recovery

European Kettlebell Tour, Part 2 – Paris

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Wow – can’t believe I’ve been back home almost 2 weeks already!

One thing’s for sure – it was a great trip to Europe.

So, Part 2…

We flew to Paris on Monday, the 31st. We took a late flight cause I thought we’d be cooked from the RKC. I was pretty close to right.

Again, my lovely wife picked the hotel – Hotel Grand Leveque – on Rue Cler, which is a famous market street in Paris. This time, she struck gold! Two words – “Nutella Crepes.” Every night for dessert or second dessert. Very tasty!

"Rue Cler, Paris"
Mmmm... Food...

Here’s a pictur of Rue Cler.

Lots of good food. Apparently, the best seafood in all of Paris is found here. We, however, didn’t have any cause there wasn’t any food allowed in the rooms. (Trying getting crab smell out of the carpet…)

You’ll notice there are a lot of people in the pic and they’re all doing one thing – walking.

Walking, Stairs, Hills, Walking, and Walking Some More…

We walked everywhere. And I mean everywhere. I think we walked across the city. Tuesday, we walked.

We went to L’Arc de Triumphe.

We went to Le Tour Eiffel.

We went all over.

And we walked. (We took the Metro a couple of times, but I’m sure that was for the sake of expediency.) Anyway, I had my new pair of Sanuks on and my feet felt great.

My wife with some old guy on the Eiffel Tower

There was one day I wore my Chuck Taylor’s and the feet felt, well, ok at best. (No, I didn’t see any Vibrams while I was there.)

Wednesday was Museum Day.

We went to the Rodin museum first thing.

Then we went to Musee D’Orsay and saw all the Impressionists.

Then we went to the Louvre.

Of course we ate first.

Here’s a little pic.

Food + Louvre = Happy

Yup – had to go for it – the ol’ raw meat platter. Seriously. Little slices of thinly sliced beef laid out nicely on a plate topped with some leafy greens topped with a nice balsamic vingarette. On top of that was some thinly sliced pieces of fresh parmesan. (Can you tell I enjoyed it?)

After we hit the Lovre, we were of course hungry. The portions in Paris are not large – at least by American standards. And so consequently, I was always hungry. Fortunately, I brought protein shakes with me. (What, you don’t? Maybe you should start…) Unfortunately, I didn’t have one with me post-Louvre. So I settled for a baguette with 3, yes, 3 little pieces of chicken and some mustard on it. We sat on the lawn outside the Louvre, where I ate, and promptly fell asleep for 30 minutes.

I don’t remember what we did that evening besides eat. Of course, the highlight by far of each day was eating dinner. In case you don’t know it or haven’t heard it, the French, no matter what anyone says, are excellent cooks. The food is just great.

As I mentioned before, the portions are small.

But the quality is very high. There’s a BIG difference in taste between a French steak (I’m sure of this because I ate on every night) and an American steak. In my opinion, the French steak tastes better. Very similar to American grass-fed beef – high in taste, low in fat.

Thursday, we went to Versailles. This, as far as I know, is the largest Royal Palace ever built. And it is maginficent! It was built by Louis XIV, the “Sun King,” to show his subjects how to live – to lead by example so-to-speak. It was funny, because Courtney said we didn’t have time in her intinerary to see Versailles, but I insisted and it was her favorite part of the trip!

Versailles from the front

Here’s a picture of Versailles from the front. It was taken from the gates.

It doesn’t even give you an idea about just how large and beautiful it was.

And it was on something like a million acres! Or close anyway. Seriously, it had these HUGE gardens with canals (yes, to mimic Venice – I kid you not) and get this – not one, but two “spare” palaces where the king and queen (one for each of them) lived when they weren’t in the “main” palace!

Rough life, being a King.

So we left Versailles and got back into town around 4pm and went up to the Sacre Coeur – or “Sacred Heart” cathedral that sits on top of a hill overlooking Paris. It’s absolutely gorgeous.

We also grabbed our fanciest dinner this night. We ate in a little place that was one of the last two windmills in Paris, besides the Moulin Rouge (Moulin means “windmill.”) The food was great and the wine even better.

Speaking of wine, I don’t think I’ve ever drunk (drank?) as much wine as I did in Paris. The French are known for their wines and now I can see why. Incredibly delicious. I think we made it home about Midnight or thereabouts after going back to the Sacre Coeur and watching the sun set over Paris. Beautiful.

Friday, well we got up late and were just spent from three days of walking. So we just hacked around and drank lots of espresso. Well, that’s not quite true – Courtney wanted a picnic so we got a loaf of bread, some salami, and some cheese, and of course some wine, and trekked over to the Luxembourg Gardens and ate over there. We just sat around for a couple of hours and people watched.

Now what I’m about to say may seem kind of weird, but here it goes anyway –

I think the French may have a lot of life figured out. More so than we Americans.

Yes, I know they’re primarily a Socialist country (for the record – I am not a Socialist) but this whole work 35 hours a week maximum and take six weeks of vacation off a year might be worth looking into. The French definitely seem more relaxed and have a higher overall “quality of life” than we do. We tend to work  our butts off and when we do take time off, we are too tired to enjoy ourselves. They on the other hand, seem to move at a slower pace, and it seems to work for them – at least on the surface.

So why do I recount in great detail my trip to Europe?

Well, because I think we all need some time off now and then.

Elite American powerlifters in the 1980s used four 12 week training cycles each year, taking four weeks off a year. I think it’s worth remembering that we gain strength, or realize the gains in our strength, after a small layoff. It just makes us stronger.

Next time, Normandy.

The Single Biggest Factor Missing From Your Training Program…

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I’ve written A LOT of programs for myself, for my athletes, and for my clients over the last 20 years. I’m not sure how much “a lot” is, but I’ve literally got files and files of them.

For example, I just released a Kettlebell Fat Burning Program, Kettlebell Burn, and one of the biggest questions I got and always get is, “Can I do _____ with this program.”

My response is always – “You can do anything you want – it just might not give you the results you desire. It alters the way the program was designed and therefore I can no longer predict the results.” Or something along those lines…

This often meets with a confused look from the individual I’m speaking with – or a moment of silence if we’re talking over the phone. (Email responses vary…)

And that gets me to my main point – and it seems to be one that not a lot of people take into consideration these days – it’s not how much work you can do, but, rather, how much work you can recover from.

Read that again.

The rule of thumb is generally as follows:

  1. The more volume in your program, the more recovery you need.
  2. The higher the intensity of your 1RM, the more recovery you need.
  3. The more “dense” your program, the more recovery you need.
  4. The more learning that occurs, the more recovery you need.
  5. The more effort you exert, the more recovery you need.

There are other factors we often fail to take into consideration for recovery.

  1. Daily stress levels.
  2. Amount of sleep.
  3. Quality of sleep.
  4. [Over]Dependence on stimulants.
  5. Alcohol consumption.
  6. Body toxicity levels.

So how do you account for each of these factors, since obviously there are at least 11 variables to manipulate?

My good friend Brett Jones made a great point to me a couple of years ago – “What’s the least you can do and still make progress?”

Hmmm…

There’s a question for the ages, huh?

That kind of flips things on there heads, doesn’t it?

Well here’s what I’ve noticed after 20 years.

  • I can train 6 days per week and make progress if my training sessions are 20-30 minutes.
  • I can train 5 days per week and make progress if my training sessions are 30-45 minutes, but the closer to 30 minutes the better.
  • I can train 4 days per week and make progress if my training sessions are 60 minutes per less AND they’re designed as a upper/lower split.
  • I can train 3 days per week and make progress if my training session are 45-60 minutes and they’re total body.
  • I can train 2-3 times per day 3-4 days per week if I use 10-15 minute training sessions (sometimes 20 minutes).

Those are the parameters.

As much as I wish they weren’t so, they are. I love to train. So I would prefer 6 days per week 1-2 hours at a clip. But those days are gone forever.

So, what’s the “best” program for the “average” trainee?

I think it’s pretty simple.

And it’s not very profound, either.

And it’s been said by other fitness professionals, too.

Train 3 days per week.

Use a total body program.

Pick 2 upper body exercises – one pulling and one pushing, and one lower body exercise, preferably hip dominant like deadlifting over squatting.

Here’s how you’d set it up:

Day 1.

Pulling – Chin ups

Pushing – Push ups, feet elevated

Lower – Deadlift

Day 2.

Pushing – Military Press

Lower – Squat

Pulling – Single Arm Row

Day 3.

Lower – Single Leg Deadlift

Pulling – Pull ups

Pushing – Push ups

And it would really be that simple.

You would adjust your reps and rest periods according to your priorities.

And yes, I know, you could do a “split” if you wanted, but you better be strong and “need” the recovery.

(If you have to ask how “strong” strong is, you aren’t strong…)

In order to do that, I would still use a 3 day per week program, but I would do only 2 workouts – using what’s called an “A-B” Split. You repeat one of the days each week so in a 2 week period each workout is performed 3 times. (Wk1 – A-B-A, Wk2 – B-A-B). I’ve used this many times in the past, each time with great success.

I would pick one upper body exercise to focus on and one lower body exercise to focus on. For example, the Deadlift and the Military Press (kind of similar to Power to the People!). And then add in 2-3 complimentary exercises in after each main exercise.

For example:

A. Military Press, Chin ups, Parallel Dips, Ab-Wheel

B. Deadlift, Step ups, Hyperextensions/Glut-Ham Raise, Hanging Leg Raise

And yes, I realize these programs are not sexy. They’re not at all sexy. If you want sexy, buy your wife some lingerie and take her out for a romantic dinner (my apologies to the ladies reading this…) Don’t confuse the two.

What you want is results. What you need is recovery.

These templates will provide you with just that – the right balance of results with the right balance of recovery.

Plus, the best part is, you won’t be spending a large majority of your free time working out so you can do more of the fun stuff you want to do and more of the responsible stuff you should be doing but aren’t.