What Would Kettle Do?

I had forgotten what it was like to be free of the routine. I had been so locked into the training that life without it seemed distant. Like riding my bike with my childhood friends seems distant.

Now the training is back and it fits a little too snugly around the thighs if you get my drift.

Stage 5 was epic. 4 weeks on the road in Japan and a 4 city tour. Did you know that in Japan they have all you can eat and drink menus? It’s a preset price and they just keep feeding you food and Chu-Hi hour after hour?

Needless to say I am fat. Fat fatty fatpants fat. Fatter than normal that’s for sure, but it was worth every last sip I do promise you!

Now I am dealing with the repercussions of sweet, beautiful excess. I am struggling through my training with this softer body and it is not fun. *

My wind is not what it should be and my rack has regressed.  That being said Coach Rudnev did pull me aside in Detroit and explain to me that I was still bending in my backswing and if I do not fix this error he would…eh…eh…kill me.

So I have been working on that.

Every rep has to be a good one. Not just the fixation but the backswing, breathing, acceleration pull, and insertion. Going into Detroit I got onto this speed kick. For example, if I had to finish my workout with 100/100 glove snatches I wanted to get through it as quickly as possible and in a dominant way. This was a change from my “just hold on for ten minutes” attitude that I had in the middle of last year. I was cranking out reps at light speed but I was letting my technique go and using my strength to lift. This was great for my wind because the bell was a 16kg or a 20 kg but when I switched back to the 32kg bell there was less than ideal transfer. I had been practicing sloppy reps.

See…Here is me with a 30kg rushing and getting sloppy

So I have been working on that.

Every rep, every set, has to be perfect. My speed is down a little but I can feel my technique improving. I am still out of shape and that slows me down but I am getting fitter every day. The diet is getting better. The running is getting better. The reps are getting better. It is all starting to come together.

Next weekend I will be in Los Angeles at the IKFF competition. I had not planned on competing this early, I am really looking more towards May, but the OKC has a few lifters going and I couldn’t miss it! I am just going to do a snatch set and stay on my program. It will be fun (I think). It will be a good early test for me to see if the month of work I put in on my tech has been paying off or not. I think it has but we will see.

Kettle,

* This is not to say it was not fun to soften up this body. It was fun. IT WAS MAXIMUM FUN!! I needed it and I am happy I did it. You can’t even imagine the footage Nazo has of Jason and I in Osaka tearing apart a whole floor of the hotel from our room to the elevators in cowboy hats and Kimonos with wooden swords and countless Chu-Hi’s! We can’t post it but if you see her ask her to see it, she has it at hand ALL OF THE FREAKING TIME”.

This entry was posted on January 12, 2012 at 12:05 pm and is filed under Uncategorized . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.