Relax

The Thanksgiving Holiday gave me a chance to really slow down and my body and spirit took full advantage, detouring me in to a meditation retreat like existence I am only now coming out of. The introspective time helped me realize my recent hectic work pace and all the intensity of my KB workouts have caused a pendulum swing in my life.

My inner workout guidance system lost interest in KB practice about two weeks ago for the most part and it's not burnout - more like 3 steps back so I can move forward better and faster. Let me explain:

When I was training for the RKC the previous winter and this spring I was also doing a lot of standing meditation and some qigong and stretching to keep me in balance. Well after the RKC I was peaking and had to come down. That, my shoulder dysfunction and the energy of summer got me out of my training groove with all the new things I was exploring whilst I figured out my shoulder issue and the meditation and qigong dropped off the menu.

I really got into the swing version of the VO2 Max this fall - it was helping me get leaner and didn't bug my shoulder but I wasn't including any meditation, qigong or stretching and that pattern reached it's limit.

It was time for a return to balance and return it did with an exclamation point! I have been meditating (Taoist Standing style) and doing a very nice qigong set twice a day for over a week now. I feel the KBells starting to call me again, but I'm not quite ready yet. I think Sunday I'll resume from a base level with the 16 & 24, alternating swing/snatch workouts and the strength regime I began before my 'pendulum' reversed motion.

Take home message: make sure you are including some soft motions and stillness* into your regimen for better balance. I am shifting and opening up all kinds of bound places in my body. My posture, muscle awareness and energy are really changing and I am very curious and excited to see how I take the Girya training and reconfigure this time around.

*Sleep, vegetation in front of a TV or computer screen, or drug-induced immobility DON'T COUNT!

Strength Workout: Slow Progress

Military Clean & Press: Ladder Style w/32kg

2 x (1,2,3)
3 x (1,2)

an increase from 15 reps to 21 total reps over last workout!

Pistols (partial ROM - add 2-3/4" plywood sheets under foot w/same chair as last time - almost to parallel now.

5 x 5 L, R

Janda Sit-ups on Pavelizer II (w/band assist - finding ways to make it slightly harder by adding weight from 10 to 25 lbs. and flexing hamstrings more - I could not do positive reps when flexing hams hard before.

Bent Rows - 1 arm w/ 32+ 8 kg

4 x 6 L, R

VO2 Max - Snatch Style

Taking Rif's advice, I started the VO2 max again with snatches:

Snatch, 15:15 w/16kg - 6 reps/set - this was a comfortable pace.

50 sets, 300 reps

10,500 lbs.

Not too hard - kind of experimental tonight. Wind definitely not taxed too much. The problem is the grip. Even with fingerless cotton gloves on I got two new blisters that both popped open to the raw skin. Damn! They are right in the center of my palm. I have never gotten blisters there from snatching before. Weird. At least they are both really small.

Today's Workout - in 2 Parts

Morning:

Military Clean & Press: w/32kg

5 x (1,2) - clean before each press

Partial ROM Pistols: - a couple inches deeper than last time but still above parallel.

5 x 5 L, R

Janda Sit-ups on the Pavelizer II - stretch band assist - barely engaging hamstrings - that's how weak my abs are! Lots of work to do here.

5 x 5

Bent Rows - 1 arm w/32+8kg

4 x 6

Evening:

1-arm Swings w/32kg

4 x 5,5,5,5 (L, R)

80 reps, 56oo lbs.

Bike ride (on rim trainer)

20 minutes

Walked about 5 miles yesterday a good pace.

Tonight's Workout

Military Clean & Press, Ladder Style:

5 x (1, 2) L, R w/ 32kg

Box Pistols: (descend almost to parallel)

5 x 5 L, R

Janda Sit-ups: (on Pavelizer II) w/ mini band assist (looped around weight)

5 x 5

Bent Rows, 1-arm: (using 2 bells - 32kg + 8kg)

4 x 8 L, R


The focus was on basic strength building tonight. Laying the foundation for achieving my goals of:

Full 5 x (1,2,3,4,5) MCP Ladder with the 2pood

Rock bottom pistol w/ both legs

No-assist Janda sit-ups on the P-II

Body weight pull-ups for reps

Maybe this is a lot to go for all at once, but my plan is to do some variation of this strength workout 2 x wk and a swing or snatch based workout 2x wk for the winter cycle.

VO2 Max Goal Achieved!

I did it! 50 sets of 8 with a 24kg bell. Damn! I'm proud of myself!

1-arm Swing, 15:15 style

400 reps

21200 lbs. !!!

This is a PR for work volume too.

in 12.5 minutes of working time! That is some power output!

And there's more. I was actually counting out my sets tonight and accidentally did 2 sets of 9 in there because I figured out something very important to all users of the GYMBOSS.

It is your little friend. Follow me here - I set it up for 2 timed periods, 15 and 15. I begin swinging with the first beep - bang 1 set done and it still says zero sets. Then I rest and it beeps again so I do my second set, BUT THE BOSS SAYS 1.

Get it?! I've been counting wrong all this time! Up 'til today I've actually done 2 more sets than I thought I was doing because to count 40 sets I would go 'til the BOSS said 41 when 40 was actually at 39!

I counted all my sets out loud this time (shouting as I sucked wind was more like it at the end) and I got to 50 sets while the BOSS still said 49.

So I'm more of a Man than I thought! And probably so are you! Unless you wait for the second beep to start working (and use the first interval for rest) the BOSS count will be 1 less than your work sets, not one more.

OK, that's about as good at math as I get. LOL. At least it counts for something worthwhile!

Onwards. What next? I think I'll bask a bit in the satisfaction of my goal acheived for a bit before 'tightening my chin strap', as the Samurai used to say. (the whole saying was; "After the battle, tighten your helmet strap")

500 the easy way

Easing back into things after not working out for almost a week I thought I'd give the 16kg a try with the good old VO2.

1-arm swings, 15:15 style, 9 reps/set *corrected #s - see Nov. 7 post - I've been counting wrong!

55 sets, plus 6 more reps for about (57 sets)*


500 reps! (519 reps)*

17,500lbs. (18,165)*

Wow! This wasn't even hard. I initially thought I would do 50 sets of 8 but quickly realized it was a chance to give 9 reps/set a go. I did a few catch up sets to equal out to 9 per and stuck with 9 all the way to the end. I really had to move, but the 16 feels so light that it wasn't really a problem. Once I got close to 50 I realized I had plenty of gas in the tank so why not make it an even 500 reps?!

The funniest part was me trying to do the math in my head during the 15 second rest periods of those last few sets. I am so bad at it it took me a while to calculate how many more sets I needed to do as I was doing them. Yikes! Lol!

The 24 is where I need to focus on the cardio side of Kettlebells, it still is a challenge at 8 reps/set but I know 50 sets will happen - this month!

Well, Bambi is safe for another year...

But his Dad isn't. My friend Mike shot him on opening morning. A nice 8-point buck whose picture may appear here later.

I had lots of fun deer hunting with the guys, but did not get a chance to pull the trigger. The hunt is a ritual that has deep roots in the human soul, especially a man's. Modern city men have found other avenues to channel that urge or buried it completely with metro-sexuality, but I am drawn to the old-fashioned and elemental. My Dad hunted and that sparked something in me that has not gone away. It's one of those things many don't understand.

Entering the woods in the battle of wits, skill and life and death is not a game or a sport. It goes well beyond that and generally the more skilled a hunter the harder he makes it for himself, not easier. I am definitely what is considered a mature hunter (in my philosophy but not my skill), because big trophy size animals hold little allure for me. And I am not hungry for the kill. I certainly don't enjoy it, the killing, but it is a part of how things are on this planet. The living must deprive other beings of life so that they may continue to exist. A harsh reality, but unavoidably true if you have the courage to face it. Even plants want to live so killing them for your salad is still death too.

My attitude is, I embrace the reality of death and life, so I am willing to take life consciously with my own hands to accept the responsibility that I feel too many are only dimly aware of and try to avoid thinking about: Hamburger does not come from the supermarket. It comes from a dead cow. Yup. Enjoy it, the cow gave it's life for you to put mustard and ketchup on it.

OK, enough proselytizing.

Hunting provides a lot of quiet time too. Do you know what a Raven's wings sound like? It's one of my favorite sounds. I got to hear that sound again and a new one for me: The sound of a Pileated woodpecker's wings - Wow! it was trippy.

What is this Z-Health stuff?

By request, I will explain my understanding of Z-Health, a joint mobility-based re-education system for the whole body. It's gonna take a while.

Let me first say that I am far from an expert on this subject and I welcome any corrections or additions especially from those who have more direct instructional experience with it than I have.

My qualifications: I have the R-phase materials and I have studied them some and practiced them some since this summer. I have read the stuff written by folks I respect and trust who have taken the seminars and implemented it with themselves and their client base. (Geoff Nuepert, Rif, Brett Jones, Mike Nelson in particular)

The foundation of my understanding is built on the fact that I am also a Chiropractor (as is Dr. Cobb - the developer) and I have used Applied Kinesiology (a muscle energy based system of diagnosing and treating the body for a vast array of dysfunctions) for 10 years clinically. My impression is Dr. Cobb uses some version of this system as well.

Additionally, I have studied many other energy based systems of therapy including Cranio-sacral work, Sacro-Occipital Technique, Touch for Health, Qigong and Polarity Therapy to name most. I also studied the energy based martial art of Aikido intensely for 7 years and was an assistant instructor. This spring I became an RKC.

The relationship between energy arts and the nervous system is very intimate, to say the least. Some who may not believe in the reality of the energy-based world (billiard ball atoms instead of sub-atomic mysteries) would say it IS the nervous system (and the nervous system alone), but I beg to differ - another conversation at perhaps another time.

Anyway, the human being is a whole thing, a system, a unit. Affect one small part of that system and the entire organism responds. Add to this the biologic principle that an organism is always doing the best it can to maintain a healthy, happy state within itself with the hopes of maintaining it as long as possible, [known as homeostasis] so it can reproduce itself- this drive rules us all far more than we may care to admit, at least until we are in our forties, but I digress.

The optimal state of balance for this organism (to maintain maximum adaptability) is neutral plus whatever effects the S.A.I.D. principle and the individuals conditioned experience yields. The system does experience distress and falls into dysfunctions from various insults over the years and clears them as best it can, but it is not perfect and junk does collect in us all on all levels.

Z-Health intervenes in the system by re-patterning normal, neutral positioning in the Neuro-Musculo-Skelatal system (NMS) which can have global effects on the NMS, and even the visceral system and other body systems, since everything is connected. This would explain the seemingly mysterious non-direct, non-local positive effects it can produce.

So a simple, focused, relaxed movement done locally, optimally and slowly, re-calibrates that area and impacts the entire system so it can resume optimal neutral positioning locally and move towards alleviating systemic dysfunctions of all kinds. The domino effect can ensue and result in a cascade of improvements from even small but well aimed corrections (hittin' the right spot).

Eventually, movements can be done at 'normal' speed and then 'sport' speed. If you go too fast, you will miss the deepest benefits of the recalibration. Slower is better for a long time.

My educated guess is that many of the reasons why Z-health does not work in a given situation has more to do with how the person is doing it or where they are doing it (wrong) instead of that it "doesn't work".

I believe it was Jack Reape who coined the phrase, "Squats aren't bad for your knees, how YOU squat is bad for your knees". Same idea here.

I am also under the impression in the advanced stuff that sequences of movements are taught to have a magnified effect on the system in restoring primal patterns of healthy movement.

This differs somewhat from Pavel's Super Joints program, whose main intent is to restore and increase full ROM in the NMS by 'waking it up' and also promoting conditioning and healing via movement of fluids, etc. via repetition.

I could probably ramble on, but this is long enough. I await any comments, with an open mind.