A short video of Sydney Strongman Societys Saturday training sessions
And a video from the recent SSS Novice Comp on the 4th of April
Sydney Strongman Society
April 28th, 2009Glute Ham Situps
March 28th, 2009Just a quick post today with another video showing progressions and tips for the glute ham raise situp.
DVD Pre-order and Sale
March 24th, 2009As promised below the new “Kettlebell Power Secrets 2 – Advanced Training” DVD is almost finished and I’m opening it up to pre-orders.
The new DVD covers all of the advanced kettlebell exercises that I use in my training and with my clients. I haven’t padded it out with novel crap that you’ll never find a use for, just hard hitting drills that will have an immediate impact on your fitness.
Here are a few things that will be covered
Kettlebell swing variations, kettlebell juggling, kettlebell band and chain combos, kettlebell remedial drills and stretches, double kettlebell drills, new kettlebell core drills.
There are also tips on different types of kettlebell interval workouts to push your fitness to a higher level and bonus footage from some stuff I’ve been shooting with CrossFit Sydney and my strongman training.
To celebrate the launch there is a pre-order discount price of $29.00 but as soon as the first DVD ships (on April 6th) the price is going up to $39.00
As well as the pre-order special on the new DVD I’ve also put all our other DVDs and products including gymboss timers and personalised programs on sale for a limited time.
To order the new DVD and get the specials on our other products go to the following page.
New Advanced Kettlebell DVD
March 22nd, 2009Ever since I released my original kettlebell DVD people have been asking for more and now it’s finally on the way.
Over the last few weeks I’ve been shooting lots of footage and have now done most of the editing for a DVD on the advanced kettlebell drills that I use with clients.
Now, unlike some other kettlebell DVDs this one isn’t going to give you a thousand variations of every exercise, 99% of which you’ll never use!
I’ve picked the drills that I use in my own training and with my clients in order to get the best results in the least amount of time.
The DVD will be available for pre-order later this week and will ship out on the 6th of April.
Here is a short sample of the DVD, more details to follow!
2009 Kettlebell and Olympic Lifting Seminars
March 22nd, 2009So far this year we’ve run 2 Kettlebell instructors workshops and I’m now in the process of booking dates and venuse for another series of workshops all around the country for the rest of the year.
The plan is to get to all the major capital cities like last year but also if there is enough interest to get to a few smaller cities and towns so if you’ve got a group who might be interested in doing a 3 hour kettlebell or olympic lifting workshop or an instructors course please give me a shout at fitness@octogen.com.au and we can arrange something for you.
More Training videos
March 22nd, 2009Ok, it’s been a while since I updated the blog mostly because I’ve been flat out with workshops and shooting lots of video.
Andrew and I have been shooting more stuff on the Glute Ham Raise including our latest short video on how to work up to doing full GH raise.
If you are any sort of athlete then you REALLY need to be doing these to strengthen your posterior chain and tie all your core work together. The problem for most people is that they lack the strength to do even one proper GH raise.
The following video should fix all of that as we show you several steps to doing full GH raise.
Strongman Competition and Workshop
February 25th, 2009Two quick updates on Strongman
1. The first Novice comp of the year for NSW will be held on the 4th of April at Sydney Uni. Details can be found on the Sydney Strongman Society Facebook page and you can download the entry form here http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?liwzmydjwut
2. For those who aren’t quite ready to compete Jonathan Gordon and I will be running a Strongman Workshop from 10am to 1pm on Saturday the 18th of April at Sydney Uni.
The focus of the workshop will be on teaching the correct lifting techniques for common strongman events such as stones, log, farmers walk, tyre flip and more. Cost is $99 for the three hours and a lot of the profits are going back into new equipment for the strongman group so that we can expand and run more workshops and comps. Email fitness@octogen.com.au to sign up.
Cool Links to Check Out
February 25th, 2009Just thought i’d share a few resources and websites I’ve found recently.
Nick is a top level stuntman, trainer and strongman and at the moment he’s been advising me on training for my first strongman comp. Nick is currently training a bunch of other stuntmen as well as one of the competitors for Worlds Strongest Man 2009.
Check out his website for some wiked videos of his stunts and strongman events! Nick is Also available for training consultations and he recently told em that he’s looking at doing some more detailed online coaching so if you need a program for strongman he’d be the guy to call!
Mike was one of the original Senior Kettlebell instructors in the US and way back in 2004 I got to train with him both privately in LA and then again at the RKC in Minnesota.
Mike has got some great articles on kettlebells, diet and hormonal control for maximal performance and he’s also got some excellent DVDs.
I just watched his latest 4 DVD set “Collision Course” which includes over 9 hours of footage from 7 different trainers (including grip legend John Brookfield and Pro Strongman Mark Phillipi) and there is some excellent stuff there.
If you want some new ideas to sharpen your kettlebell or strength training program then I highly recommend checking out Mike’s site.
http://www.youtube.com/user/MusclePitWA
Some great videos here of innovative strength and power training. I met Henry Day on one of my trips to Perth last year and he’s not lying when he calls the Muscle Pit “Perths Strongest Gym”
If you are in Perth i’d recommend giving them a call but even if you aren’t check out their videos.
Core Strength Videos
February 25th, 2009Over the last few weeks I’ve again been reminded of how important (and overlooked) core training is.
For a start the strongman training I’ve been doing has been absolutely hammering all the muscles between my neck and my legs. After some of the sessions I’m so sore that it hurts to breathe.
Secondly I’ve got a couple of new clients who have got great leg and upper body strength but who are being held back because their core is the weak link the the chain and they can’t effectively transmit those forces from one end of their body to the other.
Third, I went to an excellent seminar on lower back pain by Mike Robertson (more details on that one later)
At the end of the day core strength training isn’t as sexy as Olympic lifting, powerlifting or strongman but it’s very important stuff. Too often people get to the end of a workout and just throw in some crunches without thinking about doing any harder core strength and stabilisation work.
So here are some new videos that I’ve been shooting with the guys at CrossFit Sydney showing some very effective core exercises. We’ve shown several progressively harder variations of each exercise so you’ll be challenged no matter what level you start at.
Strongman Training – Some thoughts and a new video
February 15th, 2009Ever since throwing my hat in the ring for this Strongman comp in June I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about strongman training, especially as it relates to guys having a go at their first comp.
So as I progress toward the comp I figure I’ll make some notes about my musings and see how they work out in reality.
This weeks random thoughts
1. 5kg may not seem like a lot but in strongman it can be the difference between easy and impossible! This week I did farmers walks at 100kg (relatively straight forward) 105kg (hard but doable) and 110kg (made it a whole 8 metres!) and had the same experience of axle cleans. 80 for triples and then a bunch of missed attempts at 85kg.
2. Strongman is unforgiving of weaknesses and when you find yours you need to prioritise training. I’ll freely admit that my overhead strength is crap at the moment but in the first weeks of my program I was treating mil press and push press as accessory exercises but now i’ve made the first exercise in each gym session an overhead lift with an additional overhead lift later in the program. No use having a huge deadlift and squat if you are going to fail as soon as the events head above the shoulders.
3. Back off weeks are your friend! Last week I was cranky and sore but a week of lighter workouts has renewed my enthusiasm for training and i’m looking forward to attacking the next few weeks of training.
Anyway here is a video of some farmers walks and stone simulator training. Stay tuned for the next video of some squat and deadlift variations i’m experimenting with in my quest to hit a 230kg / 500lb deadlift before April.