Two strong Men with strong minds

Ken Black and Mark Riefkind at the APC Nationals. Two great RKCs!

Academy Training/Master Instructor Development Program

Part of my Master instructor development program project deals with creating an intermediate PT instructor's course for academy instructors. The major issues that I believe are common in training are budgetary, facilities, equipment, and progressive training concepts.

The 20 week program I have put together mimics one that I have seen in Hard Style. I have played with periodization before, but I think I like how this one fits with academy training. I am open to your educated suggestions for making it better of course.


weeks 2-5: ASSESSMENT/ STRENGTH PERIOD
weeks 6-8: MUSCULAR ENDURANCE
weeks 9-11: MUSCLE MASS/ HYPERTROHY BUILDING- EDT
weeks 12-15:FAT LOSS
week 16: ACTIVE RECOVERY
weeks 17-18: STRENGTH /POWER
weeks 19-21: MUSCULAR ENDURANCE
week 22: PEAK/TEST

I have 50 recruits of extreme varying levels of fitness. I have one recruit with over 30% body fat, and one who is very lean at 4.6% BF. One who ran the 1.5 mile at 8:30 and one who ran it in 16 mins. In the beginning, I use duration as the goal, and not performance, ie. how far can you run in 20 minutes, etc. Lots of joint mobility and dynamic drills/stretching to get them to understand their body better.

My Workout:
7-28-06
Just enough time to do a ladder workout with pullups (1,2,3,4) x 4 rest periods mimiced if someone was doing them with me. IGO-UGO method.

7-29-06

Fun in the park with Ken and crew. Met two new students of Ken's, and I trained with Bob and Kathy. Good times. Weather was cool, and very pleasant as opposed to last week.

Joint Mobility
Halo 5 x 2 sets
Slingshot 5 x 2 sets
BW squats 10 x 2 sets
Mil. Press 1,2,3,4 x 3 sets
Row 1,2,3,4, x 3 sets
Racked walking lunges + step ups x 3 times
Windmills

Bob and I finished it off with a couple of sled sprints with 25lbs on it for approx. 4 passes of 50 yards. It was a good way to stretch it out.
Ken as always was motivating me to do better! I was a little late, so I had to do pushups! Ken has a bit of the DI in him, like I knew he did! :)

Critical Reflection

Critical reflection on learning as presented by Jack Mezirow is defined as “the process of reflecting back on prior learning to determine whether what we have learned is justified under present circumstances.” Mezirow further added “this is a crucial learning process egregiously ignored by learning theorists.” How this becomes important to the adult learner is that once you reflect on your past, you determine on what path your future learning must take. For the instructor of adults, this becomes a very important factor in stating your course objective and how you present your instruction.

As I am teaching the new recruits, I am constantly reviewing on whether or not my instruction is received or believed. I am fighting against their past experiences in training whether quality training or not. Usually, I get more resistance from those whose knowledge is culled from the "muscle mags". Sigh, the fight continues. I am sometimes frustrated that those who need this the most are those who use it the least. If I hear how great a Spin class is for fitness again, I am going to scream, especially when I see videos of middle-aged mothers training boot camp/underground strength coach style.

7-24-06
warmups: halos, wall squats, Russian Pump, and squat thrusts 2 supersets of 5 reps each

2 sets of supersets of 3 reps of the following circuit:
Swings-slingshot-swings-Figure 8s-swings-tactical lunges-pushpress 16kg

5:00 non stop of the following circuit:
swings-snatches-jerks-squat thrusts

5:00 nonstop of the following circuit:
Farmer's walk-mountain climbers
(Most of the above was copied from a Ken Black KB class- Thanks Ken!)

7-25-06
Warmups with the academy class
Tabata squats with the class 8 sets/4:00
My score: 25
Cycle (gym gerbil training) 15:00 (bored out of my skull with it, but wanted a brief change of pace)

7-26-06
JM drills/Dymanic Drills for warm up

Rack deadlifts (just below the knee)
135 x 5
135 x 3
225 x 3
295 x 3
315 x 1
325 x 0 (failed)
315 x 1
320 x 1

Renegade Rows
2 x 24kg 5/5 x 3
2 x 32kg 5/5 x 2

Janda Situps
3/5/2 (core fried..need to do more of theses)

Superset powerball slams with dips
30 PBS-10 dips x 2

For a good laugh check out these video clips of Terry Tate-Office Linebacker.

http://board.iexbeta.com/lofiversion/index.php/t47380.html
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, baby! Yes, the Corporal is coming out!

One nation under a groove

7-21-06

warmups of halos/wall squats/windmills/
deadlift w/barbell
135 x 8
135 x 8
205 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 3
225 x 3
225 x 3

clean and press 24kg (1,2,3) ladders x 4

7-22-06
workout in the park with Ken and Bob!

warmups: 20kg
JM drills
swings
snatches

Pullup ladders 8 then (1,2,3) x 3

Jerk Ladders 1,2,4,8,16,18,10,8,5,3

Hot, humid, and loved it!

Taking a moment to post!

OK! I am finally getting my groove back. Hot hot hot in the Sacramento Valley! 104 plus, and I sweat like the porcine that they call me :)

Warmup:
Wall squats, Halos, Pumps, and RKC armbars

Back to basics-
Swings (2hand) w/24kg
7 sets of 10
3 sets of 10 w/32kg

total: 100 swings

Snatch
16kg
10/10 5/5
24kg
5 sets of 5 L/R
32kg
1 set of 5/5

Felt good to be back on a schedule!

First week under way!

The first week of the academy is completed and next week we are off and running with the start of Physical Training.

I met with 20 recruits prior to the start of the academy for a 2 day introduction to the kettlebells. Three hours total for both days. I will post some pics from them soon.

I covered the KB deadlift, swing, clean, C&J, high pull, and the snatch. We also did some sled sprints, and I gave them a quick feel of the overhead walk, rack and farmer's walk. They had all prepared well to start the academy.

This week for me consisted mostly of GTG pullups (got some bands to increase the rep range while I was at the Nationals!) benching supersetting with low pulley rows EDT style, swings supersetted with jump rope EDT. Powerwheel rollouts, and power ropeball slams. The ropeball slams (Thanks for introducing them to me Franz) has been a great stress reliever!Getting my GPP up for the classes that will officially start next week.

New Class Starting up

There was a major change in my workplace with the retirement of my mentor and friend, Dan DeLeon. Dan retired after 30 years of being a cop, the last 20 being a master instructor at the academy. I could go on and on about his list of accomplishments, but that wasn't the whole picture of the man. He trained THOUSANDS of officers throughout Northern California, but you would not meet a more humble and respectful man.

It makes me a little sad knowing that on monday, it will be the first academy without Dan to turn to for guidance, or sometimes a reality check that he would give us when I was going down the wrong path. He truly lived his philosophy which was a mixture of Sun Tzu and Musashi, and the Hagakure. He truly loved his teammates as brothers and sisters in arms. (His retirement gift from the many officers who he trained was a tractor!)

This weekend before the start of the new academy will give me a chance to reflect on the past and focus on the future. The only real way to thank my teacher and sensei (My defensive tactics instructor) is to continue his way of teaching others.

My workouts this week have been a misture of GTG with pullups, and rollouts front and back with the Power Wheel (30 ft. front and then back), slams with the Power Rope ball (30 reps per set), renegade rows 2x24 kg (5x5) front squats 2 x 16kg (3 x 5) snatch 16 kg 5 x 10(L/R) 24kg (3x5 L/R) and RKC armbars.

I ran a basic introduction to the kettlebell to the next class (preacademy cadets) this last week. There was 20 of them. I covered the swing, clean, C & P, front squat, and snatch. I had them pull the power sled, and I also had them walk with double KBs overhead into a rack walk into a farmers walk. (2nd day) They were all very receptive and seemed excited about this type of training. I am going to introduce to the tempo runs and sprint workouts that I have gleaned from Franz's blog.

Well, off to the Nationals to meet up with Rif and watch his friend, Nick his a PR! I have never been to a powerlifting meet so I am pretty excited to go. Then afterwards, I am meeting my old road dog, (patrol partner) to go to the boxing matches at Raley Field. This will be a good de-stressor before the start of next week.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

I had a nice little workout with my friend, Ken Black on Sunday. He posted the workout and pics on his blog, so please visit his blog to enjoy my pain! It is always good to visit Ken and play in his dungeon of pain. :) (I got to jerk the Beast! Thanks to Ken for fine tuning my form while handling the monster! I got to play with the Rolling Thunder....my forearms are still feeling it)

I have not been posting lately since I am in a reorganization process. I only have one week break before the next academy class starts back up. My work in the Master Instructor Development Program needs revamping, and I need to prioritize where I place the majority of my energies.

After consideration, I know that my blog will have to take a lower priority in posting for now. So I must apologize if my posts are less frequent now. I will be posting/reading other blogs, however, it is a nice mental break, and it has been a fantastic way to stay motivated and listen to some very talented minds in the underground strength world! I will still be visiting Ken's, Rif's, Franz's, Tom's, and Joe's blogs for their brilliant insights and postings.

Strength and Honor my friends!

(To be continued)

My Website has gone LIVE!

Please check it out and give me merciless criticism! I have posted links to Rif's, Franz's, Tom, and of course, Pavel's web sites, and a link to Ken's blogs while his site is down.

Update

Hello everyone!

Sorry that I have been away from my post, but I have been away on a little getaway to see my daughter graduate the 5th grade into middle school (how time flies) and visit Revolution La Jolla and the Snidemans. With my recruits ready to graduate in a couple of weeks, the tempo at work has tripled. UGH!

6-15-06 Thursday.
First off, Franz and Yoana Snideman- what a great husband and wife team! I am sharing all that I learned from Franz with my counterpart in the Sheriff's dept. and he was pretty amazed at the simplicity, yet toughness of the exercises. Franz had me try out his ropes, your basic one inch or so thickness variety. Then I had to whip force curves into them. We paired up and sent the ripples to each other, and I gotta tell you, my core felt braced afterwards! Did some 140 lb log presses, 80 lb keg clean and presses, and 100 lb med ball slams. He introduced me to the powerwheel which I will be getting! What a great tool to have fun and fry your abs! I definitely need to work on my cardio and ab work more.

Since I was in San Diego, I decided not to stress about sticking to a structured diet plan while on vacation. Travelling with an infant on the road trip made it a challenge, and I decided to just enjoy myself with the plentiful mexican food in the area.

Now that I am back, I went to strict on the first day back, and only had a handful of almonds all day with plentiful water and several cups of black coffee. Needless to say, that was not smart on my part and I started to bonk out on my workout. so my numbers stink. here it is for monday 6-19-06.

Halos 12kg 10 l/10 r
16 kg 10l/10r
Swings 24kg x 10
C&P (1,2,3) 32KG
(1,2,3)24KG
(1,2,)32KG
(1,2,3,4)24KG
The HEAT/feeling nauseous- started to get a little tunnel vision so I stopped. Very frustrating. Need to refocus.

Last Monday 6-12-06
GTG Pullups 8 sets of 5
135 x 8 warmup
135 x 8
185 x 5
235 x 5 (regrip after every rep)
235 x 1
235 x 1
255 x 1
255x 1
255 x 1
Pushups (slow grinds)
20 reps x 4

The vacation gave me a nice break for post surgery workout, and I felt comfortable starting with the 32 kg for the C and P. I am re-reading PTP for more deadlifting tips. I definitely will hit 300 over the next few weeks, and will set a goal to deadlift over 400 before I hit 40.

Check out Ken Black's article on Rooting

If you didn't catch this on any of the blogs or Dragon Door, please check out this outstanding article by Ken Black.

http://http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/375/

Sunday workout....had to do something!

The LASIK surgery worked liked gangbusters! I saw 20/15 later that afternoon, then a self check at the Costco today showed I had 20/10. Not too bad considering I was practically blind! Dr. Liang is a master at what he does. I slept most of Saturday, and slept in late this morning. Still staying strong on the Warrior Diet. Today's underfeeding consisted of water, coffee, handful of raw almonds, 6 oz organic blueberry yogurt, and a small handful of raspberries.

I just had my workout which consisted of:

JM drills
C&P rite of passage ladder
(1,2,3) x 6

Treadmill sprints
30 secs sprint/30 secs recovery x 15 variable speeds
(6mph/7mph/8mph/9mph/10mph) x 3
I started off slow since I wasn't sure how I would react after the eye surgery. So far so good! I can't wait to head down to my old stomping grounds....Southern California! I am looking for a good breakfast (not a WD day) at Swami's in Encinitas!

I posted my bio on Dragon Door (finally got the hang of html...somewhat). It is very cool to know you are an official RKC. Keeps me motivated to train!

Still going strong on the WD!

Funny how it is. If you don't think about eating, you focus on other things. If all you think about is your next meal in two-three hours, then you get a little obsessed. I think it has helped me, going through a fasting period in the past. I have read Paul Bragg's book on fasting. If you are unfamiliar with Paul Bragg, he is the nutritionist who inspired Jack LaLanne to follow a lifetime of fitness and healthy eating. Paul practiced what he preached, and he died in his 90's. How did he die? He died while body surfing in Hawaii! Paul and Jack, men in their 90s and still active is how I want to live when I die. We all have to die, but the quality of life in your later years means so much. I have known many bitter people who live in the past. When their past is shorter than the bitter years alive, I can't help but feel sorry for them.

I finally took the plunge and got Lasik surgery. I have been wearing glasses since I was 8 years old. 30 years later, I have 20/20 vision when it was 20/800. Thank you Dr. Liang of Sacramento!

I will take a break from my training for a few days until I feel comfortable going back to training. I will get on the treadmil for some short sprints and/or walking just to keep the body moving, and of course my joint mobility drills.

Earlier workouts:
Wed:
JM drils
C & P long cycle:
Ladders (1,2,3,4,5) X 1
(1,2,3,4) X 3

Thurs:
JM drills
Snatch ladders 24kg
5-10-5-10-5-10

That's all she wrote. I did the workout prior to the "feast" to mimic the feast after the kill! (beat your chest and proclaim your territory! :)

Day 2 on the Warrior Diet

I felt great on the 2nd day, and did not feel hungry. The night time overeating phase definitely satiates the mind as well as the body. Daytime consisted of a glass of fresh carrot/pineapple/cucumber/celery juice, later on in the day, a handful of raw almonds, and 3 celery stalks with organic peanut butter (probably about 5 hours apart.) Lots of water, and black coffee, too. Nighttime consisted of 7 egg whites and 3 egg yolks. 1 whole bell pepper, 1/2 onion, 1 can of salmon, 1/4 cup of crushed almonds, 1 cup of brown rice, and 1 cup of ice cream for dessert. (It was a good hunt-kill :) )

The workout prior to the meal was simple but it felt good.

JM drills
Swings 24kg 1 X 10

C & P (long cycle) 24kg
Rite of Passage ladders
(1,2,3,4,5) x 1
(1,2,3,4) x 2
No rest between reps, left then immed. to the right.

Short and sweet and then it was time to eat!

I started the Warrior Diet today. I hate the word "diet" because it seems so limiting, but I like the philosophy behind it. Thanks to powerhouses like Mark Reifkind, I feel confident I will not lose strength while applying the WD principles of undereating/overeating. Underate all day, and did this workout at 5:30 pm.

Sled pulls warmup (90lbs)
50 yds forward x 2
50 yds rear x 2

Deadlift:
135x 3
225x2
275 x 1
315 x failed
225x 2
135 x 3
295 x 1 (PR, I know not much, but I never really deadlifted before!)
245 x 2
155 x 3

Dips
Bw only
5-10-5-10-5-10-5-10

BW: #201 lbs.
BF: Unk.

Got my Enter the Kettlebell!

Thursday:


Jump rope warmup 30:30sec x 3 (work:rest)
1:00/:30, 1:00/:30 1:30/:30 1:00/30

Sled pulls w/90 lbs
Forward run 50 yds/75 yds/100 yds
Rear w/row 50 yds/50 yds
Rear run 50 yds/50 yds

I really like my sled! I have never done this type of work before and I really feel it! 10 am, and the humidity just about killed me! The really cool thing was the local fire Pipes and Drum corps were practicing in the parking lot next to the strip of field I was working. Next time I will bring my bells and throw them! The pipes really fit the training ambience.

Saturday morning.

I received my ETKB book from the UPS guy last night. I am pretty sure he was happy that it wasn't a big box from Dragon Door! Skimmed through the book last night, and I have to admit, it definitely supercedes the first RKC book. The growth that occurred in the last 5 years really shows. (Nice that you are quoted in the book, Rif!)

I tried the C and P Rite of Passage ladders. It worked great since I have to leave for a long day at the other academy I work (Los Rios community college). That academy is going through their defensive tactics test. (Same 2.5 hr test).

I did the three sets of ladders long cycle (1, 2, 3) with the 24kg. It was too light. Unfortunately all my other bells are at the academy gym. I will try to hit it again tonight. This seemed more of a nice warmup.

I got my RKC instructor certificate yesterday. I am still very proud of that achievement. Unlike many of you, I was not allowed to participate in sports as a kid, I could only lift weights. It wasn't until I became 18 that I started Okinawan hard style martial arts (Isshin-ryu) to make up for lost time. Isshinryu turned to TKD, then BJJ, and Aikido, as well as police defensive tactics. I love the combative arts! Certainly, some KB workouts feel like you've been in a fight!

At any rate, I felt like posting the pic of the teammates who enjoyed the pain with me!

Wednesday's workout

JM drills
Halos w/ 16kg 10L/10R x 2

Swings 24kg 10 x 4
32kg 10 x 2

Double Cleans
2-24kg 5 x 1
2-32kg 3 x 1 then 5 x 3

Pullups 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1= 36 (60 secs rest)

This workout seemed to be sorely needed as a stress reliever. It is such a great reminder on yet another reason to workout, to release all the negative energy, and return the good energy back to the body!

I can't wait for my copy of Enter the Kettlebell! I think it is a great title for the book, an homage to Bruce Lee, no less.

I finally got to see the bootleg of the Hughes v. Gracie fight. (It got yanked off youtube.com again, though.) My two cents: phenomenal that Royce was beaten by classical Gracie Jiujitsu. That fight reminded me of previous Royce fights, other than the fact he was on the receiving end. I wonder how Royce would have fared if he had worked out with kettlebells? Just a thought...it certainly didn't hurt Frank Shamrock. Another thing came to mind, the basics, the basics, the basics. Clinch, side mount, kimura lock, rear mount with hooks, all things I had learned as a white belt in BJJ. Applying that to my training, swings, snatches, cleans/presses and jerks, front squats, pullups, pushups, ab work.

Off to work on my article for work.

Tues. workout

JM drills
swings-doubles-singles-darc swing
Jerks- Double 16kg 5-10-15 , Double 24kg. 5-10-15 x 2
Janda situps 7-4-4-3
Tire flips 3x3
Sledgehammer 10L/10R x 4
Dips (superset with sledgehammer)
5x5

That's it. Felt very primal afterwards! Still can't seem to shake whatever is wracking my body. But, I don't feel so bad that I can't train.

Monday

It has been a busy weekend! I had the pleasure of watching my recruits survive their 2.5 hour long defensive tactics final! (I am one of their assistant instructors, and their lead PT instructor.)

It was great to see how their cardiovascular endurance, and fluid body movement (lots of joint mobility drills) along with their def-tact training went hand in hand. To give you an idea, the last portion of their test requires them to be in a circle and they are surrounded by approx. 11 or so of their peers who are also taking the test. One by one, their peers attack them with a variety of attacks, and the student must respond to the attack. It is a beautiful thing to see!

This bug is hanging on, but I made myself train a little today. A couple of my coworkers are starting to get the KB bug, and it is good training for me to train someone in an informal manner. Here's what we did today.

JM drills
Sled drags (Ken, the sled is awesome!) Walking back, walking forward, side to side hip torque

Swings
Figure8s
Slingshots

Swings to a throw
Walking swings
Racked KB Lunge
Racked KB lunge press

Overhead KB walk-racked-farmers walk 60 yards x 2
Bottoms up clean
Bottoms up press
snatch

more of a show and do session than a formal workout. Trained outside in the morning sun. Beautiful!

I missed the Hughes vs. Gracie fight, but I got the rundown from people at work and on the Dragon Door forum. I am very impressed that Gracie got into the octagon. He has nothing to prove after all he has done for the sport. The introduction of the original UFC has got to be one of the pivotal points in martial arts training for the last 2 decades. Watching some of the old Bruce Lee footage of his philosphy of where he wanted martial arts to go, it made me wonder if he would have done something like the UFC way before Rorion Gracie. The UFC of today is certainly more of a sport than the original "No Rules, NHB" concept. I mean, in a real fight, they don't pull you apart and make you restart in a standing position if a third party thinks there isn't enough action. Of course, the way it is now sells more future tickets. Who can forget those old matches where they circled each other for 10-15 minutes, and then had 30 secs. of action to a submission. Ok, I digress.

I am going to the Spring 2007 RKC as an assistant instructor! I am excited and honored at the idea of going. I have 10 months or so to hone my technique, and lose some body fat. I really should make that more of a priority.

Feeling Better!

But, I still thought I should ease back into my workout. It is better to proceed slowly until I feel 100% complete. Still,

JM drills- 10 mins.

Snatches 24kg 5, 10, 5, 10, 5 , 10

Side bends 2-24kg 5-10-10

That's all she wrote. I felt like I purged some of the bad ju-ju out of my body.

It makes you realize that sometimes, we take our health for granted. I read on Franz Snideman's blog about having to take his wife to the ER. Now, his wife, Yoana, is an extremely fit and strong person. Just check out their blog and stats! But, she self admittedly talked about creating balance in life. That really hit home with me since I am a workaholic with my two separate job related demands, as well as this quest of continued fitness called KB lifting. Getting rocked with this bug is nothing compared to Yoana's experience (she is well, now, thank God!) but it is a self-reminder to prioritize and create balance.