Ok, so Saturdays are the day I usually put up my own composition, an attempt at a somewhat witty, informative and insightful look at the life changing, fountain of youth, elixor of life type movements we promote here at the blog.
Well, while I’m waiting for my nomination for a documentarian of the year award for my efforts, I’m going to take a break from that for a moment and show you something central to our philosophy here. Why do we do all this? Why work so hard.
Here’s why. Meet Johann Martin, a Hungarian athlete. He’s trained with kettles and body weight oriented movements his whole life. While you watch, please remember, in many of these clips, he’s just past his 63rd birthday. The video spans from 1967 through today. This man still maintains many of the movements at very similar loads to what he lifted in years past.
Ever seen those late night/early morning commercials for battery operated, motorized scooters for the elderly?…This is why we train so hard.
Well, 2nd in my weight class and a personal best. What did we learn on Saturday? You know, after being to a number of these things, I just can’t say how much I love the people I run into at each one. If you’re in the New York area and haven’t plugged into the GS community here yet, then you really need to get your arse in gear. You’re missing the party.
At any rate, what did I learn? To take absolutely nothing away from my fellow competitors, I learned that I am the first person to defeat myself. Lost a few reps there all on my own. Didn’t need any help there. Why? How? Where did those reps go wrong?
1. Fixate the bell immediately in lockout. 2. Wait for the judges count no matter how long my lactic acid drunk brain thinks he/she is taking to make the call. In truth, they’re probably right on it, it just seems like an eternity in my own brain.
Ok, so I need to adjust my training. Fault 1 is that I wasn’t training with someone counting, so my ear wasn’t attuned to waiting for the count before going on to the next. Utilize a training partner. Check.
Fault 2. Fixation was a little slow in coming at times. That’s a little harder to train. But you know what’s interesting, both points boil down to one thing. Patience. Patience on the platform, under 100+lbs of load, especially in the second half of the set is hard. But then again, isn’t that the point?
Looking forward to seeing everyone in August at the Worlds.
Ok, well it’s time. Time to step up to the big leagues. I’ve been cutting my teeth for about a year now in local regional girevoy sport competitions. Not having gone for an event organized by one of the major national bodies, I’m jumping in.
American Kettlebell Club is throwing the National Long Cycle Championships at the Reebok Sports Club on the Upper West Side, Saturday, March 27th. I’ve just submitted my rank qualification video for eligibility, so barring any unforeseen circumstances, I’ll be there.
I wanted to put out an invitation to anyone that hasn’t experienced a kettlebell sport competition yet. Come on out and spend the day with us. Yes, I do in fact want to encourage as much of an overly enthusiastic, boisterous cheering section in “MOVE” shirts, (wink wink), but it goes beyond that. The kettlebell sport (g.s.) world, while very competitive and rather political from time to time, is also an incredibly connected and nurturing athletic world. When you walk in, I guarantee you’re going to find a room full of athletes, newbies and veterans alike, that are more than happy to share what it is about this sport that inspires them so much.
Seriously, come on out. I’d love to see everyone there.
This guy, I have to tell you, stuck out what had to have been the toughest hour to knock on his door in a long time. And you know what? He kicked its ass. Hardcore.
Now, next time he hits this workout (see below) he’s going to blow it out of the water. His times are going to drop like a rock and his reps are going to shoot through the roof. The point is he kept moving, pressing forward.
One of the big problems many of the athletes I run into have is that they’re way to willing to allow themselves to hit their lactic threshold (the wall) and just stop. If you keep stopping when you hit the wall, you’re never going to progress. You’ve got to intentionally hit that wall, dig yourself in and get set for the long slog that’s going to drag you through it. By progressively pushing that envelope further and further, we grow.
David’s determined to grow. He clawed through. Awesome job. I’ll see everybody (and anybody that wants to come) next Wednesday, 8pm, here at West River.
The workout.
4 rounds .25mi sprint 20 burpees burpees decrease by 5 each rnd
Tabata (20 sec work/to sec rest) 8 times each movement before moving on to the next.
Kettlebell High (overhead) swing Body Weight Squats Kettlebell jerk right arm Kettlebell jerk left arm Body weight row
One of the most popular words in Hollywood franchises right now, reboot. Seems we’ve got a bit of a reboot on our hands over at WestRiver. We’re bringing back the group training. But in a change of pace from the Blowouts, we’re giving things a different tone. Don’t get me wrong, the trash can will still be front and center for anyone who thinks they may be in danger of losing the battle with the evil from below. This time we’re going to be taking a little more time on developing the training technique and skills that will make you successful on your own.
So here’s the breakdown, high intensity anaerobic threshold training with a huge variety of tools, body weight, TRX, kettlebells, free weights, cardio intervals and Olympic liftingto name a few, Wednesday nights, 8pm at West River Health & Racquet Club.$20.
If you’re planning on coming, shoot me an email just so I can program the evening as efficiently as possible.
I am so very grateful to everyone that came out to the class tonight. You guys worked so hard tonight. Man, it beautiful.
There were also a number of people who couldn’t make it to class tonight that stopped in to contribute anyway. To you guys, your generosity is so touching. Thank you.
My brain keeps trying to come back to the train of thought that says “That’s nice and all, but in the grand scheme, how’s one little class going to help with all that destruction?”
You know, it’s not just one small class. Each of our participants tonight didn’t just donate $30.They were participants in a collective effort to help and support. Tonight was a puzzle piece in a picture that stretches clear across the entire planet right now. Classes, fundraisers , collections, telethons…you know, individually, a few hundred bucks at a time isn’t going to do much. But put enough drops in that bucket and eventually it’s going to overflow.
If anyone couldn’t make it last night, here’s the link to donate. Please give. Be the next drop in the bucket. They’re still pulling people out of the rubble. They’re still trying to figure out how to get water in there. Water. Coming up on a week later, they still don’t have water. We need to keep giving.
