The plague hit me with avengeance today which means I couldn’t breathe and high rep kB swings where out.
Instead, tried some basic strength work, deadlifts, squats supersetted with coughing fits. Wasn’t very wide awake so can’t remember for the life of me what weights or sets I did, but probably not very much or many.
Also, my CoC trainer came today, after a wait. Seems a bit easier than anticipated, which is promising.
I think this week will be written off with man-flu in terms of conditioning. Took the litle man for a long up hill walk, found some nice places to hillsprint etc. once I can breathe properly. Also cracked out some rack pulls, worked up to 180kg, just trying to concentrate on straining since reps of over 1 are unlikely at the minute.
Also, felt like a bit of a rant, which may well turn into an ongoing one. This time it started out being about choice, and one day I will probably get round to putting on e-paper my feelings on why people feel they have been given too much choice, rather than address the issues that cause them to be unable or unwilling to make choices. Today though, I’m going to rant a bit about the far less intellectual, but far more irritating “should I bulk or cut” threads that plague these boards.
How do people take these threads seriously?
First of all the biggest issue to me: why are you even lifting if you haven’t got a pretty clear idea why? I can tell you for free that if I didn’t know what I wanted from the gym, I wouldn’t go. Lifting is hard work, or effective lifting is, and without a pressing desire to achieve “it” (whatever your goal currently is), there is no way you will get off your arse to do it (and yes, that is how you spell arse, we made the language, we’ll tell you how it’s spelled). Now I don’t expect everyone to be the Dan John of goal setting, but there must be some sort of burning desire and a sense of urgency to achieve something and therefore to be able to specify, in some way, what that is, and yet no-one on these threads ever specifies what they are hoping to achieve, even when pushed.
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there” Dan John.
Let’s assume then that for most of the OP’s, being young males, their primary goal is to look good. Again, this seems like a simple and obvious goal, but is it? Who do you want to look good for? It’s assumed that they want to look good in order to get their noodle wet, and we’ll come onto that in a moment, but first I think it’s important to consider the importance of looking good for other guys. Big guns are a huge status symbol, as are many other aspects of bodybuilding, and we have to acknowledge that being an alpha male is as much about impressing guys as it is about impressing girls (If you still live in the 1800’s and that thought makes you uncomfortable, well good, maybe it’s time to grow up and start applying logic to your beliefs).
Let’s assume you are just lifting to look good for the laydeez (curlz for the gurlz brah), which girls? I’ve met a few of them, I know it’s difficult to believe, and they typically can’t even agree on what colour a dress is (blue and gold or white and gold, who knows? Or cares?). I’ve got news for you: not all girls look for the same thing in guys: true story. Some girls will go for the Rock, others will get their panties in a twist over Justin Timberlake, hell, I’ve met plenty of girls who get all hot and steamy over Colin Firth. Bottom line: not all girls want the same look, and even if they did, maybe an easier way to get in their pants might be to work on some of the other things they find attractive, like a personality, the ability to dress and groom yourself, and, if we’re honest, a hefty bank account.
Add this all up and “looking good naked” suddenly seems much less like a goal and more like something you tell yourself to make yourself feel like you’re achieving something. Maybe you should sack up, get some specific goals that light a fire in you and go for it, instead of asking me to choose your goals for you. Maybe that way, you’ll stand a chance of actually achieving them.
Back to the 10,000 swings program. Feel slightly gutted starting from scratch but hopefully I learn from it.
Swings: lots with my gyms crappy rubber handle, blister factory, kB
One arm kB C&P: 30 reps
Todays workout: see above.
If simple, boring, hard work is the answer, I’m on to a winner here.
This.
For yesterday and today
Swings: lots
Clean and press: some
This is getting real boring, fighting the urge to do some squats or something
Felt like a bit of a rant today, spurred on by a few political stories that have wound me up a bit over the last few weeks (so apologies in advance if I veer wildly off topic in places).
The first story was the EU referendum that happened in the UK this week. I don’t have the time or inclination to go into all the details, but what it essentially boils down to is that the British public voted against the advice of all the experts both locally and globally and chose to leave the EU. It was, in my opinion, a terrible idea, but what wound me up most was the reactions afterwards from the Remain camp.
My facebook feed, full of intelligent, university educated, middle class people was full of comments taking snipes at the ignorance and stupidity of the leave camp. They took great joy in pointing out the flaws in the arguments, the lack of understanding in so many of the leavers and passive aggressively slamming their opponents. They were probably right, but here’s the thing: they lost. It doesn’t matter how “uneducated” your opponent is if they beat you, you can bitch and moan all you want but the truth of the matter is that it doesn’t matter how right you are, it matters how effective you are.
You don’t get points for being right.
This is a truth that many people (particularly on the left of the political spectrum) seem to forget: being right is not enough. Case in point: the NRA. Now whatever you think about the NRA (In full disclosure, words cannot express my level of contempt for this disgusting organisation, in my mind they have on their hands the blood of more Americans than ISIS), they are one of the most effective political organisations in recent times. They work hard, they push their agenda and most importantly, they get results. The world can stand back and criticise all they want, the NRA gets shit done and if the world doesn’t like that, they need to do something about it. This will mean learning from them, learning what it means to be successful at getting what you want. Sitting back on your moral high horse might make you feel lovely but it’s not stopping people dying needlessly, I repeat: being right is not enough. You need to learn to be effective, and this is where it impacts training.
In the training world you can barely go anywhere without hearing 160lb teenagers criticising the training of much bigger, stronger guys. I remember watching a video of George Leeman deadlifting 900+lbs for reps and reading some guy in the comments claiming it didn’t count because his upper back was rounded and that he was wearing his belt wrong. They may be right, they may be wrong, no-one cares because they don’t deadlift 900lbs for reps, they are not being effective. Being right about training doesn’t matter, being effective does. Having an optimal training program doesn’t matter, getting results does.
You don’t get points for being right.
Best rant. Also spot on.
Thank you. In my mind that was mostly about training, but I’m not sure it came across that way in the end.
It did.
Also, just to be glib:
In terms of training and performance, being effective means you’re right; and getting results means your programming is optimal.
Obviously I have diversified a little bit lately (if doing deadlifts AND kettlebell work counts as “diversity”) but I felt that the kettlebell-only time which you’ve read about in my log laid a very nice foundation for my return to barbells. Definitely something to be said for a month of kB swings and clean-and-presses to rebuild a little bit before getting back under the barbell.
It’s something I can definitely see myself building into my regular “routine”. I can’t see myself repeating this whole experience though, I’m not mentally equipped to repeat the same workout 20 times. There are other issues too, depending on my schedule, it’s often only realistic to train at midnight which means at the gym, which means 20kg kB’s max, which just isn’t heavy enough to have the desired impact.
I strongly disagree. Programming is only one variable in getting results, therefore just because you’re getting results doesn’t mean that your programming is optimal. I’ve made plenty of progress on piss poor programs by sheer effort and dedication, and minimal progress on fantastic programs because of a lack of the same.
I see where you’re coming from, but I’m not entirely convinced.
Keep forgetting to log because there’s just so little exciting stuff to log.
I did loads of swings, and loads of kB presses. as per, my left shoulder doesn’t like OH Pressing.
This is nearly as miserably boring as Smolov Jnr. I don’t fair well with one lift programs.
Disappointed I’ve still got a week left on this program so I brought out the 36kg for the last ladder today. That was a humbling experience. The wave of nausea when I dropped the bell after the set of 50 was unlike anything I’ve experienced for a while. Yes, I dropped the bell, I’ve always wondered what happens when you release a kB at the top of the movement so I made a deal with myself that I’d try it on rep 50 if I made it. The answer: not as dramatic as I’d hoped, but I probably wasn’t as explosive by that point as I could be.
Never is. In two and a bit years of competing in kettlebell sport I saw (and was responsible for) a few dropped bells and they don’t fly too far. Makes you move backwards fast doesn’t it?
I was hoping for a bit of a flight, even lined it up for what I thought was a patch of grass, but really turned out to be a hidden (now cracked) paving slab.
I didn’t move back too quick because I knew I’d be letting go so I was prepared.
Whats your thoughts on Kb sports as a foundation for barbell work? I know AG is a fan.
Honestly, I think it’s pretty useless. It doesn’t teach you any of the movement patterns you use with a barbell and it doesn’t ever allow you to use enough weight to learn what a heavy load feel like. It also doesn’t develop your strength. It won’t make you weaker, but it wont make you stronger. The focus is also on minimising tension, which is the complete opposite to what is necessary for barbell training.
On the other hand, using kettlebells as an accesory to barbell work is a good idea. RKC (not kettlebell sport) swings are especially good, as are bottoms up presses.