Flying Solo

Today is Day 1 of me crafting my new, personal training program. After much thinking, I am going to try to put a training plan together that matches my own personal goals based upon the various training plans that I have been exposed to up until now. How will it pan out? I have no idea. But it should be fun trying to find out. =)

Here's today's session...

Jerk: 2 x 24kg - 4 minutes @ 6 rpm

Jerk: 2 x 24kg - 2 minutes @ 7 rpm

Bumps: 2 x 24kg - 20 reps

Squats: 2 x 16kg - 10 reps

Cool down with 10 minutes of light treadmill work.

So far, so good. Tomorrow we snatch!

Nice & Easy 10-Minute Snatch Set

I'm in need of a little recovery time, so this week into next I'll be tapering a bit to allow my body to recuperate fully.

So today's session was a light one...

Snatch: 16kg - 10 minutes @ 14 rpm

Deadlift: 1 x 24kg - 10/10

Swings: 1 x 24kg - 10/10

This was an easy session. It's great to be able to complete a 10 minute snatch set and not even be breathing hard! (OK, it was a light bell for me, but still.) Have a great weekend, y'all!

One Arm Long Cycle

Felt like I needed a change of pace today. I never train long cycle (I keep saying that don't I?), so since I didn't have much time to train today, I decided to swap a few bells in and out and work up a good sweat.

All sets are with a single switch and 2 minute rest in between sets.

One Arm Long Cycle:
24kg - 4 minutes @ 8 rpm
20kg - 4 minutes @ 8 rpm
28kg - 2 minutes @ 8 rpm
16kg - 4 minutes @ 10 rpm
32kg - 2 minutes @ 8 rpm

That's it for today. I worked up a sweat all right. But it felt good!

North Jersey Kettlebell Competition

This Saturday, November 14th, the second North Jersey Kettlebell Competition was held at the Fit Experience in Sparta, NJ, hosted by none other than the infamous Mike Sanders.

This meet turned out to be a really great experience for me in several ways, even though my actual performance was not too impressive.

So what will the results for me show?
Jerk: 2x20kg - 49 reps
Snatch: 20kg - 45 reps left hand... then dropped bell, set over

For me, this is sub-training performance, but there are a few items that need to be considered:

- I had not planned to compete leading up to Saturday. I was planning on judging only up until the morning of the competition. Because of that, I had been training hard for the two weeks prior, with lots of high volume, 24kg work. Even the day before putting in a huge session of jerk assistance work.

- My body was tired and shredded on the day of the meet. My hands were torn up from snatching on Monday and Tuesday. Both palms torn up and not completely healed. I knew going in that these were going to be a problem.

- I was up at 4am feeding my baby girl that morning and was riding on caffeine when I arrived at the venue.

So, after all of my crying and moaning, why am I so pleased with the meet?

- If I can bang out 49 reps of jerks without even being rested, then I can't imagine how well I would do if I had actually tapered for the event.

- I hadn't trained a long, timed set of either lift in over three weeks, prior to the competition

- At rep 45 of my snatch set, my wind was great and body felt strong. My wound had been opening up just prior to that and I attempted to hit 50 reps before switching hands (and bleeding), but unfortunately my hand had other ideas.

And I learned a few things...

- On my jerk set, I didn't have a good view of the clock and totally lost track of the time and my pace. In practice, I typically go at 8 reps per minute. At the end of the first minute of the comp, I was already at rep number 12. I was flying. I tried to slow down, but was still hitting the same pace at minute two. It was at that point I stopped even trying and just went into auto pilot and did whatever I felt.

- On my snatch set, I made sure I was able to see the clock well and was keeping my pace. At times I felt like I could have gone all day, resting with the bell at top, looking around at the crowd. It was a GREAT feeling!

I also have to say that first stepping onto the platform for my first jerk set was a great feeling also. I waited for the count down, cleaned the bells and got settled into my rack. At this point too, I got comfortable, took a deep breath and looked around at the crowd in front of me. I settled in and went to work. It felt great!

I am so looking forward to my next competition! Next time, there will be no hesitation. I will be prepared. I will be ready. And I will be competing with the 24kg bells!!

Going Dark

I've decided to use my body as a laboratory and experiment with a different training protocol from what I have been doing up till now.

Because this will be experimental, I won't be posting my exact workouts here for the time being. But I will provide some insights on my progress every now and again.

Wish me luck!!

Insert "Heavy Day" Here

I wanted to mix things up a bit, so today I decided to work my sets with the next size up - the 24kg bells. This was my first real attempt working these bad boys for time.

First impression: They felt much heavier for my jerks but not as bad for my snatches. On a good note, I recall the 20's felt similar when I transitioned from the 16's. So it's all good.

Jerk: 2 x 24kg - 3 minutes @ 6 rpm

Snatch: 24kg - 4 minutes @ 12 rpm

Treadmill: 20 minutes - run/walk

Tomorrow it's back to the 20's. Changed my mind about tomorrow's session. Not speed work but long sets.

A Little Bit Like Yesterday

Today's goal was to match or exceed yesterday's session. It was successful.

Jerk: 2 x 20kg - 6 minutes @ 8 rpm

Snatch: 20kg - 8 minutes - L[14/14/12/12], R[14/14/12/12]

One Arm Jerk: 32kg - 8/8

Swing: 32kg - 5/5

I matched yesterday's jerk session and was able to increase the pace a bit on the snatch set, breaking through the 100 rep barrier.

Didn't want to run today, but give myself another day to get strong. Tomorrow I'll be breaking in a new pair of running shoes, so we'll see how I'm feeling. I'm also going to play with the 24kg bells tomorrow. And Thursday's session will be back to the 20kg bells, but at a faster pace than today.