Ladder Training

Been getting back into the swing of things this week. Beginning my valley to work into peaking on my pressing.

Had a little set back a few weeks ago when my neck acted up on me. Just my body was telling me to back off and do things right. I normally press a 24kg for sets, my personal best is pressing a 36kg each side x1.

This week I am pressing a 20kg. Today did 4 ladders of 5 reps. Goes a little something like this for people who are not familar with ladders.

20kg clean and press

1 rep each side, rest

2 reps each side, rest

3 reps each side, rest

4 reps each side, rest

5 reps each side, rest

rest and repeat for 4 rounds

The beautiful thing about ladders is that you can add much more load than you would with higher reps. This means many things. Better strength gains, less chance of bulking up (if you are a lady), more appropriate muscle action (in my experience, you go over 8 reps and you tend to lose your concentration and can cheat more, setting you up for injury).

I hardly ever go over 5 reps with my training or training my clients unless we are doing explosive lifts like swings and snatches.

Look at it this way: 4 ladders of 5 allows me to lift a heavier weight. it equals to lifting 2,640 pounds each arm If i did the regular 3x10 deal, I would have used a 16kg and the total lift would be only 1,050 pounds per arm.

More efficient, better technique, better results. Try using ladders with your combination lifts that require you use your whole body such as squats, push ups, and deadlifts. For more information on ladders check out the book. Enter the Kettlebell

The Biggest Loser....The Viewers by Robert dos Remedios

Terrific post by Coach Dos. Please check it out. A little bit of language in the article, but it gets the point across.

About "Coach Dos"Robert dos Remedios is the 2006 NSCA Collegiate Strength Coach of the Year. He is the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach @ College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, CA and a sought after speaker and presenter on conditioning. His best selling book Men's Health Power Training was released September 18th 2007 from Rodale Books. His new book Men's Health Cardio Strength Training is scheduled to be released in January 2010!




One aspect that Coach Dos did not cover is the risk of injury. I would love to be behind the scenes and see what types of injuries that occur during the training aspect. Coach Dos says it correctly when he states that there are participants on the show that are training and doing certain exercises that they are not prepared for, but it is cool and good tv so they put the "cool" on the show. This puts the individual at risk for a nasty injury that they may never recover from. There goes there chance to be able to exercise and thus they spin even more out of control with their weight management.

A terrific example is on the season opener when they took everyone off the bus and had them run a mile. I already knew what the result was going to be and I was right, they had to emergency helicopter a woman who passed out during a 1 mile run. She was not prepared for the exercise. You must train to run, not run to train. I fear that someone is going to have to die before the show is cancelled or they change their ways.

Don't even get me started on the kettlebell training that they were "trying" to perform. If you want to burn fat and make a change in your life, use a kettlebell and a RKC. You don't need to perform sprints on the treadmill or plyometrics. Kettlebells (if performed correctly) are much Safer than running and burns more fat. Win win situation. I call it like doing sprints, only you have a weight and you are standing still.

Here is a great example. These ladies are in my program because they wanted to get into shape and get strong, but have a history of injuries. They cannot necessarily do sprints, but you bet your sweet bippy they can do swings!

Quest for RKC - Week 5 of 16

Hello everyone. This has been a very productive week for both Nikki and myself. We are still moving through the Enter the Kettlebell right of passage with our presses and even added double rack squats this week. We are currently on a plan of alternating single kb presses and double kb squats 1 week along with double kb presses and single kb squats the following week.

We were able to get in our turkish get ups twice this week as well as attend bootcamp 3 times this week.

Dave Whitley wants us to progress in our snatches to the point that when I show up to RKC I can do 200 repetitions in a 10 minute snatch test with a 24kg kettlebell (53 lbs) and to have Nikki to be able to to 230 snatches with a 16kg (35 lbs).

Our progression continued this Saturday to 200/230 snatches in 10 minutes. I performed 5 snatches on the L, then 5 on the R and then began again on the next minute. Nikki performed 6/6 on the minute. We went for 20 minutes total which got me to 200 and Nik to 240. We both felt very good following the workout and our hands felt pretty good.

Next week I will perform 6/6 and Nikki 7/7 on the minute until I get to 200 and Nikki gets to between 230 and 240.

What was absolutely amazing was that RIGHT AFTER THE WORKOUT Nikki decided she wanted to try to snatch a 24kg. And she did with really no trouble. She actually did 2 each side! I am such a proud husband to have such a sexy and strong wife!

Now Nikki and I are off to Vanderbilt to speak to a camp about "the core". We are going to teach the high school kids all about the "hardstyle" methods of the RKC and the plank and moving plank.

100th POST! Workout Tuesday 4/14

Nikki and I woke up early again this morning at 5am to get our workout in. There was a good chance that both Nik and myself will work late and not be in the mood to kick our butts, so we rolled out of bed and got to work for 30 minutes. Here is the workout we did Right of Passage style for Pavel and the RKC.

Circuit 1 - 10 minutes
-Clean and press ladder heavy 1/1, 2/2, 3/3 (means 1 rep Right, 1 rep Left, then 2 and 2, then 3 and 3).
-Followed immediately by clean and squat ladder 1/1, 2/2, 3/3
Repeat circuit as many times in ten minutes, concentrate on beautiful form!

Circuit 2 - 10 minutes
-Single leg deadlift light 1/1, 2/2, 3/3
-1 arm row light 1/1, 2/2, 3/3
Same rules as above

Circuit 3 - 10 minutes
-1 arm partner swings: 5 L arm/ 5 R arm then partner goes, 10/10, 15/15, 20/20
Perform as many rounds within 10 minutes.

Great workout!