Furey's royal court.

[Yoda]

I'm cycling through all my past exercise routines seeing what grabs me these days.

 

I've stumbled upon two improvements on Matt's excellent royal court program. First, for everyday training don't keep track of reps just track time and tempo. Counting reps to high numbers is distracting to me. Also, I'm doing hindu squats as photographed on combatconditioning.com site with the rowing motion of the arms and that's pretty cool too.

 

Haven't been finding my kettlebells that fascinating anymore. Too bad--they look really cool!

 

Looks like I'm gravitating towards general poweryoga stuff. Maybe I'll put my own sun salutation routine together.

 

-Yoda 8)

[Trunk]

Haven't been finding my kettlebells that fascinating anymore.

I just started with kb's, and have been doing swings. Unusual thingies.

 

I noticed how much swings tap into basic fucking force & motion. The hips, buttocks, really drive the swing, - and the back and arms pretty much go for the ride (they do get some exercise, but aren't the engine of swings). It occured to me that kb swings are a useful method in processing residual force from retention.

[Yoda]

Interesting insight, I believe that there's something to it.

 

During the peak of my KB's, I was definitely the swinger. That's a motion that bodyweight stuff can't touch. I've brought them out from storage and I've been looking at them, but that's the limit of my current kettlebell training.

 

-Yoda

[Trunk]

[sean]

My Christmas present to myself was two sets of Clubbells, a 5 lb. (so Leslie could join the fun) and a 10 lb. set for myself. I've never used Kettlebells before but I am sold on Clubbells. They just feel right to hold and swing. And they are much heavier and harder to wield than they appear. I just pushed play-all on the CST DVD and tried to go through the whole thing with the 10's and there were several exercises I had to pick up the 5's to complete. :oops: I've only just begun working with them last week so I don't have any insights about them other than I think they are bad ass and I'm excited to have finally found a strength training regimen I can dig.

 

8)

 

Sean.

[Yoda]

looks like a good adjustable setup.

 

Your insight makes me remember all the talk on dragondoor of the "What the hell?" Effect of KB training how it seems to transcend the law of training specificity and have crazy carryover effects into other types of exertion.

 

Jing redistribution wasn't discussed--but it's an excellent one.

 

Here are the others: the extreme grip training has reflexive strength benefits throughout the entire nervous system--by improving your grip you automatically have improved leg strength, etc.

 

The swing/snatch/clean ballistic movement is almost impossible to train for in any other manner and is a very "core" movement involved in many sports.

 

Ballistics have momentum are addictive and can entice the practitioner into greater exertions--the swinging is funner and has a more addictive groove than many calisthenics.

 

Also, swings in particular don't tire out one part before another part.

 

My best period of kb training was swings and snatches. I later moved to c&j b/c I could handle more weight but I started treating KB training like low rep strength training which isn't KB's superpower.

 

doing KB's outside is another secret ingredient of their power.

 

My set has been brought out, but I'm still only just watching them. I've never tried club bells, but I've heard that they are amazing probably for many of the same reasons. You HAVE to do those outside if you don't have high ceilings--so outdoor training is enforced.

 

-Yoda 8)

[Yoda]

Trunk,

 

I just did some KB shwings today, and I DO believe that they contribute to a kinder, gentler nation.

 

Strictly one pood, mostly swings, duration: brief. (If I could brag about it, I would.)

 

What happened with my previous training is that I moved up to and became enamored with low rep 2 pood work and lost my connection with the ballistic/high rep side of the equation and the training lost its zestiness and I bagged it.

 

Thanks for posting--great insight & you got me back into the KB game!

 

I ran across this William James quote today: "Muscular vigor will still always be needed to furnish the background of sanity, serenity, and cheerfulness of life, to give moral elasticity to our disposition, to round off the wiry edge of our fretfulness, and make us good humored and easy of approach."

 

If anyone is interested in checking out shwings, you can do them with a 10-80 lb dumbell. I'm sure dragondoor.com has some articles and photos. There is a bodyweight trainer, I think, at trainforstrength.com who has animated photos of swings as well. He says that swings are key for fighters he also strongly endorses clubells.

 

-Yoda 8)

[sean]

[Trunk]

[Yoda]

Trunk,

 

Pavel doesn't make a big point of which way to breath as long as you get a comfortable groove on it.

 

What breathing pattern do you recommend?

 

Breathing in on the downswing and out on the upswing does seem to put more attention and power into the ltt. That breathing pattern seems to get the thumbs up on dragondoor for lower rep work which gets more compressive as the reps get lower. But for high reps there's more of an emphasis on "being breathed" by the swings with the exhalation on the way down and inhaling on the way up.

 

Thanks,

Yoda

[Trunk]

[Yoda]

Yeah, I'm back on creatine to deal with the new motion. Definitely google for "The Wrestlers Body" and check out the dands/bethaks/retention connection. Also check out the workouts on trainforstrength.com--they are swing based workouts and might offer some cycling ideas between swing sets. I swung my 1.5 pood for a few reps and I'm sure the 2 pood will show up at some point, but I'll try to keep my kb training focused on high reps.

 

-Yoda

[Trunk]

I received my KettleGrip from IronCompany.com yesterday, and i'm not satisfied. The handle opening is a little narrower than a standard kb, so its a little cramped to get both hands (really, just 3 fingers of each hand - which is how its done w/ the standard kb, - still cramped at that) in for the two-handed swing. dang! Now i've got to mail it back, get a refund.

 

I'm going to look around some more and see if i can find a kb handle that i like better. www.KettleStack.com is next on my list.

[Yoda]

Or maybe keep it, and just do them one handed. From what I heard on dragondoor, adjustable KBs never quite capture the same feel but they work for swings along with dumbells. I'm captivated by the beauty of my KBs, so I'd say get the DD ones sooner or later. I'm sure there's somebody who can sell you a DD KB in LA, possibly used. Just post on DD and check ebay. At least save on shipping that way.

 

Also, the one pood DD KB handles aren't huge either, but I can get all my fingers around it for two hand swings, but I tend to do one hand swings.

 

-Yoda

[Trunk]

Or maybe keep it, and just do them one handed.   From what I heard on dragondoor, adjustable KBs never quite capture the same feel but they work for swings along with dumbells.

I just went and tried my KettleGrip one-handed, then my KB one-handed. The KB felt better. Gonna return the KG.

Also, the one pood DD KB handles aren't huge either, but I can get all my fingers around it for two hand swings,

Good to know.

[Yoda]

That's my non-affiliated view too.

 

-Yoda

[BobD]

Just started looking at the Hindu Squats and Pushups from Furey's page, and even trying a few. The pushups seem quite like one of the Tibetans, but I have a question about the squats.

 

I'm sure that I read somewhere on the site that they are meant to be good for the knees. Is that really true? I had an operation on one of my knees several years ago and so dont want to do anything that might trigger it off again, and when I did some squats both knees (the good un and the bad un) creaked and clicked a fair bit, which is something I usually try to avoid.

 

So, are the squats OK to do with slightly dodgy knees, and do they and the pushups really do as much for fitness as he claims (I dont even want to think about the Bridge exercise at the moment. )

[Yoda]

Bob,

 

this is a hotly contended subject, but I believe that hindu squats are generally good for the knees. Most of the world's population sits in the full squat position--so it's a very natural motion and position. Having had knee surgery--don't force anything. Just like with anything else, if it doesn't feel good, don't do it. You've gotten this far without squatting, you'll do fine without them too. Whatever you decide, start slow--just a few easy reps here and there to see if you like them.

 

Russians swear by them too. Pavel recommends 100 per day for knee health but he doesn't advocate doing big numbers like Furey does b/c he believes that 500+ is just too much--there are other exercises that are safer for extreme reps.

 

I am doing a couple of easy sets throughout the day right now--as an energizing practice or before meditation to get the juices flowing.

 

I still haven't gotten back into the 5 Tibetans--I'm envious of you! Osho is a big fan of spinning.

 

Those three exercises are almost magical, but I've never gotten in the groove of doing them in high reps--too damn hard!!

 

Keep us posted!

-Yoda

[thelerner]

Try this site www.bronzebowpublishing.com , John Peterson was highly influenced by Combat Conditioning. His take is softer sell, good explanations of Hindu Squatts and pushups, has intelligent isometrics and is much less commercial.

 

It also has a great forum. The sites claim hindu squatts help repair the knees. I don't know. I'd certainly start out slow and cautious. I don't go down quite so low and I keep my feet flat on the ground.

 

Peace

 

Michael

[BobD]

Thanks guys, good advice from both of you, and a cool link too! That page has an animated gif of the squats, which I'd been looking for anyway.

 

I'll do as you both recommend, and start slowly to get the movement right, and only do a few reps to see how I feel. I'll try flat footed too, to feel the difference. If I build up slowly I should be able to monitor any sudden knee pain, and reduce the speed and reps back down again.

 

Several people on that forum do say that it has helped their knees, though there are of course others who say it made them worse! Hopefully, I'll be in the first camp, though it rarely gives me pain these days provided I am careful (I wear a strap on it when I play badminton for instance, but leave it unstrapped for my morning exercises).

 

I'll start building them into my routine as of tomorrow, and see how it goes.

 

Thanks again.

[Yoda]

I looked at John Peterson's book on amazon and it's extremely well reviewed--but just looking at the website should do the trick.

 

Just think of hindu squats more as stretching and mobility work than conditioning.

 

Ron has posted in the past that hindu squats saved him from knee surgery.

 

-Yoda