There is less than 1 week remaining for you to register for the next Wild Geese Boot Camp.
The date of commencement is the 4th August, this is a Wednesday, the Wednesday after the bank holiday.
We have limited places available, there’s no way I’ll allow too many people to participate, the quality of training quickly spirals down as numbers go up.
Many of the last Boot Camp participants have already signed up for this second one. Other are taking time of and waiting for the September camp.
Is this Boot Camp for you?
If you need to ask then it probably isn’t, but I’ll help you out a little. Ask your self the following questions:
1. Do I need to improve my fitness?
2. Can I benefit from becoming physically stronger?
3. Am I willing to push myself to my absolute limits?
4. Do I want to find out what I’m made of?
5. Am I highly motivated?
If you answered yes to all of the above, congratulations, I’ll see you at 7am, wed 4th August.
Over the last few weeks I’ve kept you posted on my journey to the 1st Irish Kettlebell Sports Championships.
Well they were held last weekend.
Before I go into the event, here are my last few training sessions on the lead up:
2/7/10
Jerks Day
Warm Up : 10 x 16, 20, 24, 28 and 5 x 32
Work Sets : 24 x 25 x 1, 24 x 28 x 1, 24 x 21 x 1
Supplement : Swing-Squats countdown, start with 35 swings with the 32 and 5 hindu squats. Drop 5 swings and add 5 squats every set untill you finish with 5 swings and 35 squats.
3/7/10
Snatch and variety.
24 kg x 10 min, swap hands at will.
Squats contrast training : 3 reps on Barbell immediately followed by 15 jump squats with 24kgs.
The squats went 60×3, 70×3, 80×3, 90×3
5/7/10
This the start of twice per day training.
AM : Jerks
1 min each of 16, 24, 32kg
1 min 32kg
2min 24kg
3min 16kg
PM : Snatch
Same protocol as AM but with snatch instead of jerk
6/7/10
AM : Jerk
1 min each o 16, 24, 32kg
1 min 32kg, 2 min 24kg, 3 min 16kg
PM : Circuit training
Plyometric push up, Bodyweight Row, Double Jerk (28kgs), Double cleans (24kgs)
round 1 – 45′s x 4 stations
round 2 – 30s x 6 stations
round 3 & 4 – 15s x 8 stations
Finished with a Time/Volume set of 36kg 1 arm jerks
7/7/10
AM : Snatch
1 min each of 16, 24, 32
1 min 32 l/r, 2 min 24 l/r, 3min 16 l/r
8/7/10
PM : Snatch
10 x 6 l/r 32kg Snatch
12/7/10
AM : Conditioning Drill
10 x Snatch, 10 x Jerk, 8 x Snatch, 8 x Jerk, 6 x Snatch, 6 x Jerk, 4 x Snatch, 4 x Jerk, 2 x Snatch, 2 x jerk
all done with double 28′s
PM : Jerks
24′s x 2,4,6,8,10,8,6,4,2
36kg x Time/Volume
13/7/10
AM : Jerks
32 x 10 x 5
28 x 10 x 5
PM : Snatch & Swing
24 kg Snatch x 2 minl/r
32kg Swing x 10 min, switch hand every 10 reps
14/7/10
AM : Long Cycle 24′s x 4 min x 2
Jerks 24′s x 2 min sprint
Hindu Squat x 100
PM : Circuit
Barbell Squat x 5 (40, 50, 70, 80kg)
32kg Snatch x 10 l/r
Sledgehammer slam x 15 L/R
The last few workouts I never took note of. Fatigue and boredom were setting in so the workouts became a little more random in the final few days before tapering down in the final week.
Then came competition day.
I dropped from my original goal of competing with the 28′s and went for 24′s instead. Next competition i will hit the CMS rank with the 28kg bells!
How did I go in this competition, well a picture speaks a thousand words so here are the video clips:
Jerks:
Total 78 reps, and the first time I’d ever gone 10 minutes with the 24′s.
Very happy with this result.
Snatch
Extremely disappointed here. I’ve no idea how this happened but it felt like my hand just “switched off” I didn’t feel the familiar build up of fatigue, it just seemed to let go. I only scored 53 reps and dropped the bell after 3 min 35sec.
Better luck next time.
Strong
This was just a bit of fun at the end of the day. I put the 36kg bell up 24 times on the left and 23 on the right. If you watch carefully you’ll see a slight infringement of the rules, but the lads let me away with it….
It was a great day, over 45 lifters all shouting and cheering each other on. There were inexperienced, experienced, old and young all competing, all setting PR’s and getting stuck in.
I want to say a thank you to the lads from the Kilkenny Kettlebell Club for organising the event. If you’re looking to get into Kettlebell Lifting and are in their area, look them up.
A prospective new member was being shown around Wild Geese the other day, he was interested in joining one or more of our martial arts classes.
He certainly seemed impressed with our facility, but on the way out he asked “Do you have a gym?”
I started to explain that he’d seen the weight training area with the array of kettlebells, barbells etc but he wasn’t satisfied.
“I mean any gym equipment” he continued, seeing I was a little perplexed he continued to explain, “I like to run.”
It became clear.
“What equipment do you need to run?” I asked him, looking him right in the eye. His girlfriend giggled and he visibly shrank.
“Oh, yeah, I suppose. I’ve just…..” At this point I changed the subject to spare his embarrassment.
Now my wife is going to read this and tell me I shouldn’t be so harsh and to start being nicer to people. But, regardless, we at Wild Geese have a core philosophy. You can choose to adhere to it or not, it is your choice. If you choose not to, or if you disagree with it, that’s up to you, but you may be happier down at the local Zumba class, Wild Geese might not be the place for you.
So what is this philosophy?
It is to work as hard as possible at bettering oneself. It is about becoming a more effective and efficient human being. It is about not bothering with competition from other people and instead competing against the only opponent you will never beat, yourself.
We don’t rely on any one piece of equipment. Yes we love our Kettlebells, but we also have barbells, sandbags, sledgehammers, but above all else we have our body which is really all we need to train.
We love our Eskrima, it has the same philosophy, one weapon is all weapons, the same principles apply regardless of the weapon at hand, even if it is your hand.
This means we are never caught out, we never have to make excuses, we need nothing and want for nothing.
If we want to run, we step out our front door and we are running. If half way around the run we feel like doing some upper body strength, we can droop and do push ups, or jump up and do pull ups from a bus shelter, goal post or tree branch. If we get mugged along the way, we don’t panic that we left our sticks/swords/knives/gloves/belts/gum shields back at the club, no we defend ourselves with whatever is at hand, and run on ( a little faster now..)
In the real world you can’t rely on anything other than what you are wearing. There is no crutch for you to lean on. If you specialise in one area, that’s fantastic, if you only ever train for one thing, that’s great, until the day you area outside your specialist area.
As my old mate, a former marine, likes to say “Improvise, Adapt and Overcome”. Failure to do so can lead to unthinkable consequences.
So do we have any gym equipment?
The answer is yes, you are your gym, now train with it.
Dave Gordon was busy setting up a conditioning circuit for himself. He had a few pieces of equipment layed out but what caught my attention was the two 32kg bells set in front of the swiss ball.
I made a natural assumption that he was about to do a variation on an exercise that I’d never tried.
Not wanting him to be the first, I jumped in and made an attempt.
Turns out I was wrong. The video below shows what I thought, see if you can figure out what the Rasta was actually setting up for.
Warm Up
10 each of:
• Hindu Push Up
• Bootstrappers
• Reverse Lunge (l/r)
• Side Bends (l/r)
• Cossacks (l/r)
• Roll Ups
• T pose hypers
It looks like this:
Work sets
Long Cycle (Clean & Jerk)
12kg’s x a few, just to get the groove back.
20kg’s x 10 min at a relaxed pace
It’s been a while since I’ve worked the long cycle with 2 bells, so this was a nice easy reintroduction to it. Very enjoyable, wish I’d recorded it so I could count the reps, even though I wasn’t pushing the pace it’d be nice to know what I got.
I finished off with:
Pistol Squat / Pull Up, 2 ladders of (1,2,3)
Shield Casts x 10 l/r with the 12kg club
Thurs 10 June
A nice session with my class.
After the mobility warm up we went onto:
Snatch (24kg) x 5 mins, change hands at will.
Time / Volume training with the heavy dead snatch, 32kg x 3l/r x 10 mins
Ross Enamait inspired finisher:
12 x Burpee
24 x Push Up
36 x Squats
48 x 2H Swings (32kg)
For four rounds (Time taken 16mins 45seconds)
Week Five
Tues 15 June
Trained with my class, this is what we did:
Circuit: Chin Up, “U” Push Up (see No Equipment, No Excuses), Russian Lunge, Wheel Rollout, Double Snatch (24kg’s), Sledgehammer Slams
We did 10 stations x 30sec/station x 2 and 8 stations x 20sec/station x 1
Wed 16 June
Snatch Day
Warm up:
1 min L/R of 12, 16, 24, 32, no rest taken.
Work:
32 x 1 min l/r
24 x 2 min l/r
16 x 3 min l/r
This was tough, the grip left me at the end of the 16kg sets, it’s definitely my limiting factor.
I followed up by joining in with the judo class.
Thurs 17/6
Jerks Day
Warm up:
10 x 16, 24, 28
32 x 5 x 2
Work
28 x 23 x 1
24 x 30 x 1
Then with my class:
1 arm long cycle, 24kg x 5min l/r
Double KB Complex:
Hang Snatch, Overhead Squat, Front Squat, Romanian Deadlift/Bent Over Row, Swing
5 rounds 5 reps of each without putting the bells down. We split into 2 groups and alternated, one group worked while the other rested.
Fri 18/6
Snatch Day
Warm Up:
10 x 16, 20, 24, 28, 32 L/R
Work Sets:
Snatch 32 x 30l/r
Swing 24 x 30l/r x 2, 24 x 20 l/r x 2, 24 x 20 l/r x 2 with no rest.
Week 6
Mon 21/6
Jerk Day
Warm Up:
10 x 16, 20, 24, 28
Work:
32 x 10 x 1
28 x 20 x1
24 x 30 x 1
20 x 40 x 1
Sissy Squat, 24’s x 70 x 1
Tues 22/6
Snatch
Warm up:
1 min each hand of 12, 16, 24, 32
Work Sets:
32 x 1min l/r
24 x 2 min l/r
16 x 3 min l/r
Much better than last time!
Jump Squats, 4 x 15 with the 24kg.
Wed 23/6
Jerks
Warm Up:
10 x 16, 20, 24, 28
Work Sets:
32 x 10 x 1
28 x 21 x 1
24 x 31 x 2
Sissy Squat x 70 x 1 with the 24’s
RDL x 70 x 1 with the 24’s
Thurs 24/6
Snatch
Warm Up:
10 x 16, 24, 32
Work:
32 x 28 x 1 (left hand)
32 x 30 x 1 (right hand)
In 4 min 47 seconds
Then with the class:
2 min l/r 1 arm long cycle (40kg) switching hands every 5 reps
Followed by a T-Nation inspired farmers walk workout:
Bent Over row x 6-8, Farmers walk,
Cleans x 8-10, Rack Walk
Front Squat x 6- 8, Rack Walk
Press x 6-8, Overhead Walk.
We did 4 rounds of this with the 24’s, which sucked! The walk was approx 15 meters.
Week 7
Mon 28/6
Snatch
Quick warm up on the 16kg.
24 x 50l/r x 1
This felt good.
Tues 29/6
Jerks Day
Warm up:
16 x 10 x 2
24 x 10 x 1
28 x 3 x 1
Felt a weird sharp pain in the wrist here so terminated the set early. Instead of continuing I changed to:
1 min l/r 32kg swing
1 min l/r Sledgehammer slams
times 2
1 min hth swing 32kg
1 min sledgehammer slam (switch every rep)
Wed 30/6
The wrist was still painful so I wrapped it tight and did Grease the groove style long cycle with the 32’s
Worked up to 7 sets of 7 reps over a two hour period.
Thurs 1/7
Only trained with the class today, but it was a good one. Again my arm was wrapped as a precaution.
1 arm Sots Press:
12 x3, 16 x3, 20 x3, 24 x2 x2
Double Sots Press:
12’s x 3, 16’s x 3, 20’s x 5
The “Sincere”
Perform Double Snatch immediately followed by Double Jerk. Do your set then rest while your partner does his, then jump back in.
Do 10 of each, then 8,6,4,2. I used the 28’s and regretted every minute of it!
1 Arm Overhead Squat:
1 min x 24, 2 min x 16 left
1 min x 24, 2 min x 16 left
The above quote was from Eoin a Wild Geese Boot Camp participant and Kickboxer. I don’t know what inspired the comment, but I like it and it got an important laugh on the first session of the Boot Camp when nerves were high and anticipation hung heavy.
We are now half way the first week of the Bootcamp and camaraderie is already building, the lads an lasses are working hard and shouting for each other to motivate them on. It’s great to see.
We often work harder when there is a like minded peer group around us, people who have similar goals, similar ideas, people who want to see you work hard because in doing so, they work hard.
It’s like a self perpetuating circle, I encourage you to work hard and seeing you work hard encourages me.
Often I tell people to give their training partners encouragement “For purely selfish reasons, if I can motivate you, just maybe when it’s my turn and I’m struggling, you’ll do the same for me!”
This team mentality is the only resemblance the Wild Geese Boot Camp has to a military style bootcamp. Hell, my guys are unshod unless their outside running, not a boot in sight!
But as in a real bootcamp a camaraderie is built, nurtured and encouraged. This group mentality helps each individual member push that little more, go a little further, dig a little deeper.
Eventually when the individual is out on their own, be facing another man in the ring or a brutal ascent in the mountains, that person will already have driven themselves to the edge of their abilities. They’ve gone to places in their minds where all doubt is eliminated, where only 100% pure focus on the task at hand exists, where your too fatigued to consider failure. Because to do so is to let yourself and the team down.
Of course it’s not just the boot camp where this happens. Every Tuesday at the Combat Conditioning session we raise the roof. Just last night the guys and girls were hitting max deadlifts left right and centre, the noise of them shouting each other on was phenomenal. Even the newest guy was hollering his lungs out as the others strained on the bar.
When the time came to put strip the weights, one of the guys turned to me and said, with a hungry look in his eye “What’s next?”
Then came the circuit:
3 stations, Pull Ups, Push ups and Burpees.
The workout was simplicity in it’s most brutal form.
in a team of three, one person on each station. You stay at that station, doing as much as possible, the only person counting is the guy doing burpees, when he hits 20, all change.
It’s rough, but it’s a hell of a buzz. The lads were really shouting for the guy doing burpees, the faster he went, the less pain they suffered at the other stations!
There was a time a while ago where I was considering giving up this life and rejoining the work force, getting a “proper” job.
No chance, to do so would be letting the team down, these guys and girls are working too hard, they’ve come too far, there’s no way I could quit on them.
And who would want to sit in an office when you could be running a gym filled with some of the most highly motivated and positive clients imaginable?
Whatever you’re going to do today, give it 100%. Start strong, but most importantly, finish strong.
Functional training. There has been a bit of a debate over in facebook land over this controversial topic.
Back when I worked in a commercial gym, I remember shaking my head in disbelief at what some of the other fitness instructors would tell people to do in the name of functional training.
And recently I had one of my own clients, who is himself a fitness instructor, talking some meaningless bollocks that he thought was functional training.
If instructors are this confused, what chance do their clients have? So lets start by looking at the words in the title:
“Functional” – Something that serves a purpose, has function.
“Training” – Practicing to get better at something.
These, by the way, are not dictionary definitions, they are my own words. So functional training then is “training in a manner that will improve your performance in a chosen function.”
If you don’t know what that function is, you cannot train functionally.
That sounds confusing. Lets clarify a little.
In 2004 I took it upon myself to run the Dublin marathon. Therefore my training program had to revolve around the need to be able to run for hours at a time. I had my function, to run for extended time, it was easy then to decide on how best to train. It worked too, I ran my first and only full marathon in 3hrs 41.
Then, after the marathon, I wanted to regain the weight I’d lost during the marathon training, and also add some extra muscle weight to my frame. So the function of my next training phase was to build muscle mass.
The fastest way to achieve this goal is by training as a bodybuilder. For my goal, the most functional training method was a 5 day bodypart split. It worked too, I went from 12 ½ stone pre marathon down to 11 stone on the marathon day.
After the bodybuilding training I was up to 13 ½ stone and stronger than ever.
The reason I’ve picked out these two phases in my training life is because neither of them fit the current “functional training” methods that are espoused by Johnny fitness instructor. They will tell you that hours and hours of cardio is non functional. They will tell you that bodypart splits and bodybuilding are non functional. They will tell you that standing on a bosu ball while lifting a paperweight is functional.
But they’ll never explain why. At least not in words that you can understand.
I love to train with kettlebells and bodyweight. For me they are enjoyable and effective tools for my goals. They also suit most of my clients goals, they utilise multi joint movements and lend themselves very well to circuit style training, both very efficient methods of raising the metabolism and burning fat.
Plus kettlebell movements also counter office posture very efficiently, reducing back pain, building core strength and shaping a tidy derrière, what’s not to like? It’s no wonder that they are almost universally accepted by “functional trainers”
I do though have a client who is on a bodybuilding split, and one that is banned from lifting any weights whatsoever. Why is one banned from weights?
Because of her particular injuries, weight training would not only be non functional, but counter productive.
So you see, next time some idiot instructor is harping on about the wondrous benefits of functional training, ask them what function they are actually training. See if they can actually explain themselves in simple layman’s terms, or if they go off on some psychobabble quackery tangent in an effort to baffle you with bullshit rather than help you understand.
In an attempt to bring this to a conclusion, here are my top functional movements that I believe should be trained:
• Hip Extension
• Squatting
• Over head pressing
• Overhead pulling
• Horizontal pressing
• Horizontal pulling
• Counter rotation of the spine
• Counter flexion of the spine
• Counter extension of the spine
• Single leg stability
Notice how I haven’t listed tools or exercises?
“Why not?” you ask, “ I thought you were the Kettlebell guy?”
Well, while I am a Kettlebell guy, I’m also a barbell, bodyweight and sandbag guy. In fact, more accurately I’m a training guy. The only thing I really don’t like are weight training machines and aerobics.
However if you have a specific goal in mind, be it a marathon, a double bodyweight deadlift or getting back into those old jeans, they way in which you use the above movements will change. Once you know why your training, how you train will start to become obvious. If it doesn’t, give me a shout and I’ll be happy to help.
I have been known, on many occasions to stand and take the piss out of these “military” bootcamp classes that are all the rage right now.
I find the marketing and hype far outstrips the actual quality of training, and as for any resemblance to actual military training…. Lets not even go there!
So I find it slightly embarrassing to announce that I will be running a Bootcamp of my own.
I’m not embarrassed by the training on offer, or the fact it will be an early morning group program. I’m embarrassed to call it a bootcamp, but as that is what the market wants, it’s what the market gets.
Why a Bootcamp?
One of the Wild Geese kick boxers has been asking me to give him extra conditioning training for some time now, but he could never get to any of my classes and was too busy to make a private slot. So he chatted to a few people, including other kick boxers and came up with the Bootcamp idea.
And here we are.
What to expect Because a fighter asked for this, it is built around the fighters needs. But what does that mean for a non combat athlete?
It means, that if you are willing to work hard and push yourself, you will be trained as fighter is trained. The advantage of this is simple, you will never find a more well rounded and complete athlete, someone who is strong, powerful, explosive, enduring and agile. Someone with a body that can not only deliver devastating power, but also absorb it. A body that remains powerful even when pushed to extreme fatigue.
And because form follows function, it will look lean and powerful. It will move smoothly, cat like, ready to explode into action at a moments notice.
The 4 week program start on the 28th June, all payments must be in by the 25th (1 week from today). The camp will run on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 7am. You will be done by 8am, sometimes earlier.
The camp intensity will build to a crescendo in week 3 and then taper down in week 4 as a few of the participants have a fight booked on the 24th July.
If you wish to experience the training needed to step into a ring, or if you are looking for a serious kick up the arse with your training, then here’s what you must do:
Email me (info@wildgeesema.com), phone me (087 672 6090) or message me on facebook (www.facebook.com/wgma.dave) to register your interest.
You will then need to pay, all payments will be taken in advance, the only refund opportunity will be if you are injured, in which case you will get 100% back. If you quit or get kicked out, you get nothing.
The cost for the 4 week (12 sessions) is €147. This works out at €7 per session.
Existing, regular, Wild Geese members receive a 33% discount.
Wild Geese Fighters with a date coming up train for free.
If you are not a Wild Geese Fighter, but have an event (doesn’t have to be a fight) on the horizon and wish to add this camp to your preparation, come in and talk to me.
This is NOT a military style bootcamp.
This is a training program for highly motivated individuals.
Wild Geese is an Attitude, if you have it, you will survive, if you don’t, don’t bother showing up at all.
My old mate over at Simple Strength, Rannoch Donald has issued a challenge.
At first look it’s a relatively simple task, but with everything Rannoch espouses, it’s simplicity hides a deeper truth.
What he’s asking is that every day, 7 days a week, you do 100 reps of whatever exercise drill you choose.
It could be one exercise, it could be many different exercises. It could be done in a single workout or spread through the day into mini workouts. How you get your daily 100 is up to you.
The “how” isn’t important, the challenge is about the “why”
The why is simple, Rannoch’s home country of Scotland (which is also my home land, although it’s rare I get back these days) now rates number 2 in the Obesity chart. The only country with a greater proportion of obesity is the USA. Although, when I walk around the streets of Dublin, I’m pretty sure we’re not far behind.
The reasons for this alarming rise in the levels of obesity in the population are twofold:
Poor diet.
Eating processed, prepacked garbage. Snacking on sugary food, which by the way includes your “low fat” yogurt and breakfast cereals. The modern idea of convenience food has created a generation who can no longer cook, who no longer recognise a vegetable and are addicted to sugar.
Lack of Exercise.
We used to encourage our kids outside to play. They’d come home covered in mud, bumps and bruises, they’d be tired and ravenous, ready for a plate of meat and veg at the kitchen table. These days kids “play” while slumped on a sofa. A football is controlled by a joystick, whereas my generation controlled a ball with our feet.Your granddad, his dad, and his dad before him, they would go to work and actually do some work. You? I’ll bet you sit at a desk for 8 or so hours. While work used to involve lifting and carrying, modern health & safety laws no longer allow us to lift anything heavier than your handbag. As for the modern exercise methods….well they’re a load of crap, imagine a bicycle that’s bolted to the floor? A machine that allows you to lift weights while sitting down, comfortably? C’mon
So Rannoch came to an epiphany. He jumped out of his bathtub and ran naked down the street shouting “eureka!” (He didn’t, but if you met him, you wouldn’t put it past him!)
He came up with the idea that if you did 100 reps of something, as an extra to your regular workouts, it might replace the lost manual labour. It might balance the sedentary nature of your work. It might stretch the muscles, lubricate the joints, release the good hormones and keep the bad ones in check.
The movement will become your medicine.
Right now, as you read this, Rannoch is collecting workout ideas from top trainers and coaches around the UK and Ireland. I’ve contributed a few already, and can’t wait to see what the others add to the mix. After all, we all have differing styles of training, different backgrounds and experiences. But we all are submitting bodyweight only routines that have a total of 100 reps.
When he has collected them all in, he will put these routines together into a free PDF that will be downloadable from his site.
This video is just one of the routines I contributed:
I’ll be posting more videos with other 100 rep ideas shortly.
Another 5 consecutive days of training are over, and by god am I feeling it! However good progress was made.
The hands finally became conditioned to high rep snatches, while I do use the snatch in my normal training, I don’t usually go for as long as the kettlebell sport requires. Even with good technique the hands were getting torn up. After 3 weeks, they are healed, the skin has toughened in the right places and the snatch is flowing nice.
Here’s the training log:
Mon 31st May: Jerks
Warm up -
10 x 16′s, 20′s, 24′s,
5 x 28′s, 32′s
3 x 32′s
Work Sets -
28′s x 15 x 2
24′s x 25 x 1
16′s x 40 x 1
Sissy Squats – 24′s x 70 x 1
RDL – 24′s x 55 x 1, 24′s x 15 x 1 (I planned a single set of 70, but fatigue got the better of me at 55 reps)
This was tough to get into today, the body was stiff and tired and seemed to take forever to warm up. The few jerks with the 32′s, while I’m capable of far more than 3, did a good number on waking up the nervous system for the 28′s. The 28kg jerks sets were surprisingly comfortable, especially as when I hit them in the warm up I could barely move them!
Tues 1st June – Snatch
Warm Up -
10 l/r on 16, 20, 24, 28, 32
Work sets -
32 x 25 x 1 L/R
24 x 30 x 1 L/R
16 x 40 x 1 L/R
Felt strong!
Later the same day I participated in the Combat Conditioning class which was:
1A: Deadlifts, 3 reps of 80kg, 90kg, 95kg, 100kg, 105kg
2A: Pull up x 5
2B: KB clean & Press x 5 (on a ladder, 20′s, 24′s, 28′s)
2A & 2B were alternated in a superset fashion, working the clean & press with heavier weights to a max, then dropping back. We performed 6 rounds of this.
In hindsight, joining in a deadlift session, while not particularly heavy, was not wise after a snatch session earlier in the day. That evening I suffered!
Wed 2nd June – Jerks
Warm Up -
10 x 16′s, 20′s, 24′s, 28′s
32′s x 5 x 2
Work sets -
28′s x 20 x 2
24′s x 30 x 1
16′s x 50 x 1
Jump Squats, 24 x 15 x 4
Back and shoulders were tired from Tuesday, but still performed well on the jerks. The fatigue made me work harder on technique.
When it came to the squats, I was pretty shot!
Thurs 3rd June – Planned a Snatch session but the day was very humid, so played it sensible!
Time / volume set on 1 arm long cycle. 40kg x 3reps x 10 minutes.
Alternating clean & press, 24′s x 5 mins
This a favorite drill that I learned from Kettlebell master, Vasilly Gincko, here’s an old video demoing it:
Finisher complex (drop set):
Double Snatch x 5
Double High Pull x 5
Double Swing x 5
Alternated with a partner, you only rest for as long as it takes your mate to perform the series. We did 5 rounds.
Friday 4th june – Jerks
Today was again humid and close, the body was tired and the mind weak. Fortunately this is the last hard workout before a restful long weekend and a back week!
Warm Up-
10 x 16′s, 20′s, 24′s, 28′s
32′s x 5 x 2
Work sets-
28′s x 20 x 1
28′s x 18 x 1
28′s x 10 x 1
24′s x 20 x 2
20′s x 40 x 1
Front squats:
10 x 16′s, 20′s, 24′s, 28′s
5 x 32′s
Done.
Next week is a back week, so training will be light, volume will be lower. Then 3 more solid weeks, another back weeks and the competition will be almost on us!
And don’t forget, next sunday (the 13th) I will be running a Level III workshop at Wild Geese HQ, this covers the Snatch and Jerk in great detail. If time permits we will also look at some of the assistance work that you’ve been reading about in these recent posts.
Drop me a line to book a place (info@wildgeesema.com)
