Nugent Coaching Systems

It’s not rocket science.

It’s not a magical elixir.

It’s basic.

You are simply moving your body.  Sometimes quickly, sometimes with weight.  Sometimes both.  It’s not that hard to do.   Let’s not make a big deal of it.

Just get started.

Here are four movements that will get you more than halfway to wherever you want to be:

1. Squat
2. Deadlift
3. Shoulder Press
4. Sprint

OK. Great.  Those are the movements.  Now what?

For sets and reps, start with 5×5.  That alone will do you wonders.  Want more?  Learn to recover.   Want more?  Start eating right.  40-30-30 is a good general rule, but even better: eat natural foods.  Meat, veggies, nuts and fruit.  Water.

This is simply part of your life.  Stop over thinking this and stop making exercise an EVENT.  It’s not.  You have a life to live, a sport to excel in, kids to raise, a job to do.

Books I recommend:

Easy Strength – how to build and achieve strength

Naked Warrior – body weight training

5-3-1 – Basic lifts, effective

Different Ways to Train

There are different ways to approach this.  First, make sure your mobility is good.  Don’t build a house on a crappy foundation.  If you can’t move well, what good is it to make yourself even stronger in your immobility?  Get yourself fixed!  Stretch! Use a foam roller, see a Z-health specialist, something.

Finally, if the above movements are new, learn them from someone qualified.   Oh and have fun.

DROM – Dynamic Range of Motion

If you’ve been in any training session with me you have been through DROM during the warm-up.  Part ritual, part preventative maintenance, there’s more to meets the eye than a bunch of arm-waving and hip gyrations.

Here’s the DROM I usually do:

10 – 2o reps of each

• Head up-downs
• Ear to shoulders (keeping shoulders down)
• Head turns – right to left
• Shoulder circles forward
• Shoulder circles backward
• Back taps
• Hula-hoops (10 -20 hip circles each direction)
• Knee circles (feet together, knees together, hands above the knees)
• Ankle circles
• Wrist circles
• Shoulder dislocates
• Bayonets

Equipment needed:

• PVC or long closet dowel

Why do this?

One reason is to prime the nervous system for movement.  Kind of like turning on all the switches to a complicated piece of machinery.

The second reason is that you’re doing a pre-flight check of your body.  There are times where you are sore or tight, and you may not know it.  Marching through DROM will allow you to find it (usually) and prepare for the WOD (workout of the day).  If you find yourself tight in an area, you can spend a few more minutes doing mobility work on that section.

Some may think it’s about getting blood flow to the muscles, well maybe.  I don’t look at it that way, but I suppose it could be true.  The other oft-quoted reason is to get fluid in the joints and warm them up.  Sure.  Why not?

The primary reason I do DROM, is that it sets my body in motion for a good workout.  It’s largely ritual, but it’s an important part of the mental prep.  If done regularly, it becomes a familiar friend and chief information source for your muscular/nervous system well-being.

Try using DROM in your next warmup and let me know how it goes!

Happy Training!

-Brandon

Recommended Reading:   “Super Joints” By Pavel Tsatsouline

Why should you train with kettlebells?

• You can train anytime you want
• You will save space
• You will develop full body strength
• You will burn fat
• You will release tension
• You will enjoy a fit body
• You can cancel your gym membership
• You don’t need to worry about daycare or babysitting to get a workout in.
• Your running strength will improve
• Your strength lifts (i.e. deadlifting) will improve
• Your mobility and range of motion will increase
• Your grip will become stronger

My Experience:

Last week my wife was out of town and I was at home with my kids.  I had to get a workout in, but I wasn’t going to get a babysitter for a 20 minute effort.  Instead I put the kids to bed and grabbed a bell, and my gymboss.

It worked perfectly and I ended up doing a LOT of work in that short period of time!

In the nearly 4 years I’ve been using kettlebells, I’ve found my overall strength, my endurance, and my ability to go all out for short periods of time improve drastically.  In 2010 I trained for  and raced my first 50 mile ultra-run.  Kettlebell work was a big part of that.  Learning the hip snap and improving the strength of the glutes, hamstrings and calves translated directly to running.  I was able to keep my mileage down, while still improving athletic capacity.  I ran the entire season without injury.  I also qualified for Western States 100.  Thank-you kettlebells.

If you want to get into kettlebell training I highly suggest getting the book “Enter the Kettlebell“, and then finding an instructor (not necessarily in that order).

Results:

WOD: Wagon Run!

Results:

Compare to: 17SEP2009: