Our bodies are amazing machines designed to make movement easier whether running a marathon or sitting at a desk. We train to become more efficient at certain movements or to counteract certain movements (or lack of movement). In college, I lived an active life which led me to yoga to counteract the abuse my body was taking from this lifestyle. Then after college I have been working from behind a desk, so my yoga practice became more a means to compensate for my days spent at a desk. Blending yoga and traditional weightlifting philosophies was certainly counter the current thought ten years ago. This led me to creating my own home gym with kettlebells, sandbags, odd objects, etc…and allowing me to use yoga for cool down ( and avoid the funny stares from other folks at the gym). My eclectic training style led me to the programs created by Scott Sonnon. I have recently been following one of his newest programs TACFIT Commando. This program is a bodyweight only workout that includes joint mobility warm-up and Prasara yoga for active recovery.
Although TACFIT Commando is marketed for first responders and military (think EMS, firefighters, law enforcement officers etc.) don’t let that scare you away. This program gives you three levels of difficulty through movement sophistication which translates into a challenge for every level of fitness. The beauty of this program is that it is a highlight reel of Coach Sonnon’s creations and is put in a user-friendly follow along plan.
The plan is built on Coach Sonnon’s 4×7 programming which includes recovery and rest in the program. The warm-up and cool-down included in TACFIT Commando are based on Intu-Flow and Prasara yoga, worth the cost of the program on their own.
Each program has six movements with three levels of sophistication performed in Tabata Intervals (Click here for more info on Tabata training). If you can work through the program at the highest level of sophistication than you can consider yourself among the elite, but the program is still accessible to the average person.
I knew how challenging bodyweight exercises can be, but I was not sold until I tried the Israeli TACFIT Commando challenge demonstrated by Bellingham Fire Captian Christian Carson:
If you are looking for an entry product into Circular Strength Training than TACFIT Commando is for you!
My top three reasons for recommending TACFIT Commando:
It is a bodyweight only program which means it can be done anywhere, anytime!
The road map is provided. A calendar lays out the program and gives you clear direction for each days activity (or rest). Guess work gone! The workouts are designed using the 4×7 wave, and include Intu-Flow warm up and Prasara yoga cool down.
Short exercise sessions via Tabata Intervals which means you can forget spending hours on the cardio equipment. Exercise days only take 29 minutes plus 12 minutes for warm-up and cool down.
Give it a try and let me know how you like the program or if you have any questions put them in the comments!
The New Year started off with a bang and we are already in February! Where did January go? I hope everyone out there is sticking to your New Year’s resolutions. If not there is still plenty of time to set those goals!
If you have been to my blog before you may already know that two of my goals are to climb through the Girevoy Sport ranks in the Biatholon and complete the CST Trial by Fire with the 25lb Clubbell. To help my Clubbell goal I am going to work through The Clubbell Training Black Book from Ryan Murdock and Adam Steer. I started January with a Milo Hybrid Density cycle (to make sure I give a fair critique of the book I will wait to review it until after I have gone through several cycles) and made some steady progress. This month consists of a Double Density cycle as described by Coach Murdock. I am going to be working on kettlebell jerks and Clubbell mills.
February’s Challenge:
I am using the 4×7 protocol developed by Scott Sonnon. Simply stated it is a 4 day cycle of no training, low intensity-, moderate intensity-, and high intensity training gone through 7 times. The brilliance to this method is the built in recovery. Everyday consists of joint mobility in the morning and I added foam rolling before bed. Yoga is performed post workout on the low, moderate, and high intensity days. The moderate and high intensity days are the work days. Think of riding an intensity wave. Remember, recovery is a must!
February’s challenge is to complete a Double Density cycle that will help work on the two goals I mentioned earlier. I will be using Coach Murdock’s Century progression which works toward 100 continuous repetitions of a particular exercise. So this month the exercise I will be working towards is 100 continuous reps of the kettlebell jerk with the 16 kg bell. Then the second exercise will be Mills with the 25 lb Clubbell, but I will only be working towards 25 continuous reps with the club.
What the Exercises look like:
The Kettlebell Jerk demonstrated and explained by Bao Tran (a CST and AKC coach):
The Clubbell Mill demonstrated by Coach Steer:
I will keep you updated on my progress!
Cheers,
Richard
P.S. Keep after your goals! The first step is the hardest, but once momentum is going it will carry you through!
I became fascinated with grip training almost ten years ago when I started bouldering (a type of rock-climbing), but it has only been this year that I focused specifically on training my grip strength. I have always had decent isometric strength in my hands from climbing. However, last year I started training with Indian clubs which led me to Scott Sonnon’s Clubbell and I found out how weak my concentric and eccentric hand strength was. That is my crush grip needed work. Although you do get significant work from club swinging. I just felt like I wanted to step it up a notch. So I started looking for the best grippers out there and I found the Captain of Crush(CoC) hand grippers from Ironmind (found here). Grip training is often overlooked, but it is a vital element for improving performance. So I set myself a goal to close the Captain of Crush #2 Gripper. Why the #2 you may ask…because to close it you need roughly 200 lbs of crush strength and according to Ironmind’s chart explaining each of their 10 grippers “you’ve got a grip to brag about”. I am very close to closing the #2. Unfortunately, I have been sporadic in my grip training, but no longer. The year is almost up so I am going to get serious about my training.
The following is my training plan to close the CoC #2 Gripper based on Scott Sonnon’s 4×7 training plan. Here is a brief explanation taken from Coach Sonnon’s blog (the complete post is found here):
The “4″ is a four-day day cycle rotating types of training to optimize the chemical restoration process. How well and fully you recover from your exercise is MORE IMPORTANT than the exercise selection itself!
The 4 day cycle looks like this:
Moderate intensity: strength training at 65-85% of your heart rate maximum (HRmax is your 220 minus your age to determine the beats per minute you’re targeting.) You need both functional strength and mass because over time you’ll start to have less and less. Think of usable mass as your savings account.
High intensity: metabolic conditioning at 85-100% HRmax. You need to strengthen your immune system through the biochemical and cerebral adaptations which happen when you approach your age-specific maximum heart rate.
No intensity: joint nutrition and lubrication (Intu-Flow joint mobility). You’re as old as your connective tissue, so you need to keep your engine and all of your parts well-lubricated and smoothly running. If one part breaks down, a systemic seizing could result, so you’re as strong as your weakest link.
Low intensity:compensatory recovery (Prasara Body-Flow yoga). Whatever you train in strength or conditioning, needs to be specifically balanced; i.e. if you strengthen your abs without strengthening your lower back, you create an imbalance which will lead to injury. Balancing sessions help prime you for strength gains and reaching higher intensity.
The Tools:
I have 4 CoC grippers: the Trainer, the #1, the #1.5, and the #2
Expand-Your-Hand bands also from Ironmind. They target the extensor muscles of the wrist ,which is the muscles to open the hand.
An 8 lb sledgehammer
Chinese therapy balls (Baoding Balls), I am using solid metal balls about 50 mm diameter for a combined weight of 2.4 lbs.
My Training Plan will look like this:
Moderate Intensity:is the mass building day. So here is my training for this day. The following exercises comprise one round; 5 reps of the CoC Trainer, 3 reps of the CoC #1, 2 reps of the CoC #1.5, 5 reps with green Expand-Your-Hand band. Ten rounds in ten minutes. Rest depends on how quickly I complete the 4 exercises. I will add 2 rounds after each 4 day cycle.
High intensity:is metabolic conditioning. Training on this day will look like this. 10 sets of 10 reps using the CoC Trainer with 1 minute rest between sets. Followed by 10 sets of 10 reps with the white Expand-Your-Hand band with 1 minute rest between sets. I am borrowing from the German Volume Training (GVT) method. The goal of the German Volume Training method is to complete ten sets of ten reps with the same weight for each exercise. The principle is to begin with a weight you could lift for 20 reps to failure if you had to. This translates to 60% of your 1RM load for most people on most exercises. I will be decreasing the rest between sets by 15 seconds each week.
No intensity: is light movement and recovery. I will be doing Coach Sonnon’s Intu-Flow program specifically the wrist exercises as demonstrated here by Adam Steer (a CST Head Coach): I am also doing these movements before each grip sessions as well as after each session.
Low intensity: Normally would be stretching, but I am modifying it to be my compensatory movements. So I will be doing wrist rotation and levering taken from Jedd Johnson’s 3 part series “Hammering Strength into the Wrists (part 1, part 2, part3). The three exercises I will be using from the series are the Vertical lever to nose, Horizontal lever to front, and hammer rotations. Check out Jedd’s articles for exercise descriptions. I am using an 8 lb sledgehammer and doing 2 sets of 10 reps of all three exercises for each arm. I am starting about half-way down the handle and will be moving further from the head each week.
Recovery:
My plan involves an aggresive timeline which requires extra emphasis on recovery. That is why I am performing the above Intu-Flow exercises multiple times per day. I am also adding the use of Chinese therapy balls which can vary in size, weight, and material. I am using solid metal ones, but if you want to try the above program you can use the hollow ones, stone, or you can even use golf balls. To use the therapy balls start with two in your hand with the palm facing up. Then rotate them clockwise. As you get better at it try to keep them from touching and also switching the direction you are spinning them to counter-clockwise. For each hand, I perform 3-5 minutes twice per day spinning both clockwise and counter-clockwise (I do this on my way to work and on the way home).
Now its time to get started!
I will keep you posted on my progress and if I need to adapt the above plan. It is just a road map and so who knows if I need to make a detour. Let me know if you try the above 28 day cycle and how it works for you! I am going to use this plan to get me to closing the #3 if this first cycle works for closing the #2.
Disclaimer:
My rationale for choosing Ironmind’s Captain of Crush grippers is based solely on the quality of the product. I do not get any commission if you click on the above link and buy from Ironmind’s website and just to reassure you, you can find these grippers on Amazon. CoC grippers in my opinion are the gold standard of grippers. Several of my friends have purchased CoC grippers and several that have gone with other brands. CoC’s resistance is consistent across the board as well as the quality of the springs. The competitor’s products where junk with poor manufacturing and when you took two grippers of the same resistance they were definitely not the same. I am not even going into the cheap springs of the competitors. SO buyer beware! Don’t skimp on the quality, just go with the best from the beginning!
