OTG

I'll be traveling around a bit these days, so my presence will be sporadic at best - back to regular after the CK-FMS the latest :)

On a diet of R.I.C.E.

Seems like I'm forced to a couple of days' rest, due to a minor household accident probably worth some variant of the Darwin Award.

I turned on a water tap and as I wanted to turn it off again it got somehow stuck. I got nervous, started wrestling with the darn thing with quite some force ("too much water running out, no time to fetch the tool kit, hey, what the heck do you have that kettlebell powah and grip strength for!?", ehhem, lol) when my palm suddenly slipped off, my finger got caught and I managed to wrench or pull something in the back of my hand.

(In case you think the amount of self-irony in this post is not justified, here's the rest of the story: Instead of fetching the tool kit after this happened, I certainly went on fighting the tap the same way with the other hand and actually managed to turn it off - well, I seem to have at least a little bit more luck than brains, otherwise I could play a terrific Capt'n Double Hook now.)

I tapped myself on the shoulder with my other hand for being so smart and treated myself to some Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. It doesn't hurt too bad, the initial swelling is going down, too, but curling the fingers diagonally (towards the ball of the thumb) or flexing the wrist towards the pinky finger is still a no-no.

Good I did my 50 sets of VO2Max (15:15 @12kg, 8reps/set) earlier in the morning :)

Back on the wagon

VO2Max:
I did 50 sets on Thursday, that felt good and relatively easy. The 60 sets again yesterday however were dragging. The weather was oppressive, too, the air was sticky, which didn't make things easier. I'll cut back again to 50 tomorrow and build up from there. No rush. The name of the game now is consistency, it's more about "showing up" every other day and not the reps themselves.

Otherwise, I'm making slow progress with yoga, to my biggest surprise even my one leg and lunge stance is getting a bit better (I've always had major balance issues with these). Splitting up the sequence to 2-3 days and working less poses more in a session seems to have been a good idea.

I'm not overdoing the clubs either - the inside-outside moves are not easy to learn and the casts are a bit scary, too, with the weight behind my head/back, but I can always choke up, so I'm coming along slow and steady. Really great for mobility so far.

Finally

It was time to pick up the pace a bit training-wise. I've been avoiding those freakin' snatches all too long.

So this is how it goes these days:
VO2Max (15:15 @12kg) every other day.
Friday: 40 sets of 8
Sunday: 50 sets of 8
Yesterday: 60 sets of 8
I plan to go sort of ratchet-ladder-wise: tomorrow back to 50, then 60, then (hopefully) 70, again back to 60 and so on. Increments are subject to change :)

On the days in between:
Some clubbell practice to get the form down on the basic moves - same with yoga, I don't do the whole sequence but I spend more time with the asanas I pick for the day.

As for VO2Max, it was made clear at the Cert that going for speed is no excuse for poor form like "Nazi-style" lockout, so I decided to cut back to 8/set but make sure the elbow passes the ear at every single rep.

Good news all around

Back from Budapest. Visa interview went fine, all consular officers were very kind, polite and helpful, I was told on the spot that my visa was approved and my passport was delivered in less than 24 hours - that makes up for all the preceding unnerving procedure :)
I also did some shopping: I was looking for some shorts suitable for training for quite a while and I finally found two that actually did fit me somewhat normally - in the Boys' Wear department, size "14 yrs", LOL!!
Furthermore, I became proud owner of a pair of 4kg clubbells, and now that even my mysterious side stitches seem to be completely gone, I goofed around with them yesterday for an hour or so, trying some moves from the Circular Strength DVD. They look small, but they're no joke, my grip got smoked even from that bit :)

A few days off

Now this is something I've never experienced before... It's like classic side stitches, except they came out of nowhere (24 hours after the last workout), and they just wouldn't go... On Saturday night it was difficult to find a tolerable body position, since then they gradually got a lot better but I still have them at a special depth of breathing or at certain moves.
I wonder if you can possibly pull your diaphragm while sitting around reading, might depend on the book, lol.

Downstroke transfer

I'm no SSST-freak and VO2Max-training hasn't involved switching hands up to now, so I've never felt the urge to try it. But now that Kenneth Jay has come out with his "boost" I better get ready :)

10 sets of 40 @12kg, switching every other rep.

I went outside, fearing I might drop the bell. Double surprise... First, this was no problem. Second, I would have never thought it would slow me down that much. It nerved and I expected it to get better but it didn't, at least not significantly.
Maybe it simply takes time for the new groove to get settled.
On the other hand, one doesn't normally switch hands so often, of course. But now I wanted the transfers, not the snatches, so maybe I magnified something I wouldn't even have noticed if I had done one switch every 10-20 reps or so.

Healthy & Fit Magazine

Thank you for linking, and everybody for clicking! :)

This was designed

... inspired by Franklin :)

A variation of my 'ladders within ladders', or, as he called it (and kindly explained in a much more intelligible manner than I ever could), my "summer swing ladder", a bit less strenuous as for the work-rest-ratio.

EDIT:
Of course I'm not reinventing the wheel here (or anywhere), it all goes back to the same concept as in Tracy's progressive ladders - what I was trying to do was to set it up (scale it down) rep- and rest-wise so that a (for me) really heavy weight gets manageable for longer sets.

rep ladder:
two hand swing (=transfer) - 1 swing L - two hand swing - 1 swing R -
two hand swing - 2 swings L - two hand swing - 2 swings R -
two hand swing - 3 swings L - two hand swing - 3 swings R -
two hand swing - 4 swings L - two hand swing - 4 swings R -
two hand swing - 5 swings L - two hand swing - 5 swings R
= 1 set, 40 swings (15L, 15R, 10 two hand), 1min

This rep ladder design can be easily adjusted to your grip endurance: if you prefer to have more two hand swings, you can simply stick to the original ladder scheme and do 4 rungs instead of 5, that's also 40 swings/set, 10L+10R+20 two hand, or you can also do both downhill.

The weight ladder, as I originally planned, would have then been:
1 set @ 16kg
1 set @ 20kg
1 set @ 24kg
1min on, 1min off, 6min/ladder

But Franklin's idea of doing it all @24kg was stronger... Oh yes, those blogospheric bees in our bonnets ;)

So I instead did 15 rounds @24kg
8 sets as described uphill,
3 sets downhill,
and the rest with 4 rungs and more two hand swings uphill:
1 two hand swing - 1 swing L - 1 two hand swing - 1 swing R -
2 two hand swings - 2 swings L - 2 two hand swings - 2 swings R -
3 two hand swings - 3 swings L - 3 two hand swings - 3 swings R -
4 two hand swings - 4 swings L - 4 two hand swings - 4 swings R

Total: 30min, 600 swings