Fast and Furious

Yesterday was pretty heavy, so today I went for speed!

10 snatches in 15 seconds is fast! I was 0.5 to 1 second late most of the time on the left side,

just in time on the right.

Hands (skin) gave out only slightly before cardio, and the rest of my body was not far behind.

20 sets was intense! thats 200 snatches in 5 minutes of work and 5 minutes of rest!

And I was toying with the idea of 40 sets! To think some guys are doing 80 sets of 10 reps 15:15.

Warmup: 16kg Around the World; Halos; snatch 5L, 5R, 5L, 5R

16kg MVO2 20 Sets 10 Reps 15:15.

Cool down snatch 10L; 10 R

Little Things and Heavy Snatches

I decided that 32 kg snatches were going to be the main course of my practice today.

Lock and Load

I worked the Hard Style Lock (HSL) and the Hike Back (Loading the Hamstrings),

focusing on both ends of the snatch. While trying to get my left snatch as smooth as my right snatch, I noticed a key point missing on the left. It is not enough for me to not grip the 32 kg bell. For me, the bell is so heavy that I have to actively de-weight the bell while it spins in my hand. BIG difference.

After warming up with 16 kg around the world, and halos.

10 x 32 kg, 2 handed swings

3 Sets, 10 Reps, double 32 kg swings

3 Sets, 1 Rep double 32 kg, Clean and push press

1 set 3 Reps 24 kg, hang snatch

4 Sets 32 kg snatches {L, R}: {3, 5}, {5, 5}, {5, 5}, {4, 5}

MVO2 a Day Early

I had to switch my schedule around a little. So for this week I am switching my Thursday Heavy day for a MVO2 Day. Tomorrow I plan to do a quick Heavy and GTG at work.

MVO2 15:15 protocol:

40 Sets, 5 Reps, 24kg

Heart Rate: Average 176 bpm, max 189 bpm

I guess that's a PR on Max HR, but that's not a PR I want to push too high.

Day Off Rant on Bad Metrics

There are certain metrics that are my pet peeves.

One is the BMI.

• It's bad geometry.
  
• The inventor specifically stated it was not that useful for an individual.
  
• Waist-Hip Ratio has a much higher corelation to health.
  

My other pet peeve is National Polls for the US Presidential Elections!

• The election is decided by the electoral college not popular vote.
• See Map Link on Top right this blog to see results of the latest state-by-state polls.
  

Regardless of who you are rooting for, it is the electoral outcome not popular vote that counts.

Sometimes Less Leads to More

Yesterday was a pretty unremarkable Heavy Day.
Single 32 kg swings.

Double 32 kg swings.

Double 32 kg cleans and jerk.

Double 32 kg cleans and push press.

Double 32 kg overhead walks (30 feet, turn 15 feet... had to drop 'em)

Less is More MVO2

Today I decides to cut back to 5 reps on the 24kg 15:15 MVO2 protocol. I never spent to time to officially calibrate, since it is easy enought to tweak the reps numbers.

The 24 kg at 5 reps per 15 is still more work than 16 kg at 7 reps per 15.

I warmed upped with the 16 kg. 

Around the world, Halos, 5 snatches Right, 5 Left.

This worked, I was able to get to 40 sets of 5 reps. The bell kept pinching my left hand (but not the right). This "slower" pace allowed me to focus more on technique.

The cardio load seems about the same as the 11 reps per set 20:20 protocol.

My heart rate averaged 169 bpm, and maxed at 185 bpm.

I finally feel like I'm actually doing MVO2 with the 24 kg. It will be nice to build off the base of 40 sets.

Grooves and Ruts

Last Friday's MVO2

Things never greally grooved.

I got to twenty sets then took extended rests so I could get more reps in.

Thursday's heavy day taxed some muscles that I haved worked in a while.

I think it is a good idea for me to "regularly lifting odd things". GTG is great for fast progress at a specific task (e.g pullups, KB MP). But for me, I also want to make sure that my groove does not turn into a rut.

So where does tha leave me?

I want to groove snatches and strict military presses. But as for "getting things over my head",

I don't want my MP strength to get too far ahead of my odd shaped or wiggly things over head.

Hmm it may be time to build a slosh pipe.

And Now For Something Completely Different

OK Not completely. I don't have a pullup bar and I wanted to do some pullups.

So I jogged about 400 yards down to my gym for a workout of pullups and Military Presses. 

The dumbells have a different groove than kettlebells and I had to use a lot less weight than I am used to. 40Lbs on the left side, while at work I am doing 60 Lbs.

A few bar dips and reverse shrugs

Alot of overhead squats.

Deadlift double 100 Lbs dumbells.

Maybe I'll walk my 1.5 pood once a week to the gym for Press and pull ups.

Gross Snatches

My form was actually OK until the end. By gross I mean a dozen dozen or 144 snatches. 

24 kg, 24 Sets, 6 Reps, 15:15 protocol.

Average Heart Rate 164, Peak HR 184.

Man that was hard. I was shooting for 40 sets. I'll build up to it!

It's been a while since it wasn't my hands that were the first thing to go.

It took longer than usual to get my heart rate down.

Manic Monday

I missed Friday's MVO2 session, as well as Sunday's KBLA class. And due to travel to my in-laws, my diet was higher in sugars and starches than usual. The end result: I gained 4 pounds!

32 kg bell(s)

1 Right, 1 Left, Slow Turkish Get Up 

5 Sets 10 Reps, overspeed two-handed swings

5 Sets, 1 Rep, double kb clean and push press

28 kg farmer's walk:

Switched hand every hundred steps

300 steps from my parking spot to my desk -- about 200 yards.

(I'm switching out my 24kg bell at the office for the 28kg)

24 kg farmers walk: trace path back to car

Fun With Iron

16 kg snatch-Overhead Squat-snatch: 3R, 3L; 3R, 3L

32 kg overspeed two handed swings

2 Sets, 8 Reps, Double 32 kg swings

24 kg snatches:12L, 12R

24 kg snatches:8L, 8R

24 kg snatches:8L, 8R

Double 32kg Clean & Push Press (That's 96% of bodyweight, why is it so much harder than a handstand pushup?)

Double 32kg Clean & Front Squat

Double 32kg Clean & Push Press & short walk locked out overhead

Double 32kg Clean & Push Press 

Note: the 24kg Snatches and Double 32 kg work was interleaved

The Vodka is Good, But the Meat is Rotten

No the title is not another Pavel quote, a humorous but undocumented "machine translation" from English to Russian, back to English of:

  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak - Paul of Tarsus

Preamble

The morning didn't start well. There was an overly agressive squrriel that kept coming onto the lawn while I was warming up. When I threw small rocks at it, it just chased them and tried to eat them. When I shoo'ed it away with a broom it just came back. It was probably a human spoiled creature, but I didn't know if it had rabies or plague. I certainly didn't want it climbing my leg and searching for nuts during my snatch MVO2.

Finally I got my dog Coco, and tied her leash to a post near the corner of the lawn where the squirrel kept comming. That worked!

I asked my daughters later, and apparently a neighbor girl had been feeding the squirrel.

MVO2

10 sets into the 20:20 MVO2 I was warmed up, byset 20 I was wondering if I was going to make it to the planned 34 sets. My heart rate was 173 bpm which is 99% of heart rate by age, but bellow my max measured 187. It was a slog, but I knew I could get through it.

On the 23rd set of 11 reps 20:20 MVO2 I tore the skin on my left middle finger. I think I grip the bell too tight with the left hand. I've had four tears on the left hand and none on the right! The tear is very small and I expect it to close up by tonight. I finnished the 24th set since it was with my good hand.

MVO2 20:20 for 30 Initial Target Reached

MVO2* Day

Sticking with 11 reps at 20:20, reached the my initial target of 30 sets!

Near set 20, I noticed I was not firing at Maximal Volitional Contraction (MVC). I used Nikki's Pavelization technique and sharpened up my form quickly.

The skin on my hands held up pretty good. I didn't have to worry about it so I was able to notice other things like my form slipping. The last 10 sets of the 20:20 I really worked up a sweat. Just after set 29 I checked the heart rate monitor, and I reached 187!

*using Kenneth Jay's MVO2 nomenclature, as opposed to the Wikipedia VO2 Max name

epiblog - (fixed typos) 5 hrs later, I still feel the metabolic impact of todays practice.

Heavy Thursday

He ain't heavy, he's my brother, 

2Handed Swings 32 kg; 20 reps - emphasized pulling shoulders down, not bending knees until elbows hit body, loading hips, and accelerated backswing.

Swing Switches 32 kg; 20 reps - I realized I haven't been doing many single handed swings. It was good to work on torsional stability.

Double Kettlebell swings 2 32 kg; 4 sets; 10 reps

Bear Crawls 32 kgs; 15 meters

Hang Cleans 32 k2; 3 R, 3 L-  These are almost as hard as double 32 kgs

Overhead Walk 32 kg; 40 ft R; 30 ft L

In a hurry this morning but my blood pressure was still lower than last week.

120/76 mm*Hg

Day Off PR!

Wow, PR on my day off.

I've had Pre-Hypertension all my adult life. When I was in my early 20's I rode my bicycle 20 miles each weekday and 40-50 miles on the weekend. I still had blood pressure just short of hypertension.

Using the VO2Max protocol, and hitting 183 bpm or 103% of heart rate for my age, I must have blasted open some blockage out of my arteries.

Before I started preparing for the RKC I was 136/91.

After the RKC I was 126/87.

This morning I measured 115/74 this is the lowest I ever remember having. 

It was just one reading, two more in a row and it is officially GOOD!

Hindsight is 20:20

I came away from my last tear pretty lucky. The tear sealed by the end of the day; all I have is a blood callus. Following Rif's golden Rule Don't Tear, I stopped when my callus separated from the flesh bellow. This separation is what precedes a tear by a few snatches.

I found matching heart rate monitor pieces and monitored my heart rate during VO2Max 20:20 (non standard) protocol. It took a few sets to get my heart rate up, but by the end I was at 182 bpm. I got 26 sets in (13 L, 13 R) of 11 reps for 286 snatches.

I am pretty sure I can meet make initial target of 20:20 for 20 minutes (30 sets) once my skin is up to it. But for now I'm stopping when I get a hot spot or similar serious warning. Once I get 20:20 for 32 minutes (48 sets) I plan on bumping up to 12 reps. 13 1/3 reps is the same cadence and 10 reps in the 15:15.

Once I get to 13 reps for 32 minutes of 20:20 or once I move up to GTG presses with the 28kg,
I plan to recalibrate with the 24kg and drop back down to the 15:15. If I hit 13 reps for 32 minutes of 20:20 before I am ready to jump to the 24 kg, I will go to the 30:30 (non standard) protocol.

Heavy Labor Day

Today is Heavy Day and Labor Day.
The girls want to do kettlebells with daddy. They did Deadlifts, squats. Elizabeth (8 yrs 42 Lbs) did swings with the 10 Lbs bell.

Me:
2 Sets 10 reps Two Handed Swings - 32 kg
3 Sets 10 reps Double KB Swings - (32 kg + 32 kg)
1 Double KB Clean (32 kg + 32 kg)
3 Sets 1 Rep Clean, Press, lock-out, standing arm bar - 32 kg (strict press on right, push press on left)

1 strict press left - 28 kg
3 strict press right - 28 kg

3 snatches right - 28 kg
1 snatch left - 28 kg