Knees, Upper Backs, Strength and Wolverine…….

3 05 2013

Today I’ve a few things on my mind. As per normal, my little grey cells are banging on overtime and I’m struggling to tame them into a single coherent article.

So I’ll not bother.

Instead we’re going to talk about:

  1. The Knee
  2. The Upper Back
  3. How Strength Makes Problems Go Away
  4. Wolverine.

So lets begin:

1 – The Knee.

The knee is blamed for a lot of problems, but unfairly so.
On it’s own it’s a complicated beast, essentially working as a hinge but also allowing for a limited amount of rotation. In a fully functioning human being, the knee will last for a lifetime or more, so why do so many have so many issues with it?

Here’s a clue:

Stand up, let your trousers hang naturally. Now, pinch some fabric and give it a twist, do it anywhere from the hip or thigh area. What happens below? Do you see creases forming around the knee? Do you see deformities in the cloth from the pinched area all the way to the floor?
Well that’s a very close analogy to what happens in the muscles and more importantly the fascia of the body.
If you have tightness forming in your calves, your quads or your hip flexors, I’ll place a bet that if you aren’t feeling knee issues yet, then you will soon.
I’ve discussed this topic at length in the past and will do so again I’m sure, but for now here’s one i wrote in response to some of our BJJ guys going on about sore knees.

Now THIS one comes from Mike Robertson, he’s much smarter than me, so read it.

2 – The Upper Back.

Would you like to still be standing tall in your twilight years?
What about having the shoulder stability to throw a knockout punch?
How about the explosive rotational power to take an opponents balance or twist out of a tackle?

Well to tick off all the above, you need a powerful upper back. You need to train this with a dynamic pulling action.
There are many upper back drills, any rowing variation will work,as will pull ups. But non are truly dynamic.
Enter the High Pull.

Better yet, the Half Kneeling High Pull.

Why half kneeling?
Well, it takes out a lot of the hip action forcing the upper body to do more of the work.
The half kneeling position is great for balancing the hips and stabilising the core.
The drill is unilateral and trains the diagonal pulling action of the core, something that is often neglected as people obsess over their anterior core. Imagine taking that “oblique crunch” that is so popular and working the exact opposite movement. Explosively. With weight.

Here it is:

3 - How Strength Makes Problems Go Away

Getting stronger can fix the vast majority of your aches and pains.
It’s the reason Wild Geese Martial Arts founder Paul Cox, with his 50year old arthritic hip and screwed up shoulder can still do this:

Not only that but regularly rolls with the BJJ guys.
How is this possible when he’s on the waiting list for a hip replacement?

Strength.

Strength from deadlifts, squats, kettlebell swings, jerks and figure 8′s.
Strong muscles, those that are trained holistically in a balanced method keep the body moving smoothly, they take some of the stress away from the joints, they ensure an aligned structure.
In other words, strength rules.
If you think you’re too old to strength train, have a look here:

4 – Wolverine

I have a finisher I like to use with my guys, it’s a countdown set of Kettlebell Swings and Bodyweight Squats.
We start with Swings for say 35 reps, then do 5 bodyweight or hindu squats. The swings go down by 5 reps each set, while the squats go up by 5 reps each set. This continues until the numbers are reversed. Needless to say, speed is a factor, get it done with minimal rest.

Usually I write it up as follows:
Beginners: 25/5
Intermediate: 30/5
Advanced: 35/5
Batman: 50/5

Then some smart arse pipes up asking  ”whats the next level after Batman?”
Well, there’s only one superhero harder than Batman, only one with more attitude and that’s Wolverine.

batvswolverine
So the Wolverine level Swing / Squat countdown is with extra attitude.
Use Double Kettlebell swings and Jump Squats, minimal acceptable level for Wolverine is 35/5.
I did it swinging a pair of 32′s outside the legs, and it sucked.
What will you do?

Thats all for today.

Will see you after the weekend

Regards

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


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Categories : Kettlebell lifting Dublin, Strength and Conditioning

Integrated Strength for Combat Sports

3 12 2012

punchStrength is important. We know this.

Yet how many guys do you know who are monsters in the gym yet can’t seem to apply this strength in the outside world, be it during a rugby match, a fight or any other physical endeavour?

I’ve known plenty. During the years I worked as a nightclub doorman I stood beside many huge monsters. I’d listen to them telling stories of their gym prowess, how big then benched that afternoon, numbers that I could only dream of hitting.
Yet whenever it kicked off, it was me, the smallest of the crew, that they relied on.
So why could these huge guys with massive bench presses not apply this strength to a real world scenario?

They never looked to integrate that pressing power with the rest of the body.
This is a huge mistake in my book.

Coordinated movement is powerful movement. Watch a fighter move, see how fluid they are? Do you see excess tension? No, they are graceful, cat like.
Their muscles fire in a coordinated fashion, they work synergistically, they move the way they are designed to, not the way some body building protocol is telling them to.

So in terms of upper body, coordinated strength, I don’t favour the bench press. I still use it, it’s is great for maximal strength, but it needs help. And the top exercise for real upper body power, the kind of power that travels from the feet, via a strong and tight core into a powerful shoulder, well that is the One Arm Push Up.

For a long time this was my primary upper body movement. It’s still an integral part of my own training and it is an essential part of all my fighters and rugby players routines.
Each person I’ve introduced to the drill has discovered their striking or throwing power has gone up and their injury rate has gone down.

During yesterdays Bodyweight Training Workshop I videoed the teaching points, including the progressions into the One Arm Push Up.

Here’s the clip:

 

And for your viewing pleasure, here’s me suffering through a One Arm Push Up set after a kettlebell press workout.
You’ll notice two things about this workout:

1 – I’m using the Ladder protocol, my prefered training method with this drill. A ladder set goes as follows: 1L/R, 2L/r, 3L/R. This is one set, I performed 3 sets of this. To progress either do more sets or add rungs to the ladder (1,2,3,4)

2 – I’m swapping hands in the bottom position. This amplifies the intensity of the exercise as it removes the stretch loading f0r the first rep on each change.

Here’s the clip:

I can’t recommend the One Arm Push Up enough if you are a fighter or involved on contact sports.

Regards

Dave
http://www.WG-Fit.com

 


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Categories : Bodyweight training

Learn to Train & Succeed with Bodyweight Training

20 08 2012

Pistol Squat

Bodyweight Training workshop
8/9/12 – Tramore Kettlebell Fitness

Due to popular demand I’ll be running a Bodyweight Training workshop.
This will be held at my friend Gan Power’s gym, Tramore Kettlebell Fitness.

You may have noticed over the last while I’ve been training almost exclusively with bodyweight exercises (read my training log here). Now while there’s been a massive emphasis on high rep squats, but there’s a lot of other exercises and drills I’ve been using that you may not have heard of.
It is also worth noting that most of my guys, even my strongest BJJ lads, are often humbled by some of the bodyweight drills I give them. In my opinion the use of bodyweight exercise is more useful to an athlete as they need to control their body moving through space. Sitting still and lifting an external weight may offer greater load, but it offers less proprioceptive feedback and requires much less intramuscular coordination.
Big words I know, but come along on the day and all will be explained.

Book your place today click here

Martial Arts inspired training methods for building genuine strength & power, not just “gym strength”

Over the course of the day I will share over 20 years of training experience from my roots in traditional martial arts, the physical training methods found in Karate, Aikido, Goshin Jitsu (Ju-Jitsu). The training I learned from the strength & conditioning coach at my school who looked after a top 15 schoolboy rowing team.
We’ll look at bodyweight training methods from Chinese martial arts, some of which were taught to me by top coach Steve Cotter.
We’ll show how to work the entire body in a balanced fashion with zero equipment. We’ll look at the best exercises for building strength, endurance, work capacity.
We’ll look at various methods for programming the exercises to suit various wants and needs. Are you a fighter? A fitness enthusiast? Do you need power or endurance? Are you looking for metabolic conditioning?

All avenues will be discussed. Including, and probably most importantly, how I integrate bodyweight training into a multi modality training program. How I combine external loading and bodyweight loading to create incredible results for my athletes.
an considering my athletes are nearly all involved in contact sports, be it martial arts or team sports, they can’t afford to have second rate fitness levels.

The workshop will cover (but not limited to):

Real explosive power

-Push Up variations to work every aspect of the body
-Squat variations
-Unilateral training
-Martial Arts strength training secrets
-Integrated core training
-Total body conditioners
-Agility
-Bodyweight for explosive power
-Mobility
-Much, much moreDate: Sept 8th,
Times: 1000 – 1600
Location: Tramore Kettlebell Fitness,
unit1,1 riverstown, business pk
Tramore, Ireland

Cost: €50

For booking:
email info@wildgeesema.com with Bodyweight Workshop in the subject line


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Categories : Bodyweight training

Progressing your Strength with Kettlebells

29 06 2012

The key to improving yourself through training is progression.
There are several forms of progression, we will talk about various methods as we go. But right now I want to talk about the simplest and probably best known form of progressing, adding weight to your lifts.

This topic came up yesterday while chatting to one of my Lunchtime Fitness regulars. He has recently started using the 24kg kettles for much of his double work and was asking about how he could add some barbell  work into his home routine.

This highlighted an issue.

A barbell can be loaded in tiny increments. The smallest I have here at WG are 1.25kg plates, but you can get smaller. So if this week I deadlift 130kg for sets of 3, next week I’ll add the small plates and lift 132.5kg for the same reps and progress will have been made.

Not so with the kettle. They go up in 4kg jumps, which becomes 8kg if you’re using doubles.
So this week I press a pair of 32′s overhead for 5, next week I’ll press a pair of 36′s….I don’t think so!
64kg one week to 72kg the next? An increase of 12% (these jumps are even more extreme for less strong lifters, going from a pair of 8′s to 12′s is a massive 50% jump!). The Deadlift example was a mere 2% increment.

So the standard gym adage of add weight each week simply cannot apply to the kettlebell.
So progress must be made more slowly with kettles. Usually be adding volume rather than weight. In other words if I’m pressing 32′s for 5 this week, next week I’ll either try 6reps or I’ll attempt an additional set of 5.
A model I use a lot for my strength oriented guys lifting the kettles will be to start out with 3 sets of 3 reps, each week they add a set until they hit 5 sets of 3 reps.
At this point we begin adding reps to each set until we eventually get to 5 sets of 5 reps.
Total volume at the beginning is 9 reps or  576kg’s lifted, by the end of the series the volume has increase to 25reps or 1600kg’s lifted.

By the time you get here you will have truly mastered that weight and will be ready to move up to the next kettle but starting over with 3 sets of 3reps.

This is the difference with the kettle, you must master each weight before moving to the next, the jumps are simply too big to allow anything else.

In my mind, this is a safer form of progress and one which I also apply to all barbell work. Even though I have the option of making small increments each week on a bar, I often choose not to, instead prefering to master the weight before increasing it.

It may be a slower road, but it’ll give you greater results over a longer time scale, often with a reduced injury risk.

Regards

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


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An Often Overlooked Performance Attribute

15 02 2012

Is it over? Tell me it's over!

I just threw up a facebook message following this mornings Boot Camp performance.
I stated that the guys Speed was increasing while their recovery times were dropping.

It got me thinking about today’s blog post, the importance of recovery time.

Most of my guys, and indeed most of the people reading this blog are more interested in improving their performance than they are in improving their aesthetic appearance. Which is good, I’ve little interest in aesthetics, I’ve always trained either for performance or simply for the enjoyment of it.

When it comes to improving performance there are several factors that need to be taken into account, for example:

  • Skill – how well can you perform the event in which you are performing
  • Strength – how much force can you produce during the execution of the skill
  • Speed – how quickly can you perform the skill
  • Power – how quickly can you produce strength
  • Agility – how well can you move
  • Recovery Time – how quickly can you repeat the skill at 100% efficiency?

Most of us start with skill, we learn to run, we learn to punch, we learn to throw or kick etc, often times agility and sometimes speed is included with the skill training.
Many then realise the need to build  the other attributes, for me as young Karate-Ka I needed strength first, then power. As my main form of transport was (and still is) my trusty bicycle I always had good cardio, but I’m not naturally strong.

The attribute I see being left out, or forgotten about is recovery time.

It’s all well and good being able to throw a flurry of powerful punches,  overwhelm an opponent during a scramble for position or sprint forward to make a tackle. But if you can’t then recover and compose yourself quickly you’ll lose the advantage gained.
You need to be able to work all out, recover and do it again. And again. And again.

This is where training specifically to improve your recovery time comes in.
This is why interval and circuit training are vital training methods.
This is why a stop watch, or better yet, a countdown timer is an essential  training tool.

Here’s a few methods for developing recovery time:

  • Density Training – Pick a drill and do as many perfect reps  as possible within a set time period. Each week aim to add an extra rep within the same time period.
  • Use a countdown timer for all rest periods in the gym.
    Yeah so what if your powerlifting mate tells you to rest 5 mins between sets, he’s training for 1 lift. For us, using the same set and rep scheme, even the same weight for a few workouts is fine, just as long as we gradually reduce the rest periods week by week.
  • Partner Intervals – This is a favourite of mine, no stopwatch needed, just a good training partner. Perform and exercise or complex, as soon as you’re done, your partner goes, then back to you for rounds.
  • Active Rest – Don’t just rest, move about. Put a cardio or agility drill in between each strength or skill exercise.
    This is great with a partner, he lifts, you cardio, as soon as his set is done swap. I love doing this alternating between heavy Farmers walks and Battling Ropes, it’s ‘orrible!
  • Minute Drills – My lunchtime crew are familiar with these, they “love” ‘em!
    Set a buzzer to sound every 60 seconds. As soon as it goes bang out a circuit of 2-4 exercises for 4-6 reps each, make sure to hit the whole body.
    The faster you get the circuit done, the longer you get to recover because as soon as that 60 seconds is up and the buzzer sounds, you’re going again!
    10 – 15 minutes of this is usually enough and works great after a strength workout or as a stand alone conditioning set.
  • Fartlek Training – While out running constantly change speed for a variety of distances. I find it works best with a partner, while running you pick out an object in the distance and the two of you race to it, when you get there return to a slower jog. It’s now his turn, whenever he’s ready he’ll make a call. This is fun and very challenging.

So there you have it, 6 simple methods to help you become better able to recover and repeat you skill, without loosing strength, power and speed.
It’s not the athlete that never tires that wins, but it’s the ones who can best manage that fatigue that come out on top.

For more ideas and information on developing your fitness, have a look at the WMD – Strength & Conditioning for Martial Artists eBook which is based on our Boot Camp program.

Click Here to begin Training like a Combat Athlete

Regards

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

Also:
Steve Cotter’s CKT 1 & 2 courses, June 2-4 here in Dublin. CLICK HERE FOR INFO

Wild Geese Kettlebell Workshops Levels 1 &2, March 4th, details in side bar –>


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Categories : Strength and Conditioning

Running for Fat Loss?

10 01 2011

Driving through town the last few evenings I’ve witnessed an incredible amount of people out jogging.

I’ll guess it’s the new years resolutions kicking in and people are all out trying to lose a few pounds.
Fair play to them, but is there a better way?

Short answer:

Yes

Long answer:

Jogging is not the ideal weight loss training method, for a number of reasons. One of which is the damage it can do to the body.
I’m not anti running as seems to be fashionable in the weight loss/fitness industry at the moment, but i do think everything has it’s place.
For an unconditioned, overweight person starting out on a fitness program, running is not necessarily the best start point.

As we run each footfall can land with the force of up to 12 times your bodyweight. I weigh 85kg, so that could be 1020kg on every step being absorbed by my ankles, knees, hips and spine. Now I’ve years of running experience behind me but even in experienced runners this impact is still in the region of 5 times bodyweight (425kg)
If we run for 5 kilometers, that’s 5000 meters. An average stride length will be around a meter, so 5000 footfalls, each sending a tonne weight through you. All on unconditioned muscles and joints.

So for a start, those numbers ought to tell you that going from inactivity to road running isn’t wise. But it’s still not the full story, I used myself as an example, my 85kg bodyweight is around 12% bodyfat, that leaves 75kg’s of lean tissue, muscle, bone etc to take the impact.
For the Mr Resolution, he may be up around 25% bodyfat at the same weight. He will have 64kg’s of lean tissue, over ten kilo’s less than me at the same bodyweight, or if you like, equivalent to me running with a 10kg backpack on.

The potential for injury is very high, especially if like many at this time of year, you throw yourself headlong into your program.

And then there’s the actual calorie count. Weight loss, or more accurately Fat Loss os a two-pronged animal, it requires dietary discipline as well as elbow grease and sweat.
We’ve all heard the “Calories In Calories Out” discussion, burn more calories than you consume and you’ll lose weight. This is true. However it’s not the full story.

We are, as a species built to run, it’s something we’ve been doing since we stood on two feet. Our bodies are very efficient at it. A jog doesn’t require much more energy than a walk. and pretty much as soon as we stop our metabolism returns to a normal level.  You’re likely to burn around 6-800 calories during a run. So long as you eat clean, you will lose some weight.
The weight you lose may not be the weight you want to lose though.
As discussed, we are very efficient when it comes to running. But the body does know that it will perform better with less weight to carry.
As muscle outweighs fat, and fat is a useful energy store, whereas muscle costs energy to keep. What do you think goes?

Quite often runners and other cardio athletes seem to have a hard time shifting their spare tire. The body wants to keep its fuel store topped up.

So to lose bodyfat and get that beach body, running is only one part of the equation, and certainly not the first part.

So what is?

Strength training.

Build some muscle. Just sitting there a muscle is burning energy, the more of it you have the higher your resting metabolic rate will be.
Adding some muscle to the body will involve strength training, this will assist in injury proofing the body, strengthening the tendons and ligaments.
Training using full body workouts, alternating between upper and lower body with minimal rest will provide a cardio effect similar to running but without the impact.
Muscle building workouts, especially short sharp and intense sessions encourage the EPOC effect. This is a fancy way of saying that the metabolism burns at a higher rate for longer.

An aerobic workout will elevate the metabolism but it will return to normal within a few hours. An anaerobic workout will cause the metabolism to burn higher for up to 36 hours. So while you may burn more calories during a 20 minute run than you would in a 20 minute bodyweight workout, over the following 24 hours your total calorie burn will be higher for the strength session as the body does it’s best to rebuild the muscles stronger.

So for everyone who is out on their new years resolutions to lose weight, here’s a tip. Save the running for a while, come back to it later. For now you need to be working your strength, build some muscle, clean up the diet and I can guarantee you’ll like what you see.
Save the running untill after your workouts, or on the days between your workouts. And wherever possible run on grass or other soft surfaces and change pace regularly (intervals and fartleks).

Here’s a sample bodyweight workout, it can be done in less than 20 minutes and will charge your body into a fat burning furnace:

 1A: Jump Squat (regular squats for beginners)
1B: Wall Slides
12-15 reps of each, 3 sets

2A: Reverse Lunge
2B: Push Up
12-15 Reps each, 3 sets

3A: Overhead Squat
3B: Back Hyper
3C: Criss Cross
12-15 reps, 3 sets

If you need further guidance, feel free to come along to any of the classes, or take advantage of our online training service.

Regards

Dave
www.wg-fit.com


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Categories : Personal Training Dublin

A Tale of Two Extremes

23 08 2010

The weekend just gone has been just awesome.

Myself and fellow Wild Geese had the opportunity to attend two fantastic workshops. Both jam packed with great information that can help take our performances to the next level, but also both polar opposites to each other.

On the Saturday, we hosted a Yoga Workshop and then on Sunday we travelled out of town to attend a Power Lifting workshop.
They couldn’t be more different.

In the Yoga session, we learned about Somatic exercises. I recently read Thomas Hanna’s book on the subject of Somatics and found it fascinating, his views on the body and how it works make a lot of sense. Much of Hanna’s work is centred around regaining control of the nervous system, using gentle almost lazy exercises to release habitual tension in the body and allow it to move freely. I highly recommend you get a copy of the book and have read, especially if you’re a coach. However Hanna is not a coach, he’s a therapist, so while he provides an illustrated section on his exercises, it is very hard to follow. Having an instructor teach you these drills takes no time at all, getting them from Hanna’s book is nightmare!

However, the lazy nature of Somatic movement belies it’s effectiveness, within a few minutes my tight back had completely loosened out and the hips felt free.
From the Somatics we were taken through some more traditional Yoga poses, emphasising spinal alignment and mobility and hip opening drills. It never fails to amuse me when a group of hairy arsed martial artists and Iron athletes, myself included, are humbled and humiliated by a few “simple” poses.
But by the end of the workshop I felt loose and mobile. When I say loose I don’t mean floppy, like a ragdoll, more in the way that a cat is loose and effortless in it’s movement, ye can generate massive amounts of power when it wants to.

Then came Sunday, and a trip down to a friends gym in Tullamore, Co. Offaly. Dolan Fitness, run by Kieran Dolan, is an excellent strength gym, he’s got power cages, a lifting platform, stacks or bars and a whole heap of plates. It’s a gym for getting strong in, the perfect venue then for workshop with the worlds strongest power lifter.
Andy Bolton from Leeds in England was over to demonstrate, teach and discuss the power lifts, the Bench Press, the Squat and Andy’s signature lift, the Deadlift.

If you’ve trained with me, or read this blog regularly, or even just been around the Wild Geese studio in Dublin, you’ll know that we are big fans of the deadlift. Having the opportunity to learn more about this lift, possibly the ultimate lift in strength training, from the 1st man to ever Deadlift over 1000lb in history is an opportunity not to be missed.
Andy is a giant of a man, but he’s also an absolute gentleman. He stepped onto the platform and with very little fanfare just got on with setting up a bar. He invited lads to join him as he warmed up, he was actually going to do a Deadlift training session there and then. What better way to learn than to see how the master actually trains.

The whole time he answered questions, corrected lads form (by Andy’s 3rd warm up set, the bar was too heavy for any of us to continue), explained how and why he did certain things the way he did, but never said his way was the only way. Often he’d say that each person ahs to find out for themselves what works, he can only really show what works for himself.

And work it does. On his arm he has tattooed (forgive me if I get this wrong, I’, writing from memory) the words “A day in history, 1003lb deadlift, x/x/06″. That’s the day he became the strongest man ever to walk the earth. 1003lb is 455kg. He’s gone even heavier since and done 1008lb (457kg). He’s also 1 of only 5 men in the world to have squatted over 1200lb (545kg) with a best of 1213lb (550.5kg)

His secret, is no secret at all. It’s common sense and consistent, patient hard work. He never maxes out in the gym and always records his workouts. If it aint written down, he says, how do you know it works?

Please go over to www.andyboltonstrength.net and have a read over some of his site, this is man is the real deal and as humble as they come.

So that was my weekend, two extremes, but both extremely useful.

As I often write, a martial artist has to be a well rounded athlete, we can’t afford to specialise in one particular are of training. Watching Andy move it is clear that while he is vastly strong, his mobility and cardio are somewhat below par, he wouldn’t last the first round in a fight (unless he grabbed hold of you in the first few seconds, in which case, he’s capable of tearing you in half!). Whereas Anne, our Yoga coach can barely squat her own bodyweight but can move like a dream.

Both these people are specialists in their area, Andy doesn’t need to move like a gymnast and Anne has little use for an enormous back. As a fighter, we need a bit of both. Two much either way and we loose our edge, we have to balance everything, to be strong enough to dominate an opponent, to be mobile enough to move quickly and fluidly and to be fit enough to go the distance if we must.

As a conditioning coach I specialise in getting guys to last the distance, I’ve an excellent working knowledge of strength and mobility, but from this weekend my knowledge has increased. I can now look to apply training elements from the Powerlifter and from the Yogi into both my own and to my athletes training programs. This way we can create even better athletes

, more fearsome fighters and more well rounded, efficient human beings.

Regards

Dave
www.wg-fit.com
www.wildgeesema.com


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Categories : Personal Training Dublin

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome

28 04 2010

Today was very nearly a disaster.
I went out to collect my Laptop from the PC Guys, and found out it wasn’t ready as it was not just clogged with dust and overheating, but it was also infected with viruses. So I’m stuck using this old backup laptop that only two steps up from an abacus.
Then to the bank, not open. When it did open 20 minutes later, I had to wait for another 15 minutes while the cashier shuffled papers around.
I was very nearly late down to Wild Geese HQ to open up. That would not have been acceptable! My guys should not have to wait around while some obese desk jockey has a moment of authority!

Maybe I should have given her my card….

Anyhow, I got into Wild Geese and decided to do my own training before anyone arrived. On the cards is Heavy Upper Body.
My program at the moment is a 4 day split aimed at building up some strength. It consists of two heavy and two light workouts as follows:
Mon – Heavy Lower Body
Tues – Heavy Upper Body
Wed – Off
Thurs – Light Lower Body
Fri – Light Upper Body.

I’m using the Kettlebell Snatch on lower body days and Jerks on upper body days for high rep finishers.

So far it’s been going well. I started purposefully light so as not to aggravate my injuries and progress was going just right. Untill yesterday.

I missed training. Tuesday is my busiest day, I just didn’t have that time slot I needed for my workout. I know how I preach about no excuses and time-saving training etc. But yesterday was a non starter. To complete the workout would have meant cutting the warm up short, no chance, not while coming back from the shoulder injury.

However, I simply postponed. So today I start to warm up. Immediately I feel the good shoulder pulling. So I did something unheard of in my history of training. I stopped.
Thats right, in my old age I’m getting sensible!

To continue would have stopped me training for the next week even two. So by skipping a heavy upper body, I can pick up on Thurs with Light Lower and then hopefully friday with Light Upper.

We shall see.

Today wasn’t a complete wash out though. I placed a medicine ball at each end of the room, 14 meters apart, picked up a pair of 24′s and did the lunges of death. 6 lengths of the room, or 84 meters of walking lunges. This took me 5 minutes to complete, just in time for my first Lunchtime Fitness appointment to walk in.

We all get injured and life always gets in the way of training from time to time. The trick is to keep your head up and work around it. If you’re still breathing you can still do something.

If you’re not, call a doc, fast!!

In other kettlebell related news I have 3 announcements for you:

  1. On May 9th, I will be running a Level 2 workshop and Wild Geese HQ, get in touch to book a place.
  2. A friend of ours, Canadian based personal trainer The Girl With No Name, recently took to Kettlebell Lifting, she will be telling of her experience under the bell and answering questions via Twitter chat tonight. Details on http://gwnn.me/KBsOnTwitter
  3. Me old mate over in Edinburgh has finally announced dates of a program he’s been working on, “The Way of the Kettlebell” Knowing Rannoch, this will be very well thought out and very detailed. If you get to one of his workshops before I do……….well enjoy. More details here: http://simplestrength.com/workshops-2/aberdeen/

Regards
Dave


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Strength Training for Fight Training

31 03 2010

Recently some of the Wild Geese Kickboxers have been coming to me asking for advice on getting stronger.

And I have to admit, I’m delighted.

Right from its inception, Wild Geese have been offering conditioning training for its fighters. But various coaches are a little set in their ways and the lads often think that what they do in class is enough.

The coaches I can understand. They’ve done what they’ve done for years and have gotten great results, why change?

Simply since the rise and rise of MMA and the UFC franchise, conditioning has become ever more apparent. The old adage in the martial arts that strength doesn’t matter has been thrown out the window. On the TV show “Ultimate Fighter” you see the contestants go through rigorous conditioning sessions as well as their actual Martial arts training.

And very often, the man who works harder at getting stronger off the mat is the victor on it.

This trend has been noted by other martial artists now and it’s creeping into the wider world.
I see this as a good thing.
For years I’ve been advocating strength training for martial arts. Those around are just starting to listen.

So what do I recommend?

Well that depend on the fighter and the fight.
But nearly always I see weaknesses in fighters backs and hips. Hours and hours of crunches, stretching and cardio often leave them with weaknesses here.
This leads to power leakages when they strike and a greater potential for injury. The answer is simple, Deadlifts for strength and Kettlebell Swings for power endurance.

The strength coach must be carefull to ensure that the conditioning training doesn’t take away from the fighters technical training. They must be fresh enough to work with complicated techniques and combinations, yet building the ability to do these techniques in a fatigued state.

Some method of periodisation then is necessary.
I’m about to put a fighter on a low rep strength program. He has little need for extra conditioning, I’ve seen him knock out around 300 pressups in sets of 50!
Obviously he has endurance.

His 6 pack maybe impressive but his back is weak, therefore his core, as a unit is weak. Which means that whatever power is being generated by his hips isn’t necessarily getting through to his shoulders for that knock out punch.

For this individual a low rep heavy training scheme could be the answer. Build that dense muscle, train the body to function as a unit and build the absolute strength that so often serves as a foundation for both power and endurance.

He is merely one example.
Other fighters, especially if their fight is still a few months out would benefit from building strength and endurance at the same.
Here’s a cracking circuit I perform some days, particularly when short of time:

Perform the following exercises back to back:

1 rep Deadlift
15 Rep Kettlebell Jerk (each arm)
20 Rep Sledgehammer slams into a tyre (alternate left and right)

Take a minute break, add weight to the deadlift and repeat. I usually work towards 5 rounds, with the 5th round being just shy of my 1 RM deadlift (fatigue prevents a true 1 RM)

This one circuit trains all aspects of the fighter, max strength and hip extension through the deadlift, transferring power from lower to upper body via the jerk and then some abdominal work on the tyre.

Play around with it, it’s only one example.
There are many other exercises you could choose.

The key is to work the whole body through a variety of rep ranges in a variety of angles.

Careful dieting and mobility work will keep the body within its ideal weight category and ready to fight at a moments notice.

If strength turns out not to be an issue, I also have a foolproof method of building non stop conditioning and will power, using only One Exercise.
But more on that another day.


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Categories : martial arts, Strength and Conditioning

Deadlift, or should that be Healthlift?

16 07 2008

The deadlift, one of the core movements that should be in anybodies training program.
Yet as I spend more time in commercial gyms I don’t see people doing it, when I did my “fitness instructor” certification it wasn’t taught.

Why?

As a lift it has a bad name. It isn’t considered safe and there doesn’t seem to be any fancy overpriced machine based exercise that replicates it.

Is it safe? Like all weight lifting, or in fact any exercise there is an element of risk, it it largely dependant upon the individual. Proper warm up and good techniques will reduce this risk to a minimum, improper warmup and poor techniques will almost guarantee injury.

What is it?
Simply reaching down and picking a weight off the floor. Set a bar up, stand with your toes just under it, reach down keeping the back straight and body tight, drive through the hips and stand up.
The benefits of the lift are immediate, the entire musculature of the back and lower body is used to move the bar. Your back and core will become strong and resistant to injury, reducing or even eliminating that nagging back pain. The legs become like pistons, powerful and enduring. The hips become snappy, essential for a fighter.

Does that mean you get huge like Arnie? Not with a minimalist routine like the one Pavel Tsatsouline wrote in his book dedicated to the deadlift named Power to the People! I have it and highly recommend it.

The book goes into great detail and talks about 2 lifts that together do work the entire body and can build great strength. As a fighter, I believe adding a Power to the People! style weight programme to the training is an excellent way of boosting your explosive power, strength and resilience, without running the risk of overtraining.

Pavel does go on a bit about the side press, and while it is a fantastic lift I think I’d substitute the clean and press, at least some of the time.

I was deadlifing yesterday and feel great today, I haven’t been able to deadlift properly in a while due to injury (from other activities), so approched it with caution. I only planned a super quick workout here’s what I did:
Deadlift, 1 rep followed by 5 reps of Steve Maxwell’s Maxercist burpee (hindu pushup followed by jumping to a high bar to do a pullup).
I added weight to the bar each time round doing:
50, 70, 90, 100, 110kg, all for one rep with a set of maxercist in between. Next week I’ll go heavier as the old injuries are feeling good and there was no pain the following day.

Happy healthlifts

Dave

Wild Geese
www.wildgeesema.com
www.wg-fit.com
any cause but our own


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