Cardiocode - Kenneth Jay

Has anyone looked at this new book by Kenneth Jay (he's the Viking Warrior Conditioning guy)? It was recommended to me, and I'm curious.

He had several blog posts about the book:
http://www.movementcode.net/blog/files/818bfb80182320c67196cad44d61ea1b-18.html
http://www.movementcode.net/blog/files/0b319f2210ec7434863c20b71ac3bc01-21.html

 

I agree with that guy although he certainly isn't the first to put Tabata in perspective.

My VO2 max is 53 which is in the "excellent" or top range for my age group yet my performances in such things as running is lacking. I think the VO2 max measurement has obvious merit but is still over rated.

Those were good articles.

 

what activity where you performing when you had your VO2 max measured?

running is one of those things that is a skill that needs to be developed to be efficient at it.

VO2 is just an indicator/tool thats it.

 

His stance on cardio seems solid, but his weight lifting approach is strange. Plus his personal bests..?

Does he even bench bro?

 

The fact that he has a 92kg curl for 2 reps is excellent, and that he puts it in his list of PRs...

I am content to accept him as my new conditioning guru.

 

Who is this guy?

 

Who?

Also, isn't Johnny Pain the Viking Warrior Conditioning guy? Or are the strength gurus running out of hardcore labels to put on bodyweight circuits and there is a bit of overlap?

Either way, shameless plug by TS, imo.

 

Back when the RKC was a big thing, he was the guy in the organization with actual academic backing in exercise science who is also not fat.

He wrote two Dragondoor books, both of which were pretty solid, one for improving your kettlebell military press, and one for using snatching for energy system training. Both were good, but pretty short and you were paying the Dragon Door tax for short books, as well as the ridiculous marketing, hence why it became "Viking Warrior Conditioning" instead of just "The VO2 max snatch protocol". VWC was a pretty decent set of programs that would let you train and peak each energy system with fairly light snatches, and decent scientific explanations.

The no bench thing is probably because the RKC were real big into overhead pressing over bench.

He's since left the RKC before everyone else did, and gotten into a lot of neurological approach to rehab stuff, and broadening his approach to conditioning. I haven't looked at any of his Movementcode stuff, because at this point I don't spend a lot of time learning about kettlebells from anyone not actively competing in GS(and winning).

I've made a single pass over the cardiocode, and the the physiolgy review is pretty good, but there are some issues with the book.

-I'm pretty sure he wrote and edited it himself. The layout and focus suffer in terms of readability
-the physiology vastly outstrips the actual "building a plan" parts
-the planning sections focus almost completely on Vo2 max and peak anerobic power, so if you're an endurance athlete there are some pieces of the training puzzle he doesn't directly address
-no real breakdown of annual planning or intergrating this into an existing training schedule, unlike in VWC where both of these things were directly addressed, including a case study with a client.

 

Thank you, you've addressed several points I was wondering about. I hate purchasing ebooks without knowing what I'm actually getting.

I've taken a look at several of his articles, which were fairly interesting. Though he is seemingly going out of his way to overturn many of the training ideas (which rightly or wrongly) are associated with the RKC.

 

I would like to say by a metabolic measurement test at my local MMA club but I've been forced into early retirement so funds have suddenly become a major issue in my life. I have the new Polar M400 and took a fitness test on that. In six weeks I do it again and see if it at least offers consistency.

 

We're going to run out of scary sounding warrior conditioning programs soon.

 

why?

 

It's a common conditioning test for KB people, particularly the RKC. It's a very good result for people in that community.

For reference, here's what the absolute world champ can do with that weight and a single hand switch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maK9UXiLyiI

Here's a smaller athlete, within 10 minutes, also one hand switch.

 

I'm pretty sure Martian Warrior Conditioning isn't taken yet.

 

That's not a bad choice for a name. Protocols use to be named after guys who's names you couldn't properly pronounce. Then in the 2000s everything became Warrior, Ultimate, Combat, etc. Maybe if Dragon-door-style advertising was taken a step further in absurdity, it'd be more fun.

 

The world champ of kettlebells?

 

Of Biathlon, Snatch, and Long Cycle for the heaviest weight classes. 8 time world champion, something like 12 time Russian champ, and world record holder in each of the competitive lifts. Ivan has pretty incredible genetics.

 

How many competitors are there in the world? 5000?

 

Its pretty big in some areas, I love KBs but I dont do KB sport.

 

I'd say probably 4k-5k in North America based on looking at social media pages for the American GS federations, and participation. Biggest competitions in the US (which is a low participation country) are probably 150-200 people. I have no idea how many participants in the countries where GS is actually a thing.