Weeks 1-3: - Getting Started
It is never much fun to get back into training after having a lengthy and stressful layoff. The key is to admit that you are weaker and that it is going to take time to get back to your former level of conditioning. Nothing worth having occurs over night, including getting into shape.
I started my road back by doing simple bodyweight drills such as: pushups, one legged squats, janda sit-ups, and headstand leg raises.
I did not add any resistance to any of these exercises during the first week of training and just stayed within my limits on each exercise. Even though I proceeded with caution, I could not believe how sore I was the next day from the one-legged squats and pushups. I guess I should not have been surprised. Regardless, it was still shocking. During weeks three and four I added resistance to the pushups by using a rubber resistance device called The "Power Pushup 2." For one-legged squats, I increased the reps and did the same for janda sit-ups and headstand leg raises. By week four, I felt pretty good and felt like I was getting back into the swing of things.
Weeks 4-6
When I got back to Los Angeles in mid January 2003, I decided to resume my kettlebell lifting and knew that I would have to drop down to some lighter kettlebells for a few weeks. Before I got sick, I was doing one arm military presses with an 88lb kettlebell for three to four reps. In addition, I had worked up to singles with two 85lb kettlebells on standing military presses (I added plate mates to two 70lb kettlebells to turn them into two 85lb bells). Regardless, I decided to be smart and play it safe and train exclusively with the 53lb kettlebells for three weeks.
The first workout with the 53lb bells felt horrible. They felt heavy and my body was cracking all over the place when I did various exercises. However, by the end of week two my strength was starting to come back and I was feeling much better. Here is the program that I followed during weeks 5-8.
Monday - Wednesday - Friday
Two Kettlebell Bent Over Rows: Stated off at 3x5 and worked up to 3x12 by week three
Two Kettlebell Front Squats: Started off at 3x5 and worked up to 3x12 by week three with one minute breaks between sets.
Windmills: Started off at 3x5 and stayed at that rep range for all three weeks
Turkish Get Ups (Squat Style): I started off doing 3x2 on each side and worked up to 3x5 by week three. I alternated these with windmills. In other words, I did windmills one workout and Turkish Get-ups at the next.
Double Kettlebell Swings: Started off at 3x5 and worked up to 3x15 by week three. Again, I took one-minute breaks between each set.
The above workout is a basic conditioning program that I used to build a foundation for the heavier workouts to come. It worked very well and I was ready by week seven to train with the 70lb kettlebells again.
Tuesday - Thursday
Pushups With Power Push Up: 2 3x10 with four blue bands (160lb of resistance according to Lifeline). I took one minute breaks between each set and was up to four blue bands and two red ones by week three (200lbs of resistance according to Lifeline).
One Legged Squats: 5x5: Five sets of five with one minute breaks
Mahler Killer Ab Circuit
I went from one exercise to the next without any breaks and I took one-minute breaks in between each set.
Weeks 7-9
I felt it was time to add the 70lb kettlebells back into my routine. Week one felt pretty hard and the weights felt heavy. However, by week three everything was coming together and I was feeling much stronger and confident. I also, started training with Paul Chek's "Tornado ball" two times a week and noticed by week three that my rotator cuffs felt stronger in addition to noticing an increase in shoulder stability. Here is the routine that I followed:
Monday - Wednesday - Friday
One Arm Kettlebell Rows With Two Kettlebells: 3x5 The first week I grabbed two53lb kettlebells with one hand for a total of 106lbs and did five rows on each side. I worked up to three sets of five with a 70lb kettlebell and 53lb kettlebell for a total of 123lbs on one-arm rows on each site.
Overhead Kettlebell Squats: Started off at 3x 3 and worked up to 3x6 by week three with one minute breaks between sets.
Windmills: Started off at 3x5 and stayed at that rep range for all three weeks
Turkish Get Ups (Squat Style): I started off doing 3x2 on each side and worked up to 3x5 by week three. I alternated these with windmills. In other words, I did windmills one workout and Turkish Get-ups at the next.
Double Kettlebell Swings: Started off at 3x5 and worked up to 3x10 by week three. Again, I took one-minute breaks between each set.
I also applied a technique that I learned from strength coach Pavel Tsatsouline called GTG (Greasing the groove). For greasing the groove, you take a weigh that you can handle for five to six reps with solid form and do sets of 2-3 reps spread out over the course of the day. This is easy for me since I work at home and have kettlebells in my living room.
During week seven, I did 5-7 sets a day on one arm military presses with a 70lb kettlebell for sets of 1-2 on each side. In week eight, I went up to 3-4 reps 5-7 times a day. By week nine, I was up to five reps on each side. I tested my one arm presses that week and I was able to press a 70lb kettlebell 10 times on my right side and eight times on my left side fairly easily.
Tuesday - Thursday
I continued to do chin ups ladder style and started doing some "tornado ball" drills for my core and rotator cuff. The "tornado ball" is a fantastic product and I feel that it really enhances rotational strength and strengthens the rotator cuff tremendously.
Here is the "tornado ball" routine that I followed:
Kneeling Chop: 3x12 with one minute breaks
Rotator Cuff Wall Chops: 3x12 with each arm
Check out Paul Chek's article at: http://www.paulchekseminars.com/articles.cfm?select=33 for a visual of the above exercises.
After that I continued to do one-legged squats: 5x5 with one-minute breaks to keep the strength up.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mahler28.htm
Two Kettlebell Clean And Presses: Started at 3x6 (three sets of six) and worked up to 3x10 (three sets of ten) by week three with one minute breaks between sets.
Chin-ups: Ladder style. 1,2,3,4,5(I learned this method from strength coach Pavel Tsatsouline. You start off with one rep, rest 20-30 second, do two reps, rest 20-30 second, do three reps etc) with one minute break and then another round. On my first workout, I barely worked up to three, but was up to five by week three.
Two kettlebell Cleans And Presses: Started at 10x1 with ninety second breaks and worked down to forty second breaks by week ten. I also started doing super negatives on these sets (taking fifteen seconds to lower the weight). By week ten I tested my strict military press with two 70lb bell and nailed five reps with perfect form and felt like I could have done seven or eight reps.
Wall Chops: 3x12 with one minute breaks