The Grand Experiment

Yesterday was the day. After 7 weeks of physical therapy, I decided to take the pink bells out for a short ride. (The pink bells are my AKC pro-grade 8kg kettlebells, in case you're wondering.)

I had hoped to keep my current activity variables constant so that I could clearly see what kind of effect the bells had on my back, but fate had other ideas for me. The family ended up going to a local holiday craft fair in the morning which included a lot of picking up, carrying, putting down, picking back up, carrying some more, etc, etc, etc of my little guy who is now pretty close to the equivalent of a 12kg (blue) bell.

With that in the morning, we got home early afternoon which then gave me the opportunity to perform the following:

Swing: 8kg - 10/10

Jerk: 2x8kg - 3 min (18 reps or 6 rpm)

I performed the double jerks today intentionally so that I would be forced to keep my back in neutral without any twisting. I also did not want to overdo any swings so kept those brief.

I then finished off with Intu-Flow Beginner Routine.

I am VERY happy to say that waking up this morning, I was no worse for wear! Don't get me wrong, I still have the ache in my back, but nothing acute and not any worse than the previous day. Good news!!!

Today was filled with my therapy-specific exercises and another round of Intu-Flow Beginner.

My plan for the next few days...

Tomorrow morning: Therapy-specific exercises and Intu-Flow Beginner - this will allow me to go to therapy that evening and wake up Tuesday (hopefully) feeling what I'll call neutral (or better)

Tuesday morning: Swing and (dare I say) Snatch with the 8kg - very light and easy - this will let me then wake up on Wednesday morning and objectively sense the effect of the Snatches

Wednesday morning: Play it by ear, definitely Intu-Flow, maybe therapy-specific exercises as well depending on how I feel.

That's it for now. My mood is starting to lift! Now I just have to be sure not to overdo it. =)