We opened our doors yesterday for the first training sessions of 2012, I was very pleased with the amount of our regular members who came in and attacked the days training.

These guys know why they are here. Many have been dropping messages through Facebook asking when we’re reopening and saying how much they miss the training. Not only is this nice to hear as a coach who depends on these guys for an income, but it’s great to hear as someone who loves training.

These guys have found their Why.

But what does that mean?

My old Kenpo coach had a few catchphrases, one of which was along the lines of “understand the Why and the How becomes easy”
It essentially means, stop worry about how your going to achieve something and start looking at why you want to achieve it.

It doesn’t matter what the goal is, this time of the year for many is all about Fat Loss, for others it’s strength, performance or any number of reasons. It only matters that you have the determination and discipline to follow through to that goal.
No amount of Gucci workout programs, shiny new workout gear, sexy new workout outfits or celebrity DVD’s are going to make you better. I have dozens of former on-line training clients who simply dropped out even though their program was sound. How many brand new gym memberships will be bought and remain unused this month?

All that matters is you have a desire to improve and you are willing to put in the work. Working out is tough, training consistently is tougher still. If you don’t know why you’re doing it, you will undoubtedly stop doing or you won’t give it enough effort to get the results you wanted.

I’m going to wrap this up now before I start to ramble.

Take home message:

Consistent effort leads to consistent improvement.
To have the discipline to put in consistent effort you must really want to improve, you must have reason. What is this reason?

Find it and the rest is gravy.

Click on the image below and you’ll be able to read 41 other peoples why’s. Maybe something in here will help you find yours:

Click here for 62 pages of unadulterated motivation

Regards

Dave

The New Year is almost upon us, that means a new start for most people’s training program. For others it’s simply a start to a training program.

But how much time have you spent thinking about what to do once you get back to the gym?

It’s a question that’s been bugging me the last few days, it actually kept me awake for a few hours the other night (or maybe that was the mince pies and coffee….)

Recently I was informed that the Kilkenny boys will not be organising a Kettlebell Lifting competition in march, partly due to Eddie and his missus expecting twins and partly because they’re busy with other stuff.
So that threw the first three months of my own training completely out the window. Actually it’s closer to 6 months as the last few month I’ve been doing basic GPP with an emphasis on strength as I was planning on lifting heavier kettles at the march event. I usually spend a month or so doing GPP after a competition with an emphasis on undoing much of the problems specialisation for a competition inevitably brings.

But, no competition, no point training for it. So what then?

I’m lucky in one respect, my job is to pick out people’s weaknesses and to train them accordingly. So over the last week or so I’ve been going over my own weakness, things that were particularly highlighted during the filming of the 12 Days bodyweight series that most of you got on the run up to Xmas.
It is apparent that my hip mobility is poor, especially the right hip flexor and I’m weak when fully flexed. I noticed my core wasn’t as stable as it should have been, even though all my weighted lifts as strong as ever, bodyweight training doesn’t allow for any errors, it seems I’m compensating during some weighted lifts but take away the weight and I’m all over the place!

There are others, but I don’t want to bore you.
But these are my weakest areas: End range strength in the hip, flexibility/mobility through the hip, core stability.

My training program needs to take all these into consideration.

Next, what do I want to build?
Since I don’t need to specialise in Cleaning and Jerking a pair of kettles for dozens of reps, I can broaden my spectrum.
Things I want to build:
Greater work capacity
Agility
Explosive power in all planes
Limit Strength in all planes

What do I mean by “all planes” Simple, as a martial artists I am not limited to linear movements, I have to turn, twist, bend, flex. So I want to be strong in all directions.
So, I’m going to take an experimental approach to my training. I’m taking a little inspiration from the Westside philosophy of always max out on something.
The westside guys use a Conjugate Periodisation system, basically they rotate between a variety of lifts that work the same movement pattern. It’s not as simple as that but it’s close enough.
So, I’ll do the same.

Basic movement patterns are:

Upper body Push/Pull Vertical
Upper body push/pull horizontal
Hip Dominant lower body (pull)
Knee dominant lower body (push)
Core flexion/counter flexion
Core extension / counter extension
Core Rotation/counter rotation

Each movement pattern can be hit by several variations. For example when you think of a Hip Dominant Pull you automatically think of the Deadlift. But what about:

Romanian Deadlifts, Snatch grip Deadlifts, Pin Pulls, Deficit Deadlifts, 1 leg varations, Good Mornings, Cleans.

By cycling through the various options over the next few weeks I hope to build strength without overloading my old injuries (the cause of many of my current weaknesses), I can only survive a certain amount of Deadlifting before the warning flags are raised, but if I cycle through deadlift like moves, I think I’ll get away with it for longer!

I’ll also be factoring in bodyweight/kettlebell circuits for my conditioning and to fill in the gaps. These will incorporate the agility work capacity and core work that I fell are lacking.

As long as the workouts are balanced and approached with intensity there is no reason for progress to stall. I’ve had several online clients work in a similar manner, all of whom were JiuJitsu players and each one noticed significant improvements in their game, even more so than when following a more structured workout.
These next few months for me are an experiment to see why and how these guys benefited so much, it’s about the only training program I’ve handed out and never personally tried!

So my training goals for the first part of the year are set.

How about you?

(If you’re struggling, check back in a few days, I’ve a suggestion for you…)

Dave
www.wg-fit.com

Only a couple more hours and I’ll be closing the doors for the Xmas holidays.

It’s another year over, and what a year!

I know I said this last year, but, it’s been a hell of a year and It’ll be hard to top in 2012. However I was wrong last year and here’s a few reasons why:

This year Wild Geese (both sides, Martial Arts and Fitness Training) has gone to a new level.
We’ve never been busier.
Our members have never worked as hard or as consistently.
We had the most awesome seminars such as:

• Steve Cotter teaching Kettlebells and Bodyweight.
  He’ll be back in the spring to present his certification course the CKT
• Mick Coup, Core Combatives founder. He came over to teach an incredible two day self defence workshop, he’s one of the best I’ve seen.
  He’ll be back next year to present his 4 day total immersion course!
• Injury Prevention and Strength Training for Martial Arts  - what a day! We had one of Ireland’s to Physio’s, Mark Sexton. We had Yoga and Somatic expert, Anne Dempsey as well as Paulie and Myself. We learned loads and were presenting!

Our BJJ and Judo teams have performed exceptionally. Many of the competitors regularly train with Kettles and all state that they’ve never been stronger. One of our BJJ coaches now recommends them instead of the gym, and he’s been a lifetime gym bunny!

We’ve been away as well:

• Irish Kettlebell Lifting Championships, where a couple of my guys did very well, and I ended up with a 3rd place in the Biathlon, still not sure how that happened!
• Kieran Dolan had us down at his place for seminars with Ireland’s James Fennelly and top power lifter Andy Bolton. In 2012 he’s planning more seminars, kicking off with one of Ireland’s top bodybuilders.
• Pat O’Malley awarded me with the Level 3 Instructor certificate for his Rapid Response System of knife defence. Apparently I’m the second Level 3 guy since it’s inception, so thanks Pat. I’ll be running seminars in this through 2012.

Then there’s my guys and girls.
Without you lot, there would be no Wild Geese Training. I’ve Shotokan and Kyokoshin Karate balck belts, Tae Kwon Do and Kenpo practitioners, Judo-Ka and BJJ players all in the ranks, these guys are all from different martial backgrounds, but they train together and push each other harder than any other group. Martial artists always seem to have that extra edge, it’s you guys that we set up to train as we share the same background, I’ve never met a population from any other sporting background that pushes in the same way that a fighter pushes.
However, saying that, this attitude has rubbed off on those around you and raised the game of our Rugby, GAA and Triathlon competitors.

I also have my first intern. He’s a learning the art of coaching as part of his Gaisce award. I took him on as a favour as he’s Paulies nephew, but, I’m thinking this could be something I’d like to do again. In 2012, you all could be helping in the development of a young and upcoming coaches career, and I know you’ll be a tough audience, I’d expect nothing else, but the end result will be a competent and confident Fitness Instructor that will raise the average of those currently in operation.

Now for 2012:

Two seminars that are definitely on:

IKFF CKT1 and 2 – two days for the level 1, a third day for the level 2. Steve Cotter has developed possibly the best course for anyone looking to teach Kettlebell lifting, he’s been a huge influence on myself, so if you think I can teach you something, just imagine what you’ll get from this guy.
Details will follow shortly.

Core Comabtives Foundation Course – 4 days, 32 hours of intensely detailed and practical coaching from one of the worlds top self defence coaches. Mick Coup really does know his stuff, he won’t try to baffle you with bullshit, he won’t baby you along and he won’t show anything that absolutely will not work in the real world, and Mick has operated in the real world in the Military, as a Mercenary, as a Nightclub Doorman and as a consultant to many security and LEO agencies globally.
This will be intense, but also awesome!
Details to follow soon.

J C Santana of the Institute of Human Performance has agreed to run a seminar here, although we’re still working on confirming. JC is the old guard, he’s been instrumental in developing the conditioning programs of some of MMA’s top fighters and competitors. He’s been around a long time and does not suffer fools. Check out his website, watch his youtubes and read his facebook posts.
MMA is growing exponentially in Ireland, the quality id going up and up, coaches who understand the physical requirements of the fighters and can create genuinely effective training programmes are going to become very valuable assets in the near future. You may as well learn from the best and that man is J C Santana.

Speaking of martial arts conditioning, I’ve finally gotten around to completing the W.M.D manual based on the conditioning methods I use on our own competitors. The eBook will be available through wildgeesema.com in the new year, there will also be a January sale on all the eBooks there.

That’s all for now, I’ll sign off for the holiday and will be back in touch in 2012.

Merry Christmas to you all and be sure to start 2012 in the same manner in which we finished 2011, fast, aggressive and awesome!

Laters

Dave
www.wg-fit.com
 

It’s cold.

Ireland is known for its rain and wind. But even worse than this is the constant humidity, it’s constantly in the 85%+ range.
Now while chilling out on the beach in Hawaii, 85% humidity might not seem so bad, but here, it’s close to freezing before you add the wind, this means that the air is saturated with near freezing water.

What the hell has this got to do with a fitness blog?

Simple, your warm up routine has just become an exceptionally important part of your training routine. Especially if, like me, you’re in your 30′s with 20 years worth of bangs, pulls, sprains and tears in your history.
This last couple of weeks my training is all bodyweight, the video’s of which many of you are receiving by email at the moment in the 12 Days of Fitness series. But more often than not I train with weight.
There is no way on earth I am prepared to cross town to get into the gym and jump straight into lifting. I could do it, but I guarantee I’ll not be lifting again for several days afterwards, the old SI and Lumbar injuries would cripple me, I’d be so stiff I’d barely make it out of bed the next day.

So it is imperative to spend your first few minutes getting your core temperature elevated, mobilising and lubricating the joints and pumping blood though the muscles, releasing the knots and scar tissue that we know is there.
I have a few warm up protocols that my regulars will be familiar with, the Boot Camp guys train first thing in the morning so we spend the longest time on core temperature. The lunchtime guys have a compressed window of time to train in, so they have an efficient warm up protocol and my evening guys have spent the best part of their day trapped behind a computer desk so they have a mobility oriented warm up.
While the style may change, the principle doesn’t.

• Raise the core temperature with skipping / jogging / squats / push ups
• Loosen muscles and lubricate joints with full range of motion
• Awaken the mind with either coordination drills or some high rep drills.
• Get into it, get on with it and get it done.

A common question I get asked is: Do you stretch in your warm up?
Answer: No

I do go though mobility drills, I go into a stretch position and immediately back out of it for a number of reps, this causes the muscle to contract and relax promoting blood flow. Cold muscles don’t stretch very well, in fact, since the work of Thomas Myers (Anatomy Trains) , Ida Rolf (Rolfing hands on therapy) and their peers, it is thought that much of the stretch occurs through the myofascial network as opposed to just the muscle. The fascia behaves a bit like blu-tack, it starts out stiff, brittle and easy to tear, but as you knead it it becomes pliable and elastic, this clip is the “Blu Tack speech” that explains a bit more about the topic:

Once you have spent maybe 10 minutes getting your general warm up done, it’s time to move to your specific warm up. This is determined by the planned workout. It is usually the exercises done for a few reps at a lower intensity for a few sets.
With bodyweight training there is little specific warm up needed unless you are planning plyometrics or high intensity drills, but with external weight, you absolutely must take time to warm up.
This is a little sequence I use for warming up, for brevity I only included the last few seconds of skipping, watching someone jump rope for 5 minutes is hardly compelling viewing, but pay attention to the joint mobility drills. This is not the only protocol I use, but it does tick all the boxes.
Aat the end of this I was good to go for a Bodyweight Interval session, had I planned a weight training session I’d have moved onto a specific warm up.

Spend time warming up, your body will appreciate it.

Regards

Dave
www.wg-fit.com