KettlebellPlanet.com

I have been on vacation for the last couple of weeks and have been purposely avoiding using a computer. Between the Calgary Stampede, a trip to New York City, and then visiting the in-laws and old gang in Ottawa I have had better things to do than post workouts here.

That being said I have actually managed to sneak in a lot of training and other manly activities that I thought you guys might like to read about.

First off, training during the Calgary Stampede was a total disaster. I was coming off Alberta's Strongest Man and going into a vacation so my focus wasn't there. Add the world's biggest rodeo, and booze fest, going on right at my door step and it was a recipe for drinking beers and eating burgers, not squatting and pressing. I will say this though, if you are looking for some manly inspiration, go see a rodeo live. Watching men wrestle steers to the ground and ride bulls will make your squat workout seem a little less daunting. Those guys are bad-ass.

In New York City there is more to do than just shop and site see, if you are a true meat head like me. I managed to sneak away from the wife and hit Richie's Gym in Brooklyn, NY. This is a true old school bodybuilding gym. There are air brushed pictures of Arnold and other golden era bodybuilders on the wall. Hard core rap music is blasting out of the speakers. And really big, strong dudes who look straight out of prison are pushing serious weights. If you are in Brooklyn and want to hit the iron, I highly recommend hitting Richies.

My workouts there were pretty damn simple. Do some squats, do some cleans, do some presses, then pump up the guns and head home. Remember, when in doubt do some squats and/or hill sprints, after that it's all gravy.

Here in Ottawa I had the man day of man days on Tuesday. Let me break it down for you:

1. Burger eating contest at The Works, which I won by eating three huge burgers in 12:49.
2. Straight to golfing with the guys.
3. Went home for a rib dinner.
4. Right after dinner I drove out to Renfrew to train with Pro Strongman Paul Vaillancourt.
5. Drove home without puking (tough workout) and ate a second dinner or ribs, beer, watermelon and half a loaf of home made pineapple bread.

Paul calls this template the MAF, or Mangled As Fuck workout. I agree as two days later I am still hurting from my ankles all the way up to my neck. Basically the deadlifts destroyed my posterior chain and then the prowler sprints pushed my lactic acid so hard I was nauseous for about an hour.

Other than the killer workout at Paul's Gym in Renfrew most of my workouts here in Ottawa have been done at the park:

5 minute walk to warm-up

Circuit x 4 rounds:
Pull-Ups x max reps
Sprint x 100m
Push-ups x 25 reps
Sprint x 100m (back to the pull-up station)

Not to much volume and unfortunately no weights but good enough to keep the belly at bay, which is hard when you are eating everything in site for three weeks.

Also, during my down time I am reading the book, Natural Cures They Don't Want You to Know, by Kevin Trudeau.

It is an interesting read. Some of his ideas are a little out there but 95% of the information is really solid and will help anyone live a healthier and longer life. I really appreciate his efforts to expose the pharmaceutical industry for what it really is, a profit driven poison machine, instead of the healing focused industry it should be.

He also has a lot of interesting ideas around nutrition, which I will apply to my diet when I get back home.

It's a good read but if you are not sure just grab a used copy on Amazon for cheap.

www.kettlebellplanet.com

Unfortunately, when you are squatting each workout, every day is leg day. But today was an official leg day because I kept training my legs after squatting.

To speed things along I alternated between squats and deadlifts, then finished with some prowler pushes to pump some blood into my wheels.

Try this workout out for yourself if you are trying to get bigger and stronger.

• Mobility Work
• Dynamic Warm-Up
• empty barbell complex
• A1 Squat
• work up to a max single
• drop weight by about 10% and bang out 5 x 1
• A2 Speed Deadlifts
• 70% of max single
• 10 x 1
• Prowler Pushing
• 4 x max distance with a challenging weight

If you are trying to get big and strong, nothing beats the back squat. Personally I prefer heavy weight for low reps going all the way down, ass to grass style.


Prowler Sled or Truck Pushing is a great finisher for the legs because it is impact free, and you can push yourself to the absolute limits without risking injury. It will also help melt the bacon off your ass.


http://www.kettlebellplanet.com/

Here is a simple but pretty tough workout to build strength through your whole body.

To give you some background, I am trying an experiment which involves squatting every day possible, including what used to be rest days. So I start each training session with either front or back squats. As time goes on I may widen the variation of squats but we will see how it goes with this selection first.

I don't think it will be fun, actually I think it will suck, but I do think it will be effective in bringing up my squat and making me stronger overall.

Also, for the first time I decided to try sledge hammer training as a finisher. This method is popular amongst mma athletes and although I question why anyone would do it, I have to admit it looks pretty bad ass. Ultimately, it is damn fun and definitely gets the heart rate up. The only areas that I "felt it" were the hands and the wrists. So there may be some merit there for improving grip strength but I would still recommend hill sprints or pushing a truck or prowler for conditioning as a first choice.

Here is the workout I did today, try it if you dare:

• Mobility Work
• Dynamic Warm-Up
• empty barbell complex
• A1 Front Squat
• starting with the bar, keep adding weight each set, working up to a max single
• A2 Push Press
• starting with the bar, keep adding weight each set, working up to a max single
• B1 Strongman Log Clean and Press (substitute barbell clean and press if you don't have a log)
• work up to max single
• B2 Dumbbell Row
• 5 x 10
• Sledge Hammer Training
• 4 x 20 reps for conditioning

http://www.kettlebellplanet.com/

I am trying something new out in my training. To try and build size and strength I am going to squat at the beginning of pretty much every training session. To avoid completely burying myself I plan to vary between the front and back squat. I also plan to go heavy, but only really push the squat once per week. This is based on the writing of John Broz and Legs First, by Dan John.


Here is what the first training session looked like. Keep in mind I had a hard weekend of strongman training the previous two days. Normally Monday is a conditioning day and I would only have done the conditioning work in the PM.

Monday AM

• Front Squats, no belt
• worked up to a heavy single
• dropped it down 30lbs for 3 x 2
• Total of 30 reps including warm-up sets
• A1 Pull-Ups with Fat Gripz 
• 4 x 8
• A2 Push-Ups
• 4 x 20
• Reverse Hyper
• 2 x 10 to loosen up the lower back

I have shown this video before but it deserves a reset. Watching this kid destroy my all time best front squat was a big eye opener for me. He trains with John Broz and so must squat 7 days a week, 2x a day everyday except for Sundays. It sounds brutal but appears to work!


Monday PM, Conditioning

• A1 Freestyle Kettlebell Juggling
• swings, high pull, cleans, etc
• 4 x 50
• A2 Flex Band Curls
• 4 x 10-15
• B1 Flex Band Reverse Flys
• 4 x 10
• B2 Flex Band Rows
• 4 x 30

Kettlebell Juggling is really just a fun way to stay in shape for me. Years ago I bought Jeff Martone's DVD H2H and really enjoyed it. I think that kettlebell training has it's place in getting strong and fit, but if you want brutal power, you need to get under a heavy barbell regularly.



http://www.kettlebellplanet.com/

Think your front squat is pretty solid? So did I until I watched this video of a kid that weighs 40lbs less pounds than me front squat more than 40lbs over my max...ouch.


This athlete trains at Average Broz in Las Vegas, here is a recent article on John Broz's philosophy.

If you read a lot of my training articles, you will notice that I alternate between drills as I train. It's supersetting. The reason I do this is because supersets allow you to get more in work in less and time, and help you burn more calories.

Does your gym have one too many bosu balls and personal trainers with less muscle than an endurance athlete? Then read Train Like a Man, by Martin Rooney.




Ever wonder what you should work on when you hit the gym? When in doubt, listen to Jim Wendler and do squats and hill sprints.



http://www.kettlebellplanet.com/

Sunday is the second half of our strongman training, and usually has a lower body focus. Today we chose to practice the yoke walk, farmers walk, and tire flip because they will be in the next contest.

The yoke walk is by far the most stressful lift of these three and possible the most stressful of all strongman events. For this reason we chose to do it first, unfortunately it kind of killed us and we didn't have a lot left to give the other events. Yoke walking is brutal, but it will make you strong as hell.

Our gym recently aquired a reverse hyper, a-la Louie Simmons, and man have I missed these. Nothing makes my back feel better than a few sets with this machine. If there is any way you can get your hands on one, do so, but don't cheap out. I have tried imitations of Louie's design and they just don't hit the mark.

Lastly, if it is nice outside, try to train outside. Unfortunately we can't move all our strongman devices outside, so instead we like to finish our training sessions with sled or truck pushing. I love pushing work because it works your body so hard without any impact or joint discomfort. Sled or truck pushing is a great way to finish any workout. If you have nothing to push, try hill sprints instead.

• Mobility Work
• Dynamic Warm-Up
• empty barbell complex
• Yoke Walk
• worked up to a 550lbs walk for 60' with a turn at 30', no drops
• Farmers Walk
• 2 sets of 250lbs/hand for 60' with a turn at 30', no drops
• Tire Flip
• 700lbs x 2 x 4 flips
• Reverse Hyper
• 2 x 15
• Prowler Sled Pushing
• 2 x max distance

Here is a great video of Derek Poundstone practicing the Yoke Walk.


Tire flipping is an amazing drill for building power as it requires a powerful triple extension (ankles, knees, hips) plus an upper body push. Whether you are a strongman a football player, a wrestler or you just want to be a beast, the tire flip is a drill you should seriously consider.



Here is a demonstration of the reverse hyper. Notice how it applies traction to the lower back on the eccentric portion of the lift, and then strengthens the lower back on the concentric portion. This device both heals and strengthens the back simultaneously.

http://www.kettlebellplanet.com/



It is the day after Canada Day and as a proud Canuck I celebrated by eat meat, drinking a few beers and having a good time with my friends. So, one advil, several glasses of water and big breakfast of bacon and eggs later, I was ready to hit the weights again.

Saturday is our upper body strongman practice day, so we focused on log pressing and atlas stones. We used to do three events per session but found the third one to be pretty pathetic. Better to focus on two events than spread yourself out on three.

If you don't have a strongman log or a fat bar, then just use a barbell for now. But even if you don't plan on competiting in strongman, using a fat handled implement to train heavy with will take your performance to the next level.

As for stone lifting, you can always hit a park or woods and play with a big stone you come across. Or, there is always the option of using a giant sandbag. Either way, stone lifting is a man maker, so try to include it in your training.

Here is the workout we did to prepare for the next strongman contest:

• Mobility Work
• Dynamic Warm-Up
• empty barbell complex
• A1 Fat Bar/Axle Clean and Press
• as a warm-up
• up to 165lbs x 2 x 2
• A2 Fat Gripz Pull-Ups
• 4 x 8
• B1 Strongman Log Clean and Press
• worked up to 250lbs x 1, 1
• B2 Fat Gripz Pull-Ups
• 6 x 8
• Atlas Stone Lifting
• 240lbs stone x 5 x 1 with a controlled eccentric (grabbing it and putting it back down on the ground)
• 300lbs stone x 2 x 1 same as above
• No tacky used on any stones as I am trying to improve my squeezing strength
• C1 Dumbbell Row
• 4 x 10
• C2 Triceps Toss
• 4 x 10
• heavy triceps extension

Here is a good demonstration video on how to do the log clean and press.


Here is a good video demonstrating atlas stone lifting.