Pressing, Squatting, and Swinging...

Prep - ASLR and Brettzel

24 kg Get-up Repeating every step on the way up x 1+1

Pressing ladders

24 kg Tall Kneeing Press x 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (r+L)

24 kg Half Kneeling Press x 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (r+L) - same side as up leg

24 kg Half Kneeling Press x 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (r+L) - same side as kneeling leg

24 kg Goblet Squat and Alt Swing Ladder

GS x 10 + Alt Sw x 10 + Hip flexor stretch

GS x 9 + Alt Sw x 10 + Hip Flexor stretch

GS x 8 + Alt Sw x 10 + Hip Flexor stretch

GS x 7 + Alt Sw x 10 + Hip Flexor stretch

GS x 6 + Alt Sw x 10 + Hip Flexor stretch

GS x 5 + Alt Sw x 10 - no rest

GS x 4 + Alt Sw x 10 - brief rest

GS x 3 + Alt Sw x 10 - no rest

GS x 2 + Alt Sw x 10 - no rest

GS x 1 + Alt Sw x 10 - no rest

Hip Flexor stretch, Inversion table and Club Swinging to finish

Good workout.

Back from the first ever HKC!!

The HKC is off to a huge start. 125 attendees showed up in Minneapolis/St. Paul for this inaugural event and it was a big success.

A solid day of the kettlebell essentials, form and technique, principles and teaching tips.

Look for an HKC to be coming to your area or contact me about hosting an HKC in your town.

Training and Traveling...

Prep work - Club swinging, ASLR, Brettzel

Goblet Squat and Swing and Full Bridge workout

GS x 10 + Alt Sw x 10 + Bridge x 10

GS x 9 + Alt Sw x 10 + Bridge x 9

GS x 8 + Alt Sw x 10 + Bridge x 8

GS x 7 + Alt Sw x 10 + Bridge x 7

GS x 6 + Alt Sw x 10 + Bridge x 6

GS x 5 + Alt Sw x 10 + Bridges x 5

GS x 4 + Alt Sw x 10 + Bridges x 4

GS x 3 + Alt Sw x 10 + Bridges x 3

GS x 2 + Alt Sw x 10 + Bridges x 2

GS x 1 + Alt Sw x 10 + Bridges x 1

Inversion table to finish

Club Swinging is feeling good.

Back from Amsterdam and off to MSP for the first HKC this weekend...

Kettlebell Snatches

Prep work - ASLR , Brettzel, Ankle and hip movement prep

24 kg Windmill x 5 + 5

24 kg Snatches - Density "valley"

10+10 at the top of the minute

9+9 at the top of the next (you get the idea - rest is only what is left after the snatches)

8+8

7+7

6+6

5+5

and back up 5+5, 6+6, 7+7, 8+8, 9+9, 10+10

Inversion table to finish

12 minutes and 180 snatches and one callous tear (hate it when I slack on hand care and use chalk)

Going from short rest to little longer rest to short rest again (hence the "valley") added a little to this work out - fun stuff.

Training report...

Prep - Club swinging, ankle and hip movement prep

24 kg Goblet Squat Ladder + 10 alternating swings + one Wall Walk Bridge

10 GS + 10 Alt Sw + 1 WWBridge

9 GS + 10 Alt Sw + 1 WWBridge

8 GS + 10 Alt Sw + 1 WWBridge

7 GS + 10 Alt Sw + 1 WWBridge

6 GS + 10 Alt Sw + 1 WWBridge

5 GS + 10 Alt Sw + 1 WWBridge

4 GS + 10 Alt Sw + 1 WWBridge

3 GS + 10 Alt Sw + 1 WWBridge

2 GS + 10 Alt Sw + 1 WWBridge

1 GS + 10 Alt Sw + 1 WWBridge

24 KG Windmill x 5 + 5

Inversion Table to finish

Used various speeds and pauses and variations of the GS down the ladder.

Club Swinging is feeling very good and getting better every session.

Feeling good...

Training today and the Concept of Symmetry...

Prep work - various mobility/stretches

Club Swinging practice

24 kg Windmill x 3+3

24 kg Goblet Squat x 5

Double KB work with 2/24 kg KBs - this is one of the Neupert programs that I am not at liberty to share but it is tough! Tough in a fun way ;-)

24kg Windmill x 3+3

Observation on the windmill - I have been away from them for too long. These will make it back in for my Movement Prep.

Symmetry - (right to left "balance")

There have been a lot of questions lately on FMS and the concept of symmetry and this is great - here are some research offerings and my opinions...

One of the early studies to show an asymmetry puts you at risk of injury was a military study by

Knapik - Sports Med (1992) - indicating that a hip extension inflexibility imbalance of 15% or more indicated subjects were 2.6 times more likely to get injured. (Asymmetrical hip extension flexibility which is checked three different ways in the FMS screen)

And a few more bits of research...

1. Cook E, Kiesel K. Impaired Patterns of Posture and Function In: Prentice B, Voight M, eds. Techniques in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation. 2nd ed. Chicago: McGraw-Hill; 2006.
2. Kiesel K, P P, R B, Burton L, Cook E. Functional Movement Test Scores Improve following a Standardized Off-season Intervention Program Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2009; In Review.
3. Kiesel K, Plisky P, Kersey P. Functional Movement Test Score as a Predictor of Time-loss during a Professional Football Team’s Pre-season Paper presented at: American College of Sports Medicine Annual Conference, 2008; Indianapolis, IN.
4. Kiesel K, Plisky P, Voight M. Can serious injury in professional football be predicted by a preseason Functional Movement Screen? North American Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. August 2007;2(3):147-158.
5. Minick K, Burton L, Butler R, Kiesel K. A Reliability Study of the Functional Movement Screen. National Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2009;In Press.
6. Wainner RS, Whitman JM, Cleland JA, Flynn TW. Regional interdependence: a musculoskeletal examination model whose time has come. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. Nov 2007;37(11):658-660.

Five of the Seven FMS tests provide a Left to Right comparison (read asymmetry check)
So even if the word symmetry may not appear in the article it is simply part of FMS screening.

One of the early research studies on the FMS a Fire Fighter Study (sub 2006), "Core strength: A new model for injury prediction and prevention":
"A battery of FMS tests were performed on 433 firefighters. We analyzed the
correlation between FMS performance and injuries and other selected parameters. An
intervention to improve flexibility and strength in trunk stabilizer or core muscle groups
through a training program was evaluated.
Results: The intervention reduced lost time due to injuries by 62% and the number of
injuries by 42% over a twelve month period as compared to a historical control group. "

The issue with research is controlling for variables (very tough to do) and when researching FMS you have to screen a group (know that they have an increased chance for injury) and wait for injury to happen to be proved "valid" - sounds great doesn't it.

To put it simply - does it not make sense that if the Right side will or will not do something the Left side can or can't do - that that is an issue?
Right side get-up with a 24kg but can only complete a Left side get-up with a 12kg
right side mp 32 kg but Left side can press the beast
Right side Pistol vs no pistol on the Left
Right eye converges - Left eye will not
Right cuboid is mobile - Left Cuboid is not.......
In any performance standard we would clearly look at the "asymmetry" in performance and address it
but there is a mental block when a Movement standard (or asymmetry check) is suggested - even when that movement base is the foundation for the performance test.

BTW - check out the new Functional Movement website

Different training today....

10 "Rounds" of:

{20 alternating swings + Jump rope x 50 + Speed Press x 5 R+L + 30 Mountain Climbers}

Alternating swing and Speed presses with a 20 KG KB

Round completed in 1:40 followed by :15 seconds rest

ASLR and Club Swinging practice after

Inversion table

Interesting to have a great variety of movement etc... fun stuff

Training report...

Good training session today:

Prep work - ASLR, Brettzel

Wall Walk Bridges x 5

Goblet Squat and Swing ladder combo thingy...

24 kg Goblet squat and alternating swing ladder with hip flexor stretch and either Ballet Heel Raise or Hindu Push-up

GS x 10 + Alternating Swing x 10 + Hip Flexor stretch

GS x 9 + Alternating Swing x 10 + HF Stretch + Ballet Heel Raise x 10

GS x 8 + Alt Sw x 10 + HF Stretch + Hindu Push-up x 10

GS x 7 + Alt Sw x 10 + HF Stretch + BHH x 10

GS x 6 + Alt Sw x 10 + HF Stretch + Hindu Push-up x 10

GS x 5 + Alt Sw x 10 + HF Stretch + BHH x 10

GS x 4 + Alt Sw x 10 + HF Stretch + Hindu Push-up x 10

GS x 3 + Alt Sw x 10 + HF Stretch + BHH x 10

GS x 2 + Alt Sw x 10 + HF Stretch + Hindu Push-up x 10

GS x 1 + Alt Sw x 10 + HF Stretch

Club Swinging Practice

Inversion Table for a couple of minutes

A nice variety of movement worked up a good sweat and felt great.

Club Swinging is continuing to progress well.

Getting caught up...

Nearly two weeks of continuous travel left me in a bit of a hole (which I am still trying to dig out of) but I am finally seeing the light at the top.

Training has had the usual travel interruptions and switch over to bodyweight exercises which is going well.

Recent KB training

on Tuesday

Prep - ASLR, Brettzel etc...

Get-up x 5+5

Goblet squat and swings with 16kg

10 GS + 10 alt. swings

9 GS + 10 alt swings

8 GS + 10 alt swings

7 GS + 10 alt swings

and on down to one with the GS but keeping the swings at 10.

Brief rest at 6 reps.

Thursday

Prep - ASLR , Brettzel, Ankle and hip mobility

MVO2 24 kg x 8 reps per 15 seconds x 20 sets

Inversion

I have also been making progress on my Club swinging (more on that soon).

Quick observation...

There are some that will tell you not to worry about symmetry (in relation to body shape and movement) - that it is marketing etc...

Unfortunately asymmetry in strength or flexibility is the only thing in the research that is correlated with risk of injury. Being just tight or just loose or just weak wasn't a risk but being asymmetrical (right vs. left) in strength or flexibility was a risk.

The proper perspective to keep on this is the rule of 10 percent and to keep in mind what we sacrifice for elite performance in a sport.

The Rule of 10 percent basically states that your body will compensate for a difference of about 10 percent between the right and left side. Beyond that the compensations can become problematic.

In leg length for example you only correct for 1/2 of the difference and you don't even start to do that until the leg length difference is greater that a 1/2 inch.

There is a certain level of sacrifice for elite level performance.

Something like golf or other "one sided" events can lead to a built in asymmetry but look at the injury rates for those sports. Know what you are sacrificing and then decide whether narrowing the asymmetries to 10 percent of so would make a difference.