Sandbag Training by Josh Henkin

Josh Henkin is one of the better trainers out there. he has a lot of great ideas and comes up with great workouts and exercise tools. I have yet to come across anything that he teaches that does not work or that I do not like. Josh is a big proponent of sand bag training. He has designed a bag that is far better than anything else out there. Josh's bag is set up to allow the largest amount of variety possible. I do not have one yet, but I have played with one but it will be my next purchase. Watch the video and see what is possible with a little bit of sand and some sweat.

Training and some inspiration

It has been a busy weekend. I started out Friday running three schools then training for an hour or so in the evening with a friend. We had some family in for the weekend, so I waited till Sunday to do my workout. I did not record Thursdays workout, but I figured out some interesting things. I found that when doing keg press there was a difference in reps depending on which leg I used to boost the keg up. With my left leg I was not able to set the keg in the right position at the start and I was only hitting 2 or 3 reps. When using my right I his all 5 reps. Tonight, I made an extra effort to explode on the left side and made 5 reps. It is not sceientific, but something to think about.

I was in a discussion on Dragondoor about training for Law Enforcement. I used to be of the belief that bigger was always better in fighting and Officer Presence. Over the years, I learned that this was not always true. Being big is great, I worked with someone that was 6'4 and almost 300lbs and he never had to fight anyone. But if you are not naturally big already, you almost fight your own body the bigger you get. I was over 200lbs at 5'7. i was leg pressing over 1000 lbs for reps and using big weights for everything. The problem was that I was always tired and sore. I was also really stiff. That was also a lot of weight to carry trying to chase people or go any length of time in a combative situation.

Then I found the kettlebell and RKC. What a difference it has made. I found exercises that work with natural movements and lots of carry over to everyday life. There is something about that cannonball with a handle that fit my personality and path perfectly. It opened my eyes to the world of exercise with a real world use. Kettlebells are a path to followto reach your highest capacity.

WOD
Joint Mobility - need to expand
Halos 2 x 10 l/r
Swings 4 x 10 l/r
Pullups 4 x 5
Keg press 3 x 5 1 x4
pistols with KB 4 x 3
Janda 4 x 5
tire flips about 150 feet.

RIS
on Thursday I did keg squats and used the slosh pipe instead of tire flips.

I have posted about Dustin Carter before. This is from his last tournament. He is truly an inspiration.

Training

Training has been pretty good lately. I have been making some decent progress and feeling pretty good. I have not posted like I want to based on someone trying to use everything on her in a negative way, but that is life. There has been a lot going on in my business life, which is good. I have decided it is time to invest in a video camera and start putting clips of our training on here. It is one way to show that we walk the walk and not just run our pieholes.

This is yesterdays training. I did not get done until almost 11pm and was did not feel like getting on the computer.

Joint Mobility

Halo's 3 x 10 l/r

Swings 4 x 10 l/r
Pullups 4 x 5
Keg press 4 sets 1 x 3, 2 x 5 , 1 x 1 I overfilled the keg for this week and it is at 100lbs. so i missed some reps
Pistols 4 x 3
Jandas 4 x 5
Tire flips

Relax into Stretch. Overall it was a good workout. I knew the keg was heavier than I meant for it to be.

Great Video of how Kettlebells fit Combatives

I came across this video on Kettlebell Athletics. This is a great example of what I preach to my training group. Kettlebells and Combatives go together like peanut butter and jelly. There are so many areas that they improve skills and abilities.

WOD

Joint Mobility

Halos

Swings 3 x 10 l/r

Pullups 3 x 5

Keg Press 3 x 5

Keg squat 3 x 5

Janda 3 x 5

Tire flips

Back to training

I have not stopped training, but have gotten away from what I like to do and what works for me. With my main teaching, I am always running and jumping with kids. I can teach upwards of 5-8 classes a day. That comes out to a lot of interval and plyometric exercise. I found that I was not getting a lot of any decent results from Tabatas based on that. To top it off, I know have a keg and a tire to play with.

I am going back to my five pillars program with the addition of an endurance set at the end. I really think that this is what my body needs versus a lot of high rep endurance.

I am adding more weight to the keg every week as I feel more comfortable with it. It is pretty interesting to push the keg overhead as the water shifts. The tire flips across the yard really smoked me and I already want a heavier one.

WOD

Joint mobility

swings 5 x 10 l,r w/32kg
Pullups 3 x 5
keg press 3 x 5 1/2full
pistols 3 x 3 w/16kg
janda 3 x 5
tire flip across back yard

Here is a little Dog Brother's action. I am a little old to be participating, but can still appreciate it. We have started up a little arnis training again with my good friend Darren Dailey taking the lead.

Long Time Between Posts

It has been a long time since I last posted anything on the blog. It is funny how time flies by when you are busy. It has been a whirlwind of activity on a lot of fronts. I thought that when I left Law Enforcement there would be a lot more free time for martial arts and physical training. I learned to be successful, I have to spend a lot of time in building my main business, Amazing Athletes. It has kept me from also getting back into Policing as a reserve. I have picked up a few new training tools and have been using them. My latest purchase was a keg that I have been filling with water. I hope to eventually have it full and use it for reps.

The Combatives training has gone really well. All of the people in the group have moved up in ranks and abilities. Everyone has really improved greatly.

Today's workout

Joint Mobility
Tabata
swings 20 sec on/10 sec off for 8 cycles w/32kg
keg clean and press 3 x 5
keg bear hug squats 3 x 5

Relax Into Stretch

Pretty good workout. Felt pretty strong.