165.5#
RKC's call it the "What the hell" effect, the way that kettlebell fitness overlaps into fitness in daily life or into fitness required for other endeavors. For instance, a basketball player might find him or herself with a higher vertical jump after a month of swings and snatches performed with a proper hip snap. This overlap is always fun to find.
A couple of weeks ago I spent 5 days training for one of the most intense things I've ever done, cave diving. Obviously, one should take this endeavor very seriously and train physically, mentally and emotionally. Training for it, though, can be difficult because it's kind of hard to mimic the action of using a frog kick to swim up a water hose. The frog kick is not a natural motion for non-frogs--I'm just sayin'. On top of worrying about swimming in a manor that doesn't stir up silt and trying to keep up with a buddy and the line and everything else, one must keep an eye on gas consumption, a real-life application of VO2 Max. Despite the unnatural feel of the movement, the nerves that tend to make a person over-breathe, and the newness of it all, I held my own with a veteran. I made it farther into one of the local difficult, high-flow caves than most people do on their first dive (by far), my gas consumption was great, and I wasn't sore the next day. Undoubtedly, all of this is directly related to my kettlebell practice, quite a nice "what the hell" effect.
Here's an underwater (yes, it IS that clear) pic of the hubby taken by Hollywood stills photographer Gene Page who happens to be a friend of ours.
WORKOUTS: I am on 9 rep max week in Pavel's Figher Pull up program, and on 8 rep max week of applying it to pistols. At the end of the 3P workout, I usually have been adding some squat thrusts with a jump, some snatches or some swings. When I get back from CK-FMS, the ballistics at the end of the workouts will become more regimented.
I am slowly but steadily making progress with my form in the 3P's. I am adding tension and explosiveness with each workout and feeling the movements more each time.
I was thinking the same thought this past weekend. I had a 1/2 marathon on the 16th and with actually putting most of my training into the RKC (which right now is too important to put on the back burner) I only ran once a week. Very low for 1/2 marathon training for sure, but this race actually was the most comfortable I've ever run! I totally give credit to the crazy amounts of MaxVo2 I've done with snatches and swings. My endurance was crazy. While I didn't break any speed records and I don't really care about speed-I'm just about getting through the finish gate and collecting the finisher's medals!
ReplyDeleteKettlebells, by far, have made everything else I do just that much better!
PS/ If you're bored, you can read my post race report here:
ReplyDeletewww.marinette-lucyfan.blogspot.com
I'm on the 4 rep max week of the program. The weak person's program. I'm really impressed with the improvements I've already seen. I've even messed up by doing some extra sets of 2 a couple of times.
ReplyDeleteas for the diving. I'm jealous, but never found the frog kick that difficult. Must have been all my years as a swimmer before I started diving.
I remember when I was in the keys getting ready to dive the Dwayne, the boat captain looked at the 4 of us and asked if we were tech divers (gear configuration, and our seriousness of getting geared up).