Un@#%* Believable!

Yesterday morning I laid out my plan for my training going forward. Today was scheduled to be the first day that I started alternating between the 16kg and the 20kg, today being the 20kg day.

Well all day yesterday I thought about this morning's session. I was psyching myself up for the new challenge. But in the back of my head, I kept wondering, would the 20kg bell be incrementally large enough to force the adaptation that I was looking for. Last night before going to bed, I decided to make a leap and jump directly to the 24kg bell. Half excited and half scared, I tried to mentally adjust to this.

For anyone who's following my blog, it's been almost a year since I seriously played with anything larger than the 16kg. Back in May of last year, I was trying to improve my 24kg Snatch numbers as I was planning on attending an RKC Certification. My best outing was 39 reps, with months of 24kg practice behind me. I was also suffering an overuse injury in both forearms which made the Snatch work even more difficult.

Then on a whim, I decided to attend the AKC Fitness Certification on May 25th held here in NYC. Watching Valery toss the 32kg bell around like it was an 8kg, convinced me to give this "new" method a try. At that point, I dropped everything, and started re-learning how to Hold, Rack, Swing, Press, Jerk and Snatch the bell. For the longest time with just an 8kg and 12kg bell.

Well this morning, I simply amazed myself. Afraid that this session, essentially planned as a Level 1 of the WKC Fitness Protocol, was going to punish me, I entered my workout area with trepidation. I warmed up with a few Swings with the 16kg, chalked up my hands and relied on my technique and last 9 months of training to get me through. Here's what it looked like...

Swing: 16kg - 10/10

Push Press: 24kg - 2 minutes @ 16 rpm

Snatch: 24kg - 2 minutes @ 16 rpm

1-Arm Long Cycle: 24kg - 2 minutes @ 9 rpm

My numbers amaze me! 32 Snatches right out of the gate with almost a year of not even practicing them with this size bell. Don't get me wrong, I was breathing harder during this set and any of my recent sets, more so than yesterday's 6 min Snatch set. But I killed it and killed it good for my first session. Wow.

Tomorrow is a planned (active) rest day. I'll wait to see how my back holds up after this session. If it holds up well, then I think I can safely say I've finally turned the corner with my training. Things could definitely be getting dangerous around now.... =)

P.S. Hands are great. No rips or tears.