There is a saying in the kettlebell community that goes: "you can't outsnatch a doughnut." It means that you can always put calories into your system a heck of a lot faster than you can burn them. In layman's terms, it means "don't eat junk; you'll never work it off."
Today started badly. I should have known better. I woke up after teaching late, and drank a pot of coffee and ate a big piece of cake for breakfast. Yes, really. Of course, I felt terrible all day. I flooded my stomach with Pepto-Bismol and fresh water, and Dawn saved the day by feeding me a nice salad and soup for lunch. I'm working like crazy today to take some time off tomorrow to have some fun with the family, so when I could stare at the computer screen no longer, I went into the gym to have my heavy day workout with the 70 pound kettlebell.
My previous best long set with this weight was 44 reps- 22 each arm. I decided to punish myself for the cake (and the doughnut that I ate last night at the college- I know, I know...) by hitting a new PR- 50 snatches. Twenty-five reps per arm would be a 3 rep improvement, and should be sufficiently painful to remind me not to binge like this. I warmed up a little, and began to snatch.
I hit 25 reps with the left arm, and still felt pretty good, but I did not know how much steam I had, so I went ahead and switched arms. It's better to leave a couple of reps in the bank unless you are competing or testing. When I hit 25 reps with the right arm, I felt great, so I kept going to 30. Thirty felt alright, but I put the kettlebell down and called it a day. When I watched the video, it turns out that I had miscounted my reps on my left hand: 26, for a total of 56 snatches: a 12 rep improvement, and more than halfway to Master of Sport numbers. If I had really pushed, I might have cleared 60 good reps.
I'm thankful for my new PR, and for some good advice that I'm sure got me there. A couple weeks ago, Nico Rithner of USA Kettlebell Lifting and the Association of Tactical Strenth and Conditioning Instructors advised me to put down the 24k kettlebell, and break my training into light days (long sets with 16k), medium days (multiple hand switches with the 24k), and heavy days (hard sets with the 32k). "Of course!" I thought. "I know that. I read it in Pavel Tsatsouline's books years ago. I did it with my presses, and they got stronger. Why haven't I been doing it with my snatches?" I've been doing it again, and I have a new PR with the 32k to show for it. Last Friday, I snatched the 24k, switching hands every 5 reps, and hit 150 reps in under 10 minutes without putting the kettlebell down. Twice. That's a score of 150 on the Secret Service Snatch Test twice in one day (200 is the passing standard), without training specifically for this event, or even snatching particularly fast. Perhaps 200 is in my near future?
Lesson learned? Don't get fancy or creative with your training. Learn the basics, and stick to them. Get good advice, and follow it.
Today started badly. I should have known better. I woke up after teaching late, and drank a pot of coffee and ate a big piece of cake for breakfast. Yes, really. Of course, I felt terrible all day. I flooded my stomach with Pepto-Bismol and fresh water, and Dawn saved the day by feeding me a nice salad and soup for lunch. I'm working like crazy today to take some time off tomorrow to have some fun with the family, so when I could stare at the computer screen no longer, I went into the gym to have my heavy day workout with the 70 pound kettlebell.
My previous best long set with this weight was 44 reps- 22 each arm. I decided to punish myself for the cake (and the doughnut that I ate last night at the college- I know, I know...) by hitting a new PR- 50 snatches. Twenty-five reps per arm would be a 3 rep improvement, and should be sufficiently painful to remind me not to binge like this. I warmed up a little, and began to snatch.
I hit 25 reps with the left arm, and still felt pretty good, but I did not know how much steam I had, so I went ahead and switched arms. It's better to leave a couple of reps in the bank unless you are competing or testing. When I hit 25 reps with the right arm, I felt great, so I kept going to 30. Thirty felt alright, but I put the kettlebell down and called it a day. When I watched the video, it turns out that I had miscounted my reps on my left hand: 26, for a total of 56 snatches: a 12 rep improvement, and more than halfway to Master of Sport numbers. If I had really pushed, I might have cleared 60 good reps.
I'm thankful for my new PR, and for some good advice that I'm sure got me there. A couple weeks ago, Nico Rithner of USA Kettlebell Lifting and the Association of Tactical Strenth and Conditioning Instructors advised me to put down the 24k kettlebell, and break my training into light days (long sets with 16k), medium days (multiple hand switches with the 24k), and heavy days (hard sets with the 32k). "Of course!" I thought. "I know that. I read it in Pavel Tsatsouline's books years ago. I did it with my presses, and they got stronger. Why haven't I been doing it with my snatches?" I've been doing it again, and I have a new PR with the 32k to show for it. Last Friday, I snatched the 24k, switching hands every 5 reps, and hit 150 reps in under 10 minutes without putting the kettlebell down. Twice. That's a score of 150 on the Secret Service Snatch Test twice in one day (200 is the passing standard), without training specifically for this event, or even snatching particularly fast. Perhaps 200 is in my near future?
Lesson learned? Don't get fancy or creative with your training. Learn the basics, and stick to them. Get good advice, and follow it.
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