Being "Strong"

Just being able to lift a lot of weight isn't enough. It's awesome, but it's one dimensional. Oldetime strongmen used to have the conditioning to wrestle for hours. They were truly strong.

The other day I had to prove that I was still strong.
32kg Snatch Test
5:00
111 reps.

This is coming from ZERO repetition snatch training.
Swings and general (all over) strength is where the money is.

Person: "How do I do X?"
Me: "Easy. Get Stronger."

Ring Muscle Up to Handstand

First try at this, it wasn't the prettiest thing, but I'll keep working on it.
Training is going well, been doing a lot of BJJ and conditioning but keeping my strength with pistols and pullups and BUP's.

I'll try to keep a better record here, but I am so busy working on things for the DVD coming out soon as well as a few articles on the side!

Level 2, in the works

Went down to Revolution to see my friend Franz (RKC TL) to see his new facility.
Little did I know he'd be turning me into a pretzel for an hour.

After some sick mobility drills I had a pen and paper and was furiously scribbling. The next day after practicing some of the drills I went into some bottom up pressing drills and it went amazingly!
24kg all the way up to 40kg of:
BUP
Palm Press
Military Press

The best part was that I haven't done any pressing with the 40kg in a long time. Sweet!
Here's a video of what I was doing, it's a great drill for finding your optimal leverage point (which is that of a bottom up press):

An update

I mentioned before that I was being secretive about my training to a certain extent and I am sorry about that, but it's going to be on the DVD coming out very soon:



I played around with some stuff the other day that was fun though:

Ring muscle up to handstand pushup x 2 (the hardest part is coming down from the handstand without crushing my face into the floor)

Played around with a lot of bottom up stuff afterward:
48kg BU Clean and hold
40kg BU Squat
36kg BU Press

Finished with 100 burpees as fast as I could and finished in 4:49
Also been doing a ton of Rehab stuff, really dialing in on some thing that I have let go for too long, nothing to write home about but it's a grind and it's making a difference.
BJJ today and maybe some muay thai.

Deadlift Challenge

Saturday I pulled 315 for 30:00.
Managed to get 172 reps out of the deal. And then my low back got run over by a truck.

Still sore today so I focused mostly on some Bottom Up Complexes to groove movements.

BUP
BUC
BUFS
BU Carry

Single leg deadlifts 20kg x 5/5 x 3

Finished with burpees and swings.

Best Lift Ever!

I'm really happy with this.

Some Footage from the upcoming DVD

I've been very secretive about the training lately, I don't want to give too much away but I've been experimenting on myself again (and my clients, thanks guys and girls) for the DVD and the results have been awesome.
The ability to do just about anything without specifically training for it is what it's all about. I haven't touched any of these moves with a 40kg until last Sunday.

Ice Cream Makers

When I say Ice Cream Makers, this is what I mean. I'm not eating rocky road for 5 scoops of 10.



Progressing toward a front lever? This drill will help you get there.

Fun with Handstands

Going to get a little more serious with handstand pushups in the coming weeks along with some other bodyweight stuff.

Training yesterday looked like this (kind of)

Front Lever Practice, Ice-cream makers
Single Leg and double leg squatting

Horizontal Rows
Handstand Pushups

Core drills with JS band. (think of a standing side plank)

Then kicked the heavy bag 'til it begged me to stop.

Awww yeah

Super happy with this.
Training for monday went like this:
Double Clean and Jerk: 48kg x 2,3,2,1,1

Double BUP: 20kg x 6 x 5
Front Levers

Handstand Pushups x 10,8,8
Double 48kg Swing x 10,10,10 (with wool gloves on)

Training for Wednesday:

Took a long time to get started, but I was determined to hit a few things...
Double Snatch+Press
32+36kg x 1,2,3,4 x 2 ladders

Double Snatch only
32kg+40kg x 4 x 2

Front Lever Practice and Cossacks

EDT
Pullup @ 40lbs x 3
Airborne Lunge @ 40lbs x 5/side
10 rounds

PM session
Handstand Pushup x 5 (hands elevated to increase ROM)
Sled Power Pull x 1 lap
Sled Drag x 1 lap
rest 2:00
Repeated 4 times

Bodyweight Tri extension on rings

Today will be some BJJ and some light get-ups and swings.

Monday's Training:
Played with a lot of double bottom up work, even went as high as 10 reps in the double BUP with a pair of 16's for a few sets to really work the groove. Then some squatting and walking with double bottom up bells.

Double Clean: 2x48kg bells x 6 reps x 5 sets
Double Swing: 2x48kg bells x 8 x 5 (less rest between sets of swings)


Pistol x 8/8 x 5
Ring Row x 12 x 5 (feet elevated, single leg, switch at rep 6)
Handstand Pushup x 8,8,8,8

Later that day hit some sled pulls, jump rope, and burpees in a circuit and hit the heavy bag.
Today I'll do some get-ups and roll BJJ.

Nice Little Saturday

We didn't manage to film half of what we did, but it involved a lot of carrying, dragging, pushing, pulling, and walking--it was brutal. But fun!

Wow it's been a while since I've updated here

Oopsie.

Let's look back at this week.
Saturday I went snowboarding but before I did, I did a circuit.
10 Pullups (on a soccer goal crossbar, think very thick)
20 pushups
Sprint 50m
Rest 1-2:00
Repeat 4 times and I was cooked.

Monday
BUP: 36kg x 2/2 x 3
36kg x 1/1 x 2

Ring Row +20lbs x 12,12,12
Handstand Pushup x 5,5,5
Many Swings, yes many.

Tuesday:
BJJ for 2 hours

Wednesday:
Double Snatch 32kg+36kg x 4 + 2 Presses x 8 sets

Pullup: +20lbs x 7
Airborne Lunge: +20lbs x 5 7 rounds in 15:00

Handstand Pushup x 12,10,8
Swing: 24kg x 20/20 x 3

Thursday: BJJ for 1.5hrs

Friday:
Double Swing 2x48kgs x 10 x 10
Finished each set of 10 swings with a clean and a rack walk which was ridiculous.
A few pulls on the rolling thunder and up to BJJ.

Yesterday's Training:

Double Snatch
24kg x 10 + 2 presses x 1
28kg x 5 + 2 presses x 1
32kg x 5 + 2 presses x 5
32kg x 10 + 2 presses x 1 (The snatches felt very strong all the way)

Pullup on eagle loops fingers only:
10,10,10,8
Handstand Pushup x 10, 8, 8, 8

Pushups and Farmers walks with 88's to finish.


Today's training:
16kg get-ups 3/3 with armbar and windmill
Hip Complex x 5/side
24kg swing x 10/10/10/10
Rolled BJJ for 1.5hrs

The intensity of my training lately has been somewhat low, but I have continued to be productive. This is a good thing, even if the fire isn't there, can you be productive?

Today's Training:
Bottom Up Press:
36kg x 1/1 x 5
32kg x 4/4 x 4
Supersetted with Pistols 5/side for each set of BUP's.

Press to Handstand on a 4' box: 5 x 5
Double Swing: 40kgs x 10 x 5

Bottom Up Clean: 40kg x :25 sec/side x 5 sets
Ring Row: +20lbs x 12,10,10,10,10

One arm swing: 40kg x 20/20, rest 1 min. 40kg x 15/15/8/8

I also did some tumbling earlier in the day: Front Handsprings, kip ups, rolling, etc.
Fun Stuff. Plan to Juggle the KB's and roll some jiu jitsu tomorrow.

Last few days of training:
I've been taking it fairly easy.

Wednesday I was toasted from too much jiu jitsu so I didn't train, but I ran sprints the day before. I ended up rolling with a friend who weighs 240lbs. We ended up doing about five 20-minute rounds which was ridiculous but I did get a nice sweep to a rear naked choke which was a nice way to ring in the new year (never tapped him before, and we've rolled a lot, for over a year).

Thursday I did a ton of get-ups and swings.
Friday I took the day off but did some mobility work.

Today's training (finally):
Ended up rolling with brad (see above) again for about 30 minutes so I was a little smoked, so I skipped the heavy lifting.

Bar Muscle Up: 5x5
Ring Muscle Up: 5x5

Handstand Pushup: +20lbs x 5 x 5

Box Jump @ 52" x 3 These were cool because I just got some new mats today (for free, Yes!) that I stacked up.

Pullup on rings +20lbs x 6 x 10

Pushup x 20 x 15 (different hand positions, plyos, elevated, etc, kept it fun)

One arm swing: 24kg x 30/30, rest 1 min, 30/30, rest 1 min, 30/30.

Nice day of rest tomorrow, I am probably going to hurt from doing so many pushups, but my buddy from the air force is home so we hit a ton of pushups.

Training Today:
Bottom Up Press:
40kg x 1/1 x 2
36kg x 1/1 x 5
Cossack Squat w/ 8kg in rack x 5/5 x 7 +hip flexor stretch

Renegade Row
100lb x 8/8 x 4
Wall Slide x 10 x 4
SLDL 24kg in opposite hand x 6/6 x 4


"Cardio"
Battling Ropes x 1:00
Burpee + tuck jump x 10
4 rounds

Yesterday's Training:
Ring Muscle Ups +20lbs:
Superset with Airborne Lunge (single leg squat) +20lbs:
17 Muscle Ups and 40 AL's on each leg in 15:00

Superset
Pullup +30lbs: 12,9,7,6
Plyo Pushup +30lbs: 10, 8, 6, 6 (could have done more but wanted to be more explosive)

Finished with some med ball work and Jump rope.

Later did a bunch of swings.
Today: Long cycle with a pair of 24's for 20:00 with breaks, no counting.

Bottoms up!

This week is like a play week--still going to focus on moving better, but my mind needs a break from hard training.
Monday:
Bottom Up Press:
32kg x 3/3 x 5
32kg x 1/1 x about 10

Bottom Up Carry 50ft
20kg
24kg
32kg
40kg
48kg (only made it about 15 ft with this one)

Gripper closes: #2 for a bunch of singles on each side and a 10 second hold on the right--grip was very strong today and I also climbed the rope a few times.

Later that evening I did a bunch of snatches with a slick handle and no chalk and some medicine ball throws. Worked up a good sweat and went home. I'll probably do some get-ups today (tuesday).