RTK Training Log - 08/21/09 - "Light and Medium" Days

You're in for a treat. This is a two-fer post, as I didn't post Monday after my Light training day. This is the second week of my second grind block in Return of The Kettlebell, so I upped the ladders and rungs to 5.

Light Day
Warm-up with jumping rope and squat/halo/pump circuit.

Snatch/Press/Squat
20 kg (L) 12 kg (R) 5 ladders, 5 rungs
30 seconds rest between rungs, 1 minute rest between ladders.

Sumo Deadlift
20 kg and 12 kg on blocks. 20 reps X 2 (switching sides)

Medium Day
Same warm-up.

Snatch/Press/Squat
20 kg (L) 16 kg (R) 5 ladders, 5 rungs
30 seconds rest between rungs, 1 minute rest between ladders.

Sumo Deadlift
20 kg and 16 kg on blocks. 20 reps X 2 (switching sides)

Return of The Kettlebell-Training Log- Vacation Posts

This week, I'm on vacation and enjoying some peace and quiet in Cambria, a small coastal town in beautiful San Luis Obispo County in California.


The official start date of my vacation was on Monday, which also coincided with the start of my second grind block of the Return of The Kettlebell program.

For Monday's light day, I stayed with my 20 kg kettlebell for my heavier bell and used my 12 kg bell for the lighter kettlebell.

I started with 200 reps of rope skipping and then had my wife join me for four circuits of our 10-minute-warm-up. We could have gotten more than four circuits if we really pushed it, but we usually take the time to talk about our day and slowly get our bodies ready for the more intense exercise to come.

After warming-up, I set up my kettlebells with the 20 kg on the right side and the 12 kg on the left side. During my last block of grinds, I completed 3 ladders, so this week I did 4 ladders of 4 rungs each.

Remember that the program calls for completing 5 squats after finishing the top rung of each ladder.

I stayed with 20 seconds rest between rungs and 1 minute rest between ladders.

After my final ladder, I rested for 2 minutes and then completed 2 sets of sumo deadlifts of 20 reps each using the same kettlebells as I used for my presses.

We drove to Cambria Tuesday and I brought 2-20kgs along with a 12 kg for my wife to use. Ordinarily, I'll use a 16 kg and a 20 kg for medium day, but we ran out of room for the extra kettlebell, and I felt like I could do the two 20s with no problems.

I'd actually prefer to use a 20 and a 24 kg, but I want to give the RTK program a go as it's written in order to properly evaluate it's effectiveness.

At any rate, I was on my own today, so after warming up with 6 circuits in 10 minutes (I was energized!), I pushed through 4 ladders with 4 rungs each, using 35 second rests between rungs and 70 second rests between ladders.

These felt great and I was able to watch the ocean roll into the shore while practicing my presses. After my last ladder was complete, I set up my bells for sumo deadlifts and cranked through 2-20 reps sets.

Afterwards, I did a quick set of 20 pushups on the horns of my kettlebells before stretching out and relaxing for the evening.

I'll squeeze a couple days of variety work in Thursday and Friday before doing my heavy day on Saturday.

On another note, I just redesigned my main blog (hopefully the last time) and am pretty proud of the result. Feel free to stop by and check it out:

http://www.ironbellathletics.com

RTK Training Log - 08/03/09 - "Light" Day

Light day is for the Viking Push Press (VPP) and front raise snatches.

Warm-up with a quick 200 reps rope jumping to get the blood flowing, then squats/halos/pumps for 4 rounds.

Using two 16 kg kettlebells, I snatched them to lockout and did two VPPs. I parked them, waited about 20 seconds, then got 4 reps for my second rung.

After resting for 20 seconds again, snatch them up again, and get 6 reps for my third rung. Rest for 1 minute.

Last week I did 3 ladders as per the program recommendations. However the weight was moving smoothly, so I went for all 5 ladders today with 2,4,6 rep rungs.

After finishing the Viking Push Presses, I rested for a few minutes and set up one of my 16 kg bells for front raise snatches.

I started on the right side and got 20 reps, then switched to the left side and got 20 more. Rest for 1 minute then 20 and 20 again.

That's it! Light day in a nutshell. A set of 20 Janda sit-ups and stretching and that's all until tomorrow.

RTK Training Log - 07/27/09 - "Light" Day

Started my first "explosive" block of RTK this week. The next two weeks will consist of Viking Push Presses on Monday (light day) with Clean and jerks on the medium and heavy days.

After 200 reps of rope jumping and my regular 10-minute-warm-up, I set up a pair of my 16 kg kettlebells and prepared for the Viking Push Press.

The RKC plan calls for starting with 3 ladders, but the reps for each rung are doubled (2,4,6).

I grabbed the bells, snatched them and did my first two reps. After resting for 30 seconds, I did my second set for 4 reps, rested for 30 seconds again, and did my last rung for 6 reps.

1 minute rest between ladders.

After completing my third ladder, I kept one of my one poods and did 2 sets of 20 reps of front raise snatches (20R/20L, rest 1 minute, 20R/20L).

After that, cool down, stretch and done.