Rep Fitness

I just wanted to give a shout out to the awesome guys over at Rep Fitness. They produce and sell some really great weightlifting and fitness equipment, including high-quality bumper plates at a low price. I have a full set with their Excalibur bar, and the set is of fantastic quality and specifications.

A funny thing happened on the way to the competition...

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Actually, contrary to the title of this post, what happened on the wayto the competition wasn't funny in the least...

Let me preface this post by first saying thank you to Coach ValeryFedorenko for his wonderful coaching, and to Alex from the WKC for his help insharing my training journey. 

Back to the post, which, by the way, has two parts. Part I chroniclesthe trouble I had the night before the competition, and Part II details my grateful comeback, with videos of two new personal records! Read on...

PART I--The Day Before

Sadly, I never made it to the competition. If you have been followingthis blog, then you will know the hard work and concerted effort I put intotraining for the Ice Chamber West Coast Kettlebell Sport Classic, which tookplace in Richmond, CA (in the San Francisco Bay Area) on Saturday, February 9.I made my way up to Berkeley to stay with a friend in the evening of theThursday before the competition, and spent Friday driving around San Franciscovisiting friends and an old college professor. Everything was going well, and Iwas feeling fit and ready to lift the next morning. 

The night before the competition, my wife, friend, and I went out todinner in Berkeley, where we had a nice light meal of fish and kale (with alittle gnocchi in cream sauce on the side:) So far, so good. But then towardsthe end of dinner I began feeling the color drain out of my face, and my heartstarted beating more rapidly than normal. I excused myself from the table andwent to wash my hands, thinking that I just needed to get away from thecrowded, noisy, and somewhat claustrophobia-inducing dining room. I made itback to the table and finished dinner feeling somewhat unsettled. All was notwell, however, and as we prepared to leave I felt very lightheaded, faint,nauseous, and all-around extremely unwell. I went outside to get a breath offresh air, but this time my condition just got worse. I was on the edge offainting, vomiting, and--it seemed to me--falling down dead at any moment. Iwas simultaneously shaking with cold and weakness, and sweating from everypore. It was one of the scarier moments of my entire life.

Those of you who are able to relate to this story thus far, you mightrecognize the symptoms. For those of you who have not lived through this sortof thing before--myself included, until that night--what I was experiencing wasa full-blown panic attack. I had always (somewhat unsympathetically, I nowrealize) dismissed "panic attacks" as not being real, or at least notbeing as intense as the person experiencing it claims it to be. "What adrama queen! (or king)," I might have thought, or, "Just take a deepbreath and calm down." Well, you know what they say about not judgingsomeone until you've walked a mile in his or her shoes...boy was I wrong. Panicattacks are nothing to trifle with. I literally thought I was dying. 

I'm sure some of the extreme anxiety came from nervousness over theupcoming competition. After all, I have always trained kettlebells by myself,in the privacy of my own garage, and this was to be my first competition infront of other people, including Masters of Sport and other elite-levelathletes. Call it stage fright. But I'm sure most of my anxiety, and theresulting acute panic attack, stemmed from events of the previous six months,which I will list here but not recount in any deep detail:

• August 2012--I began my last year in law school (along with a urgent sense of needing to pass the California bar exam and get a job)
• September 2012--My mother was diagnosed with brain cancer and given 1-2 years to live. This was and remains the biggest shock of my life, of my whole family's life. She went through chem and radiation for 3 weeks.
• September 2012--I proposed marriage to my girlfriend of four years
• December 11, 2012--My mother passed away at the age of 64. She was otherwise in excellent health and very physically fit--she hiked, biked, took spin classes, ate healthy, etc. She survived 10 weeks from diagnosis. Because she was otherwise in such good health, the tumor did not manifest symptoms until it was too late to treat.
• December 13, 2012--My fiancée finds out she is pregnant. Great news, but sad that my mom never was able to share in the joy.  
• December 29, 2012--My wife and I were married in San Diego.
• January 2013--I begin my last semester in law school, and start an internship with the California Dept. of Justice.  
• January 2013--My grandmother passes away one week after falling and breaking her hip.

 Which leads us to February 2013--I'm supposed to compete inkettlebell sport?! My body, heart, and mind have different opinions onthat. 

So after an agonizing 2 hour wait in the local emergency room, thedoctors hooked me up to an EKG, gave me i.v. fluids, anti-nausea medicine, andanti-anxiety medicine, and drew blood to perform tests for other physicalailments. The EKG and blood tests all came back fine, no other problems. Just apanic attack. The medication kicked in, and by about 4:00am Saturday morning Iwas released to go home. I think I mumbled to the doctor on my way out,"Can I lift weights today?", to which he replied, "I think youshould probably just get some rest." Duh. Thanks, doc. I went home andfell asleep, and woke up the next morning at about the same time as I wasscheduled to lift, 11:00 am. Bummer. 

I was pretty upset at not being able to compete, but my friend and mywife convinced me that 1) there's always next time, and 2) it was probably forthe best, anyway. Additionally, I talked to Coach Fedorenko on the phone (hecalled me when he heard I wasn't at the competition), and he passed on thewisdom that this sort of thing happens to everyone. Not panic attacks,necessarily, but getting sick and missing competition. It's even happened tothe best of the best, meaning VF himself. 

And what matters most is that I was not dying, and I didn't lose thetraining and strength from my work over the previous months and years. Whichbrings me to Part II of this little saga...

PART II--The Day After

Luckily for me, my panic attack subsided during the night, and I was able to rest all the following day (during the competition--grrrrr. Still makes me sad). The good thing is that the Ice Chamber had a kettlebell technique workshop scheduled for the day after the competition, which I felt well enough to attempt. I told myself that I would only do as much I felt comfortable doing, and that I wouldn't over-exert myself. When talked to Coach Fedorenko on the phone the previous day, however, he suggested that, if I was feeling up to it, I ask the folks at the workshop to let me perform my Biathlon set for them, so that I could test myself and so the trip didn't feel like an entire waste of time.

Well, guess what? After the morning warm-up and technique drills, I felt hearty enough to do some lifting, so I asked Maya and Steve from Ice Chamber if they wouldn't mind watching my set--and they were more than happy to do so! After a brief warmup, I performed my Jerk set for Maya, and this is how it shook out:

My previous best with 24kg:
Jerk--40 reps in 6 minutes. I had never before lifted past 6 minutes in Jerk with 24kg.
Snatch--38L/41R in 6 minutes. Again, I had never lifted past 6 minutes.

Here's my Jerk set at the the Ice Chamber on Sunday, February 10, 2013 Unfortunately, I forgot to keep my eye on the clock, and I actually went over the allotted 10 minutes, for a full 12 minutes. I smashed my previous best (from only one week prior) and lifted 60 reps! Not quite within Rank 1 territory because I went over time, but the reps were enough. I'll try again soon to make Rank (today actually).

60 Reps 24kg Jerk

After the Jerk set I felt the all-too familiar butterflies of anxiety creep into my stomach, but I laid down, put my feet on a chair, took some deep breaths, and let myself calm down. I was fine in about 10 minutes. I rested for about one hour, and then Steve and Lorraine counted my Snatch set. Here it is: 56L/60R in around 8 minutes 30 seconds. Also a new personal best, and good enough for the Snatch portion of Rank 1 in Biathlon.

Now I just need to combine it with a good Jerk set, and I'm on my way!

56L/60R 24kg Snatch

Regarding my anxiety, I'm starting to feel better, day by day. I have good friends to talk with, and I am also starting to see a grief counselor to help with the loss of my mother. Those Biathlon sets last Sunday were for her.

Last post before competition!

Hey everyone,

Thanks so much for checking in and reading my updates. The few comments I have received here, on Facebook, and on Reddit have been supportive and encouraging. The kettlebell community as a whole has proven to be tight-knit and helpful. I especially want to thank coach Valery Fedorenko for helping me train for the 2013 West Coast Kettlebell Sport Classic. He and I started talking in the beginning of the year, but only really started working together about a month ago when I achieved Rank 2 with the World Kettlebell Club. In that month, he and I have talked on the phone about my goals, and we set a rigorous training plan that has prepared me as best as possible for the upcoming meet given the time constraints. I don't think either of us expect a kettlebell lifter to be able to achieve Rank 2, and then one month later compete and hope to achieve Rank 1. This is my own personal fantasy, but it may not necessarily be grounded in reality. but you never know. I'll have adrenaline and the excitement of a competition working for me (I hope!), and I will also have a solid month's worth of hard training under my belt. Stranger things have happened. We'll find out this Saturday...For what it's worth, if I show up and give my best, even if for some reason I only lift one repetition, then I will be satisfied.

Here are my workouts for this week. I only worked three days this week because the meet is this Saturday. The results are encouraging. My best day was Tuesday, on which I lifted 40 reps in Jerk with the two 24kgs over six minutes. This is my personal best so far, and as hard as it was I think I may have had some energy left in the tank. Maybe I can go farther during the competition.

Monday:
24kg
Jerk-6min @ 6rpm--36 reps
Snatch-6 min @ 12rpm--36L/36R

Tuesday:
24kg
Jerk-6min @ 6.666667rpm--40 reps--Personal best
Snatch-6min @ 12rpm--37L/38R--Personal best

Wednesday:
24kg
Jerk-5min @ 6rpm--30 reps
Snatch-6min @ 12rpm--33L/41R

Here is Tuesday's Jerk set:

And here is Wednesday's Snatch set (for some reason I cannot figure out how to embed this video:/)

I will check in again after the competition to give my feedback on what it was like to be coached for a competition (taking into account the limited time I had), and how the training compared to my own personal development in kettlebell lifting.

Wish me luck!

Friday check-in. One week till competition!

So I had a pretty busy week. I studied for and, on Wednesday, took a make-up final exam from last semester. Preparation took a great deal of effort, and the exam was three hours long, so at the end of the day Wednesday I was pretty exhausted, mentally and physically. I haven't been getting very high quality sleep, either. I'm still reeling from the recent, rapid decline and death of my mother from brain cancer at the age of 64. Anyways, I find solace and structure in my kettlebell workouts, so no matter how tired I am or how unmotivated I am, I always at least start the workout. And usually once I start, I can find the strength and energy to excel. This week was no different. Here is a breakdown of my workouts from the week:

Monday--This was a test day for me to see how long I could go with my competition weight. I was discouraged, but now, at the end of the week's workouts, I have a renewed sense of hope. In other words, keep reading!

Jerk 24 6 min. @ 5/6rpm tried to go for my best. Got to 5 minutes, then stopped; rested one minute, then lifted for rest one minute. 6rpm rest 1 minute, 8 additional reps
Snatch 3min./3min. 2:30/2:30 @ 14rpm 40L/40R

Tues:
Rested. I was tired today, plus I have an exam coming up tomorrow for which I need to study.

Wednesday:
Jerk 20kg 6min@8rpm--45reps/5mins, rest 3 min
OAJ 2min/2min max rpm--30L/30R, rest 10 minutes
Snatch 20kg 6 min. 14/15rpm--52L/52R rest 2minutes
Swing 24kg 40L/40R


Thursday--I was super tired going in to this workout. I put it off until about 7:30pm, and then I just said, "what the heck, here goes nothing." And I ended up putting up some of my best numbers to date!
Jerk 20kg 6min @ 9rpm -- 54 reps total
OAJ 24kg 2min/2min max rpm -- 30L/30R
Snatch 20kg 6 min. 15rpm -- 45L/45R
Swing 24kg 40L/40R

Friday--Even more tired today, but somehow I just put one foot in front of the other, walked out to my garage, and put up my PR in Jerk and Snatch. DONE.

Jerk 20kg 6min @ 10rpm -- 60 reps total
OAJ 2min/2min max rpm -- 32L/32R
Snatch 20kg 6 min. @ ~19rpm -- 56L/56R
Swing 24kg 40L/40R

Week 2: Mid-week check-in

I asked Coach Fedorenko during our phone call Sunday night whether the competition would have a clock or timer that I could look at during my set so that I could keep track of my pacing. He told me he didn't know, that it depends on the individuals setting up the competition. Which brings me back to my dancing days...

Often in dance class the dancers practice and learn choreography by following a teacher or director in a mirror that spans the length of the room. Then, I noticed, dancers are often thrown off when they are asked to perform the choreography without the mirror, like when we first dance on stage for a dress rehearsal. This reliance on something external is a real detriment, and best shed early, in my opinion. When I learned to rely on the feeling of the dance moving through my body, and when I practice my kettlebell lifts with out a timer or similar . . . crutch . . . then I automatically improve. The mirror and the timer represent just one more thing to think about, when all I really need to think about is right here, in my body and breath. 

What Coach VF told me, in a nutshell:
 Focus on how many reps you've done, and if you've practiced well enough with good, even pacing, then you'll know how much time has passed.

The workouts are getting tougher, but it really helps to have Coach VF helping me along. Not only for the customized, personalized workouts, but for the encouragement and mental training, too!

So here are my workouts so far this week. I was "supposed" to go all five days, but I allowed myself a rest day on Tuesday because I had to study for a final exam (the one exam that stood in the way between me and a joint law degree/master's of environmental law and policy--I better have studied hard!)

Monday:
Jerk two 24kg- 6 min. @ 5/6rpm, try to go to best. Got to 5 minutes @ 6rpm, then stopped; rested one minute, then lifted for one minute @ 8rpm. So I did 5 minutes @6rpm, then rested for 1 minute, the 8 additional reps. Total 38 reps.

Snatch 3min./3min. 2:30/2:30 @ 14rpm--total of 35L/35R.

Tuesday:
Rest (STUDY!!!!)

Wednesday after taking my exam!:
Jerk 20kg 6min@8rpm--45reps/5mins, rest 3 min VIDEO BELOW!!!
OAJ 24 kg 2min/2min max rpm--result: 30L/30R, rest 10 minutes
Snatch 20kg 6 min. 14/15rpm--52L/52R rest 2minutes
Swing 24kg 40L/40R

Today, Wednesday, was encouraging. I lifted more than usual, and it felt easier than ever. I think that's two big steps forward!

Here's the video of my Jerk set from tonight. It felt easier, more relaxed, elbows felt better connected to hips, grip was relaxed and comfortable, and breath came naturally. I know it won't always be this easy, so I'll enjoy it while I can :)

Cheers!

Mid-week reflection on competition training

This past Monday through Wednesday I followed the structure VF recommended. I did the exact same workout each day:

20kg--Three sets of Jerks, five minutes each set. I did 6rpm, so 30 reps per set, for 90 [turns out I was mistaken--he only wanted me to do one set per day over three days for a total of three sets, instead of three sets each day--whoops! Oh well, at least I got in some good lifting!]
24kg--one set one-arm jerk (OAJ), 20L/20R pausing at the top to feel fixation.

20kg--One set Snatch, six minutes total. I did 14rpm, for total of 42L/42R.

24kg--One set swing, 40L/40R.

The biggest challenge for me was the Jerk sets, where I had trouble staying comfortable in the rack position. My elbows currently do not reach my hip bones, and I constantly struggle to keep my elbows connected to my body and not sliding off to both sides. I need to stretch. I don't feel so bad, however, because I know it's not an easy move to master. As VF puts it, "If it was easy, everybody would do it, or nobody would do it." I am also encouraged because my cardio is strong enough that if I could find a stable rack position I think I would be successful in a 10 minute set, even with 24kg or above.

I also worked on opening my wrist, and I feel like I am getting more comfortable doing so. For the past three years I trained with a neutral or even slightly closed wrist, so this new grip feels like a big change. I need to get used to the kettlebell sitting on the bone in the heel of my hand and lower on my forearm. I know that the discomfort with go away, however, because I previously felt the same type of discomfort when I was first learning to hold the kettlebell with my grip all the way into the handle.

The next technique I practiced was breathing in on the way up and out on the way down, both in Jerk and Snatch. I tried not to force my breathing into a pattern by counting the number of breaths between reps, which seems unnatural. Instead I breathed normally and I made sure to breathe IN on the way up, and OUT on the way down. The IN breath takes some getting used to, because I have always trained to breathe out on exertion, but I am acclimating to this new style, and so far my breath and cardio are very strong. I will keep it up.

I have two more days at this routine, then I rest over the weekend, and move on next week to training with my competition weight--24kg. 

Opening post: Achieving Rank 2 with World Kettlebell Club

I created this blog to have a record of my experience training with kettlebells. I began lifting kettlebells in January 2010, and I began my journey into the style of lifting used in kettlebell sport competitions (also called girevoy sport, or GS) in November 2011. At the time I began training in this style, I lived in a fairly isolated and rural part of the country, and I was not able to access traditional coaching or classes. As a result, I began teaching myself the various lifting techniques by watching online videos and reading blogs and forums.

But first, let me introduce my self. I'm 33 years old. I'm 5'10" tall and I weigh just under 75kg. My physical fitness background is quite varied: growing up I played golf at a fairly high level, and I played nearly all sports in junior club teams in various forms. I love to run, hike, bike, swim--you name it. If it's physical, I'm into it. Beginning when I was 21 years old, I trained and performed in modern and hip-hop dance for about eight years, and I eventually danced with a professional company for the last fours years. I have an associate's degree in dance performance, and I have trained extensively in Pilates, yoga, and many other forms of fitness and calisthenics. So to sum up, I have a very high level of body awareness and physical coordination, and I generally pick up new movement styles fairly quickly. Luckily, kettlebell sport was no different. In November 2012, I committed to training for a kettlebell sport competition. In order to lift at the World Kettlebell Club (WKC) World Kettlebell Lifting Championships, a lifter must be ranked at least Rank 3 with the WKC. This enables a lifter to compete with 20kg kettlebells. Being the competitive person that I am, I wanted to start at Rank 2.

 

The WKC Ranks progress in descending order--Rank 4 is lowest, then Rank 3 is more difficult, and so on. After Rank 1, a very highly skilled lifter enters the world of Master of Sport categories, which begin with Candidate for Master of Sport and culminate with the highest rank of Honored Master of Sport. So I began training on my own, and in January 2013 I submitted three videos to the World Kettlebell Club for my Rank attempt in Longcycle and Biathlon (which consists of two events: Jerk and Snatch). Although my technique is nowhere near perfect, I was able to successfully pass both Rank attempts, and I achieved Rank 2 status. This is where my real journey begins.

 

Currently, I am signed up for the Ice Chamber 2013 West Coast Kettlebell Sport Classic, which is being held in Richmond, CA on February 9, 2013. I plan on competing in Biathlon with 24kg kettlebells. This will be a real challenge and test, because I really worked hard to make Rank 2 with the 20kg bells, and I only have three weeks to prepare to lift two 24kg bells.

You can view my LongCycle Rank 2 submission here, and my Biathlon submission here (Jerk) and here (Snatch).

And this is where the genesis for this blog comes in...

Being the diligent researcher, I constantly peruse websites looking for good kettlebell knowledge, and in October 2012 I began participating in kettlebell-related conversations on the social-media site Reddit, which has a subsection (called a subreddit) dedicated to kettlebell lifting. This is where--quite serendipitously--I "met" Valery Fedorenko (also known as VF), who is the founder/head coach/chief adviser of the World Kettlebell Club. I had posted a few videos and responded to a few user comments on the kettlebell subreddit, and noticed one day that Coach Fedorenko had joined the site. I was excited to have his wealth of knowledge on the site, and I immediately said hello. He and I exchanged a few comments, and he never shot me down as being incorrect or a buffoon, so I was encouraged. I eventually asked

him if he knew of any training facilities worthy of the WKC in San Diego (my home), but he replied in the negative. He did, however, suggest that he could train me remotely over the Internet and telephone in exchange for my blogging about my progress and sharing that progress on various social media outlets. So that's what I am starting today! 

My first VF-prescribed workout begins today. I will let you know how it goes! I suspect he's pushing me a bit hard because I only have three weeks to train for the competition, but I'm up for it, and frankly, I trust his guidance. 

Lastly, I want to share a few thoughts about this blog in general:

• Although I am training with VF and therefore somewhat affiliated with him and the WKC, I am not a representative of the WKC, and the views expressed in this blog are mine alone and are not endorsed in any way by Valery Fedorenko or the World Kettlebell Club. (I'm also in law school, if you couldn't tell...how am I doing so far? ;)
• I will give my absolute honest opinion of my progress, to the best of my ability. In other words, I will attempt to be as objective as possible regarding my results and the quality of the training. I will not sugarcoat my experience just because I am training with VF.
• I will do my best to be as detailed and up front about the training and coaching experience, and I will do my best to answer any comments or questions, but if for some reason VF asks me not to share a training technique, then I will keep it confidential.

Thanks, and happy reading!