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.

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).

This last Sunday I did it.

Stats

Proved to myself that I could slog it out for 30 miles.  While it wasn’t exactly running the entire time, it was however forward progress in a consistent direction.

Training mileage has been at a record low.  Honestly, maybe 10 to 12 miles a week, tops.  Most of my training has been centered around concepts borrowed from CrossFitEndurance (CFE).  I would call it CFE except for the fact that even with that I am not as consistent as I should be.  I cherry pick what I feel are suitable endurance-friendly strength and metabolic conditioning workouts from CrossFit and RKC kettlebell training.

Strength is important to me, partly as a hobby and that I like setting PR’s, but also because I recognize the value strength plays in endurance events, particularly events like adventure racing.  You never know when you need to portage a boat full of gear across what you thought was just one sand dune, which later turned into 20 sand dunes.

So this weekend my wife Darcy said, “You need to get ready for the American River 50, you at least need to do a marathon! ”

So I did.  She and the kids went to church, and I put on my Merrels.

Couple lessons learned:

• Feet swell around mile 23.  I will need a pair of shoes larger than my current size.
• Run-walk pattern will happen, either I embrace it, or succumb to the inevitable
• I can subsist on peanuts  oranges and jerky for “event food”
• I love running

Seriously, I can see why people would get hooked on this.  Already I am looking forward to the next time I can ‘Go Long’.

Happy Training!

-Brandon

WOD: Wagon Run!

Results:

Compare to: 17SEP2009:

micky.kb.snatch-736524, originally uploaded by eesur.

Warm-up run:
* Hill run or 12% grade on treadmill
* Speed: 85% of your fastest half marathon mile pace
* 3 sets of 3:30 intervals, 30 second R.I.

Main:
* 5 minutes, get to 100 reps of kettlebell snatches, divide work between arms as necessary.