Jones' Bear and Rabbit Program

[Coach Jones]

So the OCS event is set and so it's time to start preparing. I have to up my endurance so that I can make my goal of at least MOS. However, being completely addicted to the Bruisers, I don't want to stop doing my heavy Clubbell work. That said, i've decided to attempt BOTH.

I'll be splitting my workout in two parts (AM/PM) and doing Heavy work in one session and endurance work in the other.

The heavy work will vary in terms of what exercises will be done, but the endurance work will focus primarily on the Mill & BASAC (done for the moment with the 15's).

I'll begin the actual B & R Program tomorrow, today was just a sort of "test" to see where i'm at in regard to the OCS.

AM:

Warm-up:
VERY short (probably too short) warm up of arm circles and arm screws.

Mills: 10 x 10 each arm without parking
-RPE:6, not very difficult could've done more.

10 minute rest

Swipes: 1 x 30 without parking
-RPE:8, embarrassingly difficult, grip strength and technique deteriorated quickly. Need a LOT of work here.

PM:
WW Routine

Mills: 12 x 10 each arm w/o parking
-RPE:8 After the 10th set form and grip on left side was gone, right side held up but form started to deteriorate on last few reps.

-Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

AM

Starting up the program today.

Warm-up:
WW Routine

1 x 5 Pendulums R & L
1 x 5 2-handed Parry/reverse parry casts

5 x 1 Double CTO with 8 second hold each

1 x 5 Armpit casts Right side only
(Left side was totally un-coopertive today for some reason so I stopped the armpit casts here)

1 x 2 Single CTO+rock bottom squat+pendulum
(felt a slight twinge in my upper back after the last rep and decided to stop the morning workout here.)

More later.
Brandon Jones, CST[/b]

[Scott Sonnon]

Brandon, is your AM the "Bear" and so with the 45lbs Bruiser Clubbells? If so, those are impressive numbers even for an Alpha-dragger!

s

[Coach Jones]

The AM workout is the Bear portion. I should've mentioned that. All exercises are done with the Bruisers.

:D
-Brandon

[Scott Sonnon]

You're one sick monkey. :twisted:

I like.

[Coach Jones]

Didn't have as much time in between workouts as I would've liked. In the future I plan on separating them by at least 8 hours and preferable 12.

PM (Rabbit = all done with 15 Lb Clubbells)

Mill - 15 x 12 w/o parking

10 minute rest

Swipe - 2 x 10 & 1 x 15 w/o parking

1 x 15 each side forward arm circles
1 x 15 each side reverse arm circles

1 x 50 Drumming (25 each side)

Notes:

The Mills seem to groove better each time. The hardest part now is the last couple of sets. The sweat accumulates on the handles and therefore requires a tight grip throughout the duration of the exercise prohibiting the relax-tense-relax protocol. Yet another thing to factor in to Mill swinging strategy for the OCS event.

The Swipes are still giving me a lot of trouble. Haven't found a way to take the pressure off of the crush grip, at least not to a significant degree.

* I've decided that buying the 25's will be my reward when I can get 200 total reps each side with the 15's (Mills)

All for now,
-Brandon Jones, CST

[Doug Szolek]

Brandon, as a long time lover of the Swipe, I'll share the way I keep the tight/loose/tight protocol working throughout the Movement.

Right after you've cleaned the Clubbells and they are passing through Order Position is when they are at their lightest in the range of motion. Also as you cast them over your shoulders and bring them back through this position they are again lighter than normal (as in doing less to pull against your grip).

At these two points work on deliberate relaxation of your grip followed quickly by reaffirming your grip. Be sure to only loosen up when the Clubbell is weightless in the ROM and it's a good idea to reaffirm your grip before the ever so short period of weightlessness is up. It's not much but it has been just enough to help me decrease some serious arm pump from doing these in high numbers.

I'll have a more detailed article about this little detail in an upcoming issue of CST Magazine.

-Coach Szolek

[Coach Jones]

Can't wait for the article and i'll try your suggestions next workout.

Thanks,
-Brandon

[Scott Sonnon]

Solid suggestions, Doug!

[Jay76]

What is the rabbit??

[Coach Jones]

AM (Bear)

Took Saturday off and had planned to start back up on Sunday. Decided instead to spend Sunday working on Warrior Wellness and further rest.

Warm-up ;
Warrior Wellness

1 x 5 single CTO + 1/2 parry cast to park R & L

5 x 2 Double pendulums w/ 4 sec hold at each order position

2 x 3 armpit casts R & L
1 x 2 armpit casts R & L
(Left side still giving me problems, sometimes it finds the groove...sometimes not. Right side, on the other hand feels great!

1 x 2 Outward pendulum R & L
1 x 3 Inward pendulum R (Left side wasn't coopertive at all)

2 sets of Double CTO and 10 Yard Walk
2 sets of Single CTO and 20 yeard walk

3 x 1 Single CTO and rock bottom squat - each side

Finished off with "hand off" a single CTO and hold until grip starts to fail then switching to the other hand, lasted for 42 seconds before I had to park it.

Notes: Workout today felt great. I think the extra day of rest really helped out.

-Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

Jay - The rabbit is just the name of the endurance portion of my workout. All exercises in the Bear portion are done with 45 Lb Bruiser Clubbells, and are low reps while all the exercises in the Rabbit portion are done with the 15's and are higher reps.

-Brandon

[Coach Jones]

PM (Rabbit)

Mills:

20 x 10 w/o parking (each side)

I met my first goal of getting 200 Mills! Yeah! Now I will "reward" myself by getting the 25 pounders. HOWEVER.....just for kicks I decided to time myself this time and was shocked and amazed at how little time 10 minutes REALLY is. Tomorrow I will decrease the total number of reps and try to increase my speed. I thought I was moving at a pretty good clip since I took no breaks at all. The only pause came while switching hands. Oh well, just another thing to work on.

10 Minute Rest

Swipes:

6 x 10 w/o parking

Using the advice Coach Szolek gave me I was able to almost DOUBLE my previous numbers! (Thanks Doug) While I was thrilled with the improvement I still have a long way to go on the Swipes.

Finished off with 1 x 80 (40 each side) of Drumming.

Notes:
This workout felt just as good as the Bear portion from earlier today and I saw the same kind of improvement.

All for today,
Brandon Jones, CST

[Scott Sonnon]

Nitro Rabbit, Brandon! :twisted:

[Doug Szolek]

Notes:
This workout felt just as good as the Bear portion from earlier today and I saw the same kind of improvement.

It's a strange thing when we realize that we can enjoy endurance work as much as heavy strength work. I know it took me off guard.

Glad to make my experience of service to you Brandon, and by your numbers I think this should be the energizer bunny program. :D

good training,
-Doug

[Coach Jones]

AM (Bear)

Well, this mornings Bear workout was a complete flop....scratch that..."learning experience" :wink:

Everything seemed to be off and I was draggin' (and not in a good way).

Warm-up:

Did the normal WW routine and spent a little extra time there to work the kinks out from yesterday.

1 x 5 each side single CTO to back position to 1/2 parry cast to park

3 x 1 Double CTO to back position to double 1/2 parry casts to park

2 x 1 BASAC's

(I almost didn't even bother to mention these as they were VERY sloppy and could barely be considered BASAC's. Not ready for these yet, i'll wait a while before attempting them again.)

Notes:

Looking back over my training logs it seems that I am going to have to give myself an extra day of recovery in between "Bear" workouts. As the numbers and complexity increase so then does my fatigue. From now on, the Bear portion of my program will be done every other day.

-Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

PM (Rabbit)

Warm-up:
Briefly touched on the WW routine since I had been working parts off and on all day.

Mills:

Decided to time myself again and try to increase my repetitions per minute. Unfortunately, the timer I set didn't go off so I can't be sure of my true 10 minute numbers.

190 reps in 13 minutes w/o parking
(that's when I noticed the timer hadn't gone off).

Started off with 6 sets of 15 each side and switched to sets of 10 when I felt my speed was dropping due to fatigue.

Swipes:

80 reps w/o parking

At least these numbers were up.

All for today,
-Brandon Jones, CST

[Scott Sonnon]

Somtimes the Bear gets you. There's another day, amigo.

Good numbers on your Energizer Bunny.

[Coach Jones]

AM (Bear)

5 x 1 Parry Cast + CTO + Pendulum R & L
5 x 1 Reverse Parry Cast + CTO + Pendulum R & L

1 x 5 Armpit Casts R
1 x 3 Armpit Casts L

1 x 1 Double CTO and Pendulum
1 x 1 Double CTO and Pendulum

(Was unable to get the clubs back to order after the pendulum. After some thought, I realized that my hip snap was weak so I took a few minutes and worked on my technique w/o/ the Clubbells.)

1 x 3 Double CTO and Pendulums
! x 2 Double CTO and pendulums

1 x 2 Single CTO to Rock Bottom Squat to Cossack Squat and back to standing.
(tried this for a while before I got it...fun though)

*Tried to do the above exercise again, this time going into a shinbox. I got into the shinbox but was unable to get back to standing....this time.)

2 x 2 Reverse-Grip Snatch to Inverted Torch Press L & R

*As is typical for me, I became obsessed with a "new" exercise that I want to add to my program. I worked on it for a while and it totally fried me. As soon as I get the kinks worked out i'll post it.

Notes: I'll be taking tomorrow off from the Bear portion to allow more time for recovery. Took today's workout a little lighter than some of the previous Bear workouts, hopefully i'll be in better form on Friday.

All for now,
-Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

PM (Rabbit)

Warm-Up:
WW Routine

Mills:

(Finally got the timer to work)

146 Repetitions in 10 minutes w/o parking

10 Minute Rest

Swipes:

60 Repetitions w/o parking
1 Minute Rest
25 Reps
1 Minute Rest
20 Reps
1 Minute Rest
15 Reps
1 Minute Rest
10 Reps

Notes:
Still need a lot of work on the Swipes, but their coming along. I plan on trying a different reps/rest scheme tomorrow in addition to throwing in the timer just out of curiosity.

-Brandon Jones, CST

[Doug Szolek]

Dude, you've gone from 30 swipes per session to 125 in just six days. To paraphrase a favorite movie line, "I'll have what he's having." :D

You just keep going, and going...

-doug.

[Coach Jones]

Thanks for the support Doug. I've been rather surprised myself. Tomorrow should be the real test when I use the timer. I think it'll give me extra motivation to press through when the little voice inside my head says, "park 'em".

-Brandon

[Scott Sonnon]

Great numbers, Brandon.

Run, Rabbit, Run!

[Coach Jones]

PM (Rabbit)

*No Bear workout today

Mills:

144 Repetitions each side w/o parking

RPE: 7
RT: 8

(Made a HUGE technique error while changing hands that cost me a couple of reps.)

8 Minute Rest

*Cut my rest period down from 10 minutes to 8

Swipes:

100 Swipes in 10 minutes w/o parking (not including chest park, shoulder park, etc) I thought I was going to die!!!
- Made it to 100!!! Now to try and increase the reps per minute!!

RPE: 10
RT: 7

1 x 10 each side of Coach Szolek's Taskmasters - These things are great!

1 x 9 Romali's - No strength left for 10.

Notes:
There's no question that the "Bear" portion of my workout really hits me hard and is causing some residual tension especially in the upper back and shoulders that hampers my "Rabbit" workouts. In order to try and work this out for future workouts i'll be adding a ROM session in between AM and PM workouts and a ROM/Body-Flow Session in the late evening.

-Brandon Jones, CST

[Doug Szolek]

Great numbers and ideas for working out your residual tension.
If I may make a suggestion, try working the Taskmasters prior to doing your Mills. Working them light and more out of practice before hand should help you groove the Mill better and actually increase your RT as well as your already impressive total volume in the Mill. However if it is your goal to hit the Mill as fresh as possible then by all means continue as you are, the gains from the Taskmasters will carry over to your next days workout of course.

-Coach Szolek

[Coach Jones]

That makes sense. I'll follow your advice and hit the taskmaster first thing before the Mills. I need to focus more on my RT since my RPE is dropping lower and lower all the time.

-Brandon

[Coach Jones]

AM (Bear)

Warm-up:
VERY abbreviated WW Routine as i'll be hitting the whole thing later.

4 x 3 Double Pendulums w/ 4 sec hold at Order positions.*

(The second set was really only 2 reps as my hip snap was a bit to much and caused the CB's to come a bit past order...but because of the overall effort involved with trying to stabalize them I COUNTED IT ANYWAY.)

2 x 5 Single Clean to Back position to 1/2 parry cast each side.

1 x 5 Double Clean to back position to double 1/2 parry casts each side.

7 x 1 Swipes

Notes:

Swipes were interesting. The first 3 were really a learning experience since I wanted to do them like I would with the 15's. That was NOT happening. After the first set I discovered I had to slow down the pace (a lot) and crank up the hip snap. After the 2nd set I realized I wasn't absorbing the increased shock at back position. Once these problems were worked out the RT increased dramatically and the RPE decreased.

"Played" with a few new exercises i'm working on as well but decided to save what little bit of grip strength I had left for the evening workout. Since it's the last workout for the week, I plan on hitting it hard tonight. :twisted:

All for now,
-Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

PM (Rabbit)

Well, i'm not sure how smart this was but since this evenings workout is the last of the week I wanted to really, REALLY push myself just to see what would happen. I felt great after my rather lengthy ROM session this afternoon so I decided to have...

A GRAND WORKOUT:

Set goal of 500 Mills (each side) and 500 Swipes. I decided that my goal here was just to push myself past what I thought my limit was, if it took all night to do it...then so be it.

Began with the Mills 5 sets of 100 each side parking the clubs after every set.

5 x 100......DONE!
(By the 3rd set, it hurt just to grip the CB's though the pain would go away after about 20 reps)

After a 6 minute rest I went to the Swipes (I would've taken a longer break but for reasons i'll explain later this wasn't possible). These were really the ones that I was worried about. Swipes have never been my strong point.

10 x 25
(the light-headedness set in around set 8 and my left leg began to shake a bit during set 10, so after the 10th set I lowered the reps to 15.)

12 x 15
(the fifth set of 15 was technically the best set thus far! Things just started to come together....seemed odd but oh well. My RT stayed relatively high after that until about set 11 when the grip REALLY started to go. Towards the end of set 12 I almost lost grip completely and decided to lower the reps again to sets of 10.)

7 x 10
(These felt surprisingly easy, and the rest periods between these were
very short.)

500 Swipes.....DONE!!

Total Time for both exercises: 2 hours and 13 minutes.

*Notes:
First off I will never do this again (I hope), but i'm glad I did it. I didn't really expect to finish it all. I learned a lot about my technique as I got up into the higher numbers and couldn't count on strength anymore. There were also several surprises. For one, I found that the best sets, technically speaking, tended to take place after the point of exhaustion, when strength was gone and the only way I could finish the set was to improve my technique. Another surprise was that I had to take much shorter rest periods then I had planned due to the fact that the longer I rested the more PAIN I felt in my hands just trying to grip the clubs.
During the Swipes I had to do some ROM movements during my rest in between sets to relieve some of the tension (and pain) that was running rampant throughout my entire body :twisted: Like I said before, I hope I never feel the need to do this again..but it was a grand workout!

Starting Monday (or maybe Sunday) i'll start adding in the TaskMasters before my normal Mill practice.

:shock: I still can't believe I finished it :shock:

Must rest,

Brandon Jones, CST

[Scott Sonnon]

You sick monkey. :twisted:

[Doug Szolek]

:shock: Strength Training as a means of Self-Discovery has never looked so scary :shock:

Thank you Brandon for breaking that information barrier for the rest of us. We owe you one, well actually we owe you 1,000!

Now go and eat a side of beef and sleep, brother. :wink:

-doug

[Scott Sonnon]

Ironman competition anyone? :shock: :twisted:

[Coach Jones]

LOL ...I think I liked the "eating a side of beef and sleeping" plan better. :lol:
-Brandon

[Doug Szolek]

Ironman competition anyone? :shock: :twisted:

Ironman, that sounds like a fun way to take a vacation from my current training 8)

Yes i write that in full knowledge that it's gonna bring something embarassing about myself to the surface. Like ah, "by ironman we don't mean pressing Iron with your face :wink: " or "by ironman we don't mean the Black Sabath in the cd player :D "

-doug

[Coach Jones]

Well, I had planned on takingthe whole weekend off but I was bored. I decided to work out some residual tension and soreness from my "Grand" workout on Friday with some nice and easy ROM exercises.....which turned into some Body-flow kinetic chains...which led me to picking up the clubs.

Midday Workout:

Taskmasters:
1 x 10 each side

Mills:
1 x 30 in 2 minutes
1 x 30 in 2 minutes
1 x 32 in 2 minutes

(Was varying my sets before switching arms, and making slight adjustments to technique each time to see what adjustments I could make to get the RPE up.)

1 x 145 in 10 minutes

5 minute rest

Swipes:
80 in 10 minutes w/o parking (numbers not great but there coming up.)

Notes:
Biggest problem still is the Swipes. I may still be overgripping them in the beginning which causes my grip to deteriorate quicker than it should. Also, shoulder parking tends to cause some pain in my upper back, trying to figure out how to avoid this....any thoughts??


-Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

Week #2
AM (Bear)

Was pressed for time this morning so I had to make it kind of a quick one. With this in mind I decided to set up my session a bit differently. I picked 3 excerises, going from difficult to easy and tried to do as many reps as possible within three minutes. In between these excersies, I took a 2 minute rest.

1 x 2 Pendulums (Double)*
1 x 4 Pendulums (Double)*
*Did these just to grease the skids.

1. Single CTO to back position to 1/2 parry cast.

12 Reps (each side) in three minutes.

2 Minute Rest.

2. Double CTO (with 4 second hold at order) in three minutes.

6 Reps.

2 Minute Rest.

3. Single CTO (with 4 second hold at order).

7 Reps (each side) in 3 minutes.


Notes: This was a decent workout and a nice change of pace from my normal Bruiser work. I was pretty tired after the last 3 minutes, but not exhausted so next time i'll shorten the rest periods. Could have done more per round but these numbers will give me something to shoot for next time.

All for now,
-Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

PM (Rabbit)

After my afternoon ROM session I went into some nasty grip-work with the 15's. My "goal" if you could call it that, was to pre-exhaust my grip and see how that would affect my evening routine.

I reversed the order of my evening exercises so that I could work the Swipes first.

Swipes:

1 set of 100 in 7 mintes (had to shoulder park them at 60/20/20 so I guess you could say it wasn't really 1 set.)

* I had intended to go the whole 10 minutes but started to feel that twinge in the upper back again so I stopped at 100.

1 x 10 Taskmasters ( I love these things )

Mills:

1 set of 153 in 10 minutes (personal best) :D

* Tried to follow Scott's and Doug's tips on improving the RPE's and this helped A LOT. In addition I too discovered an interesting little nuance. I found that if I accelerated the Clubbell as it comes behind the head, rather than letting up on my grip, I could really increase the speed of rotation. Combined with the knee bend this really took the RPM's to a new height for me (especially considering I could'nt get it right at all on the left and only about 50% on the right). I'm planning on trying it out again tomorrow just to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

Notes:
Great workout this evening. Was able to beat my personal best in the Swipes (60 in a row...not that great but i'm working on it) and my personal best in the Mills (153 in 10 minutes). One other note on accelerating through the behind-the-head position...I also noticed that this seemed a little hard on the wrists but this could just be due to my afternoon grip training session.

All for today,
-Brandon Jones, CST

[Scott Sonnon]

Sweet, bro.

[Coach Jones]

PM (Rabbit)

Had to take it easy on the workout today due to some soreness in the hands from yesterdays grip work.

Taskmasters - 1 x 10

Mills:

2 x 25
4 x 20
*(concentrated on technique, slowed down and tried to groove all the nuances that have been discovered)

Swipes:

2 x 20
*(discovered a major flaw in my technique! I realized that unless I really focused, I have a tendency to ease up on my hip snap and wrist the Clubbells in to order position. I can't believe I never noticed this before. Not a huge problem with the 15's but when the 25's come it'll kill me.)

2 x 10 - slow focusing on hip snap and not over-gripping at the beginning.

Notes:
In addition to discovering the flaw, I also realized that I made an error when reporting my Grand workout last Friday. I was using two clocks to time and 1 was an hour behind. So my actual total time was 2 hours and 13 minutes instead of 1 hour and 13 minutes.

-Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

AM (Bear)

2 x 10 Parry Casts (singles)
1 x 5 CTO + Arm Park + Parry Casts (singles)
1 x 10 CTO (double)

CTO to Chest Park & 10 yard walk (park & repeat) x 5
*I was surprised how quickly my coordination left me.

Notes:
I read Coach Szolek's VERY impressive "Gada Sweat" program and realized that I have never set any sort of goal for the Bear portion of my workout. With this in mind I played around today A LOT with the Bruisers, trying to figure out something, and here's what I came up with...

:twisted: Double Bruiser Armpit Cast :twisted:

As it stands right now, I can do several repetitions on the right side with a pretty good RT. The left side comes and goes. In order to accomplish my new goal I will need to really groove the armpit casts and improve (greatly) the internal bracing needed to handle both at once. Shock absorbtion will be crucial as well and i'll need to figure out a safe way to bail out so that I don't take one to the head if things go bad. I'll be breaking down the components and posting my new plan starting Friday.

-Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

PM (Rabbit)

Task Masters 1 x 10

Mills:
1 x 156 (and some change) in 10 minutes.

RT: 8 R/6 L
RPE: 5 R/7 L

Swipes:
1 x 100 in 7 minutes (again not continous but didn't park them till all 100 were finished)

RT: 7-8
RPE: 10

Notes:
The technique in the Mills has improved greatly (using Coach Sonnon's "torso sway"), but the left side is not up to speed with the right yet. I changed from sets of 10 before switching arms to sets of 12 and this helped RPM's a lot in that I didn't lose as much time transitioning.
The swipes are progressing and they were a little easier today than before. I'll keep the reps to 100 for the rest of this week and then add a few on Monday.

All for today,
-Brandon Jones, CST

[Scott Sonnon]

Drumming with Bruisers? You sick, sick monkey! :twisted:

Impressive numbers, BTW!

[Coach Jones]

It is sick, I agree. We'll see if it comes together. Mainly I thought it would be a good test of my evaluating skills and would help me to get better at breaking the movements down into their components.

-Brandon

[Coach Jones]

Afternoon (Rabbit)

1 x 10 Taskmasters

Mills:
1 x 147 in 10 minutes
(switched after every ten)
RPE: 6
RT: 8-9

1 x 105 in 7 1/2 minutes
(switched after every 15)
RPE: 10
RT: 6

1 x 10 swings (head height)

Swipes:

1 x 50 (didn't time)
RPE: 9
RT: 7-8

Notes:
Interesting session. 15 reps before switching on the Mills turned out to be too lofty a goal for me right now. The arm-pump was ridiculous and that, of course caused my form to go down the toilet, which caused even more arm-pump, etc. etc.
Took a break after that and tried to work out as much of the tension as I could, but my grip was just shot and it was all I could do to hold on to the Clubbells during the swipe practice. I was really shocked at the difference between changing every 12 (which right now is my prefered number) and changing every 15. HUGE difference. I may try to hit another Swipe session later this evening after my ROM session.

*I've also been playing around with doing the Mill w/o any Clubbells. This seems to be helping a lot with both my form and RPM's. I'm able to tell more clearly where the flaws are in my technique. I discovered when doing this that where the right side is grooved so that from beginning to end the motion is smooth, the left side has a number of small "catches" where the motion feels "clunky" (if that makes sense). The most noticable of these is when going from behind the head to the cast portion of the Mill.

All for today (probably),
-Brandon Jones, CST

[Scott Sonnon]

Brandon, love to see an article from you on "Channeling Strength" and how the unloaded exercise enhanced your technique.

Good discoveries, amigo.

[Coach Jones]

Will do.

-Brandon

[Coach Jones]

AM (Bear)

So now I have a goal. Drumming the Bruisers :twisted: .

First Goal: 1 x 8 each side with one Clubbell.

In order to accomplish this, I've broken down the movement into smaller components.

1. Hold at Order position.
2. Transition to Back position.
3. The Casts.

-Hold at Order
8 second hold minimum, as many as possible with good form. (Double)
8 second hold minimum, as many as possible with good form. (Single)

-Transition to Back Position
CTO to Back position + 1/2 Parry Cast (Double).
CTO to Back position + 1/2 Parry Cast (Single).
* As many as possible with good form, stopping at the first sign of fatigue.

- The Casts
Starting with the Left side (my weaker side) as many as posible with good form R & L.

Today was still very much exploratory.
-1 x 3 Double CTO & pendulums (warm-up)
-10 x 1 Armpit casts L & R
-5 x 1 Single CTO and 10 second hold

Notes:
Kept the reps low and the fatigue to a minimum. Discovered several flaws that should be worked out over the next couple of days.

-Brandon Jones, CST

[Scott Sonnon]

Drumming with Bruisers :shock:
Would that be: Taking a Beating with the Bruisers? 8)
You're a Manimal, Brandon.

[Doug Szolek]

*I've also been playing around with doing the Mill w/o any Clubbells®. This seems to be helping a lot with both my form and RPM's. I'm able to tell more clearly where the flaws are in my technique. I discovered when doing this that where the right side is grooved so that from beginning to end the motion is smooth, the left side has a number of small "catches" where the motion feels "clunky" (if that makes sense). The most noticable of these is when going from behind the head to the cast portion of the Mill.

All for today (probably),
-Brandon Jones, CST

I had a thought after reading this (and that's not too common an occurence for we Polocks). Why don't you try "Strobing" the weight on and off in the Mills so that you do say 10 reps walking through without the weight, (holding the clubbell in chest park in the opposite arm) then grab the Clubbell and do 10 with it, then give it back to the none working arm and do 10 more unweighted. Then change to the other arm and repeate the "Strobe set" with it.

Sounds like there's potential for fun here.
Let me know what you think.

[Coach Jones]

Brilliant, I love it!
-Brandon

[Coach Jones]

PM (Rabbit)

1 x 10 TaskMasters

"Strobe Sets" - (see above for Coach Szolek's description)
2 sets each side

Mills:

unloaded Mills
30/27 in 1 minute
unloaded Mills
31/29 in 1 minute
unloaded Mills
20/24 in 40 seconds/50 seconds
unloaded Mills

1 x 156 Mills in 10 minutes.

Clubbell swings (head height) 1 x 10

Swipes:

1 x 60 (had to stop here due to my dog getting in the way. Dogs and Clubbells don't mix)

1 x 120 Swipes in 8 1/2 minutes.

Notes:
The strobe sets were excellent, they added a whole new dimension to the unloaded Mills.

In the next set of exercises I probably "pushed" a little harder than I should have. I think 45 seconds is probably a good beginning time for me to shoot for rather than a minute. The unloaded Mills in between improved my technique and kept it tight even as the RPM's increased.

Even after the previous workload the regular Mills felt great. Technique was cleaner and arm pump was down. I seem to be hampered by my need to change hands so frequently. Todays Mills were done sets of 12.

Improved my swipe numbers to 120 in 8 1/2 minutes. This is a HUGE jump from where I was. This was due to either a nuance that i've discovered that greatly reduced my arm-pump...or I was cheating to a ridiculous degree. I'll have to ask Coach Sonnon which one in the OCS rules section.

All for today,
-Brandon Jones, CST

[Doug Szolek]

Brandon, glad to hear the "Strobe Sets" went so well for you :)
I know what you mean about Dogs and Clubbells, Dozer has had more than a few close calls with my training. Now I lock him out of the room when I train or in the house if i'm outside.

and about your nuance, don't think of it as cheat, think of it as learning what not to do :wink:
Keep the great work comin' bro.

[Coach Jones]

AM (Bear)

Today I started with part 1 of my plan to Drum the Bruisers.

Part 1. Working the hold at Order.

A. Double CTO (with 8 sec. hold) 1 minute rest between sets. x 4

On the 4th rep, I began having to make adjustments, but since my goal is not strength gain but technique improvement I stopped these at the 4th rep.

B. Single CTO (with 8 sec. hold) 1 minute rest between sets. x 5 (R & L).

C. Armpit casting 15Lb Clubbell while holding the Bruiser in Order. x 5

Notes:
Realized that I needed to work holding the Bruiser at Order while moving in and out of the positions i'll need for drumming. Thought adding in step C would be a good place to start. This was a lot more difficult then I thought it would be. The CTO with a 45 & a 15 is just plain wierd.
Nice, easy session. I may be able to keep this up on a daily basis for a while if I alternate which component i'll be working on, but we'll see.

Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

AM (Bear)

Light workout today as I ease into part 2...Back Position.

Single CTO to Back Positiom to 1/2 Parry Cast 5 x 1 (R & L)

Double CTO to Back Positiom to 1/2 Parry Casts x 2
(Realized after the 2nd rep that this was "unecessary" for my purposes of grooving the skills required for drumming as both Clubbells would never be in the back position at the same time.)

Double CTO and, while holding one at Order, moved the other to back position and then 1/2 parry cast to park. 2 x 1 (R & L)

Armpit casts: 3 x 1 (each side) - already these are improving, the left is just starting to get grooved properly. I stopped before any loss of technique occured.

Made an attempt at the drumming motion while choking up on the Clubs.

Notes:
While I kept it light today, I also learned that Drumming the Bruisers is going to be a lot toughter than I originally thought (and I thought it would be tough). I didn't take into consideration the breathing. At this point I don't even know where to start to explain what's going on here, so i'll go more into that tomorrow. I also learned that I need to increase the amount of time i'm holding the double CTO.


-Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

AM (Bear)

Continuing on with the Bruiser Drumming plan...

Worked today on the Order position since last workout I kind of bled over into single armpit casts.

Double CTO with 12 second hold x 4.

Single CTO with 20 second holds x 3 each side.

(Another short, simple workout but in keeping with my goal of not tiring myself out this seemed like enough for today).

Notes:
I figure I needed to increase the length of time I was able to keep the Bruisers in Order. In addition holding them there for longer gives me more time to work on the dynamic balance necessary for when i'm actually drumming. The arm pump after these was amazing.

-Brandon Jones

[Coach Jones]

PM (Rabbit)

Started out with Swipes today just for something different.

1 x 140 in 9 minutes.
The first 100 were continuous - my FIRST complete death march!! :D
The second 40 were done in sets of 20, shoulder parking in between.

1 x 10 TaskMasters

1 x 50 Unloaded Mills
1 x 145 in 10 minutes
1 x 50 Unloaded Mills

2 x "strobe sets"

Notes:
Great little workout today. I couldn't believe the improvement on the Swipes and unfortunatley i'm not really sure what to attribute it to. I know starting with them first helped but i'm sure there's more to it. They just felt easier. I don't know why I put the clubs down after 9 minutes, I think it was the shock of completing my first deathmarch.
The Mills felt great today as well clocking 145 in 10 minutes. There were more reps but I didn't count the ones where I hit my back or when my grip moved up on the club.

All for today,
Brandon Jones, CST

[Scott Sonnon]

Death to the March! :twisted: Congrats, amigo.

[Coach Jones]

PM(Rabbit)

No Bear Workout today. :cry:

Swipes:
1 x 100 in 7 minutes (continuous).

1 x 10 TaskMasters

Mills:
1 x 50 unloaded Mills

100 each side in 7 minutes 32 seconds

1 x 50 unloaded Mills

Drumming:
1 x 64 reps (continuously for 1 minute)

1 x 10 Iron Crosses

15 x 5 (each arm) Clean to Back position to Romali(head cast) w/ "tip-up" to Torch Press (alternating) in 16 minutes and 20 seconds.

Notes:
I think I can call the Rabbit portion of my program a success. In just a hare over 2 weeks i've been able to increase my Swipes from 30 reps max before having to park them to being able to do 100 continuously. I wasn't going for numbers today, just wanted to see if I could do another "death march" to make sure it wasn't a fluke and to double check that I wasn't cheating again :wink:
The workout went so well today that I had to "Feed The Rabbit" and add some more stuff to it. I was going for 20 x 5 in 20 minutes with the last exercise but had to run an errand before the place closed, so I had to cut it short. Will try again tomorrow. Can't wait for my 25's to arrive.
Even though I couldn't work the Bear portion today, it's going very well also. Can't wait to hit it again tomorrow.

All for today,
Brandon Jones, CST

[Scott Sonnon]

hare over 2 weeks :lol:
Good session.

[Coach Jones]

AM(Bear)

Worked on the individual armpit casts today.

Armpit casts:

7 x 2 (each side)
With only a couple of exceptions (where I missed catching the Bruiser in Order and had to recover by going into a pendulum - left side), the armpit casts are grooving really well. The left side seems finally willing to get "onboard".

Gama Casts:
2 x 10 (each side)
These things ROCK! I think i'll be including these babies in my routine.

Notes:
Workout felt great, not extremely taxing but made a lot of progress in grooving the left side Armpit Casts. RT: 7 RPE: 7. I think the Gama Casts will really add something to my technique for the individual armpit casts and eventially my "Drumming the Bruisers" goal.

All for now,
Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

PM(Rabbit)

Swipes:
1 x 100 in 6 minutes 33 seconds

1 x 10 TaskMasters

Mills:
1 x 50 unloaded Mills
1 x 100 (each side) in 9 1/2 minutes
1 x 50 unloaded Mills

Romali:
20 x 5 Double head casts in 20 minutes.

Notes:
Swipes were a bit tougher than yesterday (probably due to the preceding Bruiser work this morning). Changing from the single head casts to the doubles was just what the doctor ordered, a lot tougher. I'll probably keep these in my workout (until the 25's get here) and start "ratcheting" up the numbers ala the Double D.

All 4 today,
Brandon Jones, CSt

[Coach Jones]

AM(Bear)

After re-evaluating my path to drumming the Bruisers, I realize that my problem is no longer in holding the order position "statically" but rather keeping it in order when movement with the other arm is introduced. So, rather than focusing on holding the Order position, today I worked on the further grooving the Armpit Casts.

Gama Casts:
1 x 10

Armpit Casts:
2 x 6 (each side)
RPE: 7
RT: 9

Gama Casts:
1 x 10

Notes:
The difference in technique really surprised me as both sets Armpit Casts came right into position every time. What I had been doing wrong all this time suddenly became obvious. The Armpit Casts are now grooved on both sides and I can now focus on increasing the reps (shooting for 10), and working them while holding the other club in Order position.

The Gama Casts, I think, helped the grooving process A LOT. Because of the two-handed grip, more reps are possible and I didn't feel the need to "hurry up" before my technique started to fail.

All for now,
-Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

PM(Rabbit)

Felt a lot of residual tension and a little soreness in the upper back/shoulders. Looking back I probably went a little overboard yesterday by adding the Romali's into my normal workout. Didn't seem to bother me this morning but this evening the soreness had kicked in. Decided instead to wait a few hours, hit a ROM/body-flow session, hit the shower and take a nap.

-Brandon Jones, CST

[Scott Sonnon]

Hungry Bear - Smart Rabbit!

[Coach Jones]

AM (Bear)

Felt great after last nights ROM/Body-Flow session. The extra "rest" helped as well.

1 x 10 Gama Casts

5 x 4 Armpit Casts

RPE: 8
RT: 7

These weren't that much worse than yesterdays session, but I decided to start grading them a bit tougher since the smallest little "wobble" will equal a failure when I eventually get to the drumming part.

1 x 3 Double Pendulums

WARNING:
The next two exercises have the potential for nasty injury. I only did them as a test of my "structure".

Done with 15Lb Clubbell

1. Flag Raise:
Armpit Casts to Flag Position. From here raise the Clubbell into Torch Press Position w/o bending the elbow.

2. Shoulder Cast to Muscle-out. Once in muscle-out, raise Clubbell into side leverage press position.

I wouldn't recommend trying these unless your fairly confident your structure is good (shoulder position, pec/lat lock, etc.)

Finished off with another set of 10 Gama Casts.

Notes:
Hopefully i'll have something left for this evenings Rabbit portion. I'm going to make sure I give myself as much time as possible between workouts just to make sure.

All for now,
Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

PM(Rabbit)

Hit my afternoon ROM session and even though I felt good afterwards, I still wanted to wait for a while before tackling this evenings workout. Though I didn't feel any residual tension, I definitely am feeling a wee bit o' fatigue. Just tired. looking forward to a break this weekend. I'll hit the WW and I might even try some running...but GOD how I hate running.

1 x 10 TaskMasters

1 x 100 swipes (didn't time)

1 x 50 unloaded Mills
1 x 140 Mills in 10 minutes
1 x 50 unloaded Mills

1 x 60 Drumming

1 x 10 (each side) Gama's Defense
*Haven't done this one for a while so the "catch" before the wrist cast was a little bit challenging...fun too.

1 x 3 high wrist casts
Done just like a normal wrist cast but with head of Clubbell resting on the shoulder while the upper arm is almost parallel to the ground. From there the head of the club is raised off the shoulder into a kind of "tiny torch press".

Notes:
I think I really need a couple of days off. The hands have been taking the brunt of the punishment it seems and so i'll give them a break.

All for today,
Brandon Jones, CST

[Scott Sonnon]

Take the weekend off, amigo. You earned it.

[Coach Jones]

AM(Bear)

Well, I had an extra "day off". Spent all day putting in a tile floor.

Gama Casts:
1 x 10

Armpit Casts:
6/4
5/6
5/6
6/6
6/6

Gama Casts:
1 x 10

Single Pendulums:
1 x 5 (each side)
1 x 4 (each side)

Notes:
Definitley felt the extra day off, and not in a good way. It took 4 sets of armpit casts to get back in the groove. Not really thrilled with this workout but - oh well. Hopefully my "rabbit" portion this evening will go a little smoother.

All for now,
Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

PM(Rabbit)

Still a little tired after my weekend and my workout this morning so I took it pretty easy and spent some extra time with my ROM session. Hopefully my energy level will be better tomorrow.



1 x 10 TaskMasters

1 x 100 swipes

1 x 50 unloaded Mills
1 x 100 Mills
1 x 50 unloaded Mills

All 4 today,
Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

AM(Bear)

Armpit Casts:
5 x 7 (each side)
RPE: 8
RT: 5 (8.5)*

*The technique was really good (if I do say so myself) :wink: for a single armpit cast (8.5). However, because of the added complexity of handling both at once, not to mention drumming them they need to be a lot better. I rated the technique a 5 overall because of this.

1 x 10 Gama Casts

1 x 4 Pendulums (singles)

Notes:
I'm really starting to worry that I may have bitten off more than I could chew. There's a lot of minute details involved that I couldn't foresee. Working towards my goal has been great so far and i'm seeing great improvements in strength and muscular endurance. I plan on keeping this up until my 25's arrive at which point i'll have to re-evaluate my training plan. My main focus is still the OCS event, everything else is just gravy.

All for now,
-Brandon Jones, CST

[Doug Szolek]

You've got the faith of the tribe to meet this monstrous goal Brandon. It's like setting a goal for a density cycle, "pick a goal that seems just below impossible" It took me a couple weeks to get the groove for Drumming with my Heavy Class Clubbells, but now that I've got it the volume is solid and climbing. When you get your Heavy's I think they'll provide the missing link to reaching your goal of Drumming the Bruisers. Best wishes for good growth,

[Coach Jones]

Thanks for the support, and i'm definitely NOT giving up on this. I know it's possible, it's just proving to be more difficult than I originally thought. That's good though. The harder it is...the more I seem to get out of it.

-Brandon

[Scott Sonnon]

You're a beast, Brandon. We're behind you.

[Coach Jones]

Thanks coach. I'll get it, it just may take a bit longer than I thought.
:wink:

PM(Rabbit)

Swipes:
1 x 100 (5minutes 42seconds)

Mills:
1 x 135 (10minutes)

Back-Wrist Circles:
2 x 10 (each side)

1 x 10 Clean to Flag Position.
1 x 5 Clean to Flag Position to Torch Press.
1 x 5 Clean to Flag Position to Torch Press to Fwd Arm Circle to Flag Position.
1 x 5 Clean to Flag Position to Torch Press to Fwd Arm Circle to Flag Position to Backward Arm Circle to Flag Position.
1 x 5 Inward Arm Circle to Lateral Muscle-out.
1 x 5 Outward Arm Circle to Lateral Muscle-out.

Notes:
The last batch of exercises were just for fun and to add some variety. The Outward Arm Circles to Muscle-outs were the most challenging, having to figure out how to start slowing down the Clubbell in time so it didn't snap my elbow off.

All in all felt pretty good this workout. Endurance has definitely improved as has my recovery time. Could've easily pressed on past 100 but i've found that after about 60 reps I start to hurry just to get them done. I think i'll try to press further tomorrow and see what happens.

All for today,
-Brandon Jones, CST

[Vbrown]

If drumming with the bruisers were easy, I'd be the one doing it.

Remember; "a cheeful disregard for one's well-being". You've got plenty of time before the OCS, where you can scare the crap out of all attending.

...just remembering the days when we used to train on broken glass....<sigh> good times. :twisted:

Vince

[Coach Jones]

LOL :lol:

AM(Bear)

Well, I felt a little "tweak" in my right shoulder this morning, nothing major but enough to suggest that I not proceed with my Bruiser work today. Worked some WW instead and will hit it again later this afternoon. It feels much better and more like "normal" so it should be fine for this evenings Rabbit portion.

-Brandon Jones, CST

[Coach Jones]

AM(Bear)

I went ahead and skipped last nights rabbit portion. Shoulder still didn't feel quite right. It still feels a bit off and after working through some range-of-motion stuff I determined that this was due to overswinging in the behind the back portion of the back wrist circles from the other night. (shoulda known better).

Felt alot better today but due to the fact that it was the same shoulder that I tore apart a few months ago, I was a little nervous about working it this morning.

Gama Casts:
1 x 10

Armpit Casts:
5 x 7

Notes:
Not a bad little session today. It was hard to focus though. Thoughts of my once busted shoulder creeping into my head and all, so my technique suffered the first couple of sets. After that though everything started clicking again and the last 3 sets came off pretty well. It'll be interesting to see how tonight goes.

-Brandon Jones, CST

[Scott Sonnon]

Amigo, if those thoughts "creep" into your head, take a break. Remember, movement precedes thought. You may be cautioning yourself wisely. Maybe it's time to wrap up Rabbit-Bear and take some Active Recovery time. Or do you think it's residual fear-reactivity from the surgery elicited by the tweak?

[Coach Jones]

I think this is almost entirely fear-reactivity. I can remember having this exact type of feeling in the shoulder many times over the years before I actually caused my shoulder injury. I also think this because I noticed the FEAR creeping in the second I picked up the Bruisers this morning. They just felt heavier. Even though intellectually I knew what it was it still took a while to break through it. I will take it easy tonight though and it should be back to normal by Monday.

I am planning on changing my program though when my 25's arrive. :wink:

[Coach Jones]

Well, my 25's should be here any day now so i've decided to put the Bear and Rabbit down...

Sept. 25th - Oct. 24th
R.I.P

Couldn't be happier with the results. In about 4 weeks the following changes occurred:
Sept. 25th - Armpit Casts - Right side only 1x5 (Bruiser)
Oct. 24th - Armpit Casts - 5 x 7 both sides (Bruiser)

Sept. 25th - Mills - 100 each side (not timed)
Oct. 24th - Mills - 135-140 in 10 minutes

And the most improvement of all...
Sept. 25th - Swipes (after 10 minutes of rest following the Mills) 1 x 30 (not timed)
Oct. 24th - Swipes (after 2 - 3 minutes of rest following Mills) 1 x 100+
(in 5 minutes and 42 seconds)

It'll probably take me another day or so to get my next cycle together. Hopefully it'll be as productive as this one.

-Brandon Jones, CST

[Scott Sonnon]

Brandon,
Brother those are wicked PRs! Please write an article for the next CST on the Bear-Rabbit! People need to learn about your program!

[Coach Jones]

Will do!

Great cycle - fear reactivity is one of many forms of listening to your body. Sometimes your body is sending you a false signal based on some old info - fear reactivity - sometimes it's sending you a subtle hint before it breaks down - good intel. Never hurts to stop and figure out which is which. Will look for article.

[crubio]

Great Gains Brandon! Look forward to the article.

[Kathryn Woodall]

You do 500 mills and 500 swipes in 2 hours and you called me a rampaging monk???!!! :eek:

I learned a lot from reading this and it definitely goes to show that much can be gained by digging through the archives.

Thanks!
:)