Power is Safety and Safety is Power

I did all my work today on the one legged squat or pistol. I did 68 repetitions using a 10 pound plate as a counterbalance.

I wanted to discuss on the keys to RKC style Strength work and that is proper breathing and it's certainly related to pistols. If you fail to breath properly while working the pistol, you will almost assuredly loose tension through your core and then you will lose your balance.

We call it "breathing behind the shield." You exhale sharply before your movement and then brace your core, as if for a blow to your gut. Inhale during the descent so that you build up a girdle of air below your diaphram. This protects you and give you power. In the RKC Power system, power is safety and safety is power. Remember that for your own training.

Breath behind the shield in all of your kettlebell movement and you will be much stronger and be practicing safely.

Feel free to ask me any questions at all and leave a comment:)

Sandy Sommer, RKC

Friday Fun

I did more Viking Warrior Strength and Conditioning today.

I did 10 rounds of 2 reps of the following:

16 kg kettlebell pistols

8 kg Tactical Pull Ups (first hanging from right foot and then left)

so 20 reps total for each.

I week ago I was having problems with pistols and have made big strides in a short time. Nothing easy about the Viking Warrior Program but it is SO worth tackling. I feel myself getting mentally tougher and physically more formidable.

Close out with 60 work sets of the MVO2 Viking Warrior Conditioning!

Sandy Sommer, RKC

Kettlebell Pistols in the Viking Warrior Strength Program

As you may know by now, I'm strictly following the Viking Warrior Conditioning program. Kenneth Jay wrote a great article a few years ago about Viking Warrior strength and how to train to be as strong as you can be essentially. That's what I'm doing now.

This week I'm in a Low Volume week so I did body weight pistols with an 8 KG Kettlebell for additional resistance today. I did fifteen reps on each side for a total of 30 reps rested very briefly between sets of two. When you watch the video you'll see that it's a work in progress.Please bear in mind that I taped the pistol video post workout. I can't wait to see where I am in two months or so.



I have quite a way to go but I wasn't doing pistols at all until 8 months ago. I have practiced to get this far and will continue to do so.
Would love to hear your thoughts, questions and comments!

Sandy Sommer, RKC

Focus On Quality With These Three

I have nothing against Cross Fit per se or other kettlebell methodologies either. Here's what leaves me scratching my head. Why count reps that aren't in good form? At best, poor form isn't your intent and at worst, it leads to injury and the related down time. The late, great John Wooden once said, "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you?"

I try to always target prescribed form so that I get the most out of each movement with the least risk of injury. That seems reasonable to me.

Today, I worked on three different calisthenics. The Turkish Get Up. The tactical pull up and the bodyweight one-legged pistol. Down correctly, each exercise is safe and extremely effective. I used all of my body and did three things. Simple is nice.

The Turkish Get Up may be my favorite kettlebell exercise. The essence of the movement is that you get the kettlebell from the ground to over head. It requires 7 specific coordinated movements under muscular tension to perfect it and get the full benefit. Any asymmetries or weakness will be exposed.

The one-legged pistol is an amazing movement that requires strength, balance and flexibility. I love doing them because they once were inconceivable to me. I couldn't do them as my flexibility was terrible, my strength was mediocre and my balance was just OK. Here is a nice tutorial on one-legged body weight squats, better known as the pistol.

Finally, I did tactical pull ups or thumbless, overhand pull ups. These require that you start and finish with a dead hang with a pause. No using hips to help! A found an article a few weeks ago that should really help the men. Here's one for ladies. Yes you can train yourself to do them!

I did 10 rounds today. Each round was 2 Turkish get ups on each side followed by 2 pistols each side and then finally 3 pull ups. Total was 110 reps and my time was 43 minutes and I burned 594 calories. These were real reps. Strict and safe form.

Try it out!

Sandy Sommer, RKC