Four-Week Training Cycle in Review: Week of WODs and Lab Rats Showing their Stuff

I finished up last week on Saturday with a great power WOD with my buddy Frek at the gym.  We went hard for Memorial Day and for the fallen--just a reminder that we are still alive and free thanks to them!  I took the rest of the weekend off--kind of--kayaking, fishing, biking, and remodeling my kitchen.  Sometimes, you need a rest--we are getting ready to kick off another 4-week training cycle--and our programming sets you up for life fitness.

I also had a great week and 4-week training cycle with my clients and Lab Rats down at Quantico.  First, I had a bunch of clients work hard and do well at their respected events, and then it was a strength test week with myself and my other crew.

Francesca, aka The Italian Stallion, Showing her Stuff.

At the end of every month or 4-week training cycle, we do WODs still, but with tests of strength so we can see if our programming is working.  With myself and a few others, we ran and did some 1-rep maxing in certain lifts.  Needless to say, we all made gains while maintaining great fitness.

Frek Fighter Hitting 495, on his Way Up!

Below is my WODs with my Lab Rats, and enjoy the videos of some of my crew at Quantico testing their strength and fitness.  Check it out!

Monday: Strength WU: Indian Clubbells 5 min WU Circuit: 3x10 Swings (32K), Pushups, BW Squats Strength Circuit 1: 8x3 Bench Press Working up to  max-set (205) 1-Arm Rows (36K) Strength Circuit 2: Max Deadlift Worked up to 405 (Frek 505)

Tuesday: Metacon 5 Rounds / I-Go-You-Go (Nonstop) 32K KB 5/5 Push Press 10 Pullups 10 30-inch box jumps 5/5 Snatch

Thursday: Strength WU: 5/5 TGUs (32K) Strength Circuit: 3 (1,2,3) (32Ks) Clean and Press (strict) Weighted Pullups (32K) Front Squats Friday: Metacon Nonstop 20 min of heavy bag and jumprope (3 min bag/1 min rope)

Saturday: Power and Strength 4 Exercises: 10-8-6-4-2-1 reps with 24Ks, 26Ks, 28Ks, 32Ks, 36Ks, 40Ks Finish all reps and move to next exercise (I go-you-go) 1-arm Push Press Double Cleans Front Squats Renegade Rows

Frek Fighter Hitting 505 on Deads, Getting Ready for Spartan Race: Kettlebells and Strength Training Works!

The X-Factor: Optimal Nutrition for Athletes

As a fitness professional, I get asked MANY questions about programming, fitness, and exercise.  I can offer such advice, for I feel comfortable about the information I dispense and practice what I preach.  Now the second most asked questions I get--and any discussion about fitness and working out ultimately leads here--are about diet and nutrition.  I used to offer little tidbits of info, but what I realized is proper nutrition is a complicated topic, and each solution differs depending on the person.

Supreme Fitness Starts with Dynamic Nutrition!

For example, I have clients that run the gambit of the fitness spectrum: from high school and college athletes to military personnel and combat athletes to regular citizens that just want to lose weight or tone up.  In addition, these people vary in age, gender, and lifestyle, so a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work.  Needless to say, this makes optimizing fitness and nutrition a complicated equation, with nutrition being the X-Factor, since it varies so much.

GREAT FITNESS + PROPER NUTRITION (X-FACTOR) = HEALTHY LIVING

This should make any professional trainer or coach a little wary of dispensing advice in an area they really don’t know.  In one instance, I know trainers who insist that their clients workout multiple times a day, all the while making them fast, take supplements, and drink shakes that they sell.  This is downright wrong--and dangerous--especially since they don’t have a formal subject matter expertise in this area.

So like the great Taoist Lao Tzu said: If you want truth, go to the source.  That is why when I decided to offer nutrition advice to my clients, I invited Mary Perry, a registered dietitian, of Dynamic Nutrition to hold a workshop at my studio.  Not only is she a nutrition guru, but she is also a competitive athlete and powerlifter herself.  So she walks the talk!  (Check the photos of her in action.)

Personally, I think that 90% of the information out there about diet and fitness is BS.  Everybody has a different body type, DNA, and lifestyle, so how can anybody      
prescribe a one-size-fits-all solution.  So what works for me personally, might not be the Holy Grail for everyone.  True, you can get by with your own research, but if you want to take it to the next level and optimize your performance daily, then you have to find out what your own personal nutritional X-Factor is.  And make sure you get the right advice from the right people!

Come to Rogue Kettlebell Fitness on June 2 for a great workshop!

             

Train Hard, Train Strong, Do Epic Stuff

Recently, my old training partner, Frek Fighter, got back from Afghanistan.  He told me that he loved my training in prepping to go overseas because it allowed him to “DO ANYTHING”!  He put this to the test during his predeployment training and tests--by SMOKING them--and while he was in-country.  He went further to state that he missed training with me and kettlebells, often lamenting that the biggest he had there was 45 lbs.  Nonetheless, he led workouts for the various people he was deployed with, service-wide.

Now, we are hitting the training hard, and he wants to do some EPIC S***, like races, events, etc., just “because I can.”  Well, this past weekend, roughly a dozen Rogue clients competed in different races and such--just to prove THEY could!  And they rocked, attributing their awesome fitness to the training and program design at Rogue Kettlebell Fitness, where the kettlebell is our staple training tool.  They competed in everything from the Warrior Dash to half-marathons to a 50K!

Look at those SMILES!!!  Team Rogue Kettlebell CRUSHING the Warrior Dash.

I, like my clients, like to to epic stuff, mainly outdoors.  That is why I love the kettlebell training: It is efficient, builds amazing fitness, and is fun.  It also makes me healthier.  Case in point: I did a couple of big mountain bike rides over the weekend: a 25-miler up a 2000 ft. mountain, and then a single speed single track ride with my son.  Now, I have not trained hardcore on a bike this year, but I still smoked each ride, without being tired or sore.  (And on bikes that are not for the weak of heart.)  More proof that kettlebell strength and conditioning, done the right way, can propel you to do anything EPIC.

Me and My 1x9 Hog--rigid as he is--about to hit the epic downhill, the Rock Garden of Death, Mudhole Gap!

So get out and enjoy life, and like Bruce Lee suggested: Don’t let your training tool become your crutch.  Your training should prepare you for anything life throws at you.  And at Rogue Kettlebell Fitness, that is why we Train Hard, Train Strong--so we can live life outside the box and do EPIC S***!!!

Rogue Clients Training Hard and Strong Last Week: Check This Finisher!

Honor, Control, Discipline: The Joy of Coaching and Watching Clients Train, Grow, and Succeed

10+ years of Training: Master Thomas and I on the Set of his TV Show, "Defend Yourself!"

Not too long ago, I was having a conversation with my sinsei, Master John Thomas, former Navy SEAL Combat Instructor; national full-contact, no-holds barred champion; board-breaking champion; and owner of United States Karate Center, which is coming up on its 30-year anniversary.  He was advising me on how to run my small business, coaching and training people, and conducting a white-belt test for a group of my students.  He also reflected about all the people he has trained over the years--from martial artists to Navy SEALs--and how they have grown.

During the conversation, we talked about how getting a white belt is just the first step on the journey to getting a black belt, which involves the USKC and martial arts principles of Control, Honor, Discipline.  He went on to further add that even after you get your black belt, that is when the journey really begins, for the sinsei, like a mother bird, must release its young martial artists out into the world, hoping that the instilled values and training will make them succeed and survive.  Master Tomas concluded with the statement: The Master succeeds when the students succeed!

The USKC Blackbelt Team--Years of Training and Growth!

Me and my Young Grasshoppers, Post WB Test!I

I thought deeply about this, and like an epiphany, it impacted me as a trainer and coach: My hard training and programming with kettlebells--coupled with the instilled values of Honor, Courage, Discipline--has enabled me to start my gym and forge some AMAZING athletes and martial artists.  It was an ego check about being confident in your own skills, and then instilling them in the proper training and programming for your students and clients.

Over the next few weekends, a half-dozen of my clients will be competing in a series of events--everything from the Warrior Dash to marathons and 50Ks to looking good at a wedding!  A group of ladies has even formed a training team for one of the events, and they train together outside of our normal kettlebell sessions. 

As I looked at them training hard at Rogue Kettlebell Fitness through my new lens on coaching that Master Thomas talked about, I couldn’t help but feel proud.  I have the priviledge over the last few months to coach and prepare people for their goals with kettlebells and martial arts.  In addition, many of them have been training with me for years, and they are constantly setting new goals and milestones for themselves: There is joy in watching them train, grow, and set goals--whatever they may be--by having them display the instilled, learned virtues of Honor, Control, Discipline.

So Clients: GO KILL IT!!!  YOU’RE READY!!!

My Post-36K B-Day Workout and Weekly WODs

Yesterday, I turned 37--not quite “old man” status yet, but on the downward slope to 40.  Nonetheless, I still train hard, and I’m stronger than I was in my 20s.  In fact, on my B-Day, I did a wicked kickboxing-jumprope workout with an Army captain, and smoked it.  No doubt, it is the kettlebells and the fitness program that I practice and teach.  There are so many benefits to these.

The Big 36K B-Day Bell!

Anyways, in honor of my 36th rotation around the sun--and to prove I’m still in the game--I decided to workout with the 36K kettlebell today.  Who says that getting older means getting weaker.  Below are my WODs from the past few days and some footage and pics of a complex with the 36K, and me hitting 405 on the deads (10 x 1).  Peace!

CRAZY 36K Kettlebell Comlex! Old But Still in the Game!

       

405 lb. Deadlift.

Last Thursday: Metacon/Cardio 4-mile trail run with .5 mile hill sprint at end Finished with 4 x 200 yds

Monday: Strength WU: 5 min Indian Clubbells 5/5 TGUs (32K KB) Strength Circuit 1: 8 x 3 (double 32K KBs) Clean and Press (strict) Weighted Pullups (32K on foot) Strength Circuit 2: 6 x 4 Front Squats (32Ks) Finisher: 5 min of snatches with 32K bell (hit floor once)

Tuesday: Metacon 10 Rounds 1:30 min on/20 sec off Martial Arts Circuit Couplet --Hitting Heavy Bag --Jump Rope Finisher Takedowns and Grabs (Jujitsu and Kungfu) with Capt Sherbo US Army

Wednesday: Strength WU: 5 min Indian Clubbells Primer: L/R Complexes with 36K bell TGU/C&P/1-Arm OH Squat/Snatch/Pullup Circuit 1: 5 x 5 Circuit 1-Arm Floor Press 1-Arm Row Circuit 2: Deadlift 10 x 1 x 405 Finisher: 20-15-10-5 36K Swings/Pushups

Feats of Strength from Kettlebells, Deadlifting, and Your Inner Athlete

At Rogue Kettlebell Fitness, we train to promote overall health, fitness, and functionality.  Thus, we do a lot of training with strength and power with the function foundational lifts: squats, clean and press, deadlift, pullups, rows, pushups or bench, snatches, etc.  In our programming, we test our overall abilities once a month, just to see how we are all progressing.

Here are a few cases in point.  Last week, I decided to test everybody’s one-rep max with the trapbar deadlift.  Why?  Because it is VERY safe, and it shows overall full body power. Many of my clients and Lab Rats made gains.

The first example is Super SSGT Sean Sturgill, one of my Marine Lab Rats at Quantico.  (Sorry ladies, this stud is taken!)  He has only been training with kettlebells and deadlifting with the trapbar for 3 months.  He got really sick a few weeks ago, and had to take 2 weeks off.  His first time deadlifting, he got 175.  Before he got sick, his one-rep max was 365.  Well, the other day, after 3 weeks back in the groove, he crushed 405.  He knew he could do more, but he was happy with that.

Ruthy CRUSHING 235 lbs. on the T-Bar with a broken toe!

Later that day at my gym--I use the same training programming for my clients that I use on me and my Lab Rats--one of my clients, Ruthy, also hit an amazing one-rep max.  Now, I won’t disclose Ruthy’s age, but lets just say she is one of the strongest (and proudest) grandmoms out there in Northern Virginia.  She also just returned to training a month ago after a broken toe from a nasty front kick at our Women’s Self Defense Seminar.  (That’s another story.)  Anyways, she jumped right into the kettlebell training program this month, and she hit 235 a month later on the trapbar.

She went on to say this to her friend about kettlebells and her Mother's Day gift.

"The funny thing is that I never enjoyed working out until I found Kettlebells. Being able to dead lift substantial weight is a direct result. I highly recommend Kettlebell Training!"

Wonderful Mother's Day so far: Great time with the kids and grands! Loving my new Kettlebells.

Notice Ruthy is now ROCKING double 16K comp bells (36 lbs apiece for you gringos)!

These are but 2 examples of some amazing strength gains, but it all starts with a coach who KNOWS how to program.  Strength is one of those KEY skills that you need to train.  Plus, it thwarts aging and promotes performance, like in the article I posted the other day.  So the bottom line is you don’t have to be an NFL star to train like an athlete.  We are all given a wonderful machine called a body, and we should use it to its maximum potential.  Kettlebells are a great way to express that movement and power.  And we all have an inner athlete inside of us--UNLEASH YOURS!!!

Walking the Talk, Lab Rats, and WODs

Still can’t believe that I ran 10 miles off the couch the other day (Sunday), then hit heavy strength and metacon.  Personally, I like people who give advice based on their own training experience; hence, I test all my training out on me and my Lab Rats at Quantico.  Further, I have developed 2 awesome programs for strength and conditioning: Matt’s Ultimate Conditioning Course (MUCC), and Matt’s Ultimate Strength Training (MUST).  Both are templates that we use at my gym, depending in the season.  Trainers have more merit when they walk the talk.

So here are my workouts for the last 2 days, done with LtCol Frek Fighter and Super SSGT Sturgill.  I will post workouts along with what other events I can do.  At Rogue, we train that way because we are athletes, plain and simple.  We also break up our programming to focus on strength and power during some workouts, while focusing on metabolic endurance during others.  It gives you the best bang for the buck!

Monday: Strength WU: 3/3 TGUs (26K KB) Strength Circuit: 5x5 (double 26K KBs) Clean and Press (strict) Weighted Pullups (26K on foot) Front Squats (rock bottom) Finisher: 3 x 10 KB Swings (double 26Ks)

Tuesday: Metacon 6 Rounds 40 sec on/20 sec off Concept 2 Rower Pushups KB Snatch (24K l/r) Finisher: 2X Jump Rope (100 twirls) Stair Runs