I began the week thinking that I would work up to 10 sets of 3 reps in each of the drills in WRP. I thus did 4 sets of 3 reps per drill for my Monday session. By Wednesday, I decided to increase the reps per set instead of number of sets with each session. My hypothesis is that this will be a shorter path to 10 sets of 5 reps, than working up to 10 sets of 3 reps, then increasing the reps per set per session. So for Wednesday, I did 5 sets of 4 reps, and for Friday, I did 5 sets of 5 reps. I had just enough stamina do be able to do the sets of 5 reps without getting so exhausted that I could not control the club anynmore. This is not to say my club technique was perfect - I did have a rep here and there where I tried to bring the club back to Order position but then lost control of the club. Overall, however, I did not have any accidents resulting in injury.
On Tuesday, I did GMB Elements Session 9: Crab and Frogger. 30 min. sessions are just right for me to get some endurance training
On Thursday, I did GMB Elements Session 10: Backwards Bear, Monkey, Transitions between Bear and Monkey. This was also a 30 min. session. I found it more exhausting than the Tuesday session because Crab is not as demanding as the other animal movements in Elements.
One change I'm noticing in GMB Elements compared to my previous work through the program, is the Prepare and Push portions of the workout now vary more from session to session. Last time, both portions were the same in every session. This makes sense as we may have to vary how we prepare the body for training, depending on the movements we expect to train. Similarly in the Push section, which in Elements can be conditioning intervals followed by mobility drills for cooldown.
I noticed that the Effective Strength and Conditioning website has a summer discount code. I used it to buy the new Mark Wildman Introduction to Heavy Clubs program. This program is designed for two-handed heavy club, which Wildman defines as a club being 10 lbs or heavier. I don't plan to switch from WRP to this program at this time, because I'm focused on improving my endurance by working up to 20 sets of 5 per drill. Nevertheless, it's interesting to watch videos from this program to see what the training for 2-handed club would be like. One significant difference compared to WRP, besides 2-hand vs. 1-hand, is the cycling through 3 levels of movement sophistication instead of just building up volume at one weight.
I would like to eventually traing this two-handed club program with my 45 lb. club, which I bought from RMax back in the day. I've done two-handed swings and pendulums with the 45 lb. club. However, I have yet to do a shield cast or what Wildman calls a pullover. I've never felt strong enough to push the club over my shoulder to the back position. There appear to be a couple of paths to develop the strength to practice the pullover and all the other Level 1 exercises in Wildman's program with the 45 lb. club. One path is to build up my strength via other modalities - most likely the Isochain, and skill-based calisthenics - eg. front lever row progression, handstand pushup progression, etc. I would need the strength to push the club up over the shoulder, as well as the strength to pull against it as the club's center of gravity shifts from the front of my body to the back.
Another is to get an Adex adjustable Club or Arc - such a device would allow progression towards the 45 lb. club by incremental loading. I started watching Wildman's Adex Arc videos and am intrigued.
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