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Doing a training drill  at work Christmas Eve. No rest from work over the festive season unfortunately.

No More Bells for ME.

I have made a decision that I will not be utilising Kettlebells as a tool in my training from now on (for a variety of reasons).  Using no actual dead weight is making me think outside the square to load my lower body to the degree I like. I think the bell are an awesome tool  and should be part of any good training routine unless you have some good reasons for them not to be. 

The reasons for my decision:

*On-going Hip & Shoulder mobility issues that I need to continue to address.
*Repititive loadings with  sheering & compression forces on the spine causes me undue discomfort after every bell session.
* Bands deload most movements in the weakest plane and overload the strongest plane decreasing the risk of injury immensely. Due to many years of extreme loading with Powerlifting & weightlifting type movements bands make more sense for longevity of my training.

* Due to the above  reasons I really do not enjoy the feeling I get with the bells anymore. I am really enjoying the bands, bars (chin up & dip bars)  and bodyweight training (3Bs).

* Bells are not portable (unless driving) and I want to be able to train anywhere, anytime on my travels. I enjoy using a select few portable exercise tools and being able to train at a moments notice and not have to journey to a gym- -JGXT, Power jumper, skipping PUR &  my 5KG hypervest are virtually my whole gym set these days.

Additional things I will be experimenting with for my lower body on top of existing band & bodyweight drills will be.

Single leg band deadlifts (Power jumper hooked onto two ground eyelets or  using a BXT cable adjusted to the ground)
Band resisted JGXT hamstring curls and band resisted supine hip extensions. (Using PJ on eyelets)
Bodyweight Gluteham raise - band assisted and resisted.

The normal band resisted pistols, bulgarian split squats, JGXT drills, jumping drills etc will remain in my training regime.

I will still use weighted vests/ ankle weights and the like for weighted bodyweight drills only. These will be the only actual dead weight I am going use.

Training for the past five days

Wednesday the 21st of December

Only A Small workout today

Did the following  3 movements in a circuit 3 times through with the 5kg hypervest on.

First set of each movement was 5 reps down to 1 (5,4,3,2,1) second set 6>>>1 and third 7>>>1. I held the contracted position in between rep ranges for the same count as the rep just completed. Eg-  7 reps+ 7 sec count, then 6 reps+ 6 count etc down to 1

1) Push ups (held a plank for counts)
2) JGXT 90 body rows (held hands as close to chest as possible for counts)
3) Bulgarian split squat L & R (Both legs raised and held front thigh at 90deg for count)

Rode home 8km>>Yoga cool down.

Thursday 22nd of December

am- weighted Shoulder prehab movements alternated with a yoga pose or mobility movement for 15 minutes. I really like how my shoulders are starting to feel after doing this shoulder routine a few times a week.

Pm- Just did 10 sets of 4 assisted M- Ups- 16kg of assistence. Felt sharper on these today so left them whilst still feeling good.

Friday The 23rd of December.

AM- Alternated 10 sets of Pullups 2 reps with Parallette Handstand Push ups 2reps

A) Pullups- Contrast set as per video posted during the week. Upped resistence by 5lbs to 50lbs. Completed 1 rep weighted, drop the weight and complete 1 explosive rep.
B) 2 deadstop pause reps of HSPU on parallette Handles. Much tougher with a extended pause at the bottom.

PM- Rode home and messed around in the playground with Hanstands, Jump MUs, L-Seat to HS etc for half an hour....nothing serious.

Saturday the 24th of December

Was not much of a day for me mentally, sleeping badly and having to make some decisions that I was not counting on so today training was average.

Just rode the bike home and did the Bar-barian challenge. I have not done this for a while and I really was not prepared mentally for it however it didnt turn out all that bad (not brilliant either!)

Jump Muscle ups 15 reps (meant to be 5 full MU or 15 jump style if not MU proficient)
Dips x 45 (25,10,10)
Pullups x 25 (11,4,4,4,2)
Push ups x 55 (32,13,10)
Jump Mu x 15.

All done in 9 mins 45 secs. I was happy with getting it done under 10 min. It is a long way off the 6 min requirement and the full MUs are not happening any time soon however I was not totally displeased.
The jump MUs were done with the height of the bar 3 inches down my wrist if I had my arms fully locked out overhead. Obviously the higher the bar the less jump and more pull is required.

Sunday 25th of December- Christmas day.

Being stuck out here on Christmas day away from family and friends was less than joyous. I decided to train a couple of times today take my mind off goings on.

am- 15 mins of running drills and ladder drills (nothing serious just got the blood moving)
15 Mins of Handstand drills (again nothing serious)
15 mins of Yoga poses

Pm- I did the Upper body Boomerang again (this time without the vest on). 45 sec of each exercise followed by 60 secs of rest.

Assisted Muscle ups 14 (Assistence down from 23 to 21kg assis and reps up by 2)
Handstand Push up 15
Pullups 17 (11kg of assist)
Dips 31
Chin ups 17 (11kg of assist)
Push ups 40
Nuetral chin 14 ( 11kg of assist)
Parallette dips 35
JGXT rows- 13x feet up >>13 reps x 90 deg
Close Grip push ups (feet up on a flat weight bench) 23
Kneeling chest to floor rollouts 23

Tough little workout, pleased with the outcome of reps as I am still not feeling all that flash.

Foggy

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I had yesterday off. I am finding that doing 2-3 mini workouts one day with the next day off allows me to continue to train hard without stressing my current ailments too badly or overtraining.

I did however ride the bike home from work (8km) and completed the Eischens yoga beginners sequence twice as a cool down

Wednesday December 21st

Rode the bike into work and then did the following:

Upper body Boomerang workout (with a twist).

Instead of 40 work 40 rest I pushed it out to 45 work 60 rest, added a couple of exercises and also threw the 5kg vest on (after the assisted Muscle ups).

Numbers went as follows

1) Assisted Muscle up (40kg assistance on cable machine)- 12 reps

2) Handstand push ups (Put the vest on for these and kept it on) - 8 reps

3) Pullups (20kg assistance) 16 reps

4) Dips-- 25 reps

5) Chin ups --15 reps

6) Push ups-- 35 reps

7) Nuetral grip chin up-- 12 (forearms were smoked by now.)

8) Parallette dips --34reps

9) JGXT Rows (started with feet on 18" box then dropped to floor) --10+10

10) Close grip push ups on a 3kg medicine ball- -15 reps (triceps were cooked)

11) Chest floor rollouts- -15 reps

Man this was an awesome workout, I really enjoyed it- short ,sweet and fried me.

This afternoon I did the following

Chins - contrast sets 10 x 3 reps (one rep with 25kg added, dropped the weight and did two explosive reps) here is an example of them.

Messed around on the parallettes for 20 minutes then did lower body J-Rock style.

Band pistols>> >> banded bulgarian split squat (BSS)>>BW pistols>> BW BSS  jumps>>BW  BSS.I just keep going until I failed on each exercise. 2 x L & R. Nasty little burn

Another good day of training considering the average nights sleep I had.

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Monday the 19th of December

I was not sure how today was going to pan out so i rode to work early 6.15am and did the majority of my main workout then.

8km ride

Shoulder prehap work- band rotations + dislocates+ wall slides+ face pulls

Clean & Push press

I Started my workout testing my clean & push press for 5 minutes, 15 secs on /15 off (10 sets) with the 28s. I got the 50 reps I was aiming at without too much bother (i was blowing a wee bit on the last two sets which was to be expected) which pleased me but it certainly reinforces why I am limiting my bell work these days as I hobbled around all day with a crook back. I have the heat pack on it as I am typing this.

I Followed the Cl & PP with 5 cluster sets of 5 reps alternating the following 2 movements

a) Pullups 

B) Parallette L- seat press to HS.

Pullups were done with my 1RM weight minus 10%. My 1 rm is bw+36kg (146kg) so my cluster weight was 130kg (BW+20KG or close enough) Cluster reps are done via doing 1 rep resting 10 secs & repeat for desired reps...in this case 5 reps.

The L- seat to HS were done single rep style also (clusters of 5 reps) with the 5kg vest on. I certainly am getting stronger at this movement I just have to learn how to hold it longer and descend it under control. Here is the last rep of the 5th set.

PM- at 4pm I decided I recovered sufficiently to do some more work so I decided to to do the Eischens yoga beginners sequence with a 5kg vest on holding each pose for 20 secs. This is MUCH harder and was a great warm up.

I followed this with  some handstand walking.

4 x 10M with just bodyweight

4 x 10m with a 5kg vest on.

I rested as much as needed in between sets, I am guessing 60 seconds or so.

I kept the vest on and did push ups & JGXT rows.

10-1 Push ups 

(in between reps I counted in seconds to the rep I just completed whilst holding a plank position i.e 10 push ups, count slowly to 10, 9 push ups count slowly to 9 etc down to 1) This was super tough  with a vest on.

6-1 JGXT Rows (same format as above just holding top position of the row whilst counting)

Finshed with a "buy out"

50 Daimond push ups on the 3kg med ball- 30, 14,6 (30 secs in between each set)

50 Assisted pullups 2 green bands on the PUR- 26,14,10 (30 secs between)

Ended up a good day of training however i am feeling it in the right shoulder rotators, left elbow and my lower back.....Goddamit I am falling to bits!!!

Foggy

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Saturday 17th of December

12.30-- 15 secs work 15 rest for 7 mins (14 sets) of Valslide crawling- 15m each set.

Thats all I wanted to do for my first small workout. This was still a tough little effort

5pm- Rode the bike home from work (8km) and stopped at the school playground where I had an excellent little workout.

Took my green Pullup revolution and the green power jumper.

Was already warm from the ride so I did the following to get started
1)  2/1/0 - Green power jumper jumps 3 sets of 5 reps at 2 then 1 band then with my bodyweight. Rested about 30-45 secs between each effort of 5 reps.

I had various height rafter beams to jump at for targets in the school assembly area which always makes jumping more challenging and motivating.

 I then did 5 sets of 5reps  of the following in a circuit format.

a) 1 green band Pistols  L & R to a 12" step
b) 2 green band PJ dips. (set up for bands in picture below albeit only one band showing)
c) Bodyweight L -seat pullups

After the above I did a circuit 5 times through of the following only resting as needed. This was a tough finisher.
a) Divebomer push ups 15 reps (did these for the first 3 rounds then switched to 15 dips for last two to mix it up)
b) PUR 2 green band close grip pullups 15 reps
c) 1 green band split squat jumps 8 L& R - same set up as in picture below (for first 3 sets then switched to 15 reps rebound jumps onto the school stage platform of approx 27")

Did some yoga to cool down then gently finished my ride home (1km)



The picture above was the one band used for split squat jumps. I added 2 bands for the dips and held the rubber (about 3-4 inches in from the foot straps) down onto the bars to reduce the length and increase the resistence. I will be using this method with the bands again as it fitted perfectly for what I needed.

Felt good today.

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Friday December 9

Was frazzled today so just did the following:

1) 100 close grip push ups on a small medicine ball (as few sets as possible with as little rest as possible)-- 38 reps >> 30 secs rest>>18>> 30 secs rest>> 16>>30 secs>>16>>30 secs>> 12 reps

2) 100 pullups (2 green on Pull up revolution)- did these 10 sets of 10 with 30 secs in between

3) 50 Bulgarian Split squat L & R (1X 28 kg KB) 25, 15,10 

Saturday December 10 

Day off --  did Eischens yoga warrior sequence for 1 hour.

Sunday December 11th

Spent the day training with MBG instructors today, it was a good day and everyone did really well.

Monday December 12th

Another quick one today - threw on the 10kg vest and did the following. 

Push ups 10>>1 (held a plank in between each rep range whilst partner did reps)

90deg JGXT rows 6>>1 (Held top position)

Feet up push ups 6>>1 (held feet up plank in between)

skin the cat- 3 reps with vest on. (tried best to hold front & back lever as long as possible each rep)

50  Bulgarian split squat L & R  & 50 Swings with a 40kg kb - all done in 4 mins 30 sec

Tuesday December 13th

Off

Wednesday 14th of December

threw 10kg vest on

10>>1 ( hold plank in between)...very tough

6>>1 JGXT 90deg rows. (held top in between)

4 x 30 secs -L-seat

4 x 6 concentric reps (single style from a dead hang)

5>>1 L&R JGXT Foot up lunge (hold back knee up off ground whilst partner did his reps).

Thursday the 15th of December

On the 60 sec drill.

Rotated these four movements 6 times through starting a new set on the minute every minutes for 24 minutes. This got tough on the last two rounds.

1) KB deadlifts 2 x 55kg for 10 reps

2) Bulgarian split squat 10 L & R with  1x 28kg kb

3) 60m sled pull (backwards) with 100kg on.

4) 50 double unders with the lifeline heavy rope (light green)

I got the last set of doubles on video below.

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Have to keep this one brief, there is lots  going on at present and it is getting increasingly more difficult to find time to blog.

 At present I have a 15 week pregnant wife ( who is  handling things remarkably well), training up new instructors for next year to relieve the pressure in Darwin enough for us to organize a new gym on the Gold Coast, getting our house ready in Darwin to rent early in the new year on top of taking MBG classes AND having a full time job to boot.

The weekend just gone I flew to the Gold Coast to try and find a spot for a new gym however  with the limited time we had it just confused things more with so much on offer down there.

Training the past week has been limited due to travel etc however the past few days I have been back on track.

Monday the 5th December

15/15 for 10 mins alternating the following 

A) Incline pushups (+15lb best) 5 sets of 12 reps, 3 sets of 11, 2 sets of 10.

B) Jungle Gym XT muscle ups 10 sets of 7 with 15lb vest on

2-3 minutes rest then did the same with

A) Pull ups with 15 lb vest. Just did 10 sets of 3

B) Dips with the 15lb vest 5 sets of 10 4 sets of 8 1 set of 6.

Then grabbed a 28kg kb and did bulgarian split squats 20 reps down to 10 reps  left and right in 2 rep drops. I also had my front leg raised on an aerobic step for increase depth. This was a nasty little finish.

Tuesday the 6th of December

Did a circuit with the boys I got 7 times through in 30 minutes. This was super tough in the heat and humidity

20 Goblet squats with a 24kg kb

10 punch rows (JGXT) 5 L & R

20 Hamstring curls on the JGXT

10 Burpee Lateral jumps over the large punch bag

40 double unders.

Not a great training effort but was very fatigued after being in the gym all day in this heat

Wednesday the 6th of December

10-1 alternating

L-seat chinups (neutral grip due to shoulder issue)

HSPU - bodyweight

Took my time with these as it was super hot again

Buy out

50 diamond push ups on a 4kg med ball- 25,13,12

50 Pullups with 2 green bands on the PUR- 18, 13,10,9

Thursday the 7th of December

100m power wheel + 100 push ups (all with 10kg vest on)

The first set was done for 20m + 20 push ups then I had to finish it in 10+10 increments.

100m broad jumps with 1 green band on Power jumper. I did 2 verticals after every 2 broad jumps. This was super tough also.

Good day today, felt strong. Still suffering a bit with the shoulder issue but doing the right things and avoiding anything that remotely aggravates it.

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