Lower Body Hell, And A Lot Of Hard Work...

 So, this post will bring us up to date on this week's training. If you missed what we did at Redemption Kettlebell Gym on Monday, Day 1, check out the previous post. Day 2 brings us to a lower body, strength dominant workout. 
 The warmup continues to work basic upper body strength and "core" strength, as most of the members here need a lot of it. Day 1 was done for 10 min, as many rounds as possible. Today calls for 3 rounds or 10 min. - whichever comes first. Basically, a little motivation to hustle through the warmup as opposed to reading the paper between exercises. After that, we transitioned to a technical portion where the double kettlebell high pull was worked for 3 sets of 3 singles. The approach here is similar to Olympic lifting in that the set is broken into 3 individual pulls. This ensures that proper position, hip drive, and technique can be worked with heavier bells without worrying about falling out the groove or losing bell control. Again, the focus here is on introducing the movement and technique without getting fatigued - minimal threat, good clean learning.
 Next is the main training body - the true focus of the day. Lower body strength and power - as many rounds as possible in 15 min. So, heavy deadlifts followed up with 1 arm kettlebell snatches. The reps are set at 5 for each movement, and they're done back to back so there's the conditioning effect as well. I programmed pullups for submax reps at the tail end of this sequence, because I see a need for improvement here across the board. Today's goal for pullups though is to just grease the groove, so if you're normally doing sets of 5, do sets of 3 or less, depending on how they feel. DON'T GO TO MAX. 
 On the deadlift, start off light enough to warm up and keep adding 10 - 20 lbs to the bar every round. Stop adding weight before you feel back position and lift technique go. The trick is to remember you're doing a deadlift, a movement requiring technique, as opposed to simply picking up as much as you can. The kettlebell snatches are as heavy as possible with proper technique. As usual, the rest time is as long as it takes to test peripheral field. 
 This sequence is a smoker, and will definitely get you fitted for your big boy pants. 3 of our hard chargers in the night class hit 5 rounds, pulling over 215 and 225 for the last 2. While this doesn't seem like much, they were pulling under 200 a month ago. Here's the layout:


 Tuesday (Day 2) Lower Body Strength, Power, and Conditioning


 Warm Up:
                  3 Rounds Or 10 Min - Whichever Comes First
                  Dynamic Joint Mobility/Ground Movement
                  Pushup x Max
                  Double Rope Climb x 6
                  1/2 Up x 5/5
                  Peripheral Field Test After Every Round


Main Body:
                    15 Min Of As Many Rounds As Possible
                  Deadlift x 5
                  1 Arm Kettlebell Snatch x 5/5
                  Pullup x Submax
                  Peripheral Field Test After Every Round


Finisher:
                3 Rounds
               Kettlebell Racked Walking Lunge x 10/10
               1 Arm Swing x 10/10
               Peripheral Field Test After Every Round
    
 This brings us up to speed with today's workout, or Day 3. This is a bit of a catchall day, very body weight and strongman driven. The idea behind Day 3 is to use light to moderate weight and train endurance and lower body speed and power. The training blocks are set up with 3 consecutive movements targeting the same body movements for 5 reps each, so that, even though the movement changes, the muscles being worked do not. So there's a rope climb x 5 followed by a body weight row x 5, followed by a pullup x 5, but it's still 15 upper body pulling movements. This is a great way to increase strength, while building muscle, and again developing a little mental toughness. While the 2 upper body sequences focus on strength endurance, the lower body sequence is really more power endurance. The nice thing is, even though fatigue sets in by the end,  submax weight (or submax reps) is used throughout, so the nervous system is not overloaded. For the past 3 weeks, a version of this workout was done for 3 rounds per block, today, it's being done for 5 rounds per block. As always, peripheral field tests are done after every round to monitor threat.


Wednesday (Day 3): Total Body Strength/Strength Endurance


 Warm Up: Dynamic Joint Mobility/Ground Movement/Visual   
                   Drills  


 Block 1: Upper Body Push
                5 Rounds
                Pushup x 5
                KB Floor Press x 5
                Double KB Overhead Press x 5
               Peripheral Field Test After Every Round


Block 2: Upper Body Pull   
               5 Rounds
               Rope Climb x 5
               Body Weight Row x 5
               Pullup x 5 
               Peripheral Field Test After Every Round


Block 3: Lower Body Pull/Drive
               5 Rounds
               Sandbag Shoulder x 3/3
               Tire Flip x 3
               KB Dead Snatch x 3/3
               Peripheral Field Test After Every Round


 This is a generally well received day. It's challenging, but fun, although no one's a great fan of the pulling block. 5 rounds is tough. 3 rounds is a better idea if you're just getting used to this.