Seen as Christmas is on it's way(as it usually is this time of year), I thought I would take another mini challenge as I have done in the past. Last years Kettlebell Challenge ended up in misery after I got fairly ill half way through it whilst also in the middle of DIY Hell with kitchen renovations.
Anyways, Bud Jeffries has got me going again and thought why not do a little sideliner with the Kettlebell Swing
My challenge to my self is 300 kettlebell swings 5 times per week with the 24kg bell
Great video of Sean Sherk (former UFC champ) training for a fight with Tyson Griffin in the good old CAVEMAN STYLE (via Bazsika's blog - Balasz my Hungarian friend)
Last time i did anything in the style of a Caveman I'd necked 12 cans of Stella ;)
There's lot to be learnt from this video so watch closely and take notes!
Some time ago I was given the P90X system by a dear Strength and Fitness accomplice of mine.
So about 2 years later (after getting it) and feeling the effects of my strongman comp I decided to take a 'light' option for my evening training session.
Enter p90x, I scanned through the options and decided on the core synergistics section.
After a pretty thorough warm up I was feeling good with lots of movements that had passed my mind many years ago. I won't go into the details here but my memory took me back to school (in a good way) and circuit training exercises.
The results were pretty good for me in that I now feel like I've released my tight hips and my lower back through this workout.
No suprises really I'm under no illusions that I need more general training.
I intend do more p90x soon in addition to my kettlebell training and barbell sessions.
p90x versus kettlebells IMO the two types of training canno be compared, p90x is a workout video and kettlebell training is a lifestyle and constant challenge.
Kettlebells will live forever and p90x wil die out atsome point despite being a big cut above all the other workout videos (think celebrity workout videos)
Todays session, haven't squatted for months and after getting mashed at last weekends comp i need my body to be upto the job. 110kg on the barbell for 8 reps followed by 20 squat thrusts and 20 kettlebell swings with the 32kg bell. Repeated for 6 sets. My lower back is still a little shot but bearable to train with.
Just been over at Strongerman.com again. I find Bud Jeffries very intriguing! Bud is massively strong but not only that, he is extremely fit.
Bud's words are 'If you want radical results you have to put out radical effort. You don’t have to climb the mountain every day, but you do have to climb it if you really want results.
That is so true, radical training means radicals results. Bud has lost over 100lb's recently and looks amazing.
I got quite a few 'Why in the hell would you want to do that' expressions when I started training for my Hammer Challenge for Charity. I did it because it was 'out of the norm' and believe it helped 'raise more money for charity' because it was unusual and not something everyone could do and was a little different to a Sponsored walk.
With this said, I'm looking for a new radical challenge for next year if anyone has any ideas?
So far I have come up with 3 hour sledgehammer striking (World Record is 2768 strikes) with a 14lb hammer 1 hour 24kg kettlebell snatching
Bud's 1000 sprawls is another example of radical (a sprawl being the same as a burpee or squat thrust)
Ok, I should have been working but somebody slapped one of last years stock book on my desk. This is the first time I've tried catalogue tearing, this one was 35mm thick and much more difficult than a Yellow Pages Phonebook
If you want to get into grip and rip i would highly recommend these places
Did my first Strongman competition last saturday at Jason Talbot's container in Harby Leicestershire. I travelled down with Pat 'Homemade' Hodgson fairly early and managed to get a great sausage and bacon butty at Harby petrol station cafe before the comp!!
The competetion started at 11am after a briefing about the rules of the comp from JT.
First event was the Overhead (in medley format), first implement was a 62kg very thick handled dumbbell, which went up pretty easily. Then onto the 110kg Yoke, mission accomplished without too many worries. Third lift was 110kg thick log bar, I struggled with this due to handle placing as it was such a big diameter log, I ended up trying twice to press out so moved onto the next lift which was the 120kg axle, I continentalled it onto the belt and then straight up to the chest and overhead. Final lift was a double attempt at a 69kg Inch dumbbell which I failed just to lock out on with a few seconds spare.
With my pre-nerves out of the window, I set upon the second task - deadlift. Started with a 220kg (50mm)axle, then 250kg trap bar and 155kg each hand farmers walk bar deadlift final lift was a failure at 275kg olympic bar deadlift - I managed to get the weight off the floor by about 4 inches but thought better of really fighting it to save myself for the rest of the competition.
Third task was the medley which was 140kg each hand farmers walk 15m, 300kg tyre flip for 2 reps and 175kg duck walk for 15m. Once again I scraped through the whole lot in 88.9 secs and a bruised foot from glancing my foot with the farmers walk bar. This really got me blowing big time!
Final event was the atlas stones 120kg,135kg,160kg and 180kg. I got the first 2 stones up without too much trouble but ended up with no tacky left on my arms so couldn't even get a grip on the 160kg atlas stones - a little bit dissapointed with this as I think I was capable of getting the third stone up. However, you learn from these things.
Overall, the comp was a great experience with a lot of great guys supporting each other. Hopefully I will make it into the Adlington Push/Pull meeting in January, which will certainly give me something to train for as I was far from trained up for this one (only 3 sessions in the last few months as I've been training for my Hammer Bash event)
I would highly recommend to anyone to do this comp and train with Jason on saturdays at the Container for about £3 a session. Jason also sells atlas stones for a very good price (i bought a 120kg stone to get some practice in) Check out JT's site atlasstones.co.uk
Links To Utube videos of Comp with time in mins/secs where my events start
It's because we're heading off for the Strongman comp tomorrow at Melton Mowbray (well near there- a place called Harby) (home of the UK's finest Pork Pie)
More moblogging . The 32kg bell squaring upto the 80 big daddy! Done 2 strongman sessions this week for my first ever Strongman Comp in Melton Mowbray this weekend run by Englands u105kg strongest man Jason Talbot. Events are in medley format check out http://sugdenbarbell.co.uk for more info
The 60kg and 80kg kettle bells side by side. 80kg bell is on the left. Diameter of the big boy is about 10 inches by 14 inches high. It s a totally different kettle of fish (oops) or should i say beast to the titan 60kg! Im giving it plenty of respect at the mo.
