RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT LIFE AND TRAINING OF A SENIOR RKC

www.classicironkettlebells.com

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Congratulations!!!!

Congrats to two of my good friends

Bob Dudley, who just became an RKC this weekend, welcome to the family!!!

Sara Cheatham, who was promoted to SR. RKC you go girl.

Getting ready &150 pounds of love


I have been getting things ready for Denmark for the last week. I training has just been that basics and nothing fancy. One things you need to do as an instructor is being able to demo the basics at any time. I don't stray from the basics during my regular training but I have been doing all 6 exercises each day. I normally focus on one main lift a day, but not this week.

The last two days have been wicked hot 100 degrees. So hanging out at the beach and swinging a bell will draw a good bit of attention. I have had several people come up and ask about the workout and where I teach them. So after Denmark I think I will have plenty of new blood. I also stopped by an MMA gym in the area and they seem very interested in having me train some of the fighters, COOL!!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Instinct?

I watched a show on National Geographic this weekend about the Dog Brothers fight club. It's a no holds barred fight club. They use sticks, whips and anything else you can think of it's there. The idea behind the this club is that males need to fight as part of their primal make up. They also claim that someday they will have to protect themselves and their families.

This got my wife and I talking. Was there something that to this idea? She pointed out how I love to watch UFC fights. Which got me to thinking. Why do I like watching UFC? I was a wrestler in my high school years and I loved it. So that is the reason I was first drawn to the UFC. At the same time I do enjoy seeing a good fight. That being said I don't want to go out and beat somebody down to fill my primal lusts. Later the day I was watching a motorcycle race, which is a life long passion of mine. I found myself just as pumped as I watched guys ride a bike at super human speeds with tremendous skills and guts. There is nothing better than braking hard for a corner and laying the bike over into the corner. As you come out of the corner grabbing a handful of throttle, blasting out of the corner and holding on for your life.

Is the primal need for aggression or is it the need for adrenaline? I think it is more about the rush than it is the fight, it makes you feel alive. I think it depends on the individual and their thing, some people climb Everest, some race motorcycles, some fight, some do 1500 swings or press the BEAST.

Humans as a whole are adrenaline junkies and I do think there is something instinctual about it. It is more than a look what I can do attitude, it's the feeling you get after the fact. At that moment you are the only person in the world that has ever done it! It doesn't matter if it's the first time you pressed a heavy kettlebell, win a fight or went 100 miles an hour it's the rush that follows.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Check this out!!

This video was sent to me by one of my clients. The snatches are the best, the form is unreal!!!

Here is the link to check it out! http://gallery.mac.com/schinny/100068

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Finally

Well today was the day, Jen's nursing stuff showed up today. Thank God!

It's ON!

Last night Jen and I were walking the bulldogs like we always do, when things got a little tense. We pass a house and heard a lady yelling COME! COME! COME BACK! to me that means loose dog, I was right. I turned around to see a full grown male pitbull running down the side walk and straight at Maximus and I. Keep in mind that a full grown pitbull weigh about 70 pounds and Max is around 150. American Bulldogs were to bred work and protect farms and things like that. That however doesn't mean that they will run when challenged. Sure enough the pitbull kept coming, followed closely by his owner. I could tell the pit meant business. He came straight at Max and stopped and smelled him for a second, then he lunged. This was a bad idea, as Max laid the ass whoopin on him the pit decided that he should stop. His owner grabbed him and apologized repeatedly. I told her that I understood. Then an odd thing happened she thanked me for letting Max kick her dogs ass. She said he needed to be taught a lesson. How do you respond to that? She went her way we went ours and the rest of the walk peaceful. That is a hell of a way to get you heart rate up that's for sure.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Peaceful

I did snatches today on the beach. There is no better place to do high rep snatches, just stare at the waves and do your thing. Grabbed a 24kg and busted out 37/37. The rest of the session went like this.

24kg
Hand 2 hand cleans 5/5x2
MP 5/5
Hand 2 hand snatches 10/10x2 15/15x1 These are just a damn good time. You really need to tame the arc to get these done
Front squats to GTG 5/5x2

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Classes and Stuff

Things are starting to pick up in both my Monday night and Tuesday morning classes. Now both are done on the beach. It's a great place to teach KB skills. It's nice to be able to just dump the bells after a tough set.

My training today was four of the six basics all done with a 36kg bell.

Swings
Cleans
Military Press
Front squats

Monday, April 14, 2008

California winter/spring

Yesterday was a lovely spring day here in southern Cali, 97 and SUNNY!!! Holy Crap it was hot. We went to a birthday party for one of my clients. It was nice to meet new people and I think that I will be able to suck a few of them into KB class.

Today the temps are much better 75 and sunny. We went to the beach and trained.

Double swings with a 24kg and 36kg 2x15
Double MP 24kg and 36kg 2x5
Double swings 24kg and 36kg 2x15
Clean and press 36kg 2x5/5
MP 36kg 2x5/5
DARC swing 36kg 2x10
Halos and slingshots

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Bear crawls and swings

Had a fast one today on the beach. It was damn hot 96.5 and SUNNY!

24 kg bear crawl and swings
120'bear crawl with swings every 15'
then
24kg bear crawl and snatches
60' bear crawl with snatches every 15'

24kg MP 5/5x2
24kg pull over sit up 5x2

Friday, April 11, 2008

Training and bulldogs



We the beach to train
75 not a cloud in the sky

Jen
16kg swings 50x2
8kg snatches 15/15x3

Me
5 minutes TGU 36kg
Get up sit up 3/3 x 2 36kg
MP 3/3 x2 36kg

Unreal

I have to say somethings are a real pain in the ass! The state of California has a nursing shortage of somewhere around 22,000 nurses needed. Great Jen is a nurse! Her paper work has been in process for three months. We have sent them checks on two different occasions. They have both been cashed but no new license yet. Jen called the state today and they said her license would be sent out two weeks after the check was cashed. What sense does this make? They have a nursing shortage and it's like pulling teeth to get things through the red tape. So we have to wait two more weeks, what a waste of time!!!!!!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

DMV

Wasted a day sitting at the DMV yesterday. I had to get new plates and drivers license. I also had to take the written test, which I passed without even looking at the book. NICE!

Hit the beach today 70 and sunny,

24kg snatches
Presses
swings
Waiters walks
Just a little of everything.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Good stuff

I went rock climbing for the first time in about 4 months on Friday night. I my style was crap, I had no flow at all, and just hacked at the wall. I was able to pull off some good stuff because of my strength, but my forearms pumped up like a champ. I'm still sore today!!! I'm going to make it to climb once a week from now on to keep things up to snuff. The more you climb the smoother your style gets.

Training today will be a bunch of presses to save the forearms from snatches or tons of swings

Back from the beach it went like this,
MP 80# kb 3/3x10
Swings 80# 20x2

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

What I needed!






I hit the gym today, I mean beach. I needed to move some weight. I grabbed the pair of 80 pound kb's that I got from Russia and headed to the ocean. Heavy doubles were the order of the day.

First up I had to farmers walk about 200 feet to the spot where we trained.

Double Swings 15x2 DBL 80#
MP 5x3 DBL 80#
Renegade row 5/5x2 DBL 80#
Farmers walk 200 feet back top the car
It felt good to move something with some size.

PS Check out the PARTY hair cut

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Smog check and other stuff

Today was a bunch of running around. Started with 7am class on the beach which rocks, followed by a dog walk, smog check, hair cut and finally my workout.

Hands were a little warm from yesterdays session I didn't think it would be a problem until my 5th set of snatches. Then I felt that moment where a few layers under the surface your skin turns to liquid, so I stopped. After you have trained with bells for awhile you learn when your skin is about to give up. This is of coarse after several occasion where I didn't know what was happening and pushed through it. Bleeding on the handle of the bell will work your grip more but there are better was to do that. Here was my session.

Snatches 24kg 15/15x4, 10/10x1 because the hands were done
MP 24kg 5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5x1
Done for the day.

PS. The hair cut is the PARTY STANDARD. Some of you know what that is, the rest will find out in future blogs.