Charm City Kettlebells Week In Review

Charm City Kettlebells had a great week. Some great private sessions with clients and I continue my own quest to develop my strength and conditioning. We also had a Charm City Kettlebell Meet Up yesterday at Towson High School. Please email me at sandysommer@charmcitykettlebells.com if you'd like to join us for the next one sometime in August. We had tons of fun and I had a chance to introduce the kettlebell to a few newbies and give some insight to some veterans.

As you probably are aware, kettlebells are my preferred mode of strength and conditioning. Recently I finished the Viking Warrior Conditioning Conditioning Cycle and am deeply immersed in a new raw strength cycle that Marty Gallagher put together for me. Marty is one of the most respected minds in the world of strength training and Pavel Tsatsouline has mentioned Marty as one of his mentors.

My current training is a blissful marriage of my take on Enter The Kettlebell, Power To The People and Marty Gallagher. The union lasts until October 2, 2009 and at that point I will take a week off and then attack the Viking Warrior Program again.

Here's what my training looked like for the week.

Monday I weighed in at 194 pounds on the dot. Since I commenced my current program 6 weeks ago I have added 10.8 pounds of body weight. I'm as lean as I was when this started on June 1, 2009. Around May 15, 2009 I weighed 181.1 and was 11 % body fat. I will test again in mid August but I think I am around the same body tissue ratio.

Each day this week I started my workout with Turksih Get Ups. I find this is really one of the best compound movements to do in order to get the juices flowing and the joints properly lubed up.

Monday Wednesday and Saturday I did ETK. Lots of ladders and low reps for the clean and press. I am looking to build raw power. I should mention that with the added weight I haven't gotten much bigger. Just a lot denser and that is my goal. Density and not size. In addition, I rolled the dice and did the presribed one hand swings. My hip power is growing and growing.

Tuesday I did narrow stance conventional deadlifting. Mark Chaillet and Marty Gallagher tweaked my form slightly a few weeks ago but I was pretty solid having learned a lot from Doc Cheng in June and it is paying dividends as my pulls are improving mightily. I also did staright bar front squats and pull ups along with pistols.

Thursday I started with heavy loaded cleans with the next bigger bell above my pressing and did heavy snatches too. Then back to dead lifting.

Friday all I did my Pull ups.

I'm seeing steady improvement in all my lifts. Even the Pull ups though I've added mass. Very excited about this and will keep you posted.

Please email me any questions and be sure to leave your thougths and comments as well.

Sandy Sommer, RKC

Memorial Day Weekend Workouts

I went to Rehoboth Beach Delaware to spend the weekend with my family. We had great weather and a wonderful time celebrating those who have given their lives for our country.

I played tennis each morning and was a bit surprised by the Heart Rate Monitor results for tennis doubles. We played for 2 hours each day from 9 AM to 11 AM. I was going through 900 + calories in that time frame. AHR was around 64% and max was 91%. Not bad at all and we had a blast. I am so much faster and quicker than pre-kettlebell.

My kettlebell workouts were (as always) based on the Viking Warrior Strength Practice and Conditioning Program. I'm getting amazing results in raw strengthm, sustained power and cardio conditioning.

Saturday, before we played tennis I did my low volume tactical pullups and hit 100% of goal so I was happy. Didn't feel quite as strong as I hoped but hit the numbers. Late afternoon was when I had planned my first new Viking Conditioning Workout. By new I mean that I moved to the :36/:36 protocol. 35 work sets is the goal and I didn't hit that the first time out but I felt pretty good. My grip fell apart and I can't wait to do this on Tuesday again. Keep in mind that this was done after pullups, two hours of tennis and a full beach day of surf and sand so I wasn't all that unhappy.

Sunday was just a tennis day but today was tennis this morning and then I did high volume presses this evening when we got back from the beach. I hit 100% of goal and felt stronger than ever. Really a great workout. Did 15% more work than last Monday and I didn't it in 85% of the time. So it was way solid.

Sandy Sommer, RKC

How To Get To 11% Body Fat At 47

Today I went to get my body composition tested as well as a metabolic assessment. I was mildly disappointed to come in at 11% body fat. Weight was 181.9, 170 of lean and 19 fatty tissue. Calipers were reading about 8% but those are apparently +/- as much as 8%. 11% ain't bad though.

Resting Metabolic rate (RMR) is 1943 calories and the Total Energy Expediture (TEE) is just over 4000 calories. So to live I need the first amount and to maintian body comp the last one. I weigh about 14 pounds less than I did in October so that would indicate I have lost some fat and gained muscle since I have continued to increase my physical strength. It's all good.

How did I get here? Well I don't count calories at all. I do pay strict attention to my fueling about 85% of the time. What I mean is that I eat a lot of lean protein (fish, lean beef, poultry and lean pork). Very few simple carbohysrates (again 85% of the time)almost no dairy( save for one bowl of ice cream or so a week), tons of fruits and vegetables, raw nuts too. (I mean tons) and plenty of water. I pretty much follow the Paleo Diet For Athletes. Will it work for you? I have no idea but it may be worth shot. The key is to eat only things that you don't need a chemical engineering background to understand the label, I think.

I also exercise at maximal levels. I don't go through the motions and I always have specific workouts that are planned out in advance. None of this "Let me see how I feel" crap! If I don't hit the goal, then I don't hit it. But I don't start without a plan. Pretty simple really.

Also, I don't go from program to program. "Doing Few Things Better" is how Marty Gallagher describes it in his tome the "Purposeful Primitive."

So my focus is on the Press, the pistol and the Tactical Pull Up for raw and sustained strength and then the "Viking Warrior Conditioning" for my conditioning. I also do heavy swings and Turkish Get Ups once a week. Amazingly simple but not easy at all.

Today I did my low volume weighted tactical pull ups. 10 sets of 1 rep. That's it.

Sandy Sommer, RKC

Viking Warrior Strength Practice and Conditioning

Many of you know that I have a goal to be an RKC II and I plan on earning that in June, 2010. Check out the requirements here.

To that end I continue to work on my Viking Warrior Strength and Conditioning Program. Today was all about the kettlebell press.

This was the first day for me to use 2 16kg kettlebells in one hand. So 32 kgs total but with a weird level of stability and a different center of gravity than the 32 kg kettlebell has.

Last week, I did 4 sets of 4 reps per hand using the 12 and 16 kg kettlebell in one hand. Today, I was able to press the 16 and 16 3 times for 3 sets on the right side. I did 2 sets of just one rep on the left side and then finished strong with the final set pushing 2 reps.

I also did 40 sets of the mVO2 with the 16 kg kettlebell with a cadence of 7.

Sandy Sommer, RKC

Progress in My Viking Strength Practice

I'm making great strides in my cardiovascular conditioning as well as my maximal strength in the Press, Pistol and Tactical Pull Up.

I do the Viking Warrior Strength Practice 6 days a week. I do each exercise twice each week. Once, low volume with near maximum weight and another high volume with sub maximal weight. I have seen big gains in a short amount of time.

Twice a week I do the Viking Warrior Conditioning as well. With another day of Turkish Get Ups thrown on a low volume day.

I haven't had any recovery issues and each workout is planned well in advance. The next workout is based off the one prior to it.

As an example, I'm using information from Marty Gallagher to do the low volume component of the workout. Once I get to 4 reps per side per set for 4 sets I move up. So I will be working with 2 16 kg kettlebells in my 1 hand next week on the low volume day of presses.Single-hand double kettlebell presses are an amazing tool. First of all they tell you the truth. You simply can't do them and not do them right. Drive a hip out and hello bell to head. Take your forearm off perpendicular, hello bell. If you didn't know what you were doing wrong before now you know:)

In addition, the bio mechanics of the movement are a bit different than a single whole kettlebell. The center of gravity changes with two bells. Try it with the larger bell on top of the smaller bell and you will see what I mean. You really must generate explosive power to move two bells. The sticking point is different as well. Give this a shot but remember to clean the bells safely using two hands. DON"T TRY IT WITH ONE HAND!

For the high volume work, I'm currently using the 20 kg kettlebell. I'm a workout or two away from moving up to the 24 kg kettlebell for this part of the practice. This week, my high volume session was 264 reps with the 20 kg bell. So I moved 5280 kgs. Not bad at all. That is the volume. On the low volume day it was around 900 kgs of volume. Quite a bit different. And that difference allows for recovery. Good sleep and proper fueling allow we do keep going.

I hope you find this helpful and please feel free to ask me any questions at all or feel free to comment.

I'll give some info about the pistols and Pull Ups another time. I'm excited to write about pistols as I've made significant progress lately.

Goals For the Delaware Kettlebell Workshop

Dr. Mark Cheng, RKC Team Leader will be conducting Hard Style, High Density Delaware Kettlebell Workshop on June 21, 2009.

I'm helping coordinate, get the word out etc and I've put some goals in place to get to before that date.

Current, 1 rep max for Kettlebell Press is 36 KG. I will be able to press the 40 by then.

I can do a one legged pistol with the 20 kg kettlebell as of yesterday. Here's the video of me doing the 16 KG Kettlebell Pistol.

I can do a Tactical Pull up using the 16 kg kettlebell and will be able to pull off a 24 on June 21st.

I'm in the process of mapping it all out now.

Today's Viking Warrior Session:

72 work sets of mVO2 with 16 kg kettlebell, cadence of 7 for :15/:15

Viking Warrior Strength practice:

3 sets of 3 reps each arm, presses with 12 and 16 kg in one hand. Glided up!

Sandy Sommer, RKC

Keep It Simple

One of the things that originally attracted me to kettlebell practice was the sheer simplicity and elegance of the workouts.

I said simple not easy:)

Pavel has a saying that it's better to dig a furrow an inch long and a mile deep, rather than a mile long and an inch deep.

Too many of us try to make things too complicated. There are only 6 foundational movements in the RKC system of strength and if all you do is those you will be way ahead of the game. Swing, Turkish Get Up, Clean, Press, Front Squat and Snatch. Focus on doing them well and safely and you will get stronger, leaner, more explosive and look your best. Quickly. I can confidentally say that I am as strong and move better than I did at 25 and I'm 47.

Currently, I'm focusing all my attention on the above, as it applies to Viking Warrior Strength and Conditioning. I've added the RKC II exercises the One Legged Pistol and Tactical Pull Up to my repertoire since I will become an RKC II in June 2010.

None of this is rocket science but it is based on a systemic approach to building strength and conditioning with a scientific approach. Find an RKC Instructor in your area or ask me for a recommendation.

I'm here to help anyway I can!

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

Viking Strength and Conditioning for Today

Did 4 ladders with three rungs using a paired 12 and 16 kg kettlebell. Simulates feeling of heavier than 28 kg since it isn't really very stable. I don't own a 32 or 36 so I make do.

Also did 50 work sets of the MVO2 :15/:15 today as well.

And big news......Just cleanly and easily did the pistol using a 16 kg kettlebell. Quite pleased and will continue to make progress. Will be able to do Tactical Pull Up with 24 KG kettlebell by July 4th.

Sandy Sommer, RKC

Viking Warrior Practice

Yesterday, I worked on 2 of the three base strength lifts, as prescribed in the Sr. RKC, Kenneth Jay in the Viking Warrior Conditioning Manual.

I did low volume work using the 8 KG kettlebell for tactical pull ups as well as for pistols.

I did 20 reps of each Viking Strength lift in sets of 2. This week is the second week of low volume strength practice and next week the volume will increase and the load will go down. Already feeling much stabler and better about the pistols.

Also, I did 44 work sets of the mVO2 protocol. Felt a bit lethargic as I fight off a cold but was consistent in cadence and energy was adequate to get the job done.

Sandy Sommer, RKC