WOD- Under the Wire

Saturday 3/29/14

WOD- Under the Wire

2RFT - 15 Min Time Cap

10 Hollow Body Rocks
20 Two Hand Swings
10 Mountain Climbers
20 Thrusters
10 Plank Climbers
20 Suitcase Deadlift
10 Pushup

Use 1 KB for all lifts. 

Record load and time to completion.  If task is not completed in the given time cap, record the total number of reps completed when time ran out.

Compare to: 11/23/13

WOD- Strongman Lifts

Saturday, March 22, 2014

WOD- Strongman Strength Development        30 Min Time Cap

2 Hand Anyhow (If you lack awesome shoulder mobility, or windmill technique, do not perform this lift! Modify with a version of a regular windmill.) Find your 5 RM

Kneeling 1 Arm Press : Find your 3 RM

Double Suitcase Deadlift : Find your 20 RM

Crucifix Hold: Find your max weight for a 30 second time frame

Waiters Walk : Find your max weight for a 1 min time frame

Farmer's Carry: Find your max weight for a 1 min time frame 

Compare Here: 11/16/13

WOD- Max Effort 6

 Saturday, 3/1/14

Over the course of 25 min, find the max weight you can use to safely and correctly perform the following exercises/ reps.

Turkish Getup- 5 RM

Windmills - 10 RM

Thrusters- 10 RM

Snatch- 10 RM

Compare 9/14/13

WOD- Cardio 6

 Saturday, 2/22/14

As Many Reps As Possible (AMRAP) in 15 minutes

ALL ARE DONE WITH 1 KB.

Perform 5 reps of Thrusters on your right arm, 5 snatch on right, 5 clean and jerk on right, and 5 swings on right....then switch to left side and perform the same sequence. 

1 Round = 40 reps (R and L added together!)

Thruster
Snatch
Clean and Jerk
1 Hand Swing

Compare to 9/6/13

Monday, March 3, Kettlebell Class Canceled

Due to the snow and ice accumulation, kettlebell class will need to be canceled tonight.  We will resume class tomorrow, Tuesday, March 4, evening at 6:30pm.  Sorry for the inconvenience.

For those of you who have a kettlebell at home, this is the workout I plan on completing myself in my basement.  Perhaps you will join me at home:

Turkish Getups: 5 Each Side

Single Leg Deadlifts: 3 x 5 rep

Flow Drill: (10 min time cap)

Snatch: 5,4,3, 2,1 reps on each side immediately followed by

Thrusters: 5 reps each round

Intervals:

30 sec on/ 30 sec off

Swing, Highpull, Snatch 

Perform 1 arm for each interval.  Perform 8 intervals = 8 minutes

March 1, 2014 Kettlebell Classes Canceled: Please Plan Ahead!

Contractors are coming in on Friday afternoon of this week to fix our flooring that collapsed.  They will be working all through the weekend.  As such, kettlebell classes on Saturday, March 1, will need to be canceled.

    We apologize for any inconvenience that this has created in your training plans.  Please make every attempt to arrange your schedule this week to join our classes during the week instead.

WOD- Max Effort 5

 SATURDAY, 2/22/14

You will have approximately 30 minutes to complete the 4 exercises below.  Your goal is to achieve the request repetition maximum (RM) for each exercise, on each arm, before moving onto the next exercise.  It should take you less than 5 sets to achieve the highest weight possible for each RM task.  Record the heaviest weight you used for the requisite RM prescription.

Bottom Up Turkish Getup - 1 RM

Bottom Up Clean and Press- 3 RM

Push Press - 3 RM

2 Hand Swing - 20 RM

Compare to 8/31/13

Great Article on My Favorite Kettlebell Exercise!

What is the most versatile RKC movement?

by Shannon Scullin on February 19, 2014

Shannon demonstrates a good and a bad Get Up stance

The Turkish Get Up is the most versatile movement in the RKC system. It incorporates all seven of the FMS movement patterns  - squat, hurdle step, in line lunge, shoulder mobility, active straight leg raise, trunk and rotary stability – allowing us to utilise it as not only a strength building exercise but as a screening and rehab tool, making it the most valuable exercise to have in your arsenal of training drills.

I’ve been known to be a little bit of a perfectionist when it comes to teaching people how to do a get up.  I firmly believe that one repetition completed with good form is far more beneficial to you than completing ten reps with a half arsed attempt at the movement. But I am pedantic about technique for a very good reason…

I train and have taught a large number of people how to use kettlebells during my time as a trainer. From personal trainers to the self-taught and those who have never touched a weight before in their life. All of these people have one thing in common… As their get up improves, their mobility and stability improves. As their mobility and stability improves their coordination improves. As their coordination improves their strength improves and as their strength improves so does the rest of their training.

The get up is not a “simple” movement to teach or to learn. In fact as well as being the most versatile it’s actually one of the most complex of all the kettlebell exercises.
There are a few books on the market that delve deep into the get up, its technique and corrective drills to help you improve your form, the most famous being “Kalos Sthenos – Kettlebells From the Ground Up”. However, most people’s get up can be greatly improved by simply doing the following:

1)    Thoracic mobility and hamstring flexibility drills.

Two of the most common issues we see in the get up are caused by poor thoracic mobility (hunching forward or shoulder unpacking during the seated position) and hamstring flexibility (inability to keep the down leg straight or allowing the foot to rotate outward).

Often I see people grinding their way through the movement with bad posture in an attempt to improve. But why continue beating your head against a brick wall when there is an easier way.…
There are a number of drills that you can perform to help improve your mobility and flexibility in these areas, thus improving your get up and posture in general.

My favourite drills, and the ones I have found achieve the best results are all incorporated in to one simple mobility workout called the “Daily Dozen”.  This simple eight minutes of mobility, done consistently in conjunction with the get up, will not only vastly improve your movement and posture but they are the perfect way to prepare your body for the workout ahead.

I recommend starting your warm up by “testing” a get up on each side. Once you have completed your get up perform one round of the “Daily Dozen” and then perform another get up on each side. Repeat this process three times.

Pay attention to how your get up feels after performing the first round of mobility drills. If you are particularly tight in the thoracic region you may choose to focus solely on the armbar, bent armbar and kettlebell brettzel for the next round of mobility. Likewise, if you are feeling particularly tight from the hips down, you may choose to focus on the Cossack, can opener and lower limb drills.
For those of you who are beginners or may be a little daunted at the thought of doing a bent armbar or the kettlebell brettzel you can replace both of these movements with the “Brettzel” which will achieve the same results.

2)    Shift your weight.
 
From the moment you are born you commence a journey of movement. You learn how to shift your weight in order to roll over on to your belly, rock back and forth, crawl, stand and walk. Without this shift in weight movement becomes very difficult.

The get up is a similar journey of movement. Each stage you move to has a different centre of gravity. In order to perform the get up efficiently and gain maximum results you need to learn how and where to shift your weight in order to take the kettlebell from lying to standing position and back down again.

The easiest way to remember where the weight should be felt is to follow this zig zag pattern – elbow, hip, hand, knee.

As you roll to your elbow you should feel all the weight of your body and the bell going through your elbow in to the floor. As you straighten your arm out and progress to the seated position this weight should shift and be felt through your glute, where your femur meets your hip. As you progress to the bridge/low sweep, your arms should form a straight line from the kettlebell, through your shoulders and the weight should be felt through the hand that is connected to the ground. And finally, as you transition from the knee to hand through to the lunge position the weight should be felt through the knee that is connected to the ground. On the descent the weight shift works in the opposite order – knee, hand, hip, elbow.

3)    Do more reps.

This is important. In order to get better at something you need to practice it over and over again.
In an average workout you may complete anywhere between 25 to 100 repetitions of exercises such as swings, snatches, presses, deadlifts and squats however, the get up seems to get neglected when it comes to getting our repetitions in.

Instead of lumping the get up in with your warm up every time you train, why not try changing it up a little? Try spending an entire session focusing solely on the get up every now and then.

Mid last year I started using the get up as my recovery workout. Twice a week I would take a light kettlebell (nothing heavier than 14kg), set the Gymboss on sixty second intervals and then proceed to perform get ups for the next 100 minutes. One get up on the minute, every minute. The get up was to be slow and controlled, focusing on good form throughout the movement.  By the time I had completed twenty get ups all tightness had washed away from my body and any aches and pains that were rearing their ugly little heads prior to the session had retreated with tails between their legs. My movement felt strong, natural and effortless and the more repetitions I did the better everything felt.
Coincidentally, after incorporating the 100 get up recovery workout in to my routine, not only did I hit a new get up PR but I saw gains in all other areas of my training too.

Work on your mobility, shifting your weight and getting more reps in and I guarantee that your get up will not only get better but you will get stronger too!

WOD- Love Your Partner

Saturday, 2/14/14

Partner AMRAP-10

Complete as many rounds as possible with your partner using the following rules:


**Partner 1: Must complete 1 turkish getup on each arm

**Partner 2: Must complete as many snatches on each arm as possible DURING THE TIME partner 1 completes their turkish getup


**Partners must switch back and forth throughout the entire AMRAP

Score is the total number of repetitions the pair completed (turkish getups + snatches)

Loads will be recorded as well.

Valentine's Day Special

In honor of Valentine's Day, this Saturday morning's kettlebell class will be about spreading the love at Maryland Kettlebells!

For this Saturday only (2/15/14), you can bring in a spouse, partner, friend, significant other, or family member for free. 

Invite someone to come with you to the 8am or 9am kettlebell class to share in your love of kettlebell training.  No worries if they have never used a kettlebell before.

The couple that trains together stays together! (This is true for any meaningful friendship as well:)