Setting out on a new journey…..Destination RKC Level II

Hello everyone.  I hope once again you are maintaining balance with your mind, body and soul with your life.  That you are working out smart and doing things that help you to be a better person.

September was another big step for Nikki and myself.  We decided to take our careers a step further by signing up for RKC Level II in April of 2012 in Minnesota.  We are going to be talking a lot in the next 8 months about the journey, but today I wanted to talk about how we are going to get started.

I am taking a piece of Alwyn Cosgrove’s advice and mapping out our journey.  This doesn’t mean that there will be road blocks along the way, but we are going to set a map to help us reach our goals of RKC LEVEL II.

I.  Determine the Goal –  Figure out your destination.

A.  Attend & Pass RKC Level II

1.  Strict Press (1/2 bodyweight for myself and 1/4 bodyweight for Nikki)

2.  Pistol (Single Leg Squat)

3.  Pull Up (with 24kg at foot for me, Nikki strict pull up)

4.  Bent Press

5.  Clean And Jerk

6.  Push Press & Viking Push Press

7.  Windmill

B.  Maintain and Pass all Level I Skills on 1st day of Level II

1.  Swing

2.  Turkish Get Up

3.  Squat

4.  Clean

5.  Press

6.  Snatch (maintain snatch test numbers 100 in 5 min)

II.  Determine a starting point – Where does your journey begin.

The first thing google maps will ask you when you ask for directions is where do you want to go and ALSO where you are starting your journey from.  I feel a lot of individuals miss the starting point when determining a proper training program.  This is why some goals are not achieved.  There are so many factors to take into consideration.

Some points to consider:

A.  Ailments/Injuries/Issues

1.  Right now I am injury free but I need to keep in mind that I have a neck and back that likes to get pissy when I overtrain.  Need to keep this in c0nsideration on a daily basis during this journey and back off if needed.

2.  I work with a massage therapist and a chiropractor who will help me with regular visits (monthly) along the way to help prevent any issues from arising.

B.  Functional Movement Screen

1.  Right now my FMS is above 14.  The only asymmetries I need to keep into consideration is my shoulder mobility and my active straight leg raise.  I need to make sure I keep symmetry with these two scores and continue to reassess SM and ASLR daily.  I need to make sure I get an FMS every 5 weeks.

C.  Current Strength

Of all the Level II exercises, I list them by which is hardest for me to accomplish in order.  From most challenging to least challenging goes like this: Press, Pullup, Pistol, Bent Press, Clean and Jerk, Windmill, Viking Push Press, and Push Press.

1.  Best I have ever pressed is a 36kg and have done 32kg for reps.  This is my starting point.

2.  Pullup I have currently accomplished with 10kg on my foot.

3.  Pistol I can do with a 14kg on my L, on my R I can do one time but get a pretty good cramp in my L quad (some type of compensation going on here)

4.  Bent Press is challenging for me due to the sheer technical side of the press, will need some expert advice on this.  (Spoke with Master RKC, David Whitley who is one of the best at the bent press.  He was kind enough to provide me some important pointers on the bent press.  He even told me is will provide huge gains in my strict press as well.  Here is a video by David Whitley on the Bent Press)

Video of my bent press practice

5.  Clean and Jerk is getting better now that I am not dealing with any neck or thoracic mobility issues.  The heavier I go the harder it gets.  Pretty pleased with up to 32kg as of now.

6.  Feel pretty good about the windmill (and how it can help me to a better bent press) as well as the push press and viking push press.  I don’t want to get cocky and forget about these movements, but will address them weekly to maintain.

7.  Just recertified in San Diego on all Level I skills so I just want to maintain these skills and make them as crisp and sharp as I can.  Want to maintain my snatch test numbers as well.

III.  Determine how long the journey will take – time to train

A.  Date of Level II – April 27th – 29th

B.  Weeks to train = 34 overall

C.  Amount of workouts per week (our goal is to try and get 4-5 workouts in per week).  5 workouts per week at 34 weeks is about 170 workouts.  We do want to be realistic here as we have trips planned and will miss some workouts.  So we are going to try for a goal of 150 workouts before level II.

There you have it.  Nikki and I will post updates as we come along in our training.  I am planning on doing a lot of sets of singles to achieve what I am looking for and make modifications as needed.  The hard part will be making sure I don’t progress too quickly and also to take off weeks.

Please feel free to comment back on how you have mapped out your journey for RKC Level I or II Or for any of your health and fitness goals.  Would love some feedback.