Wild Geese Fitness Training

Another busy week so training was a bit intermittent.
I did however get back to throwing some iron around, first time in over a month I’ve done anything other than demo the kettlebell.
Still kept up a good relationship with the foam roller, we’re thinking of getting engaged soon…..

Monday:

Swings!
24kg hand to hand swings x 100
Double 16kg 1 handed swing x 50 l/r
40kg 1 hand swing x 50 l/r
24kg hand to hand swings x 100

Nice.
Also to grease the groove pull ups throughout the day.

Tuesday:

Swings again:
laid out all the bells: 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44 and did pyramids:
10 reps 2hand swings 8 through 44 and back
10 reps left hand swing 8 through 36 and back
10 reps right hand swing 8 through 36 and back
10 reps 2 hand swing 8 though 44 and back

Taught for two hours then joined in on the conditioning class for a circuit of:

• Bodyweight rows
• Knee Jump to Long Jump
• Ab Wheel
• Battling Rope
• Ring Push ups (played around with arm excursions on these)
• Jump Switch Lunges
• Sledgehammer Slams

We did 4 rounds on a variety of work to rest ratios. It felt gooooood

Wednesday

Tight for time so only a quick 300 squats

Thursday

Again trained with my class, using the guys energy for my own motivation.

Warm up with mobility, squats, push ups, lunges

1: Double KB Front Squats to low box 5 reps x 16′s, 20′s, 24′s, 28′s and 4 x 32′s (ths was the first loaded squat in months!)
2A: 1 Arm Push Up L/R x (1,2,3,4,5) x 3
2B: Pull Up + 20kg x (1,2,3,4,5) x 3
3: Double KB Clean/Burpee 5×5

stretch to cool down.

Friday

No training other than a few pull ups here and there and some quality time with my foam roller.

Saturday

Playing coach. With my guys at the Irish Kettlebell Sports Championships.
Did play a little in the warm up area as i helped the guys but felt the rack possition straight away. Its definitely a hip extension issue I have. Pressing bells overhead is no worry, but the jerk is a problem.

This week has been the epitomy of FUBAR.

The week before was tough with injury flare ups and also the hand being damaged from the Rapid Response course I taught last month. These fortunately are all recovering well, but still restricting me somewhat.
On top of all that I’ve had some serious stresses from my personal life and several projects going on in my professional life. All this demanded a careful juggling act this week and as a result I had to back down on the training. To have trained full bore as I’d have liked to would have been detrimental to my health as it would have pushed the stress levels over the top taking it from eustress to distress.

Eustress is healthy, this is where we are stimulated to work and push.
Distress is unhealthy, this is where our body goes into emergency procedures and starts to shut down.
Often when training we walk the fine line between eustress and distress, but when outside factors start coming into play it can easily push us over that line.

So training was a bit intermittent this week, much of it didn’t get written down so I’m writing this from memory.

Monday

Squats: 300 x 1
Hindu Push ups: 50 x 1
TV Stretching

Tuesday

No training per se, but got a few bits done during short gaps during the day:
Pull Ups: Grease the Groove style through day, various reps, various tempos and various grips
15 minutes of kettlebell lifting for a demonstration video, used 24′s for a variety of lifts and a 16 for a short juggling set.
Pull Ups, fat grip, 1 set to failure
maize bag, 10 minutes power strikes

Wednesday

Again a messed up day. had a 20 minute gap before the kids karate class, so used the empty sports hall for:

Squats x 50
Deep walking lunges / hip flexor stretch x 25meters
Lateral lunges x 25 meters
Duck walk x 25m
Bunny Hops x 25m
Walkout Serratus activation x 25m
Walkouts (inchworm) x 25m
Sidewinder x 25m
Forwards & Backwards rolls x 3 minutes
Push Ups x 25.

Then the kids turned up and spoiled what was turning into a really fun bodyweight agility set!

Thursday

Today was a much calmer day I had plenty of opportunity to train but held off till the evening when my advanced guys came in.

Warm Up: Mobility, Pushups, Squats, Lunges
Work:
1: Alternating Clean & Press, 28′s x 5min
2: Renegade Rows 40′s x 5l/r x 3
3: Windmill x 5l/r x 32, (28 + 32), (28 + 32 + 16)
4: Swing Squat Countdown:
4A: 28kg swing x 50, 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5
4B: Bodyweight squat x 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50
Total of 275 squats and 275 swings, took us around 12 mins.

Friday

At a seminar all day so instead of actually training I was listening to lectures about training as well as talking training with some fellow coaches.

Saturday

Messing in the gym with the lads with various pull ups and 36kg hand to hand swings, lots of low volume stuff, just playing. This was followed by a long walk with the dog – just lovely. Sun blazing as we strolled along the canal.
Stopped at a park 3/4′s of the way home foe an impromptu bodyweight set:

1: Squats x 500
2A: Pull Ups x 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1
2B: Push Ups x 20, 16, 14, 12, 10, 10, 8, 6, 6, 6, 6, 4, 4, 4, 2, 2, 2, 2
2A & 2B were done on a 1:2 ratio, however many pull ups achieved followed by double that for push ups. This is a ratio I learned from looking at the Zoorkhani training methods used by the kushti wrestlers. It’s a nice ratio to keep balance in the body.

All going well things will settle down next week (fat chance!!) and I’ll get back to routine…..

Took a bit of a back week this week, it was necessary.
I have injuries in the low back from doing some stupid stuff several years ago, essentially within a 6 month period I first of all twisted my SI joint, but then very soon after damaged a lumbar disk.
Each injury on their own isn’t too bad but the combination has left it’s indelible mark.
Basically every now and again, especially when training hard, these injuries may become aggravated. When that happens, this happens:

The right QL tightens up drawing my pelvis up on the right hand side.
The left Erector Spinae develops trigger points.
The Piriformis on both sides cramp and become a network of trigger points.
The hip flexors, particularly on the right tighten.
The hamstrings tighten due to the glute dysfunction.
I end up a bit of a mess.

This is why I’m not lifting kettles competitively this year, each competitive training phase aggravates the injury, but this year was particularly bad. With some excellent physio I got back to my feet but upon restarting the Kettlebell training, even with lighter weight and lower volume I went down hill pretty quick.
Hence the recent  bodyweight training phase.

But even with bodyweight only things still happen, especially as I haven’t been keeping up with my maintenance work.

Maintenance work is basically the stretching, foam rolling, good sleep, good food and water.
I was stretching intermittently, never even looked at the roller (despite insisting most of guys use it religiously…!) and due to a few celebratory moments wasn’t getting food, water or sleep in the right ratios.

End result: See list of symptoms above.

So to this weeks training log:

Monday (Bank Holiday)

No training today, spent day with family. Basically a long walk in the park and an afternoon building bunk beds in a room that’s too small to build bunk beds in! Got it done with a lot of swearing.
A LOT of pain that evening, was in pain all weekend but this is now silly (the bunk bed episode certainly didn’t help things). So spent evening watching Olympics and doing some TV stretching but the trigger points had gotten so embedded, the stretching did little to help.

Tuesday

Joint Mobility work, 30 minutes focusing on the hips.
Rumble Roller, 15 minutes on the hips, quads and low back.
Bodyweight squats x 350
Rumble Roller, 10 minutes as above.

Wednesday

Mobility work for hips
Rumble Roller, Small Medicine ball and Hurley Ball (proper name: Sliotar) for some severe self massage in the hips, focusing on glutes and erector spinae.
Ring Dips & Chins at intervals through day (Grease the Groove)
Karate class that evening so a lot of THIS and stacks of front kicks for dynamic mobility

Thursday

Mobility for hips – it’s actually returning!
Rumble Roller, Med ball and Hurley Ball in hips, low back and attempting to get into QL
General Joint mobility
BW Squats x 100

1A: Pull Ups x 15, 10, 10, 7
1B: Ring Dips x 12, 10, 7, 5

2A: Deadhang Pull Ups (4 second hang) x 3 x 5
2B: Dead start dips (let the heels rest on the floor, legs locked, between each rep. Do NOT let legs assist when beginning the push) x 3 x 5

3: Yogability

Friday

Hip mobility at intervals through day (busy day so couldn’t dedicate and extended period)
Rumble roller in Hip & low back – fortunately I had to demo the roller a few times, used it to my advantage!

Ladder sets of:
1A: Parallel Grip chins x (1,2,3,4,5) x 3, (1,2,3) x several (lost count!)
2A: Divebomber Push up (chose for it’s mobility benefits) x (1,2,3,4,5) x 3, (1,2,3) x several (lost count!)

Long walk on beach with the Dog.

TV stretching that evening while enjoying the Olympic Boxing.

Not much achieved in the way of my moving towards my current goals, but the goals fade in importance when I am in too much pain to lift the kids and am too bound up to roll around on the floor with them.
Take an important lesson from me here, I fucked up in the past many many times and am paying for it now. I don’t mind, I’ve had an interesting and enjoyable life and a bit of pain won’t ever stop me, but also appreciate that if i did my maintenance more often and if I backed off a little more often I’d suffer a lot less.
Take note and learn from my mistakes.

Till next week

Dave

Hand still banjaxed so still slightly limited in exercise selection, but still plugging away.

Monday:

1: Squats x either 475 or 525 (Target was 500, lost count for a minute so did 25 to make sure I was in/around the goal)
2: 90 degree hang with slow pedalling to failure x 3
3: Wrestlers Bridge x 1min
4: Scorpions x 10L/R

Tuesday:

Just one of those days so didn’t get chance to train, took it as a rest day.

Wednesday:

1: Squats x 400 (possibly 450, must sort out a system for counting!)
2: Battling Rope x 5mins (1min double, 1min alternating, 1 min grappler, 1 min alternating, 1min double)
3: Plank +20kg x 1m15, 45s (this was tough after the ropes)

Thursday (with my class):

1: Squats x 250
2: 28kg Jerk x 10l/r, 8l/r, 6l/r, 4l/r, 2l/r
3: 28 kg cleans left hand only while the class repeated the above format.
4: Boat x 1min
5: Vsits x 1min
6: Wrestlers Bridge x 1min
7: T-Pose x 1min
8: Plank +20kg x 1min

Friday:

1: Squats x 666
2: BW rows x 40 x 1
3: Roundhouse kicks x 50l/r

Good week.

Quit the Kettlebell sport training due to old injuries so focusing on bodyweight training.

I thought I’d keep an online journal as one or two of the guys have been asking about bodyweight training and have some similar goals to my own.

I’m using an undulating conditioning style of daily practice to work up some high rep bodyweight squats, the goal (as set for me by Mr Steve Cotter) is to complete a 1000 squats in a single set.
Undulating conditioning essentially means doing a different amount each day, some days will be high rep, others very high rep, other again lower rep. There’s no fixed pattern, just as long as the work gets done and there is a minimum of one very high rep session within the week.

Secondary goals are to really boost core strength.

Mon 16th
1: BW Squat x 200
2: Front Lever practice (legs tucked) x 30s (trying to build this to 60sec) 3: Frog Stand (will try to build to planche) x 40s (again 60s is goal) 4: Plank +20kg x 90sec
5: Wrestlers bridge x 90sec
6: Push Up x 20

Tuesday 17th

1A: Pull Up x 10 x 2
1B: Fingertip Push Ups x 20 x 2
2: BW Squats x 150

Wed 18th

1: BW Squats x 250
2: Frog Stand x as much as poss in 60s
3: Front Lever (Tucked) x as much as poss in 60s
4A: Boat x 60s
4B: T- Pose x 60s
4C: V-Sits x 60s
5: Push ups with knee check on rings x 20

Thurs 19th

1A: Fat Grip Pull Ups x 10
1B: Front lever raises x 3
2: BW Squat x 100

Friday 20th

1: BW Squats x 300
2: Frog Stand x 45s
3A: T-Pose x 60s
3B: Boat x 60s
4A: Parallel Grip Pull Ups x (1,2,3,4,5) x 3
4B: Push Ups x (2,4,6,8,10) x 3
5: Band Pull Aparts x 35

All in a good first weeks practice, feeling good, no pain from injured bodyparts.

Regards

Dave Hedges
Wild Geese Fitness Training
http://www.wg-fit.com

So today I tested the body to see how the injuries are holding up, and no, still can’t do the Kettlebell lifts that I intend to compete with in 8 weeks time.

So I did much as I did last week and worked on the lower body and grip.
Today’s workout:

Farmers Walk (2 x 40kg bells) x 60m
Jumping Split Squat x 10 l/r
Double Swings outside legs 32kg x 10
Broad Jumps x 10

5 rounds

I finished with some shuttle runs.

Later i worked on some grip work, holding heavy bells for time and pinch grip deadlifts.
Lets see what tomorrow brings.

Regards

Dave
http://www.wg-fit.com