GS Circuit Wednesday, June 17

I was playing around more with the mini-pentathlon concept and decided I'd try doing 5 of each exercise per arm, in order, with each kettlebell size from 8KG to 28KG, without rest. I did kind of a 'rapid fire' transition from kettlebell to kettlebell - I lined all the kettlebells up in front of me and once I finished the last push press with my left arm, I'd do a downswing, put it to the side and at the same time get my hand on the next kettlebell to do the first clean.

The biggest challenge actually ended up being chalk. The whole process from beginning to finish was 22 minutes of straight work and because I wasn't taking breaks I couldn't re-chalk. My hands were pretty much completely un-chalked and sweaty by midway through my work with the 20kg bell, so I ended up having to grip the 24 and 28 really hard on the downswings so I wouldn't drop them. The snatches were particularly interesting. Overall the workout averaged out to about 5400KG of varied work in about 22 minutes, or roughly 245kg per minute. I wasn't trying for a particular pace since I had no idea what to expect. Next time I try it I think I'll allow a 10-20 second break between sizes just to re-chalk if needed.

Overhead Work June 12

Brandon joined me for some overhead work this morning using the workout 180 - nifty little contraption that acts as a retractable band platform.

Strict Kettlebell Press

Warm-ups - 5 per hand @ 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28KG

Triples on the Workout180:

16KG + 60lbs band tension
20KG + 60lbs band tension
24KG + 10lbs band tension
24KG + 30lbs band tension
24KG + 60lbs band tension

Back-off Sets of 10 per hand @ 28, 24, 20, 16KG, quick succession

Mini Pentathlon June 9

Normally the WKC pentathlon consists of five 6-minute rounds - cleans, long cycle strict press, jerk, half snatch, push press - with 5 mins rest between events. Within those rounds the kettlebell can't be put down but hand switches can be done any time. It's a great physical test, but I found that if you do the same events but 1-minute per event, per hand, and take out the rest breaks, it also makes a very nice little ten minute circuit!

I tried it out with a 24kg. Heavy weight is still too hard on the joints, I tried some long cycle work with 32 and 36kg last week and it didn't feel good at all. It might be time to invest in a 28kg competition bell, the jump to 32kg was never a big deal before but it is now and if I can work with a 28kg pain-free then it might be the key to a quicker overall recovery.

Video coming soon.

A New... Old Face - Celebrating ten years with Agatsu

Agatsu West is back! Agatsu West Athletic Development was a dream I had what seems like a long time ago, a dream that got sidetracked but that I'm happy to breathe life into once again. I've re-done the blog and there are great and exciting things on the way - not the least of which is a lot more video projects. It's coming up on the ten year anniversary of that fateful weekend in Calgary when I met Shawn Mozen for the first time and became part of Agatsu, Canada's gold standard for all things movement. It's pretty incredible to think about all the things that've happened in those ten years, but I'm much more excited about what's on the way in the next couple. No spoilers for now though, just enjoy the blog!

GS Training June 2

I'm back! I really never left, just got super frustrated by injuries and did most of my blogging on facebook instead of here for some reason. Anyway.

This was experiment number 2 of using GS as a way to introduce stability back into my shoulders and elbows that've been a nightmare ever since I started training for the worlds in Rio. I can still drill and roll but certain things - particularly takedowns - are a big hurdle right now. I get through 10, maybe 20 minutes of wrestling if I'm lucky before my arms are completely unusable. Barbell training has gone out the window almost entirely. I'm afraid to try deadlifting, and bench is okay but only on an incline with a swiss bar and relatively light weight. Even box squatting has suffered because I haven't been able to get as tight under the bar as I normally would. Yet... somehow GS feels otherworldly different. Of course I still have to be careful and I haven't tried anything heavy yet - limiting work to 24KG but I'm definitely taking the same joints through a full ROM and getting a lot more work done with a lot less pain. I can only surmise that it's the unique movement properties of the kettlebell, combined with the efficiency of the GS technique that allows this. I'm basically trying to look at this as a blessing in disguise.

Over the next few weeks I'm going to continue this sort of format - working for 10-20 minutes and playing with some shorter strongsport style rounds.