Monday, March 10, 2008

oops

Yeah! March Swing Madness is here! As well documented in the Dragondoor KB community of late, quite a few some of the really fittest KB lifters have put out some extraordinary examples of work capacity .. e.g., Dave Whitney's 1000 swings with a 32kg, Tracy Reifkind's 1500 with a 12kg and Mark Reifkind's birthday 500 with the 24kg to name a few.

Having thus been inspired to up my swing volume and intensity so that one day I might survive an attempt to match one of these amazing feats of strength and conditioning, I have been placing a good amount of focus on improving my swing form.

Sooooo .. during my double 24kb swings today, after previously having studied Rif's one-hand 32kg swing videos on his blog (I actually requested these .. Rif's the man!), I was really tuning into using a loosely held hook grip together with a nice chest to eye level swing and strong hip snap.

Well lets just say that I overachieved with the loose grip part and that one just "got away" and subsequently smashed forward into the mirror I was using to check my form. (As a small consolation, I now know my upper bound for grip looseness.) Like a true warrior (in this case a euphemism for idiot), I just picked up the bell and completed the set. Fortunately this was an inexpensive K-mart cardboard backing door mirror .. after my workout I swept up the glass and re-leaned it against the wall ... I'll continue to use it until I pick a new one up in a few days.

Warmup:
Hard Foam Roller: ITB, Piriformus, upper back, shoulders
16kg 1 x 10/10 Halos
24kg 1 x 10/10 Slingshots .. oops, it slipped again .. yeah! interlocking floor mats!
BW 1 x 10 Wall squats

Superset x 6 with one minute rest between sets, no rest between 1 and 2:
  1. Dbl 24kg 5 Front Squat
  2. Dbl 32kg 5 Swing

Dbl 24kg 6 x 10 Swings with 1 minute rest between sets

32kg 5 x 5/5 one-hand swings on the minute
32kg 5 x 10 two-hand swings on the minute

BW Static super plank: 1 x 10b/28r/27l/45b = 1:50
(Key: b for both arms, r for right arm only , l for left arm only and times in seconds)

A new PR .. just 10 more seconds and I will be at 2 minutes. More than doubled my time since starting in early Feb.

24kg 4 x 3r/3l TGU with one minute rest between arms

Total volume: 19600 lbs

GD (Greg Donahue) GTG Pull-up Program:
Day 10: 1 set of 2 neutral grip pull-ups (10,1,2)

After reading an artcile by Jim Maryland of "Beast Skills" fame about contrast baths for sore hands and over types of "active rest" therapy, I decided to use my Homedic thumper message for my sore left knee. I switched to the "lips" concave attachment as this smoothly messaged around my patella. I then used it on my elbows after realizing I could sit on my lap and push into it with the fleshy part above and below my elbows. It felt so good last night, I brought it into work today and used it throughout the day. It seems to really work as I never needed to ice my elbows after my heavy KB training session, which up until today was a necessity.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with little sweet potato, Toor Dal and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2

Morning Snack:
2 small handfuls of roasted almonds
4 oz of Kefir

Lunch:
1 Whey protein shake with 4 oz of Kefir
1 large bowl of Kitchari with little sweet potato, Toor Dal, Green Gram Curry and Gujarati beans
1 large Naval orange

Afternoon snack:
2 small handfuls of roasted almonds
1 large toasted sesame wheat cracker

Dinner:
1 glass of red wine
1 Large helping of roasted vegs.
1 small bowl of mixed brown and white rice
4 oz of Sichuan style Spicey Yu Xiang chicken
1 small handfuls of roasted almonds
1 piece of wild blueberry pie
1 scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream

3 comments:

Taikei Matsushita said...

Be careful and make sure no glass particles are on the bell. I've heard horror story where this person kept her kettlebell at a restaurant kitchen, and someone broke a glass near by. She snatched the bell and bleed her forearm.

Anyway, if you have a video camera, use that to check the form. Breathing and things you do in your mind is important than watching mirror. To extent it does not scare you, close your eyes doing swings and presses. You'll sense things differently.

Franklin said...

Taikei, thanks for the warning .. I didn't consider particles on the bell and will check it out when I get home tonight.

I really like your idea of closing one's eyes to focus on breathing and internal dialog .. next KB workout I will do this for a few sets. Also I do have a video camera and will get out the tripod this weekend to capture my swing form.

Last night I went back to your blog to carefully study your 32kg double snatch video especially the swings and high pulls .. extremely instructive and I love the Santana!

Aaron Friday said...

Once I saw the picture, I knew what you were going to say! I must be psychic, LOL!

Strong swings, Franklin.