Results matching “Bird”

There's an interesting interview with MMA athlete Justin 'ChimChim' Garcia on the Triangle NHB blog. As this sample of his training shows, he's not one to ignore.

Although I began my quest for the one-armed chin-up a while ago, a recent shoulder injury caused me to rethink my approach. Here's a look at the new-and-improved routine.

As I mentioned on the weekend, there were two sources of information - both recently received - that helped shape this. The first of these is the book Never Gymless by Ross Enamait; the second is an approach to the kettlebell SSST on the Dragon Door forums that Rif pointed to. With those two forming a solid foundation, and a few years' experience on my own response to various types of chin-ups, the following routine was born :

Week A :

Mon
Weighted chin-ups and pull-ups
Various grip widths, alternating sets between chin-ups and pull-ups
Moderate weight
Several low-rep (3-5) sets
Gradually increase number of sets over coming months
Gradually shorten length of rest breaks between sets

Wed
Bodyweight chin-ups and pull-ups
Various grip widths, alternating sets between chin-ups and pull-ups
A few high-rep (10+) sets
Light lat work (usually bent rows) between sets

Fri
Weighted chin-ups and pull-ups
Various grip widths, alternating sets between chin-ups and pull-ups
Moderate weight
Several low-rep (3-5) sets

Week B :

Tue
One-armed chin-up progressions

Thu
Bodyweight chin-ups and pull-ups
Various grip widths, alternating sets between chin-ups and pull-ups
A few high-rep (10+) sets
Light lat work (usually bent rows) between sets

Sat
One-armed chin-up progressions

Notes

The other days are for other aspects of training - only the chin-up training is listed here.

The one-armed chin-up progressions could easily take up their own article. Briefly, the two main techniques I'm using here are :

Assisted : there are many ways in which to do this, but the general idea is that one side of your body is doing most of the work, while the other side provides balance and just enough assistance to get your chin over the bar. My favoured technique is to place one hand on the bar, and the other on a rope hanging from it (as pictured). As the bar hand (and that side of the body in general) becomes stronger, the other hand holds the rope further and further down - eventually not using it at all.

Negatives : as with the standard two-handed chin-up, negatives simply involve using any means available to get your head over the bar (a chair, or two hands) and lowering yourself under control using one hand only. As strength increases over time, so will the controlled range.

The Training Triathlon blog takes a look at kettlebell training for the triathlete. No doubt this will become a much more common pairing over the next few years.

Via Des Paroz : In the latest of Pavel's weekly kettlebell tips he briefly discusses the use of a crush grip vs an open-handed grip. Very interesting.

In this week's Minute of Strength newsletter, Punch Gym's Anthony DiLuglio discusses the difference between the kettlebell Side and Bent presses. Greg Pappas also makes a brief appearance with a very interesting lat exercise. Definitely worth checking out.

For those that like to make their own gym gear (and I definitely include myself in that group), Fightraining points to an interesting thread on the Crossfit forums. The topic of discussion this time - attaching a climbing rope to a rack. Very interesting.

Via Powerlifting Watch : Ed Coan training the squat (culminating with a raw set at 685) [streaming, 3.6mb .flv download]. This is guaranteed to get you in the mood for a serious workout.

Anvil or Hammer and the Art of Strength are holding a joint kettlebell painting contest. This is perfectly timed, as the only thing holding me back from adding a bit of colour to my own bell is the current weather (it's been raining for a few days now, and after 7 years of drought conditions that's great).

If you're new to the realm of kettlebell painting, don't panic - it's a fairly simple process. Just treat the bells the same as any heavy outdoor metallic objects. And avoid painting the handles.

For more information on the contest itself, head over to Anvil or Hammer. Should be fun.

As for the painting, the following articles may come in handy :

How to spraypaint a kettlebell
Paul Makepeace

Finish Facts and Recommended Maintenance
Iron Horse Kettlebells

Take a wander over to Pro Training - the site of Personal Trainer, martial artist and all-around lover of fitness Heather Gibbons.

This is the fourth part of this month's series on books; a collaboration with Run to Win's Blaine Moore.

Diesel Crew Bending eBook
Jedd 'Napalm' Johnson

188 pages | Available from thegripauthority.com
Promo video [streaming, 3.33mb .flv download]

Introduction

Recently, courtesy of a shoulder injury (I got a little over-zealous in my quest for the One Armed Chin-up), I rediscovered grip training. For one reason or another, grip training - and the training of hand strength in general - was always left until last, and was anything but structured. Finally I had a bit of free time to address that.

Just as I started scouring the web for resources on all things hand strength, the Diesel Crew's Bending eBook appeared. As you'll see, this is a truly amazing work.

First up is the question 'Why in the hell would I want to bend nails?'
The answer - as Jedd details in the book - is more than just 'it's great fun'. There are a lot of specific strength benefits that will certainly help other areas of your lifting. This is far more than just training your hands.

The book details all of the areas vital to anyone new to the sport of bending, as well as a great deal of information that should keep even seasoned professionals off the streets. Covered are :

Types of Bending

The type of bending is largely defined by the length of the item being bent, and whether or not it is braced in the process. This book focuses on the unbraced bending of short (less than 8-10") bars and nails. This is certainly a challenging (and fun) area.

Getting started

There are a couple of things that will make your life much, much easier if you are new to this uncommon pastime. After clarifying a number of the more opaque terms used in bending (such as CRS, DO and Driver Hand), the book addresses two key questions :

• What factors determine how easy it will be to bend something?
• What equipment will you need?

The answers to these are guaranteed to make your next visit to the hardware store a whole lot more fun.