Yinz ain’t seen nothing yet!
Welcome to yet another primalburgher.com blog post. Today, we are going to be discussing something that I am now brand new to: designing your own workouts. I spoke on my blog here before about how I was inspired to train harder once I picked up a copy of the RKC book of Strength and Conditioning, and I have decided to take some of the inspiration I found in that book to condition myself for the RKC certification I will be heading off to in April. Oh, by the way. I have officially decided to attend RKC Vienna in 2013, so if you’d like to join me, make sure you get registered through Dragon Door today!
All that aside, I am now responsible for designing my own training protocols. This places a bit of pressure on me as I am new to the whole design-your-own-brutal-plan-of-action-for-the-next-month, but after my HKC certification, I was given some good pointers as to what I need to establish to pass the RKC certification. Most of my work this month is actually geared towards increasing my shoulder mobility and increasing my shoulder stability (specifically my right shoulder). I was given a lot of constructive criticism during the HKC for having less than adequate shoulder mobility, and realizing that this is something I have to work on made me come up with a creative little routine to address a long standing injury I have had to deal with for the past several years.
Oh…about that. In case yinz didn’t know, I was in a pretty bad skateboarding accident when I was 19 years old. I face planted straight into the pavement going close to 35 miles an hour and ended up with two ribs knocked out of place and a horrific concussion that had me rushed straight to the er. Fun Fact: The impact on the pavement was so severe that I actually have permanent visual damage in my right eye because of the accident. I also happened to land on my right shoulder when trying to break the fall, and that has been a source of pain and problems for me over the past six years.
Wow…I just realized I have been dealing with this compensated injury for six years. ARG!
But hey, life goes on and if I am to pass the RKC certification, I have to do something to help the shoulder out right? This month I have designed a lot of halos into my work while still doing some heavy snatch work (though I do not intende to max out my snatcehs next month as much as I am now). The idea here is to tackle my mobility and stability issue in a multifaceted way while still finding a physically taxing workout. I believe I have come up with something pretty unique, pretty bizarre, yet pretty darn effective. Check out this workout I designed below.
Burgher’s Hardstyle Kettlebell Workout
Warm up:
Joint mobility transitioning into 3 sets of 5 halos each direction. This is done to open up my shoulders and back to allow for proper strength and stabilization exercises.
Exercise set one:
alternating Turkish get ups using a 12 kg. 10 minutes.
Do not count number of get ups completed. Do as many as you can with proper form and allow your body to learn the proper lock out points each way through the get up. This will establish
1 to 2 minute rest period.
Exercise set two:
Snatch ladder (advanced work. DO NOT ATTEMPT IF YOU ARE NOT WELL CONDITIONED! I MEAN IT!)
15 snatches right, 15 snatches left
14 snatches right, 14 snatches left
go the whole way down to 1 snatch on the right side and one on the left, but here is the kicker (or in my mind, an added bonus!) When you reach the set of 5 snatches per each arm, you will be doing hand to hand switches for the rest of the ladder non-stop. This means you’ll do 5 snatches right, switch to 5 snatches left, back to 4 snatches right and 4 snatches left non stop until you hit 1. How’s that for intense?(note: I cannot stress enough that seasoned athletes should be the only ones attempting this workout. Please, if you’re beginner or even intermediate, DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS! Only attempt if you are at an advanced level of fitness and can sustain this kind of stress on the body).
End with fast and loose drills and stretching.
One last word on why I am doing this entire workout. I have started this routine with halos to open up my back and shoulders to prepare for get ups. I am using get ups as a way to work on proper strength and stabilization on my shoulders, baring in mind my right shoulder is slightly weaker than my left. I am not doing gets ups fast, rather this ten minutes is designed to target my shoulders at varying points to create a solid foundation of strength at each lock out point through the get up. Not only does this increase your overall shoulder stability, it simultaneously works on mobility problems as well based on how you have to move through the full get up. Finally, the snatches are there to essentially test the established shoulder stability and mobility after the halos and get ups. Now, I realize there are A TON of snatches in this workload, but bare in mind that this is also a cardiovascular endurance test as well, and I have to find some way of making sure my endurance increases over time. This may be a particularly brutal way of doing it but HEY! I enjoy challenges!
As for my results with this workout, I have had fairly good results, and I’m not talking about my stats here. My right shoulder actually felt more stable and I was able to complete the ladder without any ill effect or right shoulder tension. In fact, I had no pain at all which is odd for me. Granted, my right shoulder tends to stiffen up throughout the day, but normally after a workout this intense I would be feeling pretty stunned with noticeable aching. This time? NOTHING! That’s after only one workout! Looks like halos and get ups are the way to assure your snatches are locked and loaded properly. Neat fitness find for sure!
That about sums it up for me today. I hope yinz enjoyed this insane workout and I hope you are curious about the rest of this months training I have outline (trust me, it’s ridiculous and you WILL be hearing about it!). As always,
remember to eat smart, train hard, and enjoy your life!
Love Always,
Janelle
