No Rules Training

So today was my first day of the Rites of Passage after taking the last week off from all strength training. I did do Eischens Yoga and foam rolling every day and one hard day of BJJ, but after nearly 3 months of focused work, I took my own advice and layed low for 7 days. 

Today, being Monday, is the “light” day of the training week, which luckily for me is very low volume. It just so happens I caught a nasty cold over the weekend, but I decided that a little sweat wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Here goes nothing…

Pre Strength Training:

12 Minute Eischens Yoga Routine

and now the most boring training session ever…

Warm Up:

-5 goblet squats

-1 kalos sthenos get up (left)

-5 goblet squats

-1 kalos sthenos get up (right)

 

a1) kettlebell clean and press: 3×1

a2) pull ups: 3×1

b) snatches: 8 minutes (5 reps each side on the minute for first 4; 3 reps each side on the minute for last 4)

Obviously, this was an easy session, but I have a long 9 weeks a head. I’m doing the program as written without any deviation, and that requires a certain degree of patience and diligence.

When it comes to strength training and nutrition and everything that encompasses them (conditioning, mobility work, corrective exercise, supplements), we just have too many choices. While variety is great and I think that its important to understand the perspective from all sources, when it comes down to achieving goals we need to be more selective. At least for myself, I need structure and organization. I need someone saying “do this!”. As Dan John has noted (I swear I don’t get paid every time I put his name in a post…he just happens to say a lot of things that resonate), the power of “do this!” can not be understated.

  I just don’t think we can be our own coaches – at least not completely. I just don’t think we’re wired with the discipline and insight to write out our own programs. For example, my clients’ programs are practical and focused on their needs. I know when to deload them, and I know when to push them. I give them the biggest mobility and corrective exercise bang for their bucks, and I absolutely make sure that we do nothing to hurt them or where their form is compromised. For the most part, I am their one mentor – their one guru. But myself? I have thousands of mentors, gurus, and experts at my disposal. I spend hours a day reading and doing research and have so options it makes my head spin.

 So this is why I’ve become more aware of the importance of structure, of planning, and of some level of daily organization. When I say daily organization, I mean putting everything together so that it makes sense and is reasonable enough to be able to pull off on any given day. Yes, I “can” train like an elite Bulgarian weightlifter, logging in multiple two hour long sessions a day and daily massages and naps, but that “might” get in the way of, well, the rest of my life.

 When you look over the 4 musts of

1. strength training
2. joint mobility
3. nutrition
4. sports training

how do you put those things together so that a) you can recover and actually make progress and b) live a relatively sane existence? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just tolerate or survive, I want to thrive! Much of my training in the past (especially the martial arts) had been more about how much I could take, and less about finding out how I could perform optimally. There is a fine line there, but I suggest that you ride it.

 Let’s take a look at the first 3 and how I plan to organize things in 2010.

  As mentioned a few posts ago, I am going to be following the Rites of Passage from the book Enter the Kettlebell. I’ve decided to do it as written and forgo the deadlifts for the time being (what do you know, I’m actually taking my own advice!). Why the ROP?  It’s simple and well planned. It’s three days a week of clean and press & pull up ladders followed by either snatches or swings. The light/medium/heavy days allow for recovery during the week and will keep me fresh for jiu jitsu, boxing, or whatever. But mainly, I want to follow the Rites of Passage as an exercise in discipline. I want to bear down and grit my teeth on an 8+ week program and just see what happens.

 I also recently ordered Jon Hinds’ Eischens Yoga DVD. I’m very skeptical about a lot of yoga stuff out there, but Jon is a trusted source and I figure what the hell. I actually went through the 12 minute beginners routine for the first time yesterday and was very pleased. No contorting or spine twisting craziness, just 12 minutes of a few moderately challenging postures and focused breathing that helped alleviate some serious soreness from the previous days Jiu Jitsu training. I foam rolled and lacrosse balled everything out beforehand and felt like a million bucks after.

 The real gem here is Jon telling you exactly what to do, how to do it, and when to stop. I have hundreds of mobility drills that I can use, and that is exactly my problem. I need someone telling me to do “just enough”. So the 12 minute routine was perfect, and my goal is to do it everyday. There are actually 3 levels on the DVD, including the “24 minute warrior challenge”, but this is good for the time being.

 Nutritionally, I want to take care of my health, performance, and body composition. I know what foods give me trouble and know what I thrive on, but the key is organization. Tim Ferris (the 4 hour work week guy) had an interesting post on Fat Loss on his blog (http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/06/how-to-lose-20-lbs-of-fat-in-30-days-without-doing-any-exercise/) and I found this statement to ring very true:

 “The most successful dieters, regardless of whether their goal is muscle gain or fat loss, eat the same few meals over and over again.”

 And while all of the new Hollywood diet books out there advocate variety, the rest of us who don’t have personal chefs need rigidity (at least at first). Again, too many options destroys me and probably you too. I like the following plan of

Breakfast: eggs

Mid Day: 2-3 low carb protein shakes with milled flaxseed

Dinner: meat and veggies

* Extra Fat Sources (tossed in whenever): olive oil, coconut oil, nuts (almonds/walnuts), avocados.

 The protein shake thing is something I’m going to try for the sake of simplicity and convenience (being honest!)…I haven’t bought protein powder in maybe 2 or 3 years, but what I’ve found is that a breakfast of eggs is super easy – wake up, make my coffee and scramble a few eggs in some olive oil. But for some reason, mid day is a bitch with the lure of low carb wraps, sandwiches and other bull shit that “leads to other things”. Call me weak, but I like to know exactly what I’m eating every day otherwise I tend to deviate. So I bought a ton of Metabolic Drive off Biotest and I’ll be downing a few “velocity diet inspired” shakes a day.

  A dinner of some kind of meat (chicken, beef, fish) and some green leafy veggies and I’m pretty much good to go. The fats will be tossed in meals basically according to how hungry I am and how my performance during my training sessions is. So maybe not the perfect plan, but definitely well organized and doable from my perspective.

 So, if you actually stuck it out and read the entire post, Happy New Year and start thinking about how you can simplify “all of this” so that it makes sense for your goals and for your life.

I think that when it comes to serious practicioners, you have two types of martial artists.

You have your serious competitor/fighter/martial artist type and you have your more recreational competitor or martial artist. There are differences between the two, but no matter which one you consider yourself, I think we need to start taking lessons from both ends of the spectrum. A big white board would be a much easier way of explaining this, but bear with me.

 

The serious fighter type usually has the following word associations:

- intensity

- organization

- attributes

- work ethic

 

Where as our more recreational competitor or martial artist usually has these

- basics

- mastery

- life

- fun

 

What I think needs to  happen for not only optimal performance, but also longevity is to find a way to blend the recreational martial artist with the “fighter” mentality. Longevity is a word that doesn’t get thrown around much, but sometimes “winning” is just sticking around longer.

Let’s examine the differences between the two…

The “fighter” usually has all of his ducks in a row (he trains boxing this day, jiu jitsu these days, strength and condtioning these days, and follows this diet) and the work ethic to get him to where he wants to go. He has intensity, but sometimes misses the finer details, but the attributes (speed, power, youth) to make up for it. These are great things to have, but sometimes as athletes we get too caught up in our own whirwind of training and forget to breathe.

The recreational martial artist usually has a family, another job, and even other hobbies, but when he’s training he is there to learn. I’m not talking about the once every two weekers who are always “going to get back into it”, but somebody who is consistent and enjoys the learning process. Training for them is fun – a chance to get away - but it is not everything to them. They “let” life get in the way sometimes, but they always come back. They appreciate the steps taken to hone their skills, but might lack the “whatever” (drive, focus, physical attributes) to take things to the next level.

But what is the underlying theme for both kinds of people?

PASSION. Or as Dave Tate has said, “Passion fucking trumps everything”.

But what we need to do is find a way to take our passion and direct it in such a way that is not only suited for our lifestyle, but suited for our long term goals and individual progress. Embrace the two martial artists and enjoy the path.

I’ve been doing the program minimum (kalos sthenos get ups and swings) for about 3 weeks now, basically just “practicing” the two movements as frequently as possible and drilling perfect technique. The sessions vary, but after doing the math, I’ve been averaging about 3 get ups and 115 swings a session…decent volume, but I’m not exactly breaking the “recovery bank” (which is a good thing).

Here is what I did today…

a) Kalos Sthenos Get Ups: 5 singles each side, alternating non stop. Each rep takes about a minute to 1:15.

b) 2h swings x 5 minutes (15 seconds on/15 seconds off);

    1h swings x 5 minutes (15 seconds on / 15 seconds off)

    total: ~200 swings

I finished up with some upper and lower body mobility drills and traction work using a jump stretch band.

…Good session - each get up that I do continues to get more and more efficient. The Kalos Sthenos Get Up has received a lot of hype in the last year or so in the RKC community, and I even wrote it off at first, but after taking the time to learn the movement and put in the daily practice, I’m putting it in the category of “must do”. Maybe not as a main lift or anything like that, but definitely as a warm up.

The swings, even using just a 24 kilo kettlebell, continue to humble me. Not in the sense that it destroys me, but more along the lines that I still am working towards the perfect rep. Lat Pulldown – Hip Snap – Plank – Repeat…harder than it looks! The 15:15 was just an example of what I did TODAY, but yesterday for example I did 3 ladders of 5,10,15,20 and other days I might just do 4 sets of 25 with a minute rest. It varies, but the idea for now is to think of the training like practice and prepare myself for the Rites of Passage.

For those of you who listened to Dan John’s latest interview with Geoff Neupert, one of the key take home points were his thoughts on the “4 musts”.

 

To paraphrase, they are

 

1. Strength & Hypertrophy (and what that means for you and where you’re at in your “training career”)

      2.  Joint Mobility

      3. Nutrition

      4. Sports Training (that fits you as an individual)

 

I think that if you can find a balance between the four, you will experience optimal performance and longevity, and I’m pretty sure that the two go hand in hand. But I think that sometimes athletes just think “performance”, and are not necessarily concerned with optimal (I want it NOW!)  and longevity is an afterthought (if at all).

 

So how do we weave these four musts as we follow the path in our journey? Well, I think there needs to be an understanding of a few things…that there is such a thing as time, that there needs to be some level of periodization (highs and lows, peaks and valleys) and that there needs to be periods of accumulation.

 

What’s happening right now in MMA/BJJ circles and what happens a lot in high school and collegiate wrestling is more of a survival of the fittest thing. If you can survive the high volume training, then you are the type of persons who thrives in that environment. However, we’ll never know how the athletes who need a reduced workload to thrive will turn out.

 

I just wanted to get this out there for right now, but I’m going to get into a little more of the time/periodization/accumulation thing sometime in the next week or so. If I have anything more to say for the time being, it would be to not wait to put these things together until you “need” to. I think whether you’re 24 or 64, Dan is correct in saying these 4 things are a must if you want to compete, train, or just simply live at a high level. Get strong and lean, work on your mobility and soft tissue quality daily, get your nutrition in check, master the skills involved in your sport, and don’t forget to allow time for rest and recovery.

Here’s a look at what I’ve been doing and what’s to come in regards to my training.

 

Earning My Rites of Passage:

 

Starting the first week of January, I’m going to follow the Rites of Passage program, as written from Enter The Kettlebell. For those unfamiliar, there are 3 main training days per week consisting of clean and press ladders supersetted with pull up ladders followed by swings or snatches. Two other days in the week are the “variety” days, and Pavel reccomends sticking deadlifts in on those days if you want to train them. So I will do just that.

 

The 3 days are based off a heavy-light-medium approach, so the volume is waved throughout the week.

 

For Example:

 

Monday: Medium Day

a1) c & p ladders: 1 rung lower than the heavy day

a2) pull up ladders: 1 “rung” lower than the heavy day

b) swings: 70-80% of what I could do in the allotted time (dice roll, 2-12 minutes)

 

Wednesday: Heavy day

a) clean and press ladders: build up to 5×1,2,3,4,5

b) pull up ladders: build up to 5×1,2,3,4,5

c) swings: all out effort in allotted time period (2-12 minutes)

 

Friday: Light day

a1) C & P ladders: 2 rungs lower than the heavy day

a2) Pull Ups: 2 rungs lower than the heavy day

b)  Snatches: 50-60% of what I could do in 2-12 minutes

 

 I am looking to finally master my 24 kilo kettlebell. The one that I’ve owned for over 2 years and thought I had outgrown and could just use a conditioning tool from here on out. Not so fast. After taking the time to relearn some of the basic moves, it seems my ignorance of how to properly train with a kettlebell has been holding my progress back. So, I figure what better way to improve upon my knowledge “physical culture” than to follow THE program for progressing through the kettlebell ranks?

 

So for the past few weeks, and until the end of the year, I have and will be doing strictly kalos sthenos style get ups and swings with the 24kg…essentially, the “program minimum” from Enter The Kettlebell. I train almost daily and have been gradually bumping up the volume here and there, but I wave it naturally throughout the week. For the athlete who is limited on recuperative abilities, something along the lines of just these 2 exercises might be all that you need. Might be. Either way, the daily “trance” of doing just 2 moves as good as I can possibly do them is refreshing and I learn something new about them each day. I over looked this simple program for a long time, thinking that I was too advanced or whatever and I’ve been pretty wrong thus far.  

 

 Do I think that kettlebells are the best training tool for mma, grappling, football, golf, water polo?…NO! There are many tools, and I would argue that the barbell is still the king, but for the sake of “doing something just to do it” and get the experience, I don’t think that this program can be ignored. Its simplicity and “just enough” of things is a little different from the typical “lets cram as much stuff into a week of training as possible”, which I find refreshing and much needed. And why the 24 and not anything heavier? Well,  that’s just what I have and I want to complete the  program as written before spending $200 on getting the 32kg and more than likely repeating the process.

 

 For the first time, maybe ever, I’m going to be following a set plan, made by somebody else,  for more than like a week. I will know exactly what I’m going to be doing each day that I train. The great thing about a program like this, is that even though the load can sneak up on you (especially after week 4), it is all pretty doable. Meaning, I can train jiu jitsu or boxing or whatever earlier in the day and still be able to come back and knock out a “Heavy” day no problem or vice versa. Yes, I still have to be careful and look out for all of the signs that maybe I’m doing too much, but the built in periodization of medium-heavy-light allows for quite a bit of recovery…and if a training session doesn’t go as planned, there is nothing wrong with repeating that workout the next week.

 

So, part of the plan is  to master the clean and press with the 24 kilo kettlebell and the strict pull up. For this first cycle, I’m just going to stay with bodyweight on the pull ups and let the volume do the work. I *could* probably do the pull ups with an additional 20lb or so and work up to 5×1,2,3,4,5 but I would rather take this time to build things up slowly. In future cycles, I’ll likely experiment with an additional load and see what happens, but I have to remind myself not to bite off more than I can chew. Ah, patience.

 

With the swings and snatches, I’m going to use the dice randomizer approach, but I’ll be sticking with the same rep scheme for at least the first 4 weeks. 5’s (each side) for snatches on the light day, 20’s for swings on the heavy day, and 15’s for swings on the medium day all to be done “on the minute”. I think this will allow for a more consistent wave of volume over the 4 weeks rather than if I just did them by feel as per Pavel’s recommendations. I have a feeling I would make each session an all out effort rather than the l-h-m approach that is suggested (rule one: know thyself!).

 

As far as the deadlift training goes, I’m going to take Pavel and Dan John’s advice and do the 2 sets of 5 on the “variety days” (Tuesday/Thursday) mainly because I like deadlifting and one of my goals for 2010 is to pull 500 pounds. I’m going to use a thick bar (ok, I’m wrapping my barbell with a towel) to take a little loading off, but still allow me to work the groove with decent weight. I think the key is going to be to follow the plan in terms of weight selection and don’t rush the process… I want a big pull, but not at the expense of everything else. If I find that the 2 days of deadlifting are too much, I might just keep one day, drop them all together, or seriously scale back the weights…I guess time will tell and these first few weeks will be an experiment of sorts.

 

So what will happen after I complete the ROP? Well, for one I will see if I actually have the discipline to follow a plan. It’s very easy to get excited about a new set of goals or new training program in the first week, but can I stick it out for 2 months (or more)? I think that it’s important to find these things out about ourselves.  It’s not a single workout that shapes us, but rather it’s the cumulative effort of many workouts with a single set of goals in mind. Unfortunately, we are all attracted to the shiny new thing and the entertainment of new workouts rather than the apparent drudgery of solid programming.

 

Lots of thoughts on all of this lately, so I’ll be trickling stuff out here and there…stay tuned!

Hey everyone, check out this new  interview that Zach Even-Esh did with Dan John. Great insights from Dan as usual … As  a side note, starting at about 9:45 -10:15 is so true and hilarious

http://zacheven-esh.com/blog/uploaded/DanJohn-Zach.mp3

and lately I’m discovering that this truism is the reason why I love this stuff so much. I try and learn a “little” something every day – I read lots and experiment quite a bit (on myself and my clients), but at least once or twice a week I have a big AHA moment –  a “why haven’t I ever thought of this before?!”- and I’m starting to get some insight as to why we keep doing this stuff.  I love setting personal records, but that is just a small piece of the puzzle. It’s the non stop learning, the “emptying of my cup”, and the (at least) once a week realization that I really don’t know anything that keeps me captivated. I almost feel bad for the people who just workout for fitness (aerobics and an obsession with “core training”, or at least the words)– not there’s anything wrong with that, but they’re missing all of this fun! A punch is more than just a punch.

 

In the world of martial arts, I’m very fortunate to have direct lineage to Bruce. My instructor is a master instructor under Richard Bustillo and it never ceases to amaze me during his annual visits how Sifu Bustillo simplifies and weaves different concepts together… a 2 day seminar is an enlightening experience. When you spend time around someone like that, its very easy to get turned off and unimpressed by what mixed martial arts has become (the “scene”, anyway). Suddenly, MMA has turned into how many Affliction shirts you own rather than appreciation for the craft.

 

We can also clearly see this in fitness (strength and conditioning, if you will). The Olympic lifts are meant to be mastered, not a contest to see how fast you can snatch 65lb for 30 reps. A kettlebell swing is done ONE way, the right way. I see bastardized variations near daily. The devil is in the details, and I think that’s where we ALL miss the boat (some more than others).

 

But I think what makes some search more than others is the mistakes we’ve made. Not to sound all “woe is me”, but none of this has ever really come easy. I’ve had some serious injuries, plateaus, and many lessons learned along the way and I think without those, I wouldn’t be where I’m at now. “How can you be so insisting on doing things a certain way ?”, people might ask. How can you not be?  And how can you not keep learning to do it better?

 

Just some food for thought.

Today’s training…weights are all super easy and i’m really focusing on tension…maybe there’s something to this “sticking to the plan”  stuff? Did some band traction stuff for my neck & upper body in between sets.

warm up: 2 sets of a bar complex

a) military press (cleaned 1st rep) 115×2x5

b) deadlifts 275×2x5

c) thick grip ring pull ups: 5 submax sets (done in between and after sets of presses and deadlifts)

d) v02 max snatches: 3 minutes (7 rep cadence w/24kg)

e) thick handled farmer walks x 1 set (~150′)

I’m very likely to do the same exact workout tomorrow and possibly for another 5 workouts.

I Would love to pull 455×5 and press 185×5 in 2010, but I’m not rushing the process.

Here’s what’s going on in my head right now…you don’t have to agree, but I like just getting this stuff out there
Strength Training For Fighters:

As of right now, I think that fighters should really “focus” on the following:

- the press…strict…barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell…whatever

- the deadlift (snath grips are fine)

- pull ups

- at least maintain the movement of squatting (goblet squats, kb front squats, overhead squats, front squats, back squats). I think if you’re really pushing deadlifts, maintenance might be a good idea here, especially if you’re a more experienced lifter. Think “warm ups” or  fast 8’s with a normal working weight.

- rowing, rdls, goodmornings…these are all good
- other pushing stuff is fine, too…dips, push ups, benching

If you work hard with great diligence, persistence, and discipline and s-l-o-w-l-y “bump” up your strength levels over time, you will have a great base to work with. Sure, that list is not 100% complete and I am missing somethings, but the idea is to cut, cut, cut until you get down to just what you REALLY need to get stronger across the board.
General Conditioning:
I’m starting to think that there waaaay too much emphasis on conditioning using things outside of actual sparring, drilling, mitt work, what have you. I am 100% of guilty of this and that’s why I feel like I can speak up and go against the grain a little.
Lots of s&c coaches with maybe more “paper” than me feel like they have a say in all of this, but until you’ve actually taken 12 weeks to prepare for a fight and step in the ring, then  it is difficult to judge exactly what a
fighters needs are. With that being said (did anyone catch the season finale of curb? haha), most guys are going way overboard here and going nuts with this stuff way too often.

The best general conditioners?
There are lots and everyone seems to have a flavor of the week. If its nice weather and you have access to a hill, then hill sprints might be your answer. If its January and there’s 8 feet of snow on the ground, then a day devoted to bar complexes seems like a better option.

I think that fighters/martial artists forget that all of this extra training is just
supplemental and is supposed to HELP you in the gym or in the ring and not completely wear you down. Pick a few things that you like and toss them into your training program in a  logical manner. I say logical because its easy to fall in love with the idea of mixing and matching a bunch of different things, but rarely does it work or make any sense (ok, you’re tired after the workout, but is it helping you?).

More to come.