2 x 16 kg LCC&J:
1 min sets x 10, rest 1 min
6 reps/set/60 reps total
I am beginning to fully realize the value of a coach. I think I am just getting the right idea of how to lower the bells from the top to the rack. That's after about 10 months of training. Shit! Anyway, I guess later is better than never. Today I felt for the first time how to fully relax the arms during the drop. The key for me was leaning the torso back more and moving the hips forward. Doing it with light kettlebells at relatively low tempo makes it easier to grasp the technique. I admit that this part of AKC teaching is spot on (when I am wrong I am wrong).
2 x 16 kg jerks:
30 reps/5 minutes
That was the test of the newly acquired technical nuance. These 5 minutes felt good, and the arms were not tired (not THAT tired) at the end of it. To help relaxing arms during the drop it helps to make a slight hint at actively pulling the elbows to the hips. Interesting side effect of relaxed drop: the heels of the palms where the handles are sitting are hurting a bit.
16 kg snatch:
30 sec sets/switch every set/no rest
9 reps/set/3 min/54 reps
Too lazy...
9 March 2009
5 km treadmill run
32 minutes, that makes it slightly over 9 km/hour. I am proud of myself!
32 minutes, that makes it slightly over 9 km/hour. I am proud of myself!
Biggest Loser, who?
I generally don't watch reality shows and came across one of the recent Biggest Loser episodes by chance. It was interesting, and I kept watching for a while. I find it absolutely fascinating, though not for the traditional reasons - human spirit, determination and so on. What I find fascinating is how people fall for the drama, where there should not be one.
The very idea - fat people who lose least amount of weight getting kicked out of the show is - in my opinion - ridiculous. These are the people who need more help, yet they are excluded from it. Similar situation existed in the USSR of the 70-s in sport. When I was about eight, my mom got me into swimming. It was not as simple as it is in Sydney or any other civilized place now: go to the nearest swimming pool, join the group, pay the fee - very reasonable - and off you go. In Riga, the city with the population of almost 1 million there was one public swimming pool, and couple of others without the public access. In any case, I have always been a small kid, and at that time did not catch up with the kids around me. After six months and no progress the coach asked me (my mom) to leave. I learned swimming later, when I was about 35 years old. I am not bitter, but I believe that if I received a biot of personalized attention I could learn to swim and may be even make some junior rank, the pride of schoolkids in those times.
Besides kicking out those with most resistant obesity, another aspect of this program drew my attention: nazi style of coaching. For some reason tears and anger appeals to the general public. It must be extrapolated from the events like Olympic Games, where the athlete gives - justly so - everything he or she has for the victory, with tears, anguish and joy. Why it is supposed to be the same for those exercising for less glorious reasons - I don't know.
Couple of months ago I was in a commercial gym in small town in Australia and was watching a lady of about 55 - 60 "coached" by a personal trainer. She did about 15 minutes on the stationary bike, then 10 - 15 minutes on the treadmill, then did some skipping rope, then abdominal stuff, then some weights, then back on the treadmill. The breaks between these sets were minimal, and the intensity was all on the face of the poor lady. The torture lasted for more than an hour. It was the best way for that fitness professional to ensure that the client does not come back. And why should she?
Losing weight and simply getting fit are long term goals. The key word for the activities leading to these goals is SUSTAINABLE. Very few of us can work at high intensity every time we train. And there is simply no reason to do it for the amateur. Yes, I understand that some effort is required: you cannot expect to exercise without some degree of pain. But it does not have to be excessive and all out every time.
A while ago my exercise practice changed from paroxisms of going to gym for couple of months separated by longer periods - to regularly working out, even though often without definite purpose or goal. The reason for change was Tsatsouline's PTP, with it's theme "exercise often and not to failure". "Not to failure" was - still is - my favorite part.
Both volume and intensity have their value and place in training. For beginners volume training is considerably more forgiving, if not overdone, of course. And that's what the mainstream personal trainers forget - or simply don't know. Simple example: The Lore of Running, the bestselling book on running, contains a program of preparation for a marathon. It lasts about nine months, if I remember correctly. Guess what the program starts with? Walking! Then gradually walking is mixed with some intermittent running. Then it's running slowly. Then it's fartleks. And so on. The idea of the program is to run longer rather than faster.
If one wants to lose weight, the exercise should become a habit. It doesn't have to be intensive to the extreme for two reasons. First, it is unsafe and is likely to lead to injury. Two, it is unsustainable and therefore stops at some change. Pushing fat guys until they fall is stupid, just like that.
One of the objections I can foresee from a coach who believes in this style of training is that they have lots of trainees who successfully lost weight, maybe even many of those who kept the loss for couple of years. This however is what is called selection bias. Behind every successful "loser" there are many more of those who did not make it, those who have been kicked out or simply left. We can call them "lacking motivation". Or we can say that there are no bad students, only bad teachers.
For now though the public will be fed bullshit about will power and determination and wrong ways to train. That's in my modest opinion, of course.
The very idea - fat people who lose least amount of weight getting kicked out of the show is - in my opinion - ridiculous. These are the people who need more help, yet they are excluded from it. Similar situation existed in the USSR of the 70-s in sport. When I was about eight, my mom got me into swimming. It was not as simple as it is in Sydney or any other civilized place now: go to the nearest swimming pool, join the group, pay the fee - very reasonable - and off you go. In Riga, the city with the population of almost 1 million there was one public swimming pool, and couple of others without the public access. In any case, I have always been a small kid, and at that time did not catch up with the kids around me. After six months and no progress the coach asked me (my mom) to leave. I learned swimming later, when I was about 35 years old. I am not bitter, but I believe that if I received a biot of personalized attention I could learn to swim and may be even make some junior rank, the pride of schoolkids in those times.
Besides kicking out those with most resistant obesity, another aspect of this program drew my attention: nazi style of coaching. For some reason tears and anger appeals to the general public. It must be extrapolated from the events like Olympic Games, where the athlete gives - justly so - everything he or she has for the victory, with tears, anguish and joy. Why it is supposed to be the same for those exercising for less glorious reasons - I don't know.
Couple of months ago I was in a commercial gym in small town in Australia and was watching a lady of about 55 - 60 "coached" by a personal trainer. She did about 15 minutes on the stationary bike, then 10 - 15 minutes on the treadmill, then did some skipping rope, then abdominal stuff, then some weights, then back on the treadmill. The breaks between these sets were minimal, and the intensity was all on the face of the poor lady. The torture lasted for more than an hour. It was the best way for that fitness professional to ensure that the client does not come back. And why should she?
Losing weight and simply getting fit are long term goals. The key word for the activities leading to these goals is SUSTAINABLE. Very few of us can work at high intensity every time we train. And there is simply no reason to do it for the amateur. Yes, I understand that some effort is required: you cannot expect to exercise without some degree of pain. But it does not have to be excessive and all out every time.
A while ago my exercise practice changed from paroxisms of going to gym for couple of months separated by longer periods - to regularly working out, even though often without definite purpose or goal. The reason for change was Tsatsouline's PTP, with it's theme "exercise often and not to failure". "Not to failure" was - still is - my favorite part.
Both volume and intensity have their value and place in training. For beginners volume training is considerably more forgiving, if not overdone, of course. And that's what the mainstream personal trainers forget - or simply don't know. Simple example: The Lore of Running, the bestselling book on running, contains a program of preparation for a marathon. It lasts about nine months, if I remember correctly. Guess what the program starts with? Walking! Then gradually walking is mixed with some intermittent running. Then it's running slowly. Then it's fartleks. And so on. The idea of the program is to run longer rather than faster.
If one wants to lose weight, the exercise should become a habit. It doesn't have to be intensive to the extreme for two reasons. First, it is unsafe and is likely to lead to injury. Two, it is unsustainable and therefore stops at some change. Pushing fat guys until they fall is stupid, just like that.
One of the objections I can foresee from a coach who believes in this style of training is that they have lots of trainees who successfully lost weight, maybe even many of those who kept the loss for couple of years. This however is what is called selection bias. Behind every successful "loser" there are many more of those who did not make it, those who have been kicked out or simply left. We can call them "lacking motivation". Or we can say that there are no bad students, only bad teachers.
For now though the public will be fed bullshit about will power and determination and wrong ways to train. That's in my modest opinion, of course.
8 Macrh 2009 - next step in the progress
I terribly lack time (or terribly bad at managing it). Because of that I decided to give LC a go. At least it is one lift, and good at fucking one up too. Couple of weeks ago I did 50 reps LC with 2 x 18 kg. To complete Rank 1 in GS I need to do 46 reps with 2 x 24 kgs. So if I gradually increase the weight I should eventually get to this goal.
Today I am starting the progression with 2 x 20 kg bells. I am going to use slightly modified version of EDT, namely Rudnev's template published in the last post. So today:
2 x 20 kg LCC&J
10 sets 1 minute each
1 min rest between sets
6 reps/set
total - 60 reps
I was planning to do assistance work, but after this - which is only 2400 kg workout volume and is a joke for most gireviks - I am stuffed. Sscherb from IGx is right, LC is the best buck for your buck exercise wise. I will probably go for a run on the treadmill tomorrow, maybe some snatches with 20 kg. Today however I am done.
Today I am starting the progression with 2 x 20 kg bells. I am going to use slightly modified version of EDT, namely Rudnev's template published in the last post. So today:
2 x 20 kg LCC&J
10 sets 1 minute each
1 min rest between sets
6 reps/set
total - 60 reps
I was planning to do assistance work, but after this - which is only 2400 kg workout volume and is a joke for most gireviks - I am stuffed. Sscherb from IGx is right, LC is the best buck for your buck exercise wise. I will probably go for a run on the treadmill tomorrow, maybe some snatches with 20 kg. Today however I am done.
Progression by Rudnev
It is fairly pointless to list all possible ways to progress in training. The idea behind any progressiong is simple: gradually increase the load. The load itself can be defined as the weight lifted, the duration of the set, the reps, the reps per minute and whatever else you can come up with. One of the first posts of this blog referred to the Russian EDT, very simple progression. Recently I came across an article by SL Rudnev on the Rostov GS site, Variability of Preparatory Programs for Classical Competition, at this link: http://www.fgsrostov.aaanet.ru/Rudnev_2.doc . I want to reproduce it here as an example of another Way.
The idea of the plan is to increase the duration of the sets without changing rest intervals. It consists of eight steps.
Step 1.
10 x 1’00”, rest 1’00”
Tempo – 14.min
Step 2.
8 x 1’15”, rest 1’00”
Tempo – 13.5 min
Step 3.
6 x 1’40”, rest 1’00”
Tempo – 13 min
Step 4.
5 x 2’00”, rest 1’00”
Tempo – 12 min
Step 5.
4 x 2’30”, rest 1’00”
Tempo – 11.5 min
Step 6.
3 x 3’20”, rest 1’00”
Tempo – 11 min
Step 7.
2 x 5’00”, rest 1’00”
Tempo – 10.5 min
Step 8.
1 x 10 = competition
Nice and simple. In my opinion the jump from two 5 minute sets to one ten of minutes may be a bit steep, so one can use intermediate steps, such as doing a set of six, seven and eight minutes first. Nice and simple. You achieve one step – progress to another. Feel free to tweak the volume up and down from session to session.
The idea of the plan is to increase the duration of the sets without changing rest intervals. It consists of eight steps.
Step 1.
10 x 1’00”, rest 1’00”
Tempo – 14.min
Step 2.
8 x 1’15”, rest 1’00”
Tempo – 13.5 min
Step 3.
6 x 1’40”, rest 1’00”
Tempo – 13 min
Step 4.
5 x 2’00”, rest 1’00”
Tempo – 12 min
Step 5.
4 x 2’30”, rest 1’00”
Tempo – 11.5 min
Step 6.
3 x 3’20”, rest 1’00”
Tempo – 11 min
Step 7.
2 x 5’00”, rest 1’00”
Tempo – 10.5 min
Step 8.
1 x 10 = competition
Nice and simple. In my opinion the jump from two 5 minute sets to one ten of minutes may be a bit steep, so one can use intermediate steps, such as doing a set of six, seven and eight minutes first. Nice and simple. You achieve one step – progress to another. Feel free to tweak the volume up and down from session to session.
4 March 2009
Yesterday after work I felt falling ill: my throat was sore and I did not feel too good overall. This morning started as expected: worse. I the afternoon however I was surprised by feeling better. Sore throat was not sore anymore and I felt good. So good, in fact, that I decided to try a little workout.
I noticed that I get sick less often and for shorter periods of time since I started taking cold showers in the morning. Simple: at the end of showering I turn the cold water off and count to one hundred, the speed determined by the time of the year...
Today's session.
16 kg snatch:
1.5 min sets, 30 sec rest
2 sets of 27 reps each arm
1 set of 23 reps each arm
last set each arm 1 min/13 reps, the grip is dead
180 reps total in 14.5m minutes. Again, like going for a short run.
I noticed that I get sick less often and for shorter periods of time since I started taking cold showers in the morning. Simple: at the end of showering I turn the cold water off and count to one hundred, the speed determined by the time of the year...
Today's session.
16 kg snatch:
1.5 min sets, 30 sec rest
2 sets of 27 reps each arm
1 set of 23 reps each arm
last set each arm 1 min/13 reps, the grip is dead
180 reps total in 14.5m minutes. Again, like going for a short run.
2 March 2009
This is an early morning workout, before going to work. I've never done it and want to see if it's something worthwhile for me to do.
18 kg snatch:
1 min sets/30 sec rest
17 reps/set/4 sets/136 reps/11.5 minutes
These things are more difficult in the morning.
18 kg snatch:
1 min sets/30 sec rest
17 reps/set/4 sets/136 reps/11.5 minutes
These things are more difficult in the morning.
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