MV02 15:15 Session #2

Before work this morning I thought I would get in an MV02 workout. I increased the sets by 15%, which brought the total to 29 sets of 7. It wasn't that bad. It got me breathing pretty hard but my form never broke down and my breathing remained in control. Pretty good workout.

16kg KB MV02 snatch: 29 sets of 7

PM TGUs

Today I just did my second session of TGUs on the program minimum. Tomorrow, I do my second swing session and also MV02 at night.

32kg KB TGU: 5 minutes

15:15 MV02 Protocol For the 1st Time

I guess you could say I'm a sucker. I bought into the hype and ordered a copy of KJ's Viking Warrior Conditiong. I read through it today and it is actually a pretty good read. He gets pretty deep into physiology and why his protocols work the way they do. I couldn't understand most of it, and I like to think of myself as pretty bright when it comes to this stuff, but from what I DID understand it looks pretty solid in the science department. So anyway, I found my MV02 cadence (turns out it is 7) and then rested a few minutes and got right into my first session.

16kg MV02 15:15 for 25 sets of 7 (175 snatches)

It went really well. It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I'm probably going to do this 2-3 times a week using KJ's progression formula and see what happens.

Also, I tore two phonebooks today using the method I say on a video on straighttothebar.com last night. I don't know what the technique is called, but your palms are facing each other on opposite sides of the book. I was pretty stoked about it. Now I just need to find more phonebooks...

PM Swings, Core, and More BUP

32kg KB Swings: 12 minutes
Dragon Flag Negatives: 30 sec on/ 30 sec off for 5 rounds
32kg KB Side Bend: 3 sets of 10/side
24kg KB BUP: 10 singles per arm

Pretty good morning. I am enjoying doing the Program Minimum with the 32. I already feel more comfortable working with it after only one week.

Dragon Flags are tough. I can't do the positive portion from the floor up, so I have been working on negatives to get my strength up.

TGUs, Deads and BUP Practice

I woke up this morning to do some TGUs with the 32. After that, I decided to go to the gym and start to work on my deadlift form. I did a whole bunch of light singles, trying to figure things out a little bit. I think I made some progress. My shins are pretty torn up, which indicates to me that I'm on to something since the bar is supposed to be up against your body during the pull so that your center of gravity is as close to the bar as possible. I don't know. I may be way off for all I know.

After that I did some pullup ladders and came home and did some bottoms up press singles. Thats about it. It felt really good.

32kg KB TGU: 5 minutes
Deadlift: multiple singles @ 135 and 185
Pullup ladders: 1,2,3 x 5
24kg KB BUP: 10 singles per arm

Just swings

Today was my second swing session of the week on the RKC Min program. It went really well. For active rest, I did some slow burpees.

32kg KB Swing: 12 minutes

Pretty good day.

TGUs and GTG Pullups

Second TGU workout of the week with the 32. It was good.

32kg KB TGU: 5 minutes
GTG Pullups: 30 total

That's it.

Man Makers and GTG Pullups

This morning I woke up early and did my swings with active recovery. Also, throughout the day I did pullups at work on the tire steel. I lost track of the sets, but it was between 6 and 7 sets of 6 reps. I liked it a lot. I hope doing this helps my pullup numbers.

Swings: 12 minutes
GTG Pullups: ~36-42

Good day.

RKC Program Minimum w/ 32kg BEGINS!

The spring TSC has finally come and gone. I was happy (for the most part) with how I did. I was pissed about the pullups (but I have a plan to get them up to par) and thrilled about the snatches and pretty much indifferent about the deadlift. All in all, I can't really complain. What's done is done, and there is always the fall.

I had planned to take a few days off, but that isn't going to happen. Today I started the RKC Program Minimum with the 32kg kettlebell. I want to give my joints a break from the snatching for a few weeks and get more comfortable working with the 32. I've heard that it is a really good program so I'm excited to get started with it.

Today I did:

32kg KB TGU: 5 minutes
Also, I plan to GTG pullups throughout the day.

By the way, Josh your website looks great. I got a feeling it is going to be big. Really big.

TSC Results

Deadlift: 385lbs (pr)
Pullups: 11 (not even close to a pr)
24kg KB Snatch: 126 in 5 min (pr)

TSC Prep.

Tomorrow is the TSC. I'm heading to Grand Junction, Co. today. I'm really excited and really nervous. I think it will be good. I have no illusions of placing high, I just know that I am going to set three new PRs, and that excites me. It's gonna be good.

I just did some stretching and some swings this morning to limber up and to get me warmed up for tomorrow.

24kg KB Swings (2hand): 30 sec on/ 15 sec off for 6 rounds

Wish me luck.

Grip and whining

In theory, this week was supposed to be a breeze. It's the week of the TSC, so I told myself I was going to just take it easy and not do anything so I could peak this saturday. It sucks. It really sucks. I don't like to not exercise. It's probably not a bad "problem" to have, considering the alternative, but on weeks like this one I just hate it. I think I will go insane when/if I ever get injured and have to take some real time off.

Anyway, just did some grip work with the COC#1 (6 closes per hand) and the pinch block. I don't know what the deal is, but after just two closes with the left hand I started to cramp up. A charley horse anywhere hurts, but in the hand it hurts really bad. I warm up and all, but I just keep having this problem.

Last Snatch Workout Before TSC

No more snatching until saturday. I can't believe the TSC is just around the corner. When I started to prepare for it, it seemed I had all the time in the world. I hope I'm prepared enough. I am confident that I will do better than I did last time in every event, and that is really all I care about.

Here was today:

Pullup Ladders: 1,2,3,4 x 4
24 kg KB Snatch: 3 minutes (didn't count, but never put it down either)

Felt pretty good.

Friday and Saturday

It has been a busy last couple of days what with work and school. A lot busier than usual. More workouts were pretty light, but that is what I was looking for this close to the competition.

Friday:

A bunch of half gut-ups with the 24kg
24kg Swings: 5 min

Saturday:

24 kg Swings (5L, 5R, 5twohand): 8 mins

That's it.

Swings and Thoughts on the Warrior Diet

Today I had a lot of energy and decided to do something even though I had planned today as an off day.

24kg KB Swings: 30 sec on/15 sec off for 12 rounds (half 1handed, half 2handed)
45 pushups

I first heard about the Warrior Diet while reading ETK, because it is the diet that Pavel does. I really didn't think much about it at the time besides "wow, what a gay, pretentious name for a diet." As time went on, I stubbled accross more information about it while lurking on the Dragon Door forum and I found the basic outline of it kind of interesting. I still thought the name was gay, but I went to Border's and picked up a copy anyway.

I read the book in less than a day (not because I was super interested, but because it was an easy read). When I was done I thought it sounded pretty cool. Basically, you have an undereating phase during the day where you can eat some fruits and veggies, and then an overeating phase at night where pretty much anything goes (not exactly, but pretty much). This, according to the author, is based off how the warriors of ancient times would eat and also how wild predators eat. While modeling your eating like this, you can apparently get tons of energy during the day, sleep better at night, and burn fat because of the hormones that will be released. I'll tell you right now, I'm not sold on the "science" of this diet. But then I'm not really sold on the science of any diet so this one really isn't any more far fetched than any other. So anyway, I thought I'd give it a whirl more out of curiosity than anything else.

I've been a "warrior" since friday. I am going to reserve my final judgment for a few weeks so that I give it time to do whatever it is going to do (if anything). I do have some early observations about it though.
1: I do indeed have a lot of energy during the day. This is the exact opposite of what I really thought was going to happen. This may be the placebo effect though, it is too early to say.
2: My workouts seem just as productive as they used to be when I was eating "normally", maybe even more so. Also the exact opposite of what I thought was going to happen.
3: After the first day, I wasn't very hungry during the day. I adapted much faster than expected.
4: Overeating at night is fun as hell!
5: The name is still gay. I'm dreading the day when I'm at work and everyone is eating pizza for lunch and ask me why I'm not eating and I say: "cuz I'm on the Warrior Diet!" Ugh...

I'll keep you posted on how this all pans out.