The circus leaves town
Yet another of my kettlebell sport goals has fallen. This brings my goals reached for the year to a respectable total of three thus far. I hit 100 pistols back in January. More recently I did 100 long cycle with a pair of 24kg bells and today I did 100 one arm long cycle with a 40 kg bell. The video is embedded below. Originally I planned on doing this in a few weeks but I figured maybe now would be a good time as I am really being bothered with plantar fasciitis. All this heel slamming that high rep kettlebell sport involves does not seem to be good for my feet. I spend a lot of time on them at work and I also like to run. Something has to go so I am going to back off of this girevoy stuff for a while. Notice I am wearing running shoes instead of lifting shoes in the video. My feet feel much better in these. I am doing some exercises and stretches for the feet and keeping things under control so I'll be fine but in the meantime I'll be conservative.
Not to worry, my love affair with lactic acid rages on unabated and I have found some other drills to indulge in which are at least as sick as long cycle. Here are a few worth trying: Double clean/front squat, long cycle push press, double snatch/front squat, also plain old double cleans are a real ass kicker. You can only pause for 5 seconds at any point in the set. Any longer you have to set the bells down and start again. These types of drills are great to do along the lines of a program Mike Mahler outlined in his kettlebells for fat loss DVD. You can find that here.
Just do as many reps as you can in 3-5 min and try to build on your totals each session. If you want lactate, you got it. Remember life is a struggle against hydrogen ions. If you aren't fighting the burn, like my friend Ross from the Edge Fitness Center says, you aren't working. So next time you are tempted to by the siren song of "must see tv", resist the urge, grab your weights and get to it! Overcoming that initial fatigue and laziness is a bit like getting in a fight. Sure you would rather not but once you get hit you realize its not so bad and its actually kind of fun. Note that much like being in a fight, you might get your ass kicked, especially if you aren't smart about it.
My upcoming goals are more strength oriented, pressing 48kg and closing the COC 2.5 gripper. I plan on doing a good bit of this work in a grease-the-groove manner. This means I will hit mini sets throughout the day. I'll stash a 40kg bell in my office and do a few presses here and there as time permits. This works well when it comes to building strength. It also leaves enough time and energy so that your main workouts don't get shorted either. I also plan on doing a good bit of one arm jerks with my monster bells. I think this work has been most helpful in allowing me to reach my goal with the 40 kg bell. After working with my 54 and 57 the 40 feels like a chunk of angelfood cake. The other thing that helped was in my long cycle sets with the 40 I would only permit myself one hand switch. When I tested, unlimited switching was a luxury.
Not to worry, my love affair with lactic acid rages on unabated and I have found some other drills to indulge in which are at least as sick as long cycle. Here are a few worth trying: Double clean/front squat, long cycle push press, double snatch/front squat, also plain old double cleans are a real ass kicker. You can only pause for 5 seconds at any point in the set. Any longer you have to set the bells down and start again. These types of drills are great to do along the lines of a program Mike Mahler outlined in his kettlebells for fat loss DVD. You can find that here.
Just do as many reps as you can in 3-5 min and try to build on your totals each session. If you want lactate, you got it. Remember life is a struggle against hydrogen ions. If you aren't fighting the burn, like my friend Ross from the Edge Fitness Center says, you aren't working. So next time you are tempted to by the siren song of "must see tv", resist the urge, grab your weights and get to it! Overcoming that initial fatigue and laziness is a bit like getting in a fight. Sure you would rather not but once you get hit you realize its not so bad and its actually kind of fun. Note that much like being in a fight, you might get your ass kicked, especially if you aren't smart about it.
My upcoming goals are more strength oriented, pressing 48kg and closing the COC 2.5 gripper. I plan on doing a good bit of this work in a grease-the-groove manner. This means I will hit mini sets throughout the day. I'll stash a 40kg bell in my office and do a few presses here and there as time permits. This works well when it comes to building strength. It also leaves enough time and energy so that your main workouts don't get shorted either. I also plan on doing a good bit of one arm jerks with my monster bells. I think this work has been most helpful in allowing me to reach my goal with the 40 kg bell. After working with my 54 and 57 the 40 feels like a chunk of angelfood cake. The other thing that helped was in my long cycle sets with the 40 I would only permit myself one hand switch. When I tested, unlimited switching was a luxury.
As for plantiar fascitis - I have had stupidly wicked cases in both feet and you're correct - GS is not kind in this dept. I tried everything and during the San Diego fiasco, Suzanna Baxter cured it in ONE 20 MIN SESSION. So, I've continued with a Rolfer and for this specific problem - it being fascia and all - it is perfect.
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Lorraine:
Tom Furman also suggested a Rolfer. Unfortunately around here Rolfing is something that is done after slamming down a few too many at the corner bar. I did go see an ART guy who is local to here and I left with kinesio-tape half way up my leg. Honestly aggressive massage and calf stretching pretty much have it cured. I am cautiously optomistic. I will keep looking for a Rolfer nearby. Whatever happened to Suzanna? I have heard nothing about her for ages.
Thanks,
Scott
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Congrats on another goal accomplished, but once again you forgot to turn on the bubble machines for the video. Bummer.
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Thanks. Yeah with the bubbles going it would be way more fun. Lawrence Welk orchestra music would be a nice touch too. Do you even know who he is? He was much before your time. Maybe I'll put some LW on the ipod and get the bubble machine going for my next challenge.
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That's some awesome 40kg kettlecrankin' Scott. I'm 66, I'm glad to do 100 with the 20 kg, but I'll feep at it. Have you considered the yard sale nails in the telephone poles yet?
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Thanks Richard. I haven't been hitting those yet. But hey get to work on those shirts will ya. Training is on hiatus for a while as I tore an intercostal laughing at the press conference last night.
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Chronic foot pain can be a tremendous buzz-kill for training, and I seriously respect your ability to push past it. I had been fighting and loosing the fight against foot pain for most of 2008 and a significant chunk of 09 until I saw a podiatrist who made orthotic inserts for me. I had tried every thing I could, including custom orthotics from Costco. The Costco orthotics were pretty good, but they didn't help with the neuralgia that was the real problem. The podiatrist crafted his orthotics to level the foot and to spread the offending metatarsals impinging the inflamed nerve and for the most part the pain is gone.
The 100 LCC&J with the 40 is crazy. Respect.
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Thanks Ronnie! Glad to hear you are getting benefit from your orthotics. Interestingly many folks I have spoken to don't find them helpful for plantar fasciitis. One of those individuals actually makes orthotics for a living. But PF is a lot different than nerve impingement. From what I am finding out the problem often lies in the gastrocs and soleus muscles and the symptoms in the foot are a consequence of that. When people focus on the foot exclusively the miss the root cause. I suspect this is why it is often a very chronic condition.
Take care,
Scott
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Scott,
Congrats on achieving your goal of 100 reps with the 40kg, very impressive and it looked like fun times all the way!
Thanks for the mention, I feel very privileged to have warranted a plug on such a prestigious forum!......Wait a second I think I hear the phone ringing off the hook! Finally, I've made it to the big time, and its all thanks to RFP!
In all seriousness, thanks for the mention and for posting my link, I really appreciate it mate.
Glad to hear your training is going well. Hope the feet feel better soon.
cheers,
Ross
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Damned impressive work.
A buddy of mine gets great mileage out of this guy in Westlake, OH.
http://www.zakperformancehealth.com/
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Thanks Shaf. I saw my local guy and he killed it. One session. Best thing I ever did.
Scott
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