HKC Run Away

Posted on August 17, 2012 by t00r

Apparently the 3 moves I do lately (Swings, TGUs and Goblet Squats) are the nuts and bolts of the HKC (Hardstyle Kettlebell Challenge).
In my previous post I mentioned that I intended to add 400m sprints to the mix.
Well I did.
That Friday I did exactly as written in that post.

This Wednesday and today I did it the following way:

Took me about 35 minutes to complete. As you see by dividing the reps with sprints I am back at my original rep counts (100 A1H KB Swings, 10 TGUs and 50 Goblet Squats) with the added sprint distance of 1600 meters (1 mile) and I’m not counting the distance I walk in between (which is about 900 meters).

Feel the burn 🙂

Experimental Endurance

Posted on August 9, 2012 by t00r

I’m pretty happy with the RPT exercises I started doing lately. It takes around 20-25 minutes to complete depending on how good a day I am having.

Since I have made progress in gaining some strength, I decided it’s time to add some endurance enhancing routines.

First form of endurance training I will try to add will be running. 4 x 400 meters with about 90 seconds of rest in between.

I will cut back on my kettlebell reps and add the running as a finisher.

So tomorrow I will try this (not over strain myself):

Kettlebell Golden 3 Routine:
60 A1H KB Swings (24 with 32 kg – 36 with 24 kg)
6 TGUs (1L 32kg – 2L 24kg – 1R 32kg – 2R 24kg)
30 Goblet Squats (10 with 32 kg – 20 with 24kg)

Running Routine (Repeat 4 times):
90 second rest
400 m run as fast as possible (aiming for a time around 90 seconds or faster).

Quasi Reverse Pyramid Training with Kettlebells

Posted on July 25, 2012 by t00r

For the last two weeks I went for a single routine with a 24 kg Kettlebell:

100 Alternating One Handed Kettlebell Swings
10 Turkish Get-Ups (5 Left 5 Right)
50 Goblet Squats (Holding the KB right under my chin)

50 proper goblet squats with a 24 kg back to back is hard for me, so I take micro breaks (~15-30 seconds) in between the following sequence: 25-15-10-5

Well, you might ask where is the RPT (Reverse Pyramid Training) in that? A RPT usually involves the usage of different weights not just decreasing numbers of reps, right?

This week (so far), I did the above 40% with a 32 kg Kettlebell and 60% with a 24 kg Kettlebell:

40 A1H KB Swings 32 kg – 60 A1H KB Swings 24 kg
2 TGUs Left 32 kg – 3 TGUs Left 24 kg – 2 TGUs Right 32 kg – 3 TGUs Right 24 kg
20 Goblet Squats 32 kg (10 break 10) – 30 Goblet Squats 24 kg (15 break 10 break 5)

Feel the burn baby 🙂

One Step Down For The Better

Posted on June 8, 2012 by t00r

So 5 months ago, I got myself a 32 kg Kettlebell, thought I can handle it after successfully wielding a 32 kg dumbell in Turkish Get-ups.

Well, turned out that I am yet to develop the necessary grip strength to handle that thing in ballistic moves. Two handed swings are quite OK, one handed swings… not there yet, snatches… well these are the next step after one handed swings so not even close 🙂

So Actually I Was Over-training Lately…

Posted on January 16, 2012 by t00r

How do I know? Well, I rested during the weekend, read this article about over-training and thought “Wait a minute…”

So today I was able to do a full set of 75 reps of two handed swings before my grip gave way after warming up with jumping jacks and squats.

And I was able to go for 10 inclined push-ups, 10 pistol squats and 10 TGUs (with 24 kg dumbbells but still) after that intense swing session.

Brought in the 16 kg KB to work more on my technique of several moves.

Definitely going to take tomorrow off, over-training is so painful and annoying, makes you feel weaker then you actually are 🙂

Time For Proper Pull-ups!

Posted on December 6, 2011 by t00r

I have suck at pull-ups for as long as I know myself. So what good are 32 kg Turkish Get-ups when you can hardly manage one full range proper pull-up or chin-up?

Therefore I decided to add 10 pull-ups to my daily Grease the Groove fun. A progressive approach makes sense, as it will help reducing or even preventing shoulder strain and tendinitis, injuries often experienced in the process of mastering pull-ups.

Todays GtG:

10 24 kg TGUs (did 32 kg yesterday so I lessened the load)

10 one leg assisted pull-ups

10 one legged slow push-ups

10 one legged squats (pistol squats)

Grease the Groove with TGU Extended Version

Posted on November 29, 2011 by t00r

Well I’m afraid this is getting beyond the GtG definition approaching a full workout set status:

10 TGUs (slow 5 on each side)

10 One legged squats aka pistols (5 on each side)

3×10 slow pushups

In addition I did some stair running, box jumps, ninja squats and farmer walks today but usual routine is the above one. One at noon and one in the evening where possible.

I am very happy that I am finally able to do proper one legged squats 5 times back to back. Pretty sure this is the work of the TGUs I do regularly lately as it forces you to improve cross body muscle coordination which helps a lot with the pistols IMHO.

Grease the Groove with TGUs

Posted on November 25, 2011 by t00r

Well I kept doing daily TGUs and pushups this week at work. Sometimes I added another set in the evening for good. A set usually being 10 TGUs (5 on each side) and 15 slow pushups.

Pavel coined (or maybe someone else did and he mentioned) the wording Grease the Groove. It simply put means to exercise whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Two Weeks of daily Turkish Getups

Posted on November 21, 2011 by t00r

The last two weeks I was on leave to help my wife studying by taking take of our energizer bunny son which meant less then usual time for throwing around kettlebells 🙂

So I made the decision to do at least 10 TGUs (5 very slow ones on each side making the routine 4-5 minutes long) each day, throw in 5-15 very slow pushups where possible to stimulate my muscles and to maintain.

I missed out on one or two days and did double on others but all in all I kept the consistency so I’m happy with it.

As an added bonus I tied my 16 kg KB with my wives 8 kg KB to get an odd shaped but functional 24 kg KB which was way more grip friendly then a 24 kg dumbbell. 🙂

What I am up to lately? Turkish Getups :)

Posted on November 1, 2011 by t00r

Two months have passed since my last post.

I have slowed things down a bit since then, exercise-wise.

With more focus on the Turkish Getup and complementary body weight movements doing them SLOW!

Yes, you heard me, slow. I realized I was rushing the moves lately, resulting in sloppy style not utilizing the core muscles properly. For some moves slower is better if you are not opting for cardio and/or endurance. Well you kinda get the endurance bit with slow.

Last time around I mentioned doing TGUs with the 36-36 HIIT protocol and I did. I was able to squeeze (literally) 4 TGUs inside 36 seconds. I thought I was super, I thought “Well this has gotten easy with the 16 kg kettlebell, I definitely need to move up to 24 kg”.

While I still should get the 24 kg for the ballistic moves (swings snatches etc.) I couldn’t be more wrong about my mastery of the TGU using the 16 kg bell.

I took it the other way around, stretching a single full TGU cycle over 40-50 seconds, doing proper footwork, stance and the bridge.

Turned out that 5 reps on each side at this pace was a complete workout on its own. Really working all the muscles that should get involved… properly! 🙂

Now I am taking the slow path for non-ballistic kettlebell moves to improve form, stability and balance. I also slowed down the cardio moves like for example the squat thrust.

This way I revisited the 300 Meltdown Kettlebel workout. Taking it slower to improve and emphasize proper form instead of rushing the moves trying to beat the time made a world of difference as how my muscles feel and look 😉

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRpbM9nzDcM

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