Friday, October 26, 2007

One Thing I Wish I Had More Time For....

Muay Thai.



I haven't had much time to train in the last 4 months of so. And, really don;t know when I'll have much time to train in the future.

Either way, I think it is a great sport, fun to watch, fun to train and will get you in great shape conditioning-wise.

Not to mention, sometimes it just feel good to hit something.

The video above is of Ramon Dekkers, one of my favorite fighters.

Great speed, great skill.

Enjoy.

BJ

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Get Pain Free

This is my good friend Steve Wittemann.

Steve has helped me out a ton in the past.

You see Steve has magic in his hands.

No, really. It's magic.

Hip flexor injury/strain...go see Steve.

Shoulder injury after some stupid human trick, or just the regain some ROM after umpteen shoulder dislocations (I stopped counting after about 10 and after I learned how to out in back in the socket, I stopped going to the Dr. when it happened).

Steve's magic isn't some kind of voodoo.

His magic is ART.

While it may be somewhat uncomfortable while your getting treated...It's worth it to be 80-90% pain free in about 15 minutes.

How is this type of thing for, you ask?

Well, while Steve is an Athletic Trainer, he does work with a lot of athletes.

But, believe it or not, he treats even more regular, everyday, Joe Publics then you would think of.

Do you have neck strain from bad posture and being stuck at a cubicle all day?

Then you need an appointment with Steve.

Maybe you work on the line at Harley, performing repetitive movements day in and day out.

Then you need to see Steve.

Carpel Tunnel?

Go see Steve.

So, I think you get the picture.

I should mention too...

Steve used Kettlebells this year to shave 45 minutes off his Half Ironman time.

Yeah, that's just plain nuts.

He also has completed the full Ironman distance on multiple occasions. He's just machine.

For Steve's contact info E-mail me at bj@impact-your-fitness.com

Be sure to put "ART info" in the subject line.

later,

BJ

Deadlift and Bent Press

Two of my favorite strength moves.

While some will argue the Kettlebell Bent Press is nothing more than a party trick, I love the way it forces me to keep constant tension in my lats. Until I build my pull up bar this weekend, since we moved our gym to the garage this will serve as a substitute.

Deadlifts were strong.

Pulled 225 x 3 reps
265 x 3 reps
315 x 1 rep 3 sets

My groove seems to still be there from the TSC training. I thin I have a decent build for the deadlift though, and I have never had a problem getting my glutes into the lift.

I haven't done Kettlebell Bent Presses in a while so I thought WTH!

Nothing fancy:

24kg x 3 reps R/L for 3 sets

Called it quits after that. Next week will start the begining of our next training cycle, although it's still up in the air as to how I'll program it.

I'd like to get my Deadlift to go up with out training it directly. After being around Geoff Neupert this past weekend, I may bust out the old Adistars and haul the Eleiko's up to the platform in the garage.

It's looking like 3 strength/tension days and 2 conditioning days...but time will tell.

I'm hoping to start to incorporate some video into my blog so stay tuned for that. Hopefully I have some tips that will help some of you out.

'til later,

BJ

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Short and Sweet

Felt like something a little heavier tonight.

I haven't done Turkish Get Ups in a while, so I felt I was due to give them a shot.

First set was a little shaky

40kg 1R/1L
32kg 1R/1L x 3 sets

Deadlifts
135 x 3 reps
225 x 2 reps
275 x 1 rep 5 sets

Called it quits after that, just wanted to focus on tension and keeping it. I had some problems with this in the TGUs, that was my fault, my ego got in the way and I started too heavy. No problems with the deadlift, these were sub-maximal weights and I just wanted to practice my groove.

My goal is 5 wheels for the next TSC.

More Pistol practice tomorrow.

Train Hard!

Quick Workout to get back in the swing of things...

After a long weekend up in MN at the RKC, I didn't get much of a workout in. This was my own fault, because how many places can you go with well over 100 KBs at your disposal. I was probably due for a little de-loading though, so in the end it was all good.

I have decided to take it easy this week and ease back into things, test some skills I haven't practiced in a while.

So here's what I did:

Romanian Deadlifts: 5 sets of 3 w/ 135lb - focus on pushing hips back and keeping shoulders retracted and back flat.

Pistols: 5 sets 1 R/L focused on keeping tension and pulling myself down. Left side was shaky coming out of the whole and required a small skip backward on all but one rep. This will get better with practice

Press: 5 sets of 1 R/L with 24kg, just wanted to test out the shoulders. Felt good, but not great. I'll lay off the pressing for a while longer, or move up to the 32kg. I had an "Aha" moment when I heard Jeff O'Connor say all problems with form can be fixed by adding more weight. I realized I rarely fell pain while pressing the 32kg because you have top stay tight.

Pull ups: 5 sets of 3 w/ BW - not so good, I need to get a pull up system that allows me to extend my legs in order to practice "zipping up" on my pull ups. Felt elbow pain and a little pain in my shoulder.

Practiced some "Relax Into Stretch" and "Strength Stretching". Felt good and loosened me up nicely.

That's all for now.

BJ

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Back from the RKC!

Man, I love to teach.

Bottom line, that what I love to do and this weekend I had the opportunity to assist Jeff O'Connor, RKC Team Leader along with Amber Dornfeld in teaching an amazing groups of RKC Students.

Now I admit, I'm Bias, but we had an outstanding group. All made huge improvements. Night and Day difference.

If any of those from Team O'Connor read this I would like to say thanks. I can only hope you got as much from me as I got from you.

Just a short post here because I'm playing catch up after a weekend away.

BJ

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Talk about neglect!

Man, this has really gotten away from me!

I have spent the last two weeks re-designing our website, writing content/copy and trying to get a workout in when ever possible.

The beautiful thing about training with a kettlebell.

All I need to do is allot myself 20 minutes or so and I'm golden.

Any combination of swings, snatches push ups and pull ups do me just fine.

This last week though I have been combining all my KB ballistics with burpees or squat thrusts. I realize now that this is my new favorite drill. Squat thrust into a double 32kg KB deadlift. I tried to count reps, but just ended up doing three sets until boarder line nausea.

Since college I enjoy circuits and sessions that lean toward more conditioning than limit strength. Don't get me wrong, lifting heavy stuff is cool, and I do enjoy it. But, I did sooooo much of it back then it just doesn't have the same appeal anymore.

To see what we have been working on check out the skeleton of the new site at www.impact-your-fitness.com

Be gentile, it's only in it's infancy.

BJ