40 Days

This past weekend i had the privilege of being an assistant instructor at the San Jose Russian Kettlebell Certification (RKC). Leading up to this weekend I knew that I was going to be assisting legendary strength coach and Master RKC Dan John. This seemed like a great time to read his and Pavel's book Easy Strength and take advantage of the opportunity to pick his brain on the the concepts contained within the book.

First off, I highly recommend this book.

http://www.dragondoor.com/b57/

The principles are simple to the point of enlightening, and are clearly and logically explained. Attending the RKC really drove home the point that it's time for me to put more of an emphasis on my strength training. One of the training routines in the book is the 40 day program. I instantly liked this routine because it was in the same vein as the Grease the Groove (GTG) style training that I've had a decent amount of success with. This involves picking 5 exercises - a posterior chain movement, an upper body push, an upper body pull, a full body explosive move, and an anterior chain movement. These movements are performed 5 days a week for 40 days. The reps are kept low and the load manageably heavy.

I started this program yesterday without even realizing today is Mardi Gras. My exercises and reps are as follows

Warm-up
Joint Mobility
Bridge 30 seconds
L-sit on bench 15 seconds
Twists 15 seconds each side
1x10 goblet squats 16kg KB
1/4 mile jog 6.0 pace (10 min/mile)

Program
Pistols bodyweight to 18" bench 2x5 each leg
Double Military Press 16 kg 2x5
Pull-ups 5x2
Two hand kettlebell swings 24 kg 2x25
Ab wheel rollout from knees 2x5 (after re-reading this section in the book, this will be amended to 1x5)

I haven't max tested in a while due to slowly rebuilding strength after a few aches and pains, but a rough estimate of my current maxes in these lifts are as follows

Pistols 1 rep w/ 32 kg (all time PR 36 kg)
Military Press 1-2 reps 24 kg (all time PR 4 reps)
Pull-ups 1 rep with 12 kg over each foot (all time 10 reps with 60 lbs)

Taking cues from the book and talking with RKC II KC Reiter this weekend I'm focusing on slow lowering movements and explosive reps. KC mentioned that he was able to increase his pull-up max from hanging a 24 over each foot to a 28, just by doing body weight chest to bar pull ups. In 2010 at the San Jose RKC I pistoled a 36 kg bell after only training GTG with a 12 kg bell, focusing on technique. I'm starting off with bodyweight pistols to ensure that both my legs are are equally strong throughout the full range of motion. Additionally, bodyweight pistols can sometimes be more challenging than weighted pistols because the bell cannot be used as a counterweight.

So far my body is pleasantly sore and feeling quite good at the outset of this program. Two days in and I feel as though I'm getting stronger while remaining fresh for firefighting or off duty play activities.