What do I do with it?
Interesting workout today.
I started off with jumprope like I often do. During a rest session someone walked up to me and asked if I was the guy that was doing that competition. I figured he meant Dan’s Tactical Challenge so I explained that I knew the guy and what did he want to know. He asked bout the events. He was curious about the kettlebell, so I went to the car where I happened to have my kettlebell and brought it in. The first thing people said was, “What do I do with it?”. I showed a couple people the snatch, they tried. They said it was impossible. I showed them again. The guys I was talking too were all complaining that it was too heavy and they were too light. I tried to explain that most of the guys who do this would be their size. They didn’t believe me. Finally, after about 15 minutes I got back to my workout.
Deadlift
70K (154 lbs) X 5
120K (264 lbs) X 5
170K (374 lbs) X 5 switched to mixed grip
220K (484 lbs) X 2 missed a couple pulls
230K (506 lbs) x 0 missed twice
I was kinda surprised I mised where I did. I think it’s more of a rusty thing that a strength thing. I wasn’t tapping into it quite right. I definitely think that the olympic lifts are effecting me here. It’s not such a horrible thing, I just need to figure out how I want to approach it.
Olympic squats
60K (132 lbs) X 5
80K (176 lbs) x 5
100K (220lbs) X 20 – yep, 20 reps. I took it kinda slow but I started to notice before I was done.
Overhead
100k X 3 Jerk – kinda uncomfortable and the hands really weren’t warmed up for it
60K x 5 Strict Press
60K X 5 Strict Press
60K X 4 Strict Press
60K X 3 Strict Press
60K X 3 Strict Press
60K X 4 Jerk
60K X 4 Jerk
I wanted to do jerks but I didn’t have it in me. So I wussed out and went for presses, then I started to fail at those. I need to work some lockouts, my tricep strength is way down. I finished with jerks at a lower weight cause I couldn’t press it anymore. By the time I got done, I’m not sure I could really even jerk it anymore.
2″ Dumbell row
70lbs 5 X 5
I was doing these in the hopes that doing some rows will help with my pullups. I can only do one and that is sad. Just doing pullups doesn’t seem to help very much.
I was starting to wrap up, considering doing some KB snatches since I brought it in, new people started to come into the gym. This brought a whole new round of “Oh, cool’, ‘What do I do with it”. By the time I was done with this crew they were asking me to talk to the guy who runs the gym and get him to order a small set in. So I may have to do that.
Anvil or Hammer 
on February 8, 2007 on 3:11 am
That tactical challenge sounds like fun. Never tried snatches with a 24kg bell, so that part’d be interesting.
I don’t suppose you know if there’s usually a pause for the pullups? It’s pretty hard for judges to see a dead hang otherwise.
on February 8, 2007 on 6:36 am
I checked out the rules
http://www.tacticalstrengthchallenge.com/rules.html
They say a dead hang in between is required but I would imagine there could be some judge discretion there and some people bending the rules. It could really effect the outcome with multiple judge, some being more strict than other.
You should give some kettlebell conditioning a shot, it can be fun. If I recall, you are downunder, it seems there are pretty expensive down there but there are some organizations who have them, depending on where exactly you live.
on February 8, 2007 on 10:05 am
Dang but you’re strong – jerks 100K x 3 – Oly Sq – easy 100 K x 20. You really should work the Olympic lifts more – those kind of numbers make me think you have some nice potential for them – strength wise at least. If you can get the flexibility and a proper pull figured out, I can see some very nice lifts. Certainly good enough to do well in local competitions and have some fun.
on February 8, 2007 on 10:34 am
Thanks Chris, I’m finding that I like them more than I expected. I don’t think I can ever totally lose the deadlift but I think I’d like to not do powersquats anymore, they were making my knee hurt and I’m able to do okay with the Oly squat weight wise. I’d like some more depth in my oly squat, I need to work out that issue. So I’d expect to see Olympic lifts of some kind as a staple of my future programs. Of course, I may run into issues when I move, some places Oly sets are few and far between.
on February 8, 2007 on 12:34 pm
Mike I wouldn’t suggest you lose the DL – I have found that the DL and the pull for cleans are hard for me to train at the same time – the movements are too close together for my body to keep separate and I end up with parts of each instead of what I should be doing. I just do one for a while, then the other and it seems to work out OK after a short transition period.
on February 8, 2007 on 12:41 pm
that’s seems very reasonable. I felt like I was running into that yesterday.
on February 9, 2007 on 3:23 pm
Me. Bored. At. Work. No. Email. Allowed. For. Security. Reasons. This is gym-related–will be there tonight. Bring my KB if you happen to read this, before you go
–No. 6