The Squat..

Mom and daughter double kettlebell front squats..

SQUAT....

you do it, I do it, we do it...everyday in some form or another we are some squatting sonsofbitches, so we might as well learn to do it right. At PSKC we focus a lot of time and attention on how to do a proper squat. It's not something you master overnight, every time you squat you will always need to make conscious reminders so that you don't look like a dog dropping a steamy load.

Is this what your squat looks like? Ever wonder why dog's always have that sad look on their face when taking a crap? It's because they know they don't look cool and neither do you if you squat like this...

 Whether you realize it or not, every time you sit down to a chair or the crapper and stand back up you are doing a squat. Now ask yourself...do you look like a dog taking a dump?

The real question is are you maintaining spinal integrity over the 1000s of times a year you sit down and stand back up...one day try to keep count of how many times you sit down in a chair and stand up...it will add up quickly. Now times that by 365 over the course of a lifetime and it comes out to somewhere around a gazillion. If you have piss poor posture, rounding at the lowback, not keeping your shoulders pulled back and a proud chest, it's no wonder that you'll be spending some quality time in the Chiropractor's office.

So how do you do a proper squat? Here are some tips from the Primal Blueprint's Squat Technique

How to Do the Basic Squat

1. Stand with a comfortable stance. Most will prefer their feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart with toes turned out at a slight angle.
2. Lower yourself by reaching back with your butt while maintaining a strong lower back. Keep your knees aligned with your toes and your toes on the ground.
3. Chest up, upper back tight, eyes looking forward and slightly down, head in a neutral position. Maintain a nice cohesive line along your spine.
4. Go just below parallel, so that your butt drops below your knees.
5. Come back up by pushing through the heel.

Things to Remember

1. Don’t let your knees bow inward, or risk potential injury. Think of actively shoving your knees outward on the descent so that they track over your toes.
2. To visualize driving through the heel, try lifting your toes off the ground the first few reps.
3. Thirty seconds or so of the Grok squat stretch is a great way to prime the pump for your squat workout.

Below you'll find a good demo on the air squat (forgive the awful music)


Now, if you're a super squat nerd and really want to know the mechanical physiology behind the squat..please click HERE. Seriously click the link and do yourself a favor and read in depth  and learn why I'm always screaming "HIPS BACK, KNEES OUT, HEELS DOWN!" It's science...and you can't mess with science.

So squat, squat often, squat freely, squat with some heavy weight, squat with barbells, kettlebells, sandbags, your kid...put do it the right way.

We've got in some great workouts...tonight we focused on heavy front squats and ring dips.. and finished with a nice little triple triplet workout.

20 seconds of each movement, repeat for 3 rounds total at each station, rest 1 minute in between the rounds

snatch weakhand, snatch stronghand, mountains

Two hand clean, squat, press

Weighted Situp, Russian twist, V-Up

This is the end result...

Don't forget, bring a friend to the kettlebell intro tomorrow at 5pm...followed up by the regular class at 6pm!

Thanksgiving Burner

Close to 20 PSKC'ers showed up at 9am to burn some serious calories in order to enjoy guilt free Thanksgiving. Instead of going with the typical BS of being sensible and not getting full...we slammed an entire week of hard workouts so that they we can annihilate some Thanksgiving Day grub. Today was the toughest one yet... 15-1 ladder workout of the following:

2 arm KB Thruster
Swings
Situps
1/2 Burpee

So you start with 15 reps of the exercises, then 14, then 13, ... all the way down to you get to 1 rep each. Pretty nasty stuff especially if you choose the right weight. Big props to Sara and Mo for killing it this morning.

The Wolfpack getting their thruster on...

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO MY PSKC FAMILY!

Enjoy your day and spend it with your loved ones...eat, rest, laugh, and love. I give big thanks to be surrounded by you all...I am indebted to you all.
And most importantly, take some time to remember and cherish those who are huddled together in chow halls across Iraq and Afghanistan far away from their families and loved ones...

Saturday's class will be at 10am! See you there!

Special 9am Thanksgiving Day Class

Last 30 seconds on the wall sits..

Tonight 5pm Kettlebell Intro followed by the regular 6pm strength and conditioning (Day 3 of the pre-Thanksgiving assault)

Tomorrow - Thursday: Special 9am Thanksgiving Day beatdown...we'll be breaking out the "Crippler" workout. Trust me you will earn every single calorie you consume.

Saturday's class will be at 10am due the noon kickoff of "THE GAME".

Thanksgiving Week..

Another awesome Saturday Pain Clinic...this time we changed it up a little bit from the usual Saturday workout. Based on how effective the SSU Lady Bears Thursday workout was we decided to throw it out to the PSKC regulars on Saturday morning with a bit of change.

We broke into teams of 2 and assigned the following ladder workout
Partner 1 does 10 reps, as partner 2 "rests" (you rest while holding/carrying a 25lb plate for chicks and a 45lb plate for dudes), they then switch...so partner 2 does their 10 reps as partner 1 "rests". Then you ladder down  to 9, 8, 7, 6...1 of the following:

Pushups
Wall Ball
Slam Ball
Double KB Push Press
Burpees

As a frame of reference that red PSKC target is 10 ft tall

Okay...we are rocking regular classes Monday through Wednesday. So you'll have your pick of the 6 or 7pm class on Monday. The 6pm class on Tuesday. Wednesday we have the 5pm intro and 6pm class.

We are doing a special time for Thursday at 9am...come in and get a caloric annihilation in the morning so the grub will taste all that better throughout the rest of the day. 

Also we are trying to schedule a Sissy Test remake for those who didn't get to try it. Everyone is welcome to attend and root your friends as they experience the suck..I'll let you all know when/where..

Putting in work...

The 6 and 7pm crews got after another Training Room inspired kettlebell beatdown. Here's what we did..
30 seconds non-stop of the following..
Weak Arm KB swings
Weak arm KB Cleans
Weak arm KB push press
Weak arm KB racked squat
swing switch...then go down the strong arm side...for a total of 4 minutes nonstop work.

Diane's face shows that managing the lactic acid is a bitch..

There was a 5 burpee penalty if you set the bell down...happy to report both classes were burpee free.

There can be only one Z Beast...notice how Z is rocking good form while her partner Primetime has to resort to the support position :) 

After the classes were over it was time for the crew of 20 Lady Bears Softball team came in and annihilated the place! Damn these girls are getting nasty....I honestly feel sorry for whoever faces these chicks on the field in the spring time. We partnered them up into 2 woman teams...gave them a 10-1 ladder workout of 5 exercises and simply said.."who will be the first to finish?"

Nothing like adding a little friendly competition to raise the intensity level...see below:

Amazing work ladies...be very proud of what you've accomplished in a short time. It's truly an honor and pleasure to work with you all. Keep it up...

We are doing a special kettlebell intro this Saturday at 10am...come on in and check us out and change your life...

What is your legacy going to be?

Card carrying member of the Pipe Hitters Union

My apologies for not posting in so many days...been quite the busy man here lately. So here we go..lots to catch up on and I know you guys are thirsting for the PSKC on goings...

Saturday kicked ass with a classic partner suffering Pain Clinic workout..
Dave and Monica held a great class in my absence because I just simply needed a day off...was feeling a bit run down and over trained. I truly am blessed and fortunate to have two amazing coaches along side me at the gym. I owe these two a lot...so thank you Dave and Mo!

Monday was awesome as we set an attendance record with over 40 people showing up between the 6 and 7pm classes.

On Monday we started off working the kettlebell snatch, the veterans got to experience a 5 minute snatch test where you continually snatch the kettlebell for 5 minutes without setting the bell down. The ultimate goal is 100 reps with a 24kg for men and a 16kg for women. Then we flowed into a nasty and toxic little circuit of:
4 rounds of 40 seconds work/ 20 seconds rest of..
Get Up Sit Up
KB Thruster
Jumping Pullups
Sledge hammer or Slamball
Box Step ups

After the 6 and 7 classes...the Shawnee State Softball Team came in and killed another strength and conditioning session. I knew I reach the desired effect when at the end of the workout, one of the players looks up at me and says..."This place is horrible man....it really sucks". Big props to Coach Ruby...not only does she recognize and value off season strength and conditioning..she participates in the workouts as well..leading by example at its finest.

Onto Tuesday's work...

Starting off we broke into groups and worked on the following 3 skills/movements;
Double Clean & Press
Handstand Pushups
Hanging Knees to Elbows (K2E)

Then onto the Main Effort: We broke into 2 X 7 minute AMRAPs (as many rounds as possible) of:
1st AMRAP
5 Pushups
7 Heavy KB Swings
9 Situps

2nd AMRAP
3 Clean and Press each side
6 K2E
9 Squat Jumps

The time doesn't have to be long if you're truly putting forth maximum effort.

Today we pulled out some different movements and the focus of today was strength with a nice little finisher at the end.

The crew killing the finisher..

Workout consisted of...

Partner Up: 3 sets of 6 reps

Single Leg KB Deadlift

KB Renegade Row

Tire Flip

Pistol

MB Thruster Toss (throw the medicine ball over the top of the pullup rig)

Finisher:

20w/10r X 8 of

Swings

Mountain Climbers - "rest" was in the plank position


So here's something to think about. During my daily combing of the "internets" I stumbled across a fantastic article regarding Legacy. I'll do my best to paraphrase the Practically Paleolithic article..but please click HERE to read it. 


So remember going through your old family scrapbooks? Yeah, remember when people actually took pictures with film and you actually had to take it a photo developer to see your pictures? Remember when it wasn't a big deal to wait an hour to get your pictures developed? Anyways..for me personally, my grandfather passed away before I was born. Now of course I always heard stories about him and the kind of man he was, and going through the scrapbooks I'd be lucky to find a handful of photos of him. I'm sure this is a familiar story everywhere of people trying to learn more about their ancestors...trying to find photos, or even letters, journals, etc....trying to learn more...learning more about the legacy these people left behind.

So where am I going with this....just wait for it, it's coming...fast forward to modern day. With Facebook and other sites...there's essentially a digital record of your thoughts day by day, week by week, that will be available forever basically...it will be recorded digitally for your great grand children to look at...along with all your updates there will be photos and videos to view as well.

I had never really thought about this on this level before...think about it. Imagine how awesome it would have been if my grandpa had Facebook and I could go back and read his daily thoughts and see a catalog of tens of thousands of photos of him growing up...pretty damn cool I think, I could have really known who he was. Well guess what? That's exactly what your kids and grand kids are going to be doing in 10-20-30 years from now when they want to learn about you. So my question to you is....what do you want your legacy to be? What do you want your kids/grandkids to know about you?

Will all your "war stories" end in high school or college? Or will they see pictures of you all the way from your 20s to your 70s being a physical monster...climbing ropes, rocking pullups, flipping tires, cleaning and pressing heavy weight, putting forth amazing effort...??

Which do you think they would be more proud of and set a better example of health to follow...looking at pictures of you on a bike in Spin Class, line dancing in Zumba, doing sets of bicep curls...even worse..doing nothing at all.. falling victim to the disease of assnchairitis? Imagine the signal that sends....

Or would they be more proud of you watching you bust your ass at full intensity day in and day out training like a mad man/woman no matter what your age? You know the answer....now is the time to create your legacy.

Tomorrow is another day of great training....you have your option of the 6 or 7 class to add to or start your legacy. SEE YOU THURSDAY!

Veterans Day

On Veterans Day at PSKC we decided to do a little military inspired "LOG PT" workout. Those of you who have served no there's nothing quite like a little team building over a log...see clip below of candidates going through SF selection...


So I spent my day off up in the back yard finding the perfect tree for PSKC...

Now granted the idea (as fun as it sounds) wasn't to make people roll around and puke. But rather to introduce a new training tool and instill the importance of communication and team building/camaraderie and to give a very tiny small taste of military PT.

People were broken into teams of 4 and given the following the work load:
Group Log squat/press X 15
Log good mornings X 15
Log situps X 10
Team Pushups X 5
Rope Climb - one per each member
then as a team carry a sandbag and kettlbell farmers carry around the block twice..
Complete as many times in 30 minutes...

So a big thank you to all who have served....your strength is the foundation of this great country.

Lady Bears Softball...

Providing the pre-workout brief to the Lady Bears...

Last week PSKC was honored to start working with the Shawnee State University softball team. These girls get after it...it truly is a pleasure to work with them twice a week. They come in...focused and intense. Even more telling is that when they can't make their regularly scheduled workout, they come in on an "off" day for a makeup. I'm no softball expert...but I guarantee no team they will face is putting in the work these girls are right now.

Keep up the great work ladies....always remember whatever life throws at you, you can choose to passively let it happen to you, or you can attack it head on....keep attacking

If you're interested in having your team come in to increase their physical capacity and develop mental toughness as a unit...don't hesitate to drop me a line. I guarantee your team will enter their season, stronger, better conditioned, and most importantly mentally tough and engaged...
louisdaleking@yahoo.com

The Two Minute Torture

Over 30 people rocking the Training Room 2 minute torture

Thanks to my man Uncle Mike at the Training Room, we introduced the two minute torture today at PSKC. After we worked on some Turkish Get-Ups, we went straight into the two minute torture..

Every two minutes for 20 minutes, you complete the following as fast as you can
5 burpees
10 Snatches (5w/5s)
15 Mountain Climbers
20 Swings

The clock resets every 2 minutes and you start over again for a total of 10 rounds, so the faster you get done the more rest you get before the 2 minutes is up. It gets really brutal really fast...see below

Also, I'm super excited to officially announce Spartan Jiu Jitsu....

 I was very fortunate to be approached by some outstanding local jiu jitsu instructors (Jason Shepherd and John Bruce) who wanted to offer jiu jitsu classes at PSKC! The first class will be this Friday at 6pm at the gym. It will be available to current members at a small additional fee, and a jiu jitsu only membership will also be available. I will announce the schedule and dues/memberships as we nail them down...right now we are just super stoked to be able to get this up and going and make it available to the community...more details to follow!

More info, check out the Spartan Jiu Jitsu facebook page...click HERE

Congrats!!

Some of the members of the PSKC family at the Marshall Marathon

So what do you do for fun on a Sunday? Well apparently if you train at PSKC, you go run in a 1/2 Marathon at Marshall. Around 7 PSKC regulars woke up super early on a very chilly Sunday to run over 13 miles, some even bested their times by 10 minutes.

Now what the hell does long distance running and kettlebell training have in common? Nothing really...as a matter of fact I'm not a fan of long distance running, because it's not something I personally enjoy doing (I'm preparing for Ann Marie to beat me up). I'm more of a MMA, Olympic lifting, kettlebell sport kind of guy...but that's besides the point.

What I am a fan of is..setting goals and challenging yourself. No matter what your goal is, what obstacle you want to overcome....GO DO IT! That's exactly what these group of people did....it was their goal to go run a 1/2 marathon....some just wanted to go see if they could do it, some wanted to reach a specific time. But they ALL chose to challenge themselves.

Now is training at PSKC specific to getting you ready to be a long distance runner...no. Will it help you in your long distance running? Yes....will it help you be a better at softball, football, basketball, tennis, fighting?...YES.

Well this sounds like some sort of a magical ninja training that must have been kept a secret for centuries...not really. This super secret training involves busting your ass...it means working your strength and conditioning levels equally...no matter what you want to do athletically..you need to have a base of general strength and conditioning for your sport specific skill to rest upon.

Now think back to that point in your life when you believed you were in the "best shape of your life". Odds are the majority of you will say it was when you played on a sports team either in high school or college. So what happens when you're no longer involved in competitive sports?

So basically after age 22...what are you supposed to do?

Are you just supposed to slide down the has been path to becoming soft and weak. Some of you keep at it by going to the gym...but it's just not the same, you're there by yourself amongst a sea of anonymity and surrounded by mediocrity. There is no coach and their damn sure ain't a team there.

Just because you're not on a team doesn't mean you have to stop training like a athlete.
When you train like an athlete 2 things happen:

1. You become more athletic
2. You look like an athlete

Pretty simple...that's what we do at PSKC....we train like athletes and we push each other through it. No matter what your goals, run a 1/2 marathon, get ready for the military, or just be a kickass mom/wife...we are the place for you. Get back to that point of being in the best shape of your life. Now is the time...we only ask you give supreme effort...anything easy ain't worth having. 

Another great week is lined up, it kicks off tomorrow at 6pm and we have an additional session at 7pm. We will also honor our Nation's Heroes for a great Veteran's Day workout later in the week on Thursday. See you guys tomorrow! 

Some footage of recent weeks...

Below is a clip of some the past weeks' highlights....you guys have so much to be proud of, keep up the great work and have a great weekend. A new week of ass kicking starts Monday! I'll be sure to put together one helluva Veteran's Day workout on Thursday.


Also, I'm very excited that in the near future we are going to be able to offer jiu jitsu classes at the gym! We are working the details out now...but rest assured it's going to be awesome.

Sissy Test

One of the toughest girls at PSKC moments after the Sissy Test

Thursday night witnessed the inaugural Sissy Test experience at PSKC. As much as I wish I could take credit for developing such a terrible thing, the Sissy Test was developed by a Senior Russian Kettlebell Instructor Brad Nelson. So what is it?....

It's a combo of 2 exercises; the kettlbell swing and the dreaded burpee in an alternating ladder format...it works like this.

25 swings/ 1 burpee
24 swings, 2 burpees
23 swings, 3 burpees
22 swings, 4 burpees
.
.
.
all the way down to..
1 swing, 25 burpees

In the beginning...when everyone's mind and body were fresh

So quick hillbilly math...that's 325 swings and 325 burpees...a very disturbing test of the physical and more so of the mental fitness.

And the after...exhausted after a combined total of 650 reps

Everyone did a fantastic job. I honestly did not expect over 20 people to show up for this. That's is one of my proudest days in the gym. After I purposely tried to scare people into how awful it would be, I thought I might get a handful to show up and take the Sissy Test...but over 20?? That's just simply amazing and beautiful.

Now think back to 2 months ago when we started this whole thing...after your first workout with kettlebells, imagine if I would have told you..."in 2 months from now we're going to do a workout that involves 325 swings and 325 burpees and it will take around 50 minutes non-stop work to complete"..you would have told me to go hell...but the great part is only have a few shorts months you guys are living for stuff like the Sissy Test...you come in look on the board and destroy whatever God awful mess of a workout is written up there. You complete these workouts as a badge of honor and rightfully so. And on top of all this...strength is being gained, pounds are being lost, and goals are being attained. That's why it was one of my proudest nights in the gym so far....cannot wait for what the future holds.

A big thank you to all of those who came in and killed the Sissy Test!!

Sissy Test Preparation

Sweat Angel via full Sissy Test

Okay guys....just managed the mad evil journey that is the Sissy Test in 40 minutes 50 seconds. Now don't worry I won't be posting a spoiler as to what it is actually is...I'll have a full blown recap after you guys kill it tomorrow. So here are some tips for you all to prepare..

No matter the temperature inside the gym you will get hot. As I was cranking Rollins Band in the gym by myself, I had to take the shirt off because it was becoming a sweaty steamy mess...I would venture to say the gym was around 50 degrees and I was pouring sweat...that's a good thing because I properly hydrated.

So..here's the first tip;

1) START DRINKING WATER NOW...AND KEEP DRINKING. Bring a water bottle with you and set it beside you..you'll need it.

2) Dress in layers..after you start getting warm, you can peel them off. Don't worry I'll be getting torpedo heaters in the near future to see us through the winter.

2) Come in with an empty gut...this a twofold message. Have plenty of good calories in you, but don't eat any one big meal throughout the day. Second part...make sure you poop beforehand. Seriously, I'm half joking and being half serious. You don't any type of gastrointestinal roadblocks popping up...no need to have butt mudd on your cleats slowing you down on the field during the game if you know what I'm saying..

3) MUSIC - If you don't like my music or want your own IPOD...go for it. There's not much to coach during the sissy test, so feel free to plug in and rock out

4) Keep going...in all honesty you'll be fine, I'm making a bigger deal out of it than it is, purposely trying to pysche you guys out...it will be challenging but all you guys will do fine.

Now here's the real test...let's see how many people are actually going to show up to class tomorrow. Will it be you? Are you willing to accept a challenge? To get outside your comfort zone and see it through to the end? Or will you back down and shy away? What will happen when you're faced with a REAL LIFE challenge...what will happen then? Let these sessions give you the confidence that you can and will be the one standing at the end...there's a difference between THINKING you can endure versus KNOWING you can...

Remember, you have 2 options for class times tomorrow 6pm or 7pm.

PS..This week has been a great week at PSKC...lots of exciting things are in the works for PSKC in the near future.

This week's work..

Working on handstand push-ups..how else would you bond with your mom? 

Monday and Tuesday's classes have been great. The block program is up and running and it's great to see the names and goals scribbled all over the walls. Now it's time to start knocking them out...speaking of goals. The below snippet is from HYPERFIT USA...please click HERE to read the post in its entirety..

People come into the gym with goals - lose weight, get stronger, be fitter or combat boredom. These goals are so simple to accomplish that it is almost laughable. Ready for the secret sauce? Shhhhhhh...don't tell anyone: stop eating processed carbs/sugars and come to the gym at least 3 times per week and work hard.  Magic! At a minimum, 99% of people’s fitness and health goals can be accomplished like this. Seriously. Three hours per week and stay out of the drive through. When grocery shopping, if it doesn't go bad in a few days, don't buy it. If your goal is to lose weight and be healthier - but you can't control your food cravings and can't get to the gym - then it isn't really a goal, it is a wish

So far this week we've got in a great conditioning workout on Monday and put in some strength work today..

Monday we worked on refining the kettlebell snatch..then we started on 2 X 10 minute As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) of the following:

AMRAP #1
6 X KB Snatch weak/strong arm
16 X Sledge hammer/Slamball/Rope Chops

AMRAP #2
4 X Pullups
8 X KB Goblet Squat
12 X KB High Pulls

Tuesday we focused on building strength in a descending ladder format: 8,6,4,3,2,1 of...
KB Floor Press
Renegade Rows
KB Cleans
Pistols (one legged squats)
Handstand Pushups

Bussa cleaning the 88

That's what friends are for...Primetime and the Burpee Machine or for my Spanish speaking friends                                      "la maquina de Burpeos" 

Tomorrow we will spend a lot of time working on people's goals as we taper down somewhat in preparation for Thursday's inaugural "SISSY TEST".....it will be one helluva challenge workout!