, they are very clumsy to handle, you constantly try to balance them ".

Read the entire article here - Kettlebells & Clubbells

Kettlebell, Clubbell & Bodyweight Training - 500 Reps...

I mixed up kb, cb and bw training today for 500 reps. I tried to rest as little as possible and hit my body from as many angles as possible. I will time it next time to have a point of reference.

My training looked like this today:

Kettlebell Snatch - 16kg bell - 100 reps
One-handed Mills - 15lb club - 100 reps
One-handed Swipes - 15lb club - 100 reps
Gama Cast - 15lb club - 100 reps
Push Ups - 75 reps
Hanging Pike - 25 reps

Kettlebell & Clubbell Escalating Density Training PLUS Viking Warrior Conditioning...

I felt great today after yoga and pushed it hard. I am going back to carbs today after 5 days off and am looking forward to 36 hours of eating pleasure.

Check out my diet - http://www.kettlebellinc.com/kettlebellinfo/obrien-leanandstrong.php?art_id=0&art_auth=obrien


My training looked like this:

PR One - 10 Minutes:
Swiss Ball Incline Press - 28kg bells - 60 reps
Renegade Rows - 28kg bells - 60 reps

2 Minute Rest

PR Two - 5 1/2 Minutes:
One-handed Mills - 15lb clubbell - 40 reps
One-handed Swipes - 15lb clubbell - 40 reps

Then I did:

Two-handed Hammer Swings - 100 reps
Clockwork Squats - 15lb clubbell - 100 reps

I finished with:

Timed snatches with the 16kg bell. 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

Barbaric Tool For The Truely Hardcore...

Great article by Marty Gallagher that states - "The Clubbell is a patented strength training tool which combines modern technology with ancient science. Here is an ultra basic, elemental Clubbell workout that a true hardcore trainee can sink their teeth into - The Mill & The Swipe".

Check out the article in it's entirety -

http://www.rmaxinternational.com/images/barbarictool.pdf

Clubbells - "Trial By Fire"...

The following is taken from Coach Steer's blog about clubbells:

"The Trial by Fire is quite simply one of the most grueling full body tests of strength-endurance that I can think of".

The official Trial by Fire is done with a set of 25 lbs Clubbells® (15 lbs for the Ladies), and consists of:

1. 130 One-handed Mills on each side
2. 130 Double Swipes and
3. 130 Two-handed Hammer Swings (65 per direction)

The exercises themselves are presented on the following link in the middle of the page:

http://www.squidoo.com/trialbyfire

"Suffice it to say that the Trial by Fire will rip the skin off your hands and wring every last ounce of muscular strength-endurance from your entire body while it taxes your cardio-vascular system to its limit. It will test your mental toughness and require absolute technical efficiency".

For me it is something to shoot for as I get more familiar and adept at clubbell training. I am going to have to work up to using double 25lb clubbells but I make the comparison to a kettlebell snatch test - How fast can you complete a number of reps with good form.