1 Thing Every Athlete Needs

WEBVTT 1 00:00:22.820 --> 00:00:37.450 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Right and welcome. And to this episode of the platform, podcast I'm your host, Jordan Kunde-Wright. And this week I wanted to talk to you all about something I think 2 00:00:37.630 --> 00:00:40.560 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: every athlete needs. 3 00:00:41.770 --> 00:00:55.410 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and it shouldn't come as a surprise if you've if you've heard me talk about my approaches to building programs and nutrition, and how I think it is very important that we act 4 00:00:55.570 --> 00:00:57.009 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: like an athlete. 5 00:00:57.150 --> 00:01:12.939 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Even a lot of people don't think of themselves as as athletes. And I think that that is problematic. And that's a topic for another conversation or another. Podcast but I think it's really important that we think of ourselves as athletes, and we think about 6 00:01:13.290 --> 00:01:19.010 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: taking our lives in seasons and periodization. 7 00:01:19.180 --> 00:01:20.150 And so 8 00:01:20.380 --> 00:01:24.419 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: what I want to talk to everybody about today is 9 00:01:24.700 --> 00:01:29.069 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: the one thing every athlete needs is and off season. 10 00:01:30.210 --> 00:01:32.439 Now, why is that the 11 00:01:32.580 --> 00:01:44.240 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: one thing? Well, it's not the one thing. It's the thing that I think every athlete needs that I see a lot of athletes not following through on 12 00:01:44.470 --> 00:01:45.789 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: we get. 13 00:01:47.620 --> 00:01:52.410 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: There is a tendency to think that more 14 00:01:52.510 --> 00:01:58.639 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: is better. and that we are going to be able to 15 00:02:01.010 --> 00:02:06.440 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: just go, go, go, go, go, go! Go! Go all the time without 16 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:09.220 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: stopping, without 17 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:17.270 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: taking time away. and we'll actually have athletes reach out to me and say. I'm really sorry 18 00:02:17.390 --> 00:02:21.040 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: I need to take a break from Kettlebell training. 19 00:02:21.350 --> 00:02:45.789 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: I need to. I need to step away for a minute. I it's not you. It's me I just I just need a break, and to which I always kinda chuckle, because, like that's part of the plan we we plan for that. I don't. I don't expect my athletes to train Kettlebell sport specifically 20 00:02:46.410 --> 00:02:51.430 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: year-round for years on end without taking any time off. 21 00:02:51.540 --> 00:02:52.390 It's 22 00:02:53.190 --> 00:03:05.630 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: it. It's almost asinine when you think that way, like like when you when you say it out loud like, Oh, II just expected, you know, th is the expectation that you do this one activity 23 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:10.210 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: for the rest of your life without taking any breaks. 24 00:03:11.100 --> 00:03:24.519 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: I would hope that that sounds ridiculous to you, because it is kind of ridiculous to think of it that way. There are multiple reasons why we want to take 25 00:03:25.230 --> 00:03:32.849 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: an off season, and I'll I'll start first with what those reasons are. So 26 00:03:33.250 --> 00:03:38.800 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: the first. and I think the primary reason is that it reduces 27 00:03:39.270 --> 00:03:42.859 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: the risk of overuse injury. Now. 28 00:03:43.130 --> 00:03:44.519 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Kettlebell, sport 29 00:03:44.650 --> 00:03:50.200 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: is a cyclical sport, which means we are doing the same thing 30 00:03:50.900 --> 00:03:57.089 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: over and over, and over, and over and over and over and over 31 00:03:57.690 --> 00:04:13.499 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: again at Infinitum right or at least as long as you can tolerate it, and as long as you don't get hurt. Now, if you manage your workload appropriately and you periodize your programming 32 00:04:13.880 --> 00:04:18.100 in such a way that you have undulations 33 00:04:18.370 --> 00:04:21.350 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and brakes and D loads 34 00:04:21.459 --> 00:04:32.370 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: within your programming like you should, then the need for a full on off season away from the bells entirely 35 00:04:32.540 --> 00:04:35.809 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: is not analogous to an off season. 36 00:04:36.150 --> 00:04:40.279 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: You can do an off season program 37 00:04:40.580 --> 00:04:42.740 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: using kettlebells. 38 00:04:43.770 --> 00:04:44.720 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: But 39 00:04:45.020 --> 00:04:52.660 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: that doesn't mean that in the offseason you will be doing jerk, snatch long cycle clean 40 00:04:52.720 --> 00:05:04.409 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you know, and other such Kettlebell sport specific movements. And the reason for that is, if you have been training for let's just say 9 months 41 00:05:04.860 --> 00:05:08.620 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: doing those movements. then 42 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:31.790 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you will likely need to change the movement patterns that you're doing now. You actually see this in represented in the Russian school, or at least the St. Petersburg school. I shouldn't shouldn't lump all Russian schools together, because there are many different schools of thought within, even within Russia, of different different methodologies of of approaching Kettlebell sport training. But 43 00:05:32.200 --> 00:05:42.949 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: from the St. Petersburg School, which is Denis Vasilev, is probably the most the most famous, at least in America. You know, athlete to come out of the St. Petersburg school. 44 00:05:43.500 --> 00:05:48.469 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: They typically have their athletes train in a primary discipline 45 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:50.850 which is either 46 00:05:50.920 --> 00:05:53.919 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: biathlon or log cycle. 47 00:05:54.160 --> 00:06:08.730 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and what they do is they have them typically trained for about 9 months of the 12 months in a year. So 3 of the 4 quarters of the year are dedicated to their primary discipline, and then their off season 48 00:06:09.020 --> 00:06:18.850 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: is shifting from whatever their primary discipline, be it long cycle or a biathlon, and they do a three-month training block of the other discipline. 49 00:06:19.050 --> 00:06:30.300 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: So if you were a long cycle specialist who was doing a lot of long cycle over the course of 9 months. Then you would toggle to Biathlon and do Biathlon for 3 months of the year. 50 00:06:30.660 --> 00:06:48.179 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and then taught, and then switch back. There are benefits to this school or to the school of thought, which is that by never putting the bells down they never lose the sport. Specific adaptation that they've gotten from from doing their primary discipline. 51 00:06:48.200 --> 00:06:56.590 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you know 9 months of the year, and then switching to a secondary discipline that is still sport specific. So they are going to stay much more 52 00:06:56.990 --> 00:07:06.909 sports specifically focused and sports specifically adapted. So there's certainly benefit to that, and it still has the same primary benefit of reducing 53 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:10.210 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: the overuse injury risk. Now 54 00:07:10.410 --> 00:07:14.839 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: I am a big fan of triathlon training 55 00:07:15.200 --> 00:07:16.330 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: because 56 00:07:16.510 --> 00:07:21.609 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: it reduces the overuse injury. Risk all the time. 57 00:07:21.900 --> 00:07:30.170 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: By doing by doing those 3 different movements consistently. You are getting a more varied. 58 00:07:31.070 --> 00:07:37.230 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: a more varied approach to movement, and you're getting more more movement types in the same. 59 00:07:37.580 --> 00:07:48.979 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: in the same, in your regular training cycles, so I think it actually overall reduces the the injury risk from overuse training significantly more than if you do long cycle 60 00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:55.629 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: for 9 months, and then switched to Biathlon for 3 months. Now 61 00:07:56.540 --> 00:08:08.349 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: that's not to say that my approach is better. Obviously I think it is, or it wouldn't be my philosophy. I have my reasons for it, which I've begun to articulate. 62 00:08:09.070 --> 00:08:20.199 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: but I can see validity to this this school of thought right? And it's obviously worked very well. For people. But one of the things that I don't think it accounts for is 63 00:08:20.290 --> 00:08:25.249 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: that there is still a lot of carryover 64 00:08:25.740 --> 00:08:28.439 in the type of movement that you're doing 65 00:08:28.990 --> 00:08:30.430 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: when you switch from 66 00:08:30.540 --> 00:08:39.150 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: jerk to long cycle or long cycle to jerk right like, for example, right in all 3 movements. 67 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:50.379 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: You are going to carry a lot of overhead volume because the sport by definition is fixating the bell's overhead. So you're going to carry a lot of overhead 68 00:08:50.820 --> 00:08:54.520 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: volume, and there's going to be a lot of shoulder 69 00:08:54.860 --> 00:08:57.559 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: requirement to do that. So 70 00:08:57.890 --> 00:09:01.019 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: if you never stop going overhead 71 00:09:01.250 --> 00:09:26.279 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: for an extended period of time you can still run into over pattern, overload and pattern overload injuries. It's a lot less likely to happen if you're switching between the 3 movements regularly, because the the paths are slightly different. The style is slightly different. The way you get overhead is different. Obviously, jerk has the highest level of overhead volume associated with it. 72 00:09:26.330 --> 00:09:28.240 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Long cycle 73 00:09:28.340 --> 00:09:52.770 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: probably be second, depending on how you vary your training cycles snatch snatch can actually be higher in total volume because the rep count but the intensity is lower because it's only single belt, right? So but also with snatch, you get some transverse plane activation because you're getting a little bit more rotation because it's single bell. You can rotate more so you can get. You can get a little bit of different 74 00:09:52.920 --> 00:10:08.090 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: movement, plane variability, variability that you don't get. But you're gonna see that that reduced risk of of overuse injury when you get movement variety. And so what I like to advocate for is. 75 00:10:09.330 --> 00:10:13.070 I would say, 9 to 11 months 76 00:10:13.180 --> 00:10:16.190 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: of Kettlebell sport-specific training. 77 00:10:16.460 --> 00:10:19.640 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: with then an off season. 78 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:32.250 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: where we step away from the bells almost entirely. I have a lot of my athletes right now in what I like to call our holiday hypertrophy season, where we are going to 79 00:10:32.820 --> 00:10:40.460 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: step away from the bells and focus on building larger, more voluminous muscles 80 00:10:40.650 --> 00:10:46.219 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and focusing on those movements and focusing on them, on the, on the 81 00:10:46.260 --> 00:10:48.360 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: those movements and the types of 82 00:10:48.430 --> 00:11:01.439 implements that create hypertrophy response and moving in ways that we haven't been moving. So one of the things that you don't get very much of at all in Kettlebell. Sport is side to side. 83 00:11:01.650 --> 00:11:07.400 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Right? You're you're not gonna be moving in that frontal plane very much, at least not 84 00:11:07.420 --> 00:11:18.950 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: horizontally right. So like doing side to side lunges and doing a lot more rotational things. So rotational cleans or 85 00:11:19.140 --> 00:11:46.589 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: barbell Torques is one of my favorite core exercises right? And that's not to say that these things can't be present in your Gpp for your programming while you're doing cattle sport. And they absolutely should be again a topic for another con. Another podcast is approaches to Gpp, and how we think about Gpp programming to reducing injury risk. But in the offseason. I really like to focus on giving people 86 00:11:47.330 --> 00:12:02.670 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: different implements to use different types of movements to use and being able to really focus on what are the, what are the ways that we need to move to keep the body in balance so that we can reduce the risk of overuse injury. 87 00:12:03.230 --> 00:12:15.019 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: So that's reason, number one, why every athlete needs an off season. It reduces the risk of overuse injury by ideally changing the types of movements that you are doing for an extended period of time. 88 00:12:17.180 --> 00:12:29.570 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: But number 2. And why? I why, I emphasize stepping away from the bells in the off season, whereas the the Russian Saint Petersburg school does not is that, I think. 89 00:12:29.810 --> 00:12:32.749 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: stepping away from the bells and taking an off season. 90 00:12:33.800 --> 00:12:41.120 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: reduces the likelihood of mental burnout. This sport is mentally challenging. 91 00:12:41.160 --> 00:12:46.830 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: In my opinion it is the hardest sport I have ever done. and 92 00:12:47.180 --> 00:12:52.279 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: a lot of that is the mental grind of you work sometimes for 93 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:55.069 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: months to gain a couple of reps. 94 00:12:55.270 --> 00:12:58.910 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and that's early on in your journey you might work for 95 00:12:59.350 --> 00:13:07.950 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: 6 months and go up 10 reps. but as you get closer and closer to your cap or to your your athletic potential. 96 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:11.610 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you might work for a year to get 97 00:13:11.740 --> 00:13:12.879 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: 2 reps. 98 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:19.900 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: or you might work for even multiple years to to be able to go from 99 00:13:20.740 --> 00:13:37.920 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Cms to master sport or rank one to Cms. And the difference between Cms and master Sport might only be a handful of ups. Right. I can't tell you how many people I've talked to, and you'll probably you know you see it. If you follow Kettlebell sport athletes on social media. You see the people that are like. 100 00:13:38.070 --> 00:13:42.039 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: oh, my God! I have been working so hard for 101 00:13:42.060 --> 00:13:46.230 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: 2 years to get the 3 reps that 102 00:13:46.340 --> 00:14:01.370 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: put me over the hump. The last time I got rank one I was at, you know, X number of reps, and I've been working for 2 years. And I finally added the 3 reps necessary and and was able to do it on the platform and competition, and finally got Cms or finally got master support. 103 00:14:01.610 --> 00:14:19.829 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: because the closer you get to your ceiling, the longer it takes to get to get that adaptation and to to move a little bit further down the line, and that can be very mentally draining right again. You're doing the same things over and over and over again. It can get boring. It can get 104 00:14:20.330 --> 00:14:23.079 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: it can get tiresome right? Like 105 00:14:23.170 --> 00:14:31.739 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: it's hard to just keep doing the same things over and over again, especially if you're not seeing progress that you want to see. 106 00:14:33.550 --> 00:14:34.930 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you can. Really. 107 00:14:35.090 --> 00:14:41.590 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you can really wear yourself down. And I've seen so many people. I mean, I've been doing this sport now. 108 00:14:42.780 --> 00:15:01.989 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you know I got I was just doing the math. The other I got I got. I got my personal training certification in like 2,008, I got my. I got my first kettle about sports certification in 2,010 or 2,009, and then my next kitten, then my first Kettlebell certification in 2,009, then my next kettle about sports certifications in 2,010. So 109 00:15:02.060 --> 00:15:15.410 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: for 1314 years I've been, I've been, you know, focused on this on this sport and been around this sport. And I've seen so many people come into this sport with with a vengeance, and they just like 110 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:26.650 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: balls to the wall, and they hammer it, hammer and hammer it, and they're doin awesome, and you'll see people. They'll come in and they'll they'll perform at a really high level for like 2, 3 years. and then they just 111 00:15:27.980 --> 00:15:51.239 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: there gone like a ghost you're like, oh, what? What happened to what happened to so and so I won't name names because I don't wanna throw anybody under the bus or feel like I'm calling them out like, it's totally fine to to move on to other activities right like this is my thing. It doesn't have to be your thing. It can be a thing that you did. And then you decided you wanna move on to another thing that's totally fine, totally respectable, right? Like 112 00:15:51.240 --> 00:16:00.260 it's your life you do. You boo, boo! Right, have fun! Make it work for you. Make it something that you really in enjoy doing. But 113 00:16:00.470 --> 00:16:03.220 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: for 114 00:16:03.900 --> 00:16:05.960 for those of us who 115 00:16:08.310 --> 00:16:12.079 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: want to keep going at this for a long period of time. 116 00:16:12.520 --> 00:16:26.140 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: I think it's really important that you take and take an off season, and I think the people that do take an off season are much more likely to keep going and stick with this in the for the long haul than people who don't right. 117 00:16:26.340 --> 00:16:30.979 And and it just it just makes it just makes so much sense to me like 118 00:16:31.020 --> 00:16:40.320 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: there's a reason. Professional athletes at the end of their chosen sport take time away from their sport 119 00:16:40.330 --> 00:17:03.939 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: immediately following the championship, or. you know, if you were so fortunate to go deep into your playoffs and make the championship round and win the championship right? You might have a very long season, like if you're thinking about a football team. An Nfl. Football team, since it's football season right now you're talking an 18 week regular season, and then another 4 weeks 120 00:17:03.940 --> 00:17:14.249 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: of playoffs, and that actually gets stretched out into into several because of bi-weeks. And you know, things like that. If you actually win the Super bowl, you don't finish until February. 121 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:41.379 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: right? So that is a very long season, and it takes a lot out of you mentally, it's a lot of preparation. It's a lot of focus. And so people need time to step away and regain some mental clarity, some mental space. Right? You think about hockey. It's also hockey season right now, and I'm a big hockey fan and a lot of you know that. Right? It's an 82 game season in the regular season. It lasts many, many, many months right, and 122 00:17:41.750 --> 00:17:50.319 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: at the end of that there has been a couple of months of playoffs. So if you make a deep play off, run and win the Stanley Cup. You know 123 00:17:50.370 --> 00:18:01.619 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you can have been playing hockey for 10 months straight. you know, and that that takes a lot out of your body right, and that takes a lot out of you mentally. So 124 00:18:01.640 --> 00:18:03.260 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: the need for 125 00:18:03.840 --> 00:18:06.720 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: a time to step away is 126 00:18:07.610 --> 00:18:22.660 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: very important, mentally reducing the likelihood of burnout. So if if it's been, you know, multiple years since you have stepped away from Kettlebell sport or stepped away from any particular discipline, I think you really need to look at. 127 00:18:23.370 --> 00:18:32.020 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: When's the last time I took an actual offseason because the pros take an offseason, they step away from their chosen discipline to really make sure that they have 128 00:18:32.260 --> 00:18:47.359 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: time to refocus, and so that when they do come back they're excited to get back to it anytime you've been forced to step away from the bells like I was when I had my shoulder surgery. I was incredibly excited to get back to the bells. 129 00:18:47.840 --> 00:18:58.910 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: because I'd been away from them long enough, and that's part of the reason that I know that this sport is for me, and why I love it, knowing that when I have to take a break. 130 00:18:59.140 --> 00:19:05.929 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: That I can't wait to get back to it right? So don't ever let yourself get to the point where 131 00:19:07.310 --> 00:19:10.469 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you aren't sure you want to come back to it 132 00:19:10.610 --> 00:19:14.769 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: right? Step away and take plan breaks into your 133 00:19:14.840 --> 00:19:36.460 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: training schedule so that you don't get that burnout right. And that can be D loads, too, built into your program. Right? You shouldn't just be hammering all the time. Right? There can be breaks between your training cycles you can do. Now, those aren't technically an off season phase. We actually call that in in my pro, and at least in my program. And we call those recovery phases. So 134 00:19:36.730 --> 00:19:50.419 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you might have done a 6 week a 6 week prep. Cycle, or, I'm sorry a 6 month prep. Cycle to get ready for a competition. You do your competition. And then for a lot of my athletes, I haven't step away for 2 weeks after their competition. 135 00:19:50.570 --> 00:20:07.120 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Right? And that's as much as anything to recover physically. But it can also be very useful mentally, because hopefully, you've prepped really hard and you pushed hard, and then you went out and competed really hard, and it might be mentally tired. So step away from the bells for a week or 2. Right? That's a recovery period 136 00:20:07.300 --> 00:20:08.790 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and off season 137 00:20:08.800 --> 00:20:16.539 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: can be a much longer period. Now the duration of the duration of the off season is going to depend on. 138 00:20:16.920 --> 00:20:42.939 The nature and length of your competitive season. So in the in the hockey example, I gave right. If you have an 82 game competitive season, and you make the playoffs, and you go deep into the playoffs, and then you have to start the regular season again. You might not get as long of an off season, as maybe even you want or need but that is the nature of being successful in in a seat, in a sport that has a long season. But when you're 139 00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:54.069 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: accountable sport, athlete, who is choosing what competitions you compete at. how frequently you compete right? The good and bad of Covid 140 00:20:54.170 --> 00:21:03.800 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: is that now there are so many competitions. and there are so many online competitions, competitions that you can, that you can just submit a video for 141 00:21:03.850 --> 00:21:18.739 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: which I love. By the way, I think that's awesome. That you could honestly like compete almost every week of the year if you wanted to, you could just compete and compete and compete and compete. And I don't recommend doing that obviously. But you could if you wanted to. 142 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:22.969 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: I think it's super important that you think about? 143 00:21:23.040 --> 00:21:31.479 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: How long do you want your competitive season to be? Where do you want to peak? Looking at what competitions matter the most to you and picking. 144 00:21:31.760 --> 00:21:53.600 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: I would say at most 4 in a in a single year. That you're going to compete at and compete with the intent of doing your best. Now you compete more. You can compete more regularly than that as part of your program design to get you more competitive sets and to get time under tension in competition setting, but with the understanding that 145 00:21:53.850 --> 00:22:04.110 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: at a given competition you might be going for the full 10 min. But you're not going for the full 10 min at your highest pace at your highest weight, expecting to perform your best right like 146 00:22:04.490 --> 00:22:08.659 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: I've seen plenty of high level lifters come, show up 147 00:22:09.090 --> 00:22:22.259 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: compete, and it's part of their training cycle where like, Oh, this, this is 8 weeks out from the competition they want to peek at. So they come compete, and they are having a great set and set the bells down at 7 min 148 00:22:22.550 --> 00:22:28.569 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: right, not because they're in any distress, not because they're doing badly 149 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:33.459 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: or because, you know, not because they couldn't go any longer, but just because that was the plan. 150 00:22:33.470 --> 00:22:44.440 They were there as part of their training cycle doing a competition. But they don't go the full 10 min, or they're testing to see, how long can I hold this higher pace that I'm 151 00:22:44.450 --> 00:22:48.109 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: looking to be able to sustain at my peak. 152 00:22:48.580 --> 00:22:50.719 How long can I sustain that that? 153 00:22:51.310 --> 00:22:56.289 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: That pacing right now? Right? So you'll see examples of that 154 00:22:56.570 --> 00:23:21.600 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: where people will compete more frequently, but as part of their planned as part of their planned training cycle. So depending on on how long your season is going to be, and what you focus on for your competitions. You should then have a plan for recovery periods after those competitions, and you should have a plan, for after the peak of your after the peak of your your season, you've done a competitive season. 155 00:23:21.670 --> 00:23:24.869 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: You should have an off season phase that you plan. 156 00:23:24.930 --> 00:23:54.040 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and it can vary in duration from, I would say, at minimum 4 weeks and at maximum 12 weeks. Right? Cause if you take, if you take more than 3 months away from your chosen implement. You're you're probably not in an off season anymore. Now, you're kinda starting to lose some of your sports specific adaptation in a way that's gonna take longer to recover from it. So generally, I would. I would try and say that your off season should probably be 157 00:23:54.450 --> 00:24:13.509 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: a month to to 3 months. That that would be the range that I would generally prescribe. There could be exceptions to that. If you've been. If you've been competing, non, stop for 5 years at a very high level or something, you wanna take 6 months and do nothing but Barbell training, or, you know, other types of of strength training, other types of conditioning work. 158 00:24:13.550 --> 00:24:16.129 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Whatever other athletic endeavors. 159 00:24:17.410 --> 00:24:26.139 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: somebody that's worked that long consistently, might might justify having an off season of that duration, but in general, I think 160 00:24:26.330 --> 00:24:31.090 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: the best approach from for a long term sustainable cadence is 161 00:24:31.800 --> 00:24:39.680 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: 9 9 to 11, 9 to 11 months on and one month to 3 months off 162 00:24:40.130 --> 00:24:41.410 right? And so 163 00:24:41.540 --> 00:24:46.289 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: the the third. The third reason every athlete needs an off season. 164 00:24:46.560 --> 00:25:02.100 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and I've kind of been alluding to it as we talked about it. Is it allows you time to focus on improving right and and what I mean by improving is kind of in 3 dimensions. It it allows you a chance to 165 00:25:02.280 --> 00:25:13.729 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: increase your foundational fitness. Like just the wider the base, the higher the peak can be. And so you might need time away from. 166 00:25:13.870 --> 00:25:32.790 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you know, a sport, specific training, modality to just work on your overall what we would call Gpp. General physical preparedness in the Kettlebell sport world, but just foundational fitness working on building a wider base, you know. So, using myself as an example. Right now. 167 00:25:32.830 --> 00:25:36.720 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: the the wider foundation that I need is just aerobic. 168 00:25:37.010 --> 00:25:48.519 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: aerobic conditioning and restoring some of the functional foundational strength, like the ability to squat dead lift do pull ups. Do you know 169 00:25:48.850 --> 00:26:06.090 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: those types of things like just foundational strength? I need to focus more on those because I've been too. either. Hyper focused on Kettlebell sports specific stuff because I just love doing it. So it's really easy for me to get that strength training in. But I haven't been as dedicated about doing my other foundational fitness. 170 00:26:06.170 --> 00:26:18.019 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and I'm certainly not nearly as dedicated doing my cardio, because I don't really like long, slow, Cardio, but it is what I need to do to get better at the sport. So this off season 171 00:26:18.450 --> 00:26:19.830 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: my focus 172 00:26:19.860 --> 00:26:22.930 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: can be on foundational fitness 173 00:26:23.080 --> 00:26:33.079 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: building a wider base. So I can have a higher peak. Another another dimension that you can focus on improving is increasing your athleticism. 174 00:26:33.260 --> 00:26:55.779 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: So this is different than this is different than just baseline foundational fitness. Because we're not just like talking about cardio and mobility. We're talking about like rate of force production. So speed, explosive power, things that are going to require a higher intensity, style of training. That might require like if some, if if I was looking at somebody. 175 00:26:55.780 --> 00:27:07.269 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: One of my athletes, and I thought that one of their weaknesses in their game is is is power. For example. Well, we can do some power work in Kettlebell sport. But one of the 176 00:27:07.310 --> 00:27:12.420 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: best ways you can improve power output is Olympic weightlifting. So I might 177 00:27:12.430 --> 00:27:31.930 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: move them to some Barbell specific training where we're gonna focus on moving that bar quickly and really working on our explosiveness. And you can think about plyometric work like box jumps bounding, sprinting. Those types of things are really good ways to work on your power output. How quickly can you produce high levels of force? 178 00:27:31.930 --> 00:27:42.969 Right? That is a different style of training, and it's something. It's a physical attribute that is required for Kettlebell sport. But we don't want to be power athletes in Kettlebell sport because 179 00:27:43.510 --> 00:28:06.009 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: power output requires a high level of like of glycolytic energy to be used, and it creates a lot of lactate. Now you can't do it for a long time. Go back and listen to my energy systems. 101 talk! You can hear a little bit more about the the specifics of that. But if you need to work on your power output, that is a style of training that you can 180 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:21.950 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: design for, and that you can really focus on for a set period of time. Right? And so that's just one example is is power output for other. For other athletes it might be strength. It might be baseline strength. And 181 00:28:22.270 --> 00:28:40.699 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: that can that can really look a lot like a strength block or a hypertrophy block. Hypertrophy and strength are correlated, but not the same thing. Hypertrophy is generally the size of the muscles, and strength is the ability of them of those muscles to move weight at maximal, at maximal output. 182 00:28:40.700 --> 00:29:03.529 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Typically, we, we order those things. We would want to do hypertrophy training. First cause you're gonna get stronger while you build bigger muscles. But then you want to be able to. Once you've reached the muscle mass that you want to have. You don't necessarily want to get bigger, especially in Kettlebell support. You might want to. Just get those muscles that you have stronger at being able to push 183 00:29:03.540 --> 00:29:05.859 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: more weight without gaining size. 184 00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:17.009 So fine. Line there. But that's another focus that you can have in in the off season. So another another aspect might be technical skills. 185 00:29:17.240 --> 00:29:19.710 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: right? So 186 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:21.720 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: this can be 187 00:29:21.990 --> 00:29:44.469 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: a way that you look at your off season separately from your in season training where you're still, you're still doing your sport. But you're focusing on certain technical aspects of your sport. So where, in in your training season, in your competition season, if you're a long cyclist, you might really be focused on doing a lot of long cycle. 188 00:29:44.740 --> 00:29:55.689 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: And then, in the process of doing your long cycle you might realize that the weak spot in your long cycle output is really your jerk under squat 189 00:29:55.730 --> 00:30:01.669 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: right? So you might really do a lot of drilling on. Undersquat your second dip 190 00:30:01.800 --> 00:30:03.610 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: right? 191 00:30:03.850 --> 00:30:11.469 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Or it might be that you realize that your cleans need a lot of work right? So you could do an off season where you're not going overhead 192 00:30:11.750 --> 00:30:27.439 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: at all. Right as part of your off season approach where you you decide. You know I want to focus on getting better on my cleans, but my shoulders need a break from going overhead. So much. So I'm just going to focus on my cleans 193 00:30:27.580 --> 00:30:38.670 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: right? That can be another another way that you can focus your offseason on improving right. So there's kind of 2 philosophies on how we think about. 194 00:30:39.030 --> 00:30:43.849 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: on how we think about. where should I focus on improving? 195 00:30:44.110 --> 00:30:54.139 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: There are the coaches that think that you should really lean into your strengths and really just focus your focus on getting better at what you're already good, at becoming the best at what you're already good at. 196 00:30:54.150 --> 00:31:01.000 And then there are people that think that you should really use the off season to focus on addressing weaknesses 197 00:31:01.070 --> 00:31:09.180 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and really focus on improving in the areas that you need to improve at. I'm more of the second philosophy. 198 00:31:09.500 --> 00:31:20.869 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: because I think that Kettlebell sport in particular demands a really well-rounded athlete, and it is incredibly challenging to keep all of those dimensions of fitness 199 00:31:20.990 --> 00:31:27.320 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: developed, honed, and working together cumulatively to 200 00:31:28.420 --> 00:31:38.899 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: to to really make you the best all around athlete that you can be. So this is this is what Steve Gordon and I are working on, you know, like called the the full stack athlete project so 201 00:31:39.260 --> 00:31:46.189 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and take a little break. And I'm gonna come back and talk more about how you should approach the offseason. 202 00:31:51.570 --> 00:31:53.780 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Okay. so 203 00:31:54.480 --> 00:31:55.660 how should 204 00:31:55.910 --> 00:31:59.840 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you approach your off season? Hopefully, I've established 205 00:31:59.980 --> 00:32:06.739 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: why, I think you need an off season. And in a compelling way, now. what do you do 206 00:32:06.840 --> 00:32:13.399 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: to approach your off season? The the right way? Well, I think Step one 207 00:32:13.960 --> 00:32:27.560 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: is assessing your strengths and weaknesses. and I'm and I'm talking not just physical. But most of these are gonna be, are, gonna be physiological cause. Those are very objective and easy to measure. So 208 00:32:27.730 --> 00:32:29.869 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: number one is body composition. 209 00:32:29.890 --> 00:32:30.960 Are you 210 00:32:31.630 --> 00:32:34.010 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: over fat too? Skinny? 211 00:32:34.210 --> 00:32:42.160 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Are you competing at the right weight class? Right? Is is the weight class that you're in the best weight class for you. 212 00:32:42.410 --> 00:32:45.460 Because for some people, if they just lost 213 00:32:45.940 --> 00:33:04.919 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: 10 pounds they would be a more effective athlete. They'd be better. They they would see their ability to move weight stay relatively the same, but the number, the number of reps that they need to get go down to achieve a certain rank, or that they would see that their ability to maintain pacing 214 00:33:04.920 --> 00:33:30.099 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: significantly improves if they improve their body composition. So that's that's one area. You know. What are you at? The right body? Composition? Assess your Max strength. And I talked about this a little bit before Max. Strength is, how much can you move in a one rep. You know, one to one to 3 rep range. Right? How maximally strong are you? And that is an important that is an important dimension. Kettlebell. Sport is a strength, endurance, sport. So 215 00:33:30.130 --> 00:33:34.330 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you're certainly not going to be focused on Max strength. 216 00:33:34.390 --> 00:33:35.640 But having 217 00:33:35.930 --> 00:33:55.410 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Max strength is still very, very valuable in this sport. You're not gonna be trying to have a 700 pound deadlift. But you know, if you've seen, you know guys like Ivan Denisov, you know, go deadlift or squat like they can still squat a lot of weight. Their their Max power is still very, very high, because they have trained strength in general 218 00:33:55.520 --> 00:34:01.889 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: to such a high level that the carryover is very strong, and there is value to getting just maximally stronger. 219 00:34:02.540 --> 00:34:19.949 Explosive power. I talked about that as well. So the ability to generate force quickly, maximal force as quickly as possible is the definition of power right? So the the higher. The force output in the shortest duration of time is are the most powerful athletes. That's the definition of power. Now. 220 00:34:20.139 --> 00:34:24.030 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: strength, endurance is being able to 221 00:34:24.199 --> 00:34:29.739 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: maintain that what's the rate of degradation from your maximum strength? 222 00:34:30.120 --> 00:34:32.950 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: And how does that decay over time? 223 00:34:33.179 --> 00:34:43.900 This is one area that strong men are really really good at they're they're not generally considered endurance athletes, but I guarantee you, if you go try and do strongman 224 00:34:44.040 --> 00:34:58.499 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: the overall volume and the ability to stay strong over time and put up a lot of reps over the course of several events. Is strength, endurance. 225 00:34:58.600 --> 00:35:09.069 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: right? And that is a really really valuable asset to have in strength sports obviously, but incredible sport, especially because it is an endurance event. 226 00:35:11.310 --> 00:35:17.070 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Separately. But correlated is cardio endurance 227 00:35:17.090 --> 00:35:22.170 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: right? And as most people are probably familiar with. That is your ability to 228 00:35:22.520 --> 00:35:30.120 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: continue going for an extended period of time. This is typically sub maximal. How long can you just 229 00:35:30.360 --> 00:35:36.429 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: go and stay at an exercise intensity for extended periods of time. 230 00:35:36.540 --> 00:36:10.059 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: We are endurance athletes by definition in this sport, which I wish somebody told me at the start. I really thought it was a strength just like a strength sport. But yeah, I'd probably still be here, but I thought it would be easier than it than it is to develop that that capacity. But yeah, Cardio endurance. How long can you go at sub maximal effort, and the the rate of decay of your body's ability to turn over oxygen. And really process energy is is cardio endurance 231 00:36:10.060 --> 00:36:20.849 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: agility is the ability to change directions and move quickly side to side or front to back, or, you know, in in various planes of motion. 232 00:36:21.140 --> 00:36:35.729 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: not as much direct carryover in Kettlebell sport, but being an agile athlete is very, very valuable. So something you might want to incorporate in your training, even though it doesn't have direct. 233 00:36:36.210 --> 00:36:43.390 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: carry over directly to cattle sport. But if you do other things like play basketball, racquetball, pickleball. tennis. 234 00:36:43.470 --> 00:37:09.699 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: skiing, snowboarding, you know. etc., etc., football, rugby hockey agility is a very valuable sport. So any field sports agility is a very, very valuable asset. So might be something you wanna consider training in your off season, but something you can assess to see. Where. Where do you need to address strengths and weaknesses in the off season? And this list is actually intended to be 235 00:37:09.700 --> 00:37:23.030 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: sport agnostic, right? So you can look at this, this list of items and their 12 items on here. You can look at this this list of 12 items and and decide which of them, you know, are most important for your sport, and then 236 00:37:23.570 --> 00:37:29.399 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: assess where you're where you're at on them, and decide what your focus should be in the off season. 237 00:37:31.180 --> 00:37:50.310 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: I said. I said. Cardio. Endurance, I said, agility, speed is number 7. So speed is. how fast can you move? What's your top end? How quickly can you get up to speed? That's acceleration, technically. So I guess I should have put acceleration and speed. Acceleration usually correlates to power. 238 00:37:50.340 --> 00:38:17.419 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Again, power output is the ability to generate maximal force in the shortest amount of time acceleration is is similar. How quickly can you get your body up to its maximal speed? Now there are some people that are just have a higher top end. They're just really really fast. But it might take them to get longer to to get up to speed. I think, like somebody like Derek Henry in the Nfl. If you're familiar with football, is a good example, the guy is a monster. He's 6 foot 4, 239 00:38:17.420 --> 00:38:42.320 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: 255 pounds, and runs a 4, 5, 40. But his acceleration, his 10 yard split, was not the greatest, because it takes him a little while to get that much mass moving, but he has a much higher top end than even smaller than even running backs, who are smaller than him, who can't move as fast as he can. So that's speed, right speed, and acceleration 240 00:38:42.730 --> 00:38:55.340 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: again, depending on the sports that you play. how important speed is will will vary, and how much work you want to do on speed training is going to vary. But speed training has carry over into power right? Like, like, I was just talking about 241 00:38:55.420 --> 00:38:59.389 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: number 8 is muscular flexibility. 242 00:38:59.410 --> 00:39:01.969 So you'll hear people talk about flexibility. 243 00:39:02.070 --> 00:39:08.659 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: And what does that mean? That means your body's ability to get to? 244 00:39:08.820 --> 00:39:14.129 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: It's full ranges of motions with, and be able to express 245 00:39:14.350 --> 00:39:19.600 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: power from end ranges and the normal ranges. So 246 00:39:19.620 --> 00:39:48.499 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: there is a there is a range of motion that every joint and muscle have, and the ability to express and control muscle contraction at the end ranges is kind of the definition of flexibility. Now, people that are very flexible, have much wider ranges of motion. So I like to. I like to use the analogy of of your flexibility is kinda like a bubble, and it's maybe a little bit mal shaped or oddly shaped, like some people are really flexible in their 247 00:39:48.500 --> 00:40:02.369 hamstrings, but not flexible in their quads, or vice versa, or you know, if you've ever seen somebody that like is a good athlete, yet they can barely bend over and touch their toes, and you're like man. They're just like they look like they're wound tight. 248 00:40:02.370 --> 00:40:20.530 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: That's because their muscles are probably inflexible, and that inflexibility might correlate to a high level of power output. But it probably also in in, indicates a likelihood of of soft tissue injury, like hamstring poles or quad poles, or cast strains or chest 249 00:40:20.550 --> 00:40:30.950 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: pec strains right? Somebody that that doesn't have the ability to express their power in their full range of motion has low muscular flexibility. 250 00:40:31.220 --> 00:40:53.190 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: is much more likely to sustain soft tissue injuries. Right? So muscular flexibility is is number 8, and then number 9 is joint mobility and stability. And I'm I'm grouping some of these into in in together rather than bulleting them out. Because you don't train. You don't train joint mobility and stability really. 251 00:40:53.190 --> 00:41:02.220 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: separately, you kinda train you train a joint. When you're working on the mobility of a joint, you kinda work on it holistically. So you're working on? 252 00:41:02.530 --> 00:41:13.959 What are the acceptable ranges of motion. How can I safely expand those? And how can I also make sure that the joint is stable within those within those 253 00:41:14.070 --> 00:41:21.600 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: those ranges of motion. So cattle jerk is a really good example for this. When you look about mobility and stability, right? 254 00:41:21.820 --> 00:41:31.130 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: The ability to get into a good overhead fixation position requires that you have the ability to have 255 00:41:31.250 --> 00:41:47.350 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: spinal T spine, thoracic spine, flexion, and extension. You need to be able to flex your T spine forward in the first dip and in the launch phase, and then you need to be able to go into extension in the overhead phase so that you can get your you can have your shoulders stacked 256 00:41:47.420 --> 00:42:07.359 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and be in a nice stable position, so that mobility of the thoracic spine to be able to express its range of motion is really important. So you might need to be able to set your shoulders back when you're overhead and roll forward when you're in. When you're in the first dip, right? So that mobility is really important. The stability that then is 257 00:42:07.630 --> 00:42:11.229 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: comes into the upstream joint is 258 00:42:11.240 --> 00:42:28.319 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: the shoulders right? So sometimes people lack stability in their shoulders, even if they have a mobile T spine, and sometimes they lack the T spine mobility to get their shoulders into a position that allows them to stabilize the bells overhead. Right? So when somebody is 259 00:42:29.110 --> 00:42:38.189 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: I was saying, I'm having a hard time fixating these bells overhead, I feel wobbly overhead. That's where we, as coaches are going to assess. Okay, is this A 260 00:42:38.400 --> 00:43:00.449 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: T spine mobility, stability problem? Or is this a shoulder stability problem like for me, for example, the overhead stability could simply be an issue of old joint injuries, like having both of my shoulders surgically reconstructed, I might need to do more joint stability. Work, like isometric holds or strengthening movements or range of motion drills 261 00:43:00.450 --> 00:43:15.370 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: to be able to allow that joint to work through its full range of motion, which is the mobility piece, and then being able to stabilize in the positions that I want it to. So joint stability and joint mobility tend to go hand in hand, and joints work 262 00:43:15.400 --> 00:43:39.169 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: hand in hand together throughout the kinetic chain, to be able to allow things to happen, and the muscular flexibility. The muscles that attach to those joints and connect throughout the chain are also important. So honestly, number 8 and 9 are really hard to separate out. That's why you tend to hear people talk about flexibility and mobility almost analogously, analogously. They are different things, but they're kind of hand in glove. 263 00:43:39.170 --> 00:43:54.259 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: right. So assessing, what is your muscular flexibility? What is your joint mobility and your joint stability are? Are other aspects. Then I would say, another aspect. You can, you can. Assess, is core strength and stability. Again. 264 00:43:54.340 --> 00:44:25.050 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: similar, but not the same thing. Core strength is obviously how strong is your core, how stable your core is is how. how able to maintain a proper position. Right? If you're if you have a really strong core and you can flex your, you can flex your core really well and stabilize your spine, you might be capable of a really powerful high power output, like like on a squad or a deadlift. But if you can only do like powerlifters right? If you're only asked to do one, rep 265 00:44:25.510 --> 00:44:33.709 the ability to hold that position and and be stable for long periods of time might be different. Right? So 266 00:44:33.930 --> 00:44:47.629 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: core strength, core stability, 2 different kind of 2 different but but very important and related capabilities. So you'd want to assess, what is your core strength and stability? That's another. That's another area that you can, that you can train. 267 00:44:48.170 --> 00:45:01.919 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: And then sport specific skills which I talked about a little bit before. So I won't belabor that. That's another. That's another area, you should assess. And then, last, but not least, and another area that I talked about is mental toughness. 268 00:45:02.310 --> 00:45:11.410 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: And anybody that's listening to this podcast knows that I'm really big on mental training. I think mental toughness is really, really important, and I think that 269 00:45:11.790 --> 00:45:40.109 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: it is something that you can focus on in the off season. If you realize that it's a weakness for you. You can intentionally put yourself into stressing situations and really try and focus on building mental resilience. You know. And this is something that Steve Gordon has has actually multiple frameworks on or or areas that he he looks at and I'm gonna have him on. We're gonna talk about that. But mental toughness is another area. So the the areas that you should assess body composition. 270 00:45:40.120 --> 00:45:47.019 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Max, strength, explosive power, strength, endurance, cardio, endurance, agility, speed, flexibility. 271 00:45:47.160 --> 00:45:58.789 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: joint mobility and stability, core strength and stability. sport-specific skills and mental toughness. That's the that's the dirty dozen there of of things that you should assess 272 00:45:59.010 --> 00:46:07.049 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: as you assess those you'll measure your baselines right? So you'll want to see. Where did I start my offseason program once you've decided? 273 00:46:07.210 --> 00:46:18.379 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: You know which of these areas you kind of self assess, are your strongest and strongest and weakest. At then we measure baselines and see, where am I starting from in these areas. 274 00:46:18.490 --> 00:46:23.510 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: And then you can decide on the duration 275 00:46:23.810 --> 00:46:52.849 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and intensity of your off season phase. We we talked about this earlier off season training programs should vary based on an athlete's age. Sport level, personal needs the length of their their season. Right. It's it's a crucial time to give athletes a break from the demands of their sport and include a balance of activities. And just making sure that you're taking into account a holistic view of 276 00:46:52.980 --> 00:47:09.769 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: the athlete as a human being that exists not just for the purpose of their sport. And we, as athletes, can sometimes forget that our our sport is only one part of being a full stack human. We don't just wanna be a full stack athlete. We wanna be full stack humans. So 277 00:47:10.270 --> 00:47:29.449 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: focusing on your sport too much can lead to deficiencies in other areas of your life. So it's important that we take that into account as well. When we're thinking about your off season phase. So really think about what's the duration and intensity of your offseason phase? You don't want your off season phase to be so intense that it 278 00:47:29.450 --> 00:47:44.590 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: compromises other areas of your life. But also, if you're like, in the sweet spot of your career where this is like when you're young and fit and healthy and unmarried, and no kids and all of those things. Well, maybe this is the time that you really want to focus super intensely on achieving at your highest level. Or. 279 00:47:44.590 --> 00:47:59.729 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you know, if you're a really high level thing, you've got a chance to qualify for the Olympics, for example, your window is very, very small, because it only comes around every 4 years, and most people only qualify for one Olympics. Some people like, you know, are freaks, and they qualify for multiple. But 280 00:47:59.770 --> 00:48:13.259 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: for most people they only qualify once, maybe twice. Right? So if you're in that window, then it might be time that your duration and intensity of your offseason is a little bit longer or a little bit higher, depending on on the needs right? So 281 00:48:13.920 --> 00:48:16.679 that helps you. Then decide on your areas of focus. 282 00:48:16.750 --> 00:48:20.149 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: You set your goals within those areas because 283 00:48:20.160 --> 00:48:41.299 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: II gave you 12 dimensions here. I can tell you right now, you're not gonna be able to improve across all 12 dimensions. You need to pick some areas of focus, and you might only pick 1, 2, or at most, I would say 3 to 5, and that's gonna be something you work with your coach on. But you can't. You can't focus on all of those areas at once. This is where you need to set your focus and decide. 284 00:48:41.300 --> 00:48:52.550 based on what I'm already good at and where I'm deficient at. Where do. I want to focus my energies right? And that that should be something that you work with your coach on, because that's why 285 00:48:52.760 --> 00:48:54.040 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: I think everyone 286 00:48:54.670 --> 00:49:22.150 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: should have a coach, you know, especially if you have the luxury of having a coach, you you definitely should. Coaches have coaches for this reason, because it helps to have another set of eyes. It helps to have somebody tell you. You know, this is this is where I think you should focus, and either it can be. This is where you should focus, because you fucking suck at. This is where I focus because you're just better than everyone else at this. And the more we can raise that delta, the the 287 00:49:22.210 --> 00:49:28.759 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: the more you're going to exceed. Right? You're going to excel right? So work with your coach set, goals. 288 00:49:29.150 --> 00:49:47.949 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Then from there you build your training program right? And a typical sequence, might be hypertrophy. So we'll say, if if you're somebody that's training in Kettlebell sport, but needs to take an off season the way that a lot of times I structure an offseason programs will do a hypertrophy block. 289 00:49:48.130 --> 00:49:55.919 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Then we'll do a strength block. Then we'll do a power phase, then an endurance phase, and then it's into the preseason 290 00:49:56.100 --> 00:50:20.220 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: right? So if that was, and that for is, for example, of a 3 month off season, right where we're gonna do a 4 week hypertrophy, a 4 week strength block, and then a power slash endurance like we might do 2 weeks of power and then 2 weeks of endurance work. And then we're ready to start going into our preseason where we start focusing. We start shifting back and focusing more on Kettlebell sport. Now for somebody like me. 291 00:50:20.520 --> 00:50:22.370 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: I don't need a hypertrophy face. 292 00:50:22.460 --> 00:50:39.150 I'm already 270 ish pounds, 280 is pounds depending on the day right? I carry more mass than I need, so a high perjury phase might not be called for for me. It might be time for a cut. It might be a conditioning block like or an endurance block. So 293 00:50:39.600 --> 00:51:00.539 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: your training program should start with, what is your highest priority? That should be your first focus. Right? So if it's building endurance or building conditioning, you should start with a conditioning block, and then everything should fall out from that right. And you might only have one focus in your offseason program. Right? You might do a 12 week or 3 month 294 00:51:00.900 --> 00:51:08.020 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: conditioning block. Now it should be periodized within that right? Like, I have athletes that are doing a 12 week hypertrophy program 295 00:51:08.030 --> 00:51:20.619 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: right? And the rest of those pieces will will transition into the rest of those phases as part of their Kettlebell sport transition. As we transition back to Preseason, we're getting ready for the preseason right? But 296 00:51:20.960 --> 00:51:29.329 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: it's really important that you think about that. And you you align that to what your goals are and what you've decided. Your priorities are for your off season. 297 00:51:29.450 --> 00:51:30.450 and then 298 00:51:30.920 --> 00:51:39.349 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you need to then align your nutrition to your to support your goals. I can't, I can't. 299 00:51:39.580 --> 00:51:43.689 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: I can't emphasize this point enough. And 300 00:51:43.770 --> 00:51:48.150 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: a quick plug. II am doing a nutrition. 301 00:51:48.750 --> 00:51:50.900 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Foreign athletes 302 00:51:52.760 --> 00:52:05.120 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: podcast or I guess it's a live training in the in Kim Fox's Kettlebell Almanac Group. So if you're on Facebook, go look at the the Kettlebell sport Almanac Group. I'm doing a I'm doing a 303 00:52:05.160 --> 00:52:34.529 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: nutrition, 101, for how to think about sports nutrition, and aligning it with your goals. For Kettlebell sport athletes. I think that's December thirtieth, but confirm, go, check, go check in Kim Fox's Facebook group. But it's really important that you align your nutrition to support your goals. I'll give you just a a quick and dirty example. Right again, I'll use myself as a guinea pig right like I said, I need to focus on my conditioning, and I need to focus on my endurance. Well. 304 00:52:35.200 --> 00:52:38.089 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: if I'm if I'm not 305 00:52:38.460 --> 00:52:58.479 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: eating, to support that that goal, I'm not going to have nearly as much benefit as if I do eat to support that. So for me, that might look like needing to eat less, because my endurance shocking will be better if I weigh less the less mass that I have to move. 306 00:52:58.750 --> 00:53:00.819 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: The longer I'll be able to go 307 00:53:01.330 --> 00:53:14.369 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: pretty intuitive. Now, if I came into this offseason, and I was like, I need to gain 10 pounds of muscle. Well, then, I need to eat in a surplus right? I need to eat in a caloric surplus in order to support. 308 00:53:14.540 --> 00:53:26.639 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: adding 10 pounds of muscle. Right? So if I had a high perch goal, I need to be in a surplus. If I have improving, improving in endurance goal that correlates with a reduction in body weight goal. Right? 309 00:53:26.910 --> 00:53:28.869 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Then, I need to eat in a deficit. 310 00:53:28.960 --> 00:53:41.279 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: If you are looking to neither gain nor lose weight. Then there's a different, you know. There's different calculations, then of how do we split Macros? And how do we do some of those things. And that's what the point of the talk is gonna be we'll talk about how we apply some of those, those 311 00:53:41.660 --> 00:53:57.640 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: those pieces of context to give you more nuance to allow you to make those decisions about. How do you align your nutrition with your goals? But in order to align your nutrition with your goals. You need to know what your goals are, and you need to have a plan to get those goals accomplished right? So 312 00:53:57.680 --> 00:54:12.510 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: if this sounds like a lot, it's because it is, it's a lot to think about. That's why I am a coach. That's why I have a coach right. It's because these things are a lot to think about, and then the last step is reassess 313 00:54:12.720 --> 00:54:25.460 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: for for delta from baseline. So Delta is just, you know fancy term, for how much have we changed? How much progress have we made? Have we? You know, if we set the goal of I want to improve my cardiovascular fitness. 314 00:54:25.710 --> 00:54:48.789 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: Great! Then you should have some type of a cardiovascular fitness assessment that you did at the start. You know, like a 12 min military snatch test where you switch hands every minute on the minute, and you can see what is your heart rate at the start. Your max heart rate in the in the in the 12 min. How many reps did you get done? And then what was your heart rate? 1 min after and 2 min after you put the bells down. That will give you an idea of 315 00:54:49.480 --> 00:54:53.460 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: average average heart rate, Max. Heart rate, heart rate recovery. 316 00:54:53.480 --> 00:54:55.770 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: So then you'll have a very good 317 00:54:56.120 --> 00:55:11.199 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: multiple data points to assess, how much did I progress those those objective measures of fitness in that 12 week focus, or whatever your duration ends up being right. And you can do that. You can do that reassessment, you know, like every month be like, it's a 12 week. 318 00:55:11.330 --> 00:55:24.540 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: It's a 12 week block to focus on my endurance. Okay, I'm going to do this baseline assessment at the start. I'm going to reassess at the end of month. One gonna reassess at the end of month 2 gonna reassess at the end of the block, and we'll be able to see how much progress am I making, and that should 319 00:55:24.860 --> 00:55:33.680 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: a help keep you motivated and accountable. And B give you objective measures that the program that you're doing is working. 320 00:55:34.090 --> 00:55:47.530 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: All of those things are very, very important. They tie to your motivation, they tie to your ability to keep going, and if you're like me, love, the data makes you feel warm and fuzzy to know that what you're doing is working, and if it's not working. 321 00:55:47.900 --> 00:55:49.530 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: you can learn from that 322 00:55:50.020 --> 00:55:55.380 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: and do a different approach next time we either win or we learn, we never lose. 323 00:55:56.400 --> 00:56:00.600 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: And with that I will see you next time 324 00:56:01.050 --> 00:56:11.320 Twin Cities Kettlebell Club: on the platform. Podcast, please hit me up. If you have questions. Go sign up for the Nutrition Seminar in the Kettlebesport Almanac Group, and I will see you all next time.