Thursday, July 14, 2011

Beast Swings.


It's hard to believe that I hadn't been able to train the most basic of kettlebell swings, the two hand swing, since I first laid hands on a kb. How ironic as I immediately saw the connection between this fundamental exercise and my most mostest favorite of all time the Power Squat.

Both are all about the hips ,lower back and hamstrings and epitomize the essence of posterior chain strength and work capacity. I immediately saw the two hand swing as the kettlebell equivalent of the best assistance exercise for the power squat the power good morning, probably my strongest movement of all as squatting deep wasn't required nor did you ever lose your back arch.

So when I realized I couldn't tolerate the two hand swing it was devastating.I had thought I had found the perfect replacement for the squat, which I could no longer do. And I couldn't do the two hand swing for the same reasons I could no longer squat: I was too unbalanced and asymmetrical.

But every year I tried to see if my corrective work had paid off enough and I could tolerate it. And it hadn't been until this year. I could finally train the basic swing now and I was happy! But in the back of my mind I was always thinking about the Beast and being able to use this , the Ultimate Kettlebell, in my day to day workouts.

It would be a redemption, of sorts, to be able to be KB strong even if I could no longer be barbell strong. Just to be able to use it for something. After all I use to play with 100 lb dumbells all the time for everything. No big deal.

But the Beast is a different matter and a Kettlebell is no dumbbell :))

And today, as I swung the Beast for the first time ever, and did a real workout with it with no tweaks, pulls or other ramifications other than a great power workout I feel so grateful for how far I've come from the physical bottom I sank to, and how good it feels to be able to move strong and be strong again!

9-10 am
full stretchout

1-2 pm
Two Hand Swings
20 kg x 10
24 kg x10
28 kg x10
32 kg x 8
36 kg x 6

48 kg x5 x 10 sets!!!!

This bugger is big,lol, and the balance and timing are much different than all the other bells, even my mutant 44 kg. I was very cautious with my attempts at max acceleration or power as as much as I wanted to train with this, I didn't want to tweak anything.

Power Swings
32 kg x 5
x 6
x7
x8
x9
x10

this was tough! but the 32 felt like a 16 lol! seriously light after playing with that monster.Just as it should be but it was sweet to feel.

Pullups
5 x 5 ! nice. all chin above bar.

datsit.Sisu


what a great day,a momentous day.

14 comments:

Iron Tamer said...

awesome stuff.

Kai Johnson said...

Hell yeah! Get some!

Aleks's Courage Corner said...

What an inspiration! Others (self included) would've probably given up if faced with everything you deal with on a daily basis, but your motivation to continue to improve is just badass. Way to be!

jockeRKC said...

You are the MAN =) Mr Rif.

Juci SFG said...

This is the day the LORD has made. Let's rejoice and be glad today!

Mark Reifkind said...

wow thanks for all the comments! I took video I just left my flip camera at the studio,lol.

Thanks Tamer and Kai

Mark Reifkind said...

thank you Alek. what's better to be an inspiration to others?not much as that inspires ME to continue my quest as well.

one of my favorite things to say is ' the only way you won't get what you want is to quit' and I don't quit.

people need to quit less and persevere more.

thanks for the comment and stopping by.

Mark Reifkind said...

thank you Joakim, we have to keep on keeping on eh?

Mark Reifkind said...

Judit, thank you :)) I'm very grateful and blessed. and not sore or tweaked at all this AM :))( the best part)

Fatguy said...

MAN! That's awesome! Kudos to you for "taming the beast" and being such an inspiration!

Anonymous said...

It is just great to see your way on this blog....Nice greetings to the "beast" ;-)

Take care!

Mark Reifkind said...

FG

thanks man but I've hardly tamed it yet. It just let me play with it:)) I will tame it but I can't claim that yet. I'm just glad I survived it :))

Mark Reifkind said...

bruce

thanks man, appreciate the support and the comments.

cheaptera said...

As a wow gold player,I know wow gold is very important for wower. But how to buy wow gold to get our favorite items and finish tasks, That is a question.Here in cheap wow gold, we are going to show you some easy ways to farm wow gold. Read the following words, you will learn a lot buy world of warcraft gold.

155 x 3 x 5, 160 x 3 x 5, 20 kg swings 5 x 8/8, floor pushups 40, 35

 Thought about going back to 5x5 for a hot second then my left shoulder  reminded me why I stopped doing them before. It doesn't seem to...