Four Mile Run and Pullups and Swings

In the morning we had a 4.2 mile run, over hills and trails. It was a nice little loop that wasn’t too fast, but wasn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination. Definitely was good for the cardiovascular fitness side of the fence.

Then after class all day I went for a bit of kettlebell work starting with 2 ladders (1,2,3) of clean and presses with a 24 KG kettlebell. After this I did pullups for 3, 6, 9, and 12 reps respectively before going into kettlebell swings and rowing 200 meters on the Concept 2 Rower.

I elected rowing instead of running owing to the long run I’d had this morning. It was a change of pace and one that kept my heartrate up even after the kettlebell swings. After twelve minutes of alternating swinging a 24 KG kettlebell and rowing 200 meters.

After that I did another 3,6,9, and 12 pullup ladder at the end. The rowing was something different as far as the working out was concerned, and was a nice addition to my RKC work. Nearing the end of my first two week block of RKC program minimum work, I say I’m challenged and quite happy with this change of pace. Looking forward to getting into my first two week block of Power to the People…

On Variety and Consistency

The litmus test for the time constrained athlete is thus: if an exercise works a full range of motion and hits as many muscle groups as possible then it is a good exercise. The RKC Program Minimum and Power to the People are programs built around a relatively small collection of exercises (in the case of Power to the People which is built around the deadlift and a pressing movement) with the most return on the investment.

Not to completely diss isolation movements (they have their place), but for most people the greatest return on their investment when lifting is a compound multi-joint exercise. For instance the barbell deadlift hits the legs, hips, core, back and forearms (among other things). Two sets of three to five reps at a heavy weight can really strengthen an athlete without too much impact to his or her schedule.

Avoiding getting stale in a minimal program like this has been hashed out by many great strength and conditioning coaches such as Pavel Tsatsouline and Dan John. The answer is using a variation of the basic exercises, i.e. using a straight legged deadlift versus a the deadlift. The usual muscle groups targeted by the deadlift are still hit, but a in a different fashion, resulting in the central nervous system (CNS) being forced to adapt yet again.

I had a personal experience with this on Friday. I typically do pullups to start and finish workouts, in ladders from 2 to 10. Friday I used a variation on the pullup, the ring pullup. It’s more difficult than the traditional pullup and my upper body got the same workout it would have gotten (and then some) that I’d have gotten if I used normal pullups.
When I carried out my usual pullups on Saturday I noticed a greater ease of doing the same number of sets.

So as I do blocks of training (2 weeks in duration) of barbell and kettlebell work around a total of four exercises (the barbell deadlift and bench press and the kettlebell swing and Turkish getup) doing variations can be a great aid to still get the benefit of full body exercises and prevent boredom.

Morning PT and Second RKC Program Minimum Workout

This morning for PT I took the sixteen or so people from my class to the gym. Our workout was as follows:

1) Deadlifts: 3-3-2-2-1-1-1-1

– As each iteration progressed the weights were to get heavier. My weight started at 225 lbs, then 245 lbs, then 315 lbs, 325 lbs, three singles at 385 lbs and 405 lbs (a new record for me at 5’7″ and 168 lbs).

2) Maximum Pullups: 19

3) Five Rounds of:

1 x 30 foot rope climb

5 x Burpees

200m  Run

All in all the workout went well and I got some good training out of it in 45 minutes or less. As did members of my team. I got some feedback for how to improve which I am taking to heart. Hey that’s what a group of peers is supposed to do, help you improve. All one has to do is be open to input.

 

After classes for a day I went back to the gym for my next workout. I did five minutes of the Turkish Getup Exercise at 16KG mentioned in my Inaugural Post.

 

First I started with something called a lesyenka or ‘ladder’ in Russian. I did two pullup ladders, one at the beginning and one at the end of the workout. They went in the following sequence: 2,4,6,8,10

 

These differ from traditional pyramids because if I did these consecutively after the set of ten I wouldn’t go to the set of 8. I’d go right back to a set of 2 and go back up the ladder for  a set of ten.

 

So my afternoon workout looked like this:

• Pullups: 2,4,6,8,10
• 5 Minutes of Turkish Getups @ 16 KG, switching arms each rep.
• Pullups: 2,4,6,8,10

 

All in all a good bit of training for the day. Especially seeing that getups fix up shoulders and strengthen them for events that typically trash them (i.e. overhead presses).

Army Physical Fitness Test and First Russian Kettlebell Challenge Workout

I took on my first ever Russian Kettlebell Challenge (RKC) Workout this afternoon, but before that I had to wake up at 4 AM (0400 or oh-dark hundred) to take my semi-annual Army Physical Fitness Test.

 

The APFT was developed in the 1980s to test muscular endurance and foot speed/stamina of individual Soldiers. The test is three events long and is graded according to age and gender (i.e. a 40 year old female doesn’t need to do the same standards to pass as a 17 year old male). A Soldier can score 300 or more points but must have a minimum of 180 points in each event. For me, a 28 year old male, nearing his 29th birthday, the minimum standards for me are:

 

1. 36 Pushups in 2 Minutes
2. 45 Situps in 2 Minutes
3. 17:00 Minute 2 Mile Run

I pulled off the following scores:

 

1. 61 Pushups in 2 Minutes
2. 81 Situps in 2 Minutes
3. 2 Mile Run in 15:37 (minutes:seconds)

 

This totaled to a 256 points out of a possible 300 points. Not impressive, but not terrible either. After a day’s worth of lectures and reading I went to work on my kettlebell work with 1.5 Pood Kettlebell.

 

A pood is a traditional Russian unit of measurement equivalent to 16 kilograms (KG) and the three most popular sizes of kettlebell in Russia (according to Pavel Tsatsouline’s Enter the Kettlebell) are:

 

1. 1 Pood (16 KG) – Recommended starting weight for beginner male gireviks.
2. 1.5 Pood (24 KG) – Standard issue in the Russian Military
3. 2 Pood (32 KG) – For Advanced Male Gireviks.

To start my workout I rolled a single dice two times. The first roll was for number of sets. The second roll was the number of reps. I rolled 2 and 1 on my first and second roll respectively. This equaled how many times I would practice the clean plus press of a 24 KG (1.5 Pood) Kettlebell before I got to the main workout.

 

The Russian Kettlebell Challenge’s Program Minimum calls for two training sessions per week of swings and two per week of getups.

 

1. The session involving swings is called the U.S. Department of Energy Man Maker, as the man who came up with it was training cadre for a federal tactical team. It consists of high-rep kettlebell drills (swings in this case) with a few hundred meters of jogging (200 meters in my case) for twelve minutes.
2. The get ups session is five minutes of the Turkish Getups from my Inaugural Post alternating arms each rep.

 

Today I did my first Department of Energy Manmaker with a 24KG Kettlebell, pausing around 10-15 reps and jogging 200 meters. Doing the APFT in the morning forced me to jog not sprint, because the running is active recovery and not more conditioning.

 

All in all I like the workout, and I probably will add pullups for further upper body work (starting tomorrow). I look forward in any case to the next two weeks of kettlebell training before I go back to the barbell for yet another awesome bit of work written by Pavel Tsatsouline called Power to the People: Russian Strength Training Secrets for Every American. It’s built around low reps at heavy weights and around two full body exercises, the deadlift and some version of a press (either bench or standing military press in my case). However this one is a story for another day…

Inaugural Post

I view myself as a live study in contrasts. I enjoy lifting weights, CrossFit and the occasional distance run on one side of the spectrum but I am also equally comfortable with reading (either matters of great intellectual weight or simply for entertainment), watching a good film, or playing the occasional video game.

The term girevik is Russian for one who handles a girya or kettlebell. Roughly translated it means ‘kettlebell lifter’.

What is a kettlebell? Well the short answer is it is a cast iron ball shaped weight with a handle. Used for centuries as a portable, simple and durable tool of strength by weightlifters east of the Iron Curtain. Though first appearing in America in the 1960s, they became mainstream in 2001 when Pavel Tsatsouline, a master fitness trainer from the Former Soviet Union brought attention to this infamous tool of strength via a series of articles and several books. The book Enter the Kettlebell describes in great detail the origins and myriad of uses one can use this austere tool of fitness for.

As a soldier and thus an obligate fitness enthusiast such a tool caught my attention. Using it several times in CrossFit workouts, and my own training I became aware of the full body strength and conditioning one can get out of smart use of this tool.

The Enter the Kettlebell book brings up an interesting ‘Program Minimum’ which describes the use of the kettlebell swing and Turkish Getup four days a week. I am greatly interested in starting that program minimum Tuesday afternoon after giving myself a day to recover from the Army Physical Fitness Test.