Rifs Blog: Double 24 kg swings , kb squats and belt squats

Monday, February 04, 2013

Double 24 kg swings , kb squats and belt squats

This was a breakthrough today in the double bell swing for me. The groove is MUCH better and really lets me get the bells back further, which makes it infinitely easier to get them up ,lol. Of course, my thinking about it is completely opposite the normal cues but I don't care. It works. It translates into the correct movement pattern for me, to produce the most force in the safest way.

I actually am thinking of breaking at the knees first, then letting the bells go DOWN before swinging them back. This is the only way I have any space to get the bells back and generate some power.

Here's the last time I did these and although they don't look appreciatively different if you look closely you'll see they are. A few inches high or low can make a big difference in mechanics.

Two KB swing
2 16's x 8 x 2
2 20's x 5

2 24's x 6 x 14 sets
84 reps.
9072 lbs

wow that adds up and they were easy. I could have easily kept going. very surprising. I finally feel like I have a groove that can generate some power. And I'm actually enjoying the wide stance, to my great surprise. My knee likes it, that's for sure.

Diana's advice to hold my head over boiling water and soak up the steam has really helped my bronchitis ( thanks!) and that made a difference as well. Hard to train hard when you're coughing and can't breathe:)

Two KB squats
2 16's x 5
2 20's x 5
2 24's x 4

These felt deeper than they looked on film but they were easy. This is my old power squat position and I know it well. It ain't pretty but this was stronger and deeper than last week. BUT I don't think I'm going to keep training it. Not sure the bang for the buck is there. I can alternate close and wide stance in the belt squat if I want to train that position. We'll see. There is definitely a "strength" component here that doesn't exist with the belt squat ( upper body) but it doesn't work to do them on the same day.